Enemy of Entropy
Friday Frippery
This post is almost as random as my reading has been today. I’m sparing you excerpts from the fiction and school reading, at least!
After reading this article, Dealing With the Jerk at Work, I find myself wanting to read Robert I. Sutton’s book The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t. We’ve had a “no asshole rule” here at home ever since Sam and I blended our families in 1998, and it makes for a very pleasant environment. I’m in total agreement with the author that “jerks should be treated as incompetent employees.” Getting along with your coworkers is an important part of every person’s job.
Huh? Chris Brogan reports that Facebook showed him boobies. I know they’re ad-supported, but hello, that’s the clue phone ringing! Maybe they didn’t realize that they’re supposed to be classier than MySpace? That really didn’t seem to be a hard thing to accomplish, considering the rampant trashiness on that other site.
A brilliant school in Pennsylvania has suspended two students for the horrific offense of making an anti-drug-use public service announcement. Be careful with those dangerous Smarties, guys!
I bet you didn’t learn this in school, either. According to John Stossel, the first Thanksgiving wouldn’t have occurred at all if the Puritans hadn’t given up on their initial Socialist practices in favor of a plan wherein each family farmed its own plot of corn. I’m not sure that referring to the “tragedy of the commons” is apt, but it is an interesting bit of information.
Also from ABC comes a story about the grandmothers who hold the Guinness records for the world’s longest nails and the world’s smallest waist. Turn off your images if you’re easily squicked before going to the article, though. That woman’s nails are truly disgusting (and apparently, the Guinness folks agree with me). The waist thing just looks photoshopped to me, as my brain chooses not to process it as reality.
Do blondes make men dumber? According to scientists studying the “bimbo delusion,” that is the case.
There it is. I take no responsibility for what you do with it.
How do YOU feel about companies “promoting homosexuality” ? Tell the AFA!
Actually, the don’t want to know how you feel. They want a very carefully selected group of people to answer their loaded questions as desired, so they can claim, as usual, that they did research that showed that “everybody” hates queers.
They ask:
Should corporations be promoting homosexuality?
Several corporations are now supporting the homosexual agenda. These companies have been convinced by homosexual activists and the mainstream media that in order to be “fair and tolerant,†companies must make special rules for homosexuals and provide company money and resources to help promote their lifestyle. Many companies, at the urging of these groups, have also begun to support same-sex marriage.
What they’re asking about isn’t “promoting homosexuality” at all. Have you ever actually encountered anyone promoting heterosexuality or bisexuality? No? Me neither. Actually, the only promoting I know about is all that pressure to be heterosexual. Methinks the AFA doth protest too much.
What they object to is domestic partnership benefits. They object to the use of matching funds for programs like Planned Parenthood or any other organization that doesn’t agree with the radical right’s agenda. That’s what they mean when they say “promoting homosexuality.
So let’s reframe this a little more accurately.
Do you believe that companies should offer the same benefits to all employees, without regard to their sexual preference or orientation? Would you be more to do business with a company that treats all of its employees fairly? Less likely to do business with them? Would it not matter to you at all?
Now go vote: http://www.afa.net/petitions/businesses/businesses.asp
As Strega pointed out in a comment on my LiveJournal, once again the AFA isn’t conducting actual research, or even a real survey. The numbers on the page never change, no matter how many people vote. They’ve set up a nice little graphic showing how they’d like the numbers to come out in their fantasy world.
