This Is How To Fix The Electoral College

We all know its purpose. It's to "even-out" the vote, so that all of the giant metropolitan areas across the country don't dominate the election.. blah blah blah.

Rolling Stone is certainly not a source I would usually cite, and/nor proudly expect positive consequences for pretty much anything - especially rock 'n' roll - but here's a good article from them I ran across a week or two ago... and I'll quote the most important part below, you know, for the lazy.

"Wyoming, the nation's lowest population state, has just over 560,000 people. Those people get three electoral votes, or one per 186,000 people. California, our most populous state, has more than 37 million people. Those Californians have 55 electoral votes, or one per 670,000 people. Comparatively, people in Wyoming have nearly four times the power in the Electoral College as people in California. Put another way, if California had the same proportion of electoral votes per person as Wyoming, it would have about 200 electoral votes." (Source)

Yep, it's just simple math, people. Each state's electoral vote total needs to be proportional to the population of each state. That was the intention some 240 years ago, anyway. However the simple fact that each state (regardless of population) has exactly two senators, and that the number TWO helps to determine the number of electoral college votes for each state, is absurd!

So here's the fix:
Click it to enlarge!

Original Content (Data from Wikipedia)

And it needs to be edited before every election. I'm pretty sure the government has several statisticians employed, who can accurately project the population growth of each state based on the last census each time. If not, there are probably a few available. It's not that difficult.

By the way, with that fix I also just created 1,105 extra jobs (and growing).

A Great Job

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And I'd be a willing customer. Isn't that what makes a good economy? Easy jobs.. lots of customers..

Earn More, Work Less: 8 Great Jobs that Escape the Rat Race

by Sarah B. Weir, Yahoo! blogger


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Yoga teacher and self-titled "Life Stylist" Sadie Nardini advises her clients, "Think huge-small and medium have a lot of competition." That's just what she did when she went from being a broke, harried studio yoga teacher to harnessing technology, streamlining her workload, and earning in a day what she used to make in a week. In 2010, she put in the hours she wanted and netted close to $300,000.

Nardini got her start as a yoga teacher moonlighting after her day job in cubicle land. Eventually, she got fed up with laboring long days for little money doing office work and decided to teach full time. Soon enough, she was teaching 25 classes a week and feeling just as burnt out as before. "I love the scene in 'Finding Nemo' where he swims into the current with the sea turtles and speeds effortlessly toward his goal," she says. "I asked myself, 'How can I be more passive and less active income-wise?'"

Nardini posted free online videos to gain a wider audience. Now she has 25,000 subscribers on YouTube and 40,000 Facebook followers. She started selling DVDs and teaching at large conferences instead of small classes. She branched out into wellness counseling and life coaching. On a practical level, she set up automatic responses on her website and outsourced all of her administrative work.

Nardini says that fear gets in the way of people actually doing something instead of just talking about it. "People
Sadie Nardini

often have skills that they doubt anyone will care about. I advised a friend who loved making bracelets to sell them on Etsy. A magazine featured her work and within a month she had earned more money from her bracelets than she had made in a year working an office job."

Here are seven more jobs that offer flexibility, fun, and a good wage:

1 - Massage Therapist
According to the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), the majority of massage therapists work under 27 hours a week. Massage therapist Jenny Adams, who has practiced in Pennsylvania for 20 years, describes the benefits of her career: "I get to wear comfy clothes, set my own hours, and work with wonderful people. Most days I see three to four clients which leaves me plenty of time for other things."
Gyms, doctor's offices, sports teams, and spas all employ massage therapists. Some massage therapists are self-employed and travel to people's homes.

Background requirements:
• 300 to 1000 in-class hours (varies state to state). See the AMTA website for info.
• National certification exam for therapeutic massage and bodywork.
• Some states require additional certification.

Earning potential: $60 to $100 per hour


2 - Technical Writer

Are you the only one of your friends who actually reads the manual before powering up a new electronic device? If you are a clear communicator with a good head for technology, you might want to consider a pursuing a career in technical writing-according to the Bureau of Labor Statics, the field is expected to grow by 18 percent between now and 2018. Technical writers translate technical information supplied by experts into easily understandable language for everyday consumers. They usually work for computer systems and software companies, but could also be employed by engineering or architectural firms or in the medical industry. Many are freelance.

Background requirements:

• Most Technical writers hold a Bachelor's degree in English, Communications, or Journalism.
• Being comfortable working with computer systems is a must and desktop publishing and multimedia software experience is also helpful.

Earning potential: $40 to $75 per hour


3 - Make-up artist

Being a make-up artist involves more than just helping people look pretty. Some create detailed prosthetics for film and television. Top fashion and celebrity make-up artists such as Bobbie Brown have created their own multi-million dollar cosmetics lines.

Background requirements:
There are no specific requirements for becoming a make-up artist, but you can take courses at a school such as Make-up Designory (MUD), which has campuses in Los Angeles and New York City. Some budding make-up artists get their start by working at a department store cosmetics counter or volunteering to do make-up for local theater productions.

Earning potential: Entry level make-up artists earn about $15 per hour, but a Hollywood makeup artist who works on successful films can earn a upwards of a million dollars a year.

Click here to continue to the rest of the list..

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This Angers Me

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Yeah it's a year-and-a-half old. And yes it's a medical facility. I doubt most companies would consider such a move, but the fact that any do - angers me. What's next? Will they start screening resumes for too much soda? Being overweight?

I once applied for a summer job at a park during college. They mentioned to me on the way out, "ohh and you won't be able to wear that earring - IF they decide to hire you."

I left having no intention to follow-up, as I'm sure they watched me leaving having no intention to follow-up. That was 1990 - I was 19. It was the first job I sought during college. It was also the only time I've ever been to a job interview with my earring in. Of course I know better now that I try to find something better than a $7 per hour thing at a park as a teenager, but the fact remains the same:

How far will companies go?

The Best Jobs Outside The Cubicle

A Park Ranger at Grand Teton National Park - Via

The winter blahs are starting to set in, leaving many a cubicle dweller staring longingly beyond the gray half walls that surround them on three sides, wondering what else is out there.

In fact, there are quite a few cool and in-demand jobs outside the cubicle. Some capitalize on the demand for health care as Baby Boomers come of age, while others capitalize on the trends in technology and social media. Whatever the reason, these jobs aren't bound by Dilbert-onian rules.

"I think many people secretly fantasize about the freedom that working outside the office provides," said Jeremy Redleaf, a filmmaker and creator of the job site Odd Job Nation. "Jobs outside the cubicle allow you the freedom to construct the life that you want."

Here are a dozen of the coolest jobs outside the cubicle:

Virtual Question Answerer
The economy may be improving but companies are still trying to cut costs -- and one of the ways they do that is by reducing the number of full-time employees physically in the office, and taking advantage of the push to move more business online.

"We've seen a proliferation of e-businesses looking for 'virtual field agents' to answer basic questions in real-time or write articles about simple tasks," Redleaf said. "While it's a great way to make money wherever you are, this one's not for slow typists or the easily fatigued -- it's a volume game when they're paying per answer."

One ad for a virtual question answerer on Craigslist appealed to job seekers' interest in getting paid for things they're already doing: "Do you spend your day looking up random things online?? Might as well get paid for it!! We are searching for people to reply to questions received by the most popular mobile service in the country. We get thousands of questions every hour and need people to get online and find the answers. You must be at least eighteen years of age and extremely proficient at using various search engines. Pays per question," the ad read.

Videogame Tester
It's every kid's dream: To be a professional videogame tester.

There are a couple hundred listings for game testers on Indeed.com, with pay ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 or more.

The cool thing is that you get to test the games before they're released. The downside is you have to keep playing the same games over and over and over again until you break them, find a glitch, etc.

Hey, that's the price you pay to play!

Pilot
This one is for those who seek the thrill of the open skies.

(Cue the "Top Gun" music.)

The top 10 percent of commercial pilots earn an average of $120 an hour, according to PayScale.com. Though, most pilots aren't in the air 40 hours a week as the FAA limits flying time to a max of 100 hours a month.

The best opportunities are still with commercial airlines, but as aviation requirements get stricter and stricter, private planes are becoming more popular.

Indeed.com has nearly 20,000 listings for pilot-related jobs, paying anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 or more.

A few of the others you'll see are Geologist, Tutor, & Recreational Therapist. Click here to continue to the rest of the article..

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Unemployment Rates By County By Month, Jan. 2007 - May 2010

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U.S. Unemployment: A Historical View

Track the national unemployment rate since 1948 -- the first year in which the government provides data that can reliably be compared with the current rate. Numbers are seasonally adjusted. Updated: 05/07/2010

Click the banner image to see the interactive chart.

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The Best Jobs In America

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You might think that determining what makes a job "great" is pretty easy, but the truth is there are so many factors that could play a role - from exceptional rates of pay, to superior growth prospects, to employee perks and benefits - that finding one definition often isn't as easy as it might first appear.

In fact, while for many workers the paycheck is the be all and end all, for others a sense that the work they are doing is more "meaningful" holds the key to job satisfaction.

And that's before you factor in issues pertaining to how organizations can match the needs of different generations of employees, a common challenge for HR managers.

Take a look at Fortune magazine's 100 Best Companies To Work For list for 2009, for instance, which demonstrates how, even in this economy, some companies are going out of their way to please employees:
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Internet giant Google, for example, once revered as way out in front in terms of employee satisfaction, has now slipped considerably to fourth place this year - despite still attracting over 777,000 applications each year. Meanwhile, in its place, data management firm NatApp has been catapulted to the top spot, offering such benefits as five paid days for volunteer work, $11,390 adoption aid, and autism coverage - used by 43 employees since 2006 ,at a cost of $242,452.

But aside from individual companies looking to bolster their satisfaction credentials, there are some jobs that simply far outpace others in terms of "greatness." Some because of the paychecks they offer, others because of the long-term prospects they bring to workers, but all of them noteworthy.

And now, with the help of Payscale.com, CNN Money has rated and compiled a list of the Top 50 Jobs in the US - and you've guessed it, they all offer great pay and even better prospects.

The top end of the list is largely populated by roles in both the information technology (IT) and healthcare sectors, which are obviously determined after considerable investment from workers in terms of training and experience; but other roles, both in the financial services and government sectors also feature prominently, highlighting that there is room for true satisfaction in a plethora of fields.

At the top of the list the authors place the role of System Engineer - defined by CNN as the "big think managers on large, complex projects." According to the findings behind the list, demand is soaring for systems engineers, as what was once a niche job in the aerospace and defense industries has now become (or is becoming) commonplace among a diverse and expanding universe of employers.

The good news? Pay can easily reach six figures for top performers, and CNN highlights how there - even in this economy - remains ample opportunity for advancement.

Something else to make readers smile is that fact that, ranking pretty highly at twentieth on the list, is the role of Human Resources Manager, suggesting that HR's diversified role and transformation from a largely administrative role to a more strategic business player hasn't gone unnoticed. As CNN themselves put it, do HR Managers have great jobs or what?

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Unemployed Livestock

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In related news, more goats, sheep, and deer have flooded the unemployment lines.

Tons Of Jobs Available at Smartass, Inc.

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A Ranking of 200 Jobs From Best to Worst

When launching their careers, many job seekers had a simple method of choosing the best job for them: They guessed. A job might "feel right" or "sound cool" or be considered successful according to the media, conventional wisdom or the advice of others. However, as many realtors and autoworkers will tell you, conventional wisdom can change. And with fierce competition for jobs making it tougher than ever to get a "do-over" if you make the wrong choice, guessing is not a smart approach to career management.

So if the lesson of the past year is that you need to determine the best career path for you the first time around, how exactly can you do that? For starters, having a few facts will help. CareerCast.com's 2010 Jobs Rated report offers a comprehensive analysis of 200 different jobs – from Accountant to Zoologist – giving each a unique ranking based on factual analysis and hard data, not guesswork. If you're entering (or re-entering) the job market and want to avoid selecting the wrong career, our rankings can help you make a stronger, more informed decision, both for today and the long-term.

How does Jobs Rated determine which professions rank better than others? Data on each job is broken down into five key categories: Physical Demands, Work Environment, Income, Stress and Hiring Outlook. Jobs receive a score in each individual category, and when these are added together, the career with the best overall score is ranked 1st, while the one with the worst overall score is ranked 200th.

Of course every employee is different, and what you consider a "dream job" might be someone else's idea of a career nightmare. Because of this, a simple ranking may not be enough – you need to know what a particular job is really like on a day-to-day basis. This is where the survey's individual scores and rankings can help. If you're the type who cares a lot about income but doesn't mind stress, for example, public relations executive might be a great career for you. While the job may seem less desirable with an overall ranking of 79, it ranks 19th for median income and 193rd for stress – perfect for the job seeker who wants good pay and can handle a high-stress environment.

6. Mathematician - Applies mathematical theories and formulas to teach or solve problems in a business, educational, or industrial climate.

18. Aerospace Engineer - Designs, develops, and tests new technologies concerned with the manufacture of commercial and military aircraft and spacecraft.

19. Pharmacist - Advises physicians and patients on the affects of drugs and medications; prepares and dispenses prescriptions.

Overall Ranking: 19
Overall Score: 260
Work Environment: 788.640
Physical Demands: 8.86
Stress: 25.877
Income: $106,070
Hiring Outlook: 22.20 (Very Good)

What a great list - Continue to the rest..

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13 Bizarre Jobs

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to hand out business cards that proclaim you a ‘professional sleeper’, or fortune cookie writer? Of course, for every curiously awesome job, there’s a foul, wretched one – like vomit collector at an amusement park or waste-burning toilet attendant on a ship. To get any of these 13 weird gigs, you either have to be really lucky – or really desperate.

Golf Ball Diver

For all the balls they accidentally knock into the water, few golfers wade in and try to retrieve them. That’s what golf ball divers are for. Golf equipment stores selling ‘gently used’ golf balls often pay several independent golf ball divers to gather as many of the errant balls as they can, usually for about 6 cents each. Some estimates put golf ball divers’ salaries at over $100,000 a year, but it can be a dangerous job – a 75-year-old man died while diving for golf balls, 27 years after his son perished the same way.

Professional Sleeper

Many of us sleep on the job – but if we got caught, we’d be heading to the unemployment line. But there are some people who actually get paid to snooze. This type of job typically involves participating in sleep research projects at hospitals and universities, but there are even stranger ways to be a professional sleeper. The New Museum of Contemporary Art put out want ads in January 2009 seeking women willing to come in, take a sleeping pill and zonk out during the museum’s opening hours. The women who got the jobs then became living museum exhibitions titled after their own names, such as ‘This is Kate’, pictured above.

Continue reading..

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Growing Gains - 6 Jobs With High-Rising Numbers

In a competitive job market, maximizing the potential of your education could hinge on a question of numbers: How many workers might be hired in a given field?

Since crystal balls aren't exactly what one might call reliable, the U.S. Department of Labor has done some projecting of its own when it comes to employment outlook.

Here's a closer look at six of the fastest growing occupations, in terms of numbers hired, through 2016.

1. Network systems and data communications analysts perform a number of tasks in relation to data communications systems, like the Internet, including designing, analyzing, testing, and assessing systems and their performance. Analysts might also supervise computer programmers and work as specialists who handle the interfacing of computers and communications equipment.

How Fast Is It Growing? This is considered the leading occupation in terms of the percentage of growth in jobs. In large part, this is due to the increasing use of computers and information technology. The rise from 262,000 employees in 2006 to 402,000 in 2016 represents a 53.4 percent increase over that span - that's 140,000 new jobs.

How Do I Get Started? Many jobs require a bachelor's degree, although some might only require a two-year degree in computer science or an information technology-related field.

Salary: $73,800 a year

See the rest..