MinnPost: Women now outnumber men in the work force in Minnesota and nationally, due, primarily, to heavier job losses this recession in male-dominated industries (e.g. technology). Have the gains in numbers also resulted in a shift of power?
TCDailyPlanet: Is chemistry going green? (Fun fact: “Many professional chemists don’t know what makes a chemical toxic. That’s because universities do not require chemistry majors to demonstrate knowledge of toxicity and environmental impact in order to graduate.”)
Advocate Tribune: Granite Falls looks back on its Top 10 biggest stories of 2010.
Polaroid: Polaroid’s creative director, Lady Gaga, unveiled some new specs over the weekend at the CES in Las Vegas. (Ga-goggles, anyone?) However, I would not want to see someone wearing a pair while driving even if they do a good job shading your eyes from the sun.
South 12th: Andy puts together a Googleview slideshow of places where he’s worked. Imagine the fun he’d have had wearing ga-goggles!
Brainerd Dispatch: Bill, from Aitkin, says most of us are conservative.
January 10, 2011 at 8:45 am
Re: MinnPost story on women in the workforce question, “Have the gains in numbers resulted in a shift in power?”
Look at most corporate CEOs. Look at the Board of Directors. Look at Congress and the White House. There is your answer.
January 10, 2011 at 8:49 am
That’s sort of just turning it into a numbers game isn’t it, Bob? I think there are a few more complicated dynamics than that.
And since we’re on the subject of women in high places, what exactly makes Lady Gaga qualified to be the creative director for Polaroid?
January 10, 2011 at 9:00 am
Numbers count when in our representative government. The also count in the corporate boardroom. Yes, women have made advances in the workplace. But statistically, they still earn less than men and they are not proportionally represented in most city, county, state or federal legislative entities.
Lady Gaga is all about the buzz, the hip, the now. If any brand need these atributes to to survive and evolve, it’s Polaroid. A rather brilliant if unorthodox pick, IMHO.
January 10, 2011 at 9:06 am
I wish that I could send Bill from Aitkin to that conservative utopian state he desires. He seems a little confused and unhappy hera.
January 10, 2011 at 9:06 am
here, rather
January 10, 2011 at 9:13 am
Well, I guess in your world EVERY woman who sings, dances, plays the piano and prances around a stage with her boobs on fire is qualified to be a creative director for a Fortune 500 company.
January 10, 2011 at 9:17 am
“But statistically, they still earn less than men and they are not proportionally represented in most city, county, state or federal legislative entities.”
I think your as aware of the process it takes to become elected as anyone, Bob. You first decide to run for office, then you build support, raise money and get the required votes. There’s nothing there that’s gender restricted. I was totally prepared to work for, and vote for a woman for president this last cycle. Were you?
January 10, 2011 at 9:24 am
We tried it your way, Rat, and look what we got: recession, Wall Street collapse and Ponzi scams. Give me a fame monster in a flaming bra any day. 😉
January 10, 2011 at 9:32 am
There were not any women running last cycle that I felt would win. As it turns out, I was right. Glad she is still in the workforce, though. A remarkable public servant and a great American, IMHO.
January 10, 2011 at 10:06 am
[W]hat exactly makes Lady Gaga qualified to be the creative director for Polaroid?
That’s for the company to decide, Rat, don’t you think? But, IMHO, in terms of job skills, I think S. Germanotta is rather well qualified in the creativity department. And she probably uses the products she endorses .. unlike some other celebrity endorsers.
January 10, 2011 at 10:43 am
Is polaroid a fortune 500 company? At this point I thought they were little more than a brand in some holding companies licensing empire.
January 10, 2011 at 10:53 am
@ryanol: And, given what I know about some creative directors, she’s probably doing a better job of it than some of the poseurs already out there. 😉
January 10, 2011 at 12:24 pm
“Well, I guess in your world EVERY woman who sings, dances, plays the piano and prances around a stage with her boobs on fire is qualified to be a creative director for a Fortune 500 company. ”
If they’re as massively successful in selling their buzz/brand, whatever you want to call it, as Lady Gaga has been, yeah, they would be qualified.
January 10, 2011 at 12:28 pm
Let’s see if she produces results.
January 10, 2011 at 1:32 pm
Fair enough.
January 10, 2011 at 1:48 pm
I demand an investigation into why the recession hit men disproportionally hard and government action to ensure future recessions affect the genders equally.
January 10, 2011 at 3:12 pm
@kwatt: Maybe it’s just proportionately evening-out now because it took this long to make up for all those good-paying Rosie-the-Riveter jobs that were lost to women after the GIs returned from their fun vacation overseas in the ’40s?
Btw, speaking of GIs, Major Dick Winters died a week ago just shy of his of his 93rd birthday. He was the Easy Company commander around whom the book and mini-series The Band of Brothers was based.
January 10, 2011 at 4:36 pm
“I think your as aware of the process it takes to become elected as anyone, Bob. You first decide to run for office, then you build support, raise money and get the required votes. There’s nothing there that’s gender restricted.”
I love rebuttals that come from a position of privilege. They’re so quaint.
January 10, 2011 at 5:07 pm
The Rat doesn’t come from a position of privilege. He comes from NE Minneapolis. 😉
January 10, 2011 at 5:25 pm
Yeah, I have a heart and a soul just like the next guy.
January 10, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Hearts and souls vary.