I’ve done a post on this subject before. Although some would like for the subject to go away, it obviously isn’t. If anything, it’s receiving more attention than ever.

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“Better brush up on my field work. Better brush up on my field work. Gonna get my fingers dirty.” So begins a song about research into unscrambling the code of the world’s creation. Listen to the song as performed by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Thomas Dolby about the importance of “field work” in our society.

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Molly DiBianca has had a couple of posts recently on service animals in the workplace. (Click here and here.) That, of course, reminded me of the Animal Employment Protection Act.

Two recent events attracted much attention: a homemade helium balloon supposedly carrying a six-year-old boy and a Northwest plane that traveled 150 miles past where it was supposed to land and lost contact with air traffic control for over an hour. The balloon incident was a hoax. The plane incident is perhaps still somewhat of a mystery.

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Not everyone thinks that innovation and progress are our saviors. Where have innovation and progress really led us? Listen and learn.

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If you don’t regularly read the Eclecticity blog, you should. Sometimes it’s kind of out there. Sometimes it’s way out there. No matter. The mind of E is full of thoughts worth partaking of.

Execupundit has a post with punch about how people, particularly executives, judge one of their own vs. one who’s on the outside. Michael Wade says one of the things I was trying to say in my post titled Tale of Two Cities but says it much better.

Elbert Hubbard was an American publisher, artist, writer and philosopher. The following quote was true for the workplace when he said it in the 19th century, and I believe it is still true today.

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I’ve written frequently about The Man Gene and its role in causing legal problems in the workplace. I’ve written less frequently about religion (e.g., here and here), trying to draw lessons that could apply to the world of work generally. I will now attempt the death-defying feat of writing about both.

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Cultural Offering provides four cartoonish posts that hold a lot of truth, as well as humor. (Click here, here, here and here.)

Lately, there’s been a flurry of articles, posts, webinars, and audio conferences on how employers should handle the H1N1 flu, a.k.a., swine flu. There’s been so much, I decided everything that needed covering was being covered. Although this may be true, I thought it worthwhile to comment on a wrinkle in the applicability of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

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Although the economy has stifled employee retreats, off-site training events, and team-building conferences, human resource professionals are always looking for new ideas. When the budget-vise has loosened a bit, these unity-building, self-help exercises will get back on track.

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As pretty much everyone knows by now, ESPN sports analyst Steve Phillips (no relation that I know of) has let The Man Gene get the best of him — again. He had an affair with a young woman half his age. Young woman does her impression of Glenn Close. Divorce proceedings are filed. Phillips is put on an extended leave.

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John Mellencamp sings, “I fight authority, Authority always wins.” But he can’t help himself. He’s been doing it since he was a little kid. As the song says, rebels are often told to grow up. Sometimes, they should. But sometimes, Authority ought to listen when an employee pushes back with a contrary idea.

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Executives are described in a variety of ways. We want to understand them, to please them, to survive them. Here’s a helpful video that advises employees to think of executives as being animals in a zoo.

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