Quietly there.

Today's Tids Issue 3,240

Opening Stuff:

Love works. There’s this funny thing called love, as they say. It is a kind of magic built on trust and understanding, and a couple of pinches of fairy dust. You can see it in glowing eyes and feel it in your heart. It is about sharing triumphs; giving totally. It is full of tingles and weird sensations; smiles and contentment. It can also shine a light of hope into the deepest black hole. It can pull you back up, bring comfort to pain. Love sheds tears of both despair and joy. Love is everything. In dark days it will bring in the light; when the sun is shining it will take you to the stars.

What do you call an alligator wearing a sleeveless sweater? An investigator. Shoot me.

With the New Year, I’d like to start another of those exciting serial novels wth a cliffhanger each day. Foe some of you new readers, four full novels have been written in this morning mess. So, I’m asking you to send in a subject or a key word and I’ll create intriguing lovable characters involved in a plot of love and danger and write another good 50k to 80 K story off of it.

The Question:

Employees have named The 50 Best Large  Companies to work for. Give me the top ten.

The Headlines:

--Stocks Down Again; Oil 2015 View Cut; Greek Stocks Tumble.

--Time Names Ebola Workers “Persons of the Year”.

--House Leaders Hammer Out Budget; Conservative reps May Fight It.

--New Merck Drug Shrinks Breast Cancer Tumors

--UN Wants To Prosecute Bush National Security Team Over Torture Report.

--Pistorius Allowed To Appeal Verdict.

You had to wonder how well he would connect with screaming teens when Craig Wayne Boyd chose to sing The Old Rugged Cross in the midst of a material world. He did it well and It was nice to see that his version of grand old hymn was not just well received, it was number 2 among the 200 on the day’s ITune charts. It helped him make the final three along with the other deserved winners, Matt McAndrew and Chris Jamison. After an all night voting following a sing off by nine of the 12 finalists, Damian hooked on as #4. Damian has been solid throughout, but I was kind of routing for Danika who did well in he sing-off, as did another of my old favorites Sugar Jones.

The success of CWB singing of the Old Wooden Cross tells you something about that vast section of America that nobody seems to see, or that media cares to acknowledge.

First, why would the USA spend fifty million dollar on a report about how we torture people. A report? $50 Mil? Second, why did Dems think it a good idea to release dirty linen to the world? Do you think it could just be sour grapes politics?

The President of Smith College, Kathleen McCartney, got into trouble because she wrote in an email to students, “All lives Matter”. Sounds logical to me, but not to myopic kids only interested in black lives for the moment. Unfortunately, she apologized.

And then, there are the pampered kids attending Columbia University who were allowed to postpone their final exams if they were experiencing the effects of emotional deterioration from Ferguson and other manufactured calamities. God help us.

What’s really abhorrent is escalation of rape on campuses. How unsettling is it for parents thinking they’ve sent their daughters to safe havens only to find the same uncivilized behavior that seems to infesting all corners of the USA. However, as much as I shudder at thought of innocents being mauled and violated, I’m also disturbed that Congress is holding hearings on the growing problem. The last thing we need is another $50 mil report that takes two years to compile. We need action in the communities, where it can be done faster with more knowledgeable focus, and without self-serving rhetoric. The solutions aren’t so clear cut. So much is based on personal motivation. Maybe the best colleges can do is turn down the temperature. Maybe they have to go back to same sex dorms, and less time for parties. Maybe we have to take another look at some of the institutional changes inspired by teen demands for less responsibility that grew out of the 60’s-70’s changeover. Less restriction always demands a greater sense of responsibility in any civilized society.

I went to an affair the last night where the cost of diet cokes was so high that I had to drink water all night. My system went berserk.

While on the subject of good dietary goals and standards, one of my more resourceful readers sent in this essay on the manufacture of Cheetos. Frito-Lay has 14 Cheeto frying plants in 11 states.  In case you are interested, Cheetos are vegetables, a blend of Corn and healthful water, heated under pressure and extruded  into shapes. Exposure to hot air causes steam to expand creating the unique, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Rigidly supervised quality control taste tests every ½ hour. After oven drying (Puffy) or fryng (Crunchy) the products are tumbled into a rapturous cheese flavoring. Better than smoothies.

Publishing the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation reaction to anything is meaningless and predictable.

I don’t know much of anything about writer/reporter Lena Dunham, “The Darling of Liberal Intelligentsia”, but she sure doesn’t seem to be the kind of role model we need for American girls.

The Answer:

 Google (4.5) is number one, but not far behind are (Mitt Romney’s Company) Bain & Company and Nestle-Purina tied for 2^nd. Next we have f5 Networks, The Boston consulting Group, Chevron, HEB, In-N-Out Burger, McKinsey & company and #10 Mayo Clinic. The rest of the companies with a rating of 4.0 or higher are P&G, Brigham & Women’s Hospital (Bost), FaceBook, Qualcom (Just announced today a 600 person layoff), Southwest Airlines, Slalom Consulting, Genentec, Adobe, Mathworks, Stryker, QuikTrip, Apple and LinkedIn. The top ten best small companies are Motley Fool, FAST Enterprises, Evolent Health, Intacct, Tube Mogul, Instart Logic, Quantcast, Quirky, Spadework’s and Faithlife.

This is the second day in about a week that this company I had never heard of came up – In-N-Out Burger! He first time was on the five Best Burger list. Is company started in 1945, as a drive in burger place. It is pretty big today with restaurants mainly in California Arizona and goes as far east and north as Texas. The menu looks like McDonalds. One aspect of their business that sets them apart is their dedication to helping abused and forgotten children. In the spirit of founders Harry and ester, they figure they get the money and they should do some good with it. Let’s put them on our Good Santa list, If ex-Mayor Bloomburg will let us.