Simple Updates

I have been somewhat busy.  Two companies that I am very interested had their job application due March 19.  That’s a day before my birthday.  And as I mentioned before, many Korean applications want the candidates to write out “personal statement.”  In other words, (and in average) there are three to five questions where you have to answer within the given word limit.  Many of these questions are interview questions in US.  In addition, depends on the company the word limit is such a variety – a firm that I am most interested in limits the answers to be no longer than 2,000 words.  Then one of the firms I applied last week limited the answer to be less than 300 words.  Of course they are pretty much asking same stuff.  So now I applied three companies so far – I keep my fingers crossed.

In the middle of daily job hunting, I got a connection invitation on LinkedIn from my college alum.   It’s good but I wondered why on earth he would like to connect with this young gal alum at a small Asian country.  It turned out that he saw my profile randomly on my college community on LinkedIn, saw my status as “seeking employment” and wanted to help me out.  In addition, he hosted homestay an exchange student from Korea and his daughter visited South Korea several times.  What a small world!

He offered me to call him so we can talk about possible career opportunities and practical advice.  Yes, I had to get up at 6 am and am pretty sure some of my answers did not make sense, even with strong black tea.  But it was incredibly helpful – he introduced me to several new ways and connections.  On the top of that he gladly revised my English resume.  Though that early morning international phone call really screwed up my normal sleep cycle, I am not going to complain.  I can’t.  I guess all that karma paid off – for sure I’ll do more good.

Meanwhile I had some strange contacts, too.  A guy whom I sent a job-lead e-mail said he will try to call me.  So I emptied that day’s schedule.  But he ended up not calling me.  At the end he did call me, but then started to go on and on and on about my last job and duties.  Well…I would not have sent him that job-lead e-mail if I am still related to my last work.  I said I am no longer involved in that work.  Then he went on about how the things in his company works with much detail.  Some of it was helpful, but my job-lead e-mail was not about that.  It was simple: “I know you, and here’s my background.  Please let me know if you know any fit opportunity for me  or can spread the word.”

And then, another guy whom I met through one of the recruiters, is flirting with me.  Yes he is a very friendly guy, and thanks for your interest in me…but I really don’t want to initiate a romantic relationship who is +10 years older than I am.  I haven’t been dated for two years and consider myself pretty open person, but still.  No.

My Korean-style job session is over for now.  And there are more employers who posted their openings – and luckily some of them are the field I am interested.  To be honest it is a bit frustrating that I have an open schedule but not THAT open.  Now it is the major hiring season here, so I would not dare to take a luxury of vacation trip away to Bali.

I hear stories that many Koreans made it through big name grad schools, because the competition rate was lower than before, thanks to bad economy.  Maybe I should have gone to the grad school.  But what I care most is what AFTER grad school.  If I am to go to grad school, I want it to be a “ticket” out of here, or at least not having to deal with bunch of mono-cultured Koreans.

Seriously, if only I was born 5 years earlier, my life would have been much easier.  This morning I read an article regarding the international economic depression, written by an economic professor at Yale.  He, too, said no one can really predict what would happen – when would this depression end? How long would this depression continue? We really don’t have much data to predict.  In human history there was only one economic depression that affected every single country on earth.  The one at 1930’s.

I know, I know – the life itself is a bet.  It takes turn at the most unexpected part.  Or, when you expect it would be curvy, the road is straight.  Someone said there’s no road ahead because it’s all about what I make of it.

Yeah…I should’ve graduated college in 90’s.

[Via http://kumasim.wordpress.com]

The drones club

Waging War with the Click of a Mouse

Der Spiegel reports:

The US has two drone programs operating out of two command centers. CIA drone pilots are located on the east coast, in the catacombs of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC. They are 11,000 kilometers (6,800 miles) away from Kabul. The US military’s drone pilots are even further west, at Creech Air Force Base in the deserts of Nevada, about an hour’s drive northwest of the gamblers’ paradise Las Vegas.

Both flight control centers look alike — they’re computer rooms that are sterile, insular and above all secure. Members of the Air Force’s 42nd Attack Squadron, who operate drones in Afghanistan from the base in Nevada and mostly live in Las Vegas, call themselves “combat commuters”. They perform their military duties for the day, then drive home.

“In the morning you carpool or you take a bus and drive into work, you operate for an eight-hour shift, and then you drive back home,” Air Force Major Bryan Callahan, 37, explained to SPIEGEL ONLINE. Callahan flew drones for four years in Nevada and now serves as assistant branch chief at the Air Combat Command Headquarters in Langley, sharing responsibility for all US drones worldwide. He is well acquainted with the somewhat bizarre lifestyle of a drone pilot.

“I do emails in the morning, rush to the airplane, come out, go to the BX (editor’s note: Base Exchange), get myself a hamburger, do some more email, do it again, drive home,” he relates.

[Via http://oakblue.wordpress.com]

What makes a voting system fair?

What makes a voting system fair?

What makes a voting system fair?

Most will agree that “fairness” of the vote is the most important criteria for a voting system whether paper voting or online voting.  “Fairest” vote could be defined as the vote which best represents the wish of the majority of the electorate.

Many things can affect fairness of the vote. For example:

* the openness of the contest to willing candidates

* the ease with which people can vote and gain access to information on candidates

* the vote counting method

* the integrity of the vote harvest, vote counting and result reporting

* the existence and transparency of an audit trail

* ease with which voters can confirm that their vote was recorded and counted correctly, and

* the time, cost and resources required to run a vote.

The choice between an online voting system, paper voting system or hybrid voting system can affect all these aspects of the vote fairness.  As the manager of BigPulse.com, a firm that has specialized in high security online voting for ten years, my bias is clearly declared towards online voting and in some cases hybrid voting.

Security and protection of anonymity are the hardest to get right in any voting system, requiring many years of testing in electronic voting systems.  However a properly tested online voting system can offer many advantages for security, transparency, accessibility, flexibility and cost.

A flexible online voting system will cater for many vote counting methods. The choice of vote counting method is an important consideration in fairness, for example first-past-the- post voting (FPTP) , Single Transferable Vote (STV), Instant-runoff voting (IRV) or range voting – and each method can produce different winners.

However it is not always clear which voting counting method provides the best measurement of majority opinion as there is not always a definitive mathematical answer to this question.

For example a single round vote FPTP contest with three or more candidates can produce a winner which never wins in a paired contest with any other candidate, while it is possible that a losing candidate in a FPTP vote contest may win in any paired contest.  Most people will agree that in this case the FPTP result is not fair and an alternative voting method that comes closer to emulating the paired result is fairer. Preferential voting, that is, ranked voting methods and FPTP with multiple rounds of voting tend to reduce this risk of eliminating candidates that do better in paired contests.

Maximizing the degree of proportional representation and minimizing the incentive for strategic voting are two important measures of fairness. Proportional representation means the elected candidates represent the natural divisions within the electorate.  Strategic voting means voting for what you think is the best possible or likely outcome even if it means not voting according to your true preferences – for example in a contest with three or more candidates, voters can be tempted to guess how others will vote and attempt to vote in a manner that gives the best likely result, rather than voting their true preferences.

A degree of proportional representation is possible in contests with more than one winner, the more winners the more proportional it can be.  In this case the form of preferential or ranked voting known as Single Transferable Vote is fairer than FPTP because the Single Transferable Vote is much better than FPTP at producing proportional representation.  However in a single winner contest (known as instant-runoff in the case of Single Transferable Vote), neither system can produce proportional representation, although Single Transferable Vote may be considered fairer in the sense that it leaves the door open to proportional representation.

If elimination of strategic voting is the criteria of fairness then the fair choice between FPTP and instant-runoff is not quite so obvious as it depends on the number of candidates and how many rounds of voting can be tolerated with FPTP voting.  For example, if only one candidate is eliminated after each round of voting then, from the perspective of strategic voting, the FPTP vote is just as fair as instant run off and also allows people to simply vote their first preference in each round of voting.

However FPTP is inferior to instant-runoff when more than one candidate is eliminated after any round of FPTP voting.  Also with multiple round FPTP voting, voter fatigue, cost and time delay may all impact on fairness.  For example a contest with 10 candidates can require up to nine rounds of voting using FPTP if it is to match the fairness of an instant runoff vote. The instant-runoff vote requires only one round of voting.

For more information : online elections, online voting system, online voting software

[Via http://onlinevotings.wordpress.com]

"Shout"

Today was my old uni roommate’s Match Day. Basically what Match Day is, is the day that (generally) 4th year medical students find out which residency program they’ve been matched with. To some, this is the bigger day than graduation because it’s your future, your definite future, the next step in your medical career.

This was basically the only part of the graduation ceremonies that I could attend in its entirety…everything else, I’ll get out of my teachers program class just in time to make it for the celebration. I’m an awesome friend, what can I say.

The event kicked off with a sample from the Black Eyed Peas’ “Let’s Get It Started In Here” (one of the few popular songs that I actually did know) and the Ball High School Drumline doing their thing. It was really cute to watch the boys, especialy the two front boys, who obviously have watched Drumline and some stepshows before.

One of the funniest moments was after Titi picked up her envelope detailing where she is headed, a swarm, and I mean swarm of people surrounded her, wanting photos, wanting details, etc. She says that she doesn’t know anyone, but every time we turn around someone wants to say hi to her and catch up with her. And that was evidence by the fact that her own personal presscore shut down one of the aisles in the auditorium.

Apparently one of the guys from the Bachelor (some ridiculous reality TV show where one guy picks out of a large number of girls to marry one on national TV), his brother is graduating with Titi and several of our friends were excited about that fact, to the point that one stopped to talk to them and another took a picture of the back of their heads from across the room.

But back to the star of the day, Titi, who got one of her top choices, Cincinnati Children’s  Hospital! So looks like I’ll be visiting Cincy at least once during the next three years. Part of her reasoning was that Cincy has a great program, that offers her the chance to grow and the chance to experience life and work outside of Texas. It’s not like I can fault her logic on that one, since I’ve basically been out of the country for most of the last 8 years.

I’m really excited for her and I’m glad that she got matched with a program that she wanted. Congrats again!

[Via http://baikeunsook.wordpress.com]

The Market for Anti-ageing Foods (2nd Edition) - Aarkstore Enterprise

The global functional foods market continues to develop at a fast pace with growth outstripping that of conventional foods, and product innovation rife. The EU Nutrition and Health Claims Directive’s strict approach to health claims however will clearly influence the future development of the sector, and heightens the need for the latest intelligence. Anti-ageing products such as foods that provide a cognitive benefit or skin health-promoting ingredients tap into one of the biggest shifts the food industry faces: the ageing consumer base. This report covers developments in the US, Japan, Australia and Europe, including latest market data and key market drivers, product trends, the regulatory environment, ingredients and patents, and future prospects.

More information:
http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/The-Market-for-Anti-ageing-Foods-2nd-Edition–38996.html

[Via http://aarkreport.wordpress.com]

Political Action

Well. This country. The grand old United States of America. Well, not so much. To me, it seems at least.

For the past few months, the once defunct and thought dead health care debate has once again rose up and started rearing it’s ugly head again. This time, however, it has turned into an all out war between the two parties and idealists, between people who think this is bettering the country or people who thinks your killing everything this country once and now stands for. I am one of the few people in between these camps.

Mr. President Obama, we are in the middle of a recession that is getting worse and worse every time I look. I have been out of a job for a year and a half due to no fault of my own, and my Dad has been out of work for about a year or so now. And yet, despite campaign promises, you have yet to really pass anything that has helped this country out. Sure, you passed the stimulus package that maybe helped some people, but not people like this family. You have been focusing alot more of your time on healthcare. While I do believe that hey, we may need to kick the system in the but and get it moving again, your doing so in such a fashion that seems more like your taking out the heart of the old system, putting in a new one, and sealing everything up with duct tape and pray to God it works.

Now, I am not an Obama hater. I am completely neutral towards the man- I believe he can do good, even great, things, but unforutnately, it is getting harder and harder for me to stay neutral when he keeps focusing on things that are, at the moment, not that important. I compare it to this: It’s the equivalent of a nuclear weapon being detonated on this soil, by some crazy radical group who hates this country, and the current president going: “WE MUST FOCUS ON IMMIGRATION.” It’s despicable.

So, this is what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna write. I’m gonna write to every single politician that represents me in Washington, in Olympia. I will call them, email them, write them letters. Even if it takes a time longer than I thought it would, I’m going for it. Just a note, I’m thinking of maybe 3-6 months before anything goes on. So, I’ll be having fun. Join me, won’t you?

[Via http://kevinmac92.wordpress.com]

The 10 best restaurants for a business lunch

Despite the global economic downturn, business deals still take place over delicious meals every day — paid for by corporate expense accounts.

After all, when you’re trying to seal that important deal, there’s nothing like a buttery steak and a glass of Claret to help you close.

Courtesy of Business Insider  here are the 10 best restaurants for a business lunch in

London

NYC

Los Angeles

[Via http://cityandout.wordpress.com]

Monaro Mining further investigates Bernard Gold Project, USA

Monaro Mining’s (ASX: MRO) wholly owned subsidiary, Uranium Company of Arizona (UCA), has recently undertaken a program of geophysical evaluation of the detachment fault mineral system and, more particularly, upon the Company’s Bernard Claims at its 90% owned Bernard Gold project in La Paz County, western Arizona.

Highlights:

• Seismic and magnetic survey completed over project
• Additional zones of potential mineralisation detected
• Results indicate epithermal activity with potential for a bulk-mineable mineral system
• Stage two drilling to include three new drill targets
• Drilling will now commence in March

Within Bernard’s Lower Plate rocks there are numerous sub-parallel structures which often host gold and copper bearing breccias zones. Numerous prospect pits, open cuts, adits and shafts are located in or near these breccias zones. The Bernard gold vein is the most significant prospect within the claim block.

Click here to view the full announcement.

For further information, please contact:

Jim Malone
Executive Chairman
+61 4 19537714

Media Enquiries:
Fortbridge +61 2 9331 0655
Luke Dean +61 414 535 433
luke.dean@fortbridge.com

[Via http://announcements.fortbridge.net]

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[Via http://tursun133.wordpress.com]

Land-locked Portfolio

[Via http://hammondphoto.wordpress.com]

In no rush to exit, Donovan savors confidence-boosting run at Everton

 
“It was, I have to say, one of the cooler goose-bump moments I have witnessed in a long time. As Landon Donovan took what was probably a goodbye lap after Everton’s 5-1 win over Hull City on Sunday, the home fans at Goodison Park stood and cheered the 28-year-old American who came here a European washout and stands ready to depart, just 10 weeks later, as a beloved figure in this soccer-mad town.” (SI)

[Via http://scissorskick.wordpress.com]

Watch Out Dana White And The UFC...Here Comes Alligator Wrestling As a Sport!!!!

Would you rather take on UFC champ Anderson Silva or ….wrestle a wild, hungry,alligator?

The Seminole Indians in Florida are trying turn alligator wrestling into an extreme sport with international competitors. It’s a tradition for Seminoles

 that goes back generations.

The reality is this…gator wrestling is a traditional Seminole activity only insofar as there is an old Seminole tradition of making money off white tourists…(SOURCE)

Wrestling alligators for the benefit of white tourists used to be one of the few Seminole-friendly job markets in Florida. Improved access to higher education–and the fact that, today, Seminole are more likely to actually own the tourist trap, rather than just work there–meant fewer tribe members willing to risk life and limb for a poorly paying job.

That probably explains why they want to convince other’s to do it as a sport-and possibly get it in to the summer Olympic games as a sport.

My problem with this is the same concern I have about bull fighting and calf roping….I do not think the animals choose to participate, they are always outnumbered by the humans, they are tortured almost to death before they enter the ring,…and they always choose a really small animal to “wrestle”.

I think it is more like a mugging and violent assault…rather than a fair fight!!!….Leave the animals alone!!!!

Sources…

Roadside America

Alligator Wrestling in Florida

[Via http://jerrybrice.wordpress.com]

Hollywood Goodfella: Globalization has fueled organized crime groups

UNITED NATIONS — “The same forces of globalization — openness in commerce, travel and communications — that have created unprecedented wealth have also unleashed massive opportunities for organized crime.” That’s the verdict from the UN’s top official on drugs and crime.  

world tribune

[Via http://af11.wordpress.com]

Portugal v. US: cultural differences

Cruising the news recently, I came across a couple of articles that underlined some cultural differences between my old home and my new one.

First up: dog poop.

In Boise, Idaho, city officials head out once each year to nearby trailheads and plant little red flags next to piles of dog poop, left behind by rude dog owners. The idea is to raise awareness and educate people. A manager for the trails pronounced herself disappointed with this year’s numbers, saying that dog poop “is still a big problem. We need to reach the people who think the Foothills [trailheads] are their dogs’ toilet.”

Photo by Rob

Now, in Portugal, dog poop at trailheads is not a problem. Dog poop on city sidewalks, city streets, stairs, alleys, plazas, courtyards, parks and business entryways is a problem. I have never seen so much dog poop in my entire life as I have seen since moving here. The idea of carrying a baggie to scoop the rose-scented, perfectly darling poop of one’s sweet puppy is completely unheard of. Dogs poop everywhere, without restraint, and the poop remains where it was deposited until Armageddon or eventual erosion by weather, whichever comes first. And it’s very dry here, so you can imagine that the erosion by weather takes a long, long time.

The following is a true story. While visiting my brother-in-law in Lisbon one weekend, I went for a walk in his neighborhood. Lisbon streets resemble a bowl of spaghetti when seen from an aerial view, so walking can be quite an adventure if you’re not intimately familiar with the twists and turns. Near his apartment, after dodging several piles of dog poop, I nearly stepped in a particularly memorable pile, which had been left behind by a dog with obvious gastrointestinal issues. The poop had taken on a unique shape, easily distinguished from the ordinary poops scattered all over.

Being new to the neighborhood, I lost all track of where I was after a few twists and turns. But eventually, I looked down and there it was — the exact same, uniquely shaped dog poop on the sidewalk. And that’s how I knew I was two blocks from my starting point.

My brother-in-law later informed me that in Lisbon, it’s easier just to walk in the street. That’s what everyone does to avoid the dog poop.

So, on this issue: US 1, Portugal 0.

***

Next up: nudity.

In Rahway, New Jersey, a homeowner with a sense of artistic appreciation went outside with her family and created a snow sculpture in her front yard. It was apparently so offensive that a neighbor anonymously complained to the police, and an officer was sent out to ask the homeowner to cover up her sculpture.

Was it a giant, erect penis? A Roman orgy depicted in loving detail? Perhaps some stylized version of a vulva?

None of the above. It was a copy of the Venus de Milo. And it so offended somebody that the family was obliged by the police to cover it up. The homeowner interpreted this order somewhat artistically by giving Venus a bikini top and a sarong. (Seriously, you have to click that link.)

I read this and just laughed. Let me tell you another true story about Portugal. Upon my first visit to a beach here, I was agog at the fact that I had apparently been taken to a nudist beach. There were naked breasts all over! Nor were they limited to women modestly enjoying themselves in the water. Many women were happily acquiring a full-body tan, lying on their towels with their bikini tops stuffed in their beach bags. There were even women strolling contentedly down the beach, tops nowhere to be seen.

My companion laughed when I asked about this. “This isn’t a nudist beach,” she said.

“Oh,” I said, thinking that now I understood. “It’s a topless beach, then.”

She laughed again. “This is Portugal. Every beach is a topless beach.”

Whoever that anonymous neighbor is in Rahway, New Jersey, she or he had better never come to a Portuguese beach. Cardiac arrest would not be far behind.

For this issue: US 0, Portugal 1.

I guess it evens out. Though frankly, I’d trade the nudity for less dog poop.

[Via http://oregonexpat.wordpress.com]

Infowars Officially Launches Naked Body Scanner Protest Contest

Infowars Officially Launches Naked Body Scanner Protest Contest

Following the runaway success of the Obama Joker poster contest, Infowars is launching a brand new activism contest to spread the word about the naked body scanners now being introduced in airports across the world in response to the false flag Christmas Day underwear bomber incident.

We are offering our biggest ever contest prize fund – $15,000 dollars – spread across three different contests all aimed at attracting media attention to the fact that the naked body scanners represent a massive authoritarian assault on human dignity, freedom, the right to privacy, as well as posing health risks that have not been properly investigated.

The overriding threat of meekly accepting the installation of body scanners in all major airports is the fact that the same technology is being readied to be rolled out on the streets.

Journalists who researched trials of the naked body scanners reported that the images made genitals “eerily visible”.

German Security advisor Hans-Detlef Dau, a representative for a company that sells the scanners, admits that the machines, “show intimate piercings, catheters and the form of breasts and penises”.

Indeed, when they were first being installed, Australian authorities admitted that the machines don’t work properly if sensitive areas of the body are blurred out – and yet the British government still denies that the scanner pictures show details of genitalia – an obvious attempt to skirt child pornography laws which have been violated with the introduction of the scanners.

With plans being readied by the Home Office in the UK as well as authorities in Europe to introduce mobile naked scanners as well as street scanners attached to lamp posts, it won’t be long before we are naked body scanned to get into public buildings, shopping malls, sports events, and even minding our own business walking down the street. Naked body scanners are already being used in courthouses across America.

People who were perfectly happy with their naked body being ogled by TSA thugs scorned those who felt body scanners were a violation of privacy. “Don’t fly,” they said and you won’t have to go through it. Next it will be “don’t take a bus,” “don’t visit the shopping mall,” hey just “don’t leave your house,” because stifling airport security procedures are now intruding into our daily lives.

CONTEST NUMBER 1 – BEST PUBLIC DEMONSTRATION AGAINST BODY SCANNERS

The main contest carries a prize of $10,000 dollars for the winning entry. The rules for this contest are simple – we are looking for the best protest against naked body scanners which is filmed and uploaded to You Tube or a similar video website.

This demonstration can take the form of anything you see fit – it could be a political action, a public stunt, something that gets the word out on live TV, or a speech in front of your city council. The most powerful, inspiring, and successful protest will be the winner. After the winner is announced, they will be invited to appear live on The Alex Jones Show to discuss their demonstration.

CONTEST NUMBER 2 – BEST ANTI-BODY SCANNER POSTER

The second contest carries a prize of $3,000 dollars for the winning entry. This is the anti-body scanner poster contest. Our previous contest, the Obama Joker poster campaign, received widespread media attention and undoubtedly woke up masses of people globally to the fraud that was Obama’s promise of “change”. We are looking for anti-body scanner posters that get to the heart of why their introduction represents such a threat to our liberty and how they are being prepared to be rolled out on the streets.

This contest will be judged from three angles – the best poster design, the amount of flyers posted in prominent public locations, and the media attention garnered from the poster campaign. Again, all entries must be videotaped and uploaded to You Tube. You may find it useful to wait for a few days after your poster campaign to see if it receives any media attention before uploading the video, that way you can add examples of media coverage to your video presentation.

CONTEST NUMBER 3 – TBA

There will also be a third contest, the winner of which will receive $2,000 in prize money. The details of this contest will be announced on this page shortly.

REMEMBER – All contest entries must follow local laws – we do not accept responsibility for any criminal behavior or damage to property. Please only post contest flyers in suitable locations where such flyers would reasonably be expected to appear.

We will begin looking at contest entries from March 19th onwards and will publish a closing date for entries once we feel the campaign has generated sufficient media attention around the issue of naked body scanners.

Overall, whether you win a prize or not, everybody wins because we get the word out and educate the people as to why we need to stop naked body scanners now before this tyranny hits the streets and we’re all living in a futuristic nightmare that outstrips anything George Orwell ever committed to print.

Prison Planet.com

[Via http://eldib.wordpress.com]

Masked Design

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics presented opportunities for various design topics: opening and closing ceremonies, team uniforms, hats, and sweaters. Don’t forget the logo, signs, pins and merchandise. Carefully and meticulously crafted Olympic elements all designed and choreographed to induce the spirit of the games and that of the hosting country. The Vancouver games eloquently achieved the desired effect of oneness, unity, and team building.

USA: Miller Goalie Mask

So, surprisingly, the design element that caught and captured my attention this Olympic season was part of the uniform but not uniform at all… the hockey goalie mask.

Hockey goalie mask art borrows strokes, lines, details, and colors from air brushing, muscle cars, tattoos, and graffiti – art forms initially viewed as anti-establishment. This delightful juxtaposition between team unity and the goalkeeper’s artistic expression of individuality mesmerized and piqued my curiosity. So, here’s what I found:

Sports Illustrated’s Top 10 Goalie Masks of the Decade

Jacques Plante: First goaltending mask in the game.

The Goalie Guild: Definitely a little head over skates for this Airxess Swiss mask!

InGoalie Magazine: Various mask designs photos.

[Via http://diurnaldesign.wordpress.com]

My Country 'Tis Better Than Thee

There's No "I" In U.S.A.

Greetings citizens of the United States of Trendmerica! How bout those Olympics?  Did you enjoy seeing Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn  glide down slopes to victory on tape delay? Did watching Apolo Anton Ohno take out two South Korean skaters to capture bronze give you a good old fashion heart attack of patriotism.  Was there a tear streaming down your cheek each time you saw the red, white and blue perched high above that first place  podium as the  instrumental version of  the National Anthem  blared proudly above an athlete birthed in the lower 48?  Well, you’re not alone.  From February 12-28th of 2010 there was no better form of escapism from your lack of employment or health care than taking two and a half weeks to engage in the latest friendly trend known as blind nationalism.

Yes, ladies and trend-tleman while other nations may have stronger economies and a better education system, we Americans took comfort knowing that some guy from Illinois executed a triple lutz better than a guy that comes from a country your children can’t locate on a map; not for any personal glory, but just so people from his own nation would be proud of him.

It's All For You

What’s a triple lutz anyway? Who cares? We Americans can do anything we set our minds to unless it involves Ski Jumping or Curling. USA! USA!

In Case You Were Wondering What A Triple Lutz Was

While the Olympics is marketed as the ultimate coming together of nations for or a place for international athletes to totally get it on;  the folks at home use it as a rallying point to show their superiority even if they live in a country that limits the rights of their minorities by placing bans on the types of clothing they wear, religious symbols they can erect or simply is responsible for giving the world Nickelback.  What better way to lose focus on issues that plague ones nation than to pretend they don’t exist for two and a half weeks because someone can move really fast when there is ice beneath them.

How Dare You Canada!

Unfortunately, this friendly trend of completely warranted pride in one’s homeland comes with an expiration date.  After the week or so of Olympic medalist talk show appearances, sports fans and people who enjoy seeing the distribution of precious metals to others beneath their flag, have to wait another few years before  really feeling good about where they are living or where they were born.

But you know what they say, everything old is new again, and fortunately for our trend-lympians, we know the exact date that blind nationalism will be friendly and trendy yet again.  Here’s looking at you London 2012.

[Via http://trendliest.wordpress.com]

“The old wise man died; an entire library burned”

“The old wise man died; an entire library burned”; (Mar. 4, 2010)

            African author, Amadou Hampate Ba (1900-91) was born in eastern Mali and had said “In Africa, (verbal culture still strong), when an old wise man dies then an entire library burns with him”.  In one of his books he wrote: “Aissata told her son: “Learn to cover the material nudity of man before you cover by word his moral nudity”

            Author and poet Wole Soyinka received the Nobel Prize of Literature in 1986. Soyinka was born in western Nigeria from the tribe of Yoruba in 1934.  During Nigeria civil war, Soyinka was jailed for two years in secrecy (1968-69); he wrote in jail “This man has died”.  In his speech at Stockholm during the Nobel ceremony and titled “Let this past talk to this present” he lambasted the philosophers and thinkers of Europe’s 19th century (such as Voltaire and Hegel) for accepting the principle of slavery.  Wole said “All who have the passion for peace must make a choice: Either they include peace in this modern world, bring it to rational situations, and let peace participate in the spirit of human associations or force Blacks in Africa to kneel in abject conditions and deny them human dignity.  There is nothing more pressing than suppressing racism and apartheid; their structures have got to be dismantled.”

            Historian and Egyptology from Senegal, Cheikh Anata Diop (1923-86) published “Negro Nations and culture, 1954”.  He claimed that African civilization precedes Greek civilization that borrowed form and content via Egypt of Antiquity.  Colonial powers were ready to admit that the black skinned (from head to toe) and the frizzled hair Egyptians were no proof enough to claim that the civilization of Egypt of Antiquity was necessarily African. This awkward logic was necessary in order to colonize Africa as devoid of civilizations, rational people, and high spiritual capacity.  European Egyptology erudite went as far as proclaiming that it was “inadmissible” that Ancient Egypt in Africa was a Black civilization.  Diop book was published in several languages and the Blacks in the USA used it for renewal of their civilized roots.

Note: You may refer to my new category “Black culture/Creole” for short biographies and literary samples of Black leaders and intellectuals.

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Logo & Packaging Design Makeover | Coors Light

By Dian Hasan | March 1, 2010

Brand Logos and Corporate Identity always fascinate me, especially during the timely event of MAKEOVERS, when companies decide to re-design their brand identity.

The ironic reality is (yes, not many companies will admit this!), that the made over Logo and Corporate Identity, which includes Packaging, often lack the one thing they should be doing more of in a re-branding exercise: RE-THINK everything. The absence of an in-depth thinking often means that the redesign is less communicable, or even worse… sends an entirely wrong brand message to the original brand message that has taken years to send out.

An article in Woman’s Day caught my eye in presenting five US beverage brands that had a recent packaging makeover; Gatorade, Coors Light Beer, Snapple Iced Tea, Pepsi and Tropicana Orange Juice. Here’s a fascinating insight about redesigned packaging. What came out of this exercise was not only the “new look and feel”, but more importantly, customers’ personal relationship with brands.

A case in point, Tropicana Orange Juice’s redesigned packaging, customers were so unenamoured with the new design, saying that is looked too much like a supermarket generic product and lost all its former Brand DNA, that Tropicana reverted back to the original design. Ample proof that Brands should NEVER forget the FUNDAMENTAL BASIC FACT, that everything they do must BEGIN AND END WITH THE CUSTOMER.

And that the basic philosophy of brand-building never changes: A brand is what’s in YOUR CUSTOMER’S MIND, not what’s in yours!

In an attempt to regain sales lost during tough economic times, many companies are spearheading brand redesigns in hopes that a little creativity will go a long way. Putting the theory to work are some of the most famous food and beverage brands out there, including the five shown below. Drawing on everything from individual setbacks, sales goals and competition as additional motivation behind the marketing makeovers, each case is unique in terms of the specific reasons behind the transformation—and the consumer reaction they’ve provoked thus far.

The beer industry is one of constant packaging innovation. Thus, Coors’ upcoming release of cold activated cans (following last year’s release of bottles with same capability) is not a total surprise. The redesigned cans turn the Rocky Mountains in the foreground of the logo blue when the beer is at the optimal drinking temperature, catering to the company’s initiative to stay ahead of the cold beverage curve.

Inspiration: Woman’s Day

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