swine flu vaccine?

Anonymous asked:

Does anyone know if the DOE is planning mandatory swine flu vaccinations? On the drudge report it states that all DOD military and important DOD civilians will be mandated (forced) to take it. NY is mandating it for 500,000 people. MA is working on forcing it for all citizens.

If you go past the media reporting, the story actually gets interesting. Do your own research.

Changes to TCP1?

I've heard this from a few people (who may have heard from the same source) that LLNS is making changes to TCP1. The rumored change is that your retirement salary will no longer be based on your highest 3 years of salary, but will instead be based on your last 3 years of salary. Has anyone else heard this and is there anything written as proof?

A view on safety

Anonymously contributed:

I viewed the safety video discussing the fatal accident earlier this year. A few things to note:

Russo makes the statement that "they" are looking at maybe having less pickup trucks and maybe having "Smart Cars". No explanation was forthcoming on why the accident may have been due in any part to the vehicle being a pickup truck. And I am curious, what is a smart car? Is it something along the lines of the car not being able to be started without the seatbelt being buckled? If I recall properly, Detroit tried that and it failed.

But if the lab wants to lay off a few hundred people to provide the funds to retrofit seat belt disconnects in the fleet of cars I'm sure LLNS will jump at it if it enhances the chance of a bonus.

The majority of the video was centered on the use of the seat belt. I have absolutely NO argument about that. We should all be using seat belts. Perhaps with the issuance of tickets to enforce the law requiring the use of them, people will get the idea.

Russo talked about the mix of campus and industrial traffic and suggested deferring deliveries to off hours to prevent the mixing of those big hazardous trucks with people on bikes.

How about getting people off of the cell phones? Especially those that aren't using seat belts.

If you are on a bicycle, be aware that the smallest compact car can take you out.

Or maybe just lower the speed limit to 5 miles an hour and encase us all in 1 foot of foam rubber. With safety glasses, Steel toed shoes and athletic cups for the guys.

If you throw enough regulations out there, you won't need common sense.

Is you career mvonf forwards? poll

Thanks to the 74 people who participated!

11 people said yes
42 people said no
28 people said don't care, it is just a paycheck

We want to hear from the first two categories as to why?

SPSE news!

SPSE newsletter for sep 09

Bonuses in lieu of pay raises.

Anonymously contributed:
I'm hearing bonus checks in lieu of pay raises to compensate for salary decreases that'll occur during ranking and job comparison to your counterpart outside LLNL. Some will be saved and others will take pay cuts. All this came out on the LLNL blog during the transition and no one believed it. Compound this reduction in pay with increased taxes and Obamacare and you'll be feeling the pain.

Best and brightest

Anonymous wants to know:

I was wondering if people would recommend starting a career as a scientist at llnl right now. Is there any benefit left over going to private industry?

Why bother?

Well, I was asked to give my supervisor an update of my PA input to reflect my doings for the past couple of months. I did so, but I kept wondering "why bother?". We all know that the folks at UC actually took a pay cut (OK, LBL was excluded - but our "substantially equivalent in the aggregate" is for UC - NOT LBL). My thinking is we'll be lucky if we don't take a cut, much less get a raise at all. However, where you rank may be more important than you think. Most companies (for profit or not) choose the "poor performers" or those in the lower 10%-20% of the performance appraisals. So, maybe ranking is important. Who knows?

Dead man walking!

Anonymously contributed:

I'm now officially a "dead man walking" thanks to LLNS.

I'm retired and have serious health issues. Recently I got a call from my pharmacy. My prescription refills were rejected by my health insurance. The reason was a new contract recently signed by LLNS with the insurer requiring all long-term prescriptions be filled by mail.

There are significant doubts about these mail-order pharmacy's ability to safeguard medical history, whether they will try to distribute substandard medicines, or even if the medicine will arrive in a timely fashion thanks to often inept Postal Service.

Some may think mail-delivery pharmacies are fine. But the choice of whether to use them or not is gone now.

When the other prescriptions run out I WILL NOT switch to mail-order. That will kill me eventually and the blood will be on George Miller's hands. See you in hell you blank!

Layoffs?

This post has been anonymously sent and is not intended to start a rumor:

I have heard through inside information that possible layoffs of FTEs is coming this January does anyone have any info about this?

Count your blessings!

The following is an excerpt of an anonymous comment made elsewhere in this BLOG. It is being made a post for higher visibility.
Warning: Whiners who are still employed by LLNS: this may be too much for you to handle and the hope is that it will make you more thankful:

Folks, I sadly hear so much anger and bitterness, such whining and crying here EVERY time I visit...and the majority of blogger's ARE still 'gainfully' employed!!

Whether or not you like your 'new boss's, you ARE still able to pay their mortgage, you CAN pay your bills, the luxury of even being able to go out for breakfast, lunch or even dinner, get a haircut, buy groceries...go to a movie, pay for you son or daughters college!

YOU have the 'privilege' of going to work everyday.
YES, transition IS hard, change is painful, UNEMPLOYEMNT IS WORSE!!!

Count your blessings you STILL have a job, some form of retirement still accruing, able to have medical, dental and vision plans....15 months later I am STILL looking....to date I have lost my home, lost my retirement, I have NO medical, dental or vision, my good credit gone.

On unemployment, at the 'max' pay, I have to have a 'room mate' just to pay rent for a 'room' to lay my head at night just to worry about what tomorrow will bring.

I don't qualify for State programs for food or medical because as a single person my 'income' is too high, yet I don't have a dime to spare to buy a healthcare plan.

The current job market is sad. I am single and almost 50.....

You are so narrow minded...whining and crying 'poor me'...try walking in someone else's shoes for a while....you should be darn glad to have what you still do!!!

I would encourage you to re-think your attitude and remember YOU ARE still the backbone of LLNS....not the new managers!

P.S. I WOULD trade your life for mine any day and be darn GLAD!!!

D'Agostino to remain head of NNSA

Barrack likes him...
http://www.nnsa.energy.gov/news/2512.htm

NNSA planning recruitement drive.

Contributed by XXXXXX (real name pending approval)
Read:

http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090828_5013.php
I love the part:

"Not only are we working every day to improve our aging infrastructure, but as a
large percentage of our work force is approaching retirement NNSA needs to be
nimble and creative to make sure we're getting America's brightest to join our
ranks as new employees."

I never thought of NNSA and Nimble being used in the same paragraph, let alone
the same sentence. Now NNSA and nincompoop, those are two words I can associate
in the same sentence.

All I can say is god bless you Mr. D'Agostino. You're going to need some help
from above to attract America's brightest. Average benefits, inane rules that
add no real benefit, urine testing, polygraphing and an administration that is
not really supportive of the mission. Yup, I see the best and brightest beating
a path to the DOE weapons complex.

Where are the women?

Anonymously contributed:
Am I the only one to notice the number of women in management at the Lab is shrinking under LLNS. The southern good old boys brought in to run LLNL do not take kindly to women in key leadership roles. I feel like we're heading back into the stone age. I expect a sex discrimination lawsuit anytime now - and as a guy who has been at the Lab almost 30 years and seen this all before, I think it would be justified.

Labs' study nixed.

From the LANL BLOG:

By John Fleck, Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer

The Obama administration has abandoned a controversial study that could have led to Pentagon control over U.S. nuclear weapons design and manufacturing.

In February, the administration's Office of Management and Budget called for a study of the possibility of moving nuclear weapons work run by the National Nuclear Security Administration, including Los Alamos and Sandia labs, out of the civilian Department of Energy and into the Department of Defense.

But after missing a key study milestone, an Office of Management and Budget spokesman acknowledged Monday that the study will not be done.

The decision to abandon the study, first reported Monday by Global Security Newswire, does not mean the idea of Pentagon control is dead, according to the statement from OMB communications director Ken Baer. But rather than a fast track study, the issue will instead be considered as part of broader discussions of the future of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

"The administration is looking at the most effective positioning for the NNSA," Baer's statement said, "and it very well may be that the best place for the NNSA is exactly where it is now."

In response, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., issued a statement reiterating his belief that putting the labs under military control is a bad idea.

"I do not believe the proposal to move the NNSA to the Department of Defense ever made sense. But I do believe that it's important to examine what steps we can take to ensure NNSA is strengthened and improved," Bingaman said.

The study, called for in an internal Office of Management and Budget memorandum, would have looked at the costs and benefits of taking control of the National Nuclear Security Administration away from the Department of Energy, where it now resides.

In New Mexico, it could have led to the end of six decades of civilian management of Sandia and Los Alamos national labs, which design and maintain nuclear weapons.

Administration officials never commented publicly on their reasons for launching the study, citing the internal nature of the deliberations. But others, including former Sandia National Laboratories Director C. Paul Robinson, said a change would solve management problems with the current system. The agency has faced major projects running over budget and behind schedule, along with a string of embarrassing security incidents.

The first phase of the study was to have been done in early August, with the hope that necessary decisions could be made in time to begin any resulting management changes by 2011. News of the study, first reported by the Journal in February based on an internal Obama administration document, drew intense criticism.

In March, Bingaman and a bipartisan group of senators representing key committees with jurisdiction over the labs, wrote to the administration to express "our firm opposition to the transfer of the NNSA to the Department of Defense."

It was signed by Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, as well as Bingaman's Republican counterpart on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the leaders of two other key Senate committees with jurisdiction over the nuclear weapons program.