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Monday, April 23, 2007

News of the Weird

Hamburger Meat Recalled

Due to E. coli recently discovered in a batch of hamburger meat, it's been decided to recall all meat produced last year. Wait a minute! Last YEAR? I'd say that if you're willing to eat meat that's a year old, all bets are off anyway.

Students Ask to Carry Handguns

Due to the Virginia Tech murders, some college students are clamoring to be allowed to carry guns on campus. Just what we need: Teenagers in hormonal overdrive carrying lethal weapons.

Publix Supermarkets Cut Wages

Southern premier supermarket Publix has a new performance review in which their employees may be doing a good job and still get docked pay. Many of their employees are retirees who simply want to supplement their income by bagging groceries and retrieving carts part time. Now these retirees are being told that they're not being competitive enough to merit retaining their current pay. What do they want: AARP Shopping Cart Roller Derbies?

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hamburger Meat Recalled - One word FROZEN

Students ask to Carry Handguns - The office gun nut has already announced that if the other students were packing this couldn't have happened. Not worth expending the energy to argue with a him but how did that guy in Tampa take hostages last week at a gun range. Safe to assume that everyone was armed there. Right?

Publix Supermarkets Cut Wages - Cradle to the grave minimum wage policy. File this under an managment fad gone amuck. Did you catch the photo of the evaluation form in the St. Pete Times? They must have had the Kaizen Black Belt / TQM / TPM / ISO 9001 committee working on that one for weeks.

United We Lay said...

I just KNEW the outcome of Virginia Tech would be more guns and less control. Way to go, America!

Saur♥Kraut said...

Hans, but frozen meat isn't supposed to be kept for more than 6 mos., or so I'd always been told (though according to Yahoo, it can last up to 12 mos. that way). Bleah!

Good point about the gun range vs. college shooting incident.

I missed the Publix form! I'll have to go look for it. These management fads can really go amuck, which is why I'm not that fond of them (I've written of these fads before).

UWL, I think it's actually a counter-movement to the usual clamor to ban guns that comes out of such an incident. The truth is, neither move is a good one. However, even if we're guaranteed the right to bear arms, we're also allowed to impose restrictions (you have to be an adult, some states demand that you are registered, etc.) We certainly have the right to make the choice to declare an area a "guns free zone" I suppose. The counter-argument is that only bad guys will have guns but the truth is that in the case of the Virginia Tech massacre, I doubt that someone else with a gun could've made any difference unless they were as good at shooting and trained regularly. A cop could've made a difference, it's doubtful an ordinary civilian teen would. I'm all for faculty carrying, however.

Anonymous said...

How long to you suspect that the hamburger patties used in school lunches have been frozen. Since the end of the Korean War?

Both sides of the gun debate make totally illogical arguments. I'm more a Libertarian and you'll never hear me say "There ought to be a law against it". Owning guns is part of our culture and there is no law that is going to change that. On the other hand if you commit a crime using a gun I'm all for not only throwing the book at you but knocking you down with it and continuing to hit you in the head with it. We have our rights but we have to take responsiblity for our actions.

You have to find the actual newspaper article. The form was quality.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

How about we just get rid of gun carrying in the States altogether, last thing I heard the Brits had been kicked out and you didn't need the militias any longer...

Anonymous said...

Daniel- How?

The Lazy Iguana said...

Daniel - what if the Canadians invade? Eh?

Saur - I guess it is better to recall meat a year late than never at all.

The "more guns" argument always pops up when this happens. But lets look at the fact that every college campus has a "no weapons on campus" policy, and yet mass shootings are very rare. I can only recall one.

Publix - what can I say. Store managers are getting greedy, and are looking for ways to boost profits and therefore their own bonuses. How do you do that? Raise prices? Can't do that - for then people will go somewhere else. So you find ways to reduce labor costs.

Publix has to compete with super wal-marts now. Wal-mart can actually sell food at or below costs, and make up for that with sales of all the other crap they sell.

Jenn said...

I quit eating burgers a long time ago, but after watching "Fast Food Nation," I am not touching ground beef ever again.

Anonymous said...

Lazy - I'm assuming the other college campus shooting you remember is the one in Texas in 1966. We here in Iowa have another one on our list when in 1991, a student went on a rampage killing five people. Still like you said, it is rare and your chances of dieing by driving down to the end of the block and back in your car are much higher.

Dave said...

Saur,

Thanks, I just went and cleaned out my freezer. Now I have room for cookie dough ice cream. I love that stuff.

Excellent post.

Lee Ann said...

If they put more control on guns, I would just be worried in a some other setting other than a college campus. I think you are right, that typically you would not have to worry so much about guns on college campuses. Although, I did hear some forensic psychologists talk about the whereabouts that this would usually occur. Schools and restaurants (because of the mass number of people in those places). I just don't want to be hanging, not able to protect myself or my family, because you know regardless of the control laws, the criminals will ALWAYS have the guns.

Three Score and Ten or more said...

I hate that. Even though our Publix moved away ten years ago Publix has been my favorite place to shop. (one of the reasons I go to Florida and Hilton Head). This is a real bummer. Only a few years ago, Publix was voted (in some damned poll or another) one of the best employers in the country.

Anonymous said...

i hate meat. its' nasty and getting nastier every day

Anonymous said...

We are all meat, deep down inside.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Hans: leave lobbying where it belongs, in the trash and pass a damn law.

Anonymous said...

Daniel- Passing a law won't make them go away. It least it hasn't worked for drugs and I don't think the NORML lobby is all that strong.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

You'd be surprised what a law banning the carrying of firearms would do, most other countries have them, the UK sure does and the lobbying was in ref to the second most powerful lobby in Washington, the NRA.