For what its worth
This is a United States nickel minted in 1917 at the San Francisco Mint.
Buying this nickel will set you back about $30. Here's another 1917-S nickel.
This one is just a tad more expensive. If you wanted to buy this nickel it would set you back nearly $5,700. The question is, why? They're both from the same mint, made in the same year. The metal content is the same. The only difference is wear and tear. Their condition.
The point? Value is established by those basic laws of economics. Supply and demand. Value in the marketplace. So why is it that people think there is a correlation between how much a CEO is paid and how much the lowest level employees in the corporation are paid? There is no comparison between the value of their respective labor to the company.
Yet not all things are totally equal in this discussion. Because Sam's Club pays its cashiers an average salary of less than $10 an hour. Costco on the other hand pays its cashiers nearly $16 an hour. With better benefits. Cashiering isn't much different in one big box store than it is in another. Why is it Costco is able to pay so much more? Because they did the long-term analysis. This is a company that did its homework. They keep their employees longer. Lower training costs from lower turnover. They're making money. Smart of them, eh?
* * *
Rolling Stone magazine screwed the pooch last November when it published a story about a rape that apparently never happened. Now the magazine's managing editor has published another apology, the full text of that apology follows:
"Last November, we published a story, "A Rape on Campus" [RS 1223], that centered around a University of Virginia student's horrifying account of her alleged gang rape at a campus fraternity house. Within days, commentators started to question the veracity of our narrative. Then, when The Washington Post uncovered details suggesting that the assault could not have taken place the way we described it, the truth of the story became a subject of national controversy.
As we asked ourselves how we could have gotten the story wrong, we decided the only responsible and credible thing to do was to ask someone from outside the magazine to investigate any lapses in reporting, editing and fact-checking behind the story. We reached out to Steve Coll, dean of the Columbia School of Journalism, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter himself, who accepted our offer. We agreed that we would cooperate fully, that he and his team could take as much time as they needed and write whatever they wanted. They would receive no payment, and we promised to publish their report in full. (A condensed version of the report will appear in the next issue of the magazine, out April 8th.)
This report was painful reading, to me personally and to all of us at Rolling Stone. It is also, in its own way, a fascinating document -- a piece of journalism, as Coll describes it, about a failure of journalism. With its publication, we are officially retracting 'A Rape on Campus.' We are also committing ourselves to a series of recommendations about journalistic practices that are spelled out in the report. We would like to apologize to our readers and to all of those who were damaged by our story and the ensuing fallout, including members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and UVA administrators and students. Sexual assault is a serious problem on college campuses, and it is important that rape victims feel comfortable stepping forward. It saddens us to think that their willingness to do so might be diminished by our failings."
The author of that now discredited article, Sabrina Rubin Erdley, also issued an apology:
"The past few months, since my Rolling Stone article “A Rape on Campus” was first called into question, have been among the most painful of my life. Reading the Columbia account of the mistakes and misjudgments in my reporting was a brutal and humbling experience. I want to offer my deepest apologies: to Rolling Stone’s readers, to my Rolling Stone editors and colleagues, to the U.V.A. community, and to any victims of sexual assault who may feel fearful as a result of my article.
Buying this nickel will set you back about $30. Here's another 1917-S nickel.
This one is just a tad more expensive. If you wanted to buy this nickel it would set you back nearly $5,700. The question is, why? They're both from the same mint, made in the same year. The metal content is the same. The only difference is wear and tear. Their condition.
The point? Value is established by those basic laws of economics. Supply and demand. Value in the marketplace. So why is it that people think there is a correlation between how much a CEO is paid and how much the lowest level employees in the corporation are paid? There is no comparison between the value of their respective labor to the company.
Yet not all things are totally equal in this discussion. Because Sam's Club pays its cashiers an average salary of less than $10 an hour. Costco on the other hand pays its cashiers nearly $16 an hour. With better benefits. Cashiering isn't much different in one big box store than it is in another. Why is it Costco is able to pay so much more? Because they did the long-term analysis. This is a company that did its homework. They keep their employees longer. Lower training costs from lower turnover. They're making money. Smart of them, eh?
* * *
Rolling Stone magazine screwed the pooch last November when it published a story about a rape that apparently never happened. Now the magazine's managing editor has published another apology, the full text of that apology follows:
"Last November, we published a story, "A Rape on Campus" [RS 1223], that centered around a University of Virginia student's horrifying account of her alleged gang rape at a campus fraternity house. Within days, commentators started to question the veracity of our narrative. Then, when The Washington Post uncovered details suggesting that the assault could not have taken place the way we described it, the truth of the story became a subject of national controversy.
This report was painful reading, to me personally and to all of us at Rolling Stone. It is also, in its own way, a fascinating document -- a piece of journalism, as Coll describes it, about a failure of journalism. With its publication, we are officially retracting 'A Rape on Campus.' We are also committing ourselves to a series of recommendations about journalistic practices that are spelled out in the report. We would like to apologize to our readers and to all of those who were damaged by our story and the ensuing fallout, including members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and UVA administrators and students. Sexual assault is a serious problem on college campuses, and it is important that rape victims feel comfortable stepping forward. It saddens us to think that their willingness to do so might be diminished by our failings."
The author of that now discredited article, Sabrina Rubin Erdley, also issued an apology:
"The past few months, since my Rolling Stone article “A Rape on Campus” was first called into question, have been among the most painful of my life. Reading the Columbia account of the mistakes and misjudgments in my reporting was a brutal and humbling experience. I want to offer my deepest apologies: to Rolling Stone’s readers, to my Rolling Stone editors and colleagues, to the U.V.A. community, and to any victims of sexual assault who may feel fearful as a result of my article.
“Over my 20 years of working as an investigative journalist — including at Rolling Stone, a magazine I grew up loving and am honored to work for — I have often dealt with sensitive topics and sources. In writing each of these stories I must weigh my compassion against my journalistic duty to find the truth. However, in the case of Jackie and her account of her traumatic rape, I did not go far enough to verify her story. I allowed my concern for Jackie’s well-being, my fear of re-traumatizing her, and my confidence in her credibility to take the place of more questioning and more facts. These are mistakes I will not make again.
“Reporting on rape has unique challenges, but the journalist still has the responsibility to get it right. I hope that my mistakes in reporting this story do not silence the voices of victims that need to be heard."
So why hasn't she been fired? It isn't like this is her first offense of failing to fact-check. Back in 2011 she wrote an article for Rolling Stone about a former altar boy who alleged that he had been subjected to child abuse during his childhood association with the Philadelphia Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church. Her supposed compassion for the now adult victim kept her from verifying the veracity of his claims, where were called into question after her article was published.
One has to wonder why? Why isn't Rolling Stone firing her, and others, who failed to prevent this most basic of journalistic failures??
* * *
Random Ponderings:
I'd just as soon see Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev get life without parole than the death penalty. No endless appeals, no wasted money and he can spend decades wasting away in prison.
So it looks like April 24th is the day we begin referring to Bruce Jenner with feminine pronouns. That's the date of the big interview with Diane Sawyer. Meanwhile the media is obsessed with trying to get pictures of the results of rumored breast augmentation done on the Olympic Gold medal winner. Living in a fish bowl must suck big time.
Giuliana Rancic writes that Jerry O'Connell cheated on her twice. Another example of how once a cheater, ALMOST always a cheater thereafter. Meaning, if someone leaves their partner for you when you cheated with them, most likely you'll be victimized in the same way in the future.
Would someone tell Yahoo Celebrity there is something wrong with this sentence: "Neil Patrick Harris & David Burka with her children during Easter Sunday." Hint, neither of these men is a her.
Dodgers winning on Opening Day was awesome!!
I'm not sure if John Daly is hocking his merchandise outside the Masters Championship because he's struggling financially or because he enjoys it. Probably a bit of both.
I find this one fascinating. FBI agents must pass a physical fitness test where men have to do more than 38 sit-ups in one minute, followed by a 300 meter sprint that must be completed in 52.4 seconds or faster, followed by at least 31 push-ups in one minute, followed by a 1.5 mile run that must be run in 12:24 or faster. Air Force basic trainees on the other hand must do 50 sit-ups, 45 push-ups and finish the 1.5 mile run in 11:57. They don't have to do a sprint. So the Air Force now has more stringent physical fitness requirements than the FBI. Never thought that possible. When I was in, the passing time for the 1.5 mile run was 14:30.
Claudetteia Love is an honor student at a magnet program and about to graduate from the high school and go on to Jackson State on a full academic scholarship. Her school is happy to trot her out to celebrate her achievements, but won't let her wear a tux to the prom. That is just awful of her principal. She's a great student, honest about her sexuality (she identifies as a lesbian) and she should be able to wear a tux if she wants to.
Anne Hathaway doing the Miley Cyrus song "Wrecking Ball" on Lip Sync Battle will be epic.
Is Disney trying to bury the X-Men franchise because the film rights belong to Fox? Could be.
I guess if Fox 11 News is going to use articles from Sky News and give them credit, they don't need to remove the conversion of dollars to pounds in the article.
I can't think of a better way to improve an episode of Monday Night RAW than having Triple-H and Stephanie McMahon away on vacation and unreachable. They should extend this vacation indefinitely.
After reading the disgusting anecdote about how Mindy Kaling's brother pretended to be black to get into medical school and then dropped out after two years, I wonder what happened to the applicant whose space he stole with his dishonesty. Jerk!
I'm not sure if John Daly is hocking his merchandise outside the Masters Championship because he's struggling financially or because he enjoys it. Probably a bit of both.
I find this one fascinating. FBI agents must pass a physical fitness test where men have to do more than 38 sit-ups in one minute, followed by a 300 meter sprint that must be completed in 52.4 seconds or faster, followed by at least 31 push-ups in one minute, followed by a 1.5 mile run that must be run in 12:24 or faster. Air Force basic trainees on the other hand must do 50 sit-ups, 45 push-ups and finish the 1.5 mile run in 11:57. They don't have to do a sprint. So the Air Force now has more stringent physical fitness requirements than the FBI. Never thought that possible. When I was in, the passing time for the 1.5 mile run was 14:30.
Claudetteia Love is an honor student at a magnet program and about to graduate from the high school and go on to Jackson State on a full academic scholarship. Her school is happy to trot her out to celebrate her achievements, but won't let her wear a tux to the prom. That is just awful of her principal. She's a great student, honest about her sexuality (she identifies as a lesbian) and she should be able to wear a tux if she wants to.
Anne Hathaway doing the Miley Cyrus song "Wrecking Ball" on Lip Sync Battle will be epic.
Is Disney trying to bury the X-Men franchise because the film rights belong to Fox? Could be.
I guess if Fox 11 News is going to use articles from Sky News and give them credit, they don't need to remove the conversion of dollars to pounds in the article.
I can't think of a better way to improve an episode of Monday Night RAW than having Triple-H and Stephanie McMahon away on vacation and unreachable. They should extend this vacation indefinitely.
After reading the disgusting anecdote about how Mindy Kaling's brother pretended to be black to get into medical school and then dropped out after two years, I wonder what happened to the applicant whose space he stole with his dishonesty. Jerk!
posted by me at 9:19 PM
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