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Tag Archives: underwhelmed

Why idiots often rise to the top

Guys.  I think I’ve inadvertently stumbled upon why the phenomenon of how idiots (as opposed to someone more qualified) are often found in positions of power occurs.  (I’m thinking of you certain possible GOP presidential candidate, certain former Venezuelan president, certain former Afghani president, a whole slew of former Taiwanese presidents, certain managers I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing in the act of managing, etc.)  Wanna know, wanna know??

Ahem…it’s because idiots are less dense than the surrounding matter and therefore, they will rise to the top (this totally needs to be on a shirt or a poster or something).

TADA!!  Makes so much sense, doesn’t it?

Think about it, say in a sea of normal, everyday employees, somehow the one with the least common sense and often the least courtesy toward fellow employees, the least idea about how a project should be managed, the least technical knowledge, the biggest ego, the most insecure, etc is somehow the one to be promoted to a management position.  Why?  Because everyone else with common sense is weighed down by their common sense (and technical knowledge and common courtesy).  The idiot managers don’t have (much) of that stuff, so they are relatively less dense and they rise to the top.

Have you ever thought about the expression “filled with hot air”?  I would argue that the idiot managers also tend to be filled with hot air.  Gasses at warmer temperatures are less dense than gasses at lower temperatures.  So again, idiots are less dense than the surrounding matter and therefore can rise to the top.

But what of the rare non-idiot manager, you ask.  Yes.  Those do exist.  I have worked for a few of them.  And well…you can get a metal pin to float on water.  Metal is denser than water so you wouldn’t think that would be possible.  But surface tension!  It’s probably surface tension that allows these rare non-idiot managers to achieve their management positions.  I guess the surface tension is all the employees with sense who like to work with caring, good managers.

The problem with this is that if you disturb the surface tension the pin sinks as you would expect it to.  I’ve unfortunately seen this with good managers too.  I guess they’re just too full of common sense (technical knowledge, common courtesy, actual care for their people, etc) to stay afloat.  It’s…so sad.

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Whimsey: April and May 2013

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything related to Whimseybox.  I’m still working my way through them.

Recently, I did two of the boxes with some of the girls on a Friday night.  We did the April box, which was for stenciled lavender sachets, and May, which was for peppermint lip balm.  I forgot to take photos of the stuff beforehand, sorry.  But here’s a link to the site where you can order your own DIY lip balm kit or lavender sachet kit if you are so inclined.

So, here’s our finished product.  Or most of it.

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First, the stenciled lavender sachets.  In the box was a bunch of stencils, some puffy paint, three small cloth sachets, and a lot of lavender.  We stenciled two of the bags and did weird stuff with the third.  I’m sure you couldn’t already tell.  I also brought out some glitter glue because the only paint color we had was brown.  I’m not a big fan of the color brown.  And obviously, the bags shown are unstuffed.  The lavender is still in its pouch and it’s stinking up the box.  Worthwhile craft?  Meh.

Second, the peppermint lip balm.  In the box were three small tins, some beeswax, castor oil, a pipette, peppermint essential oil, and mixing sticks.  We followed the directions for the lip balm and I was kind of surprised that it said to add the essential oil before heating everything.  I’ve made lotions before.  I have never added essential oil before heating any ingredients.  Most essential oils are volatile so they just evaporate when you heat them.  But I decided to follow the instructions anyway.  And sure enough, our resultant lip balm isn’t very pepperminty.  If you decide to make anything and use essential oils for their fragrance, add them after your base mixture has cooled a bit.  Otherwise your scent will just be your base mixture.  Other than that, we also tried to color the lip balm since I had a whole lot of gel food coloring left from when I made drunk Duncan.  That didn’t turn out so well either because I should have added that when the base was warm and I forgot.  So the coloring didn’t really spread.  Worthwhile craft?  Maybe, but you would need to modify the instructions a bit if you want your lip balm to smell like anything.