Focusing on the Negatives, rather than on the Positives

Doctors Struggle to Treat Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections - NYTimes.com: "To be sure, MRSA remains the single most common source of hospital infections. And it is especially feared because it can also infect people outside the hospital. There have been serious, even deadly, infections of otherwise healthy athletes and school children.

By comparison, the drug-resistant Gram-negative germs for the most part threaten only hospitalized patients whose immune systems are weak. The germs can survive for a long time on surfaces in the hospital and enter the body through wounds, catheters and ventilators.

What is most worrisome about the Gram-negatives is not their frequency but their drug resistance.

“For Gram-positives we need better drugs; for Gram-negatives we need any drugs,” said Dr. Brad Spellberg, an infectious-disease specialist at Harbor-U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., and the author of “Rising Plague,” a book about drug-resistant pathogens. Dr. Spellberg is a consultant to some antibiotics companies and has co-founded two companies working on other anti-infective approaches. Dr. Rice of Cleveland has also been a consultant to some pharmaceutical companies."

"Cash"ing it in....

Johnny Cash song iTunes' 10 billionth download | Crave - CNET: "Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Ga., just won Apple's iTunes Countdown to 10 Billion Songs contest with the purchase of Johnny Cash's 'Guess Things Happen That Way.' This also means the song is the 10 billionth song downloaded from Apple's Store using iTunes.
With his purchase, Salcer got the best deal ever for an online music purchase, a gift certificate for music worth $10,000."

The Tomatoes of Strategic Sourcing and Ethics

A few weeks ago I gave a lecture on Strategic Sourcing and concluded it by explaining the potential for highly unethical acts within Sourcing.

Hence it does not come as a big surprise to read about bribery in the food business. Rotten all the way around. One more reason to know and thank the hands that feed us.

SK Foods at Center of Bribe Scheme to Sell Tainted Tomatoes - NYTimes.com: "Over the last 14 months, Mr. Watson and three other purchasing managers, at Frito-Lay, Safeway and B&G Foods, have pleaded guilty to taking bribes. Five people connected to one of the nation’s largest tomato processors, SK Foods, have also admitted taking part in the scheme."

H-1B Visa Program - What's the intent?

There seems to be a lot of misrepresentation about the intent of the 'non-immigrant' H1-B visas. They were expected to be used only for hiring, for a short duration, foreigners with specific skill sets when there was no domestic worker available with those skill sets. Over time this has been "enhanced" to a point where the purpose of the visas is unclear. Is an H-1B visa a temporary stop on the way to giving a foreign worker an immigrant visa? If so, why go through this charade?

H-1B Visa Program Again Under Fire - Government IT from eWeek: "A new study by the Economic Policy Institute claims some companies are using the H-1B visa program to transfer work overseas and to take advantage of cheaper guest worker labor.

Despite claims to the contrary, many tech firms are using H-1B visas to fill temporary positions and not as a pathway to permanent citizenship, according to a new study by the Economic Policy Institute."