Luciano Pavarotti was a beloved and celebrated tenor. He was one of the few opera singers that reached such high fame and notoriety. Pavarotti battled pancreatic cancer, which he was diagnosed with last year. He died in his home in Italy. Reports say that he was optimistic until the end. "Nessun Dorma" was Pavarotti's last performance, which he sung at at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in 2006. He had not had a full concert since 2005. His ...
Being that I manage HR where I work, I get to see all the "news" about minimum wages (both in the state and federal). Our State's minimum wage has always freaked me out at how high it has gotten, but the current changes in FEDERAL minimum wage has me down right fearful. Why? Because it is now becoming a living wage. Either companies will quit hiring non-skilled workers (where will they work?) or they will start using their non-us factories more. If you don't know the amou...
I know that there are other articles stating that he died, but they aren't saying what I am thinking. Peter Jennings was an inspiration to me. Peter Jennings used to tell people to "stay in school". A lot of people may not know why he said that. He actually dropped out of school and regretted it for the rest of his life. But, his lack of formal education didn't stand in his way. He continued to self teach himself and learned from the world around him. He ha...
I have slowly been going back to being a vegetarian over the past year, and have finally been on it for about 2 months. I eat a vegetarian diet for health reasons. However, with doing so, it's hard not to start seeing the ethical side of the meat and fur industry. This article could be labeled as adult content due to the video that I am about to link to. It is a video that greatly disturbs me. It shows an animal being skinned alive for fur. If you have a weak s...
Last year I wrote an article about why Christmas drives me insane. It can be found at: http://karmagirl.joeuser.com/index.asp?aid=608 Well, guess what? This year is even worse. The stores are absolutely packed with Christmas stuff. People are now following the stores and are already decorating. There is even a local radio station that is playing Christmas music 24/7 (they used to start this the day after Thanksgiving, but changed it this year). GIVE TURKEY D...
Greed. There is so much of it today. Greed will be the downfall of the American economy. I was prompted to write this article due to a current event- Detroit Diesel (owned by Daimler Chrysler, and is local to where I live) went on strike. 1300 people are not working today. Why? Greed. Their contract wasn't approved. They couldn't possibly bear a bit of cost of the amazing burden of health coverage (which they currently get a premium coverage for free)....
Unions. Great in the beginning, bad now. Why? It takes the power away from the company to do business as needed. In Brad's article: https://www.joeuser.com/index.asp?AID=33403 he talks about Unions as a reason why companies are outsourcing to other countries. And, I agree completely. It's a huge problem. I'll take an example that I have been watching very closely- it's where my husband works. He works for a diesel engineering/manufacturing comp...
Yesterday on the way to Martinsville the Hendrix racing teams jet was lost. 10 people died, including 4 members of the Hendrix family, 3 plane crew members, their lead engine builder and two company people (including a partner in the Dupont race program). The people who parished are: Ricky Hendrick, John Hendrick, Kimberly and Jennifer Hendrick, Randy Dorton, Jeff Turner, Joe Jackson, Scott Lathram, Dick Tracy and Liz Morrison. The winner of last weeks race, Jimmy Johnson, imme...
I'm not sure if many people have been paying attention, but I have since I work with a lot of HR legal stuff. The feds have taken another step to confuse employers and employees and open the doors to plenty of new work force lawsuits. There is a new overtime law that begins today. Businesses have 120 days to comply. I have been reading a bunch of articles about the law, and I'm still not sure I understand all of it, and it appears that I am not alone. Basically, under the ne...
On WinCustomize.com, there is a thread "thanking" the President for our gas prices. A lot of non-US people were commenting on how the US actually has cheap gas compared to most everywhere else. (Which is mainly because we produce over 50% of our own gas and can refine the rest ourselves). Gas prices seem absolutely crazy, but here is my response to their post: The gas problem is going to be a long term problem. First, you can not blame Bush or the US government for gas price...
This is probably just campaign crap, but I found it interesting as fuel prices effect all of us. I received an email today from the Bush campaign (yes, I get Presidential newsletters...) and the thrust of it was about Kerry's proposal to increase gas tax (yeah, like we need that taxed). I have no idea if it is real (the newsletter is, but not sure if the Kerry idea is). Gas is one of the last things that we need taxed, especially in California where they are nearing c...
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Bobby Hatfield, one-half of the award-winning music duo The Righteous Brothers, died at the age of 63 (November 6) KALAMAZOO, Michigan (AP) -- Bobby Hatfield, who with partner Bill Medley pioneered "blue-eyed soul" as the Righteous Brothers with hits like "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," died Wednesday night of undetermined causes at a hotel, his manager said. He was 63. Hatfield's body was discovered in his bed at 7 p.m. EST, a...