Yesterday, we were hit by a morning snowstorm that turned rush hour traffic into a misery. The road conditions in Southeastern Mass. and the Boston area weren’t bad, but visibility was way, way down.
One More Reason…
… to swallow hemlock if you’re a homely woman in America:
Ohio State University research scientist Jay Zagorsky published a study showing that by early middle age, married people have a net worth that is a whopping 93 PERCENT HIGHER than single or divorced people.
The study was based on a group of over 9,000 people between ages 41 and 49. Net worth included home value, stocks, retirement and savings accounts.
The reason for the difference is – no great insight here – most married couples have two sources of income.
Major Error
I made a huge mistake this week, electing to work on a project at “home” rather than in town over the past two days.
As a result, the depression that’s dogged me for so many months is back in full force this morning.
I Don’t Know About You …
… but I know people who have lost their jobs for a LOT less than the 3 years of incompetence by the DSS staffers who were “following” the case of Haleigh Poutre, the 11 year old Westfield girl who is currently on life support, having been beaten literally senseless by her adoptive parents after 3 years of near-continuous physical abuse.
Naturally, the DSS Commissioner, Harry Spence, announced that he has “no plans” to discipline any of his staff, presumably on the basis that these so-called experts were “duped” by this poor child’s crafty, duplicitous adoptive mother.
If there’s any justice in this at all, it’s that the bitch killed herself two days after being held on child-abuse charges. Let’s hope she’s found her just reward in the afterlife, having gotten her sick, perverted jollies in this one by torturing someone else’s child.
Townie Times
I was lucky enough to get a contract with a company in Boston, a very good company in fact, with a long-standing and distinguished reputation in web development and design.
Community Profiles
Boston.com has an interesting and useful online tool that allows one to compare a number of statistics, side by side, about cities and towns in Massachusetts.
Crawling Along
According to a professor at UMass/Boston, the Massachusetts economy has slowed to a standstill due to factors other than a normal business cycle downside.
Good Judge, Bad Judge
Ten points to Judge Doyet Early of South Carolina and a slap in the face (or maybe a throttling with a two by four) to Judge Edward Cashman of Vermont for their decisions this week on criminal cases involving assaults on innocent citizens.
Great Book
The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy.
Makes you not begrudge the folks in India who are taking American jobs, at least for 15 minutes, maybe longer.
Teacher Absences
The local paper published a table of Mashpee public school teacher sick days through November.
The (annualized) average number of sick days increases from less than one/teacher to over two/teacher as you progress through the grades.
In other words, teachers of K-2 have less than half the sick day usage of teachers at the High School.
Now, what does that tell you?
Says lousy management to me.