From Reuters today:

While the French get 30 days of paid leave and most other Europeans receive at least 20, the country with the world’s biggest economy does not guarantee workers a single day, researchers said on Wednesday.

This is one of my favorite topics, due to pride in my country’s work ethic, and because it is a real life illustration of laissez-faire economics vs. quasi-socialist systems. Invariably these articles compare the US to European countries who force their employers to provide paid time off. It’s generally not mentioned that these countrys’ economic growth and employment rates suck.

According to economist John Schmitt (a part of the think tank who conducted this research?), “It’s a national embarrassment that 28 million Americans don’t get any paid vacation or paid holidays.”

Hey John, ever wonder why the US has the biggest economy in the world? Since when is getting paid to sit on your ass a right?

This guy obviously hasn’t upgraded to a Mac yet. The overhaul of Man@Machine continues with an updated verson of Pissed.

*Mediaworkshop.com does not condone, support, advocate or endorse violence against machines.

Spitting in the face of music industry convention, Nine Inch Nails makes its upcoming album, “Year Zero”, available in its entirety on their website. It’s a Flash application with streaming audio, not mp3′s, but still good quality and I had no connection issues.

NIN has generated a lot of excitement with an unusal viral marketing campaign, revolving around “leaked” tracks from the new album and enriched by an intricate backstory. Very cool stuff. For a great discussion of this album’s release in the context of the industry at large, check out Miker’s rant on datasplash.

I was rummaging through some files and came across this Quick and Dirty Tile Tutorial I made a while back that some may find useful. It demonstrates a very basic method for turning any texture pattern into one that tiles properly. Once the edges are set, you can get creative with the internal portion to avoid that repetitive “tiled look”. I find the technique works well when you want a quick pattern for a small chunk of space like a header strip or sidebar.

Every now and then we experience a confluence of events that gives us faith in divine synchronisity. As my great friend and brother Voidious begins his new job in a new town, after several years here getting an education (in Smash Bros., among other things ;)), I find myself gripped by this phenomenon.

Oribiting this life-altering event are other significant happenings:

• The blogs of Mikedoad and Voidious are resurrected with new designs and a flurry of updates.
• Rush and Nine Inch Nails, the two bands most influential to me, are releasing new albums in April.
• My friend Gary has moved back into town, as if switching places with Voidious.
• 2007 is the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, which has become an important part of my life over the past couple years (beginning with an unforgettable opening night viewing of Revenge of the Sith with Voidious in ’05).
• A new Super Smash Bros. game is scheduled to be released in the Fall.
• Futurama returns this year!

The sentiment may be a few months late, but in light of this whirlwind of change I think it’s finally appropriate to say: Happy New Year!

Respond, vibrate, feed back, resonate…

-Matt