Reuters — In an analysis of 46 studies on telecommuting, researchers found that working away from the office by using computers, cell phones or other electronic equipment can have more pluses than negatives for people and the companies that employ them.

“Our results show that telecommuting has an overall beneficial effect because the arrangement provides employees with more control over how they do their work,” said Dr Ravi Gajendran of Pennsylvania State University.

“Telecommuting seems to have some mildly positive effects on employee morale, on work-family balance and on stress,” he added in an interview.

Gajendran and David Harrison, who reported their findings in the journal of Applied Psychology, studied data on 12,833 telecommuters who spend time working away from the office.

Go to original in PC Magazine

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that Colbert is preferred by 13% of voters as an independent candidate challenging Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Rudy Giuliani. The survey was conducted shortly after Colbert’s surprise announcement that he is lusting for the Oval Office.

BAGHDAD (AFP) – The Iraqi government announced on Wednesday that it has decided to formally revoke the immunity from prosecution granted to private security companies operating in the war-ravaged country.

Go to original by Ammar Karim, Yahoo! News

AMY GOODMAN: As we continue on this issue of global warming, what does global warming have to do with the fires raging in Southern California? Read more »

NASA satellites have obtained new images of the California wildfires, illustrating the immense scale of the blazes. Read more »

“I personally think Bill Clinton destroyed the Democratic Party.”
Excerpts from a Radar Magazine interview with the man behind Daily Kos by Jebediah Reed

Read more »

Right wing bloggers and talk radio commentators engaged in a vicious smear campaign against 12-year-old Graeme Frost and his parents after the partially disabled boy made a radio address imploring President Bush to reverse his veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The tactic backfired as revulsion spread even among Republicans. The liberal Center for American Progress Newsletter covered the controversy in great detail today, with links to many sources that document how the firestorm unfolded.

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The first federal inquiry into boot camps and wilderness programs for troubled teens cataloged 1,619 incidents of abuse in 33 states in 2005, a congressional investigation released Oct. 10 reveals. The study, by the Government Accountability Office, also looked at a sample of 10 deaths since 1990 and found untrained staff, inadequate food or reckless operations were factors. In half of those cases, the teens died of dehydration or heat exhaustion.

Investigators counted “thousands” of abuse allegations against the facilities using lawsuits and Web sites, but there is no central clearinghouse. States submit incidents to the federal database on a voluntary basis. Five of the 10 programs where teenagers died under questionable circumstances are still operating — sometimes under a new name or in a different location.

There are no federal rules governing residential facilities for children, and some states do not license such programs. The findings are scheduled to be presented at a hearing of the House Committee on Education and Labor, whose chairman, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., requested the investigation.

Go to original  by  Ken Dilanian, USA Today

Go to original.

We probably have all heard of the Daily Kos “fellows” program, where six people were given “prizes” (their attorney’s word; it allowed avoidance of progressive concepts like employer responsibilities, shielded liability, etc.). But in each case, the individual had something else to do other than blog: two were writing books ostensibly to be published by Moulitsas’s publishing arm, one was writing software for Daily Kos, another organizing the Yearly Kos convention. So we still hadn’t gotten to pure blog-for-pay, although the air was thick with envy.

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This project is an attempt to create a unique moment for a blind person who might happen across one of these bits of braille graffiti. Read more »

Consider this: In a survey earlier this year, 64 percent of Americans say they spend more time with their computer than with their significant other. Meanwhile, 84 percent said they were more dependent on their computer than they were three years ago.
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Just what you need to get busted
as a terrorist
in the name
of Christ, I guess.

Go to original (in Korean).