The American Dichotomy

When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.

William Wrigley, Jr.

There's a split in the sentiment of the American public in regards to how business is conducted and managed.

I know this because I'm a blogger, and there by know everything. I also know that writing down my thoughts is akin to a form of mental masturbation, where in I get to declare myself an expert. Problem is, like most bloggers, I'm only an expert in my own personal thoughts.

So - there's this split in American Business. On one hand, there are those who are can be said are working to improve the American Worker's quality of life by lowering their cost of living. On the other hand, there is the seemingly diametrically opposed group who wants to improve the American Worker's quality of life by improving their working conditions.

Here we are some century after Henry Ford's namesake was applied to a brand, and the auto industry is reeling. The causes of the auto industry's problems are too numerous to discuss here, but considering the price of modern UAW labor, benefits, pensions and working conditions - the US auto industry has been "labored" out of the market.

Wal Mart is often accused of not providing adequate wages, benefits and support to their workers.

The auto industry has been accused of laying down to the UAW to meet their labor demands.

Taking into consideration which business are profitable and have contuni

Both of these groups have the common goal of improving quality of life - indeed a noble and praise worthy cause. It's the cause which drives many people into politics in the first place.

So, these two groups - I don't like to name names - so we'll call the first group "Wal Mart" and the second group the "United Auto Workers" or "UAW" for short.

Wal Mart's founder, Sam Walton created his stores with the simple goal of creating equally competitive pricing between those who worked in larger cities and those who worked in smaller rural areas. Cities have the inherit structure in them where one store will not suffice to meet the needs of the many people who reside in them. So you end up with many stores in the area, which creates competition between the stores, which creates a glut of supply, which lowers prices.

Rural areas are not so fortunate as to have enough people living in them to warrant the same type of competitive pricing between rival stores. Often there is only one store to service a larger area. No competition means higher prices.

Sam Walton saw this as an injustice, and wanted to correct this. Fast forward some half century, and it is apparent that he has been successful in his goal.

On the opposite end of the "how to improve quality of life" spectrum is the UAW. They were created during a time when the auto industry was booming but wages, benefits and working conditions in many of the factories were not keeping up. The UAW was created as an organization to represent the workers and to harness the collective power of a group of many people.

If the measure of a business success is 1) profitability 2) meeting their business goals - it is plainly obvious that Wal Mart has succeeded in being vastly profitable and has succeeded in meeting the vision of Sam Walton.

The US Auto industry could learn a lesson or two from Mr Walton and how to keep overhead low, how to keep workers happy in a non-union environment, and how to remain competitive.

If you cant evolve as a business in an ever changing market place, you will eventually be come extinct.

Girls Gone Angsty

Raw teen emotion is a wonderful thing. Where would society be if we couldn't observe it all on the wonders that is youtube.



The second time watching this is just as funny as the first.

F*cking rock the f*ck out!!!

This is just the nasitest song ever made. It makes me want to run through a wall.



Yes, it was used in a Nike commercial a while back - but Saul Williams reason for doing so was (paraphrasing) "as an artist, if I don't make money, I can't get my message out - even if my message is counter-culture. Using Nike as a vehicle to get my art out to more people is more beneficial to me than it is to Nike. My song isn't going to help them sell more shoes. Nike's commercial is going to help me sell more records."

EDIT: Naturally the day after I link to this, embedding has been disabled. For those of you who wish to see this in all of its youtube glory, here's a link.

"Potential Cure" news

It's generally frustrating hearing news that talks about "potential cures" that use words like "if", "could", "might" and "possibly" so freely.

Dammit, I want cake.

There's a lot of promising research, but for the past 13 years, I've felt strung along by potential cures. It's too easy to become jaded. It's too easy to just break down in tears anytime there's something that holds promise.

When a person has accepted their fate, you build up a wall to words like "cure," in particular when they're loaded up with the word "potential" in front of it. You stop hoping, because you realize this is what your life is.

I just fucking deal, and move on. There's too much life to live, and there are too many beautiful things in the world to enjoy. There is too much fun to be had. There is to much happiness to spread.

Videos like this are both uplifting and soul crushing at the same time. It's such a mix of emotions. For 13 years I've dealt with the highs and lows of diabetes (physiologically, and emotionally). Seeing these videos are such a mix of hope, want, impatience, frustration and tears.

I've held onto these because I didn't know how to post them. There wasn't a technical problem, I just didn't know if I wanted to see them every time I logged into my blog to write up an article.

This first video was amazing. Dr Faustman is such an amazing person and her dedication to her research is highly admirable. I almost hope someone like her finds the cure, because they deserve it for the outstanding commitment to research "The Right Way."


Interview: Type 1 Diabetes Cure Trial from David Edelman on Vimeo.


This second video is a clip from NBC Nightly News. It is considerably less detailed, but the interesting thing is the "potential" (there's that word again) for a cure in humans within a year. I'm not holding my breath.



Sophie, if there is a cure - I'll throw your party. You, me, lots of cake, the biggest fucking tent you've ever seen and ... well... if I can get Johnny Depp, he'll be there too (but I'm apologizing in advance for the rope burns on his wrists and the duct tape residual around his mouth)

(HT: SixUntilMe)