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Month: May 2021

This Summer, Read the Tea Leaves

This Summer, Read the Tea Leaves

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Image by Please Don’t sell My Artwork AS IS from Pixabay

The Memorial Day Weekend is fast approaching – the official kick off of summer, despite the fact that the official start of the season is still a few weeks away. Given all of the restrictions on our movements and impediments to travel, and since different rules apply in different places, we know that many of you can’t or aren’t traveling and perhaps haven’t been able to go see friends and loved ones for quite some time now, but not to worry: in the event that we’re ever in a lockdown situation again, Google is on the case.

 

As Futurism says, “they’re now debuting a new video chat system they’re calling “Project Starline,”… a dystopic 3D prison-style video chat… So basically, they’ve re-invented the virtual prison visitation phone booth.” Read More...

Why Preparedness Matters

Why Preparedness Matters

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There was a time when penny loafers were very popular, especially for school children. The shoes had a slot up top in each, into which perfectly fit a penny, and many children actually did insert a pennies. Of course, was also once such a thing a candies and gum balls which also cost a penny, so if perchance you were passing a store that did sell penny candies, you were prepared.

True story: we once knew a guy named Kurt had worn penny loafers ever since his mother had gotten him his very first pair upon entering kindergarten. Much to her chagrin, Kurt insisted on placing dimes into the slots. Why should she fork over dimes instead of pennies to a child who didn’t understand the value of money, but little Kurt was adamant. His mother had drilled it into him that he should always be prepared, and since he was not a big fan of candy – what to speak of the fact that penny candy had gone the way of the dodo – where would a penny get him despite the somewhat eponymously named shoes, but in those days, public telephones abounded and cost to make a call? Ten cents. Even little Kurt knew that, having witnessed his mother using said phones. At least with dimes, he reasoned, he’d be prepared for something. Exasperated, she gave in.

Penny loafers eventually went out of style with seemingly everyone but Kurt, who wore them into adulthood and continued to place dimes in the inserts of each new pair. To place a call from a public phone was still ten cents, and one just never knew… Read More...

Basecamp: Corporate Responsibility’s New Normal?

Basecamp: Corporate Responsibility’s New Normal?

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Basecamp touched off a firestorm on social media and in the tech press recently when co-founder Jason Fried announced six “directional changes” to company policies, including “No more societal and political discussions on our company Basecamp account…People can take the conversations with willing co-workers to Signal, Whatsapp, or even a personal Basecamp account, but it can’t happen where the work happens anymore.”

According to The Verge, it all began due to a list of names. “Around 2009, Basecamp customer service representatives began keeping a list of names that they found funny… Many of the names were of American or European origin. But others were Asian, or African, and eventually the list — titled “Best Names Ever” — began to make people uncomfortable. What once had felt like an innocent way to blow off steam, amid the ongoing cultural reckoning over speech and corporate responsibility, increasingly looked inappropriate, and often racist.”

When Fried interceded with his announcement, the Twitterverse exploded, as did the online press (“Basecamp sees mass employee exodus after CEO bans political discussions,”said Tech Crunch), although Fried did not ban political discussions: he merely banned them at work. Read More...

The Return to the Office and Other Remote Possibilities

The Return to the Office and Other Remote Possibilities

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If there’s anything that the last year or so has shown us it’s that, for better or for worse, humans are very adaptable creatures. For example, in the early days of Covid, Google was one of the first companies to have their employees work remotely. There was a culture shock: forcing employees, who were accustomed to spending the majority of their waking hours at the office, to work solely from home.

Now the company is doing an about face. Read More...