2 interesting articles

Chinese capitalism: The long march backwards
http://www.economist.com/books/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=12333103
Latin America's economies: Keeping their fingers crossed
http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=12341669

watchdog and leak sites corporate America doesn’t want you to see.

interesting, I didnt think people organized enough to push back against "bad" corporations and policies.

http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/06/13/Anti-Corporate-Websites?TID=advert/wired/anti-corporate-sites
watchdog and leak sites corporate America doesn’t want you to see.

Finding a job 90% students use word of mouth. 41% of firms use word of mouth

Even the younger, tech-savvy generation still relies on good old-fashioned word-of-mouth networking. According to a Schwab Institutional 2008 survey of graduate and undergraduate students in Texas Tech University's division of financial planning program, nearly 90% of students said that word-of-­mouth networking with professional contacts, family and friends is the most useful tool in their job search. While word-of­mouth is one of the most popular tactics used by job seekers, only 41% of firms reported using it to find candidates, according to another 2007 Market Knowledge Tools report: Best-Managed Firms: Recruiting and Retaining Top Talent.

all about liver shots & why they are baddie:

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f11/liver-shot-406492/


Great picture! It displays just how large the liver is, and also illustrates how transmitted force would transfer to the Vagus nerve, running roughly close to where the inferior vena cava is (the blue pipe in the upper midline area)

QUESTION:
What exactly happens when a person gets KO-ed by way of liver shot? What physiological things occur? And when Bas Rutten said he "broke" Jason DeLucia's liver, what happened there?

Help much appreciated.

ANSWER:
"I tried to go for the liver, because that is the most painful knockout there is" Bas Rutten
...
I think it was a guy on sherdog actually who described being hit in the liver as "being kicked full-force in the balls, only your balls are below your right pec instead of between your legs". I thought it was a pretty good description. You get instantly winded, your legs get stiff if they don't outright buckle, your chest/abs just lock up and I get this... I dunno, I don't want to say burning sensation, I can't describe it, I'd think taking one in the groin is the closest pain I can describe to it, except it lingers for the better part of a round.

physiologically? It just fucking hurts like hell. I think as soon as someone is hit solidly in the body, they're SOLD on bodypunching. It took me about 2 rounds with my coach of him feeding me body shots to appreciate the effect they have in all fightsports, and I've been working my body punching ever since
...
Video of a liver shot
http://www.youtube.com/v/OK2zxY_GrNg&hl
They show it in slow-mo from a few angles. When they film the guy taking the shot, you can see his ribcage press against his back as he takes the shot from the front. ow

Bas Rutten has some of the most famous liver shots
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A9SjPhC0pM

Bas Rutten explains the liver shot with a hot babe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXX8dCtkeqQ
...
Being KO'd via liver shot is the worst feeling in the world. You don't lose consciousness, you just lie there crumpled like a little bitch writhing in pain.
...
" Things you feel like doing when hit in the liver :
-Vomitting
-Suffocating
-Shitting in your shorts
-Passing out
-Crying for your mama
-Stop taking part in any kind of violent sport....... "
...

How much does body-type in the torso affect the viability of the Liver Shot? Will someone skinny and Schilt-like be easier to apply it to? Is someone like Emmanuel Yarborough 'Immune' to the Liver Shot?

Great question, but really hard to answer. I suppose musculature and abdominal conditioning may come into play a bit, but the actual anatomical area that's being struck isn't densely covered with a lot of muscle.

IMO, it's a vulnerable area, regardless of bodytype.
...
I had literally just got there when i got my stuff on and jumped in. First round, I thought, hey, I'll warm up a bit and ease into it.
Last 30s I throw a right straight a bit lazily just as he's throwing a left mid. Hit me right on the liver the fucker.
I have never EVER had to take a break, but the burning sensation was so bad and my legs just buckled. I couldn't breath for maybe 5 seconds because my lungs wouldn't work. It took me what was left of the round and the minute rest to get back to a normal sparring ability

Tap yourself with your knuckle by your right pec and keep doing it around the area until you feel your body slightly spasm. Thats your liver.

What a waste (Economist)

http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12032417&source=features_box_main
comment i liked:

Product pricing is generally based upon production/overhead costs only, ignoring consumption externalities like disposal costs (or greenhouse gas emissions). This is a market distortion which can be minimized by incorporating components of the price of disposal into every product and its packaging. I would integrate this with the overall environmental/health impact surcharge I have mentioned in other posts, possibly as a replacement of sales or value added taxes. This could be revenue neutral while allowing market forces to shape consumption patterns to more accurately reflect true ecological and societal costs. By extension, this would result in more optimal levels of consumption and incentivize the development or adoption of superior solutions.

Sleep tips from execs

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fsb/0808/gallery.sleep_tips.fsb/8.html
Points program could be used for sleep as well, a thoughts log you can go back to & search

Corporate Gaming Is Good For Business

http://games.slashdot.org/games/08/08/27/188247.shtml
http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2008/07/serious-games.html

Corporate Gaming Is Good For Business

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday August 27, @02:53PM
from the just-doing-my-part,-boss dept.

The Economist is running a story about how gaming is on the rise in corporate environments, and how games are also becoming a popular tool for advertising. From internally developed games to commercial offerings to simply creating a framework in which employees can interact, game-based competitions and community building are leading to increased productivity, even for Fortune 500 companies. Quoting: "Take Microsoft's own experience. Before it releases a new version of its Windows operating system, it asks staff to help debug the software by installing and running the system. In the past, project managers had to spend a great deal of time and effort persuading busy Microsoftees to help them with this boring task. So for Windows Vista, the system's latest incarnation, Microsoft created a game that awarded points for bug-testing and prizes such as wristbands for achieving certain goals. Participation quadrupled."

--------------------------- good comments:

"A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of coloured ribbon" - Napoleon
The concept has been long-observed that people will work their asses off for a symbol of accomplishment.

http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=910927&cid=24769751
So, one of my 'coming-up-to-speed' techniques was to write a program that interested me. In this case, I wrote a program that would randomly roll up and print out D&D monsters and NPCs, complete with stats. By the time I had that program working, I pretty much knew how to use the system and how to do software development on it. I think I still have some of those printouts in my files at home. ..bruce..