Ampamakia

The last of the high end chocolates I bought last week is Valrhona Ampamakia, from Plantation Millot in Madagascar. This is 64% cacao, which is actually a little on the low side for dark chocolates to my taste. It was good, but not as good as the Venezuelan stuff earlier in the week, as this had a slightly sour aftertaste. I suspect the difference might be (aside from the specific beans used) that Valrhona uses soya lecithin and Michel Cluizel does not.

Why Ethics Training is Needed

In response to my post on my company's ethics training, a few people comments suggested that they see little value in attempting this.

I wanted to mention that I do think there is a reason to do ethics training. There was a story in the Post this week about a senior executive at a major defense contractor in the area sending out emails to people within the company urging them to support a particular candidate for Congress in next week's local primaries. What I found disappointing is that the article focused on whether or not that executive was technically running afoul of certain electoral laws.

My bigger concern, personally, is that it's rather coercive for company management to try telling employees who they should vote for. Even though they don't have a way of knowing the outcome, this can create an uncomfortable working environment for those whose politics are not in line with those of their senior managers.