http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Wed, 31 Aug 2005 13:25:41 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. 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Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/08/31/132541.php Elana CentorWatching a culture and possibly a city drown is so unbelievably overwhelming sad that I sit in front of the news stupefied at the human loss, economic loss and potential cultural loss.While it doesn't hold the same emotional bereavement of 9/11, it is emotionally wrenching to think about the ripple effect of this devastation. I sit in my office in Minneapolis and look out on a magnficient August day. The weather is perfect. It is peaceful and calm here. We have electricity. We have food and we can purchase gasoline. Our lives are good.Which brings me to Randy Newman. I am finding solace in his music, his celebration of New Orleans, Louisiana and a way of life that we may not see again... but hopefully will. "Louisiana 1927" Some people got lost in the flood Some people got away alright The river have busted through cleard down to Plaquemines Six feet of water in the streets of EvangelneLouisiana, Louisiana They're tyrin' to wash us away They're tryin' to wash us away Louisiana, Louisiana They're tryin' to wash us away They're tryin' to wash us awayPresident Coolidge came down in a railroad train With a little fat man with a note-pad in his hand The President say, "Little fat man isn't it a shame what the river has done To this poor crackers land." Randy Newman Culture35180@blogcritics.org Wed, 31 Aug 2005 13:25:41 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/08/30/142000.php Elana CentorIn May New York TV reporter Arthur Ch'ien was fired from his job for saying the "f" word on live TV.If Arthur had gone to the Weavers School in England he could have claimed, "I learned it in school." It seems the Weavers School is introducing a new policy. According to the Daily Mail, students may say the "f" word up to five times. That's not five times a semester, that's five times a class.Now, in the states, high school students go to about six classes a day. So if you can say the "f" word five times in six classes. Well, you do the math. That's a lot of effing words."Assistant headmaster Richard White said the policy was aimed at 15 and 16-year-olds in two classes which are considered troublesome. 'Tolerate but not condone' "Within each lesson the teacher will initially tolerate (although not condone) the use of the f-word (or derivatives) five times and these will be tallied on the board so all students can see the running score," he wrote in the letter. "Over this number the class will be spoken to by the teacher at the end of the lesson." Parents called the rule 'wholly irresponsible and ludicrous'. "This appears to be a misguided attempt to speak to kids on their own level," said the father of one pupil. "Is it misguided? Or, is it merely a school recognizing that language norms have changed? Last month I was taken aback when one of the key hostesses of Blogher greeted the conference using the "f" word. It got me thinking, as I shared in Bitch Bitch Bitch, that it may be a generational attitude.About 18 months ago Blogcritics ran a very funny piece advocating that the "F" word should be allowed on the radio. It's a very funny piece but it also supports the school in England's position. The word is so over-used that it's lost its power (actually that point is shared by someone in the comments section.)So, if school is preparation for work, how long will it be before corporations have policies allowing people to say the "F" word (but only five times in a meeting)? ed:JH Culture35099@blogcritics.org Tue, 30 Aug 2005 14:20:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/07/29/124232.php Elana CentorPaul Simon could have been singing about most people's attitude toward corporate mischief.There's been some strange goin's on And some folks have come and gone Like the elevator man don't work no more I heard a racket in the hall And I thought I heard a call But I never opened up my door It's just apartment house sense It's like apartment rents Remember: one man's ceiling is another man's floor! one man's ceiling is another man's floor! There Goes Rhymin' Simon, 1973USA TODAY reporter Jayne O'Donnell explores the life a the corporate whistle-blower It's not a pretty song, but it's a great read.While corporate whistle- blowers seem to be propelled by "high" values, they are often stomped on by fellow workers.While a few whistle-blowers gain celebrity status and fortune, many worry if they will ever again be "employable".While when asked, people will say they are outraged by corporate scandels, they seem equally as outraged at the people who dare to expose a company's dirty laundry.As Jane O'Donnell writes... Ed Bricker, one of the first nuclear industry whistle-blowers, has nearly made a career out of whistle-blowing. Bricker, 49, says he has faced retaliation since he went undercover for Congress in the 1980s to expose health hazards at a nuclear plant in Hanford, Wash. His crusade has had unwelcome consequences. Bricker's daughter Debbie Deerwester, now 25, remembers when she and fellow sixth-graders were asked to explain their parents' careers. She said her father was a whistle-blower at Hanford."One boy interrupted and said, 'Whistle-blowers are tattletales!' " she said. "I was devastated, because I was proud of what my dad stood for and thought that everyone else saw it the same way." The day Bagdad fell reporters gleefully reported they were finally free of the government's "minders"...those pesky people who followed them around all the time and censored what they could and couldn't report.But minders are Alive and Well and Living in Corporate America.Sometimes they are the people in corporate communications who refuse to talk to the media about stories just because they can refuse.Sometimes they are the rules that state employees will be fired for talking to the media without corporate approval.Sometimes the minders are the media themselves who seem more content on reporting about a businesses' quarterly earnings and whether they met Wall Street's expectations then looking at the company's values and culture and how we treat the people who want to make things better.Funny, isn't it? This post also appears at FunnyBusiness Culture18012@blogcritics.org Thu, 29 Jul 2004 12:42:32 EDT