Please stop sucking me dry!

565K new jobless claims, lowest level since Jan.

"Continuing claims, meanwhile, unexpectedly jumped to a record-high. While layoffs are slowing, unemployed workers are having a difficult time finding new jobs."


Ok, I understand there are people out of work. I also understand it can take a while to find a job. In fact I have several friends that have been looking for months, and by looking I mean flying all over the country for interviews.

However, just yesterday I heard another example on the radio of people that are actually enjoying the extended unemployment benefits and don't really care when they find a job.

Are we simply making the problem worse by offering so many advantages and programs for everyone to enjoy?

If you haven't used very many government programs do you start to feel "cheated"?

To me it feels like there is a lower and lower sense of urgency as the economic situation gets worse and worse. It's almost a feeling of entitlement.

"Ohh, not to worry I don't need a job right away, the government will help me out"

This topic can snowball into the much larger social security topic but I will save that for another day.

Is Blogging Dead?

So, judging from my personal blogging habits and online observations Facebook and Twitter definitely seem to be taking the place of daily blogging.

I ran across a great article and I thought I would post it as somewhat of a transition to TwitBook

Blogging Is Over With

Analysis: Online trend chronicler says blogging "feels old" -- says he's moving from a blog to a "lifestream."

It's hard to remember that blogging was once deemed faster, less formal and often shorter than typical online prose.

These days, the online experience is often about Facebook updates and 140-character Tweets. More stream of consciousness, fewer essays with links.