Archive for March 3rd, 2013
Voters in Switzerland tighten executive paychecks
Swiss residents voted Sunday to impose some of the world’s most severe restrictions on executive compensation…
The vote gives shareholders of companies listed in Switzerland a binding say on the overall pay packages for executives and directors. Pension funds holding shares in a company would be obligated to take part in votes on compensation packages.
In addition, companies would no longer be allowed to give bonuses to executives joining or leaving the business, or to executives when their company was taken over. Violations could result in fines equal to up to six years of salary and a prison sentence of up to three years.
The outcome of the referendum was a triumph for Thomas Minder, an entrepreneur and member of the Swiss Parliament…who turned a personal fight against the management of Swissair, the flagship airline that collapsed in 2001, into a nationwide referendum against “rip-off merchants.”
Almost 68 percent of Swiss voters backed Mr. Minder’s proposals, according to results announced late Sunday…
Read the gory details in the article. The point remains that the best analysts gauging executive salaries deny this vote will diminish Switzerland’s business climate – in fact, encouraging investors to come in where they now have more of a voice recognized by corporate directors.
SpaceX Dragon reaches International Space Station
A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule overcame a potentially mission-ending technical problem to make a belated but welcome arrival at the International Space Station on Sunday.
Astronauts aboard the outpost used the station’s robotic arm to pluck the capsule from orbit at 5:31 a.m. EST as the ships sailed 250 miles over northern Ukraine.
Flight controllers at NASA’s Mission Control in Houston then stepped in to drive the capsule to its berthing port on the station’s Harmony connecting node…
The Dragon capsule, loaded with more than 2,300 pounds of science equipment, spare parts, food and supplies, blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Friday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for the second of 12 planned supply runs for NASA…
Dragon was to have arrived at the station on Saturday but a problem with its thruster rocket pods developed soon after reaching orbit. Engineers sent commands for Dragon to flip valves and clear any blockage in a pressurization line in an attempt to salvage the mission.
By Friday evening, Dragon had fired its thruster rockets to raise its altitude and begin steering itself to rendezvous with the station.
“As they say, it’s not where you start but where you finish that counts. You guys really finished this one on the mark,” station commander Kevin Ford radioed to Dragon’s flight control team in Hawthorne, California, and NASA’s Mission Control in Houston…
Once the capsule is unloaded, the crew will begin refilling it with 3,000 pounds (1,361 kg) of unneeded and broken equipment and science samples for analysis on Earth.
Bravo.
Following events as they happened, one process that was clear is the growth and evolution of computing power has added depth and capability to control systems on devices like the Dragon. Thruster problems would have made a mission like this a dead end a decade ago. Now, backups and workarounds were a matter of enabling changes in the program.
Good news.
Sunday morning at Lot 4
We discovered two things, this morning: Sheila likes carrots – and she finds proper football boring even if Spurs defeat Arsenal in the North London Derby.
Nude baristas busted for stripping at coffee shop drive-thru
Charged with getting customers in a froth!
Three baristas accused of giving customers peep shows along with their coffee have been arrested in Washington state, accused of operating an adult cabaret without a license from the drive-thru windows of two Grab-N-Go coffee shops…
The three women, who were not immediately identified, were taken into custody in the city of Everett following a two-month undercover operation that was launched after complaints from the public, Everett police officials said…
“Citizens complained that these locations served more than just coffee,” Everett police Lieutenant James Duffy said. Everett is about 30 miles north of Seattle.
“Indeed, our investigation uncovered exhibition and exposure, which is outside the confines of the law,” Duffy said. “During the investigation, video surveillance showed that at times coffee or drinks were not served, but shows were paid for and given…”
The coppers said it was not clear how customers became aware that the baristas were willing to strip for money…”Word gets out“.
Yup. One of the first rules of business is that marketing should answer a need. I’m not certain what need exactly was being met; but, word did get around.
Insurgent St. Pat’s for All Parade comes into its own
Brendan Fay helped start a new St. Patrick’s Day parade in 2000 after his arrests for trying to march in three under a gay banner.
Brendan Fay pointed to an e-mail on his computer screen from the New York Fire Department’s Emerald Society Pipes and Drums corps confirming that it would be marching in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Queens, on Sunday.
“Now that’s how you know the tide has turned for us,” said Mr. Fay, 54, adding that this would be quite a change from the lone bagpiper that the fledgling parade had most years…
“I’d try to get pipe bands to participate, and they’d say something like, ‘Oh, you’re that parade – no, we’re not available,’” said Mr. Fay, who helped start the Queens event after being arrested at three St. Patrick’s Day parades in 1999 after he tried to march under a banner for a gay alliance…
With the phone ringing constantly, Mr. Fay finalized details for portable toilets, pipers and puppets to be held aloft by children. The parade has grown in size every year, and this year he expects more than 2,000 participants…
As for the parade, he said, “We err on the side of hospitality and inclusiveness.” And with the doors wide open, he has certainly amassed a wide array of regular attendees, including from many ethnic groups in this extremely diverse area of Queens…
It was easier a decade ago when barely any politicians marched. That has changed, especially after Hillary Rodham Clinton showed up several times. Now elected officials are practically trampling over children to engage with spectators, joked Tom Moulton, Mr. Fay’s husband, who for the past week has been baking cakes and cookies for preparade events.
Now Mr. Fay’s in-box is full of e-mails from the offices of elected officials and politicians jostling for favored positions, including Joseph J. Lhota, a Republican candidate in the hotly contested race to succeed Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who will also be marching.
Ain’t politics wonderful?
The best of the breed learn to look ahead. Part of being a bona fide leader is having enough good sense to comprehend the best of any several paths people are going to take on their own – and then get there alongside them if not a few feet in front.
Given the number of priests, politicians and pundits who still are struggling to hold folks back, being a leader shouldn’t be as difficult as so many make it out to be.
Holler at your Congress-critter to support Bernie Sanders' bill to 
