08.21.08
46 Million U.S. Workers Have No Paid Sick Days
But, according to Yahoo News, lawmakers in 12 states have proposed legislation in the past year that would require businesses to provide them.
This problem is yet another example of how many Americans (FORTY THREE PERCENT of the private industry workforce) lack basic economic human rights:
“Proposed federal legislation would provide workers with seven days of paid sick leave a year for employees who work 30 or more hours a week. The benefit would be prorated for part-time workers.
Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, supports the legislation.
Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, opposes employer mandates, particularly when the economy is slowing, his campaign said.”
It’s hard to imagine that there are people in the FOOD industry who do not have paid sick days, huh?
And because some people were asking: Yeah, Spiddlement will DEFINITELY be voting OBAMA.
Link (to “States push laws to require sick paid days” via Yahoo News)
08.20.08
Muxtape vs. RIAA
Muxtape was such a cool idea. Make your own digital mixtape and share it with your friends.
So of course, the RIAA had to step in and ruin it.
Rolling Stone reports that Muxtape is probably on solid legal ground, protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, but that legal expenses may be a problem:
“‘I think they have a strong legal defense,’ Von Lohmann told RollingStone.com. ‘The problem is if they might not have that money to go to court and take on the RIAA.’ Von Lohmann said legal fees could cost around $2-3 million, an investment the Websites would likely rather spend on tech engineers.”
Link (to “How Screwed Is Muxtape?” via Rolling Stone)
Link (to “Muxtape Down Because of RIAA” via Ghacks)
Japanese Dental Floss
Front and back images of Johnson & Johnson REACH brand dental floss purchased in West Tokyo.
Product not rated (but worked well).
08.17.08
The Fiery Furnaces “Ex Guru” live, “Blueberry Boat” fan made video
(Live on KCRW, 10-24-2007)
In celebration of The Fiery Furnace’s new live album Remember (out this month), here’s a great live performance of “Ex Guru” as well as an interesting fan-made video for “Blueberry Boat”.
Lyrics to “Blueberry Boat” can be found here.
Link (for “Ex Guru” video)
Link (for “Blueberry Boat” video)
Cervantes on Attaining The Impossible
“In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd.” - Miguel de Cervantes
In 40 Years, We Will All Be Overweight
Well, not EVERYONE, but most Americans.
Fighting the mainstream culture of huge portions and high calorie junk food is a daily battle, especially for low income people with a limited food budget.
“The new projections, published in the journal Obesity, are based on government survey data collected between the 1970s and 2004.
If the trends of those years continue, the researchers estimate that 86 percent of American adults will be overweight by 2030, with an obesity rate of 51 percent. By 2048, all U.S. adults could be at least mildly overweight.”
Link (to “If trends continue, we’ll all be fat in 40 years” via MSNBC)
Edward Bulwer-Lytton on Genius
“Talent does what it can, Genius does what it must.” — Edward Bulwer-Lytton
08.07.08
Friends To Go — Paul + George fanmade video
Being a big fan of both Paul and George solo, I liked this song a lot. It does sound like very much like an unrecorded George song — and I thought that even before I ever read Paul’s comments on it.
I also recently started playing acoustic guitar regularly for the first time in many years, and realized it’s a fun one to strum.
