With only a few hours to go on an expiring contract, the NFL Network and Comcast have agreed to not allow the football network to go off the air tonight at midnight. The two sides have been battling for the past couple years. The Philadelphia Inquirer just printed this statement online:

“Comcast and the NFL are engaged in productive discussions toward a new agreement for NFL Network carriage on Comcast. NFL Network will continue to be carried on Comcast systems past tonight’s scheduled expiration of the current contract while both sides continue these productive discussions. We are both working to find a solution that works for NFL fans and Comcast’s customers.”

The NFL had been contesting Comcast’s extra monthly charge for a “sports package” that includes NHL, NBA, and more channels.  The League, and this subscriber, felt that the cable giant should include the programming in it’s already excessive (my opinion) rates. Continue Reading…

Somebody should remind the White House that a plane flying low over New York is a touchy subject.  One of President Obama’s planes and an Air Force fighter jet flew low over the Statue of Liberty on Monday for a photo opportunity approved by someone, somwhere; although White House press secretary Robert Gibbs didn’t know anything about the maneuver.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg fumed as many city residents panicked.  Hundreds of calls poured into the 911 emergency response line.  Multiple companies evacuated employees during the tense confusion.  Thousands of scared New Yorkers filled the streets.  Oh by the way, stocks lost a little extra while our tax money paid for this public relations bucket of waste.

What a bunch of clowns.  Great Reagan’s ghost.  How in the name of Sidney Crosby could anybody, let alone high ranking government officials, be so stupid as to fly a jumbo jet and fighter plane so low next to the World Trade Center site?  Oh yeah, they’re high ranking government officials.  Job qualifications consist of having parent’s who pay for SAT prep guides. 

Mayor Bloomberg did not mince words in a heated statement during which he described himself as “furious.”  According to Reuters, the uninformed mayor told reporters that “Had I known, I would have called them right away and asked them not to. …. They should know how sensitive people would be if they had low-flying planes down around the World Trade Center site.” Continue Reading…

Imagine you’ve just sat down at your computer, steaming cup of Swiss cocoa at your side.  You punch a few keys for some Facebook fun during a nice relaxing day off work.  Then you get fired from your job.

An insurance worker for Nationale Suissehad that experience this week after calling off work with a migraine headache she said made computer work impossible.  The 30-year-old employee left work sick and later used her iPhone to access the popular social networking site.  Now she’s out of a job.

Last week blogger Blake Sunshineexplained how Facebook is the #1 social network site in 11 of Europe’s 17 countries including Switzerland.  Sunshine finished up the post about Facebook’s success by explaining (accurately) that “It is now safe to make Facebook a large part of your social media marketing strategy.” 

The sick Swiss worker may hold a different view.  Facebook:  Great for marketing, terrible when skipping work.

How Hillary Might React To Being Fired

I won’t pretend to know enough specifics of this incident to make any judgments.  As an employer, I wouldn’t be happy if an employee left work sick and was later seen gallivanting around town.  Many people have found much worse ways to get fired.  If I found out they went home and read a book or newspaper, I wouldn’t care.  Facebook wouldn’t be a big deal either except for the claim that the employee could not work in front of a computer. Continue Reading…