Still very busy.
Now that many people are getting their DNA tested to check their "origins", unlike the commercials a lot of people are scratching their heads when their results differ from their siblings and parents. This is normal. Welcome to the function of sexual reproduction and how that contributes greatly to diversity.
"Currently, 1 in 5 workers is a contract worker, the poll shows. Within a decade, many labor economists believe freelancers will outnumber full timers." The continued rise of the gig (exploitation of workers) economy. My guess is this will be the same as the "open office plan." Something that looks to be an immediate benefit, but has long term negative consequences.
"Being on your own in the workforce often means you don't have the safety net of benefits and other forms of support that traditional workers do. And the toll isn't just financial, but physical and emotional too."
"Police are searching for a man seen running from a mall in central Florida where two explosive devices detonated Sunday evening." Why aren't you hearing about it more? "Authorities continue to search for a person of interest who witnesses described as a heavy-built, white, middle-aged man wearing a gray shirt and a gray hat." Funny how that "white" part keeps on showing up in stories where they're not sure it terrorism and not the lead story on the news.
"Oregon is in a battle royal over how to pay for expanded Medicaid."
"The first time the United States tried to protect solar industry manufacturing jobs from foreign competition, things did not go exactly as planned." I'm sure it will go much better this time. Not. But the Republicans never learn from history. Mostly because the rich will continue to be rich even as the working classes lose their jobs.
"Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissues, on Tuesday announced it will be slashing about 13 percent of its workforce globally, or at least 5,000 jobs, in a bid to cut costs as sales wane."
Where do the bad police officers go? "In suburbs just outside the city of Chicago, some police officers are paid fast-food wages; they work part-time patrolling high crime areas, just so they can use their badge to get better paying security jobs." And because they pay so poorly, they can't keep the good ones and can't train new ones. This isn't an insurmountable problem, though. I helped increase officer pay in my village and I worked with the chief to get rid of the bad apples. But it takes the initiative and hard work of the elected officials and the buy in of the community. And it takes money.
"'I would say broadly speaking, it appears that the Russian operation was designed to infiltrate conservative organizations. And they targeted various conservative organizations, religious and otherwise, and they seem to have made a very concerted effort to get in with the NRA.'" That is 1) more dangerous and 2) explains a lot.
3 comments:
My 23&Me results were interesting. (I signed up for a study on the genetic components of depression, and so got everything free.)
My paternal great-grandparents were from Poland and Lithuania, and 23&Me got that correct: 49% Eastern European immigrating from the 1850s to the 1950s.
My maternal family, on the other hand... "My grandmother was from Canada, does it show that?" --my mother.
Since we knew next to nothing other than Scotch Irish, it was very interesting. Synopsis: Western European. I'd been secretly hoping for some First Peoples or African or something surprising but I still enjoyed seeing what was uncovered.
I did the Nat Geo 2.0 test. My people mostly made it to the Ural Mountains and said, "Hmm, this is good enough." There's a bit from Scotland and a bit from Spain, but I'm mostly where Europe and Asia come together. Blows away some of the family history and confirmed the new history which was only acknowledged when my grandmother was dying. The family legends include a lot of Germany and French… none of which showed up in my genetics (still possible with gene mixing, just not the parts I got).
I think what is most fascinating is what it made me recognize what I think about my ancestors.
I'm *glad* that the family I knew about were recent immigrants. It meant no slave holders in my past. And as for my maternal grandfather, Western Maryland is very much like West Virginia--not a lot of slaves holders, mostly miners and sustenance farmers.
It's not pride per se, as much as relief that I probably don't have Pilgrims or slaveholder in the family tree. I don't want to be descended from people who stole the land from the First Peoples, or who kidnapped and raped Africans.
I guess it's kind of the opposite of the DAR?
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