timtouring says: RT @RollingStone : Morrissey had to go to the hospital after being bit on his hand and arm by a dog: http://bit.ly/qzPdBZ
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A Chinese toddler who fell 10 stories from her family apartment and was caught by a passerby has woken up from a coma, doctors in Hangzhou said Tuesday. (July 12)
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Are you more afraid of failure or success? Which one is holding you back? Perhaps the answer is neither! Could it be that you are more afraid of being found out? Three weeks ago, we looked into the fear of failure followed the next week by the fear of success. While both fear of success and fear of failure are important to consider, I think there is actually an even deeper level of fear that could be preventing you, your team or your company from succeeding. I call this deeper fear, The Impostor Phenomenon. Several readers responded to the fear of success article commenting in particular about the fear of being relied upon. The basic tenet — the more successful I become, the more people will rely on me; the more they rely on me, the more likely it is that I will let them down. I’d rather not succeed than risk letting someone down. While I certainly understand that circular reasoning and the burden that can be associated with having others become dependent, my experience coaching hundreds of up and coming executives suggests that many people harbor an even more debilitating fear. What if they (my boss, my co-workers, my friends) discover that I’m not as good as I’ve been pretending? The Better You Get, the Better You Better Get In the fear of success article, I asked you to consider the downsides of success. What would happen if you became more successful, got the dream job, the promotion, the bump in income, or whatever it is that you call success. My friend and former business partner, David Allen of GTD fame, has a wonderful little aphorism that addresses the problem quite succinctly: “the better you get, the better you better get.” What that basically says is that with rising performance comes rising expectations, both from within your own self as well as from others. But what if your rising performance had more to do with “the blind squirrel phenomenon” (even a blind squirrel finds the occasional nut) than it had to do with your own skill and capability? You then run the risk of being found to be The Impostor — the just-barely-average-Jane masquerading as Super Woman. In the old days, this problem was known as “the peter principle.” As noted psychologist Dr. Laurence Peter explained in his book, “The Peter Principle”: “In a hierarchically structured administration, people tend to be promoted up to their level of incompetence.” He later said it this way “The cream rises until it sours.” Yummy image, isn’t it? Have you ever worked with or for someone who wound up being promoted beyond his or her level of competence? Perhaps you are the one who has risen beyond your own level of capability. A common scenario: you demonstrate skill at cranking widgets, a higher-up notices, and you wind up being promoted, becoming a manager of widget crankers. The challenge, of course, is that the skill of making something doesn’t necessarily translate into the skill of managing people, processes or projects. The Impostor may try to keep people at a distance, to avoid being found out, to avoid being discovered as another one of those blind squirrels. Strategies can range from hiding behind closed doors, creating draconian rules and command structures, or simply micro managing widget crankers. For the Imposter, success can also become personally destructive as the fear of being found out becomes debilitating; for others, the impostor phenomenon leads the team or organization into dire circumstances. Obviously, neither outcome is particularly good. However, there’s another side effect of the impostor phenomenon. What if you actually are pretty good, but your own self doubt leads you to underperform? What if you are so afraid of the demands of success that you actually undermine your own capability and adopt the imposter phenomenon as a different kind of cloaking device, one that avoids the responsibility often associated with “to whom much is given, much is expected?” What if you really could succeed at the next level and all you need is support, training or coaching? Here’s how one reader who prefers to remain anonymous put it in an email to me: I am a “successful” sales consultant for a major biotech company. Prior to that, I had a very successful six years as an officer and pilot in the military. I have succeeded in everything I’ve set out to do, which sounds great, doesn’t it? The catch is that as I’ve grown older I’ve only attempted things I was sure I could do, or was naive enough to believe would be easy. Despite prior success, I am absolutely convinced that I am one of those people you describe as being afraid of success. One thing I think plays a huge part in the psychology of fearing success is the fear of becoming relied upon by others. I know that in every success I’ve ever had, the number of people who became reliant upon me, as well as the sheer volume of things that also fell under my purview, increased immensely. That scares the hell out of me and I desire it less and less with each passing year. I believe it is the biggest factor in my choosing to avoid promotions and special assignments in work. I simply do not want people to continually rely on me (possibly for fear of letting them down, even just once? Don’t know for sure). I have the skills, the track record of success, and the experience necessary to take on much more, but I avoid potentially successful opportunities like the plagues of Egypt. I could tell you how badly this has affected me, but I would only do so anonymously, so I won’t include it here. What if you hold that fear of success, that fear of being relied upon? What if you are afraid of letting others down? What if you afraid of being found out? Here’s an odd twist on things: What if that very fear could become your source of strength? As you can probably sense, there’s a lot more to this and we have only begun exploring how fear might be in your way. Next week, we’ll go a bit deeper, looking at several other pieces to the puzzle. In the meantime, keep asking yourself what you want out of life and why you want it? What have you told yourself about taking the risks necessary to create what you want? What have you found useful in overcoming obstacles, in creating your own version of success in life? I’d love to hear from you so please do leave a comment here or drop me an email at Russell (at) russellbishop.com. If you want more information on how you can apply this kind of reframing to your own life, how you can take a few simple steps that may wind up transforming your own life, please download a free chapter from my new book, Workarounds That Work. You’ll be glad you did. You can buy Workarounds That Work here. Russell Bishop is an educational psychologist, author, executive coach and management consultant based in Santa Barbara, Calif. You can learn more about my work by visiting my website at www.RussellBishop.com. You can contact me by e-mail at Russell (at) russellbishop.com.
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By now, even the dimmest of Muggles knows that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a smashing success. Ever since this theme-park-within-a-theme-park opened at Islands of Adventure at the Universal Orlando Resort, people have been raving about the “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” attraction as well as Hogsmeade’s highly-themed shops & restaurants. But when you get right down to it, what’s the most successful aspect of The Wizarding World? “Forbidden Journey”‘s state-of-the-art ride system? The dazzling effects that theme park visitors experience whenever they visit Ollivander’s wand shop? Or — for that matter — the overall look of Hogwarts Castle and Hogsmeade Village. Which make you feel as though you’ve stepped inside one of the “Harry Potter” movie? And the answer is… none of the above. Based on surveys that UOR employees have done, the greatest Guest Satisfier in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, that piece-of-the-magic that people most wish that they could take home and share with friends & family… is a beverage. Butterbeer, to be precise. HARRY POTTER, characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © JKR. © 2011 Universal Orlando Resort. All rights reserved. Which just thrills Chef Steven Jayson, Vice President and Corporate Executive Chef for Universal Parks & Resorts. Given that he and his team labored for nearly three years to come up with a workable real-world recipe for this magical, mythical brew. You see, that’s the real problem with this particular beverage. Though Butterbeer is repeatedly mentioned in the seven Harry Potter books and the eight HP films, the favored ale of witches & wizards everywhere doesn’t actually exist. So — in essence — Jayson & Co. had to conjure up some Butterbeer. Deliver a drink that would appeal to hardcore Harry Potter fans as well as members of the general public. Not to mention meet the exacting standards of series creator J. K. Rowling. The research started early. Steven and his team made a trip to Scotland in July of 2008. Both to meet with Harry Potter’s author as well as to tour the various environs that had allegedly inspired J.K. (which included Edinburgh’s Hogs Head Pub). During that trip, Jayson reportedly quizzed Rowling in regards to Butterbeer. Trying to get this author’s exact thoughts on this imaginary ale. And Steven… He has supposedly done his homework prior to meeting with J.K. Carefully combing through all of the Harry Potter books, looking for any and all references to Butterbeer. Mind you, given that this beverage was going to be served in a family-friendly theme park, one aspect of this beverage (i.e. according to the Harry Potter books, quaffing this ale can give you a bit of a buzz) had to be dropped right off the bat. Furthermore, because Universal Orlando wanted as many guests as possible to be able to sample this brew (and that included the lactose intolerant), there could be no butter, or dairy products of any kind, in Butterbeer. J.K. allegedly agreed to these terms as Steven laid them out, but then added a few of her own. Chief among these was that — because Rowling believed that corn syrup was about to become the next trans-fat (i.e. the ingredient that people now deliberately avoid whenever they’re making their food choices). Which is why she insisted that Butterbeer be made with real sugar. So with this info in hand, Jayson and his team returned to the States and then retreated to Universal Orlando’s test kitchens. Where these would-be culinary wizards then attempted to conjure up some Butterbeer. “This was a pretty daunting situation,” Steven recalled during an interview which he gave during the Wizarding World’s grand opening press event back in June of 2010. “We wanted to take what Harry Potter fans had read in the books and seen in the movies and bring it to life. We knew that people’s expectations were going to be very high. What’s more, we had to create a beverage that was good for all ages.” Jayson and his crew of cooks then supposedly spent three to four months trying to perfect Universal Orlando’s version of Butterbeer. Company insiders told me that it took 15 to 16 tries before Steve finally got something that he was happy with. Why 15 or 16 tries? As Jayson explained at The Wizarding World’s grand opening event: “We experimented with all sorts of flavors. It took a while to get the flavor right where it needed to be. So it wasn’t too sweet. That it had this great comfortable feeling going down.” And then — after running this prototype by his bosses at Universal Orlando and then getting their tentative approval — it was time to see if Rowling herself would actually sign off on this version of Butterbeer. So they packed up all of the necessary ingredients (“Which was something of a challenge,” Mark Woodbury, Head of Universal Creative jokingly told me at this theme-park-within-a-theme-park’s opening press event, “Getting all of that stuff past the Department of Homeland Security”) and then flew them over to the U.K. Once there, Jayson and his team rented space in a kitchen in an Edinburgh hotel. To give J.K. a variety of beverages to choose from, they allegedly whipped up four variations on their Butterbeer formula along with the version that UOR officials were hoping the author would pick. Then Jayson’s boss — Richard Florell, Universal’s senior vice president in charge of Food & Beverages — carried that tray of drinks into Ms. Rowling. And then J.K. carefully sampled all five glasses. And upon arriving at the real glass of Butterbeer, Rowling reportedly took one sip and then reportedly broke into a big smile, saying “Yes, Chef. That’s it.” So Steve and his team had gotten the approval of the notoriously-hard-to-please J.K. But what about Harry Potter’s fans and the general public? Would they too respond favorably to Universal Orlando’s home-brewed version of Butterbeer. The answer to that question came during the soft opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. When the line of guests standing in front of the Butterbeer cart was almost as long as the one waiting to get into the “Forbidden Journey” attraction. But even so, Universal Orlando officials never dreamed that Butterbeer would become this popular this fast with the public. With Islands of Adventure selling its millionth mug of the stuff by January of 2011, less than seven months after this theme-park-within-a-theme-park had first opened for business. HARRY POTTER, characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © JKR. © 2011 Universal Orlando Resort. All rights reserved. Photo credit: Kevin Kolczynski, Universal Orlando Resort “So what exactly is the Universal’s version of Butterbeer?,” you ask. That information — as they say in the military — is classified. On a need-to-know basis. What I can tell you is that this popular beverage is prepared on property. Beyond that, UOR officials are determined to do whatever they have to in order to keep the precise ingredients of this super-popular ale a secret. In direct response to a series of questions that I submitted to Chef Jayson about Butterbeer earlier this year, he admitted that Universal has already ” …implanted special security procedures (in order) to protect the recipe.” “So — that said — what is actually known about this amber ale?,” you query. Well, there are two distinct phases to the preparation / pouring of a glass of Butterbeer. First the bottom layer — a slightly thickened mixture which tastes like a combination of butterscotch, cream soda and shortbread cookies — is poured into the bottom of the glass. Then the Butterbeer’s head — which is this lighter, fluffier, less sweet version of marshmallow fluff — is carefully placed on top of the brown brew that has previously been poured into this glass. Now where this gets interesting is that those who have tried to smuggle glasses of Butterbeer out of Universal’s Islands of Adventure (and you know who you are) have noticed that — after a half hour or so — that this artificial ale loses cohesion. Meaning that the top layer & the bottom layer then blend together, which creates this somewhat unsightly (and — to be blunt — hard to drink) beverage. Which — to Universal Orlando’s way of thinking — is a good problem to have. Meaning that: The only place where you get a Butterbeer as it is actually intended to be served is by visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. And that’s just what people are doing. Tens of thousands of them each day. Which is why — just last week, on the official one year anniversary of the opening of this theme-park-within-a-theme-park — Universal Orlando officials celebrated by treating everyone who was visiting Hogsmeade Village that morning to a free glass of Butterbeer. It’s also worth noting here that Universal’s overwhelming success with this Harry Potter-themed drink has not gone unnoticed by the Mouse. Which is why — when Carsland opens in the Summer of 2012 — this new “land” will feature all sorts of Route 66-style cuisine. We’re talking authentic comfort foods like macaroni-and-cheese & juicy meat sandwiches. Not to mention freshly-baked pies. But as fun as it may actually be next summer to roll on up to Flo’s V8 Café and then order some road food… I fear that Mickey may still wind up missing the mark here. Because — when you enter the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and then see that 20-foot barrel of Butterbeer sitting atop that beverage cart in the middle of Hogsmeade Village — you really can’t help yourself. You just have to order a glass of Butterbeer. Which now brings me to the big question, the one that only Huffington Post readers who’ve actually been to this recent IOA addition can answer: Which version of Universal’s Butterbeer do you prefer? The regular kind or the frozen?
Continue reading …Michelle Obama First Public Figure on ‘Better Homes and Gardens’ Cover in 48 Years
July 12, 2011 No Comment
“Better Homes and Gardens” hasn't had a public figure on its cover in 48 years. With President Obama's approval rating plummeting along with the nation's employment picture, they must have figured now was the time to break with tradition and do an ultimate exposure puff piece on his wife: Better Homes and Gardens will feature First Lady Michelle Obama on the cover of its August issue – the first public figure to grace the magazine's cover in 48 years. Obama will be the focus of an article on healthful eating for children. The issue will hit newsstands July 19. Editors from the magazine, which is owned by Des Moines-based Meredith Corp., and the first lady co-hosted a picnic in May for D.C. fifth-graders. The magazine features photos of the picnic and an interview with Obama about her efforts to promote healthful habits. Americans better prepare themselves for wall-to-wall Obama cover stories between now and November 2012 not just about him but also his family. If you thought the media pulled out all the stops in 2008, you ain't seen nuttin' yet.
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It looks like the BlackBerry Bold 9930 just finagled its way through the FCC, indicating the touchscreen, portrait QWERTY handset may be nearing release. This globe-trotting sibling of the 9900 comes packing a dual-band CDMA radio and a quad-band GSM tuner — in addition to the standard WiFi and Bluetooth antennae, and the increasingly popular NFC. Of course, being an FCC filing in which most identifying information has been removed, this is a bit of a guessing game. But, judging by the radios on board and the sketch of the label placement, it sure seems like the BlackBerry 7 OS -toting 9930 to us. BlackBerry Bold 9930 blows through the FCC, GSM and CDMA on board originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …A previously unknown painting by Michelangelo has been hanging on the wall of an Oxford University residence for Jesuit scholars since the 1930s, a respected Italian expert claims. Infrared technology has revealed that the painting at Campion Hall, previously believed to have been the work of Michelangelo’s lesser-known contemporary Marcello…
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Immigration not ‘out of control’, but failure to help unemployed foreign workers risks social unrest, governments warned The world financial crisis has led to a decline in migration and a sharp drop in people moving within the EU, according to the west’s leading economic thinktank. The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned governments it was wrong to say that migration, both legal and illegal, was “out of control”. But immigrants have been hit hard by unemployment since the economic downturn and governments must address this problem or risk the “stigmatisation” of foreigners and social unrest. The inflow of permanent immigrants to 24 OECD countries, including founder EU members, the US, Canada and Australia, fell by 7% in 2009. Much of this decline was the result of a 36% drop in “free-movement” migration within the EU between 2007 and 2009. There was a drop in migration from new EU member countries, notably Romania, Poland and Bulgaria. The number of temporary workers also fell sharply, particularly seasonal low-skilled agricultural workers and fruit-pickers. Seasonal migration dropped by 13% between 2008 and 2009, largely in Spain where people hit by the economic downturn took poorly paid, low-skilled work such as salad-picking, once only done by immigrants. The growing economic power of China and India had led to more people emigrating for work. Chinese citizens are now the number one migrants to OECD countries, accounting for around 9% of all arrivals. They tended to move to Japan, Korea or Australia and much less to the UK. Indian citizens were the third biggest group of migrants, butmany came to the UK. The number of asylum-seekers remained stable and relatively low compared with the early part of the decade or the historical highs of the early to mid-1990s. Iraq, Serbia and Afghanistan are the biggest countries of origin. But South Africa was the main destination for asylum-seekers, with many fleeing Zimbabwe, Malawi and Ethiopia. However, the report warned that the world economic crisis had had a “disproportionate effect” on immigrants who now faced problems of long-term unemployment, particularly low- and medium-skilled immigrant men, as well as youths in their late teens and early 20s. This was particularly so in countries where immigration had soared in recent years, namely Ireland and Spain. In Spain in the last quarter of 2010, unemployment among foreigners was 29%, against 18% among the native Spanish. “It is imperative to address this problem,” the report warned, otherwise there would be long-lasting effects on the labour-market integration of immigrants which could lead to “both stigmatisation and social unrest”. According to John Martin, OECD director for employment, labour and social affairs, as economies begin to recover, the effect of ageing populations and workforces is likely to mean the demand for migrant workers would begin to increase again. But societies would only be ready for this if governments took responsibility for telling their voters the truth about immigration and its positive benefits, he said. “It is important to get the facts out in the public domain. Migration, both legal and irregular, cannot be considered to be out of control and governments have shown that slowly but surely, they can improve its management.” He said governments should work on better integration of foreign-born workers and their children and not leave immigrants in ghettos. The report concluded that, given the severity of the economic crisis, migration movements – including family and humanitarian migration – had not declined as much as might have been expected. The inflow of permanent immigrants to OECD countries remained higher than it was before 2007. Migration Europe Global recession Financial crisis European Union Unemployment Angelique Chrisafis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A former patient of the clinic owned and run by Michele Bachmann’s husband says he was urged to “pray away the gay” when he went for therapy there. He was told prayer could help him be “re-oriented” and “rid him of his homosexual urges,” ex-patient Andrew Ramirez tells the Nation…
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Prison officers warn of insufficient staff numbers to oversee justice secretary’s proposals for improving inmate rehabilitation Plans to enable prisoners to work 40 hours a week inside jail are impractical because there is insufficient staff levels to oversee them, prison officers have warned the government. Steve Gillan, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, told MPs the proposals for improving rehabilitation have not been allocated adequate resources. Giving evidence at the committee stage of the legal aid, sentencing and punishment of offenders bill, Gillan said: “We are broadly supportive of prisoners working but it has got to be meaningful. You have to look at the situation where companies may be laying people off outside and setting up workshops in prison.” In one jail holding 1,000 inmates, there were workshop places for only 30 prisoners at a time, Gillan explained. “We were very surprised when Ken Clarke [the justice secretary] announced that it would be 40 hours a week. There’s not the space or resources. Prison officers only work a 39-hour week. We believe, and there’s evidence to show, that the prison population will not fall as fast as envisaged and there’s still a £130m hole in the Ministry of Justice’s budget.” But Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, welcomed the government’s proposals, suggesting inmates might even one day operate call centres from behind prison walls. “I see that BT has brought back its call centres from abroad,” she told MPs, “It could be that sort of work that could be done in prison, but it has to be run by outside businesses. “I have campaigned for work inside prisons for 15 years. Long-term adult prisoners should have the opportunity to do work, to contribute to society and to pay tax.” She doubted, however, whether legislation was necessary to give prisoners the opportunity to work because the powers already existed. “The only way savings can be made,” she said, “is by closing down institutions and switching to community [sentences] that will prevent people from reoffending.” At the start of the session the opposition accused the Ministry of Justice of trying to railroad through the bill and of failing to make enough time available for evidence to be heard. The Conservative MP Ben Wallace accused Labour members of “the pot calling the kettle black”, claiming bills had regularly been pushed through without adequate examination by the previous Labour administration. Prisons and probation Kenneth Clarke UK criminal justice Work & careers Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk
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