Peckerwood Manor

  Photo courtesy of: People Management Bossware is the term to describe productivity tracking software used by 60% of companies in the USA. Some folks refer to it as "spyware" or "productivity monitoring" programs.  The type of monitoring software used varies by companies and industries. Bossware includes GPS monitoring of your device (PC, laptop, phone, wearables, and other devices) regardless if it's company issued OR if you are using your own personal equipment for company business. It also includes email tracker monitor on displays, webcams, screenshots, microphones, mouse, stylus, and keyboards (to determine how often you're typing and using a mouse, in addition to monitoring of sites you visit. Some bossware can also monitor eye tracking and facial activity. Employers use bossware to ensure employees are not goofing around on the job and to prevent the disclosure of company info, trade secrets, etc. by workers in the office (or those who work from home...

Photo: Primal Movement Academy What do you call lifting, carrying, crawling, pushing, pulling, throwing, running, squatting, and jumping? If you're over the age of 40 - it's called exercise.  If you're a pretentious IG or Tik Tok twit, you label it as primal fitness.  Wait a second: is this what moronic influencers do all day? Sit around thinking of vacuous new names for existing things? Is this their sole focus of their existence? Ugh. Back to the story. The new trend among the pretentious and gullible is an exercise routine these posers define as, "foundational movement patterns to increase efficiency in everyday life." Huh? From what I was able gather, the patterns include pushing, pulling, rotation, and a bunch of other nonsense. Um, isn't this what in the old days was referred to as cross-functional or strength training?  I guess the IG and Tik Tok crowd need to put their own spin on it to make it sound fashionable. In a Muscle & Fitness article, Dan...

  Photo: Teen Vogue When you think of business attire, the last thing you'd expect to see in the hallways at some corporate office is an emo wannabe wearing head-to-toe goth. Today's corporate Gen Z are taking a page out of the Robert Smith & Siouxsie Sioux catalog by sporting the goth look for the office. Nothing says "Please take me seriously" than looking like you crawled out of a coffin carrying a can of Clamato juice and your smartphone. I must be getting old because the goth look during my youth was what you wore to a rave party, a Cure concert, or to a midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It sure as hell wasn't what you wore to have a sit-down with clients or the CEO. Corporate goth is the latest trend among the Tik Tok generation. Young professionals are donning their best white pancake makeup, black eye liner, fishnet stockings, pleather, and greasy hair to make whatever-the-fuck statement they think they're making with their atti...

  Photo: Metaweb / Ranker Fall /Autumn is my favorite time of the year. The leaves are turning, the air is cooler, and it signals the start of the holiday food season. There's one thing I do not like about fall: the exploitation of pumpkin spice. In the old days, pumpkin spice was limited to...well, pumpkin pies. Pumpkin spice is a mix of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. It contains no pumpkin. It's a spice blend that was created eons of time ago mainly used in pumpkin pies.  Over the past 20 years the innocence pumpkin spice has been trashed and thrown on just about every product you can imagine. I blame Satanbucks Starbucks for it. When they introduced pumpkin spice latte back in 2003, it was a huge success and one of their most popular drinks - despite it being a seasonal offering. Other companies noticed and thus, the whoring of pumpkin spice began. I don't hate pumpkin spice (as it was originally intended). I like the smell of it and pumpkin pie is one of my favor...

  Wow, has it been 25 years since Netflix launched their DVD by mail service? To me, it seems longer.  After putting Blockbuster, Family Video, and your local mom & pop DVD stores out of business, Netflix is taking an axe to what made the company successful in their early days: the DVD by mail business. Netflix got its start in 1997 as a DVD mail rental business. The concept was revolutionary because it meant you no longer had to drive to a video store and spend time walking up and down aisles looking for something to rent and then getting pissed off it wasn't available. The concept of renting DVDs by mail took a while for consumers to warm up to. Netflix had a tough go at it in the beginning - so much so they offered to sell themselves to Blockbuster. But Blockbuster execs said, "Nah- we don't need you loser - we're king of the rental business". This decision would later be regretted by Blockbuster and go down in the annals of business as one of the biggest m...

  Polo is so passe. Yacht racing is overdone. Are we seeing the dawn of a new adrenaline rush of what I'm going to refer to as Step Into My Shoes? The reason I say this is that Lana Del Rey and now David Letterman have been spotted stepping into the shoes of everyday common jobs (for whatever reasons) to experience the thrill of it.  A few days ago there were reports of Lana Del Rey working at a Waffle House in Alabama. For some unknown reason she donned an apron and stepped into the shoes of a waitress and served unsuspecting customers. A few of them ended up recognizing her but there were no camera crews in tow. No paps. Her camp offered no explanation why she did this. Was it self-imposed penance for being late to Glastonbury due to hair issues? Was it to experience the thrill of blue collar work? Who knows. Then, there's David Letterman who visited a grocery store in Iowa and started bagging groceries. Now David did offer an explanation. He's co-owner of an Indy car tha...