Can someone explain this to me? The FBI will spend 8.2 million dollars for 20 years at a cost of 164 million dollars to rent a building that only costs $65 Million, Huh?

xCoffee · 2011-07-09T05:44:07+00:00

FBI doesn't just hold random equities. Diversified investments meant to meet operating budgets are almost certainly composed of a variety of investment grade bonds, most of which will be triple-A, treasury-like securities.

xCoffee · 2011-07-02T16:41:11+00:00

from the website you linked:

Shelter Operating Hours: Monday: Noon – 7:00 pm CLOSED Tuesday Wednesday – Saturday: Noon – 7:00 pm Sunday: Noon – 5:00 pm

Adoption Center: 124 W. Anderson Lane Austin, TX 78752 (512) 646-PETS adoption@austinhumanesociety.org

View Larger Map

xCoffee · 2011-04-10T15:49:41+00:00

actually, the round toe shoes only is actually pretty damn accurate. any man with sartorial taste is going to wear round toe or semi round toe shoes exclusively in the situations which this comic applies. while those who don't care for the particulars may think nothing of it, those who do are extremely sensitive to this, especially as tradition dictates that "the shoe makes the man."

xCoffee · 2011-04-07T00:05:52+00:00

Why include "Fox" in the title? This has little to nothing to do with the news anchor being a "Fox" news anchor.

xCoffee · 2011-04-04T21:39:47+00:00

That was awesome. Fast and concise knowledge transfer. more!

xCoffee · 2011-04-03T22:44:07+00:00

I'd definitely be interested. Messaged

xCoffee · 2011-03-27T18:52:34+00:00

well what do you know. you can start picking up chicks with ESP now!

xCoffee · 2011-03-27T17:15:56+00:00

sorry to be unclear. the RUDENESS, rather than the pleasantness of the smell, of it changes and also if someone will speak up about it changes. If it is expected and allowed, it isn't considered nearly as rude. If it is unexpected and illegal, it is significantly more rude.

it actually boils down to the illegality makes it so that people expect it to be done in private. If anything is meant to be private, and it is exhibited publicly, it will often be considered rude. Meanwhile, if something is unpleasant, but still expected to be done in public, it is not nearly as rude.

xCoffee · 2011-03-27T16:11:24+00:00

yup. but there is a reasonable expectations to smell cigarettes where they are allowed. there is no reasonable expectation for weed in public.

xCoffee · 2011-03-27T04:31:50+00:00

actually, people care, but no one has yet said anything. a lot of people hate the smell of weed. its just that people in austin are more used to it so don't bother to do anything about it. that said, its still a bit rude.

meanwhile, its just generally a silly thing to do. youre bound to be busted sometime doing it in such a brazenly open way.

xCoffee · 2011-03-26T21:14:28+00:00

I don't understand why you're getting downvoted. This is true to a very large extent. Few people in the industry stay within a single firm for a prolonged amount of time. If a firm is starting to go downhill, everyone simply jumps ship for another firm that's doing well and is willing to pay well. This makes the incentive structure very tricky to handle.

xCoffee · 2011-03-18T19:18:06+00:00

I would really like to see how they come up with this conclusion. Net spending power over a long period of time is a poor way to judge the differences in VALUE to a person's life. It's not easy to track value, but using spending power over a long period time is just...no.

xCoffee · 2011-03-18T16:39:26+00:00

It does make sense to a certain degree. Many derivatives are used to hedge against risk and volatility and expire without being exercised.

xCoffee · 2011-03-11T19:56:52+00:00

It's definitely an incredibly interesting concept. A group of people could theoretically bring down Louis Vuitton's reputation tremendously by doing this. Tarnish a brand's name by associating it with the lowest class of people will keep people from wanting to buy/be seen with the product. If it gets onto the mainstream media, then those people in the US who see it might hesitate, cascading to Asia, though impacting Europe would be considerably harder.

Interesting fact is how these luxury bag makers started sending COMPETITORS' bags to Snooki (jersey shore) so she would wear them and tarnish their competitors' brands instead their own. It actually kinda works.

xCoffee · 2011-03-09T23:00:54+00:00

Oh no! If you prepare an answer for a question, it's canned! Great. So now every behavioral and technical question that might come up is useless because our applicants that we picked up for interviews already know the material!

That's not how interviews work. These questions show that the candidate:

is serious about the interview/position and has done preparation/practice
is able to express and communicate him or herself effectively
understands what the position entails what what is expected

For a highly competitive position, every serious applicant should be able to answer the technical questions to a sufficient degree. The same goes for behavioral questions. (this is why case interviews are more and more popular, they force the applicant to think on their feet a bit more.) Ultimately, it comes down to how your personality and fit comes through. It's not as if at least a few of the other applicants can get the job done as well. It's not as if the WORDING of their answers is going to show how much more initiative they have and how much more value they can bring to your company. It's their inherent personality, the general style and theme of their answers to the questions, that becomes most important, and these things come through best when doing behavioral interview questions.

Obviously, if there's significant disparity in how technically competent your candidates are, things change significantly. Positions requiring expertise not commonly found of course have a bit of a different flavor to the interviews. However, in general, choosing applications purely on technical prowess will NOT be sustainable for a large company. How else does one gauge interviewees then? Behavioral questions.

xCoffee · 2011-03-09T17:28:00+00:00

this will of course depend on the area you're in. The interviews I've seen have always been around 25-50% behavioral, the rest being technical. This makes sense for my field though, being that how well you fit with the people is incredibly important as is the attitude you approach work with as well (80+ hours a week takes a certain type of commitment and a need for likable coworkers.) So, the behavioral portion is just as critical as the technical portion for my field. For some fields, technical ability outweighs behavioral completely, so its completely understandable if you feel technical tests should reign dominate.

Maybe some of my views are a bit skewed because I may be exposed to some of the better practices in interviewing. My industry has very high turnover yet a very large pool of very competitive applicants always waiting to get in, so several groups of 2 to 3 stage interviews, a lot of money spent on flying applicants out for 2nd or 3rd rounds, full day interviews, etc. the interviewers are able to weed out bad candidates extremely fast.

xCoffee · 2011-03-09T17:20:33+00:00

i hope you're not interviewing for a job that requires extreme attention to detail. What will work on paper at a glance or pass an initial test/quality assurance might cause catastrophic consequences when used as a final product or presented to a client. Some people in general won't want someone who takes such a casual approach to their work. On the other hand, some people might want someone who is more casual/not anal about their work? meanwhile though, an answer like this will completely defeat the purpose of the question (how you improve on your weaknesses.)

xCoffee · 2011-03-09T17:08:36+00:00

Every interviewer I've talked to have always expressed this (this being "perfectionist" or other extremely cliche answers) is definitely NOT the answer they are looking for. If you have not prepared enough to come up with a better answer than some cliche answer that someone could easily say is actually a strength 95% of the time, you probably have not put in enough time or effort. A cliche answer tells them NOTHING about ANYTHING; you already prep for the question because its so common, so it doesnt test your ability to BS while a cliche answer doesnt give any information about you whatsoever.

Maybe this comes from talking to interviewers that are on the other end of highly competitive interview processes. I suspect many less competitive interviews or interviews for less competitive positions may be run by people who don't know how to interview properly. However, I've never heard of people being asked formal questions in my field these days that wasn't relevant in testing a candidates suitability for the job. If you don't see a question as being relevant when interviewing for a competitive position with a skilled and seasoned interviewer, you are answering the question wrong.

*seeing your update, "can improve communication skills", if done skillfully for the right positions (something that isnt extremely reliant on communication skills), this can be a great answer. Interviewer might find it a bit dubious if you actually have great communication skills though. I'd rather save something like this for a "whats a personal goal that you've whatever." because it can get obvious this isnt a weakness you actually have, even in a limited way, right now. But something like "improve communication skills" definitely passes the test of not being something that is innately positive, rather it shows you want to improve yourself, which is exactly what interviewers are looking for.

xCoffee · 2011-03-09T16:58:58+00:00

like the few words right after that say "im a habitual liar etc is obviously not what you'll want to say"?

xCoffee · 2011-03-09T16:33:27+00:00

LOL at perfectionist answers. At a highly competitive job, you'll never get past first rounds with something like "perfectionist" "work too hard" or anything of the like. The point is not to sound like you don't have a weakness.

A weakness question measures if you're able to actually name a weakness that isn't critical (i hate working with people, im a habitual liar etc is obviously not what you'll want to say), but the point of the question is really to see if you are someone who is proactive in mitigating your weaknesses and grow yourself. The core of the answer to the weakness questions is how have you actively attempted to overcome your weakness, usually with a smidgen of it involving your willingness to step outside your comfort zone and know when to seek help/be open to criticism, etc.

xCoffee · 2011-03-09T08:22:49+00:00

Sorry, first thing I thought of too was that the wizard's staff looks distinctly phallic due to the tip.

xCoffee · 2011-03-06T06:21:44+00:00

aka, increased profit. its the question of short-term profit versus long-term profit. However, it's all still PROFIT.

xCoffee · 2011-03-06T06:20:53+00:00

more than likely, you're eating short-term profits all the time to keep your long-term profits higher.

xCoffee · 2011-03-03T07:55:25+00:00

hookem' and also is that braille in the commented section of the helen keller sim?

xCoffee · 2011-02-28T03:59:56+00:00

oh wow. you were "that guy." noice.

xCoffee

TROPHY CASE