Euw.

I hope he signs up to go. Then again, Mars prolly doesn't want him either.

Oh, _that_ could never lead to any malpractice lawsuits about incorrect dosage. No, thanks. We'd either have sedation administered by (shudder) flight crew, or we'd pay ER-visit rates for airline tix--plus the "normal" cost of the flight. Cordwood, indeed.

Some employers want you out as soon as you indicate you're leaving, so you might think you're leaving in two weeks, but you're actually leaving right now, as soon as they take your badge and escort you out.

I try to be nice to the people who call me. As soon as I can get a word in edge-wise (pretty quick; I'm not meek), I say, "You seem like a smart enough person; you could probably get a real job, one that wouldn't require you to harass people when they're trying to have dinner." Then I say goodbye and hang up, having done all I could to sow the seeds of employee-management discord down at the call center.

We have a budding activist for a son (he's 12). We all stand at our desks at our house, but our son, of course, has to sit all day long at school. We're encouraging him to start campaigning for standing desks at his public school, for all children. Yeah, yeah, I know; it'd be a change, and change is difficult, but it seems that the benefits to our society would far outweigh the fixed costs and the socio-educational-cultural adjustments that would have to be made. My own lay estimate is that we'd eliminate most of the childhood type-2 diabetes and improve the classroom educational environment.

Although real rail service in the U.S. is not great (but look for it to get better), it does exist. See amtrak.com.