Recruitment and Selection

A couple of blogs out there on this subject, one even focused to the St. Louis area. I took a look and was pleased - this being my former career and all. Hard to believe recruiting.com was an available domain.

Recruiting.com
StlRecruiting.com

Once before I was in a titled IT position, I had a bit of good fun while interviewing a candidate. Said person figured me for the HR flunkie. Said person got some interesting follow-up questions to his BS responses. Buhahahah.

But that's like anything you do - once you're doing a particular role for a company, said people who see you in that role do exactly that - see you in that role. I still have some pretty fun inteview questions I spring on unsupecting potential hires when I tech screen. Oh, okay, I'll give you one.

Define quality.

hln

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PETA Package

I haven't posted about PETA in quite some time, so I have quite an arsenal today. Steve of Ad Rants has two of them, and it just keeps going from there.

I'll highlight one from Ad Rants. Painted Cows become billboards.

Golden Palace, that purveyor of online gambling and supreme stunt advertiser, has dyed several Florida county cows with with its name. And to stave off PETA, they dyed "Go Veg" on the side of one of the cows.

This clearly signifies it's time for Wendy's to resurrect "Where's the beef?"

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Benneton cannot escape PETA in Australia. The topic? Sheep torture. The picture's priceless. More naked people in paint. This time, solids. I'd imagine that's a quicker paint job.

Oh, wait, where was I? The Australian Wool Growers Association signed a deal with PETA that'll end a 10-year PETA boycott. Which probably means another industry is about to get bombarded. At issue is the practice of mulesing, which I had never heard of. Gory photos will give you a different picture than Wikipedia, which states that there's no effect on underlying muscle tissue. I'm assuming that's when the practice is done right.

Lambs are normally mulesed a few weeks after birth. After the operation, which takes one to two minutes, the lambs continue to behave normally. Because it is a skin snip, there is little blood loss from the cut other than a minor ooozing on the edges of the cut skin. Lambs rarely die or become ill after mulesing.

Lambs are mulesed onto clean pasture. The ewes and suckling lambs receive minimal disturbance until all wounds are completely healed (about 4 weeks). Observation is generally only at a distance.

Mulesing should be completed well before the flystrike season or else chemical protection should be provided to reduce risk to the lambs and ewes.

What else does Wikipedia have to say?

A viable alternative to mulesing has to ensure the health and well being of the lamb (many alternatives have proved to have disastrous side effects). It also has to be safe for the people carrying it out, and leave no residues in the meat or on the fleece. It certainly has to cause no more pain than mulesing and to be acceptable to the farming community both ethically and financially.

Non-surgical alternatives to mulesing currently being researched include topical protein-based treatments, selective breeding, organic insecticides and biological control of blowflies.

Merino sheep live productive lives of around eight( years. That means any mulesing alternatives need to be tested for a minimum of eight years to ensure the safety of the sheep and of the people who have to come in contact with whatever is used. So far, no alternative method has proved satisfactory and acceptable.

Breeding alternatives are very slow, even if GMO techniques were allowed (which is unlikely).

The eradication of the strike fly is not a viable alternative. Banning wool production would remove one of the most ecologically friendly agricultural systems for much of Australia. Farmers are currently trying to reduce the use of chemical protection in the interests of the ecology of wool processing countries

PETA's page. I could spend about 6 posts poking fun at the language of this one, even breaking out the Persuasive Attack and Defense course book.

Sheep farmers have reason to fear. Baaaaad.

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Finally, remember, Being Boiled Hurts. Ow.

hln

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Sound and Fury

Steve of Ad Rants highlights Dolby's website, which has two user interactive "experiences," as they're called. Way worth checking out. The "relaxing" spectrum of the jungle/water continuum should be very worthwhile on stressful days. I'm bookmarking it.

hln

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Ah, Journalism

Bored in the airport and perusing the news. This from the Post-Dispatch's online site just makes me smirk.



May, is; what's the difference in journalism?

hln

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Delayed Flight Wisdom

Just a few thoughts from the Tampa airport as I wait to board my now-three-hours-late flight.

• The airport Chili's doesn't serve strong enough frozen drinks. Order twice as many. Shrug off the cost with an "I'm on vacation."
• Florida marks Sea Turtle nests on the beach and declares it illegal to tamper with said nests.
• One shouldn't sunburn her shoulders when having to carry both a heavy purse and a laptop.
• Never ever get involved with the Literary Guild online "customer service" (an oxymoron in its own right - more to come when I have easy use of a mouse)
• Two hours of people watching is the limit for entertainment on just two frozen margaritas.
• Florida teaches Missourians proper skill levels for zippy U-turns.
• A minivan is not a convertible. Somehow, a minivan is an "upgrade" for a convertible. I disagree, car rental agent.
• WiFi in the airport...way cool
• FreeCell - not so hard.

Horribly inane, I know.

hln

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The Worst Song

I was brushing my teeth tonight and a song I absolutely loathe popped into my head for no reason.

Don't Mess With My Toot Toot

Made and remade by many. Urgh - what songs curse your thoughts?

hln

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So Long Atkins Diet

So I'm a ways behind reporting that Atkins Pharamceuticals is now bankrupt defunct. Good riddance.

There's an article today from yesterday I found on CNN that says no new diet has risen to the fore. And that's probably a good thing, too.

Some are counting the minutes between meals or checking a food's glycemic index. And old-school calorie counting continues to have its followers.

This week's bankruptcy filing by the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins' old company provide fresh evidence of the low-carb diet's demise, a downward spiral that began early last year. But no single new diet has filled the void.

I'm trying to trim a few, taking advantage of my exercise schedule this year which is a little less weekend warriorish and far more steady. The new, improved food pyramid really seems to have something here. Lots of whole grains, healthy oils. If you haven't visited lately, here it is.

In everyday eating, I'm apt to grab a bowl of raisin bran topped with blackberries and raspberries. It's not exactly a small bowl, either. While this works on days I ride in the morning and burn 600 - 800 calories, I have found I don't actually NEED 350 calories of fiber filled goodness on most mornings. So doing a bit of retooling there. Fewer calories at lunch, too, and a few more in the afternoon. Also trying to nearly wipe packaged foods out of my diet. The fewer ingredients in something store bought, the better. I've gone so far as to make my own salad dressings. This adds some olive oil in. Going to dust off the breadmaker and see what high-fiber concoctions I can come up with.

Just some pre-bike ride thoughts this morning. Don't forget to eat your whole grain bread.

hln

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