Carrots, Not Sticks, Motivate Workers

I have personally found this to be true. I am very motivated to work hard for a boss whom I feel is caring and competent, but have to make a hard effort to stay on task in an abusive workplace.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120620113238.htm

ScienceDaily (June 20, 2012) — What motivates people to work harder: The promise of reward or the threat of penalty?

A new study co-authored by a Michigan State University business scholar says it's the carrot -- and not the stick -- that drives productivity.

The study, which appears in The Accounting Review, challenges previous research that says the threat of penalty is more effective for getting increased effort, said Karen Sedatole, associate professor of accounting in MSU's Broad College of Business.

"Our findings show what carrots work better than sticks -- in other words, workers respond better to bonuses than penalties," Sedatole said.

.....

Adolescents Who Have More Than Four Meals a Day Are Thinner

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120620113230.htm

ScienceDaily (June 20, 2012) — study carried out in Spain reveals that certain healthy habits, like eating more than four times a day or not eating too fast, are associated with lower body fat levels independently of exercise habits during free time.

The key to preventing obesity is in keeping up healthy eating habits and this is not a new concept. But, a new study headed by the Institute of Food Science and Technology and Nutrition (ICTAN) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) goes one step further.

The study shows that certain healthy habits, like eating more than four scheduled meals a day or not eating too fast, are associated with lower body fat levels independently of exercise habits during free time.

.....

Connecting The Dots: How Climate Change Is Fueling Western Wildfires

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/06/20/501081/connecting-the-dots-how-climate-change-is-fueling-western-wildfires/

by Amanda Staudt, via the National Wildlife Federation on Jun 20, 2012

Western wildfires are dominating headlines in June – but the media coverage focuses only on effects while ignoring a major cause. We hear about an increase in the number and intensity of wildfires. And separately, we hear about ongoing global warming, like how May was the 2nd-hottest on record globally behind only May 2010. Why aren’t those dots being connected?

There’s compelling evidence that talking about western wildfires without mentioning climate change is like talking about lung cancer without mentioning cigarettes. I want to walk you through what’s happening out west right now, what the latest science tells us about why it’s happening, how it’s affecting people and wildlife in the region, and what we can do about it.

The consequences of carbon pollution are immediately apparent to residents of Colorado this week. More than 52,000 acres of forest have burned since lightning started the High Park Fire on June 9. .....

In the meantime, New Mexico is in the midst of fighting the largest wildfire in its history. The Whitewater-Baldy Complex Fire has already burned nearly 300,000 acres, mostly in the Gila National Forest. This fire comes on the heels of the Las Conchas Fire last summer, which ranked as the largest New Mexico wildfire at the time. .....

Climate change is literally fueling these and other major fires in western states. In fact, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas have all had fires since last year that ranked as one of the two largest in their histories (see table). The frequency and extent of fires in recent decades is unlikely to happen under natural conditions. With one catastrophic fire after another, it is clear that something quite different is happening to our forests.

Climate scientists have identified several ways that a warming planet will increase forest fire risk. Not surprisingly, all of these factors are fanning the fires we’ve been seeing recently in the western United States:

Longer fire seasons: .....

Drier conditions: .....

More fuel for forest fires: Widespread beetle infestations have left broad swaths of dead and highly combustible trees in their wake. Higher temperatures enhance winter survival of mountain pine beetles and allow for a more rapid lifecycle. Ecologists in Colorado recently confirmed that beetle populations are able to complete two generations during longer, warmer summers, leading to a possible 60-fold increase in the number of beetles.

Increased frequency of lightning is expected as thunderstorms become more severe. .....

.....

To prevent wildfires from getting much worse and to limit the risks communities and wildlife, we must reduce carbon pollution. Just this week a new climate study came out making projections that many areas of the world, including the western United States, should expect even more fires if we continue spewing carbon pollution into the atmosphere.

Republican governors in states across the country have been touting their states’ economic growth, pointing to falling unemployment rates and continued signs of economic recovery. Gov. Terry Branstad (R-IA) has expressed frustration that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is using his state as an example of the nation’s economic woes. However, since positive economic messages directly contradict Romney’s central campaign push — convincing voters that Obama has made the economy worse — the Romney campaign would prefer to downplay any signs of recovery. In fact, the Romney campaign has directly asked Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) to “tone down” his positive statements about Florida’s improving economy because they inconveniently clash with Romney’s national narrative. Two campaign officials confirmed that Scott has been asked to instead say that his state’s economy would improve under a Republican presidency, Bloomberg News reports:

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/06/20/502947/abortion-rate-drops/

By Annie-Rose Strasser on Jun 20, 2012

Between 1990 and 2008, pregnancy and abortion rates for women in their twenties dropped dramatically, a new study revealed today. Pregnancy rates fell by 18 percent, while abortion rates dropped by a third.

One of the biggest influencing factors in this decrease is the growing accessibility, use, and options for birth control. Contraceptive use is the best way to prevent abortions in the U.S. Over time, young women have gotten greater access to a larger number of pregnancy prevention methods. The study explains two main causes in the drop:

The introduction of new contraceptive methods and discontinuation of existing ones [and]changes in the use of existing methods: the proportion of women using any method, the methods used, and how consistently and effectively they are used.

Indeed, only 70 percent of women (PDF) who started having sex between 1990 and 1994 used protection, whereas 84 percent did between 2005 and 2008:

.....

Romney To Republican Governor: Discussing The Economic Recovery Will Hurt My Election Chances

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/21/503533/romney-republican-governor-economic-recovery/

By Tara Culp-Ressler posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Jun 21, 2012

Republican governors in states across the country have been touting their states’ economic growth, pointing to falling unemployment rates and continued signs of economic recovery. Gov. Terry Branstad (R-IA) has expressed frustration that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is using his state as an example of the nation’s economic woes.

However, since positive economic messages directly contradict Romney’s central campaign push — convincing voters that Obama has made the economy worse — the Romney campaign would prefer to downplay any signs of recovery.

In fact, the Romney campaign has directly asked Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) to “tone down” his positive statements about Florida’s improving economy because they inconveniently clash with Romney’s national narrative. Two campaign officials confirmed that Scott has been asked to instead say that his state’s economy would improve under a Republican presidency, Bloomberg News reports:

.....

Studies: Increasing The Minimum Wage During Times Of High Unemployment Doesn’t Hurt Job Growth

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/20/503112/studies-increasing-the-minimum-wage-during-times-of-high-unemployment-doesnt-hurt-job-growth/

By Travis Waldron on Jun 20, 2012

A group of House Democrats recently proposed legislation that would raise the federal minimum wage to $10 an hour, roughly where it would have to be to match the peak buying power the wage reached in 1968. Cities and states across the country are taking action on their own, raising their minimum wages in an effort to help low-income workers.

Opponents of minimum wage increases contest that raising the minimum wage will be costly for businesses and have a negative effect on job growth and employment. An analysis by the Center for American Progress’ Nick Bunker, David Madland, and the University of North Carolina’s T. William Lester, however, found five recent studies showing that increasing the minimum wage — even during periods of high unemployment — does not have a negative effect on job growth:

A significant body of academic research has found that raising the minimum wage does not result in job losses even during hard economic times. There are at least five different academic studies focusing on increases to the minimum wage—including increases ranging from 7 percent to 12.3 percent made during periods of high unemployment—that find an increase in the minimum wage has no significant effect on employment levels. The results are likely because the boost in demand and reduction in turnover provided by a minimum wage counteracts the higher wage costs.

Similarly, a simple analysis of increases to the minimum wage on the state level, even during periods of state unemployment rates above 8 percent, shows that the minimum wage does not kill jobs. Indeed the states in our simple analysis had job growth slightly above the national average. [...]

All the studies came to the same conclusion—that raising the minimum wage had no effect on employment.

.....

Heart attacks more likely where traffic is louder

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/20/12324430-heart-attacks-more-likely-where-traffic-is-louder?lite

6/20/2012
By Susan E. Matthews
MyHealthNewsDaily

The louder the traffic near people's homes, the greater their risk of heart attack, a new study from Denmark says.

The researchers tracked more than 50,000 study participants for nearly 10 years and found that for every 10 decibels of added roadway traffic noise, the risk of heart attack increased 12 percent.

"We think traffic noise during the night is especially dangerous, because it disturbs sleep," said lead researcher Mette Sorenson of the Danish Cancer Society. But anytime you’ve been exposed to high levels of noise, "you have increased concentrations of stress hormones in your body,” which could explain the increased heart attack risk, Sorenson said.

Sorenson and her fellow researchers found that the link between heart attacks and roadways held even after accounting for the heightened levels of air pollution near roadways. They estimated that 4 percent of all heart attacks in Denmark are related to traffic noise.

Sorenson suggested choosing a room with a low exposure to traffic noise for sleeping in, or insulating one’s house against noise. It is also possible for officials to pave highways with low-noise asphalt, she said.

The real danger with noise pollution is that most people don’t realize they are experiencing it, Sorenson said.

“You might wake up thinking that you had a quiet night, but when you look at it in a lab, you see that your sleep stages have been disturbed,” she said.

.....

The researchers also accounted for factors that could affect participants' risk of heart attack, including gender, smoking, fruit and vegetable intake, and body mass index.

.....

While the link between noise pollution and heart attack risk has been shown before, the new study is one of the first to demonstrate an incremental correlation between increasing noise and increasing risk. Previous studies have shown that risk increased at noise levels above 60 decibels; this study showed that risk increased between 40 and 80 decibels.

.....

Woman Sues City Of Tulsa For Cutting Down Her Edible Garden

http://www.newson6.com/story/18802728/woman-sues-city-of-tulsa-for-cutting-down-her-edible-garden#.T-IFa2EgvMR.facebook

Posted: Jun 15, 2012 7:39 PM EDT Updated: Jun 21, 2012 11:51 AM EDT
Lori Fullbright, News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma -

A Tulsa woman is suing the city's code enforcement officers after she said they cut down her garden with no cause.

Denise Morrison said she has more than 100 plant varieties in her front and back yards and all of them are edible and have a purpose.

She knows which ones will treat arthritis, which will make your food spicy, which ones keep mosquitoes away and treat bug bites, but she said none of that matter to city inspectors.

Last August, Morrison's front and back yards were filled with flowers in bloom, lemon, stevia, garlic chives, grapes, strawberries, apple mint, spearmint, peppermint, an apple tree, walnut tree, pecan trees and much more.

She got a letter from the city saying there had been a complaint about her yard.

She said she took pictures to meet with city inspectors, but they wouldn't listen, so she invited them to her home so they could point out the problem areas.

"Everything, everything needs to go," Morrison said they told her.

When she heard they wanted to cut it all down, she called police. The officer issued her a citation so it could be worked out in court.

She said she went to court on August 15, and the judge told them to come back in October. But the very next day, men were cutting down most of her plants.

They even cut down some of her trees -– ones that bore fruit and nuts -– and went up next to her house and basically removed everything in her front flower bed.

"I came back three days later, sat in my driveway, cried and left," Morrison said.

Morrison said she had a problem at her last property with code enforcement, so this time, she read the ordinance, which says plants can't be over 12-inches tall unless they're used for human consumption. She made sure everything she grew could be eaten, which she told the inspectors.

"Every word out of their mouth was, 'we don't care,'" Morrison said.

Morrison said she used many of the plants that were destroyed to treat her diabetes, high-blood pressure and arthritis.

"Not only are the plants my livelihood, they're my food and I was unemployed at the time and had no food left, no medicine left, and I didn't have insurance," Morrison said. "They took away my life and livelihood."

Report: Ga. 5th in U.S. for deaths due to lack of insurance

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/morning_call/2012/06/report-ga-5th-in-us-for-deaths-due.html?s=print

Atlanta Business Chronicle by Carla Caldwell, Morning Call Editor

Date: Thursday, June 21, 2012, 6:44am EDT

Georgia has the fifth-highest number of residents in the United States who died prematurely because they did not have health insurance, according to a new report by health care advocacy organization Families USA.

The report says nearly 1200 Georgians died in 2010 because they lacked health insurance, reports WABE. Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack said a big reason behind the deaths is those without insurance typically put off seeking medical attention, the station said.

Across the nation, 26,100 people between the ages of 25 and 64 died prematurely due to a lack of health coverage in 2010, according to the report.

The five states with the most premature deaths due to lack of insurance in 2010 were: California (3,164 deaths), Texas (2,955 deaths), Florida (2,272 deaths), New York (1,247 deaths) and Georgia (1,161 deaths).


http://www.familiesusa.org/resources/publications/reports/dying-for-coverage.html

Dying for Coverage: The Deadly Consequences of Being Uninsured
A report from Families USA, June 2012
Note: This report contains data for all states and the District of Columbia.

The number of uninsured Americans reached an all-time high in 2010, as nearly 50 million Americans went without health insurance for the entire year.1 For many of these uninsured people, the consequences of going without coverage are dire. The uninsured frequently face medical debt or go without necessary care, and too many of them die prematurely.

In 2002, the Institute of Medicine released a groundbreaking report, Care without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late. This report estimated that, nationwide, 18,000 adults between the ages of 25 and 64 died in 2000 because they did not have health insurance.2 Since then, the crisis of the uninsured has grown even larger. During the economic downturn, millions of Americans lost both their jobs and their health coverage, and rising health insurance premiums have priced many more out of coverage.

Thankfully, the new health care law can help stem the rising tide of the uninsured. Beginning in 2014, millions of Americans will be eligible for assistance with the cost of health coverage. In addition, insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage or charge higher premiums to people with pre-existing conditions. These measures, among others, will help reverse the growth in the number of uninsured Americans year after year.

.....

www.familiesusa.org/resources/publications/reports/dying-for-coverage-findings.html

Across the nation, 26,100 people between the ages of 25 and 64 died prematurely due to a lack of health coverage in 2010 (Table 1). That works out to:

2,175 people who died prematurely every month;
502 people who died prematurely every week;
72 people who died prematurely every day; or
Three every hour.

Between 2005 and 2010, the number of people who died prematurely each year due to a lack of health coverage rose from 20,350 to 26,100.

Between 2005 and 2010, the total number of people who died prematurely due to a lack of health coverage was 134,120.

.....

http://familiesusa2.org/assets/pdfs/Dying-for-Coverage.pdf

.....

The uninsured pay more for medical care.
„„ Uninsured patients are unable to negotiate the discounts on hospital
and doctor charges that insurance companies do. As a result,
uninsured patients are often charged more than 2.5 times what
insured patients are charged for hospital services. [I have had personal experience with this.]

.....

Phone call from ‘Microsoft’ about virus is a scam

http://www.computerrepairtips.net/phone-call-from-microsoft-about-virus-is-a-scam/

If you receive a phone call claiming to be from ‘Microsoft’ or someone claiming to work on their behalf, telling you that you have a virus on your computer which they will help you fix over the phone, It Is A Scam. Hang up the phone, do not let them have remote control access to your computer and do not give them any money.

This scam has been quietly doing the rounds in the UK and Ireland since at least 2009 but it appears to be on the rise. The scam goes like this;

..... [see article at link for details]

Ron Paul Admits He's On Social Security, Even Though He Believes It's Unconstitutional

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/20/ron-paul-social-security_n_1612117.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

The Huffington Post | By Erin Mershon Posted: 06/20/2012 11:26 am Updated: 06/20/2012 12:24 pm

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) may rail against Social Security insolvency in the public eye, but that hasn't stopped him from accepting the government checks.

The libertarian-leaning Republican and former presidential candidate admitted Wednesday that he accepts Social Security checks just minutes after he called for younger generations to wean themselves off the program, in an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

.....

Paul is outspoken about the need to end government programs like the Federal Reserve and the departments of energy and education. But he said he would not eliminate programs like Social Security and Medicare, despite his belief that the programs are unconstitutional. He planned to allow citizens under the age of 25 to opt out of the system in order to save their own money for retirement, if elected to the presidency.

===========

It's normal for people to be overly optimistic, even more so for young people. A lot of older people lost much or all of their investments in this big recession. If they didn't have social security, they would have no income at all.
And Paul isn't required to receive SS.

Study: Mega Bank JP Morgan Chase Receives A $14 Billion Annual Subsidy From The U.S. Government

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/19/502311/study-jp-morgan-subsidy/?mobile=nc

By Pat Garofalo on Jun 19, 2012 at 2:50 pm

JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon testified on Capitol Hill today for the second time in two weeks, appearing before the House Financial Services Committee to discuss the trading debacle that has cost his bank billions of dollars. Before the hearing, Bloomberg News pointed to a new study showing that JP Morgan Chase receives a $14 billion annual subsidy from the U.S. government. This subsidy is due to JP Morgan’s reputation as a too-big-to-fail bank, which lets it borrow money at lower rates than other, less systemically risky banks:

JPMorgan receives a government subsidy worth about $14 billion a year, according to research published by the International Monetary Fund and our own analysis of bank balance sheets. The money helps the bank pay big salaries and bonuses. [...]

In a recent paper, two economists — Kenichi Ueda of the IMF and Beatrice Weder Di Mauro of the University of Mainz — estimated that as of 2009 the expectation of government support was shaving about 0.8 percentage point off large banks’ borrowing costs. That’s up from 0.6 percentage point in 2007, before the financial crisis prompted a global round of bank bailouts.

.....

Change the world

"We need to be the change we wish to see in the world." ~ Mohandas Gandhi

Where's the birth certificate

On Facebook, someone shared a photo of a demonstrator holding up a sign that said:

If corporations are people, I want to see the birth certificate.

Seven Habits of Highly Ineffective People

http://www.processexcellencenetwork.com/people-performance-and-change-in-process-improveme/articles/seven-habits-of-highly-ineffective-people/&mac=SSIQ_OI_Featured_2011&utm_source=processexcellencenetwork.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HrOptIn&utm_content=6/19/12?mac=11394.003sibwebinr03022011

Contributor: Process Excellence Network
Posted: 06/18/2012

Here are PEX Network’s 7 habits of highly ineffective people – emulate them at your peril!

Habit 1: Egotistical .....

Habit 2: Bad Temper .....

Habit 3: Poor Listener .....

Habit 4: Bully .....

Habit 5: Micromanager .....

Habit 6: Disorganised .....

Being disorganised is not the sign of a bad leader; it is the sign of an ineffective one. Nor is being disorganised simply characterised by a messy desk and turning up three minutes late to each meeting, although neither should be encouraged. Organisation is about planning ahead, making provisions for different possible outcomes and having a clear understanding of what needs to be done and how this will be achieved. How people do this is up to them.

A disorganised leader, defined as "lacking order or methodical arrangement or function", will not only not know something is going wrong, but be surprised with no clue how to fix it when it happens.

Habit 7: Defensive

Letter to Emily White at NPR All Songs Considered.

I encourage you to read the whole article at the following link.
And if you "don't want" to pay for music, well I "don't want" to pay for food, housing, etc., whatever it is you do to make a living, so I guess I have a right to take it from you for free.

People want me to get my song "Surplus Goods" recorded, and I very much want to do so, but I am trying to live on social security (not very successfully, I have to use some savings almost evevy month) and I can't afford to get a demo made.

If you want to hear some music that I had recorded when I had a job, go to
www.reverbnation.com/patriciashannon

http://thetrichordist.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/letter-to-emily-white-at-npr-all-songs-considered/

June 18, 2012

Recently Emily White, an intern at NPR All Songs Considered and GM of what appears to be her college radio station, wrote a post on the NPR blog in which she acknowledged that while she had 11,000 songs in her music library, she’s only paid for 15 CDs in her life. Our intention is not to embarrass or shame her. We believe young people like Emily White who are fully engaged in the music scene are the artist’s biggest allies. We also believe–for reasons we’ll get into–that she has been been badly misinformed by the Free Culture movement. We only ask the opportunity to present a countervailing viewpoint.

Emily:

My intention here is not to shame you or embarrass you. I believe you are already on the side of musicians and artists and you are just grappling with how to do the right thing. I applaud your courage in admitting you do not pay for music, and that you do not want to but you are grappling with the moral implications. I just think that you have been presented with some false choices by what sounds a lot like what we hear from the “Free Culture” adherents

I must disagree with the underlying premise of what you have written. Fairly compensating musicians is not a problem that is up to governments and large corporations to solve. It is not up to them to make it “convenient” so you don’t behave unethically. (Besides–is it really that inconvenient to download a song from iTunes into your iPhone? Is it that hard to type in your password? I think millions would disagree.)

Rather, fairness for musicians is a problem that requires each of us to individually look at our own actions, values and choices and try to anticipate the consequences of our choices. I would suggest to you that, like so many other policies in our society, it is up to us individually to put pressure on our governments and private corporations to act ethically and fairly when it comes to artists rights. Not the other way around. We cannot wait for these entities to act in the myriad little transactions that make up an ethical life. I’d suggest to you that, as a 21-year old adult who wants to work in the music business, it is especially important for you to come to grips with these very personal ethical issues.

.....

Now, my students typically justify their own disproportionate choices in one of two ways. I’m not trying to set up a “strawman”, but I do have a lot of anecdotal experience with this.

“It’s OK not to pay for music because record companies rip off artists and do not pay artists anything.” In the vast majority of cases, this is not true. There have been some highly publicized abuses by record labels. But most record contracts specify royalties and advances to artists. Advances are important to understand–a prepayment of unearned royalties. Not a debt, more like a bet. The artist only has to “repay” (or “recoup”) the advance from record sales. If there are no or insufficient record sales, the advance is written off by the record company. So it’s false to say that record companies don’t pay artists. Most of the time they not only pay artists, but they make bets on artists. And it should go without saying that the bets will get smaller and fewer the more unrecouped advances are paid by labels.

Secondly, by law the record label must pay songwriters (who may also be artists) something called a “mechanical royalty” for sales of CDs or downloads of the song. This is paid regardless of whether a record is recouped or not. The rate is predetermined, and the license is compulsory. Meaning that the file sharing sites could get the same license if they wanted to, at least for the songs. They don’t. They don’t wanna pay artists.

.....

Artists can make money on the road (or its variant “Artists are rich”). The average income of a musician that files taxes is something like 35k a year w/o benefits. The vast majority of artists do not make significant money on the road. Until recently, most touring activity was a money losing operation. The idea was the artists would make up the loss through recorded music sales. This has been reversed by the financial logic of file-sharing and streaming. You now tour to support making albums if you are very, very lucky. Otherwise, you pay for making albums out of your own pocket. Only the very top tier of musicians make ANY money on the road. And only the 1% of the 1% makes significant money on the road. (For now.)

Over the last 12 years I’ve watched revenue flowing to artists collapse.

Recorded music revenue is down 64% since 1999.

Per capita spending on music is 47% lower than it was in 1973!!

The number of professional musicians has fallen 25% since 2000.

Of the 75,000 albums released in 2010 only 2,000 sold more than 5,000 copies. Only 1,000 sold more than 10,000 copies. Without going into details, 10,000 albums is about the point where independent artists begin to go into the black on professional album production, marketing and promotion.

.....

Now, having said all that, I also deeply empathize with your generation. You have grown up in a time when technological and commercial interests are attempting to change our principles and morality. Rather than using our morality and principles to guide us through technological change, there are those asking us to change our morality and principles to fit the technological change–if a machine can do something, it ought to be done. Although it is the premise of every “machines gone wild” story since Jules Verne or Fritz Lang, this is exactly backwards. Sadly, I see the effects of this thinking with many of my students.

These technological and commercial interests have largely exerted this pressure through the Free Culture movement, which is funded by a handful of large tech corporations and their foundations in the US, Canada, Europe and other countries.

.....

The existential questions that your generation gets to answer are these:

Why do we value the network and hardware that delivers music but not the music itself?

Why are we willing to pay for computers, iPods, smartphones, data plans, and high speed internet access but not the music itself?

Why do we gladly give our money to some of the largest richest corporations in the world but not the companies and individuals who create and sell music?

This is a bit of hyperbole to emphasize the point. But it’s as if:

Networks: Giant mega corporations. Cool! have some money!

Hardware: Giant mega corporations. Cool! have some money!

Artists: 99.9 % lower middle class. Screw you, you greedy bastards!

Congratulations, your generation is the first generation in history to rebel by unsticking it to the man and instead sticking it to the weirdo freak musicians!

.....

Sweet Relief. This organization helps musicians with medical costs. Vic Chestnutt, who I mentioned earlier, was helped by this organization. I contributed a track to the Album Sweet Relief II:Gravity of the situation. www.sweetrelief.org

Music Cares. You can also donate to this charity run by the NARAS (the Grammys). http://www.grammy.org/musicares/donate


http://thetrichordist.wordpress.com/2012/06/16/artists-deserve-to-be-compensated-for-their-work-by-mark-isham/

By Mark Isham for ibuymymusic.org

Employment numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show a drop of 45.3 percent between August 2002 and August of 2011 “musical groups and artists”. Music piracy hurts both the music producers and the music consumers. I’m not the only one affected by this; most, if not all, professional artists have taken a slump in recorded music sales due to the illegal distribution and leaks.


http://thetrichordist.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/trichordist-inaugural-nyan-cat-award-mitch-stoltz-of-electronic-frontier-foundation/

What people like you refuse to understand: How are individual independent artists supposed to take on the entire for-profit un-authorized use industry? 99 percent of the people harmed by file sharing are the independent artists, the audio engineers, the roadies, the independent recording studios, the independent and specialty labels, the independent record stores, the independent publicists, the bus drivers etc etc. The vast majority of people harmed by unauthorized exploitation of artists rights are not rich and powerful. Unlike the EFF they do not have washington lobbyists to argue their case or employ staff lawyers to troll the internet arguing for their rights. The working class of the music business do not have foundations that receive large corporate donations to help them fight for their rights. The 99% are the 99%! The basic point of the law and civilization is to protect the weak from the corrupt and powerful.

A Petition to Support the Saving American Democracy Amendment

Of course, this has no chance of going anywhere unless a bunch of Republicans are voted out of Congress.

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/petition/?uid=f1c2660f-54b9-4193-86a4-ec2c39342c6c

Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed a constitutional amendment that would overturn the Supreme Court decision in a case called Citizens United vs. FEC.

The Saving American Democracy Amendment states that:

Corporations are not persons with constitutional rights equal to real people.
Corporations are subject to regulation by the people.
Corporations may not make campaign contributions or any election expenditures.
Congress and states have the power to regulate campaign finances.

5 Reasons Americans Are Right To Blame Bush For The Economy

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/14/499523/5-reasons-americans-are-right-to-blame-bush-for-the-bad-economy/

By Annie-Rose Strasser and Tara Culp-Ressler on Jun 14, 2012 at 11:14 am

Sixty-eight percent of Americans — including 49 percent of Republicans — say President George W. Bush is responsible for the state of today’s economy, a new Gallup poll finds.

Indeed, the country is still reeling from Bush’s disastrous economic stewardship. His irresponsible tax cuts and deregulatory policies have contributed significantly to the slow recovery and are partly responsible for the nation’s economic plight. Here are 5 reasons why:

1. Deregulated Wall Street: .....

2. Cut Taxes For The Wealthy: .....

3. Ran Up A Tab On Two Wars: .....

4. Left Homeowners In A Lurch: .....

5. Weakened Workers: .....

Loneliness linked to serious health problems and death among elderly

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-06/uoc--llt061812.php

Public release date: 18-Jun-2012
Contact: Leland Kim
University of California - San Francisco
Loneliness linked to serious health problems and death among elderly
UCSF researchers find social factors play major role in older adults' health

Loneliness – the unpleasant feeling of emptiness or desolation – can creep in and cause suffering to people at any age. But it can be especially debilitating to older adults and may predict serious health problems and even death, according to a new study by UCSF researchers.

The team analyzed data in the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative study by the National Institute on Aging conducted on 1,604 older adults between 2002 and 2008. The research, published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine, focused specifically on the question of loneliness and its impact.

"In our typical medical model, we don't think of subjective feelings as affecting health," said first author Carla Perissinotto, MD, MHS, assistant professor in the UCSF Division of Geriatrics. "It's intriguing to find that loneliness is independently associated with an increased rate of death and functional decline."

Lonely Without Being Alone

One of the more surprising findings of the team's analysis is that loneliness does not necessarily correlate with living alone. The study found 43 percent of surveyed older adults felt lonely, yet only 18 percent lived alone.

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I hardly ever feel "lonely", but if I spend too much time alone, I get depleted of energy. Some of my friends have noticed the same things in themselves.

Buying life experiences to impress others removes happiness boost

Public release date: 18-Jun-2012
Contact: Elaine Bible
San Francisco State University
Buying life experiences to impress others removes happiness boost

Spending money on activities and events, such as concert tickets or exotic vacations, won't make you happier if you're doing it to impress others, according to findings published in the Journal of Happiness Studies.

Research has shown that consumers gain greater happiness from buying life experiences rather than material possessions, but only if they choose experiences for the right reasons says the new study.

"Why you buy is just as important as what you buy," said Ryan Howell, assistant professor of psychology at San Francisco State University. "When people buy life experiences to impress others, it wipes out the well-being they receive from the purchase. That extrinsic motivation appears to undermine how the experiential purchase meets their key psychological needs."

The study builds on Howell's previous findings, which suggest that people who buy life experiences are happier because experiential purchasing helps fulfill psychological needs that are vital for human growth and well-being. These include the need to feel competent, autonomous -- or self-directed -- and connected to others.

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Well, I've had much satisfaction and enjoyment from some material purchases. Maybe because I don't buy things to impress others, except maybe occasionally clothing, esp. for a job interview.