“The study published in the Journal of Labor Research Thursday concluded that drinkers earn 10 to 14 percent more than teetotalers, and that men who drink socially bring home an additional seven percent in pay.

“Social drinking builds social capital,” said Edward Stringham, an economics professor at San Jose State University and co-author of the study with fellow researcher Bethany Peters.”  (full article here)

What can I say … I surrender:-)   Want to do even better?  Forget beer, drink red wine, for the health benefits. Oh, and to support the local economy – at least us, Californians

Tags: social+drinking, drinking+study, compensation, compensation+study, networking, beer, wine

About two months ago the Government of Hungary announced a public online poll to determine the name of a new bridge to be built over the river Danube in Budapest. They probably expected a famous Hungarian statesmen, hero, poet or musician’s name to emerge at the top of the list.

The only problem was, they left the vote wide open, and in the early rounds Chuck Norris took the lead. That is, until Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert sensed a historic opportunity: he called his loyal viewers to vote on him.

They certainly did, and when the poll was closed, Steven Colbert beat out Chuck Norris, John Stewart and all famous Hungarians, accumulating over 17 million votes.  That’s only a mere 7 million votes than the entire population of Hungary.

To announce the results, Hungary’s Ambassador to the US, Andras Simonyi came to the show.

He handed Colbert an official document pronouncing him the winner of the contest.  He also spelled out two minor conditions:

• Colbert has to become fluent in Hungarian
• Colbert has to be dead

The first one may not be such a deal, after Colbert correctly pronounced the word “bridge: in Hungarian, the Ambassador declared him fluent enough.  The second condition is a bit tougher: unlike the US, Hungarians name their public places after deceased famous people. That said, Hungarians are entrepreneurial enough to find some solution.  The Ambassador provided Colbert with a Hungarian passport and some Hungarian currency, inviting him to the construction site:  “Once you’re there, we’ll find a way to deal with this minor issue… “

Will Colbert take the chance?

Tags: Hungary, Budapest, Danube, Colbert+Bridge, Humor, Stephen+Colbert, Chuck+Norris, John+Stewart

Finally we have evidence there really are aliens in Roswell, GA. NM. (thanks for the correction, Vinnie!) Not little green ones … well, perhaps little, but definitely not green.  They must have successfully assimilated, for ICE, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement mistakenly thinks  they are human citizens of Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala.

They were caught in the act of painting U.S. military aircraft, including a Lockheed C-130.  Not as part of same alien / terrorist conspiracy, but on the payroll of a US military contractor.

The aliens will be processed, which includes thorough background checks, then beamed back to their land of origin.

(source: ICE news release)

Tags: ICE, immigration, aliens, illegal+aliens, immigration, law+enforcement, illegal+labor, military+contractor, roswell,

HR Pro’s are getting a heart attack about now… you can’t! At least not in the US.

Well, CBS may have found a way to hint at it, without actually saying so: they took a photo of Katie Couric and published a version showing some Photoshop wizardry: she lost a good 20 pounds.

“Couric, who was made aware of the picture’s alteration yesterday, joked that she liked the original better.

“There’s more of me to love,” she quipped. ”

(full story at the New York Post)

Tags: HR, HR+Policy, weight+loss, CBS, Katie+Couric, Couric