Coming on the heels of this article, I'm beginning to wonder how any work gets done in England. Today, the Guardian offers a book excerpt that ponders why we're so obsessed with being busy:
For all modern society's promises of leisure, liberty and doing what you want, most of us are still slaves to a schedule we did not choose. Why have things come to such a pass? Well, the forces of the anti-idle have been at work since the fall of man.
We're not about to urge people to try making a living out of playing the lottery, but for a couple of guys in Missouri, figuring out the math behind the luck turned a Pick 3 game into a sure thing.
The numbers the lottery drew in Thursday's midday Pick 3 game were 4-5-2 in the regular drawing and 1-4-4 in a bonus drawing that Seidel says guaranteed him a 20 percent return on the $23,000 of chances he and his friends bought, at $1 a pop.That was an easy $4,600 in profit that they cashed in on Thursday afternoon and Friday.
"It was just a business transaction," Seidel said of the plan Friday, after reaping the bulk of his winnings from a Dierbergs store, where a manager ushered him and his friends in a back room to dole out several thousand dollars.
I mentioned the NYT's article on credit below. Here's some other interesting Sunday business stories I came across (while all of you, of course, were reading my interesting business story):
A Boston Globe survey of 572 delegates to the Democratic National Convention found that the majority spent less than $500 during their stay here and that more than half never ventured into the city's neighborhoods, confining their stay to the convention floor, hotel ballrooms, and the air-conditioned comfort of their chartered buses.
(This is similar to what happened in Savannah during the G-8 Summit: By making security tight, so that leaving the convention center is difficult, and then compounding it by having all of the food and entertainment you need at the meeting site, visitors are unlikely to head off the reservation.)
When the Portland archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in early July, it was trying to protect itself from hundreds of millions of dollars in damages sought by people who claim they were sexually abused by priests. It's the same strategy often used by corporations faced with legal judgments they can't afford to--or don't think they should have to--pay.
Who is right? The answer is far from clear, but a visit to Wisconsin Dells, a sprawling collection of water parks and roller coasters about 60 miles north of Madison, offers some clues. Many people here felt that their incomes were not keeping up with costs anymore, and there was a gnawing sense among some that the rich were getting richer. At the same time, most people expressed guarded confidence that job opportunities would improve.
If that was the flood, here's the deluge: So far this year, the number of new toothpastes -- meaning new brands, flavors, functions or packaging -- is a jaw-dropping 96. And that's just a microcosm of what's happening in the entire oral care category.
Their decision also provides a revealing case study for executives, business school professors and water cooler conversationalists: How should CEOs make such pivotal personnel choices? Should age, bottom-line cost or character be the decisive factor? Was there a third way that would have allowed the two massive egos to share the same court? Or should their failure to put personal differences aside have gotten both of them fired?
Last week's Getting Ahead section had an article on cubicle organizing, taking a look at one of the messier desks we had around the newspaper.
Johanna Rothman talks about her own stuggles with clutter and how she's dealt with it:
Emergent design also works for me as a way of organizing. Many of you have heard me complain about my messy office -- for the last ten years :-) I never could understand why my office was so messy and disorganized until yesterday.
This isn't the weightiest news in the world ... but, hey, it is Friday ...
Turns out Martha Stewart might be hoping to get the prison door slammed behind her as soon as possible
"She wants to put this ordeal behind her," says the source. "She thinks that it's in the best interest of her company."Martha Stewart may surrender soon, despite her appeal, to get her prison stay over with. Is Martha Stewart ready to do her time? The domestic diva has resolved to surrender to prison authorities, perhaps next week, a well-placed source tells us.
And thanks for stopping by.
This is the (Jacksonville) Times-Union's new Getting Ahead blog, a resource that will direct you to the latest business news, watercooler chatter and industrial activities. Aimed at the readers of the Sunday Business section, this site will (hopefully) but inform and entertain you.
We are, of course, open to suggestions and comments. If you have either, please send them to Timothy Gibbons.