Business Items :: Senate and Sex Tapes, Independently

{ 2009 07 01 }

Senate and Sex Tapes, Independently

Unemployment - Somehow, 4th of July falling on a Saturday means that we’ll get June’s official preliminary unemployment numbers tomorrow. I guess I’m the only one not getting a long weekend.
Meanwhile, some of you may have seen the ADP Employment Report numbers for June. [Note: A full PDF of that document is available here.] ADP revised its April-to-May numbers favorably, so it’s last two reporting periods now show 485,000 and 473,000 job losses, in that order. That’s not quite in line with what the BLS has reported, but neither is the overall employment number. Granted, ADP appears to include only private-sector jobs, but it still reports roughly 30 million fewer employed people than does BLS.
Don’t get too excited about any of these data. The interesting question — whether ADP’s payroll-derived data are more or less accurate than those taken from the BLS Current Population Survey — will take time and hindsight to answer.

Amateur - There have been [Warning!: pseudo-explicit images] reports that Leighton Meester, of Gossip Girl fame (such as it is), has added an amateur porn feature to her list of credits. Perhaps it’s not a proper feature; having not seen it, I cannot vouch for the existence of a plot line.
Please take heed: This venue advises against either the production or the consumption of sex tapes. Those depicted face a certain amount of disgrace, and those taking time to watch are generally disappointed. As a compatriot who shall remain nameless said at the outset of Kim Kardashian’s foray into Dancing with the Stars, “Having watched her sex tape, I’m pretty sure she’ll be the first one kicked off.”
Nonetheless, there is no reason to leave stupid and/or foolish people un-mocked. Without negative reinforcement, they’ll never learn. In that vain, you may enjoy this page from Cracked, even though it’s more situational than humiliating.

Observation - In my hunt to provide you with the very best links for the above bullet, I divined the meaning of NSFW (Not Safe for Work). Sadly, a Google search of that acronym isn’t quite as amusing as one might hope. In fact, the domain of that name is patently facile. I’m not saying that a visit wouldn’t send red flags through your company’s proxy server, but I really expect snuff, copraphilia, or at least something that would bother me more than the egregious copy-editing shortcomings I found.
Also…sure, there is some nipple visibility here, but the real question is how anyone in this day and age could see a garment whose title includes the word “jumpsuit” and think “Now, that’s a capital idea!”

Certification - It’s taken nearly 8 months and at least 2 branches of government, but Norm Coleman has finally conceded his U.S. Senate seat to Al Franken. Word on the street is that, in the wake of a unanimous decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court, Governor Tim Pawlenty will certify Franken’s election so that he can be seated when Congress returns from its 4th of July recess. He will immediately join the HELP and Judiciary committees, and, one expects, start showing other states’ senators (I’m looking at you, Montana and Missouri) just how “liberal” a Democrat ought to be.