Well, he’s not not really choking it. And it’s more a chick at the moment.

I’m not sure who is cuter….

The Husbear received a new batch of chicks in the mail.

Yes. You read that correctly. In. The. Mail. It still amazes me the things you can order these days and have delivered.

And I’m betting some of you were expecting to see something totally different. (It will cost you $29.95 for that DVD… heh heh.)

Okay… I’m taking a break from the “banter” of the last week.

I have a large amount of email to go through.

So in the mean time, I present you with this “specimen”…

lick to embiggen

Man I need to get to the gym.

I’m still laughing after seeing this:

Thank you Dead Robot. That more than made my day. I think I shall make this my new desktop wallpaper at the Great Retail Empire.

—

I promised the AlphaForager a post (and those who saw my tweets) about events that occurred on Wednesday at the Great Retail Empire.

About 11:00 or so, I received a call from the head of our “People People” department asking if I would come visit around 1:30.

Great. The head of “People People” never just calls you up to visit, I thought.

I was expecting discussions around the content of my blog posts concerning the Great Retail Empire, as that was the only thing I could think of that I had “done” as of late that would possibly warrant said invitation. That, or someone forgot to lay me off and they wanted to know why I was still here, red Swingline stapler in hand.

So, around 1:30, after receiving well-wishes from those around me, I wandered off to the “People People” people.

It was said some individuals had complained about the content of my blog concerning certain recent events. The “People People” people stated they read my blog (which makes me giggle a little, as I wonder if the other content I post caused some brain throttling). Nothing was stated about the content of my blog itself in regard to the Great Retail Empire. I was called in because they were concerned with whether I was essentially mentally okay.

Discussions were had. (I stated I would not blog about said discussions so I won’t.)

Not to sound like I drank more of the Kool-Aid, but the discussions were probably the best visit I had ever had with anyone in the “People People” department. I don’t feel any better about the layoffs that happened. However, I was able to express myself, my feelings and my opinions to someone who would at least be able to do something with my statements, which is opposite how I feel about those in the corner office(s).

There was something I hadn’t blogged about that was also mentioned: my dislike of the word “processes”. So I know either my tweets or Facebook statuses (or both) were /are being read.

And I now know there are some people out there who I work with in some fashion reading my blog that can’t handle the truth. To them I say thank you for the extra ammunition.

I am assured that I am now on some sort of blog watch list. As is the term “Great Retail Empire”.

Awesome.

Maybe I should consider doing that “Men of the Great Retail Empire” photo shoot now.

(Updated, 02/27/2009: For the first time ever, I have disabled comments on a post. I do this only at the Husbear’s request. To my readers and those who already posted, please only know that he is sincerely afraid for me in the waters in which I am treading. If you want to discuss, email me. My contact info is here.)

With everything going on that I have no control over, I need a diversion.

This would be a nice one.

lick to embiggen

(I have no idea where I stole this from.)

Call it coincidence that I have been watching the John Adams HBO miniseries. Recommended watching, even if it does contain some inaccuracies.

Tonight I watched the last two episodes in the miniseries. The 6th installment mentioned what are now called the Alien and Sedition Acts. Congress passed the Acts (actually four different laws) in 1798 while under threat of war from France. The legislation was intended to stomp out political opposition.

One of these laws struck me as familiar in a peculiar way: “An Act for the Punishment of Certain Crimes against the United States (Sedition Act), July 14, 1798 ch. 74, 1 Stat. 596”. More commonly called “The Sedition Act”, this law made it illegal to publish “false, scandalous, and malicious writing” against the government or its officials.

Censorship.

The Great Retail Empire somewhat recently enacted what is called the “Social Media Policy (PD-73)”. The policy states:

Using social media can be a fun and rewarding way to share opinions with friends, family and co-workers around the world.
…
… you have the responsibility to post content in a respectful manner that will not be harmful to the company.
…
… if you decide to post complaints or criticism, avoid doing so in a way that is unprofessional, defamatory, or injurious to the company or other associates.

Failure to do so “may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.”

My question is: who decides what is seditious? Wait—I meant “injurious”. As I noted in my last post concerning the layoffs that occurred at the Great Retail Empire, it is entirely possible “disciplinary action” may be levied against me because I expressed my opinion. Since we all know “the truth hurts”, it would imply that anything I mention of the Great Retail Empire—either false or true—could be deemed “injurious”.

Today, oddly enough, someone whom the Great Retail Empire would prohibit me having any association with outside of the office [that's another policy...] stated so eloquently in an Internet MeMe:

I’m cynical of governments and corporations. I think there’s little to differentiate large corporations from large governments, and the boundaries between them are increasingly blurred. As Orwell said “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

I could, in no way, have better expressed my thoughts on the subject.

When any entity gets so large that it has to start creating and enforcing laws and policies to protect it’s image from those “within”, one has to question why those policies and laws needed to be created to begin with. Is there something to hide from the those on the outside?

“Welcome to the Machine” now has new meaning for me.

I guess I’ll just have to wait and see if any of my thoughts are injurious to the Great Retail Empire.