I will be away for a bit, however "In The Wind" has graciously offered to fill in with the daily updates. You are as always invited to add in and enjoy!

We could all use a bit more humor theses days.

During the late 1800s, when steel was produced using the Bessemer process, there was a 20-minute “blow” process that was critical to successful production. It was not unheard-of for union members to go to the supervisor at the start of the blow and demand some important grievance be resolved.

According to old-timers, it was amazing what the company could accomplish in those 20 minutes. These workers had found their employer’s vulnerability—and they used it to make the workplace safer and more humane.

We need to find the vulnerabilities of our employers. For some companies it might be their logo or their image, which they have spent millions of dollars cultivating. For others it might be a bottleneck in the process, or a weakness in their just-in-time inventory.

Whatever it is, we need to find it and exploit it to our members’ advantage.

- See more at: http://www.labornotes.org/2014/10/find-boss-weak-spot-or-make-one#sthash.vMHZaSDt.dpuf

South St. Louis County – “We’re in an interesting election cycle,” Jake Hummel, Missouri House Minority Leader and secretary-treasurer of the Missouri AFL-CIO told a recent gathering of the South County Labor Club.

“Remember 2010? Ike Skelton (Democratic U.S. Representative for Missouri’s 4th congressional district from 1977 to 2011 and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee) won with 212,000 votes in 2008; his opponent got 111,000. In 2010, when the Democrats didn’t show up, he lost. We lost because 100,000 Democrats didn’t show up for the election.”

Facing another off-year election on Nov. 4, with a president who has low approval ratings, and Republicans and extremists in their party holding a majority in the U.S. House and both houses of the Missouri legislature, Hummel said labor can’t afford to let that happen again.


http://labortribune.com/to-win-in-november-union-members-and-their-families-need-to-show-up-at-the-polls/

Peeling potatoes can be a boring process. There are all sorts of utensils that were created to help us peel fruits and vegetables faster and easier, but it can still be a very dull activity. Plus, when using a peeler or a knife there is also the risk of cutting yourself. Young potatoes are a whole another story, as the skin of the potato is rich in vitamins and tastes great when fried a bit. So, when it comes to young potatoes, rubbing only a part of the skin off can be quite annoying. Here a great trick you can apply when it comes to peeling young potatoes. You will need a bucket, an unused toilet brush attached to an electric drill and water.

http://www.goodshomedesign.com/how-to-peel-an-entire-bag-of-potatoes-in-a-few-seconds/

Video at Link.....

World Food Day,

Oatmeal Day,

Boss's Day,

Conflict Resolution Day,

Department Store Day,

Dictionary Day,

International Credit Union Day,

& Spirit Day.

Thomas Merton — Trappist monk, gifted writer, social critic, and spiritual virtuoso — has inspired many people. I'm one of them.

Merton wrote these incisive words more than fifty years ago, but they are no less true today than when he wrote them.

"There is a pervasive form of modern violence to which the idealist...most easily succumbs: activism and over-work. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence.

To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence.

http://www.onbeing.org/blog/the-modern-violence-of-over-work/6943

Mushroom Day,

Global Handwashing Day,

Information Overload Day,

International Day of Rural Women,

I Love Lucy Day,

National Cake Decorating Day,

National Fossil Day,

National Take Your Parents To Lunch Day,

National Grouch Day &

White Cane Safety Day.

National Chocolate Covered Insect Day,

Be Bald and Be Free Day,

National Face Your Fears Day,

Spider-Man Day &

World Standards Day.

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis needs African Americans with asthma to enroll in a study evaluating different treatments.

Previous research suggests that some medications may not work as well for blacks as for whites.

Dr. Leonard Bacharier is the lead pediatric researcher for the study at Washington University. He said even though there’s evidence that African Americans may respond differently to some medications, drug trials typically group people of all races together to come up with an average result.

“We say that if drug A is better than drug B, we should use drug A for everybody,” Bacharier said. “But in reality, drug A may be the best drug for Caucasians. Drug B may be the best drug for African Americans.”

http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/african-americans-needed-study-asthma-medications

National Yorkshire Pudding Day,

Columbus Day (Observed) or National Day of Mourning (Native Americans),

International African Penguin Awareness Day,

International Day for Failure,

Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day,

National Kick Butt Day,

Native American Day,

& National Chess Day.