Blog Layout

Posted by Ming the Merciless as Blogging

All I want to know is this:

Internet Explorer users, does the content (the column with the posts in it) display to the left, or does it wrap around weirdly under the sidebars?

If the display is weird, I would love forever any IE users that get screenshots of it.

God Julukkah!

Posted by Ming the Merciless as Blogging, Ming the Merciless

and Happy Holidays, Ms. K.

Here’s your Julukkah present.

It’s only the first version, so if there’s anything you would like a little different, let me know. Also, I’ll make you a non-holiday banner.

<3

Knackered

Posted by High Priestess Kang as Blogging

My beady eyes and feeble mind have taken as much as they can with regard to this redesign.  For some odd reason, the header (title) is showing up in a screwy font on Dock’s laptop and desktop.  Instead of it being the screwy sort of font I had desired, it’s rather block-ish and HUGE in Dock’s views.

For the regular readers, if you detect anything ugly, funky, fugly, what-have-you, please leave me a note.  The layout looks just fine on Pernilla but Pernilla has a wide-screen monitor.

Time to get ready for bed.  I have a big day of being a domestic goddess ahead of me tomorrow.  Kangers is going to cook her bread-winnin’ man some dinner and do some housework.

Visit the Phorum for more Blogging (according to Kang)

A bored Kang…

Posted by High Priestess Kang as Blogging

…is a dangerous Kang.

No.  You’re not seeing things.  I have been screwing around with the theme of KangWorld most of the afternoon.  Please continue to be patient while I dick with fonts, colors, pagination, etc…

Visit the Phorum for more Blogging (according to Kang)

The Nestle (Strawberry) Quick Bunny…

Posted by High Priestess Kang as Blogging

…has obviously vomited all over the website. Either that or Ming the Merciless, in a PMS rage, hijacked a mass transit bus and squashed the poor creature, painting KangWorld the most vile shade of pink ever seen by man. This would include Pepto Pink and Calamine Pink.

Egads!!!

There will be changes. I promise you.

No offense to the spirit of the month. I’m doing my part by reducing alcohol intake to next to none…evar.

Once I finish with this G-d awful training which has taken up every spare moment of my time, I’ll be back. To Paint It, Black.

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes
I see a line of cars and theyre all painted black
With flowers and my love both never to come back
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away
Like a new born baby it just happens evry day
I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door and it has been painted black
Maybe then Ill fade away and not have to face the facts
Its not easy facin up when your whole world is black

No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee this thing happening to you
If I look hard enough into the settin sun
My love will laugh with me before the mornin comes

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes
Hmm, hmm, hmm,…
I wanna see it painted, painted black
Black as night, black as coal
I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky
I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black
Yeah!

The Daily Douchebag

Posted by High Priestess Kang as Blogging, Uncategorized

I have introduced a new feature to KangWorld. It is called, “The Daily Douchebag.”

Basically, this feature is along the lines of, “Worst Person in the World” as featured on Countdown with Keith Olbermann. I am going to detail ass-banditry and douchebaggery that I witness on a daily basis.

My goal is to identify one douchebag a day. Given the vast talent pool that is politics, entertainment and the internets, I cannot imagine that I will ever be at a loss for qualified candidates. However, in the event that I overlook a day (or cannot be arsed with actually posting), the default daily douchebag will be the political experiment gone entirely wrong; The Bush Administration.

Sometimes, I will provide some detail. Other times, simply a name. Some things simply speak volumes for themselves. And…as always…feedback and suggestions are more than welcome.

I hope you find this a useful tool and resource. Failing that, I should hope that it is chuckle inducing.

My apologies…

Posted by High Priestess Kang as Blogging

I took a small absence from the world of cyberspace.  I suppose I needed a few days off to regenerate and watch crappy daytime television.

I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.  Thank you for your patience.

Cranky and irritable…

Posted by High Priestess Kang as Blogging, T3h Intarweb

I’m cranky. 

Inga’s battery died.  Losers abound.  Lots of shop keeping to do in KangWorld and the house will not clean itself.  Grrrrrr.  Therefore, I take my angst aggression out on the numpties whilst wielding the banhammer of doom.

Ouches! I was (restaurant) tagged by Mark Base!

Posted by High Priestess Kang as Blogging, T3h Intarweb

Zoiks!!!  The tag meme in the human form of Mark Base has nipped me on my tentacles.

According to Mr Base, I am to add a direct link to the person the person who tagged me, along with city, state and country of residence.  Mark has tagged:

• Emile from “Chroniques d’un blog announce.”  Possibly written in French as she lives in Montreal.
• Jay from “Kill the Goat.”  A resident of Toronto, Canada.
• Clarissa from, “I Love the Smoke” of London, England
• The High Priestess, herself, proud citizen of Raleigh, NC (USA)
• Sinister Dan from, “The Reasonable Ego” representing New Brunswick in clean, friendly, Canada.

Now, I am to list your five favorite places to eat at your location.

Then…tag five other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they have been tagged.

My five favorite places.  Hmmmmmm…  *scratches head*  Given that my family can whip up cuisine which is far better than what is offered in restaurants, I have a tendency to opt for simplicity when dining out.

1. Dos Taquitos - Mexican restaurant featuring food beyond the typical Tex-Mex, taco fare.  The atmosphere is very unique, the food is tres yummy and they offer the best margaritas I have had this side of the Copa Banana on South Street in Philadelphia.
2. Sawmill Tap Room - Great for bar food, big burgers and a wide selection of beer.  Home of the fried pickle chip.  Mmmmmm.
3. LaRussa’s Trattoria - Simple Italian fare in a simple surrounding.  Harkens back memories of the smaller, family owned Italian restaurants in Philadelphia.  They understand how to use spice.  A rarity in the bland South.  Oooh…and get the cannoli!!!  You only need the small one but order the large.  It’s well worth the indulgence.
4. Asian Cafe - Go ahead, laugh.  But Dock and I have been waiting eight long years to find a decent Chinese restaurant which can manage to make lo mein, wonton soup and eggrolls which don’t phucking suck.  Good food and close to the house.  We get carry out at least twice a week.
5. The Rockford - It used to be the only place on Glenwood Avenue.  Once a place for the scenesters and non-Yuppie crowd to escape.  Good food, fantastic ambiance (if I could buy the structure and convert it into a flat, I would) and great bar scene once the Yuppies (who think they’re cool because they go there and, “slum”) leave to go back to their overpriced real estate Inside-the-Beltline.

Honorable mention:  Five Guys Burgers.  Not necessarily a restaurant more of a greasy burger experience.

Rest in Peace:  Elod’s European Bistro.  Homemade goulash and noodles.  It closed.  A little part of me died.

The restaurant scene in Raleigh isn’t that bad.  At the risk of sounding like a G-ddamned Yankee, it’s not the North though.  I long for the days when any craving I could be satisfied by visiting a local joint for ethnic foods.  And…we have no diners.  At least none worth merit.  Tsk tsk tsk.

Now, I shall tag:

• Miss Kitten, Uddevalla Sverige
• Madame Firesnake, Umeå Sverige
• Emory, Johnston County, NC
• Mr Shark, Decatur, IL
• A Bowl of Stupid, Miami, Florida and/or any body of water with good surf
• HenrythePenguin, Washington, DC
• Ms Torque, Southern California

(Torque and Henry, simply publish your top five under comments)

Corporate Voyeurism II: Getting to know you.

Posted by Ming the Merciless as Blogging, Guest Author, Ming the Merciless, Op/Ed, T3h Intarweb

The advantage that Ms. K and I both have over the MySpace generation is that we understand that what we put out on the internet is public. Very much so. I think that, despite our activity here, we are both pretty private people. We enjoy the pseudo anonymity and trust that, much like if we were having lunch in a restaurant or shopping in the mall, other people may wander by but most of them will keep on going, wrapped up in their own lives. Of course those interested enough to participate have an open invitation to join, but most of them won’t.

On to blogging and corporations… as Ms. K took the position that corporations should be barred from digital snooping on their employee’s personal lives, so I took the position that they are entitled to information about their employees that those employees choose to make available to the entire world via the internet.

First, a company has a legitimate need to perform Google searches related to itself and it’s employees. There are a number of web sites devoted to consumer protection where customers can post reviews and complaints, and with the proliferation of blogs people do share experiences they have had with companies and their employees. If I saw Tina from the Milwaukee Denny’s pick her nose and then serve food without washing her hands, and I blog it, that is pertinent to her employer. (I’ve never been to Milwaukee. You are safe, Tina!) If my cable guy shows up drunk and I blog about it, that information is important to his employer and directly related to his job.

A company also has a legitimate right to information you may make publicly available as it pertains to your job, your work ethic, what you do at work. If someone blogs about stealing from their employer, having sex with a temp in the copy room, how they pretend to be filing but instead take a nap in the 3rd floor conference room every afternoon, I also think that it’s within the employer’s rights to make use of that information. (Stupid, right? But people do…)

An aside: Ms. K mentioned blogging from work, though not necessarily about. I personally don’t think it’s a good idea since an employer may seize on that use of resources as their excuse to dismiss an employee rather than admitting it wasn’t the act of blogging but what was written. Also, it’s a good idea to know the information systems policy. I’ve worked for companies that absolutely forbid any personal use (yeah, right) of their resources and companies who specifically allowed for personal use as long as it didn’t impact job performance or consume excessive amounts of resources.

As Ms. K has pointed out (was it in her post or our conversation?), previously your boss would have to move in the same circles as you to be privy to information about your personal life. That’s over. Companies understand, even if most people don’t, that your clients and coworkers are also privy to that information. If one of the Google hits when someone searches your name is a picture of you doing blow off a dead hooker in Mexico City during a college road trip fifteen years ago, odds are that one of your coworkers (or customers!) will see it. Should your employer be able to fire you for that? I don’t have an easy answer. It’s something that occurred off the clock before you were even hired, but at the same time you could be responsible for undermining millions of dollars spent on marketing in one fell swoop, branding XYZ Corporation “the place where their stock analysts do blow off dead Mexican hookers.”

And what about personal information like that in the article cited? What about normal, every day domestic problems made public not by the potential employee, but by family or friends? What should employers do when faced with “I think my husband is an alcoholic,” “I don’t want to move,” “I think she’s having an affair,” or any of the multitude of personal issues that may be raised?

Those things do have an effect on someone’s job performance.

However, I’m nothing if not fair. The burden should not remain entirely on the employee, to be handed a rejection letter or pink slip with no recourse for something that may or may not have any impact on their professional life.

When an employer chooses to make use of the internet to research current or potential employees, those employees and candidates should be made aware. In my opinion, it falls under the heading of performing periodic background checks on employees. The difference is that with so many of us putting so much of our lives online, the insight into who we are is much greater than an employer was ever privy to before, when receiving vetted personal references and having access primarily to legal records and credit histories. Most employers didn’t have the recourse to find out whether we have substance abuse problems, medical problems, personal problems, what our personal beliefs and ideologies are. Now they do, if we choose to put that information out there.

The employer also needs to accept some responsibility for what they find. If they find blogs detailing sexual harassment in the workplace, personal problems due to long hours spent working, financial problems due to low wages, the need for better benefits, they need to step up and do what they can to correct those work related issues. Again, previously, the employer would only be aware of those problems if the employee raised the concerns or they moved in the same circles. Now, if they are doing internet searches on employees, they don’t have that excuse.

That is partly why I do find the article that Ms. K has quoted so interesting. It’s concrete proof that the employer did take into account information about the domestic situation of the employee found via the internet. What is missing is what, exactly, concerned Noss. Certainly, Mr. Pihlström is not the only person in their employ to have a partner less than thrilled at the prospect of relocation. Do they ask in the interview how domestic partners feel about the potential relocation and he lied? Why does the potential employee’s home situation matter to them?

From a business perspective, an employee with an unhappy home life often brings that with them to work. Performance issues based on that information are a valid concern, as are worries that if they go to the expense of relocating and training Mr. Pihlström, he may abandon the position under pressure from his girlfriend.

People are not just the nine to five cogs in the corporate machine that companies wish they were and if those companies choose to make decisions based on the very human aspects of their employee’s lives that occur outside of working hours, they forfeit the right to ask those same employees to check their personal lives, beliefs, and opinions at the door.

Employers need to open a dialog about what they find, not least of all because there is no guarantee that the blog they are reading definitively to the John Doe in their employ. An employer that is going to make decisions based on a person’s life outside of working hours first needs to make sure that they are reading about the right person. And the person in question deserves the opportunity to explain themselves and to be made aware of any concerns the employer might have.

Ultimately, the burden falls on the person who makes that information available. Blogging is something you do on your own, from the privacy of your own home, but the information you put out there is available to anyone, anywhere, anytime. It’s not private. When you discuss your domestic situation, your politics, your sexual preferences, you are not talking only among friends. The real world analogy is not sitting around your kitchen table having coffee with the girls (or a beer with the guys). It’s not even really like the crowded restaurant or the mall, because there you don’t wear a name tag. When you blog there are privacy controls, you have the ability to restrict who can read what you write. If you leave it open to everyone, the expectation should be that anyone may read it.