January 4, 2008
FOUR FOR FRIDAY
Q1 - Voting & Safety: In the state of California, state law dictates that public schools be available for use as voting locations on electation day, but one California school principal--citing fears that his campus will be wide open on voting day and that that's not good for school safety--doesn't want his school to be used as a polling location. Do you think public schools should continue to be used as polling locations on election day?
Q2 - Executive Compensation: According to numerous news reports, Comcast will pay the beneficiary of co-founder Ralph J. Roberts an amount equal to his 2007 base salary for five years after his death, whenever that occurs. In other words, the publicly traded cable giant company has agreed in writing to pay Roberts for half a decade after he dies. What do you think about this? Should publicly owned and traded companies be allowed to engage in paying their executives after they die?
Q3 - Tripping: Will high gas prices and aggravation at the airport keep you from traveling as much in 2008 as you did in 2007, or will you be taking more trips this year than last?
Q4 - Appearance: Do you think human beings will look the same 500 years from now?
Posted by Mikal at January 4, 2008 4:07 PM
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Q1 - I can understand this - school safety concerns, in this day and age, are a priority.
Q2 - If it were a privately owned enterprise, that would be one thing but if it's a publicly held company I don't agree.
Q3 - I don't travel a lot to begin with, so I don't think it will make a difference in my plans.
Q4 - I think there will be continued evolution, so no, "we" won't look exactly the same in 500 years.
1. I think it is fine to use the schools for voting. No major problems have come of it to this point and taking the voting out of schools will not make them safer. Other measure should be taken to make the schools safer.
2. Public companies can do whatever they want as long as they don't violate laws. If the shareholders don't like what the company is doing, they should use their vote to make a change or divest.
3. I will travel about the same. Gas prices and airport hassle are not high enough to persuade me to stay home.
4. Yes. Fashions, styles, and tendencies will change, but people in general will look the same.
1. Voting & Safety: Ummm... I can see the principle's concern here. It would probably be a good idea to move polling locations out of grade schools.
2. Executive Compensation: It is a free country. I say if they want to be crazy like that, then so be it. I'm just glad I'm not a shareholder.
3. Tripping: I will probably travel less, but it has nothing to do with high gas prices or airport issues. Were it not for more personal issues, I would almost certainly travel the same amount in 2008 as I have in any other year. Besides, I love to fly, and it shows.
4. Appearance: Well, based on the last 500 years, I might say that the only thing that will really change is that people will get taller and stronger. Uh, and people will start wearing top hats again.
Again, I MIGHT say that.
However, thanks to rapidly advancing medical technology, I think a new science known as "cellology" (thank you L. Ron Hubbard for introducing me to that) will result in everybody turning into a race of lizard people. This will result in a complete metamorphosis of everybody's thetans, erasing all engrams (and thereby making auditing sessions with the Electropsychometer unnecessary) thus flushing the Helatrobus implants out of our minds, forcing the once great Xenu into the universe's largest volcano where, after having a hydrogen bomb thrust into it, he will meet his final fate.
So, to answer the question, no.
Q1: I see the Principals concern, I've voted at our local Elementary school and it gets so crowded, there are tons of adults all over the place, they can wander the halls and most people don't pay any attention because they know voting is happening so they must be there for that. I think it's probably a good idea to move it out of grade schools, at least during school hours.
Q2: Sure, he has a family mourning his loss ;). or used to all the big bucks he brings in, so if they want to pay the fam and not themselves, so be it.
Q3:I'd like to travel more, but I'm pretty sure it will be less, unless I reach my goal and we fly out to NY, hehehehe.
Q4:I'm thinking people will be taller and probably have more prostheses, robot parts and all that good stuff.
Q1: I think that schools should remain available as polling places. There are other things that should be done to make the schools more safe. What's more, the purpose of public schools, from their inception, was to help prepare citizens to engage in a democracy. Students should be a part of this process, engaged in it, volunteering around it, and the schools should celebrate it. We have some of the worst voter turnout in our country, and I'm guessing many students hardly even know what's going on in their schools on polling days.
Q2: I know that it's a publicly traded company, and ideally, if shareholders disagreed with this decision, there would be backlash, but in a company this big, shareholders don't really give a crap about this kind of thing. I, personally, think it's asinine. As for this person's beneficiaries, why on earth should they be any less prepared for his death than anyone else- just because they've gotten "used to" a certain lavish lifestyle doesn't absolve them of having some iota of responsibility for their personal well-being.
Q3: Probably more, maybe about the same. I don't think these things will affect our travel too much.
Q4: I think people will be exactly the same, yet completely different.
Q1 - Voting & Safety: Yes. All too often we punish the majority of good people in order to "protect" them from the few bad people. We need to stop allowing the evil minority to dictate what we do.
Q2 - Executive Compensation: He started the company, so if that's the deal he negotiated, then more power to him.
Q3 - Tripping: I travel very little.
Q4 - Appearance: For the most part, although I think there will be more mixing of races and ethnicities.
Q1 - Voting & Safety: Yes, Public school ARE public property. In my local area of Michigan the children have the day off school to avoid such problems. Safety is a big concern, but the schools are benefiting from the state tax dollars they should work together.
Q2 - Executive Compensation: This is just gross. No! These executives are so overpaid already.
Q3 - Tripping: I plan on traveling more. Higher prices everywhere require working harder, working harder requires playing harder. Thus, more travel is needed.
Q4 - Appearance: I would guess close in most aspects, but I would defiantly think that people would be bigger then they are now.
1. I think the Principal is overreacting a little, but given all the concerns about security at schools, he's got a point. Not only that, but using schools as teh voting place usually imposes varying degrees of disruption on student's daily routines. There are generally plenty of places (apartment clubhouses, libraries, and church halls to name a few) that are willing to be host to polling locations that won't loosen security or disrupt student activities.
2. They shouldn't, but they can. That's what happens when the people who set your salary are your golfing buddies.
3. Probably more. I haven't done much traveling over the past couple years, so anything would be an increase.
4. More or less, assuming we don't wipe ourselves out in the meantime.
I came across your site recently and decided that I would give this a try. I hope you don't mind but, I copied the questions and answered them on my blog. Here's the link "Four for Friday" Have a nice weekend.
1. I don't know what the deal is, I think it would be good for kids to see the public doing their civic duty. Unless that place is crowded and they think some kidnapping or a little timmy or betty sue will get struck by a voter's car, I don't think the principal has any authority. But if it's as bad as people seem to think it can get, by all means find somewhere else.
2. That seems silly, and wasteful, or maybe it's an elaborate way of getting their money back untaxed. Either case, if I were a stock holder I would get a little pissed. I hate the monopoly called comcast anyways, there is nothing else to choose from here as far as cable goes--lame.
3. I hope less, I'm tired of cars, traffic, airports, pollution. I need out of the rat hole, I'll put my bike legs on more often.
4. Yeah, physically the same, but possibly a caste system will prevail where those who cut their hair to create mullets will rule. My great great great etc grandchildren will sport mullets and worship a band called wild stallions.
1. In my town, the schools are closed on election day, so no children are in any danger. I think it's okay to use the schools as long as the kids are out and there is proper security on site.
2. What purpose does this serve the company or the deceased? I guess the family would profit from it at least.
3. Right now, I have no plans for air travel, but since I don't travel very frequently by air, it wouldn't discourage me. Driving on the other hand...it costs me twice what it used to to fill up my Honda.
4. I would assume they'd look relatively the same, as we haven't changed much in the last 500 years, except maybe people have gotten taller and live longer. With all the new medical advances, who knows what we'll look like in 2508 or if humans will even still be around - assuming the planet hasn't been destroyed (by humans) beyond her ability to sustain human life.
1. This is the classic "dual-use" issue we see frequently in other areas of public life. The priority needs to FIRST be to the education of children, in all forms, including their security. Is their a sacrifice that occurs when voting during elections (always held during the school week) that prevents students from learning and using all their available facilities? I would say yes, that it could constitute a hardship for students (access to facilities, security, etc.). Post offices would seem a more reasonable location, but facility size and parking becomes an issue to support the number of voters.
2. Executive compensation plans and the guiding laws have run amuck over the last century. Now Comcast wants to award/compensate their employee post-humously for service that can't be rendered after their death. It smells of "legacy" building on Comcast's part! Disgusting! If it's an attempt to provide for the future of his family, then they miss the point of compensation. Who really cares if the employee has a family or not - compensation is BLIND to that issue. For instance, we don't provide additional vacation time or salary for those employees that have family! BUT, this just once again spells out the tremendous latitude the country offers to executive compensation planning. Pay without performance is the status quo!
3. Travel plans won't change much - besides, it's about time we start accepting reality! We don't even come close paying the true cost of fossil fuel consumption. Perhaps one day we will wake up and put our money where our mouths are! Fund alternative fuel and renewable technologies development and infrastructure with the subsidies we provide the petroleum industry with, then we might get somewhere!
4. We'll look the same, of course! Not much has changed in the last 500 years, other than height, so their's little reason to suspect much else would change in the next 500 years. Evolution certainly doesn't happen that quick! NOW, the question is, how will the human race "look" 500 years from now?
1 - Why not just give the kids the day off school? Works elsewhere.
2 - Totally mental for the executive to get that kind of contract, a complete waste of money. I guess that's one way to get a life insurance payout without having to pay anything in.'
3 - I will probably travel slightly less than 2007, but that has less to do with prices, and more to do with not having to travel for any more med school interviews.
4 - I think on average we will all look closer to whatever we define as attractive looking, what with genetic manipulation and plastic surguries getting easier all the time.
Q1 - Voting & Safety: I thought the same thing the last time I went to vote and it was at a school. It never really bothered me until my kids started attending elementary school. Any stalker could single out my kids by just going to vote ... WHAT??? Voting at a school is not acceptable in today's world! They need to do this at local court house, DMVs, and other public buildings (maybe even the state / city legislative buildings).
Q2 - Executive Compensation: Hey! If the companies are dump enough to sign the contract, then they deserve the back-lash that the market will drive from a stock price perspective. If the market can tolerate 5 years of no-work with pay for a companies chief executive officer, then the company will be just fine ... right?
Q3 - Tripping: We will probably travel a little less, just because of the cost, though our real constraint has been the desire to deal with our kids on the airplane.
Q4 - Appearance: Probably so ... that really isn't enough time to evolve, unless there are some major climatic changes (or something like that) in the next 500 years. The 80's will come back in style at least 20 more times!
FOUR FOR FRIDAY
Q1 - Voting & Safety: I don't think polling places should be local schools. The less we can give access to our schools the better. Times have changed from when the laws where made.
Q2 - Executive Compensation: Personally, I think it's stupid. Period. I really hate the fact that we're worth more dead then alive. There's just something wrong with that.
Q3 - Tripping: Hmmm...we drive...a lot. Besides driving an hour every day, we drive 16 hrs round trip every other weekend and drive another 6 hours round trip about every month. It's all stuff we have to do, so we suck up the gas prices. We'd have to cut out other stuff as a result, like eating out or movies. We never fly anywhere, so that's not even an issue.
Q4 - Appearance: Haha! What a thought. I'm guessing with the greenhouse stuff, we'll all become a bit darker skin toned like those in Africa (to deal with the sun), and our eyes would have to evolve to deal with the increase in UV rays. Other then that, I doubt we will have changed much--if we don't nuke ourselves before then. :)
Glad to see you are alive and well. Have not stopped by for a while.
Answers:
No -- just wondering about that the other day, plus it is time to allow voting by ATM type machines anyway in this day and age.
Sure -- why not, it's his deal to make and no doubt he is deferring compensation now to make it happen
Nah -- we're americans of course ... we waste gas and enjoy it
Yup -- just taller and bigger but no significant changes other than maybe those blue tooth head sets will actually become naturally occurring features
1. Well I would consider them part of the family. First off they are living breating animals unlike painting, second if a family cannot have children then most people consideerd there pet their child.
2. The thing I would be willing to die for is my religion.
3. I really dont know, excpet more jobs and tax breaks for hybrid car owners.
4.I still dont know enough about it to give my full opinion, but to me it sounds a little unjust.
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