Social Commentary

I think that I consume news a little bit differently than most others. Besides the usual activities of showering, shaving, and getting dressed, my morning routine includes updating the Podcasts on my iTunes and syncing my iPod. On the drive into work, I “listen” to podcasts of the news shows from the night before. My first “listen” of the day, and the one I tend to be the biggest fan of, is AC360 with Anderson Cooper and his co-anchor Erica Hill.

One of the things that separates CNN from the other professional news networks is their full on embrace of the power of Social Media. As a network they took on Ashton Kutcher to see who would reach a million followers on Twitter first, and although they lost their use of Social Media is prevalent in the majority of their shows. One of the things that AC360 does is a “Live Blog From The Anchor Desk” where I came across this doozy Friday night…

It’s bad enough that most e-mails have become devoid of capitalization and punctuation, but when I see a “journalist” post something like this which is representative of her abilities as a professional I cringe.

Literally.

The shift key is not that hard to hit and her lackadaisical approach to using correct grammar sends the wrong message. Correct grammar and spelling should be used in not only official reports or stories, but in all blog posts and comments as well. Failure to do so is not only lazy but indicates a level of incompetence in monitoring the quality of your own work.

So during the discussion about what’s appropriate on Facebook in the JEMS Connect Forum that I highlighted yesterday, there was this interesting posting:

Our Service Is Dealing With This Issue Now. Our New Policy Reads That You Can Not Identify Yourself As An Employee Nor Have Pictures Of Any Calls, Trucks, Etc…… Our Policy Is For All Online Networks Facebook, Myspace Etc….

Image via CrunchBase

As Far As Management Monitoring Our Public Safety Director Has A Facebook And My Training Officer Has A Myspace So If They See Infractions It Will Be Handled Per Policy, First Offense Verbal Warning, Second Offense Written Warning, Third Offense Can Be Up To Termination.

Really?

There are EMS Agencies that are so afraid of their own Patient Care Providers using Social Networks and creating Social Media that they have to enact a draconian policy such as this and follow it up with Gestapo tactics?

I wonder where they might have gotten this idea from…

Now I can understand parents going overboard with the monitoring… much to the chagrin I’m sure to their son… but how many EMS Agencies are protecting their Responders from The Tramp Named Jenny? For some reason, I think the answer to that question is none.

So EMS Chiefs, CEOs, Directors, Captains, Supervisors… do the right thing by your Responders… develop a Social Media Policy, educate them on the Social Media Do’s and Do Not’s for your agency, and above all remember you are probably funded in one way or another by the tax dollars of those who believe there should be liberty and freedom for all.

Do the right thing for yourself and learn how to use Social Media for your agency.

Come
As you are
As you were
As I want you to be
As a friend
As a friend
As a known memory

-Come As You Are, Nirvana 1992

I am, for lack of a better term, a product of the grunge era. I wore flannel, went to my first Lollapalooza in 1992, owned CDs that were considered “imports” from the far away land of Seattle, and I had the Grunge Samurai haircut of a ponytail topknot with a close shave around my head. While I no longer wear flannel, no longer listen to CDs, and haven’t paid for a concert since 1997… there are still two things that remain with me to this day from that era.

The first is the belief that you should always “Come As You Are“, which is a title of the second single off Nirvana’s album Nevermind. As the song implies, be as you are in real life. That should carry over from real life into your online life as well. Come as a friend and be memorable to those you interact with.

Sure we’ve all seen how Facebook Can Cost You Your Job, how free speech has consequences, and how photos can cause lawsuits. While these are things that we can control by using some simple common sense, we shouldn’t let fear of these issues change who we truly are and how we interact with others online.

Be as you are on Social Networks and in creating Social Media as you are in real life.

The second thing that remains with me from those days, as many of you may suspect, is the Grunge Samurai haircut.

Why mess with perfection?

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Recently I’ve been doing alot of interviews for some vacancies I have at work. While there are legitimate employment opportunities available, some people just don’t understand the basics of what a potential employer is looking for in a candidate during an interview.

To be honest, it can really be quite frustrating at times. I’m not even talking about the industry specific things like knowing that you apply suction after inserting the pharangeal tip. I’m talking about candidates who apply to be an EMT but haven’t taken their state test yet because they want “early consideration”, candidates who check off that they can work weekends but can only work on Saturdays between 1600 and 1900, and candidates who will give you the exact same answer using different words to every question you ask them. That last one is a real pet peeve of mine, because it shows someone either as not knowledgeable or worse… listening comprehension challenged.

So here are a few tips on having a successful interview that are not exclusive to just the EMS field:

• Make sure you are actually qualified – If you apply for a job that requires a level of certification make sure that you have that actual certification. Irregardless of your scheduled test dates and whether it be EMT, EMD, or AEMT, if you don’t have the actual certification then you shouldn’t be filling out applications for positions that require them
• Convey changes on your application early – If something has changed on your application, such as your availability to work certain hours or certain days, be sure to tell the interviewer that before the interview. They may be bringing you in specifically for that reason, and if you can’t perform on that
• Show up on time or early – This is really your first test on punctuality… so if you show up late, well that’s going to raise the specter of tardiness as an employee
• Be prepared – Be ready with any certifications, licenses, or other documentation you may need. Also be ready mentally for an oral or written test and physically for a lifting or skills test

And the most important piece of advice I can give you…

• Actually answer the question asked – Listening comprehension is an important aspect for any candidate to have. If you display a lack of it during the interview, then your potential employer really has no reason to consider you for the job. Work the question back into your answer, and don’t be afraid to ask them to repeat it. As an interviewer I’ll penalize you for not answering the question, but will actually give you more points for asking it to be repeated provided you actually do answer it in the end

Following these tips will hopefully put you on the path for a good interview… because a good interview is the first step to a good job…

A friend of mine linked to a Washington Post article about world-renowned musician Joshua Bell performing in the Washington DC Metro. While the article is actually from 2007 there is a timeless lesson to be learned from it. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Three minutes went by before something happened. Sixty-three people had already passed when, finally, there was a breakthrough of sorts. A middle-age man altered his gait for a split second, turning his head to notice that there seemed to be some guy playing music. Yes, the man kept walking, but it was something.

A half-minute later, Bell got his first donation. A woman threw in a buck and scooted off. It was not until six minutes into the performance that someone actually stood against a wall, and listened.

Things never got much better. In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played, seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for a minute. Twenty-seven gave money, most of them on the run — for a total of $32 and change. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look.

The point of the actual article is more to create an inflection in the fact that we might move our lives at such a quick pace that we miss things of great beauty everyday. I’m a believer that beauty, like quality, is actually in the eye of the beholder.

However that is not the portion I want to focus on. The obvious analogy that comes quickly to mind, at least my own, after reading this story and thinking about messages is the age old: If a tree falls in the woods but no one hears it, does it make a sound?

The fact that Joshua Bell played the masterpieces anonymously and with little announcement undoubtedly lead to part of the seemingly apathetic reaction of the crowd. The greater mistake was that he did not make a connection with his impromptu audience. In fact he went to a place where an audience that he might otherwise naturally make a connection with did not necessarily even exist.

Five Tips On Getting Your Message Noticed

So here are five tips to help avoid the pitfalls of playing your masterpieces to little or no audience:

• Go to where your audience has already gathered
• Announce yourself by offering value to the audience
• Connect with your audience individually and, most importantly, thoughtfully
• Clearly communicate a summary of your message
• Don’t become a broken record and constantly repeat your message in the same way because eventually people will just tune you out completely

Make sure you get heard by the right people, at the right time, with the right delivery of your message.

Source: The Washington Post

…and remember why we have off from work and school.

Thank a veteran today.

Remember their sacrifice always.

Donald Trump has declared that Carrie Prejean will keep her Miss California title and crown despite the (multitude of) controversies surrounding her.

“Carrie will remain Miss California,” Trump stated during the press conference today, noting that the answer she gave was the same answer that President Barack Obama has given previously.

The first controversy was over her answer given to blogger Perez Hilton when he asked a question regarding gay marriage rights during the Miss America Pageant.

“She gave an honest answer when asked a very tough question,” said Trump.

“Absolutely, absolutely I forgive Perez Hilton,” Prejean said during the press conference when asked if she would be forgiving towards him after his obscenity laced rant that followed the pageant and her being crowned as the runner-up.

Along the same issue, Carrie Prejean then appeared in an ad for the National Organization For Marriage. There were rumors about her being employed by the organization, all of which were unfounded as she had only met them briefly and did one ad spot for them.

Finally, as what has become a little too common place for beauty queens, photos of her surfaced that showed her topless although not frontally exposed. This set off the latest controversy due to a contract that contestants sign that assure the pageant organization that no such photos exist.

As rumors persisted that Trump was indeed going to “fire” Prejean from her Miss California title, former Miss Teen USA 2003 and runner-up Miss Malibu Tami Farrell made it clear that she was more than willing to accept the crown on behalf of all Californians straight or gay… because it is so very important that Californians be represented in the world of beauty prominently. However as it was made clear by the press conference today, her services are not needed, so she wasted a perfectly good knife in the back of Prejean.

As for the actual Miss USA Pageant winner Kristen Dalton, well not much has been heard from her although you can read her blog posts about all the wild and crazy adventures she’s having on her road to the Miss Universe Pageant.

We can only hope that Dalton took notes from Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner on how to create headlining controversy or history may very well just forget her name or the fact that she was the winner.

Sadly, it sure seems that the American people already have.

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The states in the west, just as in the east, have a long history of violent conflict leading up to the process that eventually granted them statehood. The big difference between them is that most of the violence in the west was against the native people who were there before the Europeans whereas the majority of the violence in the east was European against European.

When I visited Santa Fe during the last weekend in April, I came across this monument in the middle of Santa Fe Plaza. It was a simple obelisk structure meant to honor the fallen from some of the many battles that were fought in that area back in the 1800s. Being the uber tourist that I am, I began photographing all sides of the memorial walking in a counter clockwise direction. Each side had a different dedication to men and women who had lost their lives during in battle. As I came around to photograph the fourth and final side to complete the collection, I noticed something very suspicious:

The first thing that I noticed was that To The Heroes had been sunken in. It didn’t appear to be a mistake, but rather a deliberate engraving of those words at a lower level. The second, and more striking item, was the rectangular patch that seemed to have actually been carved out of the marble at the end of the third line. I wondered momentarily if this monument had actually been struck by vandalism with the tools to deface such a stone in that way.

Upon walking around the Santa Fe Plaza Monument a little more I then came across this plaque:

In my mind it all became clear. The missing marble on that side of the monument must have once been carved with the word Savage to describe the Indians was purposefully and professionally removed. While I can understand the reasoning for doing such a thing, it left my mind wondering.

When the monument was erected in 1886 those words were intentionally used because that was the sentiment at the time. This belief is our history. As the plaque points out, attitudes do indeed change, but that wasn’t the attitude when the monument was erected. If we continue to make history politically correct and change it when the current attitude deems fit then aren’t we in effect forgetting its original attitude and therefore the struggles that went along with changing it?

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
-George Santayana

The fact that there were 4 consenting adults in this transaction even before anything began is what boggles my mind. Surely there are more civil, albeit less fun, methods of conceiving a child.

Octomom was able to do it, so why not them?