Banal Leakage – Ep #033

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Episode 033

– So Much Unrest :

• – trying to survive a very busy 2 weeks with many frustrations; they say these things make you stronger; I’m waiting.
• – with summer coming to a close here soon, ok also trying to get in as much sun as I can.
• News – Story 1: The events in Ferguson, MO – So Far

– my thoughts and feelings on what has gone on in this town since the August 9th killing of an unarmed black teen; listen to the podcast for all of the details as I will not list the details here in the show notes.
– Link to article: Ferguson rally marks 3 weeks since Brown’s death

• News – Story 2: Raising the minimum wage to $10.10

– minimum wage is currently at $7.25/hr.; this is a movement supported by the president and many others; those against it are congress and small businesses that feel they are paying enough to their workers and won’t be able to afford to pay the almost $3/hr increase; 4.7% of all working class in the US makes minimum wage or lower; this includes waiters and servers, who makes about $2.20/hr plus tips; I would like to know the percentage of workers that make over $7.25/ hr. but less than $10/hr.; it’s been 5 years since the last raise (July 2009); many feel they should just raise it to $8.15 an hour; I think it should be at least $9/hr.; cost of living has gone up far more in the last 5 years; while it would be a big jump, it needs to make up for time it’s not gone up; the minimum wage should increase every year as to not be an instant burden on those businesses that feel this increase would take away from their bottom line; I can sympathize with some smaller mom and pop shops to have forced a bigger increase; but turnover rate and training costs and other functions of keeping and managing employees is an added cost; the whole point of raising the minimum wage shouldn’t be an issue and neither should the increased cost when it’s done more frequently.
– Link to article: Raising the Minimum Wage to 10.10/hr

• News – Story 3: Ice Bucket Challenges

– This has been going on for several weeks now; people dump a bucket of ice water on their head and donate money to ALS, which is Lou Gehrig’s Disease; then challenge 3 others to do the same ice bucket and financial donation; it’s worked as ALS has received millions since the challenges started; but as with most larger non-profit centers, there are costs associated with doing business; plus they get greedy, as in ALS wanting to trademark the ice bucket challenge, which thankfully was a short lived idea; many stars like Matt Damon, Neil Gaiman, Motley Crue, Aerosmith took part in the challenge and donation; right now, only 27% of the donations to ALS is used for research; this needs to be more; these larger entities tend to use the money for operations and other things besides the research; would be nice to see better management; regardless, the attention this disease has received has been positive; while it seems silly and to some, a waste of time; in the long run, it will be good for getting ALS awareness.
– Link to article: Ice Bucket Challenge – Wikipedia

• RANT: All of the rain at once is never good

– lots of rain here in Salt Lake City the last 10 days; Phoenix gets more rain in one day than they did in all of summer 2013; I know, I complain about the weather a lot; it is summer and it’s hard to plan outdoor activities when it rains a lot; last Friday night, we attended a Salt Lake Bees baseball game; got rained out and postponed; coming out of the pool one Sunday and just minutes of walking home, it starts pouring like crazy; we have some roof damage due to years of wear and tear and have a leak into our attic when it rains a large amount in a short period of time; early in the lawn mowing season, I was able to mulch; with the large amount of rain, I have had to bag it the last few weeks; I appreciate the rain, I really do; but when we get so much at once, it doesn’t do any good; reservoirs overflow; hillsides flood and cause slide offs; also, I’m trying to have a nice end of the summer here; hard to do that when I’m stuck inside.


• SHAMELESS PLUG: Tom Bailey touring, signing Thompson Twins songs

– this is the first time he’s signing these songs in 27 years; he is on the Retro Futura tour with Howard Jones, Midge Ure, China Crisis; a warm up gig in the UK was played (You Tube video attached to the show notes); with the exception of some off key Brits, the under 1 hour club show was great; it’s not the original/classic line up, but it’s the voice that sang each of those 80’s hits like “Into The Gap”, “Lies” and “In The Name of Love”; can’t wait to see Tom perform these live at the Retro Futura stop in Utah on Sep 6th; if you are a fan of this band, you should check out the tour dates and see if one is coming to your town.

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