Je Suis Where Next

0nce again more sickening blasts in a Western city, once again the cry of Allahu Akbar (the soundtrack to this century), rings out as blood pours down the gutters of European streets, and once again a EU politician asks 'for calmness and solidarity'.

Another Capital Another Bombing Outrage ...

Work Through Joy

Apparently, Gallup the polling company, have consistently found that only 13 per cent of working people in the world actually enjoy going in to work. I was going to add 'in the mornings' or 'for a living' etc, but in fact it was simply going to work .... full stop. This heroic 13 per cent described themselves as being "engaged" or "emotionally invested" in their work, and thus focused on helping their organizations improve.

In fact, the results of the last such study, showed that the of the remaining 87 per cent of the work force, the largest, 63 per cent, were "not engaged" (or simply unmotivated, and unlikely to exert any extra effort), while the remaining 24 per cent were "actively disengaged". Or put another way hate their jobs, and were thus very non-productive. These work happiness figures hardly changes between 2009 and 2012.

Best And Worst Workers .....

The Benefit Trap Revisited

The other day I found out that a man I know, had given up work a couple of decades ago to 'care for his wife'. I was surprised at this information (which came from someone else), as nothing he had ever said, had suggested that he hadn't worked in decades, and as I had seen his wife occasionally walking about, so I had thought that he had only recently 'retired' early, and had a pension etc.

Many People Are Called 'Workshy' ....

 

In fact I might add that he had even encouraged this belief, by implication when talking about 'grafting hard' when in another city in the past. On top of this was the fact that his wife often visits her family, and they go on a holiday abroad to Spain once every year, so this was something of a surprise on a couple of levels.

1) That he was not working (or recently stopped work), and
2) That he could afford a lifestyle that includes the pub at weekends, and a holiday abroad every year, while on welfare benefits.

51st state

A while ago I predicted that under Raúl Castro, Cuba would suddenly see dramatic changes in the lifestyles of it peoples .... rather like ice dripping from a glacier it would be imperceptible, but the effects would accelerate and there would be a positive deluge of changes.

Well we are on the point where the tipping point will be passed. An American President has visited Cuba for the first time since Calvin Coolidge landed in Havana from a US battleship and declared in in 1928 that Cuba was "free and prosperous". Hardly a claim that Pres. Obama could make, and also hardly like Nixon going to China, but a hopeful sign nonetheless.

USA and Cuban Relations Are Always Difficult

The Life of Pie

Our snack foods have been around for far longer than most of us imagine .....

Crabby Pattys - Snack Food.

 

...  for example, whilst the Earl of Sandwich has given his name to two bits of bread, placed on either side of some meat (or other substances), its extremely unlikely that this was the first time this combination of bread and food was tried.