Those banjo players again

From http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080327.worchestra0327/BNStory/Entertainment/home?cid=al_gam_mostview:

This is not a good day. One of my favorite CBC programs is Two New Hours,
where I can end my weekends listening to new compositions, sometimes
performed by this orchestra. CBC claims this will free up $1 million of
their budget to record other music. If their budget is that tight,
how far can it be before CBC starts syndicating NPR material?

I have a high regard for Nancy DiNova, and this quote sums it up:

> It's almost like open warfare on classical music in this country. I
> just don't understand what people are thinking who are in charge of
> the CBC here," said Nancy DiNova, a violinist who used to play with
> the orchestra and whose husband and son are both members now. "The CBC
> is now going to spend more money on banjo players."

Next time I hear Bela Fleck or Tony Furtado Sunday night, I'll know why.

Bon appetit!

Looks good. Anyone know if this place is still open? Google says:

Your search - kamouraska "hotel maurice richard" - did not match any documents.

Dress Code

Now revised so you can read it top-to-bottom. And the names changed to
protect the usual. I figured if you're used to reading blogs, then
you've grown accustomed to the bottom-to-top form. But I haven't.
_____________________________________________


Hi Joseph K,

It has been brought to my attention that you are sporting a mohawk and it doesn’t meet the employee handbook policy requirements regarding a professional appearance. The policy allows for casual dress, but we still must maintain a professional appearance.

I understand you will be visiting a client site in early April. The Utepils Senior Management Team feels that the Mohawk is inappropriate and will not properly represent professionalism during your visit. As per the policy, you must appear professional.

We cannot send you to a client site if you appear unprofessional. Utepils is booking your travel tomorrow, therefore, I require you to confirm you understand the policy by end of business today.

9.2.1 Casual Dress

Employees must be dressed and appear professional. Employees are able to wear casual clothing, but employees must also appear neat and well-groomed. If you are not sure, you can ask the HR manager for guidance.



Thanks,

HR Manager

_____________________________________________

Hello HR Manager,

I will try my best to modify my hairstyle to conform to the company dress code standards. Unfortunately I cannot guarantee that it will be long enough to be fixable before the time I am scheduled to be on site.

I do have a question regarding the dress code policy. Since the decisions of what is considered professional and what is not are solely dependent on the judgments of each individual, do we have a standard definition of what a professional appearance is?

Thanks,
Joseph K

_____________________________________________

Hi Joseph K,

I appreciate your willingness to adhere to the policy in the future.

We didn’t make the policy strict to the point we had to say how your hair style should be or how long your shorts need to be, etc since we are creating a policy for people that are intelligent and reasonable and it gives some room for flexibility within the policy. If we need to go to the point of describing every detail of your dress and how you should appear, then it doesn’t seem fair to other people who have a reasonable understanding of what “Professional Appearance” means. We don’t want to treat the employees like they are not intelligent and that we need to tell them exactly what to wear. I also stated in the policy that if you are unsure of something to come and ask me about it.

Let me ask you, do you think that a Mohawk is considered, by a reasonable person, to be professional?

I will follow up with (my manager) regarding who will be going to the client site.

Thanks,

HR Manager

_____________________________________________


Hi HR Manager,

I do not appreciate the manner in which the company policies have been explained. My first impression after reading the description given is that anyone with alternative views of what professional attire is is either unintelligent or unreasonable. I believe that I asked a straightforward and non-confrontational question when I requested more details of the company policies. The response that I was given was far from non-confrontational.

I am fully willing to modify my attire to comply with the company policies but I am not willing to have my character and personal judgment demeaned.

Thank you,
"Joseph K"

_____________________________________________





Names and prices changed to protect the innocent

iPhones Considered Dangerous to Your Social Life

From the "I knew that" category in the this LA Times article:

"It's turned me from a really annoying know-it-all into an incredibly annoying know-it-all, with the Internet to back me up," said Sadum, a technology writer in Denver. "It's not a social advantage."

...

.... Backstage recently in a Little Rock, Ark., theater, actress Natalie Canerday said the cast of a play was enjoying debating the year Bruce Springsteen's album "Born to Run" was released. Then the director took out his iPhone. All conversation stopped as he sought the answer: 1975, according to Wikipedia.

"Everyone said, 'Oh,' " Canerday recalled. It was another awkward iPhone moment.

Man, I remember seeing the ads for that album in National Lampoon and Rolling Stone that summer. Shows I can be annoying without paying the $400.

In Memory of Arthur C. Clarke

Actually, the only memories I have of ACC are pretending to understand both the book and the movie in grade 5, and hearing about the inventing of geosynchronous orbit over and over again (pun intended). So this is more a memory recounted by a friend in Ottawa. Many years ago David dodged a winter in Sri Lanka, and recounted his many encounters with Arthur C. Clarke in his Scribbles magazine (ISSN something or other...). Read about it at
http://ca.geocities.com/scribbles.magazine@rogers.com/files/ClarkeQuest.htm

The Algebra of Commitment

Trust Me

Send your kids here with their questions

http://ask-us-now.blogspot.com/

The kids do all the writing. I showed them how to choose templates, change colors, and it helps to have a dad who knows how to write a bit of CSS (realizing there's no evidence of that here). Kids only please.

Here's the ad for the web site. Feel free to pass it around.

Steve Gerber RIP

After posting these this morning, I just found out Steve Gerber died
last month at the age of 60, cause not stated, but possibly related
to having been ripped off through much of this career.

Cultural speedup

When was that Robert Plant/Alison Krauss duet thing released, last December?
Like three months ago? I forget what show the kids were watching last weekend,
but an ad came on using one of the tunes as background. Three months: that must
be a record for the gap between when a song is released and when it's used to move
products. The X-Ray Specs needed 25 years, while an out-of-left-field country
compilation needs less than 100 days.

Now I gather Bob doesn't need the money, and Alison probably has a nice
spread in Fort Wayne or somewhere else in middle America where the living
is easy and not so expensive. No, this is how the record companies are
making their money now. Let the album out, figure out its audience, and then
use advertising to bring in the revenue. I knew the labels would figure it out.

Spy vs. The White Stuff Guy

So the meme of the week (or maybe last week, or last month, but I just heard about it) is the Stuff White People Like blog. While it's mildly amusing, the part that gets me is how each entry is attracting hundreds of comments. If he called it "Stuff Yuppies Like" he wouldn't get nearly as much response, particularly from people who identify themselves racially.

Meanwhile my wife found an anthology of Spy magazine at the library. I had forgotten all about that magazine, but now see it as a vital cultural link between National Lampoon (when it was funny) and whatever biting satirical publication is making the rounds now. What's that, there isn't one? Exactly. We live in sad times. Yesterday I opened the book to an article on "Yuppie Porn", featuring items with matte black, digital readouts (remember this was the late 80s), and other stuff that people bought to make a statement about how they stood out. Things haven't changed that way, at least.