PSoTD

Maybe we really shouldn't consider it "global unionism" until countries like China and India are under the umbrella. This is more like "Trans-Atlantic" unionism.

I work at home. Sometimes I find these kinds of articles about working at home interesting. Mostly, it's about setting boundaries between home life and work life. There's a lot of simple, obvious truths in this article, although there's also a lot of things where your mileage may vary, such as:

Dress for work. There's no time to be a slob. Take a shower and look like you're going somewhere.

"I rarely wear blue jeans to work in my house," said Kidder, 51, founder of the nonprofit Band of Angels, which advocates for people with Down syndrome. "There's something about being in jeans and a T-shirt that makes it too easy to throw in a load of laundry."

That's about a person's own mental focus, not about keeping boundaries between home and work. Frankly, people should wear what makes them most comfortable and successful at doing their job. Whether people wear shorts and a tank top or a three-piece suit is up to them, but the idea that someone who isn't going to meet anyone for work all day should dress up as if they are seems to me to be a bit silly.

The part about interaction, at least for me, really hits home. I try to talk to a couple of clients about work each day on the phone - it's good for business and good for them, but it's also good for me. I also have a couple of work-related stops, and a coffee shop stop, as part of my routine every day. Sitting in a room working on a computer all day without human interaction isn't good for me in the non-work hours.

Possibly coming to a pump near you this summer.

Go get those Japanese:

After years of staying slim on a humble diet of fish, vegetables and rice, Japanese are developing a sweet tooth. That‘s proving a business opportunity for Krispy Kreme and other fast-food chains from the U.S., home of the Big Gulp and supersized fries.

"The texture was fluffy and sticky, unlike any other doughnut," said Yoji Yahagi, 22, who stood in line with his girlfriend to eat two chocolate doughnuts each.

"People aren‘t satiated. That‘s why they are going for doughnuts and ice cream. It‘s a search for satiation," said Hojo, who wrote "Super Calorie Recipes."

Earlier this year, McDonald‘s Corp. got such rave reviews for the Mega Mac, selling at a brisk 1.7 million in four days, it‘s bringing back the four-patty burger in April and May.

And with enthusiasm running high for American food, Burger King Corp. plans to return this summer. It withdrew from Japan in 2001 after a price war with McDonald‘s.

The trend is so widespread Japanese coined the phrase "in-your-face-food" to describe it, underlining an apparent desire to escape the stresses of a health-conscious regimen and let go for a change.

There is an irony here:

The shift is ironic coming at a time when Americans are turning to Japanese food like sushi and tofu in an effort to stay trim. Japanese are far skinnier on average than the American population, according to World Health Organization statistics.

One of the things I think a blogger should do is to give some impressions, from time to time, of their marketplace experiences, like I did below. There's nothing wrong with a blogger promoting or dissing a business based on their experiences with that business as long as they are honest about that experience, and if they are not rewarded or punished based on their blogging about that business.

I don't see many political bloggers doing this, which seems to be a missed opportunity. The politics of government and the politics of the business marketplace transect in so many places, and political bloggers often take their personal experience to make a point about government - so why not about the marketplace?

We have two big sports chain retail stores on the West Shore that we go to for equipment - Dick's Sporting Goods, and Dunham's Sports.

Well, it used to be two. But quite frankly, the Dunham's on the West Shore sucks. Sucks like it's ready to go out of business kind of suck. I've witnessed chain retail stores behave this way before - lack of product, lack of competitive prices, lack of motivated staffing - and they usually go out of business pretty shortly once they get to this point.

I have gone twice to Dunham's for the kids in the past week - once for baseball equipment, the other time for softball cleats. It is closer to my house, and I figure, maybe they'll have what I'm looking for. But in neither case did they have adequate selection, let alone prices. Both times I ended up going to Dick's Sporting Goods, and both times I bought from them. It's to the point that now I probably won't even bother going to Dunham's, I'm that discouraged by their offerings.

And so, for me, they are already out of business.