Well being a butcher for over thirty years I wake up at 4.30 to 5 am every day.

Nowdays I don't start until 7.30 usually so I often post in the mornings. Although I have a computer in one of my shops, I rarely post during work.

As for being my own boss, I am one who preffers to lead from the front, catch me if you can approach which makes my spare time very limmited during work . Not that I am knocking anyone who takes a different approach.

I think a lot of people (those that don't post on weekends) have a life, and are only posting because their work isn't very interesting, or they're lazy.

Romany,
I would be curious of their opinion regarding the personality/opinions types they would see their cultural impressions would be fascinating. I can see an interesting paper/ article on one of my pet topics that is cultural context on subjects. The west has (generally) the idea that their perspective is absolute and some posters go as far as biologically set. I constantly remind people that the nature/ nurture argument is slanted towards culture. i.e. our share experience in PNG.

Everyone
I read a seminal article some years ago where it was clearly shown that nobody works at 100% efficiency and that mental breaks help productivity.
i.e. I remember telling some salesmen that worked for me that providing they're on budget I didn't look too closely at their hours.
Sometime particularly in sales there are times when the salesperson is more of a liability at work than a benefit. In some cases I have sent a stressed staff member off to buy something with both a price and time limit to great effect.

I really reject the concept of the sweat shop mentality. I found that when extra time (effort) was required the staff put in without expectation of pay just acknowledgement of the effort.

My view if a manager is half smart they will pick the bludgers . I also saw team pressure bring the odd one into line. Therefore to answer the question it all depends on the person, the circumstances and the situation. A little lee way can achieve advantages beyond calculation.
I had the most stable staff employment and least sickies of all the other state branches several times. Did I fire bludgers yes. Most times the other staff backed the decision. Was I popular? weell! But they all saw me as fair and being able to be reasoned with. Their words not mine.

Hi,

I am new here,

wnmn1847

Tnx.

Examinator -

"fascinating" yes. Illuminating, humbling, embarrassing, vastly amusing, thought-provoking...all that and more.

I thought, before I went to China, that I had a pretty wide world view as a result of a lifetime spent in different cultures and countries.

But nothing actually prepares one for the unique experience of finding that the sum total of ones experiences, education, politics, ...all the hooks upon which we hang our ideas, opinions worth... are meaningless in the society in which one is living.

Not least of all the changes one undergoes is the semantic one of realising that the term 'world-famous' is actually racist! One uses this term and similar ones(world-renowned, the entire world,World War One etc.) without consciously registering that we are excluding many more than one third of the world population.

It is not only the citizens of China but, one realises, of many other countries, who have never heard of ...say...Mick Jagger, Mother Theresa, the entire Hippy movement, The Greens, Kyoto, Paris Hilton, Political Correctness, Swiss cheese,Maradona (spelling?) Romania, The Bosnian war, The Falklands, or petticoats.

Perhaps this gives a little insight into the reactions of Chinese Uni students sometimes to the pages of OLO, The New York Times, The Manchester Guardian, Ms. or Rolling Stone?

Its almost impossible to convey just how much I absolutely revel in my job!

It is time for a ruddy great dose of weed killer to be sprayed on the competing laws of Australia and one Australian government to step up to the plate, and restore its legal system to what we had in 1900. I would hope that those in the important jobs, the government jobs, where our lives are affected take the time to troll OLO. They may not find what they see here pretty, or be very pleased with the way we rattle their cages, but they need to know how some of us feel about them.

I once read a speech given by an English lawyer called Erskine in defence of free speech. It was a marvelous piece of logic, and successful. He argued that Charles I lost his head, in 1649 because he had suppressed free speech, and was not aware that the natives were getting very restless. I hope that the newspapers and other media realize that with the advent of the WWW their influence is now getting competition from another medium, and on this medium, what the editors want suppressed is being said anyway.

It may be that because of OLO there will be an outbreak of honesty and integrity in Queensland, or NSW or even blighted Victoria, but whichever State gets the Honests first will be like Queensland under Joh, and have billions of dollars flow into its government coffers. Because of S 118 Constitution as soon as one State breaks ranks with the rest and starts being a good corporate citizen, allowing free and unfettered access to its courts, constitutes them in accordance with Ch III Constitution with a jury, and takes from the Lawyer/Judges, their current veto power over private prosecutions, it will become the wealthiest State in Australia.

I am of Irish stock, and I had independent and pretty rowdy sons. When they stopped listening, I would tell them I would fix their ears up, and a smack on the backside worked wonders. The first State to fix up the ears of its Judges and Magistrates will work wonders for its future prosperity