My friend in the movies says the economy is heavily effecting production, but not only the amount- the decision of content has been manipulated. Aaah maybe it is just locally they are seeing cut-backs and politics.

No, cutbacks are in this industry too, just not to the extent it is in other industries.

Our company recently laid off a lot of people. We got rid of 2 of our crews, a lot of our editing department, and we're considering closing our CGI department so we can outsource the work. It would be cheaper than constantly updating the equipment and having a bunch of overpaid primadonnas sitting around on their asses milking the clock all the time. We're getting leaner and meaner.

We're in no danger of closing, and as IT director, my job is secure. In fact now that we have more room, I'm moving into a bigger office today. No window though. :(

I'm working on next gen hip implants and business is good here, for now.

The mood is up here because this is supposed to be recession resistant at the very least.

Overtime and extra money for outside vendors and services is still available but requires much more paperwork.

Current national economic trajectory will bring even this very well run, cash rich corporation to cut jobs and shifts, IMO.

Until then life's pretty good. Once things slow down here I'll be taking another sanity break. That may be for a few years this time as the job market declines.

Do you work for The Faux Hip Company?

Hips-R-Us

Sounds like things are all Hip-itty do dah for you slang.

When my mom died last year I was tempted to ask for the hip transplants back from the crematory. I broached the subject and they said it wasn't too uncomon. Didn't know what I would do with them but I bet they would make great fishing weight for deep water fishing or a nice mantle piece keep sake.

Living in upstate NY, we don't feel the downturns so much, because we usually don't get a chance to experience the upturns. Businesses and people are moving out so fast, the job market is stable. I'm disabled, so the only thing that affects me is the inflation and tax increases.

No. Here's the Link.

Faux News is tuned in to every wide screen TV in the cafe as well as the coffee stations. I like that.

There are a few companies that make hip implants here as well as knee implants. This town might be named Hip-R-Us. That might be more accurate.

So far my life is not directly affected. That doesn't mean that it's all cookies and ice cream.

Most Americans would cringe at my overall lifestyle. It's low. I'm cheap. My temporary living arrangements here are not in a hotel or even an apartment. I rent a room in the (finished) basement of widowed woman's home who "did all the right things in life" but yet now is cleaning houses to survive until her home sells. That probably isn't going to be anytime soon.

At the end of the day at the office I come back to the room to sleep. There is effectively no social life. Social activities cost money. My goal in life is to collect money so that I can spend endless quality hours with my wife in the Philippines. No TV. No beers with friends. No hoarding guns and ammo.

Gold goes in this bag. Cash goes in that bag. Filling those bags are my reason for being here. To collect money to go back where my wife and friends are, Manila Philippines.

Before this money meltdown people would often cautiously make fun of my car. It's old and ugly as sin. That's precisely the way that I want it. Too ugly to fuck with. Worthless. Possibly even a bio hazard of sorts to a burglar.

People with nice cars with big payments don't hassle me much any more. In fact there is a steady cadence of people in the office here that come to me with items they would like to sell. Why? With very few exceptions everyone here is cash poor. Probably house poor and stock poor as well. Debt poor. That's more accurate.

So yes, while the checks are still rolling in and I'm working in a pretty cool environment, it could all turn on a diime today. I know that. Nothing in life here is guaranteed.



That's the first time I've ever heard of someone wanting to keep an implant of a loved one.

My first reaction is that those implants that we have installed into cadavers and brought back to the company here smell so bad you would never want to take it back.

These implants that you are talking about have gone through cremation though. That process would eliminate any foul odors or possibly creating new ones.

It's a very interesting question. How often to family members keep an implant of a loved one?

Let's see what the hips team here has to say about that.

My wife is the board president of a preschool. It had to shut down about a year ago for building problems and staff problems. It reopened 6 months later, just before the crash, and they have only about a 10th of their previous enrollment. The kinds of people who used to use the school now have relatives watching their kids or other arrangements. Each month, the school just barely makes it through. But it's holding on.

I still have a job, so I can't complain. But at my employer, we quietly instituted a hiring freeze last month. Also, a big part of my job is to bring in temporary employees and contract workers and then manage all the administrative crap associated with them. Since November, I haven't brought in a single new temp. We still have several temps from before then, but are slowly getting rid of them. In the summer, I was managing over 100 temps and contractors. Now we're down to about 20.

But I still have my job, and with 18 years under my belt here, I feel fairly safe.

Dazza reckons his company is going down the tubes. To use his words, it's too large and cumbersome to react positively to the changing environment.

The good news is he has a few private consulting jobs which he can take up if it goes belly up. We're thinking of going it alone anyway even if his company stays afloat. I think it'll be better for us in the long run, and next year he'll have the option of teaching at the local uni to suppliment anyway.

You asked me, I've asked the pros here.

The answer is no, they've never heard of any family member keeping an implant.

But the mortuary would be in possession of the body and the implant and what may happen to either is not any concern of the implant manufacturers.

Chances are good that someone might chose to keep the implant for it's scrap metal value although even that would be small. Say $25 on the high side.

Messy business to recover that small amount of cash too.

Any implant would be most valuable to the maker of that device or possibly their competetor. The wear characteristics of the parts might be of interest to either one.

I dunno, ZMH is getting crushed and SYK is only slightly better. I think lots of folks a putting orthopaedic surgery on the discrtionary list.

I am pretty safe.

Unemployed. This area is heavily reliant on retail and industrial manufacture, two industries heavily hit. Plus no-one wants to employ graduates. I know several places I can easily get a job, once management removes the hiring freezes, but until then...

However, realistically, this is just a chance for me to catch up on my reading. The world can come tumbling down, for all I care. If the complete collapse of the economic system clears my student debt, then I shall not cry too much over the end of easy credit.