Tag: workplace issues

Ides of March

Pi Day is over. Today is the anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC.  To the best of my knowledge, Caesars Palace is not planning any memorial events. A friend has suggested not celebrating with a salad.

In Closing: three political cartoons (render unto Caesar, eh?); oops, turns out the samples from Lake Vostok were contaminated; Yay! Vegas is not number one!; on the interpretation of study data; grumble; double a small number is still pretty small; wow; comfortable workers work harder (attention, Yahoo); hard to save anything when there’s nothing left; totally bombed; cord cutting; when there is no market, market forces don’t act.

 

Book Review: A Good American

 

Today’s book review for BlogHer Book Club is A Good American by Alex George. Be sure to go check out the discussion, starting here. This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

The little reviews on the back of the book agree on one key fact: there are funny parts and sad parts. In the case of poor Magnus Kellerman, perhaps a little of both at the same time. As other reviewers have mentioned, this is the story of one family in a small Missouri town through multiple generations, as told by the grandson of German immigrants. It’s a nice quick read; good airplane material but not enough for an entire vacation.

So what do Good Americans do? They learn English. They become citizens. They have babies. They run businesses. They sometimes keep secrets. They fight and sometimes die for their country. They have good things and bad things happen to them. They make friends. They get in fights. They make music. They fall in love. They get broken hearts. They laugh. They live.

A solid B, maybe B+. Would recommend.

In closing: too poor for WalMart; eVerify; minimum wage isn’t what it used to be; the real zombie apocalypse; work-life balance.

When Will They Figure It Out?

This is what happens when schools tolerate bullying.

This is what happens when schools tolerate bullying.

This is what happens when schools tolerate bullying.

Almost 30 years of the Same Old Story, and somehow the People In Charge don’t get it. We don’t need “weapon free zones” and “zero tolerance policies”; we need an atmosphere of acceptance and adults who are willing to say “we treat others with respect around here.”

Any questions?

In Closing: as C3PO said “The damage doesn’t look as bad from out here”; bad bosses make everything worse; Teller tells; that’s odd; interesting workout; Heist; Reich is right (as usual); Haw haw, the little anti-Semite jab is what really makes it funny; and one of the last Republican voices of reason is going home. It must be hard to be a woman and a moderate and a Republican all at once.