Sky is always blue

http://www.cottontimer.com/2009/11/27/leaving-the-sameness/

In a day when "social network" is a buzz term from colleges to board rooms, the members of Wednesday 10 show the benefits of old-fashioned networking. "We were all young kids starting out, and it is easy when you are so involved in building your career to lose touch with other people who are outside your field," says Mr. (Robert) Menschel, who has been at Goldman Sachs for 55 years. "It helped me to understand why other people do what they do—which is important in life and in business. You don’t learn anything from talking to sameness."

An Old-School Social Network – The Wednesday 10 – WSJ.com

I couldn’t agree more.

Almost three months ago, I took the leap and joined a multi-national marketing and advertising agency as their social media editor. I had some doubts about committing to something that, on the surface at least, had nothing to do with science. But, my gut told me that it was a rare opportunity to learn something that is also relevant to science communication. I am pleased to say that I have learned a lot during my time at the agency from filling in timesheets to creating PowerPoint “decks.” And I have already had the opportunity to apply those skills to the science arena as media consultant to the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO).

Leaving the sameness wasn’t easy. I often think it’s all very surreal that I’m overhearing and even participating in conversations that involve branding, customer engagement, KPIs, ROIs, FMCG, etc., etc. Just to show how out of it I can be, when working on a project, I often forget about including costs until the project manager reminds me!

It’s a whole different mindset and I’m being pushed to develop a new identity and to go outside of my comfort zone. Although it sure has been fun getting dressed nicely for work and having a mini-vacation from the kids! They are handling my return to work very well even on days when I am out at client meetings until 7 pm. I couldn’t have imagined that a year ago.

In the coming year, I hope to be able to take some short overnight business trips if necessary (I’ve already had to turn one down). And, I hope to have the opportunity to continue learning, progressing, and contributing both at work and at home. Wish me luck! 

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Photo: In my car on my way to work.

Also visit me at: Eye on DNA - How’s it going to change your life?

Hi,

I'd like to find a book to learn chinese (with traditional characters and preferably with the "taiwanese" way of saying things like 那裏)
I'm studying on my own but I've done a bit of chinese at university before so I don't need a very simple book (I learnt with "méthode d'initiation à la langue et à l'écriture chinoises" (a french book) but I didn't really like it).
I can't find any suitable book on the internet, so, if someone could help that would be very nice.

Sorry if the entry is inappropriate...

Not that this is particularly shocking, but Vietnamese officials have denied they are deliberately blocking access to social networking site Facebook.

The full story here.

It's true.

My 2 cents? This whole incident is just absurd and a waste of taxpayers' money. The restaurant manager is an idiot for allowing the staff to call the police just because the group refused to pay the required 18% gratuity for parties of 6 or larger. It's not like they didn't pay the bill for the food and tax. Given the horrible service provided, the manager even admitted it in the article, I wouldn't even say anything and just let them leave in peace. Instead, they blew it way out of proportions and now are suffering from the extremely bad reviews. Totally not worth it over $16 of tips.

I would not mind paying 18% for tips if the service is decent. I've tipped more than that when it's just a party of 2 because the service was truly above and beyond expectations. However, having to wait over an hour for food and getting my own dinnerware and drinks will not result in a single cent of tip! It's actually a bit similar to the experience we had at a local brewery in which we walked out after an hour and a half of wait and only garlic fries and beer made it to the table. It was my bf's idea and since he was a server for quite a few years and is usually very empathetic towards servers, I happily obliged and didn't feel guilty at all! HA!

This is why I favor the European way of including all the costs in the price of the item. That way, I know exactly how much I need to pay before ordering. And saves us all the headache of calculating the right amount (cost of food + beverages, tax, tips) for each person in a big party.

…seriously!

You were never on good terms with my boyfriend, yet, after you decided that my great friendship was not good enough for you, you befriended him on Facebook. I know it’s quite silly and immature to give a rat’s ass about my boyfriend’s FB’s friends list. But when it’s someone who dissed me and the many years of our friendship without so much as an explanation and “unfriended” (word of 2009) me on FB – you bet I’ll give a rat’s ass. And you bet I had a talk with my boyfriend about it. Guess who’s no longer on his friends list? I’ll give you a hint…not me!

If you would like to know about my life, why don’t you try being a nicer friend to me, starting with an apology, instead of snooping around my bf’s FB, yea?

Until then, I hope you’ll take it as a very strong hint and stay out of my life!

Okay, so I have to write a paper for comparative literature. Essentially I'm going to have to find how two cultures look at one another by evidence of their literature (if that makes sense?). So, I'm looking for some leads on finding books. I would prefer books from Japan that have depictions of or characters that are American. I would greatly prefer if they were set back in the 1800s or early 1900s, but that's getting a bit too specific I think. Also, if anyone knows any American literature that has Japanese characters (again, hopefully set about 1800s, early 1900s). So, any leads for me? thanks!

Hello all, I'm an undergrad double-majoring in Anthropology and Japanese Language & Culture, and am rather in desperate need of a little assistance.

I'm presently working on a rather large paper that will, ideally, be a critical review of Liza Dalby's ethnography, Geisha, published back in 1983. It's an extremely famous work, and Dalby is renowned as the "American geisha"... which is the point I wish to contest, as Dalby was never an official geisha after a year of dress up and pretend. (This point was brought up in a number of early scholarly journal reviews, and I've decided I agree and am going to run with it.)

What I need in order to do this is some sort of comparable work on contemporary geisha in Japan. (Contemporary being within the past 40-50 years.) This is proving rather difficult on my end, as it seems anthropological interest in Japan has waned in recent years, so any help would be immensely appreciated! (Papers, books, documentaries, anything is acceptable!)


On another note.... If the geisha paper does not work out due to a lack of resources, I'd like to take a look at Burakumin (Eta in the past), the sort of "Untouchable" class in Japan. This study would be in relation to Shimazaki Toson's The Broken Commandment and any recent studies/news on this group of people. Any pointers in this direction would also be extremely welcome!

Thank you so much for your time!