May, 2018

So Long, Suits & Ties

The casually dressed workplace seems like the new normal.
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Does Money Really Bring You Happiness?

One study says yes… up to a point.

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Plenty of Hype, But Little Substance

Hyperloop travel is a dream that seems far from reality.
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Recipe of the Month
Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs
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So Long, Suits & Ties

The casually dressed workplace seems like the new normal.

Decades ago, few employees would have risked wearing jeans to work; they dressed up for their jobs and left their casual clothes at home. Then change came from California, specifically Silicon Valley, where tech employees spent more time at the office each week than they did away from it. Sneakers, denim, Steve Jobs’ black mock turtleneck, and even Mark Zuckerberg’s grey T-shirt came to symbolize a new kind of workwear. In some offices today, employees collectively set their own dress code rather than adopting any prescribed notions of what to wear.
 

Formally dressed professionals and employees are generally paid well, but on the whole, those who dress casually for work do not earn substantially less. A 2017 Payscale.com survey found the median pay at $57,800 for “business formal” workers in the U.S., but it was just slightly lower for “business casual” employees: $53,700. Casually dressed workers (their dress code described as “the Zuckerberg, or Anything Goes Within Reason”) had median pay of $50,300. It appears that the more money an employee makes, the more formal he or she may have to dress – but dressing up may no longer be a condition of earning a high salary.1

Does Money Really Bring You Happiness?

One study says yes… up to a point.

In theory, having more money takes care of more problems and inconveniences in life, and thereby, makes life easier. So, are higher earners happier than others? If recent research is to be believed, only to some extent.

Purdue University researchers decided to analyze data from a Gallup World Poll that asked more than 1.7 million people around the world to rate the quality of their lives on a scale of 0 (“worst possible” quality of life) to 10 (“best possible” quality of life). They looked at the results in terms of reported household incomes in different geographic regions. Their analysis, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, postulates that there is an ideal monetary “satiation point” at which people feel satisfied with their quality of life. In North America, that point seems to be about $105,000 (in U.S. dollars). Those who earn more, though, are not necessarily happier; in fact, the opposite may prove true. Above that monetary level, the degree of satisfaction with life tended to drop off. As the study’s lead author remarks, “there’s a certain point where money seems to bring no more benefits to well-being in terms of both feelings and your evaluation.”2

Plenty of Hype, But Little Substance

Hyperloop travel is a dream that seems far from reality.

In 2013, entrepreneur Elon Musk proposed networks of vacuum-sealed tubes for domestic and even country-to-country travel, with passengers strapped into pressurized pods that would travel as fast as a jet airliner. He has since tested prototypes for the design above ground in Nevada. Will we see this kind of travel in our lifetime?

There are certainly major obstacles in the path of any hyperloop transportation circuit being built. The first is acquiring a right of way, either above or below ground. Away from wide-open desert, how many communities would you have to disturb to establish one? Another big problem: would travelers even make it through the ride? The press release for an envisioned Chicago-to-Cleveland hyperloop project notes the need to limit “the force felt by passengers during the critical acceleration [and] braking phases.” That feels like an understatement: the g-forces associated with near-supersonic travel could make passengers severely ill or even prove fatal. While supporters tout hyperloops as environmentally friendly, they also appear highly impractical – and they may never come to be.3

Recipe of the Month

Smoked Salmon Devilled Eggs

12 large eggs

6 ounces smoked salmon (finely chopped)

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup red onion (finely diced)

1/4 cup green onions (finely chopped)

1 tsp. dill weed

1 Tsp. hot sauce

1 Tsp. Dijon mustard

Sea Salt & Black Pepper (to taste)

Hard-boil eggs and then slice lengthwise and carefully remove yolks. Place yolks in mixing bowl and arrange whites on a serving plate. Add mayonnaise, mustard, onions, hot sauce, and dill to the yolks and mix well. Add sea salt and black pepper (to taste). Finally, add in salmon and thoroughly combine ingredients. Carefully fill each egg half with mixture. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Serving suggestion: Add thinly sliced cucumber halves and rolled thin salmon to tops, sprinkle chopped green onion across plate.