#diapers #drapes #dumpsters #PublicInterest #WhatToHide #WhatNotToHide
Drapes, diapers and dumpsters.
All three hide what we do.
One of them can hide pleasures. The other two hide waste.
All hide things that probably should be hidden.
But, they can’t hide everything.
The question becomes: are you hiding what should be hidden? Or, are you hiding things that should not?
If you are an open person, you generally believe that most of what you do should not be hidden. Some, of course, should and must be hidden – often behind or in drapes, diapers and dumpsters.
Still, some tend to hide EVERYTHING. These folks are either private to a fault, or they are committing nefarious deeds.
What lesson should we learn here? Some of what we do should rightly be hidden. Other things, perhaps should not.
Journalists, and rightly so, fight for everything to be open – not hidden. If they come across things that rightly should be hidden, they, generally, keep them so.
But if they come across things that should not be hidden, they rightly expose them.
Generally, there is no malice in their decisions. They see themselves, and rightly so, as arbiters of the public interest.
Sometimes, that may involve undraping proverbial diapers and dumpsters.
Sometimes, public interest treasure can be found among the waste.
A lesson here could be that unless you are private to a fault, and do not often engage in public activities, you can probably keep your entire life concealed.
But, if you prefer to interact and engage in public activities, you should take great care in what you conceal.
That isn’t to say that ALL personal information or deeds should be in the public domain. In fact, one should take great care in securing personal information, to save himself or herself from scams, theft and other damage.
But if your activities can affect or influence the public interest, exposure should be allowed, if not welcomed.
In short, part of what you do – the part no one needs or wants to see — should be behind drapes, or in diapers and dumpsters.
The parts of what you do that affect others – people you may not even know personally – should be done in the open.
Those who deliberately conceal nefarious deeds should be exposed for what they are.
As the saying goes, sunlight can be the best disinfectant. Let the sun shine in on most of what you do. You’ll be a better person for it.
Peter
Author Archives: pbilodeau01
EMPLOYERS WANT WORKERS BACK IN THE WORKPLACE, BUT …
#employers #employees #WorkFromHome #WorkRemotely #workplaces
An office building in downtown Atlanta is going into foreclosure.
Companies want their employees who’ve been working remotely to come back to their workplaces, but many employees don’t want to.
Working from home has many advantages. Given the high gasoline prices today, cars parked or garaged at home are not using gasoline.
Since the pandemic forced a lot of child-care operations out of business, parents can work AND care for children from home. That’s money in their pockets.
Many workers have set up nice, comfortable workspaces in their home offices. They may not want to go back to the dingy, cold cubicles in their company’s workplace.
It’s clear why the companies want people back to their workplaces. They are paying for space that isn’t occupied. They want an easier way to observe what their workers are doing, how they are doing it etc. They don’t want workers distracted by home life.
The employers also want to rebuild team cohesiveness. That’s tough to do on Zoom, or some other remote communication.
But the workers have every reason to like working from home. If for no other reason, it gives THEM more control over their lives. It’s not that they, in most cases, want to be lazy, not do what they are supposed to and still get paid because no one is watching.
Let’s face it. Going to work is expensive. Commuting, day care, lunch in the cafeteria all costs money.
Any worker who is able to work remotely and save those costs will want to keep doing it.
Sure, they may miss the interaction with coworkers. They may miss happy hour at the end of the week. They may miss the retirement parties and other office gatherings, though they certainly can come into work on those days.
Bottom line is workers want options. Companies may lose good people if they take those options away entirely.
In this labor market, companies need to be very careful. Good workers are in demand, whether they work from home or not.
They will go where they will be treated best.
Of course, some workers don’t have the option to work from home. They have to make things, repair things, serve things and greet customers, which they can’t do from home.
But companies that force the issue of coming back to the workplace may discover that workers will rebel.
If they want the workers to come back, they will need to lure them back with some sort of incentive, be it money or something at the workplace that will make their cozy home offices less attractive.
It’s not necessarily an easy choice for employers or employees whether to go back to the office.
But options are always good to have, especially for workers.
Peter
CALL IN THE MAID
#MAID #MedicalAssistanceInDeath #DeathWithDignity #LongIllnesses #prognosis #diagnosis
Call in the MAID.
No, it’s not a sexist comment. MAID stands for medical assistance in death.
We all know death is inevitable. Most of us don’t know when it will come.
But if conditions are such that one’s diagnosis and prognosis offer no promising outcome, and the chances of staying alive a long time with no good quality – and lots of expense – are strong, it may be time to call in the MAID, which is also called Death with Dignity.
Some states, mostly on the West Coast, allow medical assistance in death. Naturally, certain conditions much exist. The patient must have medical clearance to have his or her death hastened.
But, it may be a better alternative than condemning a spouse, or other family members, to be longtime caregivers, with no hope for a good outcome.
It may also be a good alternative to prevent liquidation of one’s nest egg on medical care that has no curative effect.
Certainly, such a decision will not be easy. Even if the person wants the MAID, the family may want the person around for a long time, regardless of condition.
Certain religions prohibit MAID, but MAID indeed may be a merciful alternative. One does not play God when asking for MAID. He or she may just be just hastening the inevitable.
MAID is not the same as suicide. Suicide is when a person with a treatable condition – or no condition at all – just decides that life isn’t worth living. MAID simply avoids the prolonged agony of watching a person die a slow death that can be easily predicted.
Again, making such a decision is not easy for either the patient or loved ones. All medical factors have to be considered. The hope for recovery has to be completely unrealistic. Certainly, miracles can, and have happened. But, when hoping for a miracle is not a practical, or even wise, solution, MAID could be the answer.
Remember, medical care is expensive. It’s an investment, though not in a traditional sense. Is one investing in something that will produce results on the other end? If so, by all means, go for it.
Keeping one comfortable is laudable, even desirable. But months, or years, of comfort may not bring the patient all the way back. A patient should be comfortable, even as he or she is dying, but, eventually, it becomes a question of time. Time is expensive in many of these cases. Could avoiding that expense help the surviving spouse, or other family members, live better? Would the patient want that more than time alive, but not “living?”
A person may have psychological, religious or other reasons not to pursue MAID in the appropriate conditions.
But, everyone should know that MAID can be the right solution for some patients in the right circumstances.
Remember, too, that God created the scientists that make MAID possible, just as he created the scientists that can keep people alive for a long time.
It’s a matter of choice for the patient and family, with the correct and appropriate medical advice.
Sometimes, God may want a person to call in the MAID.
Peter
CLEAN-POWERED CARS BY 2035?
#CleanPoweredCars #GasolinePoweredCars #California #cars #transportation
California wants to ban the sale of new cars solely fueled by gasoline by 2035.
Used gas-powered cars will be allowed, but no new ones can be sold, according to the plan.
Certainly, climate change is real, and California is among the places hardest hit.
But it begs the question: how many used gasoline-powered cars will still be on the road?
It also begs the question: how long will it actually take to eliminate all gas-powered cars? The big issues are having enough rapid-charging stations, and how governments will cope with the decreased revenue from the gasoline tax, according to David Wickert, transportation writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Georgia is poised to become a leader in the manufacture of electric cars and the batteries that fuel them.
Here’s a thought: what if someone could come up with a way to convert internal-combustion cars to electric, hybrid or hydrogen power?
But, first things are first. As previously stated, there have to be more rapid-charging stations before we go entirely non-combustion.
Then, we have to look at auto manufacturing. It appears the big car companies are moving quickly away from internal combustion engines. That’s a good sign.
Then, the price of the clean-powered cars has to come down. The recent bill passed by Congress offers assistance in purchasing clean-powered vehicles, but to qualify, the vehicles have to be priced in a certain range. In other words, there are no subsidies to buy expensive cars, even if they are clean-powered.
Getting back to a previous thought, what does one do with a perfectly good gasoline-powered car? The body may be good enough to last for years. Would you spend, say, a few thousand dollars, or perhaps a bit more, to change out the guts of your car so you can drive your “new” clean-powered car?
Many would, perhaps. But now, there is no technology to do that. One might predict that someone, somewhere is working on that technology.
This news reminds us that transitions are hard. We may all want to do the right thing — the world may command us to do the right thing.
But moving from one era to the next requires infrastructure changes, innovation and the courage to move to something different. It’s also requires government to re-imagine revenue streams, as Wickert points out. All of these things can take time.
California is trying to provide that transition time. Can the innovators pull it off within that time?
Transitions are also messy. For example, if your gas-powered car craps out on you between now and then, and you can’t live without a car, what do you do that will solve your practical problem now, yet comply with the future new rules?
The lesson here is that we should have been preparing for this transition long before we did.
Certainly, it’s easier said than done. Hindsight is always 20-20.
But just because we are starting the transition in earnest later than we should have been doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.
The warming planet certainly isn’t waiting for us humans to act. It will keep warming, causing all sorts of disasters.
We just have to do the hard, messy things as we can. In fact, most of life’s journey involves hard, messy things. What’s convenient at the moment is not always the right thing for the future.
So, if you are not ready to ditch your gas-powered vehicle for something that runs much cleaner, your best bet is to hope you can buy enough time until the technology allows you to convert that vehicle, or the vehicle craps out on its own. Hopefully, you’ll be able to afford the change.
Peter
TRANSITION VS TRANSFORMATION
#transition #transformation #COVID19 #FlattenTheCurve #coronavirus #LifeChanges
So you want to make a change in your life.
Will that change be a transition, or transformation?
What’s the difference? Perhaps it can be summed up by saying a transition is a minor change, while a transformation is a major change.
COVID-19 has forced most of us to make small changes in our lives. It’s also forced some of us to make bigger changes.
Whatever type of change(s) you had to make, do you want to go back to the way things were?
Many would say YES, because they miss some interactions. They miss being able to do some things they liked doing.
But very likely, there are some – even quite a few – who see this period as a time to transform their lives. They actually do NOT want to go back to the way things were.
Perhaps the job they did before COVID was not satisfying to them. When the job disappeared during the pandemic, they had no thought about going back, although their old bosses really wanted them back.
Perhaps the pandemic led to more time at home, with children, family etc. They probably got to witness more of their children’s activities than they could when they were working.
Many probably discovered that going to work was expensive – commuting costs, buying lunch every day, day-care expenses etc. If they didn’t have those things, they discovered they could live on less. Or, they discovered that the pay they got was almost entirely eaten by those expenses.
So, how did the pandemic affect you? Did it give you perspective on your life, to the point that you realize there are better things out there for you?
Maybe you feel that way, but don’t know what those better things are. So, you instinctively go back to what you know, even though you didn’t particularly like that old situation.
Meanwhile, a “new normal” is evolving, We may not see a complete eradication of COVID-19 for some time, if ever.
Society has been trying to eradicate some diseases for decades. Other diseases – perhaps COVID-19 will be among them – can be kept at bay with vaccines. If you are eligible, but not vaccinated, getting the shots, including boosters, is your best weapon against serious illness or death.
Regardless, it would be safe to prepare for COVID-19 to be around for a good while. Adjust as you must, but know that you may not have to take unnecessary risks. If we all bore in mind that the virus is always lurking, perhaps we can all take steps to minimize its effect on our lives.
That will require an effort by EVERY individual.
Peter
JOBS AND RECESSION
#jobs #recession #economics #wages
The recent jobs report was double what was expected.
Yet, there is talk of recession.
It’s been said that a recession is defined by how each individual feels about his or her situation.
There are a few questions about the data, and economic perceptions here.
First, if there are a record number of jobs, are they all being filled? Many employers are begging for workers at all levels. Therefore, are they just creating empty slots on a payroll?
Secondly, if the economy has declined for two straight quarters – the technical definition of recession – shouldn’t employers be laying people off, not hiring?
In fact, many companies, Oracle, for example, are laying off people. But, is this a function of technological changes? Remember, as technologies evolve, the masters of the previous technology may not be needed when the new technology emerges. Changing technologies may mean changing staffs.
Thirdly, many people perceive we are heading toward recession because things are costing more, like food and gasoline. Inflation is indeed here, but that has many causes that are unrelated to a declining economy. The aforementioned labor shortages may be one, as companies have to pay workers more to hire or keep them. Supply-chain issues caused by the pandemic may be another, along with the war in Ukraine etc.
So, you may not feel that the economy is clicking on all cylinders, even if it may be. Inflation will ease as buyers naturally cut back. Therefore, ask yourself: is your job paying you more since the pandemic restrictions were lifted? Certainly, you are paying more for what you buy, which may mitigate your raise, but you could be paying more without getting a raise.
By the way, if you didn’t get a raise, feel free to look for something else. The jobs, and needs, are out there, and you may have more leverage as an employee than you’ve ever had.
Some describe this economy as complicated. Perhaps, it is. Suffice it to say that after pandemic lockdowns, there is pent-up demand not only to buy things, but to do things. And, many of those who sell or provide services to meet that demand are still staffing up to accomplish that.
Therefore, there will be some shortages and closings because there aren’t enough people to provide the products and services.
You, as a consumer, will feel that, and it won’t necessarily feel good. But, as the saying goes, one cannot turn a battleship around quickly. It will take time to resolve.
If you are feeling down about the economy, think of it this way: If you got a raise, chances are the raise will not go away. If prices now are eating away at the raise, and you feel you are no better off than you were, as inflation comes down, your raise will likely still be there.
If what you do for a living is becoming obsolete, and you can see it, try something else. We all have to adjust as times and technology change.
Sure, it’s no easy task to try something different. And, of course, if you learn something different, and THAT becomes obsolete, you are going to ask yourself “why did I bother?” The message here seems to be to keep learning and trying new things.
This economy is complicated. It is in transition. We all may have to muddle through for a time for things to get better.
But, we can say with some confidence that they usually do.
Peter
WORKPLACES ARE CHANGING; WORKERS’ ATTITUDES ARE, TOO
#workplaces #workers #pay #benefits #childcare #COVID19 #coronavirus #FlattenTheCurve
The pandemic changed everything.
First, it gave workers a bit more leverage in how they deal with work/life balance.
That has good, and bad, effects.
Workers are leaving jobs that paid little, with no flexibility in their lives, to either stay home with children – day-care costs are rising and options are limited – or moving on to jobs that pay more and, perhaps, offer some of the flexibility they want.
A story by Marc Fisher for the Washington Post, and a “This Life” column by Nedra Rhone tackle this issue in detail. Both were published Dec. 30, 2021, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Post story focuses on Liberty County, Ga., along the state’s coast. Liberty is a small county, with a major military institution, Ft. Stewart, as its biggest employer.
But the county is growing by adding big warehouses. These allow people to leave the small, mom-and-pop hotel and restaurant jobs for higher-paying, and often more flexible, warehouse work.
That hurts the lower-paying sole-owner businesses, causing them to cut back on hours, service etc., for lack of help.
Some employees had been laid off when many of these operations shut down. When they reopened, many of the workers did not return, for various reasons – not the least of which is the risk of being infected with COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Rhone’s column discusses the differences among various generations in how they react to changing workplaces.
The youngest generation of workers had their world turned upside down. Many now want to be entrepreneurs, meaning they may never work for anyone but themselves in their lives.
(What these young folks may not realize is that working only for oneself may have its own pitfalls. They still have to serve clients, who will be their ultimate employers).
So, all of this begs the usual question: where do you fit in this changing workplace?
Is the idea of going back to work too risky? Or, is it going to cost you more to go back to work (commuting, day care etc.) than you would make?
In summary, workplaces are changing. Workers no longer feel forced to take, or go back to, jobs that put them at risk, will cost them more to work than not, and not get a good return from the employer(s).
Employers currently are adapting by cutting back on things that could decimate their businesses. They have to find more creative ways to entice people from multiple generations, who have different hopes, dreams and attitudes toward the workplace.
To quote Donald Lovette, chairman of the Liberty County, Ga., Commission, from the Post story: “It’s not that people are lazy. It’s that some of them are better off financially by not paying for child care, staying home for a while … It’s simple economics.”
Employers, even those in basic businesses like hospitality and restaurants, have to come up with new ways to get and keep workers.
Peter
WACKY WEATHER A WARNING
#weather #ClimateChange #coronavirus #COVID-19 #FlattenTheCurve
Last winter, Texas froze.
This past winter, Alaska temperatures were in the 60s (December) and other places with normally cooler temperatures are in the 70s and 80s.
Tornadoes and wildfires erupt more frequently. This past winter, wildfires occurred in Colorado, which is normally covered in snow. (The snow came AFTER the fire).
The climate is changing. Inconvenient as that sounds, it’s happening. COVID-19 is inconvenient, too, but the virus isn’t going away.
Yes, we need to act, as a nation, a world, a community and as individuals to combat these phenomena. Unlike a common cold, which eventually goes away with rest, fluids and medication, we can’t rest and wait for the climate to get back to more normal, or for the coronavirus to disappear.
We have to do things to help create that disappearance. We have to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Then, we have to wear face coverings in confined public spaces where lots of people you may not know congregate.
We have to curtail our use of fossil fuels, and work toward the day we can eliminate them entirely. We can’t do that yet, as we have to wait for the technology to catch up. And it will. We are just not there yet.
Our individual mitigating activities are inconvenient. Most of us hate wearing masks. But, if we ALL do, and we ALL (who are eligible) get vaccinated, we can do our individual parts.
If we ALL curtail our use of fossil fuels – today’s high gasoline prices may help us do that — we can buy time for technology to allow us to eliminate them. That’s a tall order now, as electric cars and other clean energy innovations are being developed, but are either not quite perfected or are lacking the infrastructure to allow their widespread use.
Still, we can stop neither the virus nor climate change. The coronavirus may be here for the foreseeable future, but our individual actions – collectively – can help us live with it much easier.
Climate change is a bit different. We can’t stop severe weather or fires, but we can help by NOT living in the most vulnerable places. It’s nice to have a forest view out your back yard, but it may make your house a sitting duck for wildfire.
The same may go for houses on the beach. As nice as they are, as sea levels rise, they could get flooded to the point of no return.
The lesson here is not to blow off these things as inconveniences, and believe they will go away on their own.
After all, in the case of climate change, we, as humans, created it with our “progress.” The coronavirus, on the other hand, is a force of nature we have to fight.
Meanwhile, it’s urgent that we fight these phenomena and get our world back to somewhat normal ASAP. It won’t happen simply because we complain about inconveniences. It will happen by acting resiliently, collectively and individually to do the right thing.
Peter
SNIFFING CLOTHES AND MOTIVATION
#SniffingClothes #FabricSofteners #ads #motivators #WorkplaceMotivators
Most fabric softener TV ads have people gleefully sniffing their clothes.
When was the last time you did that? More to the point, do you buy a certain brand of fabric softener just so you can gleefully sniff your clothes?
Who’s creating these ads anyway? Not only are they not terribly entertaining, but they hardly persuade us to buy a certain brand of fabric softener.
Many employers are searching for certain motivators in the work place. Most see the motivational attempts as goofy.
What would really motivate a work force is to improve pay, working conditions and the overall lives of the staff.
Yet, goofy attempts at motivation are much cheaper. The employers figure that if even one employee buys in to the motivational trick, it might be worth it.
Look at it this way: at least goofy motivation attempts are more than most employees received in the past. Then, you did your hours, kept out of trouble and got a paycheck every week. That check was the sole motivator.
But employees want more these days. They want to feel their employers care about them. They want to believe their employers take a genuine interest in them. They want the employer to see them as people, not just tools.
In short, in most circumstances, if you want to be motivated, you have to find that motivation yourself. If you don’t find it where you work, you may have to look elsewhere.
Meanwhile, keep scratching your head at the folks who create goofy ads and goofy motivational exercises.
Look for what really motivates YOU. And, refrain from sniffing your clothes after they go through the wash.
Peter
BEING A ‘NON-PLAYER’ NOT PRODUCTIVE
#Nonplayer #jobs #complainers “LaborMarket #employers #employees
A line from a Dilbert cartoon, by Scott Adams, says. “I’m a non-player character. I can only complain about my job and comment on the weather.”
The cartoon was published July 14, 2022, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The purpose of the line is to humorously illustrate how people think – or don’t think – at work.
People may complain about a job, but take no action to improve their situations.
In other words, “I’m here. I’m stuck. And I hate it!”
One may not be able to do much about the weather, but one can certainly do something about his or her work situation.
If you like WHERE you work, but don’t like WHAT you do, perhaps there are other jobs in that locale for which you can apply.
If you like WHAT you do, but don’t like WHERE you are doing it, you can look at other employers.
Today’s labor market is the best in decades. There are employers begging for help. Your options are probably greater than you imagine.
One should not feel he or she has to stay where he or she is, because there is nowhere else to go.
Employers in this market have to be creative to not only find the help they need, but also to keep the help they have.
This kind of labor market, plus disruptions in supply chains, oil markets, the food industry etc., coupled with post-pandemic pent-up demand for goods and services, are causing inflation today.
In the Dilbert cartoon, the question posed before the non-player statement was, “What do you think the government should do about inflation?”
The government has little control, and few available actions, to curb inflation. Politicians like to blame opponents for problems no one can really control single-handedly, but the reality is that foreign wars, pandemics and other phenomenon can dictate our terms of living.
Given how good the job market is, employees can be fortunate that they are getting raises that can help mitigate inflation, though most raises are not enough to make those employees feel significantly better off in these times.
Regardless of the uncontrollable problems in one’s life – the weather, inflation etc. – being a “non-player” and just complaining about things is not an option. YOU still have some control over your life. Work on the things you can control, and work around things you can’t.
Complaining and blaming are not strategies. You may not like someone or something, so you either improve your own situation, or move away from it.
Here’s hoping the labor market stays strong, inflation eases and storms are minimized.
Peter