3/28/07
Symbiosis for everyone
Tri-O's Oddities, observations, and opinions
By Herb Kandel
What to do? The problem Germany now faces is a fast aging population, the estimate in 2050 is one third of the population will be over 65 and close to ¾ of a million people will require some type of assisted living plus the facilities in which to accommodate them. Even with a high unemployment rate the openings for elder-care remain unanswered. Some relief was had in the mixing of the elderly with youth centers, vocational schools, and even tapping young men to work there in lieu of their mandatory military hitch. Still the demand exceeds supply so to help fill this gap a fresh solution is being explored now - retraining prostitutes for these positions. Since it was legalized there has been intense competition in the oldest profession and an abundance of ‘vendors’. Too much of that ‘supply’ coupled with no retirement or health plans led to more idle ladies of the night. That’s when someone saw the light…..the red one.
According to “US News & World Report” a pilot program to do just that has been started. The program has about 50 in it and according to the program director, "Prostitutes have already learned to get along with people, and they're usually very good listeners. Plus, they have no reservations about touching people's bodies." Another peripheral benefit was ….but I‘ll get to that later.
This type of relationship is similar to mutuality in symbiosis. That is when two or more species live and interact closely wherein both benefit. For example, the clown fish and the anemone where the fish feeds the poisonous anemone, the anemone protects the fish. Another is the tickbirds and the rhinoceros where the birds get dinner, a free ride, and protection and the rhinos get a companion who picks ticks off its back.
That relationship of contributing and receiving got me to thinking of other occasions where mutuality could be applied, both practical and theoretical, and realistic and whimsical. But instead of different species let's consider only human inter-relationships.
Remember Yenta the matchmaker in “Fiddler on the Roof” saying, “ With the way she looks and the way he sees, it’s a perfect match.”? In the movie “See No Evil, Hear No Evil” Gene Wilder is deaf, and Richard Pryor is blind. They witness a murder, Gene saw it and Richard heard it but they had to combine their senses to save themselves from the killers attempts to stop them from testifying.
When a German bar installed in the urinals little cogwheels that start to rotate once you ‘hit’ them they found that not only were the toilets more hygienic but they saved money on cleaning, all by giving their customers amusement utilizing a bodily function. Some have even built in LEDs to produce a lightshow with sounds. Tell me that’s not an inducement to belly up to the bar to drink more beer! Free enterprise symbiosis par excellence.
Tom Sawyer got his fence whitewashed by his friends (and made them pay for the ‘privilege’) when he got them believing that the chore was a fun task that few could do. Wrote Mark Twain, “He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it -- namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain“. Both parties got what they wanted but Tom got the ‘mostest’.
Consider the carpenter aiding the orthopedist in the placement of those artificial joints and limbs. Imagine elbow hinges with spring-like attachments that could absorb the impacts of making continual smashes without fear of getting tennis elbow. Or a cervical implant preventing head movement when putting on the golf course.
How about an artist linking with the IRS form writer? This would take some of the pain out while filling in a 1040 if it had a little color combined with icons, arrows, marginal hints, and a smiley face on the ‘Amount to be refunded’ line.
A chef working hand in hand with a cabinet maker and architect can save the home cook many steps, and food drippings, by the most efficient placement of appliance space, shelves, drawers, hooks, vents, etc.. Now, there’s thought for food!
What if your local cable and telephone provider charges were deducted from your pay check? And what if that payment was delayed, or credited, for the same amount of time spent trying to get them on the phone plus when the repair is made, every time there is an outage or dropped call?
Mutuality may not be the uppermost thought as we go about our living but we practice it several times a day…..every time we wash our hands.
Getting back to the lead example above: as an additional benefit that may accrue by having the former prostitutes aid the elderly in assisted living facilities - expenses in Viagra purchases should be substantially reduced.
END
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
3/14/07
I’m ready for my close-up, boss
Tri-O's Oddities, observations, and opinions
By Herb Kandel
There was a time in America when all an employer had to do to hire an employee was to put a "HELP WANTED" sign visible on the street. In Boston in the mid 1800’s the first known private employment agency was established. They were crude by contemporary standards. They consisted of merely listing available labor and making these lists available to the employer. A small fee was charged to the applicant for registering and a larger fee if a job was accepted. Most jobs were in the blue-collar category. It was during World War I that employment agencies aided the government by finding, screening, and testing. The filing system was improved which led to placing people in government and in war plants. After the war, agencies did a remarkable job in relocating personnel into peacetime positions. During the Depression the government set up a network of tax supported employment agencies primarily for semi-skilled and unskilled workers while most employers still used private employment agencies for skilled, white-collar, and technical personnel. Most private agencies were applicant paid until the mid 1970’s when the employer paid fees started attracting the applicants who felt that their talents and skills were part of the employers obligations.
The main tool to open the door when applying for a new job had been the résumé. The one or two page sheet listing objective, education, experience, and qualifications. Statistically for every 200 résumé's received by the average employer only one interview is granted. The résumé that took days to get ‘just right’ will be quickly scanned, rather than read, and evaluated in ten to 20 seconds. If the first impression fails to impress a prospective employer to read further, it goes into the circular file.
Fast forward to the age of the Internet. The ink on paper is being replaced by the pixel on the screen. For the past 15 years job seekers have been posting their résumés on numerous Internet sites. The latest tweak is the video résumé, or as I call it, the vidomé. Go to You Tube, there you can view two to five minute uploaded vidomés from candidates seeking interviews, over 1500 of them. There are other sites that feature potential workplaces and another that uses webcams to pose real-time interview questions to candidates ( they prep the candidate, i.e., be well groomed, dress appropriately, do not chew gum or smoke).
In ‘the old days’ (pre-pixels) companies and recruiters would not accept résumés that had photos attached because of potential law suits. Many résumés that were submitted omitted the persons name by substituting a numeric ID, citing instances that bias might be shown by favoring certain racial sounding names.
Human resources departments are now in a quandary. Will viewing a vidomé invite a lawsuit by the videoed candidate who feels they were disqualified because of age, race, disability, or gender? Another wrinkle is that paper and typing words on it is available to everyone, not so the computer and web cam, and this may open the door for additional litigation .
As more and more applicants utilize this mode of presentation the more sophisticated they will become and the candidate who gets the in-person interview may not be the most qualified but the one who has a touch of a Steven Spielberg. A vidomé may have poor lighting or is unsteady which is the equivalent of having a typo on the printed résumé. A recent survey listed the responses from 150 senior executives at the nation’s 1,000 largest companies. Executives were asked "How many typos in a résumé does it take for you to decide not to consider a job candidate for a position with your company?" Their responses: one typo, 47 percent; two typos, 37 percent; four or more typos, 6 percent; and no answer, 3 percent. So extreme attention to detail is a must for all job seekers.
In the long run it will be the employers who will determine if vidomés are a viable avenue for the job seeker. Time to review any form of solicitation being a major factor. It is a rare human resource person who will spent five minutes studying a single video when he/she could have evaluated 15 to 20 in that same time. Though the vidomé is a small current fad I believe paper over pixel will win just like paper over rock. And have you noticed a complete turn-around to the ‘old days’ with billboards and window signs almost pleading "NOW HIRING"? Who knows, the next innovative form may be a return to sandwich signs.
END
I’m ready for my close-up, boss
Tri-O's Oddities, observations, and opinions
By Herb Kandel
There was a time in America when all an employer had to do to hire an employee was to put a "HELP WANTED" sign visible on the street. In Boston in the mid 1800’s the first known private employment agency was established. They were crude by contemporary standards. They consisted of merely listing available labor and making these lists available to the employer. A small fee was charged to the applicant for registering and a larger fee if a job was accepted. Most jobs were in the blue-collar category. It was during World War I that employment agencies aided the government by finding, screening, and testing. The filing system was improved which led to placing people in government and in war plants. After the war, agencies did a remarkable job in relocating personnel into peacetime positions. During the Depression the government set up a network of tax supported employment agencies primarily for semi-skilled and unskilled workers while most employers still used private employment agencies for skilled, white-collar, and technical personnel. Most private agencies were applicant paid until the mid 1970’s when the employer paid fees started attracting the applicants who felt that their talents and skills were part of the employers obligations.
The main tool to open the door when applying for a new job had been the résumé. The one or two page sheet listing objective, education, experience, and qualifications. Statistically for every 200 résumé's received by the average employer only one interview is granted. The résumé that took days to get ‘just right’ will be quickly scanned, rather than read, and evaluated in ten to 20 seconds. If the first impression fails to impress a prospective employer to read further, it goes into the circular file.
Fast forward to the age of the Internet. The ink on paper is being replaced by the pixel on the screen. For the past 15 years job seekers have been posting their résumés on numerous Internet sites. The latest tweak is the video résumé, or as I call it, the vidomé. Go to You Tube, there you can view two to five minute uploaded vidomés from candidates seeking interviews, over 1500 of them. There are other sites that feature potential workplaces and another that uses webcams to pose real-time interview questions to candidates ( they prep the candidate, i.e., be well groomed, dress appropriately, do not chew gum or smoke).
In ‘the old days’ (pre-pixels) companies and recruiters would not accept résumés that had photos attached because of potential law suits. Many résumés that were submitted omitted the persons name by substituting a numeric ID, citing instances that bias might be shown by favoring certain racial sounding names.
Human resources departments are now in a quandary. Will viewing a vidomé invite a lawsuit by the videoed candidate who feels they were disqualified because of age, race, disability, or gender? Another wrinkle is that paper and typing words on it is available to everyone, not so the computer and web cam, and this may open the door for additional litigation .
As more and more applicants utilize this mode of presentation the more sophisticated they will become and the candidate who gets the in-person interview may not be the most qualified but the one who has a touch of a Steven Spielberg. A vidomé may have poor lighting or is unsteady which is the equivalent of having a typo on the printed résumé. A recent survey listed the responses from 150 senior executives at the nation’s 1,000 largest companies. Executives were asked "How many typos in a résumé does it take for you to decide not to consider a job candidate for a position with your company?" Their responses: one typo, 47 percent; two typos, 37 percent; four or more typos, 6 percent; and no answer, 3 percent. So extreme attention to detail is a must for all job seekers.
In the long run it will be the employers who will determine if vidomés are a viable avenue for the job seeker. Time to review any form of solicitation being a major factor. It is a rare human resource person who will spent five minutes studying a single video when he/she could have evaluated 15 to 20 in that same time. Though the vidomé is a small current fad I believe paper over pixel will win just like paper over rock. And have you noticed a complete turn-around to the ‘old days’ with billboards and window signs almost pleading "NOW HIRING"? Who knows, the next innovative form may be a return to sandwich signs.
END
Thursday, March 01, 2007
2/28/07
Of pride and presidents
Tri-O's
Oddities, observations, and opinions
By Herb Kandel
Last week was Presidents Day, the third Monday of February. George Washington’s Birthday is February 22 and Abraham Lincoln’s is the 12th. The original intent of the federal holiday was to honor both Washington and Lincoln, but when signed into law in 1968 only Washington's Birthday was moved and old Abe was left dateless, honestly. Some states have renamed the day "Washington and Lincoln Day" but here in Alabama, since 2002, the third Monday in February commemorates the birthdays of both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (who was born on April 13). So ‘goodbye’ Abe and ‘hello’ Tom. This is not to be viewed as a slight to our visiting snowbirds but more of defining the state motto: Audemus jura nostra defendere (We Dare Defend Our Rights), or so it seems.
Also in keeping with a presidents theme U.S. News & World Report in their Februarys.26th edition had a cover story on “America’s worst presidents”. For its’ list (excluding the current commander-in-chief), they “used the bottom 10 rankings on five major scholarly polls”. The least effective is James Buchanan, followed in order by Warren G. Harding, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, Millard Fillmore, John Tyler, Ulysses S. Grant, William Harrison, Herbert Hoover tied with Richard Nixon, and Zachary Taylor. How would you like to see their faces chiseled on the peaks of ole Rocky Top?
The general consensus of the scholars in their assessment of the presidential malfunctioners “was passivity or inaction in the face of great historical challenges” or if their activism was considered “misplaced“. What is called for is a delicate balance of appropriate actions then act decisively, otherwise it’s “Damned if I do and damned if I don't”. I'll have to run that thought by Homer Simpson.
Though the presidential election is over a year and a half away there are so many hats in the ring already it looks like a milliner convention. Some of the contenders have common names, I.e., Joe (Biden), John (Edwards and McCain), and Jim (Gilmore) and some not so usual, I.e., Barack (Obama), Newt (Gingrich), Duncan (Hunter), Mitt (Romney), Hillary (Clinton). And if Tim Smucker, Chairman and Co-CEO of Smucker’s became a candidate a shoe-in combination name would be Duncan Obama Mitt Smucker which sounds like a German dessert with fruit topping and with a name like that he'll have to be good.
If you thought the recent political ads were negative and nasty they don't hold a hanging Chad to what went on in the presidential campaign of 1800 and its aftermath. When Jefferson was Vice-president he paid, via an employee, to James Callender, a newspaper writer, to publish that President John Adams was loyal to the English crown and a pawn to British interests. Jefferson could not do it himself for it would violate the Sedition Act of 1798, which was aimed at crushing freedom of speech and repressing political opposition. Adams countered that if Jefferson were elected president, Americans would "see your dwellings in flames" and "female chastity violated."
Callender was convicted and jailed. After the election he was pardoned by Jefferson but when he was denied the job of a postmaster he printed that Jefferson had "for many years past kept, as his concubine, one of his own slaves," Sally Hemings. Learning of this, Abigail Adams, wife of the maligned former President Adams, wrote Jefferson “the serpent you cherished and warmed, bit the hand that nourished him.”
According to American Heritage , “By modern standards Jefferson’s active role in promoting anti-Adams propaganda and his complicity in leaking information …… were impeachable offenses that verged on treason.”
Callender also publicized an affair that Treasurer Secretary Alexander Hamilton had with the wife of a Treasury clerk and that Hamilton was being investigated about shady financial dealings. He was one of the first to argue that the public had the right to know the moral character of those elected.
Hamilton admitted to the affair but nothing else. He later became the intervening force on Jefferson's behalf when Jefferson tied with Aaron Burr for the presidency. At that time the candidate receiving the greatest number of electoral votes would become president The person receiving the second-highest number would become vice president. Not a fan of Jefferson, Hamilton thought him the lesser of two evils. The escalated animosity between Hamilton and Burr ended in a duel; Hamilton shot his pistol into the air and Burr lodged his bullet in Hamilton’s midsection inflicting a mortal wound.
The lady, Maria Reynolds, Hamilton’s paramour, is a figure that weaves enigmatically among some of the named people. When Callender was to testify in a libel suit he was suspiciously found drowned in three feet of water. Ironically it was Hamilton as defense attorney who had summoned Callender and it was Maria who submitted Jefferson’s letters to Callender.
For a full version of theses presidential pranks read William Safire’s novelization of all the facts in Scandalmonger.
END
Of pride and presidents
Tri-O's
Oddities, observations, and opinions
By Herb Kandel
Last week was Presidents Day, the third Monday of February. George Washington’s Birthday is February 22 and Abraham Lincoln’s is the 12th. The original intent of the federal holiday was to honor both Washington and Lincoln, but when signed into law in 1968 only Washington's Birthday was moved and old Abe was left dateless, honestly. Some states have renamed the day "Washington and Lincoln Day" but here in Alabama, since 2002, the third Monday in February commemorates the birthdays of both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (who was born on April 13). So ‘goodbye’ Abe and ‘hello’ Tom. This is not to be viewed as a slight to our visiting snowbirds but more of defining the state motto: Audemus jura nostra defendere (We Dare Defend Our Rights), or so it seems.
Also in keeping with a presidents theme U.S. News & World Report in their Februarys.26th edition had a cover story on “America’s worst presidents”. For its’ list (excluding the current commander-in-chief), they “used the bottom 10 rankings on five major scholarly polls”. The least effective is James Buchanan, followed in order by Warren G. Harding, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, Millard Fillmore, John Tyler, Ulysses S. Grant, William Harrison, Herbert Hoover tied with Richard Nixon, and Zachary Taylor. How would you like to see their faces chiseled on the peaks of ole Rocky Top?
The general consensus of the scholars in their assessment of the presidential malfunctioners “was passivity or inaction in the face of great historical challenges” or if their activism was considered “misplaced“. What is called for is a delicate balance of appropriate actions then act decisively, otherwise it’s “Damned if I do and damned if I don't”. I'll have to run that thought by Homer Simpson.
Though the presidential election is over a year and a half away there are so many hats in the ring already it looks like a milliner convention. Some of the contenders have common names, I.e., Joe (Biden), John (Edwards and McCain), and Jim (Gilmore) and some not so usual, I.e., Barack (Obama), Newt (Gingrich), Duncan (Hunter), Mitt (Romney), Hillary (Clinton). And if Tim Smucker, Chairman and Co-CEO of Smucker’s became a candidate a shoe-in combination name would be Duncan Obama Mitt Smucker which sounds like a German dessert with fruit topping and with a name like that he'll have to be good.
If you thought the recent political ads were negative and nasty they don't hold a hanging Chad to what went on in the presidential campaign of 1800 and its aftermath. When Jefferson was Vice-president he paid, via an employee, to James Callender, a newspaper writer, to publish that President John Adams was loyal to the English crown and a pawn to British interests. Jefferson could not do it himself for it would violate the Sedition Act of 1798, which was aimed at crushing freedom of speech and repressing political opposition. Adams countered that if Jefferson were elected president, Americans would "see your dwellings in flames" and "female chastity violated."
Callender was convicted and jailed. After the election he was pardoned by Jefferson but when he was denied the job of a postmaster he printed that Jefferson had "for many years past kept, as his concubine, one of his own slaves," Sally Hemings. Learning of this, Abigail Adams, wife of the maligned former President Adams, wrote Jefferson “the serpent you cherished and warmed, bit the hand that nourished him.”
According to American Heritage , “By modern standards Jefferson’s active role in promoting anti-Adams propaganda and his complicity in leaking information …… were impeachable offenses that verged on treason.”
Callender also publicized an affair that Treasurer Secretary Alexander Hamilton had with the wife of a Treasury clerk and that Hamilton was being investigated about shady financial dealings. He was one of the first to argue that the public had the right to know the moral character of those elected.
Hamilton admitted to the affair but nothing else. He later became the intervening force on Jefferson's behalf when Jefferson tied with Aaron Burr for the presidency. At that time the candidate receiving the greatest number of electoral votes would become president The person receiving the second-highest number would become vice president. Not a fan of Jefferson, Hamilton thought him the lesser of two evils. The escalated animosity between Hamilton and Burr ended in a duel; Hamilton shot his pistol into the air and Burr lodged his bullet in Hamilton’s midsection inflicting a mortal wound.
The lady, Maria Reynolds, Hamilton’s paramour, is a figure that weaves enigmatically among some of the named people. When Callender was to testify in a libel suit he was suspiciously found drowned in three feet of water. Ironically it was Hamilton as defense attorney who had summoned Callender and it was Maria who submitted Jefferson’s letters to Callender.
For a full version of theses presidential pranks read William Safire’s novelization of all the facts in Scandalmonger.
END
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