I actually find this whole campaign quite touching and amusing - and I support it. Things like Prop 8 would not have been an issue in the first place if psycho bigots realized just how many of their coworkers, family members and associates were wicked sodomites.

If you are able to, regardless of your gender or the gender you prefer to fuck, call in gay. Don’t put your job on the line for it, unless that’s what you want to do. I admit I won’t be doing it, and not just because that’s the day before my Xmas vacation plans start, but because I’m privileged to work at a company with a CEO who has a gay brother and who is a deputized minister who recently officiated the wedding of our lead web developer to his long-time boyfriend. I feel a certain duty to support this employer to a significant degree and not just coz they pay my bills.

If you don’t participate in this particular piece of mild silliness, but you like your job and your coworkers and they like you, I encourage you to consider the idea of ending the practice of “straightening up” for your employer when you go to the office every day. Sex doesn’t have to be a part of the workplace, and there is surely no reason to make your personal life a part of your job, but if you’re ever asked about your personal life by a kind boss or associate, answer honestly. Work closets are the easiest ones to bust open, because there is absolutely no reason for a good manager to care less about your personal life than that of a coworker just because of the genitals of the individuals in it. If shooting the shit is part of your work culture, you might find that this sort of openness actually enhances your networking and team cohesiveness.

This is all of course my opinion, and quite a skewed one, I’m sure, considering I’ve worked in the above-mentioned environment for most of my professional life. I support this concept because I like the idea of honesty in the workplace, not because I think employers should be punished for the sins of religious bigots; and I admit that the employers most likely to tolerate or support this effort are the least of our worries. Do here as you would in all situations of social protest, and carry a large dose of self-serving logic along with you.

Keep in mind that employers in 30 states can fire you for calling yourself ‘gay’.

…Combines with one of the most liberal (former) members of congress to create some of my favorite politicians. Hmmm…

It took me exactly 8 minutes and 46 seconds to walk from the gates of Embarcadero Station to Folsom & Spear (where I work) this morning…

I’m surprised this is not bigger news. One in five American households (20%!) fell behind on utility bills last year and one in 20 (5%!) had their service cut. Who knows how bad this year will be. This points out a much larger weakness in the American budget than I think most economists or government bailout-enthusiasts think…

… It’s going to be a long, cold winter for poor families, I fear…

Houses sure are cheap in Charleroi, Pennsylvania…

Hmmm…

Interest? What interest?

Forget saving - be an American and borrow! borrow! borrow!

The Fed is comparing their experiment with quantitative easing to the (subjectively unsuccessful) actions of Japan for the past 20 years. But Japan had a positive trade balance and a positive savings rate when it began its zero-interest-rate journey. It managed to maintain social stability and a viable currency in a zero-return, zero-growth environment for the past two decades because its easy lending was qualified with a people who didn’t have much appetite for debt and who chose to save their money anyway. It’s also a people that still produce lots of valuable hard and soft goods for export and that a wide variety of societies can use regardless of their stage of development (machine tools, furniture, etc).

America is trying this with none of these safeguards in place. What’s the likely effect of free borrowing on a currency backed by a society addicted to debt, with no savings (negative savings after netting out borrowing) and an economy that exports mostly intellectual property geared toward petroleum-dependent industrial economies that has been importing almost all its durable goods for over a decade?

Read more »