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Hugo Blogging: Best Novelette
Posted on July 5, 2018 by Andrew Hickey
It's been a while since I did the first posts in my series about the Hugo nominees this year, but after a month in which I've been scrabbling to finish an overdue book (the draft is now finished, and sent to the editor) as well as trying to deal with family dramas of various kinds, there's now only the fact that I'm dying from the heat and my entire city is filled with the constant smell of smoke to stop me from writing new blog posts.
As I don't have very much on writing-wise that needs to take priority, this month I'm planning to concentrate on reviews — I'm going to look at some stuff by my friends (Matt Rossi's book Nameless, The Book of the Enemy, and Blake Jones' new album, for example), and also to review a lot of stuff that's not by anyone I know. To start with, I'm getting back to the Hugos. As I've said before, it's unlikely that I'll get through all the Hugo categories, but I'm going to try to get through as many as I can, so here are the novelettes.
For those who don't know, novelette is a term that is now basically only used in science fiction fandom for awards purposes — it means, in this case, a short story between the lengths of 7500 and 17500 words (17500 and over becomes a novella, 40000 and over is a novel, in this classification system). It's not really a sensible word to use, and definitely not a term anyone uses in normal life (it may have been in earlier decades, when novels in genre fiction were much, much, shorter than they tend to be these days). Its main purpose is so that the Hugos can have three awards for shorter fiction, along with the "Best Novel" (and now "Best Series") awards for longer fiction — SF (fantasy not so much) has always been a field where a disproportionate amount of the important work in the genre has been done in short story form, and so it makes sense to have the multiple awards, even if the terms aren't really very helpful.
I'll be ranking these best to worst, as I did for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) and Best Short Story.
Winds Will Rove by Sarah Pinsker is in the issue of Asimov's in the packet. I first became aware of Pinsker from her rather wonderful novella "And Then There Were (N-One)", which I'll be talking about when we get to the Best Novella section, but I'm otherwise unaware of her work.
This, after reading that one, confirms me in my impression that I *really* need to read more of Pinsker's work. The two stories are not anything alike in most ways, but both in their different ways speak to my interests very profoundly. In this case, what we have is a story about history, and the folk process, and the futility but also the necessity of trying to recreate lost art and history. It's set on a generation ship, and told by a woman who was born there and who expects one day to die there, without ever seeing the Earth or the planet the ship is headed towards. On the ship, before she was born, someone let loose a computer virus which wiped all records of Earth culture and history, as well as cutting off communications with the home planet, and much of the culture for the decades since has either been about recreating it from the memories of those still alive who remember Earth, or about reacting against the whole idea of cultural preservation.
Our narrator is a history teacher and a folk musician, so you can tell what side of this debate she falls, but much of the story is also about the state of being in the middle of a longer journey — the narrator is a grandmother, dealing with her own very young grandchildren, but much of the story is about her own memories of her grandmother.
It's about folk music, but also, tangentially, about remix culture and jazz, about the ways we repurpose and reinvent traditions to our own ends but also about the importance of recognising the traditions in their own contexts. It's not especially plotty in the standard SF way — it's more about the moments of epiphany and realisation, like literary fiction is meant to be — but it still exemplifies the best SFnal virtues. This is a story about ideas, and relies on its worldbuilding for much of its impact.
And all through it, we have the story of a folk song, about things that no-one on the ship can ever experience, being half-remembered and adapted first on Earth, then in space.
It's also *extremely* well written, just on a pure wordsmithing level. Read this for example:
"I pictured a real farm, the way they looked in pictures, and let the song tell me how it felt to be in the place called Oklahoma. A sky as big as space, the color of chlorinated water. The sun a distant disk, bright and cold. A wood-paneled square building, with a round building beside it. A perfect carpet of green grass. Horses, large and sturdy, bleating at each other across the fields."
This is the kind of thing that in other writers might be too purple — several of the other writers in the current crop of Hugo nominees would have written this in such a way as to make my eyes glaze over — but here it has that "transparency" that so many writers claim (wrongly, in my view) as a virtue. It's extraordinarily clear writing, which manages to tell you a great deal about the character and her thoughts in an extremely small amount of time. It's proper, good, writing, which doesn't draw attention to its own cleverness, but which also *is* actually clever — it's not just the kind of novelised film script one comes to expect from writers who pride themselves on clarity.
This story is, honestly, about as good as you could expect from a science fiction story, and I say this as someone who tends to prize plot over characterisation. No doubt the puppyfascist contingent will (if they bother reading it at all) sneer at it because it features LGBT+ characters, who just happen to mention the fact in passing (I'd have to double-check exactly what mentions there were, but I remember the narrator mentioning that she had been in a relationship with a woman, a couple of uses of singular "they" when describing individuals, and one character (with a gender-neutral name) referring to themself in relation to their child as "his other parent". This is the kind of thing that for a portion of the SF audience is "turning a story into message fiction", but for the rest of us is just an effort at realism (and, truth be told, for many people it's an entirely necessary signal in the current political climate, both within SF and in the wider world, that the author isn't going to suddenly call for their death out of nowhere).
(Indeed, almost every one of the stories here features LGBT+ characters, often characters who fall into more than one of those boxes, and many of the writers here also fit into one or more of those categories. I mention this not in a Terry Gilliam "you can't even say you're a straight white man now" way, but because I know that some of my friends will want to know that this is a selection of stories that does not erase them from existence. That should not be notable, but it is, at least within SF.)
But if there's a message (and there definitely is) it's a message about the way culture works, about the dangers of forgetting and the necessity of adapting old ideas to new situations rather than either forgetting them altogether or preserving them perfectly as a museum piece. One certainly *could* take a political message from that — and it would be a useful one at a time when one of the big cultural battles in Pinsker's home country is over whether one should treat the constitution as a document to be interpreted in light of the current situation, or whether the intent of the country's founders should be paramount, and when the big cultural argument within SF fandom is over the idea that there might be people for whom modern authors are a better introduction to the genre than the works of Heinlein.
But this is not a political story, except in so far as everything is political. It's a story about music, and about memory, and the past and the future. And I love it.
Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time by K.M. Szpara is likewise excellent — at least as far as I can tell, but there's a big caveat there. It's a story that is, in large part, about being a gay trans man, and as a cis het man without a great deal of experience of queer fiction I don't know to what extent this is leaning into or going against tropes and cliches. In particular, I can't have any idea if the sex scenes (relatively graphic for the kind of stuff that gets nominated for the Hugos, though not Chuck Tingle level graphic) are remotely good at depicting the experiences they're meant to. I imagine though that they are, as Szpara appears himself to be a trans gay man, and the rest of it is well-written enough that I'd assume him to be competent in writing about his own experiences.
(This is, I hasten to point out, a failing of mine, not Szpara's — that I haven't read enough work by trans gay men to be able to judge this work is a fault in me as a reviewer, not in Szpara as a writer, and I'm pointing this stuff out to explain why less weight should be given to my opinion of this story as a result. I could be accurately assessing the quality of the work, or I could be like someone who's never heard of Albert King or Robert Johnson thinking Eric Clapton invented the blues).
I should also point out for those with triggers that the story starts, right in the first paragraph, with a description of a vampire attack that is clearly intended to be read as a rape, that it features several later instances of the vampire attacker using mind control, and that the narrator goes through several traumatic experiences as a result of being turned into a vampire which induce dysphoria in him, and which are described well enough that they may well do so for other trans people. The narrator also faces transphobia from within the gay community, All these things are necessary for the story being told, but they may well not be something a lot of my friends are comfortable with reading.
While I can't speak for the accuracy or otherwise of the trans stuff, though, what I can say is that Szpara does an excellent job in depicting the way that people with multiple marginalisations have to navigate bureaucracies. In the world Szpara sets up, vampirism (which seems to follow much the same sorts of biological and physical rules as in the Anne Rice books) is legal but heavily regulated, and in particular trans people are not allowed to become vampires because "we don't have conclusive studies on how vampirification affects atypical bodies". The following paragraph will ring a *lot* of bells with a *lot* of people I know:
I've seen the Federal Vampire Commission's list of atypical bodies. It's trans and intersex folks. Disabled and neuroatypical folks; the F.V.C. even provides a list of prohibited surgeries and medications. Never mind those who can't afford the required physical exams and application fee. And heaven forbid you're a woman of childbearing age who "might want to have kids someday; how can you be sure you won't want to?"
There's a lot more going on in here than just the stuff about navigating bureaucracies and medical gatekeepers — there's stuff about the mainstreaming of subcultures, for example, that I'm sure will ring a lot of bells with older LGBT+ people — but that's the stuff that rang truest to me, and I found it spookily well done.
A Series of Steaks by Vina Jie-Min Prasad is… it's hard not to damn this with faint praise really, especially compared to some of the other stories here. It's a very good story, well told, with a few nice turns of phrase, about forgers in near-future China creating bootleg steaks using 3D printers. It's a perfectly enjoyable story, but nowhere near as good as Prasad's other Hugo-nominated story, the short story "Fandom for Robots", which I absolutely loved rather than merely enjoyed. It's just a bit insubstantial and lacking in thematic depth. It reads a little like some of Greg Egan's more lightweight short fiction, but perhaps with a little more geek-awesome in the characterisation of one of the supporting characters. It's actually more my kind of thing than the Szpara or Pinsker stories in some ways — but insofar as one can be objective about quality, it's less good than those. I certainly won't be upset if it wins (and on the basis of this and "Fandom for Robots" I will almost certainly be ranking Prasad first for the Campbell award) but it isn't a story that feels like it matters in the same way.
The Secret Life of Bots by Suzanne Palmer has a lot of the same qualities as "A Series of Steaks". It's a very nice old-school SF story of a type which could easily have been written in 1955 or so, in which an obsolete maintenance bot on a spaceship is reactivated in an emergency, and Saves The Day by Showing Initiative unlike all the more modern bots. There are a few nice details (rather than "loading subroutines" or whatever, the bots "recite mantras", but also a few basic failures of craft like unclear antecedents, which it's surprising the editor didn't pick up on. I found it thoroughly enjoyable, but utterly unchallenging — this is something that could have appeared in Astounding under Campbell, and while that's true of this in a *good* way (and it would have been the best story in its issue in all likelihood) I personally don't read SF in order to remain completely unchallenged. Others do, though, and this certainly wouldn't be an unjustifiable winner.
Children of Thorns, Children of Water by Aliette de Bodard has two qualities I personally dislike. The first is that it isn't really a standalone story at all — it's set in a larger world in which two of de Bodard's novels are also set, and it was originally intended as a preorder-exclusive extra story for one of those novels. Shorn of that context, there's a ton of unexplained worldbuilding references (and see the next story for more of that) , which leave me not knowing if something's going to be explained later, I'm supposed to figure it out from context, or I'm just supposed to go with it. With a truly standalone short story, you know that everything you need to follow the story is in there, with series works, unless the author takes *great* pains to ensure it's spelled out, you don't.
The second problem is that there is, for me, far too much description of physical environments. It's all this kind of thing — "Room after room, deserted reception rooms with conversation chairs draped in mouldy coverings, closed pianos that looked as though they wouldn't even play a note, and harps with strings as fragile as spun silk, rooms with moth-eaten four-poster beds, bathrooms with cracked tiles and yellowed tubs…"
I understand that this is something that's appreciated by those who have visual imaginations, but for an aphantasic like myself it's like wading through treacle. Obviously this is a matter of taste rather than a failure of craft, and I imagine that for anyone who enjoys that kind of descriptive writing it's very interesting, but I can't cope with it at all.
(Again, a problem with me, not with the writing — and de Bodard has written other stories which don't have this effect on me).
For those reasons I can't rank it higher than fifth, though it's not at all bad given that.
And Extracurricular Activities by Yoon Ha Lee I gave up on about a quarter of the way through. It's a mil-SF/space mercenary type space opera story, and I don't like those at the best of times, but this one is also set in a larger universe (the one in Lee's novels) and again does that thing that works set in established universes do of dropping references in such a way that you're not sure if you're meant to know what they are or just go with the flow. That kind of thing, if done well, *can* work well for immersion, but in this case twenty pages into the epub I was still unsure as to why I should care. Given that I've literally never enjoyed a story about Space Marines/Mercenaries/Spies In Spaaace! (at least in prose, I have slightly lower standards for the cinema), I decided I'd be wasting my time to go any further with it. I'm still, though, ranking it above No Award, because I know that this kind of thing is a big part of the genre, and while it's not the part of the genre I'm interested in at all, it would be unreasonable of me to punish something that's a perfectly well-executed example of its subgenre for not being a subgenre I enjoy. So I've ranked it sixth, but won't be ranking No Award.
Overall, this may be the strongest set of novelette finalists I've seen since I started taking part in the Hugo voting a decade or so ago. There were four stories here I thoroughly enjoyed, all of them were at least superior examples of their subgenres, and there was no horrible Nazi shit in there (which, frankly, even before the Puppies was sometimes a bit of a problem). After last year, where my reaction was mostly "oh thank God at least it's back to being proper stories again instead of Nazi propaganda" but I was largely unimpressed with the actual stories on offer, it's a massive relief to be able to sit down and read these things with a genuine sense of enjoyment. We're in the middle of a mini boom in science fiction and fantasy short fiction (at least at the short story and novelette length — the novella market is largely owned by a single publisher at this point, which is disappointing) and these nominees show it.
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1 Response to Hugo Blogging: Best Novelette
Michael A Gouker says:
First of all, I agree that this a strong set of novelette finalists. "Winds Will Rove" and "Small Changes…" were two excellent stories. You are correct that both stories from Bodard and Lee are drawn from a wider world. Lee's story is from the excellent Ninefox Gambit/Raven Strategem series that I absolutely love, so I really enjoyed Lee's short entry. I highly recommend you give it another chance. As for Bodard, goodness… the writing is exquisite. Yes, there was a lot of description to immerse you in the fantasy ambiance, but I was awed by her prose. As a story, it was a Bildungsroman about loyalty and friendship, which works across all genres. I ranked "Bots" and "Steaks" behind the others, but in other years, they would have stood out more.


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Larry Smith, from the Bonzo Dog Band.
USA for their hit song, "Radar Love" from 1974.
They have accomplished much more.
Kooymans and Rinus Gerritsen in 1961.
and are still performing and recording today.
The original 45 single cover.
off of the Winterland stage.
from a song by Peggy Lee.
Moontan contains the hit "Radar Love".
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François Anquetil — Distribution Is in His DNA
Line Goyette
François Anquetil? You'll never get him to sit down for an interview, people told me. He's too busy. However, this conversation between two francophones feels like an informal chat over a glass of wine. François Anquetil, President of Sonepar Canada and Chair of Electro-Federation Canada's Board of Directors, is engaging, and happy to share his vision of the industry.
To start, I address the issue of time. "Yes, I am organized and results oriented, it is a management choice. We have 2,000 employees in Canada, 105 branches, 5 major divisions, 5 executive committees, more than a dozen people who relate directly to me, and I try to meet with all other organizational levels (sales, logistics, marketing, etc.) to go into a bit more detail, discuss ideas for the next generation, retail challenges… I travel so much. I pay attention to my time, but there is always room for improvisation. I like the open door concept."
The most stimulating challenges and others
A graduate of the SKEMA Business School of Lille in France, his country of origin, Anquetil has devoted his entire career to Sonepar and electrical distribution. He's known challenges. Which proved to be the most stimulating and the most difficult?
After reflection, he states five challenges. "I would say first that opening a new branch is an exciting challenge, but it can fail in difficult markets. We must be patient, know how to leverage employee skills and expertise. Maturity may take five to seven years, but organic growth is very motivating."
The second challenge: integrating acquisitions. "When we acquire companies smaller than ours, the challenge is how to sustain their culture. There will invariably be operational changes, but preserving the original culture — the company's unique energy — is essential. I am a strong supporter of decentralization; decisions must remain local to serve each market."
The third challenge: managing technological change in warehouses and distribution centres. "You can't automate a warehouse without changing the way people work, how orders are processed, etc. Upgrading is very complex and the risks are great. Computer interfaces are complex and training is a huge challenge. Automating a warehouse can mean a full year of perspiration," he says, laughing, "but you have to anticipate and avoid all risks to ensure a smooth transition between the two systems."
The fourth challenge: running a business that extends geographically across the country. "Managing companies remotely is exciting, but it's also quite a challenge. You have to be confident, and be prepared to travel. Distances in Canada are great, and there are many time zones. However, it is essential to continue growing the business.
"The fifth challenge, not just for me but for the entire industry, is recruiting new talent. The size of our country can be an obstacle. In Western Canada, for example, the problem is worse because the oil boom drew all the talent. Plus, industrial distribution is less sexy than retail distribution. We must treat our brand as a technical brand, but we have the advantage of evolving in a field where agility is very important. We must remain close to customers and their needs.
"For people who aspire to be entrepreneurs, career opportunities are more important than they are in manufacturing. People without any background or an engineering degree have access to sizable managerial opportunities and can develop rewarding relationships with clients and suppliers, which adds value. We are just the opposite of Taylorism."
Technologies that will have an impact on our industry…
We continue our conversation by discussing technologies that, according to François Anquetil, will significantly impact on our industry. For him, there is no doubt that e-commerce and digitalization will alter distribution. The future, says Anquetil, belongs to the omnichannel distributor.
"Digitalization is coming quickly, and we need to respond with an integrated system. We have to synchronize our platform with the client's, with mobile devices and webshops. It is said that today e-commerce is 8% and in five years it will be 25%. We must be ready.
"Another technology that may have an impact on our industry is product specialization. We will have to sell more solutions — industrial controls as well as lighting systems. The LED revolution has led us to create lighting specialists, and this phenomenon will accelerate. Then it is necessary to monitor the evolution of analytics. For the moment, we make little use of the data we have. With data that come from the Internet of Things and the Cloud, marketing could be more creative. We could better analyze customer needs and meet them."
... and our industry challenges
"The Canadian economy is dependent on the energy sector, and on mining and natural resources. Our dollar fluctuates a lot and will continue to do so on longer cycles. We have to work on differentiation and adding value so that we can get away from the hell of the lowest price. Our industry must also recruit new talent, not only for demographic reasons but also to promote innovation."
I begin asking him what is the one thing he would change in our industry if he could. "Nothing really, even if we have gaps at the level of innovation. I never thought I would spend my whole career in electrical distribution and yet…
"I think that we in distribution basically have entrepreneurship in our DNA. Every branch manager has the power to establish their own strategy, to forge close relationships with customers, and develop managerial skills. It's a really exciting world."
Passionate about his work, growth projects, technologically savvy, how does Anquetil balance his private and professional life? He laughs and tells me, "It doesn't exist. It's a myth and we should accept it. We must have passion for what we do because we travel a lot, this is very demanding physically. There is no balance, but it is necessary to establish rules and for me it's saving my weekends for my family," says the father of three grown children 25, 22 and 17.
One is not born President of EFC. You become one and maybe it never leaves you
Last spring, François Anquetil was named Chair of EFC's Board of Directors. Is it not too much?
"EFC has a team of competent professionals. Chairing the association is not an everyday task, it's about influence. The Chair has 12 months to achieve his goals, which is part of a 5-year plan. You have to continue the ideas of your predecessor and make your own contribution.
"I am very intrigued by Product Information Management. Centralizing knowledge, working specifically on Canadian products, having reliable, up-to-date information confirmed by Canadian manufacturers and adopted by IDEA is the challenge I would like to raise during my term at EFC, which is a privileged place where manufacturers can discuss technical topics without competition posing a problem. EFC's Young Professionals Network also appeals to me, and I look forward to its immediate success."
I finish the conversation asking what is or was his source of inspiration for his career.
"I would say that Steve Job impressed me with his ability to anticipate customer needs. Some politicians have also impressed me, but in the business world the founder of the Sonepar group, Henri Coisne, has inspired me the most. He took big risks in the 1960s, he was able to do so and I inherited this culture and made it my motto in a way. You have to be able to take risks, what counts is what lasts, but to last you have to know to adapt."
Line Goyette is Managing Editor of CEW

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Shane Perlmutter graduated from Kelvin High School in 1989, after which he went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Collège de Saint-Boniface in 1992, a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Manitoba in 1995, and was admitted to the Bar of Manitoba in 1996. Perlmutter currently is a judge of Her Majesty's Court of Queen's Bench for Manitoba, previously having served as a lawyer practicing primarily in the areas of civil litigation and administrative law, and made history as the first judge in Manitoba to allow live-feed video of a court case. He is an active member of the Manitoba legal community including the Manitoba Bar Association where he has served on several committees including Civil Litigation and Administrative Law. He was an instructor at the University of Manitoba, Faculty of Law and a guest speaker and presenter at numerous seminars and also served on the Committee formed by the Court of Queen's Bench to consider amendments to the Rules on expedited actions.


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Holiday shopping as we know it is over — just ask seasonal workers
Seasonal mall jobs are scarce this year, but there are tons of warehouse gigs.
By Patrick Sisson Updated Nov 27, 2020, 9:36am EST
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A typical mall Santa in 2018.
Calla Kessler/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Holiday hiring events for malls used to be a big deal, with lines rivaling those for jaw-dropping Black Friday electronic deals. Anchor retailers and specialty stores held huge in-person hiring events as early as September, heralding the start of the busiest, most exciting part of the retail year. But this season, don't expect big spikes in hiring for mall Santas (who may be socially distanced in plexiglass snow domes), gift wrappers, or additional staff to work the aisles on Black Friday.
As the Covid-19 pandemic enters a dangerous spike nationwide and shoppers mostly stay home, the holiday season will be a gift for e-commerce as retailers scramble to adjust inventory and schedules to find some bright spots amid spending uncertainty. As the ongoing shift online accelerates this year, its impact will be magnified in the job market. According to Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist of the jobs site Glassdoor, the site has seen a sharp rise in interest for jobs in the warehouse sector, 210 percent more than last year — one of many indications that, in 2020, often-temporary seasonal hiring signifies something more permanent.
"Economies usually leave a recession looking different," he says. "This is an example where a pandemic will lead to a massive shift in how we spend."
Getting a part-time gig folding sweaters at the Gap or being an elf for a fake North Pole display has long been a tradition during the busy holiday season, an important way to make a few extra dollars during an expensive time of the year, especially for students and seniors. In 2018, retailers added roughly 625,600 temp jobs. Last year, the seasonal hiring spree slowed down a bit, with companies looking to fill only 590,000 positions. This year, recruiting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas says companies have announced just 378,200 positions as of mid-October.
Glassdoor's Chamberlain says that an analysis of the site's roughly 6 million holiday and seasonal job postings shows listings are down 8 percent over last year, which is actually better than the overall 16 percent drop in postings across all industries. There's a bump this winter, just not as big as in years past.
"Black Friday is kind of over as an idea. ... It's basically Black Fall."
Analysts believe 2020 will radically upend that model, perhaps for good. In-person retail, already restricted due to health precautions and wary customers eyeing the third wave of the coronavirus, is a shadow of its usual self. A National Retail Federation survey of 54 retailers found that 96 percent expect more online sales this year, 61 percent plan to stock less in-store merchandise, and half likely won't hire extra in-store staff.
Sucharita Kodali, retail analyst at Forrester, says one of the only bright spots this year, when a record-breaking 1 in 5 retail dollars was spent online, has been essential retail, such as grocery and pharmacy. Even big holiday shopping draws like toys have migrated online. Retailers such as Walmart and Target have been spreading out Black Friday events to avoid drawing large crowds, though a PriceWaterhouseCoopers consumer survey found that certain areas and demographics still plan to shop in person; 76 percent of those who will venture into stores are in the suburbs, and 42 percent are from the South.
"Black Friday is kind of over as an idea," says Zachary Rogers, an assistant professor of supply chain management at Colorado State University who previously worked at an Amazon subsidiary. "Prime Day was October, Black Friday and Cyber Monday in November, holidays in December. It's basically Black Fall."
Holiday shopping as a whole won't have the same meaning this year, or for many years in the future, says Ashwani Monga, a marketing professor at Rutgers University who specializes in consumer psychology; with the retail industry in tatters, it's unlikely to represent the breakeven point for businesses (when ledgers go from red to black). And optimistic forecasts that families will want to maintain the holiday tradition of a visit to the mall may underestimate the desire to cut or consolidate trips, not to mention the specter of more restrictions or shutdowns.
"Even if stores do open, people will be reluctant to go out and have fun or splurge as if the last few months didn't happen," he says. "Shopping is a way to connect and do something for yourself, and that habit has changed during this year's disruption. Shopping is a part of our culture, and this year has changed culture itself."
The significant shift in the seasonal employment picture doesn't show a temporary break with tradition; it's more evidence of the continuing, radical restructuring of the economy away from in-person retail. The pandemic has pushed many shoppers who were e-commerce holdouts to adopt online shopping, Monga says, and consumer inertia is hard to reverse.
"If consumers aren't spending, retailers don't have cash on hand to hire people, which creates a vicious cycle where there's less employment, fewer profits, and the economic engine of stores just doesn't grow," Monga says. "The whole ecosystem of retail is disrupted."
"Shopping is a part of our culture, and this year has changed culture itself"
It's also strained the warehouse and logistics industry, which is currently struggling to meet surging holiday demand that seems likely to become a permanent expansion of e-commerce capacity, as fears of the latest wave of Covid-19 infections push more shopping online, further straining the system. The industry hit a record 1.25 million employees in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Logistics Managers' Index, an industry report looking at demand and capacity compiled by Rogers, predicts record-high levels of e-commerce activity this season; Q4 activity will be up 50 percent compared to last year, a 13 percent jump from pre-pandemic predictions.
Karl Siebrecht, CEO of Flexe, a company that provides temporary warehouse space to retailers, says there's a huge hiring problem in e-commerce in anticipation of fourth-quarter delivery spikes (Amazon announced plans to hire 100,000 more seasonal workers in September and is offering some $1,000 bonuses).
"We're already running hot, how do we layer on the fourth-quarter peak?" Siebrecht says. "Competition for labor is the biggest issue."
Filling jobs at sites typically located away from population centers is already a challenge. A recent report by Daniel Schneider and Kristen Harknett, sociologists who have been studying retail and service sector workers, found that "Walmart, Amazon, and UPS lag in terms of cleaning, gloves, and masks" for employees, exacerbating worries that as warehouses get more crowded over the coming months, infection risks will increase.
Valeria (who prefers not to use her real name), 59, works at a warehouse in Elizabeth, New Jersey, that packages and ships cosmetics and hand sanitizer. She says that as the holidays approach, management has added more and more workers; it's the busiest she's seen it since she began working at the company four years ago. Workers are provided with hand sanitizer, masks, and gloves, but there's no social distancing; they just cram the lines tighter and tighter.
"Right now, a few people are sick," she said via a translator. "The company told them to get tests and not come back until they are negative. They're operating like every product is essential, but only the hand sanitizer is. We all want to be beautiful and we're in difficult times. I only work because I have to, if not I'd stay at home, I'm scared all the time of being sick."
Beth Gutelius, an academic and researcher at the Center for Urban Economic Development who studies the changing nature of work, says a simple calculus — more temporary workers being added to the same fixed warehouse space — raises the risk of safety issues, Covid-19 spread, and burnout (and Amazon has been less than transparent about these issues throughout the last six months). The rhetoric of the heroism of essential workers, including warehouse and retail workers, is ringing hollow at this point, she says.
"In the end, you have to throw more workers at the problem of e-commerce fulfillment, and they've raised very serious issues about health and safety," she says. "There's lots of physical and mental strain on workers' bodies when they're handling work that quickly. Warehouse workers, and increasingly retail workers as more companies adopt ship-from-store e-commerce fulfillment strategies, help the rest of us practice social distancing, but this dynamic is possible only because workers are risking their own well-being, and not necessarily by choice."
According to a survey of industry operators conducted by Flexe, 65 percent said labor shortages were impacting their business and 47 percent have increased wages to be more competitive. Amazon's and Walmart's big announcements earlier this year that they would add hundreds of thousands of jobs and pay a few extra dollars an hour have rippled through an industry seeking greater capacity. And it's not just for the winter surge — typically the season when workers face weeks with additional overtime and higher-than-normal rates of on-the-job injuries and stress — but for next year.
E-commerce is racing to adjust to unforeseen circumstances, with a predicted "shipageddon" this year leading analysts to suggest hot items will disappear early and companies will plead with consumers to order as early as possible. In China this year, the Singles Day holiday netted $75 billion in sales, nearly double the amount last year, which led to packages being piled on the ground near mailboxes and delivery sites. China, generally speaking, has a robust delivery infrastructure. The sector is clearly dealing with the downsides of unexpected demand — not painful contraction — often turning to temporary employees and hiring agencies.
Holiday shopping season begins in 2020.
Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald/Getty Images
"Honestly, I don't know how Amazon is going to do it this year," says Rogers. "That's why they shifted Prime Day to October. The transportation part of this will be really tough. They'll do whatever they can and everyone else will try to keep up."
Shipping is not the only concern. There's also the problem of returns, which Rogers says are "two to three times more for e-commerce purchases versus brick and mortar, depending on the product." That adds up: "There will be like an additional billion dollars of returns this year, and they're going to need to process this stuff. There's a wave coming, and I'm very interested to see what happens between late November and early January."
It may seem counterintuitive that in the midst of severe economic shock, huge corporations such as Amazon and Walmart would struggle to find workers. But the labor supply situation is incredibly unorthodox, says Chamberlain. There's a significant compositional shift away from traditional work — say, a job at the counter at Sephora — and toward warehouses and delivery gigs. And many workers are simply sitting this season out; whether they're worried about getting sick, the added pressure of handling child care, or waiting out a furlough, many people are simply in limbo, Chamberlain has found.
Monga points to two indexes of consumer activity and attitudes as red lights for retail: the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (down nearly 20 percent since last December) and the savings rate (currently double the typical 6 to 8 percent range). Americans are, overall, wary and worried, and even those who are employed are holding onto a portion of their potential disposable income. The few bright spots, such as outdoor retailer REI, can't overcome sharp drops in clothing purchases. This dismal holiday hiring season will just lock in structural shifts decimating retail, especially as warehouse operators adopt robotics and other means of increasing efficiency.
"Automation and rising productivity are ways to do more with less," says Chamberlain. "By far the largest cost in production is people. Wages are high. If sales double in traditional retail, you may need to double your number of workers. But for Amazon and Walmart, they may need just 10 percent more people to handle that rush."
Rogers points to a newly reopened Macy's facility in Littleton, Colorado, as the future of retail employment. This new "omni service center" features packing, delivery, and pickup services, but the so-called dark store isn't open for the public to enter and shop. In effect, Macy's is hiring and staffing for the holidays, but the jobs it's offering are becoming indistinguishable from the gigs found in the general logistics and warehouse industry. Even many of the seasonal retail gigs that remain are starting to look more and more like those found in warehouses.
"They're doing the same job as an Amazon picker, but in a store," says Gutelius. "The lines are getting very blurry."
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Repudiating Trump, officials say election 'most secure'
Eric Tucker & Frank Bajak • Nov 13, 2020
Progressives Press Biden to Limit Corporate Influence in Administration
Eric Lipton & Kenneth Vogel • Nov 12, 2020
Pandemic Squeezes Finances of Democratic Grassroots Donors
The Associated Press • Apr 20, 2020
Well-to-do donors gathered last August at the sprawling Charlotte, North Carolina, home of Erskine Bowles, a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, where they nibbled finger food, sipped wine and listened to Joe Biden.
Last week they again joined Bowles and his wife, Crandall. But this time it was for a far less intimate affair: a fundraiser held by video conference that Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, joined from the makeshift studio in the basement of his Delaware home.
The coronavirus shutdown has forced Democratic donors to forgo the opulent fundraisers that allow them to rub shoulders with powerful elected leaders and candidates.
During the Democratic primary, progressive candidates and activists condemned big-dollar affairs. But they have become a practical necessity for Biden that is sure to rankle progressives, who point to an army of grassroots donors contributing small amounts online as the antidote to big money in politics.
As the coronavirus punishes the economy and swamps the health care system, the poor and middle class are among the hardest hit, all but ensuring that Democrats' wealthiest donors will have to bear the cost of the party's effort against President Donald Trump in November.
Bowles said that the pandemic has delivered "economic hits ... to everybody, regardless of their station" but that the Democratic donor class remains engaged.
"When I say raising this money was easy, it really was," he said of the virtual event.
Some deep-pocketed Democrats embrace the turnabout.
"There's nobody more patriotic than Democratic donors who write large checks, because they are giving against their own self-interest," said Kirk Wagar, a Democratic donor, former ambassador and fundraiser who was Florida finance chair for Barack Obama's campaign.
The role money will play in the presidential campaign is complicated and may not be the arms race that it has been in previous contests. But just how much of it will be needed in an abbreviated campaign that has been ground to a halt by the virus is not clear, especially in a contest between a president who dominates the news media landscape and a former vice president with near universal name recognition.
Wealthy donors were always going to play a major role financing the general election. But Biden did a poor job raising money during the primary and was running perilously low on funds before his big victory in the South Carolina primary upended the race.
He's now up against Trump and a Republican National Committee that have already stockpiled $240 million as of the end of March. Biden reported Monday that he took in $46.6 million in March, though less than half of it came from small-dollar donors who gave $200 or less. And according to figures previously released by the campaign, most of that, $33 million, was raised in the first half of the month before financial markets plummeted and much of the country went into lock down.
He's since enjoyed a surge in online fundraising, with the campaign saying it raised more than $5 million in the days surrounding endorsements from former President Barack Obama and progressive former rivals Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. But Biden's financial concerns are enough that he's yet to announce any significant staff hires across many key battleground states.
And the campaign hasn't trumpeted months' worth of television or digital ad buys ahead of the fall campaign.
"Trump is raising hundreds of millions of dollars, and we're definitely going to need the help of big-dollar donors to beat him — it's just the reality," said Marc Stanley, a Democratic donor and trial attorney from Dallas.
While Trump's handling of the virus appears to have lowered his approval rating, some Democrats are worried that his ubiquitous presence leading daily press conferences is overshadowing Biden. That increases the need for advertising that offers counterprogramming to the nightly story line emerging from the White House.
"Trump is in people's living rooms for more than an hour every day. Biden is less visible, and there's a lot of deep concern about where we end up," said David Brock, co-founder of the Democratic group American Bridge, which launched a $15 million ad campaign last week targeting Trump's handling of the virus.
"The question mark is the small-dollar donors," Brock continued. "It stands to reason that that pool will shrink as you have rising unemployment, their hours cut and young people going into the job market facing lower prospects."
Not everyone is convinced that the fallout from the pandemic will depress fundraising, both low dollar and high.
"Look, I would love to tell you that large donors are going to come and save the day," said Steve Westly, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who is raising money for Biden's campaign.
"I think you are going to see a lot of people coming behind Joe Biden in this race. The reason is they are pissed off. They are pissed off at the president's handling of the coronavirus. Not only might they be losing their loved ones, or getting sick themselves, but the economy is in turmoil."
One remaining question is the extent to which former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg invests his $60 billion fortune in the race. Bloomberg, who spent $1 billion on his own failed attempt at the Democratic nomination, previously committed to running an outside group that would take on Trump. He shelved those plans but donated $18 million in remaining campaign funds to the Democratic National Committee.
Westly said the question for Bloomberg, 77, is how he wants to be remembered.
"I think everybody of that stature cares about his legacy," said Westly. "Does he want the narrative to be 'I unsuccessfully spent $1 billion on my own campaign'? Or would he rather have it be 'I spent $2 billion and stopped Donald Trump from winning'?"
You can read the full article by The Associated Press here.
1 thoughts on "Pandemic Squeezes Finances of Democratic Grassroots Donors"
The Associated Press published this page in Press 2020-04-24 13:53:14 -0400


The construction of Battersea Power Station began in 1927 and the final chimney was added in 1955. Since its closure in 1983, little has been done by way of repairs and some elements have been removed. The structure has therefore been exposed to the weather with no internal heating for a long period of time. The structure is being redeveloped for mixed use and includes residential accommodation in the annex areas on either side of the building and the wash towers.
As a grade II* listed building, the appearance of the external brickwork is to be retained. The residential space includes exposed internal brickwork as a major feature; there is consequently little opportunity to upgrade the thermal insulation of the brickwork which is generally 1½ bricks thick.
The client had concerns about the current condition of the brickwork as the moisture content was unknown. Also, as the redevelopment progresses and residential space is created, the internal space will be heated. It is not known whether now or in the future, if the moisture condition of the brickwork is such that there may be a risk of dampness, frost attack, salt deposition or internal mold growth.
Lucideon was engaged to take representative samples of the brickwork, evaluate the current moisture content and distribution, and characteristics of the brickwork in various parts of the building. Subsequently, Lucideon appointed Leeds Beckett University to carry out hygrothermal modelling using sophisticated software to understand the movement of moisture in the walls over a one year period when subjected to typical weather conditions externally and a fairly harsh temperature and relative humidity regime internally. The conditions were then analyzed to indicate the likelihood of internal surface condensation and mold growth, and frost attack on the external surface.
At the original site visit in May 2014, it was noted that the brickwork was formed of large areas of relatively uniform quality brickwork with no excessive staining or local failures. This lent itself to an approach whereby each elevation could be notionally divided into quite large panels, and considered 'uniform' in the sense that just two areas would be chosen for sampling. One sample would be taken at a high level and one at a low level to cover one more and one less exposed condition. Tests were carried out to determine all of the characteristics required as input to the hygrothermal model, e.g. thermal capacity and conductivity, water vapor diffusion factors and moisture storage functions. Leeds Beckett University used WUFI® software, developed by the Fraunhofer Institute of Building Physics, which is underpinned by extensive research and has been validated against physical measurements taken in laboratory and field conditions.
The initial moisture content and distribution was taken from the cored samples for each location. At the request of the building insurers, the internal conditions were set to a relatively harsh environment; standard industrial kitchen conditions. The external conditions were those of a typical year derived from long-term measure values and input as hourly data to the simulation.
The simulations at the various locations demonstrated that the risk of surface condensation, mold growth and efflorescence (salt migration to the surface) on the inside surface of the walls is low. The simulations proved that the outer layer does not become wet enough to risk freezing when saturated. This compliments the results of freeze thaw tests on bricks from the site which subjected them to a very severe frost environment and showed them to exhibit sufficient frost resistance for much harsher conditions.
The client is making significant investment in the project which will include very high-end retail and residential accommodation. The tests and modelling indicate that with some modification to the internal relative humidity from that assumed, there are unlikely to be moisture related issues in either type of space. The air conditioned environment will more than adequately eliminate risk and hence no extra costs need to be incurred as a result of unexpected moisture effects in the fabric of the building.


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(Custom Pressing) 21 tracks - Audience Recordings - Recorded live June 24th, 1977 at the Dade... more
Elvis Presley: One Night (CD)
(Custom Pressing) 21 tracks - Audience Recordings - Recorded live June 24th, 1977 at the Dade County Coliseum, Madison, Wisconsin 8:30 pm. Average Sound
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Album titlle: One Night (CD)
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Presley, Elvis - One Night (CD) CD 1
01 Also sprach Zarathustra
02 See See Rider
03 I Got A Woman - Amen
04 Love Me
05 If You Love Me Let Me Know
06 You Gave Me A Mountain
07 Jailhouse Rock
08 O Sole Mio - It's Now Or Never
09 One Night (incomplete)
10 Teddy Bear - Don't Be Cruel
11 And I Love You So
12 Love Me Tender
13 Band Introductions
14 Early Mornin' Rain
15 What'd I Say
16 Johnny B. Goode
17 I really Don't Want To Know
18 Hound Dog
19 Elvis introduces Vernon Presley
20 Can't Help Falling In Love
21 Closing Vamp
Elvis Aaron Presley - The King of Rock'n'Roll (January 8, 1935, Tupelo, MS – August... more
"Elvis Presley"
Elvis Aaron Presley - The King of Rock'n'Roll
(January 8, 1935, Tupelo, MS – August 16, 1977, Memphis, TN)
Elvis Presley (full name Elvis Aaron Presley) is the most outstanding personality in showbiz ever since, and the most popular entertainer the world has ever seen! His musical influence within music history and its following generations of musicians is still unbroken. His huge 'Blast-Off' in the mid-1950s, the rising star from a simply called 'Hillbilly Cat' (at Sun Records) to a lascivious Rock'n'Roll singer with charisma, a male sex symbol (then at RCA Victor) soon popularized him as "The King of Rock'n'Roll" or simply "The King".
His first cut within his tremendous career happened between October 1958 and March 1960 while Elvis was on duty with the U.S. Army and stationed in Germany. It was there in 1959 when he met his later wife Priscilla Beaulieu at age 14. Elvis and Priscilla married on May 1, 1967 in Las Vegas (divorce in 1973). Elvis evolved into an all-around entertainer after his Army service and started starring in Hollywood films. 33 movies in total, including the two concert documentaries 'That's The Way It Is' and 'On Tour'. He again shook the world with his 1968 NBC Comeback TV Special after his movie period without any stage appearances.
This TV special included the first ever unplugged session presented together with musicians from the early days such as Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana. 1973 saw THE TV mega event at all: Elvis Presley, 'Aloha From Hawaii via Satellite'! Elvis' Honolulu appearance, the first time that a show was broadcasted worldwide via satellite! He was ahead of his time! Elvis Presley had 148 US single chart hits, including some so-called double-sider when A- and B-side both hit the charts like his 1956 smash 'Don't Be Cruel b/w Hound Dog', plus 15 EP hits between 1956 and 1977. Two billion of sold media and sound carriers by Elvis Presley is the estimated number! He received 14 Grammy nominations until 1978 and three Grammy for his Gospel interpretations. Elvis was the youngest artist when honored with the Bing Crosby Award (Lifetime Achivement Award) in 1971.
He is presented in 5 Halls of Fame (Rock'n'Roll, Rockabilly, Country, Blues and Gospel). Six of his song interpretations are collected in the Grammy Hall of Fame. On top of it all Elvis Presley got the most gold and platinum records and a Diamond-Award. He definetly is the 'Best selling solo artist in U.S. History' (RIAA – Record Industry Association of America)! Elvis Presley CD albums, vinyl records as LPs or singles at 45rpm - Bear Family offers a huge number of various Elvis Presley CDs, vinyl-LPs and 45rpm singles, vinyl- and CD box sets, books and mags, DVDs, unique and extraordinairy memorabilia! Let's say it in the words of one of Elvis sixties album title: There is "Something For Everybody"! And hey, you name it! Elvis Presley is the King of Rock'n'Roll, the biggest icon in showbusiness, and a great person who lives on forever!
Bear Family Records treats his legacy with the most respect and an optimum capacity of expert knowledge.
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Safer Spaces
2021 Mixtape: Writers of Colour Audio Anthology
Metaphors for a Black Future Zine
A Scots/Punjabi Sikh and the Writing Life
Blog by Palo Stickland
A Scots/Punjabi Sikh – what does that mean?
I was always the Sikh part from birth. During the first five years of my life in Punjab, I watched the men in my family wearing colourful turbans. On the days when they washed their long uncut hair, the turban would be spread in the sunshine to dry. When opened up, the turban consisted of a five by three-foot piece of fine muslin. I would watch as my uncle combed his hair from front to back and tied a knot at the top of his head. However, my aunt tied her hair in a bun at the nape of the neck.
My father left Punjab to find work in his trade of turner-engineer soon after I was born. He settled in Glasgow. Living in Scotland in the '50s drove him to become a sahajdhari (one with cut hair) Sikh. When I met him as a five-year-old at Heathrow Airport, I hid behind my mother. This man in a long wool coat, trilby hat, and without a beard could not be anyone we wanted to know.
In Glasgow, the first Sikhs set up a gurdwara (guru's house) in a top-floor tenement flat in the rough Gorbals area. It was there that I first wrote the Punjabi script of the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth.
I learned how to live in my new country from the children in the street. We had no key for the garden at the front of the tenements, so we played in the back greens or on the road; there were very few cars, and the summers seemed longer than nowadays. It was like a small village in that everyone knew and helped each other. I watched the older girls go shopping for the busy women and did the same in later years. The girls shared their copies of Bunty with me, and I read them sitting on the pavement. We played and sang songs oblivious to the racism which pervaded the adult world.
Coming from rural Punjab to city-centre Glasgow was a shock, though I have few memories of that time. Eight years later, I returned to Punjab, not knowing if I'd see Scotland again. Gratefully, I was back within two years and began what seemed a new life.
At school, I won a writing prize – a fifty-pence record token. I bought two 45 rpm records – 'She Loves You' by The Beatles) and 'It's All in the Game' by Cliff Richard. Soundtracks of the '60s. I believe that life is indeed a game and all we do need is love.
My parents proceeded to inculcate the adult world of Scots/Punjabi Sikhs and found a man in Punjab to marry me. I spent many years in the world of the home playing the role of a good Sikh woman.
As my father had done before me, I cut my hair. My Scots/Sikh work ethic kicked in, and I followed a career in education, only turning to write when retirement loomed on the horizon.
My writing plans began with a bout of imposter syndrome – was I able to do this?
I was always a keen reader. The beginning of 'The Satanic Verses' was a revelation to me. Salman Rushdie wrote in Hindi and English, made references to Bollywood films I knew and was so funny.
The background of the Cambridge educated author further served to knock my self-esteem. I was determined to try to write as well as I could and completed several short courses, a post-grad degree and a diploma in Creative Writing and felt a lot better. I could do this, I thought. I wrote my first book, choosing to send my work to the publishing arm of The Asian Writer. Who else would understand my story but someone from the sub-continent? Farhana Shaikh published my family saga, and I was happy.
With my second novel, I tried self-publishing and relished the sense of achievement that brings.
All this time, I did not join an established writing group. I knew there would be no one there who was like me. I wrote with a few friends I met at The Open University. Together, we published two anthologies of short stories. My work straddles Scotland and Punjab with characters who are either Punjabi or have Indian values.
I met someone I could relate to as a writer. A fellow Scots-Indian, a former teacher who had spent her formative years in Madras/Chennai, became my writing buddy. We talked about setting up a Scots-Indian writing group but didn't know any writers who would be interested. Eventually, we organised meetings at our local Waitrose Community Room and invited writers we knew. We called our group Pens&Quills, and in the first year, we grew our membership from the two of us to eight. I presented our first study session called 'How to Write a Book in a Month'.
We changed our name to Bearsden Writers to reflect our local area.
Buoyed up by our success, we opened a bank account during our second year. We agreed on a constitution, set up a group committee of five members, collected a modest membership fee and grew to twenty-three writers writing together. Year three ended last month, and this year our members paid double, i.e. £10.00. We paid for extra time on Zoom and met fortnightly. At our first AGM last month, thirty members ratified our accounts. We expanded our constitution and celebrated our achievements over the year.
We received a grant from East Dunbartonshire Arts Council to organise an event for our local community. Covid regulations may mean that we present our day of writing workshops online, but our preference is for a face-to-face event at Milngavie Town Hall on August 21st.
With a little bit of time and effort, we have come a long way – two Scots Indian writers trying to make a difference in our local writing world.
Our blog content is always free to read but if you enjoyed this piece, we kindly suggest a small donation to The Free Black University Fund: https://uk.gofundme.com/f/the-free-black-university
Palo Stickland is the author of a fictionalised family history which covers Scotland in the 1950s and Punjab from 1906. Also, a novella set in Scotland and Turkey and an anthology of shorter works. She is Inclusion Officer with the Scottish Association of Writers. She began blogging in 2013.
www.palostickland.com
https://www.facebook.com/palo.stickland.7
Twitter: @PaloStickland
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text:
Business Ethics Quarterly (4)
Social Philosophy and Policy (2)
Ethics & International Affairs (1)
Society for Business Ethics (4)
Cambridge Companions to Philosophy (2)
The Cambridge Companions to Philosophy and Religion (2)
Basic Income: A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy, Philippe van Parijs and Yannick Vanderborght (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2017), 400 pp., $29.95 cloth.
Matt Zwolinski
Journal: Ethics & International Affairs / Volume 31 / Issue 4 / Winter 2017
Print publication: Winter 2017
THE LIBERTARIAN NONAGGRESSION PRINCIPLE
Journal: Social Philosophy and Policy / Volume 32 / Issue 2 / Spring 2016
Print publication: Spring 2016
Libertarianism is a controversial political theory. But it is often presented as a resting upon a simple, indeed commonsense, moral principle. The libertarian "Nonaggression Principle" (NAP) prohibits aggression against the persons or property of others, and it is on this basis that the libertarian opposition to redistributive taxation, legal paternalism, and perhaps even the state itself is thought to rest. This essay critically examines the NAP and the extent to which it can provide support for libertarian political theory. It identifies two problems with existing libertarian appeals to the NAP. First, insofar as libertarians employ a moralized understanding of aggression, their principle is really about the protection of property rights rather than the prohibition of aggression. Second, the absolutist prohibition on aggression, which libertarians typically endorse and which is necessary to generate strongly libertarian conclusions, is grossly implausible. The essay concludes by setting forth a version of the NAP that does not suffer from these problems. It argues that this more moderate and defensible version of the NAP still has important libertarian implications, but that a full defense of libertarianism cannot rely upon appeals to nonaggression alone.
Structural Exploitation
By Matt Zwolinski, University of San Diego
Edited by Ellen Frankel Paul, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, Fred D. Miller, Jr, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, Jeffrey Paul, Bowling Green State University, Ohio
Book: New Essays in Political and Social Philosophy
One of the most common criticisms made by activists and scholars opposed to sweatshop labor is that it is wrongfully exploitative. The economist's standard response to this charge is to point out that sweatshop labor provides tremendous benefits to workers—a fact demonstrated both by quantitative data on sweatshop wages and by the preferences of workers as revealed in their voluntary, indeed often eager, acceptance of sweatshop jobs. Such a response does not exactly defeat the charge of exploitation—an exchange can be mutually beneficial and nevertheless wrongfully exploitative. But it does seem to deflate the charge. Sweatshops, even if acting exploitatively, are at least doing something that provides substantial benefit to people in desperate need. By contrast, the vast majority of us—including companies that do not outsource their production overseas—do nothing to provide any comparable benefit. If this is exploitation, then how bad can exploitation be?
To some critics of sweatshops, however, this analysis appears to vindicate the moral status of sweatshop labor only by ignoring the very factors that make it morally abhorrent. It is a mistake, such critics contend, to focus so narrowly on the nature of the exchange between a particular sweatshop and a particular worker, and to note that the exchange is beneficial to the worker relative to the position in which she stood prior to the exchange.
By Timothy Chappell, Dorothea Frede, Edwin Hartman, Philip J. Ivanhoe, Rachana Kamtekar, Mark LeBar, Justin Oakley, Jean Porter, Daniel C. Russell, Paul Russell, David Schmidtz, Gopal Sreenivasan, Christine Swanton, Liezl van Zyl, Matt Zwolinski
Edited by Daniel C. Russell, University of Arizona
Book: The Cambridge Companion to Virtue Ethics
Print publication: 14 February 2013, pp ix-xii
10 - Environmental virtue ethics
By Matt Zwolinski, David Schmidtz
STRUCTURAL EXPLOITATION*
Journal: Social Philosophy and Policy / Volume 29 / Issue 1 / January 2012
Recent Work in Ethical Theory and Its Implications for Business Ethics
Denis G. Arnold, Robert Audi, Matt Zwolinski
Journal: Business Ethics Quarterly / Volume 20 / Issue 4 / October 2010
We review recent developments in ethical pluralism, ethical particularism, Kantian intuitionism, rights theory, and climate change ethics, and show the relevance of these developments in ethical theory to contemporary business ethics. This paper explains why pluralists think that ethical decisions should be guided by multiple standards and why particularists emphasize the crucial role of context in determining sound moral judgments. We explain why Kantian intuitionism emphasizes the discerning power of intuitive reason and seek to integrate that with the comprehensiveness of Kant's moral framework. And we show how human rights can be grounded in human agency, and explain the connections between human rights and climate change.
Dialogue on Price Gouging: Price Gouging, Non-Worseness, and Distributive Justice
Journal: Business Ethics Quarterly / Volume 19 / Issue 2 / April 2009
This commentary develops my position on the ethics of price gouging in response to Jeremy Snyder's article, "What's the Matter with Price Gouging." First, it explains how the "nonworseness claim" supports the moral permissibility of price gouging, even if it does not show that price gougers are morally virtuous agents. Second, it argues that questions about price gouging and distributive justice must be answered in light of the relevant possible institutional alternatives, and that Snyder's proposed alternatives to price gouging fare worse on the dimension of justice than a system in which goods are allocated by a system of market prices.
The Ethics of Price Gouging
Journal: Business Ethics Quarterly / Volume 18 / Issue 3 / July 2008
Price gouging occurs when, in the wake of an emergency, sellers of a certain necessary goods sharply raise their prices beyond the level needed to cover increased costs. Most people think that price gouging is immoral, and most states have laws rendering the practice a civil or criminal offense. The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the philosophic issues surrounding price gouging, and to argue that the common moral condemnation of it is largely mistaken. I will make this argument in three steps, by rebutting three widely held beliefs about the ethics of price gouging: 1) that laws prohibiting price gouging are morally justified, 2) that price gouging is morally impermissible behavior, even if it ought not be illegal, and 3) that price gouging reflects poorly on the moral character of those who engage in it, even if the act itself is not morally impermissible.
Sweatshops, Choice, and Exploitation
This paper argues that sweatshop workers' choices to accept the conditions of their employment are morally significant, both as an exercise of their autonomy and as an expression of their preferences. This fact establishes a moral claim against interference in the conditions of sweatshop labor by third parties such as governments or consumer boycott groups. It should also lead us to doubt those who call for MNEs to voluntarily improve working conditions, at least when their arguments are based on the claim that workers have a moral right to such improvement. These conclusions are defended against three objections: 1) that sweatshop workers' consent to the conditions of their labor is not fully voluntary, 2) that sweatshops' offer of additional labor options is part of an overall package that actually harms workers, 3) that even if sweatshop labor benefits workers, it is nevertheless wrongfully exploitative.


text:
<?php

namespace tests\Jojo1981\CompilerDesign;

use Jojo1981\CompilerDesign\ListParser;
use Jojo1981\CompilerDesign\ListLexer;

/**
 * @category tests
 * @package Jojo1981
 * @subpackage CompilerDesign
 * @author Joost Nijhuis <jnijhuis81@gmail.com>
 * @copyright Copyright (c) 2014, Joost Nijhuis
 * @license MIT
 *
 * tests\Jojo1981\CompilerDesign\ListParserTest
 */
class ListParserTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
{
    public function testParseShouldThrowAnExceptionBecauseLexerInputStartsWithALeftBracket()
    {
        $lexer = new ListLexer(']a,b,c]');

        $this->setExpectedException(
            '\Exception',
            'Expecting token: LEFT BRACKET Found token: RIGHT BRACKET'
        );

        $parser = new ListParser($lexer);
        $parser->parse();
    }

    public function testParseShouldThrowAnExceptionBecauseLexerInputContainsTwoCommasInSequence()
    {
        $lexer = new ListLexer('[a,b,,c]');

        $this->setExpectedException(
            '\Exception',
            'Expecting token: NAME or LEFT BRACKET Found token: COMMA'
        );

        $parser = new ListParser($lexer);
        $parser->parse();
    }

    public function testParseShouldThrowAnExceptionBecauseLexerInputContainsAnInvalidCharacter()
    {
        $lexer = new ListLexer('[a,2,c]');

        $this->setExpectedException(
            '\Exception',
            'invalid character: 2'
        );

        $parser = new ListParser($lexer);
        $parser->parse();
    }

    public function testParseShouldNotThrowAnExceptionBecauseTheLexerInputIsValid()
    {
        $lexer = new ListLexer('[a,hello,c,d]');

        $parser = new ListParser($lexer);
        $parser->parse();
    }

    public function testParseShouldNotThrowAnExceptionBecauseTheLexerInputIsValidAndHasASubSequence()
    {
        $lexer = new ListLexer('[a,hello,[c,y,h],d]');

        $parser = new ListParser($lexer);
        $parser->parse();
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


We work with busy, urban professionals who want to chart their own course.
You have a lot going on in your financial life – let us help you put it all together.
We want to know what is most important to you – what motivates you – and what keeps you up at night. Understanding the "big picture" is critical in building a balanced, flexible financial roadmap. The goal is to empower you.
We will focus on your most urgent concerns --like helping you organize your finances, buy an apartment, save for retirement, evaluate your investments, plan for a child, review your tax situation and/or examine your insurance needs.
I founded Sterling Financial Planning in 2004 with a vision in mind: To provide busy urban professionals with unbiased, accessible, financial advice.
My interest in financial planning comes from my mother. "Girl talk" for us was discussing CD rates and the recent article in Money Magazine.
Though I love "the numbers", I also realize that emotions played a huge role in how we spend our money. This may explain why I studied Economics (B.A.) and Psychological Services (M.S.) while at the University of Pennsylvania. I later earned my Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and Registered Life Planner (RLP) certifications. Financial planning enables me to blend all of these interests.
My background also influences how I collaborate with clients. I have worked as an adolescent counselor in Northeast Philadelphia, development officer at Vassar College and gift planning consultant with Washburn & McGoldrick, LLC. All these experiences have taught me that analysis and empathy are essential when making change. I bring both to my financial planning practice.
I love the city –but I also need to escape it at times. I split my time between New York City and Portland, Maine. My wife, Kristen, and I have two little dogs that run the roost in either location. In good weather you will find me stand up paddle boarding on the Casco Bay or training for a half marathon along the coast. I am also crazy about tiny houses!
We are a fee only financial planning firm - we act as a fiduciary to you. This means we have an obligation to focus on what is truly best for you. Holding ourselves accountable to NAPFA's Fiduciary Oath, we are dedicated to providing objective investment advice and unbiased financial recommendations to you. We do not sell any financial products, nor do we receive commissions or referral fees. We believe this removes conflicts related to sales compensation and allows us to truly focus on what is best for you. We receive all our compensation from our clients.
We do not manage money. We believe that unbundling investment management fees from financial planning is the most equitable situation for both the client and the planner. Through this, we are able to provide exclusive attention to your financial and life goals.
The Garrett Planning Network is an international network of fee-only financial advisors and planners. The goal of this large network of independent advisors is to make competent and objective advice accessible through hourly as-needed financial planning.
The mission of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors is to advance the profession of financial planning based upon NAPFA's core values and to improve the quality of clients' lives.
The advisor shall exercise his/her best efforts to act in good faith and in the best interests of the client.
The advisor shall provide written disclosure to the client prior to the engagement of any conflicts of interest, which will or reasonably may compromise the impartiality or independence of the advisor.
The advisor, or any party in which the advisor has a financial interest, does not receive any compensation or other remuneration that is contingent on any client's purchase or sale of a financial product.
The advisor does not receive a fee or other compensation from another party based on the referral of a client or the client's business.
The Kinder Institute of Life Planning trains advisors to help you reorganize your relationship to money so that your financial resources are dedicated to supporting your life's goals. The Institute's work has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, Morningstar, TIME, Business Week, Money Magazine, Financial Times, and many more.
The goal is to identify your most pressing financial concerns, build a roadmap and help you start implementing the plan.
We will review your overall situation, determine where you are now and discuss where you want to go. We pay attention to your values to make certain your money complements what you want to do in life.
You send completed financial planning questionnaires and financial documents two weeks before our meeting to start the process.
The initial meeting for a single person is 90 minutes and 2 hours for couples.
After our initial meeting, we will prepare a written financial plan. This is where we "plan the work." We will review the plan in detail together on a phone call. The plan will provide you with projections, investment analysis and "next steps" so you can start taking immediate action to achieving your highest priority goals.
This is where we "work the plan." We will assist you in implementing the most urgent "next step" outlined in the plan. You determine what this is. For many clients, this has included things like starting investment accounts, evaluating insurance and/or having a conference call with your accountant. You can then implement the remaining "next steps" in your own timeframe.
Service cost depends upon complexity and can range from $3,000-$5,000 for singles and $4,000-$6,000 for couples.
Assists with implementing the remaining "Next Steps" outlined in the "1-2-3" Plan.
Provides ongoing financial coaching (through email or phone calls) throughout the year. This includes reviewing new benefit options, determining what mortgage to secure, reviewing tax issues, etc.
Annual Financial "Check Up" in person meeting and Follow Up Report.
An ongoing personal finance portal to monitor your money.
Our Ongoing Service is a flat fee of $3,000-$7,000/year (depending upon complexity and time required) paid on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis.
I look forward to learning more about you and your financial goals.
Sterling Financial Planning is a registered investment adviser offering advisory services in the State of New York and in other jurisdictions where exempted. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. The presence of this website on the Internet shall not be directly or indirectly interpreted as a solicitation of investment advisory services to persons of another jurisdiction unless otherwise permitted by statute. Follow-up or individualized responses to consumers in a particular state by Sterling Financial Planning in the rendering of personalized investment advice for compensation shall not be made without our first complying with jurisdiction requirements or pursuant an applicable state exemption.


As you may know, the newest addition to the ServiceNow family "Madrid" will be released sometime this year. In addition to a new interface, bug fixes, and enhancements, it's also expected to include several new updates to Service Portal. In this article, we will go over some of the changes to Service Portal as well as some of the new mobile features available in Madrid.
SCSS Support in CSS Includes — By far the most exciting new feature in Service Portal is SASS support within CSS Includes. Up until now, SASS has only been available for use within the Page, Instance, and the Widget… but I would argue that the most relevant and needed place for SASS is within the CSS Includes on the theme. So, I'm very excited to finally have this feature supported in Service Portal, and it will certainly make it easier to develop turn-key themes for Service Portal.
Multiple Catalog Support — Enables requesters to browse and search for items across multiple catalogs by adding these catalogs to the Catalogs related list when configuring a portal. This has been a long requested feature, but honestly… I'm not a fan of how it was implemented. It certainly checks the "multi-catalog support" checkbox, but in my opinion, this is not an intuitive implementation. Users of the portal don't know what a Service Catalog is, so how are they going to understand when and why to change catalogs.
Multiple Knowledge Base Support — Enables users to browse and search for articles across multiple knowledge bases by adding these knowledge bases to the Knowledge Bases related list when configuring a portal. Similar to the multi-catalog support… it's nice to see this finally supported, but I don't think portal users really care to browse through multiple Knowledge Bases just to find an article.
My Requests Page — Enable requesters to view open or closed requests, incidents, and tasks in Service Portal using the My Requests page. It's nice to finally see this page finally improved, and I like the support for combining both Tasks, Incidents & Requests, but it's also limited to just the 3 tables… it would have been nice if this called a Script Include so that additional tables could be added without cloning the widget.
Request Cloning — Clone a submitted request by selecting multiple users in the Also request for list of the Additional Actions section.
La Jolla Branding — Activates the latest ServiceNow branding, which includes WCAG-AA compliance for contrast. Not really much of a feature, but it does update the stock portal theme to reflect the new branding colors.
Multifactor Authentication— Adds a two-step verification requirement in which users enter more than one set of credentials for authentication of an instance. This second layer of authorization is generated by a token from the user's mobile device using the Google Authentification mechanism as the token provider.
Users can require multifactor authentication for their own login credentials.
Administrators can require multifactor authentication for any user login credentials.
Although not Service Portal per se, perhaps one of the most exciting features of the Madrid release is the new mobile capabilities. The ServiceNow Agent mobile app is a native app for both iOS and Android, and by default lets users manage incidents, collaborate, respond to approval requests, access the knowledge base, and receive push notifications.
But the most exciting feature is the ability to configure and write custom applications within the app.
The mobile app is built on a hierarchy and you can have several applications for the mobile app and limit user access by roles. Each application contains folders to help separate applets. Applets are miniature applications that contain various screens with more information. Data items determine the information that appears in each applet. For example, an applet for My High Priority Incidents would have a data item that pulls information from the system to create a list of incidents that are only assigned to that user and have a priority of Critical or High.
In addition to all the new features, the Madrid release includes well over 200 defect fixes for ServicePortal. Below I've highlighted just a few of the changes, broken down by product.
Help Information for a Variable in Service Portal — The Expand help for all questions field at the catalog item level and the "Always Expanded" field at the variable level are applicable in Service Portal.
Portal Settings — Define the catalog item behavior in Service Portal using portal settings.
Service Catalog Enhancements for Automated Test Framework — Write automated end-to-end tests for requester flows to validate the following for Service Catalog: Order guide in Service Portal, Multi-row variable sets of a catalog item in Service Portal and Variable editor in the Now Platform.
Facets for glide list field types — Configure facets for glide list field types on the Knowledge Service Portal search results page.
Announcements — Announcements are active on new instances.
Fonts — The Font Awesome library has been upgraded to version 4.7 and includes new icon names and syntax changes.
Guided Tour Designer — With the Madrid release, you can also enable guided tours to run on Service Portal pages.
Validation Script — Validate user input in a specific field type using a validation script.
Overall, the Madrid release seems to be very promising with a nice mixture of changes, upgrades, and much-needed fixes. I am definitely looking forward to this release and all it entails.
If you'd like to see the full list of the Madrid changes, check out the release notes here.
If you know of some additional features in Service Portal not mentioned here, or if there is a feature that you're very excited about, please let me know in the comments below.
I and am sure many others are thankful for your insightful detailing of the enhancements with the Madrid release. It looks as if Service Portal and the mobile interface are starting to garner a good portion of the enhancements this time around.
Hi Nathan, thanks for your post, great to have some news and a summary like that.
Thank you again for this summary, I was waiting for it like each previous version.
Your job help us to understand the whole meaning of service now version and to focus on future migration risks.
Your work is very helpful.
Why is the Multifactor Authentication listed here? Is there something new since Kingston regarding this topic?
Thanks for the update. I didn't notice the SCSS support for the CSS includes. Not sure why it wasn't mentioned in the release notes, since this is the most important one. Regarding the multiple catalogs and KB I totally agree with you. It's already quite late and many customers have developed better ways to overcome this "obstacle".
The new thing is that is actually work if you login through the portal earlier (pre Kingston as well) it has only worked through the "normal" login (login.do). If users with this activated still didn't need to do the two step through the portal.
Awesome! Thanks Göran, great to know.
Is there information on the Service Portal regarding posting communication that people can subscribe to? So instead of sending an email communication site wide, I was told through the Service Portal we will be able to post communication there instead.
Lorenzo, you certainly could do this in Service Portal. There is an OOB feature called announcements that could be used for this, you could also leverage some of the Knowledge Base widgets… but I would probably just create a new table and widget specific to your requirements.
Under Highlighted features > Additional reading > Request cloning, the hyperlink goes to Servicenow docs for cloning an instance, instead of the 'Clone Requests' area that you probably intended.