I have too much to do…
“American workers, on average, spend 45 hours a week at work, but describe 16 of those hours as “unproductive,” according to a study by Microsoft. America Online and Salary.com, in turn, determined that workers actually work a total of three days a week, wasting the other two….
And, with due respect to Mr. Gilbreth, all the energy that’s been poured into trying to force everyone to work at the same pace and in the same way — it seems that’s the real waste of time.” [ NY Times ]
*The first paragraph only applies to most well paid white collar jobs.
Leprosy Dobbs
Given that most American journalism remains opaque to statistics, it is refreshing to see a story that uses statistics to hammer bankrupt analysis. Leonhardt criticizes Dobbs’ comments on leprosy and more generally his “flexible relationship with reality” in his NY Times column -
“And the official leprosy statistics do show about 7,000 diagnosed cases — but that’s over the last 30 years, not the last three.
The peak year was 1983, when there were 456 cases. After that, reported cases dropped steadily, falling to just 76 in 2000. Last year, there were 137. …
…What about the increase over the last six years, to 137 cases from 76? Is that significant?
“No,” Mr. Krahenbuhl said. It could be a statistical fluctuation, or it could be a result of better data collection in recent years. In any event, the 137 reported cases last year were fewer than in any year from 1975 to 1996.”
Politicization and mediocrity
Monica Goodling, who recently resigned as the Public Affairs Director at the Justice Department had the following education -
“Goodling received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1995 from Messiah College, a Christian institution. She received her J.D. in 1999 from Regent University Law School, a Christian institution founded by Pat Robertson.” [ Wikipedia ]
*Regent University Law School is a Tier 4 law school.
A NY Times article discussing politicization of Justice Department using another case - “Rachel L. Brand, [who] by her own admission, has never prosecuted so much as a traffic case. But in January 2006, when Justice Department officials began to discuss removing some United States attorneys, Ms. Brand was proposed as the top federal prosecutor in the Western District of Michigan, an e-mail message released on Friday shows.”
Bobos by Brooks
“The word bobo, [David] Brooks’s most famous coinage, stands for “bourgeois bohemian.” This is Brooks’ term for the 1990s’ descendants of the yuppies. Often of the corporate upper-middle to upper class, they rarely oppose mainstream society, claim highly tolerant views of others, buy lots of expensive and exotic items, and believe American society to be meritocratic.” [ Wikipedia ]
Foxy Facts
Fox news commentators were discussing global warming recently and during the course of the discussion a commentator casually stated that like every ’story’, global warming had two sides to it and that only one side was being highlighted. Sir, with all due respect, facts only have one side. And either you know them or you don’t. And global warming is a fact.
Lush Green Hedges
NY Times article on the out of control incomes of top hedge fund managers quoted Dr. Delong, a UC Berkeley Economist as saying -
“There is some question as to what the hell they are doing that is worth” that kind of money …. “The answer is damned mysterious.”
Breathtaking bankruptcy
Britain canceled a criminal inquiry into bribery allegations linked to a multi-billion-dollar arms deal between BAE and Saudi Arabia citing economic and national security concerns. Jubilee Research (pdf) from Dec. 2006 when the news was first broken.
The arch-conservative
Fred Thompson has emerged as a conservative champion. He certainly has all the pre-requisites down - he is an actor, a divorcee, has a deserved reputation for being lazy, and married to a woman who is four years younger than his daughter who died in 2002 of an “accidental” prescription drug overdose. Welcome Senator. Welcome.
Goodbye Lenin!
A Polish man woke up from 19 year long coma to find communism has given way. The story reminded me of the phenomenal Wolfgang Becker movie, Goodbye Lenin!, which has an eerily similar story.