Still nervous in the civil service? Think Pluto!

Are you sick of your government job?

Are you fed up being a fed?

When people ask what you do, are you embarrassed?

Do you sometimes tell strangers that you are homeless, or just out of prison rather than admitting you are a lowly civil servant?

Do you secretly wish you have followed your true passion: blacksmithing.  Or to you wish you had chosen Dad’s career path and become a professional chicken-sexer?

Before you spend  one more day wishing you were anything but a GS whatever-you-are, wherever-you-work, consider one word:   Pluto.

Holy Moley folks, we just finished a 3 billion mile trip to the last stop (we think) in our solar system.  We launched our planet (dwarf) Pluto probe on Jan. 19, 2006.  It informed us last night it had arrived, had an excellent trip and sent us some pretty cool pictures. And most of us didn’t realize it had left Earth orbit and most of us didn’t know it was still out there until a couple of weeks ago.

By “us” of course, I mean you.  And people like you who work for the government and support, or run, such missions.

Although visionaries such as myself urged the bosses to check out Pluto, Federal News Radio didn’t launch the probe.  Nor did any of the TV networks, GM, Disney, Donald Trump or Taylor Swift.  While we (mostly as passive taxpayers) had a hand in the Pluto probe, for most of us, it was very indirect. We pretty much slept through the on-to-Pluto decade because we had other things to do. Like earn a living and feed ourselves and family members.

But you guys, feds, were and are on the winning team.  For sure if you are with NASA, but also if you had a supporting role in another federal operation.  Whether it is defending the homeland, securing the borders or counting people (the Census Bureau) or tracking inflation (with the Labor Department’s BLS), or just collecting money (as in the IRS, Customs Service or Interior Department) to pay the bills.

This week’s Pluto flyby is a big deal for mankind, especially the American version of it.  For one much-distracted, texting generation, it is the equivalent of the 1969 Moon landing.  Or should be.

It is a big deal for all of us, but especially members of the Federal Family.

So how good are you? Check this out.

Not, as they say, bad for government work!!!

Nearly Useless Factoid:

 By Michael O’Connell

We do get feedback from our readers here at Nearly Useless Labs. This was in today’s emailbox:

“With the Chinese year already in its sixth month, today’s  NUF isn’t too timely. What might be a better NUF is that the Chinese character for “goat” is also used for sheep. So some call it the Year of the Sheep, or even, the Year of the Ram.” — Steve Chun

Timeliness is part of the equation we use in determining if a factoid is “nearly useless” as opposed to “totally useless” or even “useful”. Running a factoid about it being the Year of the Goat on the first day of the Chinese year could be construed as “useful”, but running it next year or some date outside of the current year would be “totally useless”. It’s a fine line to walk determining what is really “nearly useless”. — MO’C

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