Sand Dabs Dore (Taken with Instagram at Alioto’s)
The kitchen (Taken with Instagram)
Deco rails (Taken with Instagram)
Choyo blooms (Taken with instagram)
Clouds on the mountaintop (Taken with instagram)
Classic tools (Taken with instagram)
Spring (Taken with instagram)
Tip Sheet
Social Tech
Facetagram— Facebook’s updated S-1 filing shows that it paid $300 million in cash and 23 million shares of common stock for Instagram. That puts the anticipated Facebook stock price at $31 a share. Get your trading fingers ready.
Agriculture
The Farm Bill Boat— sank on Wednesday with southern rice and peanut interests blocking the Senate Ag Committees planned markup of the legislation. Traditional direct payment programs have been stripped from the Senate bill in favor of a stepped up risk management (read crop insurance) program. Rice producers, traditionally dependent on direct crop supports for the investment intensive crop, objected and held up the hearing.
It Rises Again— some quick deal making must have been done be Senate Ag staff because the Committee’s markup of the bill was back on, on Thursday.
The first case of BSE in the US— (mad cow disease) since 2006 has surfaced in California. The cow in question looks to have spontaneously contracted an atypical form of the disease and died on farm. USDA officials tested tissue samples of the carcass and confirmed the presence of BSE.
Best News All Year?— The BSE infected cow died on the farm, and DID NOT enter the food chain.
Trading Partners— Unlike with past cases, South Korea and Japan are being very responsible and shipments of U.S. beef are still making it through customs. Both nations have said they don’t have any major concerns, citing the age of the cow and the circumstances of her death. Still, one Korean retailer has pulled U.S. beef from the shelves.
More Good News for BEEF— BEEF Magazine Blogger Amanda Radke has a piece out that looks at several stories in health magazines that are positive to the nutrition benefits of beef.
If we insist on having any meat at all the activists seem to want us to eat only New York strip steaks and filet mignon from organic, grass-fed, free-range cattle that were raised listening to Peter, Paul and Mary protest songs.
The @Work State of Mind
A recent infographic titled The @Work State of Mind details a common struggle with professionals in world dominated by mobile technology, the boundary between work and personal time.
The data shows the increasing breakdown between the work time and personal time. According to the data, 98% of professionals check their email on their personal time!
Who are the other 2%?
Additionally, 98% of people say they deal with personal matters at work. Again, who are those 2% who don’t?
Modern HR suites should understand this dynamic and be flexible with employees taking time out of their day to deal with getting the kids a ride home from school, hiring the babysitter, or getting a bill paid. But I constantly hear from friends and peers about restrictive bosses that refuse to accept them doing anything personal while at work. Be it firewalls or filters that block social media sites deemed to be a productivity suck, or militant middle managers monitoring phone calls for personal speech, the refusal to allow personal issues in the workplace is a major problem for the modern professional.
Not only is the double standard apparent, its antithetical to getting work done. Modern attention spans cant cope with a “work only” workplace. Our minds need “off” time to reset and maintain their output. Some of that “off” time can come in the form of personal time at work.
The personal phone calls or Facebook messaging will not only allow employees to work without the specter of personal “to-do’s” hanging over their heads, it will provide the much needed brain rest we all need.
Ditching that site blocker, freeing up restrictive phone call policies, and letting your employees take a stroll around the office is one of the first steps organizations can -and apparently still need to- take to keeping their people happy and productive.
