Pulling my Hair out…

Darn it…what I am working on should be simple…how hard can a degree 4 polynomial be? But…

So I’ll take a break.

Now, is it possible for a woman to be so attractive that when she dresses in a “sort-of” sexy manner, she distracts the male employees? Yes, there is a lawsuit about this:

Claiming she’s tarnishing the financial industry’s reputation, ex-Citibanker Debrahlee Lorenzana’s current employer, JPMorgan Chase, now threatens to fire her for speaking to the press, the Voice learned today.

Debrahlee Lorenzana is the sexy former Citibanker whose story we broke on the cover of the Voice this week. She claims in a lawsuit that Citibank fired her for distracting men in her office with her naturally good looks. Now, Lorenzana says she’s received orders from her current employer, JPMorgan Chase, to stop speaking to the media about her Citi lawsuit. JPMorgan Chase has threatened to fire her if she continues to speak out.

Until now, Lorenzana had been mum about where she currently works — except to say that she’s employed at another bank — and has not said anything about how her current employer is responding to her going public with her lawsuit against Citi. (The Voice had honored her request not to name her current employer.)

But now, according to Lorenzana and to her lawyer Jack Tuckner, she is on the verge of losing her job at the Chase branch in Brooklyn where she currently works.

Yes, this is her:

But this is, IMHO, the “hottest” “office attire” photo:

(see all 26 photos here)

Ok, she is an attractive woman, but I see nothing wrong with the submitted “office” photos. But here is more from another article:

If you’re ever walking around Manhattan you’ll notice, albeit with less frequency these days, red boxes all around town that contain the Village Voice. The cover art is usually rather striking. Last week, the cover photo was particularly striking, in my opinion, because of the subject of this story:

This is the way Debbie Lorenzana tells it: Her bosses told her they couldn’t concentrate on their work because her appearance was too distracting. They ordered her to stop wearing turtlenecks. She was also forbidden to wear pencil skirts, three-inch heels, or fitted business suits. Lorenzana, a 33-year-old single mom, pointed out female colleagues whose clothing was far more revealing than hers: “They said their body shapes were different from mine, and I drew too much attention,” she says.

The article notes Ms. Lorenzana, 33, filed a lawsuit against Citibank for firing her because of her style of dress. She says managers at her branch repeatedly tried to get her to tone down her “provactive” appearance. Her lawyer says that they simply couldn’t control their libidos. Citibank cited performance issues and vows to defend itself with the usual lawyerly vigor. I’m sure the matter will be settled in the usual lawyerly way. In the meantime, she is enjoying her 15 minutes of fame.

What is interesting is “provocative” appearance in the workplace. Hard thing to pin down for a court of law, mindful of Justice Potter Stewart’s famous quote. But we can say there are some commonly held opinions on the matter and they mostly apply to women.

Emphasis mine. Note that it is subjective. For example, we have an English professor (female) who routinely wears very tight or very brief clothing to class; lately I’ve seen her in very thin, very tight white pants with bikini underpants in full view. BUT she is also approaching 70 years old and frankly, her students laugh at her. So, I doubt that she’d be in the same boat.

Also, my wife has a shape such that if, say, slacks fit her waist properly, they are going to be snug on her butt. So from time to time, she asks me if her attire is office appropriate. But then again, she is in her 60′s; so while she is attractive to me, she isn’t the same boat as Ms. Lorenzana.

By the way, Ms. Lorenzana has run into another problem:

Meanwhile, she’ll keep busy. She only has a Facebook inbox filled with three thousand friend requests to respond to.

7 June 2010 (am)

Workout notes: 4 mile walk (6 laps at the West Peoria track; first 5 were 27:22 (about 2.05 miles); then 1 extra. Someone asked me for walking tips. Unfortunately, I couldn’t say “do this”:

Ok, she has a slight “flight phase” that, even if I walked perfectly, wouldn’t have in a Centurion walk. But that is what a good walking stride looks like.

Afterward, I did some ab work, yoga stretches and rotator cuff stuff.
Last night, my shoulder ached and, at times, I heard my shoulder sound like an ice chest with some water in it as I walked.

Science There are some lessons about letting dogma interfere with science here. But even better is this video which Jerry Coyne points us to:

Politics Beware of conventional wisdom; Paul Krugman argues that now is NOT the time to worry about the debt and deficit.

Mano Singham: gives more discussion on the Israeli attack on the Gaza aid flotilla.

Celtics Lead Game 2 Early

It was 29-22 Celtics after one and 36-26 with 9 minutes left in the first half. Ray Allen has 13, Rondo 6, Pierce 4 (on free throws); Gasol was on fire and had 9 first quarter points. But the Celtics are shooting 50 percent from the field and the Lakers only 36 percent; that won’t last.

But Garnett has 3 fouls; Wallace and Davis have played well though.

42-28; Ray Allen is on fire; but the Lakers are leaving him open. He has 19 points with 5 three point shots. The Lakers put Kobe Bryant on him now.

Just under 5 minutes to go in the half; 45-33 Celtics but they have gotten sloppy; Coach Rivers calls time out to settle his team.

52-41; Allen is now 7-7 for 3 pointers. But they are leaving him open and Bryant has 3 fouls.

54-48; the Celtics really got sloppy at the end of the quarter and gave up 5 very quick points in the last few seconds; they did that at the end of quarter 1 in the first game.
Now big MO is on the side of the Lakers.

The main damage was done when Bryant intercepted a pass and knocked down a 3 with about a second left….and stole the ball AGAIN (but missed the shot). When he is on the court, you can’t let up a second.

3′rd quarter; 57-56 Lakers; Celtics with some bonehead ball handling. This one is over.
Garnett can’t hit a thing. Pierce can’t hit anything either. Gasol can’t miss.

61-61; the Lakers bigs are abusing Boston. Rondo hit a 3. Garnett looks wounded.

68-68; Allen has 30 and that is what is keeping Boston in the game.

72-72 at the end of 3.
Factors: Celtics bigs have lots of fouls, Gasol is on fire, Allen has 30, Rondo is running on fumes. Bryant has 4 fouls.
The Lakers have been at the free throw line all night (28-37 versus 12-14 for Boston); Bynum has 17, Bryant 13, Gasol 24.

Man, the Celtics are getting abused in the paint. But Glen Davis is hustling. The Celtic subs are stepping up.

Bryant has 5 fouls, but drives and scores and draws the foul. The Lakers are going to put this away.

Ray Allen misses everything; 4 minutes to go and the Lakers are up 90-89. Artest picks up his 5′th foul. Garnett picked up his 5′th foul; but the Celtics lead 91-90. Finally, the Lakers throw it away. 93-90 Celtics; out of bounds play was close but went to the Celtics.

95-90 Celtics; 1:26; Doc Rivers the running time out!
97-90 Celtics; Perkins kept his cool when he got fouled and made 1 of 2; 98-90.

Bryant takes a long 3; makes it; 98-93. 47.1 seconds left.
But Rondo is shooting 2; he sucks at the free throw line.
33 seconds; Rondo shooting free throws. 100-93; the only thing Rondo does poorly is shoot free throws…shades of Wilt Chamberlain.

The Celtics bench has 24 points; the Lakers 15. But the Lakers are living at the free throw line.

Celtics up 102-93 with 16.6 seconds left. Garnett hit two big free throws. Perkins hits on of 2; Celtics up 103-93 with 10.5 seconds left. Gasol hits one free throw; it finishes 103-94 Celtics.
(photos from yahoo)