So I have some open tabs that I’ve been saving for a discussion on employment, unemployment, and job creation. Luckily for me, job creation and unemployment numbers came out today. Unemployment does continue to go down, and it looks like we [barely] create enough jobs to keep up with demand. However, many of those new jobs are low wage jobs that don’t actually help our nation at all. Wages are still kept artificially low, even though corporate profits are riding high (I bet higher corporate taxes would encourage those companies to pay people fairly).
But there’s a couple of things missing from the official figures. Well over half of employed people have their eyes open for better employment opportunities. There’s over 3 times as many job applicants as jobs to apply for.
That’s not the only reason it’s important to create more jobs. It seems that when people have jobs, they pay taxes.
Free term theme idea: Recurring Thematic Material in the Collected Works of FloRida.
If one were to listen to his entire discography, how many songs would seem to reference oral sex?
Regrettably, there doesn’t seem to be an official music video I could embed.
In Closing: a bounty I hope gets paid; waaah, the media isn’t telling why it might be a good idea to shoot 14 year old girls in the head for wanting an education (damn liberal media!); maps; quiet victory; this could be a bumpy election; confession; she’d be a Saint even without the Pope’s say-so; who needs effective antibiotics anyway?; science literacy; duh; and just say no.
Ok, the good news first. Poverty is down ever so slightly. The number of people without health insurance is down, despite the fact that health insurance premiums went up 4% (far exceeding the official inflation rate). The bad news is that typical American income is down for the 4th year in a row. Adjusted for inflation, we’re back to the Clinton Administration.
Sit back and watch the two parties fight about what this means and who is to blame.
Expect Republicans to call for NASA spending cuts in 3…2…1….:NASA explains the last decade.
A few items on Employment, Unemployment, and Job Growth: Why have millions of Americans given up looking for work? Why mostly young people? How many jobs do we need to create each month to keep up?
No kidding: Prince Harry is considered a high value target.
No argument from me: Unlike most “liberals” and “progressives,” I’m not a fan of gun control. After all, the Founding Fathers who wrote the 2nd Amendment overthrew the government. Money quote: “The real point is that gun control fails because gun control laws are only effective against law-abiding people.”
Empty Apology:Yeah. Just trying to help. Sure. I hope a real woman runs against her using this as ammo.
The Italians Noticed: The right to vote is imperiled in America.
One Miiiiiiiiiilion Dollars! Muahahahahahahahaha!: That’s what Larry Flynt is offering for Rmoney’s tax returns. Heck, I wonder if that’s enough money for Ann Romney to send them in.
Why was it there in the first place?: ~21,000,000 compromised medical records, 54% due to stolen computers, including laptops where the data should NEVER have been in the first place.
Mental Health Parity: What if we treated everyillness the way we treat mental illness?
It is absolutely a tragedy what happened at the Empire State Building. Who can possibly predict that a guy who was laid off almost a year ago would come back and start shooting? Nevertheless, I’d like to digress for a moment to point out that it’s a lot safer to never hire a nutcase than to have to fire one. Screen your employees before you hire them, people.
As a rule, it takes a lot to get NYPD officers to fire their guns at anyone. Despite a handful of isolated, but highly publicized, exceptions to this rule when officers have shot unarmed individuals over the past decade and a half, New York’s 35,000-officer force remains a worldwide model of firearms restraint and veneration for human life.
[snip!]
In rapidly unfolding and completely unpredictable situations, assessing the need to use firearms is often a split-second decision. It can mean the difference between life and death. Officers have to sift through confusion, fear and fragmented information.
In the incident outside of the Empire State Building, it is made more difficult because the street is one of the busiest in America. The officers had to take into account the risk of the gunman hurting potentially many people in the vicinity were he not stopped.
Look, nobody sane is disputing that they had to make sure this guy didn’t hurt anybody else. The man pulled his gun out and was clearly intending to shoot at the cops. This wasn’t a place to experiment with a taser. What were they supposed to do, offer to buy him a latte and talk for a while??
The problem is not that NYPD had to shoot this guy. The problem is that out of the 16 shots fired, 3 hit the perp. All 9innocentbystanders were shot by the cops trying to “protect” them.
Take aim at the real problem: aim.
In Closing: It’s the jobs, stupid; the important question is the one about whether his mom was born in Kansas; if no blacks support Romney and a minority of women and Hispanics and people under 35 support him, how can the polls possibly be as close as they’ve been? Are there really that many angry old racist men?; school internet safety; yep (so why are these guys still married?); if Republicans get their way, be ready for $10,000 per ounce gold; abused by the system; fake world leaders; can’t make this up; trash can babies; ok, but Goldman didn’t make the drought happen; over 20 serial rapists in Detroit so far; scary; probably not what life is like in Russia; and the old man speaks the truth.
Today I’ve got a little “music theory” lesson for you. I’m going to explain that chord that’s driving you crazy. You know the one, the second one.
Most of the “happy sounding” songs you know are in what are called “Major keys.” That includes everything from Happy Birthday and Yellow Submarine to Pomp and Circumstance and the Star Spangled Banner. In fact, I can’t think of a single American “patriotic” song that is not in a Major key.
There’s another kind of key called a “Minor” key. You can express a lot of different emotions using it. Gloria Gaynor used it in “I Will Survive” to show determination and frustration. The Beatles used it in “Eleanor Rigby” where it echoed the loneliness and insignificance of the characters in the song. Anger, sadness, and a host of other things can be implied simply with a Minor key.
Chords can be Major or Minor too. Usually we capitalize Major chords. When a musician analyzes a piece of music, he or she will usually use Roman numerals. So if we build a chord on each step of a Major scale, we get this:
I ii iii IV V vi vii°
That last one is a third type of chord called “diminished.” Don’t worry about it right now, since it’s not important to this song. All of these chords are perfectly normal in a Major key, although there are some arcane rules about what order you can use them. An alarming number of songs use the chord progression I V vi IV.
On the other hand, if we build chords on a Minor scale, these are the chords you will most frequently see (this bit is slightly simplified from what you’d be taught in a music class):
i ii III iv V VI vii°
So back to our song. The first chord is a nice big Major chord, I. The next chord is built on the 4th note of the scale, so it should be IV. However, they’ve fooled us with a jarring minor chord, iv! What are you supposed to be feeling? Happiness of being loved? Or fear of being rejected?
This is called a “borrowed chord.” Even though most young composers discover the neat, unexpected sound before High School, the fancy term is usually not taught until well into a college music theory curriculum. Now you’ve got a fun trivia item.
In Closing: it was worth a try; Samurai; interesting thing about the workforce; another reason we don’t need police drones; these guys think the Affordable Care Act is here to stay; no kidding; Montanans elected this person; high speed rail (I would worry about how they hold up in an earthquake, but Japan has it); Casablanca at 70; wanna buy a couple skyscrapers, cheap?; and Happy Wedding Day to Barney Frank and James Ready.
Once upon a time, there was a divine, weaving princess. She spent much time weaving, and was sad that it left her no time for love. So her father arranged for her to meet the cow-herder of the stars. They immediately fell in love and spent all their time together. However, this meant the divine clothes for the stars went unwoven, and the cows roamed all over the heavens as each of the lovers neglected their jobs. Her father had no choice but to separate them with the Milky Way. They are only allowed to meet one day a year — the seventh day of the seventh month — and then only if she’s done with her work.
Happy Tanabata.
In closing: can we just admit that the TSA’s job is to make us do what we’re told?; let’s ignore the fact that most of us choose a hospital based on what our insurance will cover or what’s closest to the accident; recycling; Bond, James Bond; ha; careful when you write a resume; fat; “could” is the important word; just what I don’t need; maybe if people would read; good luck explaining that to your insurance agent; and Cowboys and Indians.
In Closing: More Kip Hawley; permission to work or state sanctioned restriction of trade?; almost half of Americans have nothing saved for retirement; underemployed; surprised?; and my, they’re recruiting terrorists early these days.
It isn’t very often that I have something to say worth posting to both my personal and professional websites. This is one of those posts.
I am often asked by my relocating clients about “nice, safe neighborhoods.” This is honestly a trick question that I can’t really answer. I can point you to Metro‘s or Trulia‘s Crime Map, I can tell you what I like about various areas, I can tell you about historical resale trends. What I can’t and won’t do is say “Oh yes, that’s a great neighborhood and you shouldn’t have any problems there.” Not going to happen.
I can’t even say that gated communities are “safe.” A lot of people think it’s a “security gate,” but it’s only an “access gate” and it will only keep out people who want to be kept out. And what if the guy who wants to hurt you already belongs within the gates?
If you ask 10 random Las Vegans about desirable neighborhoods, at least 8 will mention Summerlin. Granted, one or two might use it in a sentence like “Well, a lot of people like Summerlin, but….” Of course “but” can lead many directions: but it’s kind of expensive, but the HOAs can be so picky, but it’s so far away from the Strip. I do think, however, that more than one of our imagined random people could be persuaded to say the area is “safe.”
Sadly, bad things happen in “nice, safe neighborhoods” too. Yesterday, a 19 year old was shot and killed in a Summerlin backyard. It’s a little unclear yet whether he was really trying to break in or was just cutting through the yard, or even whether he tried to get away after the first shot was fired.
Nobody really wants to live in a bad neighborhood. However, living in a “good” neighborhood is no magic spell preventing crime or tragedy.
