gogo

It definitely affects how I'm going to vote.

Thanks for all the responses, folks.

Obama lived in Indonesia for part of his childhood (and no, I'm not making an argument that this counts towards foreign policy experience, I'm just wondering...). Who was the last president or presidential candidate who lived outside of the U.S. for any significant period of time (not counting time spent in the U.S. military)?

Those are fabulous, thank you.

Happy day, Bridget!

But certainly the point is to see that OT is spread equally among the people in the same job classification, isn't it? Not that someone who didn't get two hours of OT gets paid for it anyway, but that someone who has never gotten OT when the guy next to him gets an extra hour every day is given the chance to work some of those time-and-a-half hours. If that's not the way it works, then the company is getting played by the union. I can't imagine that their accountants would be letting the union getting away with that.

When we were looking for our house (and this was during what was, in retrospect, only the very early beginnings of the housing bubble out here), we looked at a place that was priced for some amount, but the agent showing the house told us "but that's totally underpriced, it's really worth (some price approximately $100K above the asking)". Umm... what? A house is only really worth what someone can and will pay for it. Real estate people were just starting to go nuts then, and it only got worse, around here anyway.

The accompanying article summarizing the editors' previous endorsements has a few gems:

I've already posted this in the pinned thread up top, but I stole this from sweetaddy (the Elliott Smith forum, which also has a lovely Nat tribute thread), and I think it deserves showcasing here, too.

You all have some nice things posted over there.

Hey Mel. Every year, Jeff Tweedy auctions off several in-your-own-home shows for charity. This one took place in Chicago in April. A bunch of us there knew and loved Natalie, but Judy (screen name: Dreamin') made the request. I've been meaning to check in with you all over at your board. Hope everyone's doing OK. Oh, and the banner is by Mrs. Peel, our resident graphics genius.

Wow. I think I have a new favorite VCer!

Seriously. So many reasonable points in one little post.

Yeah, and he ended up with a serious addiction to prescription painkillers for treating all the aches and pains caused by years of pratfalls.

No, that name doesn't ring a bell. Checked out some on-line reviews though, definitely looks like those would be up my alley. My to-read list is growing at an alaming rate.

I'm imaginarily bumping this one again, for Nat's birthday. Please think about continuing to make donations in her name, or doing whatever you can do to honor her memory today (grabbing a rock star's ass would also qualify).

http://forums.viachicago.org/index.php?showtopic=37173 Please go to Nat's birthday thread and post some memories, favorite posts of hers, pics of tinfoil sculptures, etc.

In memory of our lovely Natalie Jane, known here on VC as Saint Genevieve, this thread is a place for posting memories. Following the last extemely divisive election, Natalie started a thread called Let's put our heads together, and start a new country up. I loved her before, but after this post, I worshipped her as my leader: Please check out the pinned threads up above, and think about doing something today that would make Natalie happy: making a contribution to one of the charities listed, or making a tinfoil sculpture for someone, or singing a pretty song, or listening to a Jim O'

I'll definitely keep you all posted! I'm currently #11 on the reserve list... Yep, all of those work.

My 11 year old niece is always on the look-out for good fantasy stories, and anything with "Book ___ of the _________ Trilogy" in the title is usually a hit with her. So I'll check these out. And any other suggestions for her would be very welcome! Nice, thanks. I'll add those to the ever-expanding list.

This might be the factor that I'm most concerned about at the moment: Always Subtract Seven Points

Happy day, Kevin!

So far, just very depressing, and a bit rant-y. Not that I don't love Barbara Ehrenreich, and it's not that she's not backing up the rants with specific examples and stats, but it feels more like just a litany of wrongs, than a coherent argument. I'm only a few chapters in, though, I may change my mind before I'm through. Also, recently finished: (I hate when the picture doesn't match the edition that I read) and I had not read any Tobias Wolff previous to these, and I enjoyed them very much. I've got a few more of his books on reserve at the library now.

My favorite book to read during Banned Books Week: Places I Never Meant To Be: Original Stories by Censored Writers Edited by Judy Blume, it's a collection of short stories by young-adult authors who have all been banned or censored at some point in their careers. Some of my all-time favorites are in there. Buy it from the National Coalition Again Censorship to support their efforts.