The news is this: Dunkin Donuts is eliminating their styrofoam cups by 2020. Greenpeace and other environmentally-minded organizations are hailing this change as the first step in the right direction...and I agree...it's just the first step, because just like K-Cups, hot beverage cups are filling our landfills. This article in the BBC states that 2.5 billion (with a B) cups are thrown away annually regardless of them being paper or plastic. Here in the US, I'm sure we throw away a magnitude more (this 2016 article says 60 Billion paper cups...and most can't be recycled).
So, I get it, don't throw away your coffee cups...in fact, don't use disposable cups at all. But, the real solution is to not offer any cups but reusable ones, because, as we know from science, even paper biodegradable cups won't biodegrade in landfills...where most of these surely wind up. It's that whole anaerobic thing. But it says it's compostable. Wonderful! That's great! That means there's no plastic lining waterproofing your cup. Do you compost? No? Do you think cup gnomes roam the streets at ungodly hours in the morning pulling your compostable cups from the trash so that they can use them to make fertile their fields of four-leaf clover and candy canes?
To that, you (and Greenpeace) are right, this is just the first step...but is it a good one? If all disposable cups are a problem, and they are, then we should be focused on using the most energy efficient disposable cup out there. Right?
The Institute for Lifecycle Energy Analysis in Seattle, Washington did a study, and they found that the energy cost of reusable cups (ceramic, plastic, glass) gets lower the more times you use it. That makes sense, if you only use a cup 5 times, you've wasted a ton of energy on each of those times vs. a cup you use 100 times. For a reusable cup to equal the energy cost of a styrofoam cup you would need to use it 200 times. Can you do that? Right. So, definitely the first part of the equation, but until we convince our trash-can society to use a cup more than 200 consecutive times, the environmental cost of the styrofoam cup is far less, i.e. more energy efficient; more environmentally sound.
But me? I use a stainless coffee cup every day...and I'm headed towards those 200 uses...aggressively. For water, I have my BPA Free Nalgene bottle I've used daily for over 3 years...it's getting scummy, but gosh darn it, how irresponsible would you have to be to know you like water at your job and still insist on taking a paper cup every day? I choose plastic...except...there's issues with that too. For an encore, wanna talk about BPA?...no?
https://www.cnn.com/.../bpa-free-alternatives.../index.html
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Don't Panic
Without giving anything away, I already read about this part in our history. In Neal Stephenson's book, Seveneves, Stephenson writes about minor-character Sean Probst launching a successful commercial space transport business. Without going into details and ruining the Sci-Fi novel for you, he's incredibly successful, rich, and attempts to save the day after becoming impatient with federal agencies ability to "do something" about their ability to address the Earth's immediate space needs. Similarities to some of our space-age billionaires (Sean Parker, Bezos, Elon Musk) are extraordinary, and likely, intended.
Back to real life, and Elon Musk's SpaceX was able to launch a rocket able to carry payloads of up to 140,700 lbs...which made his launching a Tesla Coupe (roughly 2,900 lbs) a piece of cake. In one of the most amazing feats, SpaceX was able to retrieve two out of three of the booster rockets that pushed the Falcon Heavy rocket into low orbit and beyond on February 6 around 3:45pm EST. Yeah, the third one, which was scheduled to land on an autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) 300 miles off the coast of Florida had a landing booboo. Where the first two stage-1 rockets not only flew back and successfully landed upright on landing pads at Cape Canaveral, the center core booster failed to initiate slowing burns and is probably at the ocean floor after hitting the surface of the water at 300 miles per hour. Whoops.
Still, an amazing feet. As if the successful deployment and retrieval of 66% of the rockets wasn't enough, the Tesla Coupe payload is meant to eventually orbit Mars and then continue to circle the sun for, potentially, billions of years. However, in addition to the core's apparent demise, team SpaceX overshot their orbit due to an unplanned elongated burn which pushed the Tesla and the Starman (the propped mannequin in a spacesuit "driving" the car) past its intentional orbit. It seems that, based on new calculations, it'll pass "nearby" Earth in 2021 at about 28 million miles away, but mostly linger alone in the void of space for near-eternity.
But, forget all that. What I'm geeking out about is that, when the Tesla was first exposed to space, the launch center turned on its audio. Apparently, the car is blasting David Bowie's "Life on Mars" track, which was played back on Earth during the launch. The naming of the mannequin, StarMan is also a Bowie reference. I love me some Bowie. In the center console, there's a sign which is dear to my heart: "Don't Panic," which is a direct reference to Douglas Adam's most popular book: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And, if that's not enough, SpaceX included at least one more easter egg.
A company named Arch Mission (pronounced Ark) is dedicated to archiving human knowledge for thousands and thousands of years. To do so, they've adopted a technology where quartz silica disks, permanently etched by a special type of laser, allow the disk to carry up to 360 terabytes of information. On the disks included in this launch, Arch Mission included the text of Issac Asimov's Foundation series. Why? Because they're awesome! The Foundation series original trilogy spans thousands of years in three distinctive yet interrelated novels. Then, there are a number of prequels and sequels. But, the premise is that this Tesla, destined to orbit our sun for the rest of our lives and generations to come is carrying texts that may foretell our futures through the eyes of 1950's science fiction where the story's timeline spans eons. That's super nerdy and super cool.
Who knows if sentient beings will be able to retrieve the Tesla within it's projected lifetime: millions of years. But, if they do, let's hope they'll be able to decode the Arch disk books to see what we were going for. But, I do know that thanks to Elon Musk, and the money he and other billionaires feed into our national space program, some of our legacy as the human race will be preserved for eternity...which is good, because, if Seveneves is accurate, we've got a moon to worry about and a space station to build (for additional reference, see Ron Howard in 2019 for the movie adaptation; the future is just a minute away...or a year or so).
Back to real life, and Elon Musk's SpaceX was able to launch a rocket able to carry payloads of up to 140,700 lbs...which made his launching a Tesla Coupe (roughly 2,900 lbs) a piece of cake. In one of the most amazing feats, SpaceX was able to retrieve two out of three of the booster rockets that pushed the Falcon Heavy rocket into low orbit and beyond on February 6 around 3:45pm EST. Yeah, the third one, which was scheduled to land on an autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) 300 miles off the coast of Florida had a landing booboo. Where the first two stage-1 rockets not only flew back and successfully landed upright on landing pads at Cape Canaveral, the center core booster failed to initiate slowing burns and is probably at the ocean floor after hitting the surface of the water at 300 miles per hour. Whoops.
Still, an amazing feet. As if the successful deployment and retrieval of 66% of the rockets wasn't enough, the Tesla Coupe payload is meant to eventually orbit Mars and then continue to circle the sun for, potentially, billions of years. However, in addition to the core's apparent demise, team SpaceX overshot their orbit due to an unplanned elongated burn which pushed the Tesla and the Starman (the propped mannequin in a spacesuit "driving" the car) past its intentional orbit. It seems that, based on new calculations, it'll pass "nearby" Earth in 2021 at about 28 million miles away, but mostly linger alone in the void of space for near-eternity.
But, forget all that. What I'm geeking out about is that, when the Tesla was first exposed to space, the launch center turned on its audio. Apparently, the car is blasting David Bowie's "Life on Mars" track, which was played back on Earth during the launch. The naming of the mannequin, StarMan is also a Bowie reference. I love me some Bowie. In the center console, there's a sign which is dear to my heart: "Don't Panic," which is a direct reference to Douglas Adam's most popular book: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And, if that's not enough, SpaceX included at least one more easter egg.
A company named Arch Mission (pronounced Ark) is dedicated to archiving human knowledge for thousands and thousands of years. To do so, they've adopted a technology where quartz silica disks, permanently etched by a special type of laser, allow the disk to carry up to 360 terabytes of information. On the disks included in this launch, Arch Mission included the text of Issac Asimov's Foundation series. Why? Because they're awesome! The Foundation series original trilogy spans thousands of years in three distinctive yet interrelated novels. Then, there are a number of prequels and sequels. But, the premise is that this Tesla, destined to orbit our sun for the rest of our lives and generations to come is carrying texts that may foretell our futures through the eyes of 1950's science fiction where the story's timeline spans eons. That's super nerdy and super cool.
Who knows if sentient beings will be able to retrieve the Tesla within it's projected lifetime: millions of years. But, if they do, let's hope they'll be able to decode the Arch disk books to see what we were going for. But, I do know that thanks to Elon Musk, and the money he and other billionaires feed into our national space program, some of our legacy as the human race will be preserved for eternity...which is good, because, if Seveneves is accurate, we've got a moon to worry about and a space station to build (for additional reference, see Ron Howard in 2019 for the movie adaptation; the future is just a minute away...or a year or so).
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Inconsistent
I didn't watch the President in his State of the Union address. And, in hindsight, I'm glad I didn't. Honestly, based on a year's worth of empty rhetoric, it was obvious to me that, no matter what he said, in a week's time, he'll say that he never said those words. His ability to about-face without consequence has been one of the most upsetting components of his "Presidential" style. So, why would I waste 2 hours of my time listening to a man who, when it becomes fashionable, will back-track regardless of the proof otherwise.
Amazingly, I've ready a number of reviews where even the New York Times reported that what he said was mostly true. The economy is roaring. Joblessness rates have fallen. Companies keep chirping about what a great thing the corporate tax break has been, and how they're reinvesting (some) back into their employees. Those are all good things, and, frankly, are largely due to this business-first President.
And then Captain Asshat starts his continued needling of the FBI, this time through Republican agents in Congress with a highly edited memo. Certainly, with the recent resignation of the Deputy Director, and his continued anger that there's even an investigation going on, it makes sense that any opportunity he and his minions get, they'll try to trash the integrity of those, supposedly, standing in his way with a "burn it down" attitude.
Still, I'm troubled with his paranoid assumptions that all existing agencies are skewed against him and his agenda. While it's clear to me that leadership of those agencies under an Obama White House should be replaced by any successor, it's his constant attacks and vitriol against the lower employees, some who have worked efficiently under both Republican and Democratic administrations, that bothers me most. As one who has had to hold his government job under a fiercely Republican governor, my side-jokes aside, I performed just as I did when I worked under a Democratic administration because the law that established my office is just that, the law. The policy changes that occurred during the new administration's were largely financial: we did less because they cut our budget to plug other leaks in the dike. Yes, I didn't agree with the politics of what was happening in my state, but that didn't preclude me from doing my job. If anything, I doubled down to make sure that the mission of the law was being carried forth, to the best of my ability.
I will make the assumption that large numbers of employees of the Federal government who are cogs and not figureheads are doing the same. I get that in this day of social media even those cogs get a say about the policies they may be forced to support, but then it's the directors of those employees to weed out the people who are actually standing in the way of progress...who are proven to be obstructionist and not just because their wife made a donation to the party who lost the election. That's ridiculous.
Without polling anyone, and without knowing actual numbers, I would believe that the majority of employees who work in State and Federal government do so because they want to improve social services for their constituency. That statement alone may be enough for a conservative politician to expect that the world is against him or her. There's no use whining about it. Instead, get your ass in gear to name your appointments that they can then move policy to be in line with the administrative agenda. Don't drag your feet because the more quickly you can install like-minded directors, the more quickly you can have consistency at the governmental level and right the perceived wrongs of your predecessors. Anything less and you're just part of the partisan problem this nation doesn't need at this point in history.
And stop bragging about your Neilson ratings. It's pathetic as much as it's inconsistent with the truth.
Amazingly, I've ready a number of reviews where even the New York Times reported that what he said was mostly true. The economy is roaring. Joblessness rates have fallen. Companies keep chirping about what a great thing the corporate tax break has been, and how they're reinvesting (some) back into their employees. Those are all good things, and, frankly, are largely due to this business-first President.
And then Captain Asshat starts his continued needling of the FBI, this time through Republican agents in Congress with a highly edited memo. Certainly, with the recent resignation of the Deputy Director, and his continued anger that there's even an investigation going on, it makes sense that any opportunity he and his minions get, they'll try to trash the integrity of those, supposedly, standing in his way with a "burn it down" attitude.
Still, I'm troubled with his paranoid assumptions that all existing agencies are skewed against him and his agenda. While it's clear to me that leadership of those agencies under an Obama White House should be replaced by any successor, it's his constant attacks and vitriol against the lower employees, some who have worked efficiently under both Republican and Democratic administrations, that bothers me most. As one who has had to hold his government job under a fiercely Republican governor, my side-jokes aside, I performed just as I did when I worked under a Democratic administration because the law that established my office is just that, the law. The policy changes that occurred during the new administration's were largely financial: we did less because they cut our budget to plug other leaks in the dike. Yes, I didn't agree with the politics of what was happening in my state, but that didn't preclude me from doing my job. If anything, I doubled down to make sure that the mission of the law was being carried forth, to the best of my ability.
I will make the assumption that large numbers of employees of the Federal government who are cogs and not figureheads are doing the same. I get that in this day of social media even those cogs get a say about the policies they may be forced to support, but then it's the directors of those employees to weed out the people who are actually standing in the way of progress...who are proven to be obstructionist and not just because their wife made a donation to the party who lost the election. That's ridiculous.
Without polling anyone, and without knowing actual numbers, I would believe that the majority of employees who work in State and Federal government do so because they want to improve social services for their constituency. That statement alone may be enough for a conservative politician to expect that the world is against him or her. There's no use whining about it. Instead, get your ass in gear to name your appointments that they can then move policy to be in line with the administrative agenda. Don't drag your feet because the more quickly you can install like-minded directors, the more quickly you can have consistency at the governmental level and right the perceived wrongs of your predecessors. Anything less and you're just part of the partisan problem this nation doesn't need at this point in history.
And stop bragging about your Neilson ratings. It's pathetic as much as it's inconsistent with the truth.
Friday, January 26, 2018
Home remedy
This week was difficult for a number of reasons I've already expressed in direct FaceBook posts. Without going into great detail, I will tell you that I've been able to weather the storm through my usual outlets: family, friends and music.
The well wishing that came out in the past 24 hours has been encouraging. And, thank you for that. Also, our family has been super supportive and understanding. Not everyone's is. And I bought my wife and I two things: tickets to see Keller Williams in Jersey City with friends (more friends) and then a trip for two to the New Orleans French Quarter Festival where I will most certainly gain exactly 13 pounds in mind-numbing oyster and remoulade binges whilst listening to NOLA's best local musicians. I may "Kemit and BBQ" as well. Zydeco and shrimp/alligator cheesecake? What's better than that?
Star Wars is a great teacher of balance and counter balance...the constant tug of power between good and evil, happiness and sadness, etc. We know that, without ruining "The Last Jedi" for the two people who haven't seen it yet (get to a theater you lazy bastards), the Force must be kept in balance. Anakin slaughtered prospective Jedis in the prequels, and Luke's/Kylo's fate in the latest installment once again evened everything out. So, with those life lessons first mentioned in the science-fiction best-seller The Bible, I think that my family and I are overdue for something spectacular. Why? It's been a rough couple of months. Now, if I could only get Rey to learn how to play the accordion. Oh, wait, food, star wars, accordion??? I guess I've got that too.
The well wishing that came out in the past 24 hours has been encouraging. And, thank you for that. Also, our family has been super supportive and understanding. Not everyone's is. And I bought my wife and I two things: tickets to see Keller Williams in Jersey City with friends (more friends) and then a trip for two to the New Orleans French Quarter Festival where I will most certainly gain exactly 13 pounds in mind-numbing oyster and remoulade binges whilst listening to NOLA's best local musicians. I may "Kemit and BBQ" as well. Zydeco and shrimp/alligator cheesecake? What's better than that?
Star Wars is a great teacher of balance and counter balance...the constant tug of power between good and evil, happiness and sadness, etc. We know that, without ruining "The Last Jedi" for the two people who haven't seen it yet (get to a theater you lazy bastards), the Force must be kept in balance. Anakin slaughtered prospective Jedis in the prequels, and Luke's/Kylo's fate in the latest installment once again evened everything out. So, with those life lessons first mentioned in the science-fiction best-seller The Bible, I think that my family and I are overdue for something spectacular. Why? It's been a rough couple of months. Now, if I could only get Rey to learn how to play the accordion. Oh, wait, food, star wars, accordion??? I guess I've got that too.
Thursday, January 18, 2018
The Bucks Stops Here?
FaceBook is good for a lot of things, but advocacy probably isn't one of them. For starters, it's super easy to read a post about some issue that gets people's knickers in a twist and then click a button to "sign" in support or opposition.
People, this isn't helpful.
What happens after you've clicked the link? Most of the time it's out of sight, out of mind. On to the next atrocity. Digital signatures are largely empty without your willingness to take the next step: action.
That said, I'm calling "bologna" (my kid-friendly alternative to BS) on the petition to keep Starbucks coffee out of Yosemite National Park. Um...why? Because they're huge? Because they're synonymous with a consistent cup of coffee nationally and internationally? Is Starbucks the "Walmart" of beverage chains?
I think most signers of the petition see Starbucks as the commercialization of our National Park System. If they allow a Starbucks, people will probably rationalize that a McDonald's can't be too far behind, and Walmart after that. However, if you know a little something about some of our national parks (and I pretend I do) then you also know that some of our most visited parks have food and lodging services contracted out to a large national firm named Xanterra. And, from my experience, they do a damn good job.
Xanterra manages the lodges at eight of our parks: Crater Lake, Death Valley, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone and Zion. The business takes pride in serving these natural wonders and strives to provide excellent service without sacrificing the environment. How so? Soaps left in lodge rooms is biodegradable. They actively recycle and promote water use responsibility. The provide a host of products and food that is organic and sustainable. I mean, for an American hotel chain, they do more than a decent job.
Oh, and they try to, at the same time, provide some of the comforts of home, which includes beverage choices such as S. Pellegrino water, name brand juices, Coors Light, Sam Adams, Blue Moon, Sierra Nevada, and Stella Artois. As for the coffee offerings, you have, in many locations, Peet's. Don't get me wrong, Peet's Coffee has around 240 locations earning approximately $800 million (2016) per year. Starbucks dwarfs that with 22,000 stores and profits of $17 Billion with a "B." But, one could argue that both have strong philanthropic arms to help sustain an industry that depends on high environmental quality to ensure consistency across their many locations. Yes, Starbucks is bigger, but at revenues that top $800 million, Peet's is plenty big. Comparatively, $800 million is similar to the New York Times, Groupon, and what Star Wars, The Last Jedi pulled in for their first two weeks. This is real money.
All said and done, Starbucks in a National Park wouldn't be the end of the world, just a continuation of trends in our National Park system where these environmental locales strive not only to get you to visit, but to stay and spend some money too. And, if there are products you're already familiar with which would make your stay more pleasurable, then consider the value added vs. immediately assuming that household brands might ruin your experience. And leave your Crest 3D White Toothpaste at home. Those beads are terrible for the environment.
People, this isn't helpful.
What happens after you've clicked the link? Most of the time it's out of sight, out of mind. On to the next atrocity. Digital signatures are largely empty without your willingness to take the next step: action.
That said, I'm calling "bologna" (my kid-friendly alternative to BS) on the petition to keep Starbucks coffee out of Yosemite National Park. Um...why? Because they're huge? Because they're synonymous with a consistent cup of coffee nationally and internationally? Is Starbucks the "Walmart" of beverage chains?
I think most signers of the petition see Starbucks as the commercialization of our National Park System. If they allow a Starbucks, people will probably rationalize that a McDonald's can't be too far behind, and Walmart after that. However, if you know a little something about some of our national parks (and I pretend I do) then you also know that some of our most visited parks have food and lodging services contracted out to a large national firm named Xanterra. And, from my experience, they do a damn good job.
Xanterra manages the lodges at eight of our parks: Crater Lake, Death Valley, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone and Zion. The business takes pride in serving these natural wonders and strives to provide excellent service without sacrificing the environment. How so? Soaps left in lodge rooms is biodegradable. They actively recycle and promote water use responsibility. The provide a host of products and food that is organic and sustainable. I mean, for an American hotel chain, they do more than a decent job.
Oh, and they try to, at the same time, provide some of the comforts of home, which includes beverage choices such as S. Pellegrino water, name brand juices, Coors Light, Sam Adams, Blue Moon, Sierra Nevada, and Stella Artois. As for the coffee offerings, you have, in many locations, Peet's. Don't get me wrong, Peet's Coffee has around 240 locations earning approximately $800 million (2016) per year. Starbucks dwarfs that with 22,000 stores and profits of $17 Billion with a "B." But, one could argue that both have strong philanthropic arms to help sustain an industry that depends on high environmental quality to ensure consistency across their many locations. Yes, Starbucks is bigger, but at revenues that top $800 million, Peet's is plenty big. Comparatively, $800 million is similar to the New York Times, Groupon, and what Star Wars, The Last Jedi pulled in for their first two weeks. This is real money.
All said and done, Starbucks in a National Park wouldn't be the end of the world, just a continuation of trends in our National Park system where these environmental locales strive not only to get you to visit, but to stay and spend some money too. And, if there are products you're already familiar with which would make your stay more pleasurable, then consider the value added vs. immediately assuming that household brands might ruin your experience. And leave your Crest 3D White Toothpaste at home. Those beads are terrible for the environment.
Friday, January 12, 2018
Economic Ebb and Flow
Look, there is a natural ebb and flow of jobs in the United States when you approach January 1st. There's tax incentive to tidy up your employee base before the beginning of a new year...so that you don't have to deal with it over the course of multiple returns.
However, the President couldn't have been happier when corporate announcements began to be reported: AT&T is going to give up to $1,000 bonuses to around 200,000 employees in response to the generous tax cut their receiving from the Federal government. Similarly, this week, Walmart has indicated that they will be raising the minimum hourly wage AND giving out up to $1,000 merit-based bonuses. That's not all! CNN is reporting that Comcast, Boeing and Wells Fargo will be passing on some of their newfound wealth to their employees as a result of the new tax legislation.
But all is not how it seems. Let's take them one by one.
AT&T, as it's widely been reported, has recently laid off 2,000 employees. Some of them were from DirecTV where there may have been redundancies. There were over 200 "highly skilled" technicians from the south who were handed pink slips. And, there were others, but, using averages provided by GlassDoor.com, with lay-offs alone, the company just saved over $90 million to use for their newly announced bonus program.
Walmart, who owns Sam's Club, just surprised the business world by announcing the closing of 63 stores which employ, roughly, 175 employees. Granted, some may be reshuffled, but the lowest paid employees at Sam's will likely not be. Back of the envelope numbers suggests that over 11,000 Walmart employees just, suddenly, lost their jobs.
At Boeing in Seattle, over the course of 2017, 1,800 employees who would have been fired took buy-outs, and another 800 were laid off.
Comcast just laid off 500 employees, yes, a drop in the bucket...unless you're one of the 500.
Wells Fargo just laid off 5,300 employees. Don't worry, they're bolstering their office in the Philippines, which went from a meager 100 employees to 4,000 in the past 6 years.
Business is business, and, frequently, jobs added don't make the headlines. However, it seems to be a trend with the companies who have announced how good they're about to be to their employee base. Before we credit the Federal government with creating an economic boon, consider those not reported in last month's unemployment statistics, which, economists agree, isn't the end-all be-all measure of a healthy economy. Also consider those who stopped looking for work (i.e. early retiring Baby Boomers), who are on the verge of over-taxing our pension and entitlement programs just due to sheer volume.
It may be easy for a conservative to point out that "hey, you Dems aren't even happy when things are great, just because he's not who you voted for...snowflake!" Yes, minimum wage increases and tax law-related bonuses are just part of the whole picture, and before we point out how peripherally beneficial the new tax law is, we need to understand the full stories around those companies and their one-off PR power play.
If the headlines next Christmas indicate that more $1,000 bonuses are being given, well, I'll be happy to be wrong.
However, the President couldn't have been happier when corporate announcements began to be reported: AT&T is going to give up to $1,000 bonuses to around 200,000 employees in response to the generous tax cut their receiving from the Federal government. Similarly, this week, Walmart has indicated that they will be raising the minimum hourly wage AND giving out up to $1,000 merit-based bonuses. That's not all! CNN is reporting that Comcast, Boeing and Wells Fargo will be passing on some of their newfound wealth to their employees as a result of the new tax legislation.
But all is not how it seems. Let's take them one by one.
AT&T, as it's widely been reported, has recently laid off 2,000 employees. Some of them were from DirecTV where there may have been redundancies. There were over 200 "highly skilled" technicians from the south who were handed pink slips. And, there were others, but, using averages provided by GlassDoor.com, with lay-offs alone, the company just saved over $90 million to use for their newly announced bonus program.
Walmart, who owns Sam's Club, just surprised the business world by announcing the closing of 63 stores which employ, roughly, 175 employees. Granted, some may be reshuffled, but the lowest paid employees at Sam's will likely not be. Back of the envelope numbers suggests that over 11,000 Walmart employees just, suddenly, lost their jobs.
At Boeing in Seattle, over the course of 2017, 1,800 employees who would have been fired took buy-outs, and another 800 were laid off.
Comcast just laid off 500 employees, yes, a drop in the bucket...unless you're one of the 500.
Wells Fargo just laid off 5,300 employees. Don't worry, they're bolstering their office in the Philippines, which went from a meager 100 employees to 4,000 in the past 6 years.
Business is business, and, frequently, jobs added don't make the headlines. However, it seems to be a trend with the companies who have announced how good they're about to be to their employee base. Before we credit the Federal government with creating an economic boon, consider those not reported in last month's unemployment statistics, which, economists agree, isn't the end-all be-all measure of a healthy economy. Also consider those who stopped looking for work (i.e. early retiring Baby Boomers), who are on the verge of over-taxing our pension and entitlement programs just due to sheer volume.
It may be easy for a conservative to point out that "hey, you Dems aren't even happy when things are great, just because he's not who you voted for...snowflake!" Yes, minimum wage increases and tax law-related bonuses are just part of the whole picture, and before we point out how peripherally beneficial the new tax law is, we need to understand the full stories around those companies and their one-off PR power play.
If the headlines next Christmas indicate that more $1,000 bonuses are being given, well, I'll be happy to be wrong.
Friday, January 5, 2018
Someone Else's Music
I can't seem to find it. I thought I had written extensively about Phish in past posts. I guess not, so, at the risk of repeating myself, at the risk of repeating myself, here's the skinny:
There was no way I was going to spend money on the band. In 2003, a great friend from high school (Shaggy) had two interests: the now defunct Palmyra Tea Room that used to be in Bound Brook, and this hippy band Phish. Like devotees of the Grateful Dead, Shaggy would hoof it to the surrounding states in order to see multiple shows at a single venue. It was strange. I mean, at that time, I loved music, and had seen my fair share of "jam bands" like Santana and the Allman Brothers, but you knew, from year to year, you were going to see the hits...and the novelty of seeing a band that was supposedly improvisation/experimentation personified, wore off...especially when, back-to-back years they played nearly the same set. Yawn. Then, my girlfriend bought me a ticket.
She said, (and I'm paraphrasing), "Sweetness, this band, Phish, is the bees knees and I used to follow them, and it's 2003, and they're coming to the Jerz, and we're getting lawn seats with my friend, and maybe your obsessed friend Shaggy will be there too." Where is it, I asked? "Camden," she said. We lived in Montclair. An effing long haul. What's the weather going to be? It's going to pour. Great. And, I didn't know any of their music. I told her that, unless the band played someone else's music, this would be the first, and last show of theirs I saw. She didn't care.
We met her friend in the parking lot. I think the friend trucked in from NY State...with her dog. Stupid children were doing whippets a couple of cars away. Drugs were apparent. Authorities didn't care. Pre-show was already living up to my low expectations. I donned a rather unflattering plastic poncho from Sears. It was starting to drizzle. Once in the venue, and sufficiently buzzed (don't ask), the band started playing. And they were good. First observations were that they were super talented. Guitarist's fingers were moving quite fast a la Zappa...well, maybe not that good, but good enough. Tunes were varied and long. We had met up with Shaggy who was getting drenched with us in the grass. He gave me a play-by-play, Phish for beginners, explanation of each song. It was immediately clear to me that he wasn't the only obsessed fan. The show was good...the lights were amazing, and then came the encore: Frankenstein by Edgar Winters, i.e. someone else's music.
On New Year's Eve, 2017, My now-wife and I met up with Shaggy pre-show, which was number 35 for me, and 137 for Shaggy (wife doesn't keep record, but I'm sure she's in and around 100 shows). I had already met up with him the night before for that show, but NYE was the biggie of the run. On New Year's they play 3-sets instead of two, and the evening typically features a ridiculous stunt or gag between the second and third sets, just around midnight. By some strange coincidence Shaggy's seats were in the same row as ours...the next section over...about 10 seats away. Or maybe it's not coincidence...the night before I knew the people behind me, met them over 10 years ago...and others in my section...and bumped into an ex-co-worker who had his seats in the next section over with his very pregnant wife. I rode the train home with friends from college...and Shaggy. Chalk it up to Phish magic. But NYE was incredible. They played (mostly) songs I knew. The fans were ridiculously enthusiastic. The stunt was tech heavy (you know I love my tech). Everyone was in a great mood, the show flew by (from 8:30p-1:15a), they encored with our wedding song, and, at the end, I was ready for another set.
It was exactly what I needed. The news this year has been dismal. Environmental regulations evaporating. Taxes going up. Property values potentially going down. National Monuments shrinking. Global Warming (it's a real thing), and women's rights, and #metoo, and the 2017 list goes on and on. I desperately needed a break, and Phish was that break. Their music isn't overtly political unless you read way too deeply into it, so there was no potential for reminders of what was happening in the outside world. It was just fantastic that me and my 21,000 friends were able to recharge for 4 days before Washington's Captain Idiot and the Hatchetmen (might steal that as the new name for my band) got back to his work challenging things I hold dear and appreciate.
Phish wasn't what I wanted, but in the 15 years I've been following them, they are what I need from time to time. It's January of 2018, and I want to wish you a happy new year, and hope that, in the past week, you had your moment of distraction from reality, enough to recharge your batteries so that you can accomplish everything you want/need to. If not, no worries, I hear that the band is planning a summer festival at Watkins Glen, NY. See you there. And, if it's your first time, maybe they'll play someone else's music.
There was no way I was going to spend money on the band. In 2003, a great friend from high school (Shaggy) had two interests: the now defunct Palmyra Tea Room that used to be in Bound Brook, and this hippy band Phish. Like devotees of the Grateful Dead, Shaggy would hoof it to the surrounding states in order to see multiple shows at a single venue. It was strange. I mean, at that time, I loved music, and had seen my fair share of "jam bands" like Santana and the Allman Brothers, but you knew, from year to year, you were going to see the hits...and the novelty of seeing a band that was supposedly improvisation/experimentation personified, wore off...especially when, back-to-back years they played nearly the same set. Yawn. Then, my girlfriend bought me a ticket.
She said, (and I'm paraphrasing), "Sweetness, this band, Phish, is the bees knees and I used to follow them, and it's 2003, and they're coming to the Jerz, and we're getting lawn seats with my friend, and maybe your obsessed friend Shaggy will be there too." Where is it, I asked? "Camden," she said. We lived in Montclair. An effing long haul. What's the weather going to be? It's going to pour. Great. And, I didn't know any of their music. I told her that, unless the band played someone else's music, this would be the first, and last show of theirs I saw. She didn't care.
We met her friend in the parking lot. I think the friend trucked in from NY State...with her dog. Stupid children were doing whippets a couple of cars away. Drugs were apparent. Authorities didn't care. Pre-show was already living up to my low expectations. I donned a rather unflattering plastic poncho from Sears. It was starting to drizzle. Once in the venue, and sufficiently buzzed (don't ask), the band started playing. And they were good. First observations were that they were super talented. Guitarist's fingers were moving quite fast a la Zappa...well, maybe not that good, but good enough. Tunes were varied and long. We had met up with Shaggy who was getting drenched with us in the grass. He gave me a play-by-play, Phish for beginners, explanation of each song. It was immediately clear to me that he wasn't the only obsessed fan. The show was good...the lights were amazing, and then came the encore: Frankenstein by Edgar Winters, i.e. someone else's music.
On New Year's Eve, 2017, My now-wife and I met up with Shaggy pre-show, which was number 35 for me, and 137 for Shaggy (wife doesn't keep record, but I'm sure she's in and around 100 shows). I had already met up with him the night before for that show, but NYE was the biggie of the run. On New Year's they play 3-sets instead of two, and the evening typically features a ridiculous stunt or gag between the second and third sets, just around midnight. By some strange coincidence Shaggy's seats were in the same row as ours...the next section over...about 10 seats away. Or maybe it's not coincidence...the night before I knew the people behind me, met them over 10 years ago...and others in my section...and bumped into an ex-co-worker who had his seats in the next section over with his very pregnant wife. I rode the train home with friends from college...and Shaggy. Chalk it up to Phish magic. But NYE was incredible. They played (mostly) songs I knew. The fans were ridiculously enthusiastic. The stunt was tech heavy (you know I love my tech). Everyone was in a great mood, the show flew by (from 8:30p-1:15a), they encored with our wedding song, and, at the end, I was ready for another set.
It was exactly what I needed. The news this year has been dismal. Environmental regulations evaporating. Taxes going up. Property values potentially going down. National Monuments shrinking. Global Warming (it's a real thing), and women's rights, and #metoo, and the 2017 list goes on and on. I desperately needed a break, and Phish was that break. Their music isn't overtly political unless you read way too deeply into it, so there was no potential for reminders of what was happening in the outside world. It was just fantastic that me and my 21,000 friends were able to recharge for 4 days before Washington's Captain Idiot and the Hatchetmen (might steal that as the new name for my band) got back to his work challenging things I hold dear and appreciate.
Phish wasn't what I wanted, but in the 15 years I've been following them, they are what I need from time to time. It's January of 2018, and I want to wish you a happy new year, and hope that, in the past week, you had your moment of distraction from reality, enough to recharge your batteries so that you can accomplish everything you want/need to. If not, no worries, I hear that the band is planning a summer festival at Watkins Glen, NY. See you there. And, if it's your first time, maybe they'll play someone else's music.
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