Cooperation

It's a word thrown around quite a lot, especially recently with plans of developing bills together in the US between the elephants and donkeys, in the EU to better the economy, the UN and whatever it is they claim to do. And yet no one actually cooperates.

I have some experience in this matter through school and work, and I find the same is generally true everywhere. There is an overachiever who has generally written off the group as useless from the start. There are the members who want to contribute but are just not educated enough or not experienced enough and anything they submit is worth its weight in feces. There are the members that do a lot of work quietly and end up not getting any credit for it. Then there are, of course, the free riders.

So the problem is whenever a group has such different people with completely different goals and understandings of what is a reasonable amount of effort. Different goals is the simpler of the two, as no one wants to be educated on what is reasonable effort. If you're in a group, at work let's say, and you want an A, another member is happy with a B or B+, and one is just intent on passing, there is no way to convince the latter for example, that they ought to contribute more, because YOU want an A. In fact, you'll likely have more problems with the member wanting a B, because to them you would seem high strung - what's wrong with a B or B+?

How do you resolve it? I haven't gotten that far yet. I know a lot of things don't work - being a dictator doesn't work. Being their friend doesn't work. Negotiation doesn't work.

Thoughts are welcome.

Ancient Ship Graveyard Found in the Mediterranean

Archeologists have found five ships from ROMAN times off of Italy's west coast. First off, I'd like to say - THAT IS SO COOL! How did these things survive 2,000 years under water? I have no idea, not that they're exactly seaworthy right now, but they are recognizable, they've even found various wines and sauces and such that the ships were transporting. The archeologists are speculating that the ships were attacked on their way back to Italy from North Africa, which is really the only explanation for so many ships taken down in one spot.

What amuses me is that because of the same technology that allowed these explorers to find these artifacts, ordinary "treasure hunters" will soon be able to start pillaging the same places. They claim they're on a race against time before normal people start finding these spots with the help of deep sea diving expeditions (very commonly offered to tourists in the middle east). While I am generally a HUGE fan of the "beware the idiots" comments, I have to say, archeologists would have not NEARLY the same wide knowledge of history without idiots. Take the dead sea scrolls. They were found by some kid who was looking after some sheep. He sold it in the nearby market for NOTHING to an archeologist who recognized them and immediately shat his pants. If it wasn't for that Sheppard boy though, those scrolls would still be in some cave.

Stompin' Tom Angry About Anti-Smoking Laws

I'd like to send a shout-out to dear Stompin' Tom, who is currently suffering. Why? Well new legislation may mean that smoking at venues is prohibited, which is really pissing him off. He's a chain smoker, you see, and "It's really uncomfortable to be a chain smoker and not be allowed to smoke anywhere." And he's right! How dare the government interrupt the personal lives of their citizens when they are spreading carcinogens in the air to unsuspecting victims - many of which being the elderly and children, who are far more susceptible to the harmful effects of those chemicals! This is communism. If I want to smoke, and give everyone around me cancer, then it's my god given right! The roadies chose to travel with me, so the fact that I smoke up to 108 cigarettes a day while they are near me is THEIR fault. And I bet most of my fans are smokers anyway. I'm going to move to Pakistan where I can smoke wherever I damn well please.


We're all with you Stompin' Tom. Keep smoking. Maybe the next cigarette will finally give you terminal cancer and you'll shut the fuck up.

Police Education

I heard what I'm pretty sure is a funny parody on the news today (odd, right?) about a judge who is so disappointed with the language abilities of police officers that he plans on throwing out cases where the officers cannot explain themselves in proper English. They brought on a parody of a police officer who speaks inadequate English (I'm trying to be nice) who claims to have started taking night classes to improve his language skills.

While that's all quite funny and cute, there is an underlying issue there that doesn't seem to get much media exposure. There has been a shift in the perception of police officers in the past few decades which, for the most part, means that most officers do not have a university education. Now, I am by far not one to argue that a university education ought to be mandatory for officers, nor do I think it would necessarily produce better officers, but there is an issue here. Why aren't the university educated going into policing? Simple, the stereotype that only people who can't make it in life past their high school glory years enter the field in an attempt to recapture the power they once held over those now more successful.

But why? Police officers are very well compensated, they get lots of time off work, excellent benefits, and the sky is the limit in terms of growth opportunities - especially if you prove to be highly intelligent. Ironically, this field where most people go into as a fall-back to other plans gone awry, puts exceptional preference on the university educated, and offers those much greater variety in terms of cases and an accelerated career path.

And there's never going to be a time where there will be too many officers. Really. Unless someone out there still believes in world peace.

Hopefully as time goes by more people will realize this and more educated people will go into police, so that issues such as tasering someone for holding a stapler will become less frequent.

United Breaks Guitars

I know this is very commonly reported, and so outside the realm of this blog, but damnit I've been on too many airplanes and got too much horrible indifferent service. So if you've been living under a rock, here's a link to the much discussed video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

This guy must be really furious, because some reports say that he isn't stopping at one song (of course, with the publicity his band is getting, I wouldn't either), and in fact writing and producing 2 more.

The one thing I'll add, is that watching the video made me feel really Canadian, and proud to be so. Only in Canada would we have a disgruntled compose and produce a song showing their discontent for a company - and do it well! It's a really good song! And with that awesome wry Canadian humour.

United claims they're used the video internally to improve customer service, but they're also putting travel agencies out of business and reducing the quality of their service while raising the price. It's time to rediscover the train!

Oprah.... *Sigh*

I've been off being sick the last week with a throat infection, and so I was bed-ridden and TV bound. Flipping through channels, Oprah caught my eye (proof of my sickness) with her show on "extreme life extension". This is a show where she parades her favorite doctor (Dr. Oz) who has a new diet out that will extend your life! This is a one-time-only offer available on this show only!

This is the breakdown (very shortly): you eat healthy, and work out. Revolutionary I know. They also recommend that you undertake what is now called a "calorie reduction diet" (Again, mind blowing). What this means is that you *only* eat 1900 calories per day, forcing each cell in your body to become more efficient. Now, I don't know about most people out there, but my metabolism is as fast traffic in New York, so if I want to even just not gain weight, I can eat, at most, 1600 calories a day. But nevermind.

They brought out a guy that follows this and has been for 8 years. He is 60, and doctors say his heart is that of an athletic 20 year old. How does he do it? He starts the day with a large bowl of berries and nuts. A WHOLE bowl. That's about 10 dollars just for breakfast, and he has to make it himself. For lunch, he goes out for a family sized bowl of veggies, again, at LEAST 10 bucks. All in all, he probably spends between 40-50 dollars per DAY on food. Even during a recession, and with food prices at an all time high. He also has a large home gym. Turns out, he's a successful attorney. Wonderful. They say he may actually live to 150.

So if you want to live a long healthy life - be rich.

Thanks Oprah, for the as always insightful and class-conscious comments. You're truly everyone's woman.