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Saturday, 24 May 2014

Make it look like, and have similar content to DPReview. ;)

In general I like the balance and slightly eccentric range of content on TOP but if I could have more of anything it would be discussions of specific photographs and analysis of style in specific photographers. As far as the presentation is concerned it would be nice if it were easier to locate stuff in the archives by theme etc and if images displayed larger and everything wasn't squeezed into such a narrow band. When I go to the site I would love each day to first see a striking photograph writ large, so to speak. Good luck with it. This will still be the one photo blog I read every day regardless.

My only comment will be to be careful with reply nesting. While it sounds like a good idea on paper, it's very easy to mess up, as facebook's absolutely terrible implementation should make clear. One feature that's absolutely key to have if you insist on having nesting is the "hide child comments" which promptly hides everything below a certain reply, allowing one to quickly move on to the next discussion rather than have to endlessly scroll down (especially since it is very hard visually to remember at which indentation level we should start reading again). If you want to see an implementation of it done right, check out reddit (e.g. http://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/1rg3cc/good_guy_getting_screwed_the_online_photographers/) : when you click on the [-] sign on top left of any comment, it hides that comment and any below it, using a nifty javascript trick which doesn't require reloading the page.

Or you could just keep using a linear structure. It's messier but it also "forces" people to read other comments to follow any discussion, which is half the fun.

A simple suggestion: theonlinephotographer.com should take one to the blog, not a page about the blog.

The way you've handled ads has been exemplary. No spinning, flashing animated GIFs, no rollout monstrosities requiring an action to close, no animated banners. They've been unobtrusive and perfectly acceptable. I hope their absence won't cost you much in revenue.

The best blog format I've seen is Ming Thein's. Its only shortcoming is reliance on Flickr for click-through to larger images.

Happy to stick with you on the journey, but at the risk of sounding like a party pooper, I enjoy the current format. This is not a "don't change" vote, just "don't change for the sake of change." Assuming that the content is still the same mix of information and opinions, I expect to have TOP in my daily routine of interesting things to see or places to go on the Internet. Good luck with the transition.

Ben Marks

Things I have liked best on ToP have been musing on the state, nature, and future of photography, as well as your various efforts to curate photographs into interesting collections.

Your thoughts and tastes are similar enough to mine to make me love these things, and different enough to make them interesting.

Well, it sounds good. The details of online forums are totally personal and persnickety, but "fast" is good, and I generally prefer threaded comments (I expect that one to be controversial, and how well it works depends on how easy it is to see just new comments). "Fast" is important of course, and a good way of viewing photos (maybe more photos that we've usually used), and access on phones and tablets.

Since advertisements pay for TOP (meaning you, plus the hosting costs) I can't very well complain about that. The way you've been doing it is okay. The new way you describe sounds like it might be better -- not throwing the same ads in my face in the same positions week after week.

I don't mind creating an "account" for something I actually want to use (I have good enough password management tools that it's almost transparent to me in use). That would be better than hassling with the "captcha" each time I comment.

TOP is the only online forum I bother to read regularly, Usenet and mailing lists just have so much better an interface.

Mike, in your new site I'd like to see more accomodation/encouragement for readers (and you) to incorporate photographs in the comments & articles that demonstrate/support their (your) thoughts. I'm not thinking this would be, at all, a place just to download lots of images. But I would like to SEE ideas along with the reading about ideas.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Good luck! :-)

Not exactly a suggestion more a plea with regard to nested comments - please make sure that comments don't get narrower until they end up 3 letters wide as the conversation progresses, which seems to be the way on many fora.

For the specific item of looking at a group of photos, I suggest some mechanism to do that via opening a new window so that when the viewer closes close it, they are returned to where they started (middle of article or something). If you're sticking to the daily blog update kind of flow, looking at a group of photos will almost always be in the context of reading something else.

If you intend to also have a permanent set of galleries available, they could be located one link away. The occasional single photo in the blog itself is ok though, imo, for one-offs.

Really only one request - keep the type black, and the background against which it sits white. You were probably planning to do that, anyway, but...

I suggest not indenting comment replies. It tends to increase the left margins too much.

What I'd like it for the site to keep track of the last comment I read on any given page and scroll me to the end of it the next time through.

Don't muck up a good thing by trying to improve it.

Neutral gray background, not the yellow-gold one. Causes colour shift in the brain.

Please no tea columns, I like Ctein but have no interest in tea.
Coffee and pool are okay cars too, cameras, printers, paper and images are on topic.
I prefer parrots to dogs (one for Ctein) Nikon to Canon and M43 to Sony or Fuji.
I have no problem with your ads as long as there are no pop-ups.
I like the sepia feel of your colors, and that your site looks the same on my iMac and iPhone.
Make yourself comfortable in life and keep on keeping on.
Thanks Mike.

Will the new site continue to support viewing through a feed reader (RSS feeds or similar)?

One of the things that I like about the current site, and hope will be retained, is the reasonable column width (read: narrow by web standards) for the main text. Overly long lines are much harder to read, witness the layout of well done printed books.

As much as I like his insight and editorial orientation, I find Kirk Tuck's site much more difficult to read. It fails the old typographer's rule, that line length shouldn't exceed 40-45 characters, by a massive amount.

Long running series may I suggest.

I am reading the 3880 reviews here to consider getting one. It is not possible for you to compete with site but what you get is trust. Hence, a long term series on a topic eg review sony 6 or 3880 after 3 years could be now feasible. We reach a stage you can hold a camera and use it a few year layer and it is still good to go. Hence this is viable now.

Even a dark room ...

I started out on blogger (with a fairly popular motorcycle related blog ans changing to Wordpress once things got popular and a bit more complex was the best move I could have made. Good Luck

Hi Mike!
First, I want to tell you that I am very excited,and I'm wishing you the best of luck.
Secondly, as is traditional, I'll complain about the choices you are making :-)
No, seriously, I think comments sections benefit from an absence of nested replies. People stay more civil, and write more clearly when it is evident that what they write will be read and judged by everyone. It makes it clear that the comments are part of a conversation, not a sequence of points batted back and forth. I would refer you to Making Light as a good example of comment culture done well. (Though the graphic design is rather plain.)

I wouldn't mind seeing an individual post describing a patron or sponsor as part of the daily blog. John Gruber handles them nicely on Daring Fireball, for instance in this weekly sponsor post.

Thirdly, as is not traditional on the internet, I want to thank you for all of your hard work, and to wish you the best of luck in this new endeavor.

Well, I LIKE TOP the way it is now. I also like Kirk Tuck's site, and Luminous Landscape. I don't like any byThom site, nor Mirrorless Photo Tips.

Hope this helps, at least a little.

When you have a "committee" make or influence decisions like this you end up with the lowest common denominator, which is usually a compromise of awfulness.

Mike, As long as the content stays the same I honestly do not care what the format is!

Well, I read TOP nearly daily and nearly 100% via RSS feed. I'm not sure how you trigger comments to appear on the feed, but you do a good job of feeding what I might call "highlight" comments. I'm often intrigued enough to click through to the article and read more of the comments. And the great thing is that even without clicking through to the site, I feel like I'm following the conversation with what you're feeding. It really makes a difference because there are some others I read that aren't like that and I always feel like I'm missing something.

Keep it simple with the addition of a photo gallery and a recommended books library. A products-for-sale page* with a shopping cart that changes with your offerings would be a big plus for all involved. From my limited 15 years in internet retail and design, I have found a simple design can help maintain future upgrades flawlessly.

*not a storefront

I have no problem with the layout of the current site. Having said that, my only suggestion is that you keep the comments set up as close to the way they are as possible.

I like the fact that clicking on the "Comments" link returns a page with the entire post intact. This makes it much easier to quote and refer back to your post when commenting.

I like the fact that there's no registration involved, and that I can click on a commenter's name to get to his site, rather than to a member profile in Google+ or some other intermediary page. I've been introduced to a lot of good work that way. I've also seen a lot of referral traffic to my own site as a result of those clicks.

I like seeing the comments unthreaded and in chronological order from oldest at the top to newest at the bottom—it's how I read.

I have no problem with Captcha. If I've taken the time to write a thoughtful comment, a couple seconds more is no hardship.

I like the column width—it's easy to read. The ads in the margins are not distracting.

That's it. Here's to the new and improved TOP.

Whatever design changes you may implement, don't change your content too much. TOP is such a pleasure - good writing and good photography together.

TOP's strength is that it is all about the written word, and not images. Please keep that focus, Mike, whichever way you go. Also, I understand you make a living from the blog. I have no objections at all to advertising on a free site; especially as at present, which is unobtrusive but effective.

I am happy with the current version, but what would be really nice is an app for android devices.

I'm glad to read that you've decided not to nest comment replies. Nested comments kill conversation.

I see someone has pointed at Making Light as an exemplar of a good commenting community. I'll second that; also, I hope you will consider a sidebar list of the most recent comments, as is done there. It helps to keep comment threads on older posts active, which is good for people like me who think slowly and are often late to comment on a post.

"It will be natively adapted to reading on tablets and smartphones" worries me--most blogs that do that are actually very hard to read on a phone, while current TOP looks just fine on my phone.

I read your site on an iPad and double tap the column of text so that it expands to nearly fill the screen in landscape mode. This allows my old eyes to clearly read the text (and lose the ads). So please don't mess with font sizes and column width too much!

Perhaps there could be a way to toggle back and forth between chronological comments and nested/child comments?

I undesrtand that this site is mostly not about showing pictures, but in the few cases the images are important, the presentation of them is really awkward. I think the images could and should be somehow a more natural part of the content.

Please get rid of the buff background. I suppose this sort of thing used to be popular a decade ago because people had the brightness cranked right up on their screens, and the Windows font engines of yesteryear didn't antialias fonts well if they did it at all. On a properly calibrated screen with a decent font engine, black on white is much more legible and attractive. A Mac with a nice photographer's monitor handles black on white beautifully. So does a Retina iPad. I don't have experience of recent Windows machines but I know the font engine is much improved.

Whatever you do, don't make it white on black with no option to ser it to black on white. I really think I would stop reading and visiting.

As for a grey background, that particular fad also annoys me. It's like handing someone a pair of glasses smeared with Vaseine when they entered the library and tellng them they weren't allowed to read a book without wearing them. Why would you do that?

[It's going to be black on white. --Mike]

Content. I love TOP for the content. I also like all the off topic posts as I have many interests. So keep up your writing, that is king, and the format is not important to me.

I read all the blogs I follow with Feedly, that means that everything (and I mean everything) I want to follow comes to me through Feedly. And the current "low tech" solution support that very well, as I can read the whole article in Feedly. When an interesting topic comes up, I click through to read all the comments, as I find the comments on this site to be of high quality.

I realise that this don´t fit well with advertising, but I participate in print sales and use your Amazon links, so I think in my case you make more money this way by having me as a reader. :-)

If the future web format of TOP don´t fit into Feedly (and similar RSS solutions), I think I will loose you over time, as TOP then no longer will be part of my daily information feed. Sure, in the beginning I will remember go to you site, but over time that will probably change in this content rich time where everybody want my attention. And then one day while driving to work I will think, "TOP and Mike Johnston, that was a great blog, wonder what happen to him, I have to google him one day."

Best of luck on your new design!

I enjoy looking at the work of commenters on your site. I hope you continue to have commenter's names linked to their website opening in a new tab/window. As I do most of my web reading on an iPad I find DISQUS to be dysfunctionally annoying to use on sites which use it so I hope you aren't planning on using it. Other than that I think your design goals sound spot on. Looking forward to the new site.

I like the current site.
Someone made an important point ( db ?) about column width. Too wide is difficult to read. Current setting is fine.
I would not like to see TOP turn into an equipment review site but I do appreciate your comments on your own likes and dislikes.
More of the same would be my wish

I could say skip the coffee articles, but keep the tea ones. I don't like coffee. As you well know you can never please everyone, but you do some of the best writing around. Keep up the good work. I don't actually care as what it looks like, as long as I can read it. If I'm not interested in an article I will skip it. The off topic articles are usually interesting, and they give us a fuller view of you, the person.

+1 on readability for smartphones. The current format is fine in a desktop but hard to read on an iPhone.

Since you can hardly avoid consideration of numbers and themes in these responses, I will add one more voice to those who have said that content trumps form. I visit TOP regularly the way I would read a first-rate newspaper column … if I had access to a first-rate newspaper which had a first-rate columnist. (Ah, those were the days!) First and foremost, Mike, I am here for your writing. However Edward Taylor's featured comment awakened me to the importance of the comments section and the lively and usually inteligent conversation to be found beneath TOP's banner.

TOP's articles and comments combine to educate me, but most importantly they frequently change my mind about things and prompt me to change my opinion or my point of view. That makes TOP a valued part of my life. As long as you don't really screw up the design, I'll keep coming back faithfully.

I only have two comments:

1. For me, the most important thing about comments is that they be moderated and approved fairly quickly. I know you've been busy AND experienced technical issues recently, which is a double whammy, but when comments don't get posted/updated for hours, they feel less relevant and it is harder for a conversation to develop. I know that moderating comments takes up a substantial amount of your time, so I hope that in the future you can hire a promising high school student to take on some of this work.

2. Like many people, I mostly read TOP at work, and my company has a fairly restrictive Internet policy. Many things that are entirely harmless are blocked and not accessible at work. Right now, TOP is fine. I hope you won't move to a service provider (for the blog, the comments or image hosting) that I won't be able to access. Just about every popular photo hosting website (Flickr, SmugMug, etc.) is not accessible to me. Obviously, you can't take my specific situation into account, but before picking a service provider, you might ask a few of your readers who work in a corporate environment to test whether they can access other content on that service provider.

I love TOP and will always read whatever your write. I have exactly zero complaints or suggestions in terms of content.

I agree with listing comments in the order received though many platforms let you switch between threaded and flat comment conventions. See DPR for an example. If you can do this in TOP nouveau then it will let people choose what they want.

The moderation burden can be lightened by supporting a login with each user having a moderation flag. Initially all users are moderated. After say, 10 non contentious comments the user's comments can be posted directly. Any moderation problem or subsequent complaint causes the moderation flag to be set true again. Of course such schemes can be gamed so keep it quiet if that is what you do.

Lots of good comments here -- and for every person advocating a specific change someone else opposed. That's a committee.

A few people have mentioned the narrow text column and the ease of reading. I concur.

Otherwise, go with your gut feeling. Can't go wrong with that.

My only suggestion is a please don't: Please don't go light-on-dark text. Too many photography-oriented sites use black or dark grey backgrounds, which is annoying and induces eye strain.

Light-on-dark text works well in dim or dark conditions, and conserves battery power, but that should be my option, not a baked-in design, and most reader apps and browsers these days give one the choice of "night-mode" when needed.

An ace designer will be able to give visitors a choice of themes, but that might be too costly (in multiple ways) to be worth it.

And while I'm on the topic, I should say that I like the sepia background on your posts and comments. It's easy on the eyes and sets TOP apart from "hipper" and louder blogs. It happens to be my preferred color scheme for ebooks. I'm sure a lot of people think it's staid or boring, and I won't consider it the end of the world if you change it, but I'm hoping you won't.

OK, I guess I do have a second suggestion: Please don't abandon us RSS users--please continue offering full posts via RSS (as opposed to just headlines or a paragraph); it's so much more convenient when trying to keep up on the go via small screens and iffy connections. Usually, I start reading posts via RSS and then go to the main site to read comments, but that's not always practical.

Sounds like I'm saying I pretty much like TOP the way it is, and that's largely true. The thing I least like is the captcha for comments, but I expect that requiring registration for commenting will eliminate the need. And I know we're all on the same page about giving images more respect.

Thanks for asking.

I'm glad I waited before commenting because Edward Taylor is spot-on about the blog and the comments.

This blog is one-of-a-kind. There should be more like it but . . .

There are many accomplished photographers reading this blog. I would like to get some ideas about a very basic, "beginner-type" issue: "What is the thinking about best practice when it comes to cleaning an expensive, filter-less lens."

Include: specific techniques, names of supplies, gadgets, etc.

I like it as it is and don't really have problems with any aspect of it currently except maybe sometimes when I go to that page that isn't TOP but that tells one where TOP is. Captchas are a bit of a pain but a price worth paying.

I prefer a light, not white background with black type. There is enough contrast and it is easy on the eye. I also like the narrow column and general layout.

One issue I have is that sometimes photos when enlarged are too big for my screen (2008 iMac) but that might be at my end. I have no idea.

I'm glad you are not doing nested comments. As a member of a motorcycle club that discusses many things over the web, we were using emails until we got close to 20 members, then topics would split off into several similar emails and confusion reigned.

We now have our own private forum and while we often veer off topic, we always know what we have and haven't read, and the whole discussion is there in order. As with many forums (I think) the icon changes to show that there is a post or posts that I haven't read. This may be possible for you, but as other have said, being placed at the first new comment would be nice.

I forgot: The mix of subjects is just ticketyboo. I can't think of any changes you could make here.

I have been crying in the wilderness for a "recent comments" box, which for a comment driven site is essential.

I would only like that and a wider picture format.

My own readers on my blog prefer nested comments, but they get squashed so narrow after just a few replies.

Hi Mike,
I second the opinion of Trecento on nested comments.
For the rest of it, I like it very much just the way it is!

Dear Mike,
I'd like above all, to see more stuff about the art of seeing, about where you can take photography aesthetically and intellectually. I have special fondness for B&W film, but I have to face it - it is becoming a dying genre, so let's move on with whatever makes interesting images. I certainly am not interested to find out why the latest sensor outresolves the previous one, and by how much.

All these comments mostly are a great complement for this site. There is not much left to add, so I just would like to second Marek Fogiel's post: more on the art of seeing would be nice. And maybe a Latest Comments Section.

I would love to see a vertical bar (or other arrangement) of thumbnail pictures/links for book recommendations. I really miss this feature from your older blog. I can even imagine another column of thumbnails on the other side for "random excellence" examples, so that we can explore other photographers' websites that you've discovered and found interesting. This would help greatly when I'm visiting TOP for the 10th time in a day because my data crunching is driving me crazy, LOL, and there are no new posts/comments to read.

Looking forward to the new site. Black on white will definitely be an improvement to me.

As a general comment, I find that photos are pretty scarce on TOP, which is kind of ironic. I really think that most of you excellent articles would greatly benefit from having more than the usual one or two images. Maybe it's the layout and I have a false perception on this, but I'm sure you know what the average number of photos per post is.

Also, in book reviews, do you think you could occasionally include a short video-clip (kind of a hands on) describing the layout, feel, etc, or at least some photos showing double spreads from the book? Sometimes that can be a good complement to the written review, and make some people more inclined to buy the book. Again, not sure if this is doable in terms of copyright laws.

That's all I can think of right now. Good luck with the changes!

Content aside - you need a reliable webhost. Someone who can handle traffic, offers CDN, etc.

I've very good thinks about RockStar Hosting, I myself use WPengine. They cost more but are worth the money.

I'm glad you axed the idea of nested or threaded comments which would have added to your moderation burden. Comment threads will go against TOP's "site zeitgeist." In other sites, threaded comments tend to provoke oneupmanship and self-indulgence even when moderated. It's also insidious in that it inflates the count and deflates the quality of comments (say, a 100+ comment count most of which can be attributed to a handful of commenters who have hijacked the discussion and the inevitable host's replies or refereeing which are counted as "comments").

Content-wise, I have no complaints and look forward to more of the same in TOP's new platform. My suggestions below are all about the layout or template, mindful of your plan to make TOP "streamlined, reliable, fast, and responsive."

Two-column layout in stead of three

The current three-column layout at its default (100%) magnification renders the base font too small. I have to zoom the page to 125% to be able to read it without eye strain. When zoomed to 125% one of the two sidebars is truncated anyway.

I suggest retaining only one sidebar at its current width. The width of main (blogpost) column could then be increased by the width of the second sidebar. The advantage of a wider main column is that it will accommodate both: (a) wider pictures, say, at least 800px (the current 640px default width is quite small) and (b) a larger base font for better legibility at the default magnification. (If the line width in the main column in a two-column template turns out to be longer than the current one which we have been used to, this can be adjusted by "indenting" the paragraphs of the main post and comments relative to the picture width. The resulting white space will add relief.)

Some of the contents of the second sidebar (i.e., the rightmost column) can be moved to drop-down menus in a navigation bar, just below TOP's masthead, e.g., SEARCH, RESOURCES ("About"), CATEGORIES, ARCHIVES. The others (just as important) can be consolidated with the contents of the left sidebar. By casual inspection, I think the contents of the consolidated sidebar will easily fit the scroll-down Main page (and the article page as well depending on its length and the number of Comments). The surviving sidebar may be located to the left or right of the main column.

Reader-friendly and intuitive Comment window

In stead of the "(You can use HTML tags like <b> <i> and <ul> to style your text...)" "legend" below the current TypePad comment box, please provide icons that will automate the insertion of photos, videos, and links which a reader may wish to upload with his/her Comment. (Like the icons usually found in the "Compose" window of email apps).

This way, a commenter only have to type (or copy and paste) the url address of his/her pictures. In addition, the blog software should automatically resize the photo to fit the template's default size. It should be at least 640px wide. The current 470px default width is too small. And since we have to submit the image at the prescribed 470px max width, it remains at that size when clicked-through. Ground rules re uploads of images owned by third parties, should also be indicated (or linked to) below the Comment box. (I think the current "protocol" is to link to third party images rather than submit it as an inline image.)

Text formatting should likewise be automated with icons rather than manually typed tags. (This will get rid of those instances when the Comments suddenly go italics because a commenter forgot to type the closing </i> tag.

Hopefully, broken links (to images), truncated pictures, ungainly spelled-out hyperlinks, formatting shifts—the bane of the current Comments section—will be a thing of the past come the new TOP platform.

HTML 5 compliance

If the new template is "natively adapted to reading on tablets and smartphones," then it's HTML 5 compliant. As I understand it, HTML 5 streamlines the insertion (uploading) of multi-media (video and audio clips in addition to images) and their display across platforms including tablets and smartphones. Up-to-date templates at Blogger and WordPress already implement this.

Modern (HTML 5) templates are faster loading across platforms. They are optimized for display on computer screens, as well as tablets and smartphones which have smaller screens and use a different GUI. I think the blogging software senses what platform is being used at the receiving end and deploys the appropriate template. Just because a modern template is accessible to other platforms doesn't mean that the manner in which a page is displayed in "traditional" computer screens is compromised. It isn't.

The RSS feeds of pages using a modern template ought to improve as well, whether or not the reader is HTML 5 compliant. If the RSS reader is HTML 5 compliant, it will feed off the appropriate template. If not, it will feed off the template optimized for computer screens.

Thank you for soliciting readers' suggestions. Looking forward to the new TOP!

(P.S. I'm re-submitting this comment because the one I posted on Sunday hasn't come through yet, maybe because of an outage?)

The writing and content (and comments) here are excellent, Mike. I imagine these will remain much the same, as they should.

I have only two small suggestions, otherwise:

1. Going to www.theonlinephotographer.com takes you to the blog/content and not the "about this site" page (this is a peeve of mine; my browsers always default to the "about" page as the top hit).

2. Clicked links should open in the current window; they should not spawn a new window. Reason is that navigation shortcuts (back button) don't work as they should, or you expect, when you get booted into a new window. Opening another browser window should be by user's choice only (e.g. with a right-click).

Larger photographs, or at least links to larger versions of the photographs you feature in your posts.

Well, if you really have to make some change, I can suggest a blog whose design I appreciate and tell you what I think are good points: just google for... theonlinephotographer!

I read it mostly on my phone on the way to work, and I like that the column width is as large as it can be while still remaining a practical read, I hate it when I need to switch the phone to landscape orientation to read. On the computer, I also appreciate that the column is not larger than needs be. A bit more would be ok but at some point it starts getting harder to find the line below on the other side.

It's really great that there are enough posts on the first page, it's tedious when you only get access to the last 3 or 5 posts before you need to go to the next page. But it's even worse if you have to click on a post to be able to read it entirely (comments excepted of course).

They have an über-great featured comment feature! Regarding comments, I for one appreciate that they do not appear immediately or even too swiftly. I find it prevents the development of many parallel one-to-one conversations and helps keep the comments of general interest and on-topic.

OK, for a photography blog maybe the pictures side could be better. If you have to have overlays, just keep it easy to come back to the post. And beware the page weight: most of all, I appreciate that the site is light in terms of bandwidth, which comes in particularly handy when the network is sketchy in the metro!

For smartphones, please avoid this wordpress feature where if you swipe right or left you go to the previous or next comment. It's more often unwanted than not. By the way, I've seen many really bad implementations on wordpress, but not on all blogs so it must depend from user (writer) parameters. At some point Kirk Tuck's blog became unreadable (I see it's on blogspot now).

Of course, I am a regular for the excellent content and not the design, but I'd hate to think the latter would prevent my enjoyment of the former by being an obstacle. Oh, and good luck! Not unexpectedly, from the comments it looks like a tough job to please the many contradicting opinions!

The comments to this entry are closed.


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Twilight of the superheroes

The ghost of Time Inc.’s Henry Luce haunts Bill Keller, Executive Editor of the New York Times
By PETER KADZIS  |  April 28, 2010

While riding the New York subway one warm night in 1922, Hotchkiss-schooled, Yale-educated Henry Robinson Luce conjured the name of his epoch-defining magazine after spotting an arresting advertising placard.

Tycoon-to-be Luce stared. “TIME FOR A CHANGE,” he read. Time! Of course! Luce (anxious, expectant, ambitious, and — now — almost triumphant) would call his magazine Time.

Luce’s business partner, psychic rival, and fellow denizen of New Haven’s most elite secret club, Skull & Bones, was professional golden boy Brit Hadden. Hadden concurred with Luce’s genius: Time it would be. But not before Hadden added his own bit of flash. Time, Hadden decreed, would be . . . (drum roll), a “news magazine.”

Thus were born an icon of a publication, a groundbreaking genre, and the makings of an imperial media empire that, 88 years later, would outstrip founder Luce’s stable of worthy Presbyterian inventions — Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated — to include the vulgar, down-market, and obscenely profitable People, the amusing middle-brow confection Entertainment Weekly, the slick and vacuous InStyle, as well as the accessibly chic, almost provocative Hollywood-cable niche Home Box Office. Mass-cult content had merged with mid-cult audience to produce annual revenue of approximately $26 billion — despite the perennial disappointment and constant drag of CNN and its wraith-like, geezer headliner, Larry King.

What would dour, dutiful, power-obsessed Hank (as his intimates called him) make of good old Larry? The mind reels, backward . . .

‘Almost perfectly designed’
Alan Brinkley, the Allan Nevins Professor of American History at Columbia University, has done journalism junkies and students of popular culture an immense service by rescuing Luce from the confines of footnotes and the mist of legend with his new study, The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century.

Luce was one of a quartet of Americans who hailed from the middle of nowhere and emerged during the Roaring Twenties to reengineer a thriving journalistic marketplace, which outside of big cities was hokey and limited, but nevertheless extremely literate. These were, of course, the days before television’s narcotic began to corrode and compromise public intelligence. The challenges of the Great Depression, the 1950s boom in domesticity, the trials of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam all fortified a public insatiable for things to read, to be entertained or enlightened via words and images on a printed page.

Luce was not the only one to intuit this need. Harold Ross founded the New Yorker in 1925. DeWitt Wallace started Reader’s Digest in 1922. A Washington, DC–based wire-service reporter named W.M. Kiplinger in 1920 launched what grew into an eponymous family of weekly newsletters, giving the John and Jane Does of middle America access to inside political skinny and sophisticated financial and tax advice. And it was during this time that the syndicated newspaper column came into its own.

Before Rupert Murdoch (whose News Corporation harvests $30 billion in annual revenues), there was Luce. And before Luce, there were the press barons Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, and Robert McCormick. This swashbuckling trio of nativist nationalists cultivated working-class audiences with pungent headlines and sensational stories. Meanwhile, Adolph Ochs — and the New York Times he made respectable — sold the growing cadres of the haute bourgeoisie on the virtues of balanced reporting and understated display while simultaneously nurturing a reform-minded, internationalist point of view.

1  |  2  |  3  |   next >
Related: Through a glass darkly, Is Murdoch’s WSJ being snubbed?, Murdoch mishegoss, More more >
  Topics: Media -- Dont Quote Me , Sports Illustrated, Teddy White, John Hersey,  More more >
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 See all articles by: PETER KADZIS

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Utah Cosmetic Surgery Giveaway

A few weeks ago a small group of bloggers and I had the opportunity to attend an event with Utah Cosmetic Surgery and Dr. Haupt and now we have the chance to offer all of you a $2500 giveaway! I had a few reservations. I think aging can be quite beautiful as the person has lived, loved, and experienced so much, BUT I also am a huge believer in taking the best care you can of the body you’ve been blessed with. So, we all sat down to hear about skin care. Something I fully admit to knowing nothing about and only recently started washing my makeup off at night. I walked in thinking that cosmetic surgery for skin care meant botox for women who are obsessed with being perfect. I walked out a true believer in skin care, Dr. Haupt and his entire office. In fact, I’m not just a believer, but I am a patient now too. So let’s learn about Utah Cosmetic Surgery-$2500 giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dr Haupt, Leading Surgeon According to Forbes

According to Studio 5, “For two consecutive years, Dr. Scott Haupt, MD, at Utah Cosmetic Surgery has been selected by Goldline Research and seen in Forbes Magazine as being one of the 10 best plastic surgeons in the country. He is the only plastic surgeon in the Intermountain West to receive this honor. Dr. Haupt has extensive experience in wound care, plastic, and reconstructive surgery. He has been seen on several local news segments over the past several years and is sought after as a credible source on the latest cosmetic procedures. As a board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Haupt has completed over 7,000 procedures”.

Dr Haupt is awesome. He is the opposite of every surgeon you’ll ever meet. Seriously. I don’t feel bad at all telling you that pretty much all surgeons (or even many doctors) seem to think they are the bomb.com and ready for the money. Which, that’s fine, but Dr Haupt is all kinds of wonderful. He’s very soft spoken, kind, humble and extremely well educated. He loves to keep learning and growing in his field, and especially loves getting better and more informed just so he can help you make wise decisions and he can take good care of you. He emphasized multiple times that he just wants to help the patient feel and look better, but in a way that’s actually good for them. He has actually had a patient come in that did not need lipo on the stomach and (because lipo can actually create a little irregularity in appearance on the stomache) he told her he just couldn’t do it because she had beautiful abs and would risk making them look bad by having the procedure. I love that. Someone who isn’t after your money, but just wants you to feel beautiful and confidant.

That night we got to watch Carrian get a mild chemical peel done and see what it was like!  I had never seen it done before so I didn’t know what to expect.  Carrian did amazing and it was a painless procedure.  A chemical peel is one of the least invasive way to improve the appearance of your skin.  They use a chemical solution to remove the outer layer of your skin and remove all of the damaged layers.  Carrian looked amazing and had baby soft skin.  They did such a great job!

I also chose to have a mild chemical peel done.  This is probably something that I would have never done in my life.  I made my appointment and was so excited to try it out.  The staff was so nice and friendly and explained everything that would be happening for the chemical peel.  After my chemical peel I couldn’t even believe how my face felt!  It was so baby soft and smooth.  I felt like I was glowing as I walked out of there.  And call me crazy but I even felt younger!  I kept thinking to myself, why haven’t I gotten a chemical peel before?  My skin felt amazing for weeks and was smooth and soft.  I can’t wait to go back to the amazing staff at Utah Cosmetic Surgery and get it done again!

You Can’t Work Out to Make Your Body Better But Ignore Your Skin

Dr Haupt made an amazing point about how people make goals to take better care of themselves but the area that will always be a dead giveaway about age, health, and nutrition, the skin is always forgotten. You have to take care of yourself inside and out. Skin care is like going to the gym, you have to be willing to do it and keep doing it. Ding, ding, ding! Totally hit home for me. Duh, why wouldn’t I want to do little things to stay looking healthier and younger longer?

5 Things You Should Be Doing to Stay Looking Young

1. SUNSCREEN- Yup, that’s me yelling it. It takes years and years for sun damage, which occurs deep down to appear. That means that the sun burn you got when you were 16 wont be showing up until you’re like 45, and so on. Wear sunscreen. No healthy diet or workout can protect your skin from the harmful rays of sun. Yes, tans and “glowing skin” look pretty, but when you’re 65 and leathery will you really be thinking, If only I’d gotten a better tan! Trust me, I’m totally on board with this. I’ll use a sunless lotion tanner rather than destroy my skin.

2. Wash off your makeup- Makeup doesn’t just sit on the skin, it soaks in and overtime can actually make a difference in your skin. Wash it off.

3. Wash your face with a cleanser- All day long dirt, wind, pollution, sweat, makeup and so on beat up our skin. A good cleanser cleans all of that out and allows the skin to breath and regenerate. Thus leaving you with a prettier face. This includes men. Trust me, even male celebrities are taking care of their skin.

4. Antioxidants inside and out- I knew that antioxidants were good for us on the inside, but I didn’t know that we need them on our skin too! I’ve found this new product at UCS and while it’s not drugstore cheap it is cheaper than the $250-$800 bottles of tonics at Nordstrom AND it works waaaaay better. It’s amazing. Ask for it for Christmas if you need to, but add this to your morning routine and stay lovely forever. Heaven knows I am.

5. Skin Care Procedures-I wasn’t expecting to say this, but skin care procedures do not have to be invasive and they certainly are not to look like Joan Rivers like I thought, sorry Joan. We shave our legs, get waxed, get facials, put on lotions, get moles removed, get rid of blackheads, brush our teeth, floss and so much more to take care of our bodies. Skin care procedures are the same. They are not (though some do abuse and go too far) to change your face into plastic. From chemical peels to fillers these are just ways to help our bodies restore what’s going away (hello, you color your hair or take supplements to do the same thing) or clean things up after years of abuse. I receieved a mild chemical peel to get rid of the old, dry skin and baby, I feel amazing. AMAZING. My skin has a little glow to it and boy is it soft. It did not hurt in the slightest bit, and I looked totally normal just more even toned the next day. Obviously you can get stronger forms, but this one simple thing cleaned up my skin after 28 years. It was worth it. If you’re on the fence just do it. You wont regret it. And in fact, you’ll love it. Tell your spouse you want to do something healthy for your skin this year and ask for a skin care procedure for Christmas.

I am Alyssa and the blogger behind The Recipe Critic. I started my blog in June of 2012 as a place to share my passion for cooking. I love trying new things and testing them out with my family.

Latest posts by Alyssa (see all)

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Salted Caramel Butter Bars

  1. Mini peels are great and I think this is a fun giveaway!

  2. The chemical peel looks great! My skin could definitely use some help!

  3. I pinned from each of the bloggers!

  4. A mini peel sounds great!

  5. Amie Ware says:

    I would love to win this!! I just had my 3rd baby and could use some help 🙂

  6. Brittney P. says:

    I would love to get a chemical peel!

  7. Julie Dispain says:

    I would love to win this! I have never had a chemical peel.. What a great prize!

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The Sebel is coming to Silverwoods

Luxury international 4 star boutique hotel and serviced apartments, featuring a fine dining restaurant, bar bistro, day spa and function facilities set right on the waterfront precinct at Silverwoods, overlooking Lake Mulwala.

Register now to receive more information about this exciting investment opportunity.


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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Happy Healthy Tuesday

Well it is a new month and boy do I have news and information about my life.  It seems that it has become easiest for me to blog on the days I am at clinic.  That is probably because I am sitting a lot with my own computer and I have a bit more freedom.  What I am going to do is try and write several and have them scheduled to post, that way I can go back to doing the “When Bad Diets Happen” and other such blog topics that are far more interesting than just hearing about my life.

I am here to talk about my successes since my last blog post, the most amazing and my personal favorite is the fact that I have quit smoking!!!  It has been 29 days and I have saved $110.87 so far.  In this same vein I should give a huge shout out to my boyfriend who put up with me through the horrible days of withdrawals.  I really am proud of this fact and I did it cold turkey.  I also wannna give a big shout out to my friends who are all trying to quit with me.

I think I have lost another 6 pounds since my last blog post so I have that going for me, which is nice.  I have been going to the gym at least 5 days a week with at least one day being a weekend where I do a full hour or more of cardio.  Before you think I am one of those all cardio girls, we have finished all of our first 30 day challenge and have moved on to a new set.  This month we are doing lunges, wall sits, push ups and bicycle crunches.  We are really enjoying the constant and progressive counts and it makes us get really strong.

Its been a really good 3 weeks (or so) I am not sure there is much else to report, you know where to find me if you want!

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Basic Information
Marital Status: Never Married
Languages: English, Other
Referred by: Referred by a friend
Physical Appearance
Ethnicity: Asian
Height: 5' 2" (157 cm)
Eye color: Brown
Hair color: Black
Body Type: Slim
Weight: 105 lbs (47.6 Kg)
Sense of humor: Goofy: Cartoons still crack me up, Friendly: I'll laugh at anything
Exercise: Every other day
Daily diet: Keep it Healthy
Smoking: No, never
Drinking: No, Never
Living situation: Live with other family
Have children: No
Want children: Yes
Professional Life
Education: Bachelors degree
Employment status: Full-time
Job schedule: Full time other hours
Hobbies: I like watching cartoons, romantic, comedy and "spy" movies.
Sports: Billiards / Pool, Dancing, Running, Swimming, Tennis / Racquet sports, Volleyball, Walking / Hiking
Favorite things: I like spicy food, sweets (chocolates with nuts) pasta and pizza.
Last reading: I have read am article about how amazing and brave C-section mothers are.
Common interests: Camping, Cooking, Book club / Discussion, Dining out, Gardening / Landscaping, Hobbies and crafts, Movies / Videos, Playing cards
No Blogs


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Marriage licenses

-âJason Todd Harris, TallaÂhassee, Fla., and Crystal Leann Swartzfager, Starke, Fla.

-âRobert Lee Blakely and Jennifer Lorene Ruiz, both of Scranton.

-âRussell D. Gow III and Sharon Lee Graham, both of Factoryville.

-âSean Robert Boggio and Mercedes Brooke Cox, both of Dunmore.

Property Transactions

-âInsalacos Real Estate LP, Pittston, to Petty Development LLC, Roaring Brook Twp.; a property at 431 Lawrence St., Old Forge, for $1,750,000.

-âSalvatore Micciche, Ann Loughney and Marlene Wartel, Dunmore; John Micciche Jr., Florida; and Michelle Coar, also known as, Michele Coar, HarleysÂville, to Timothy F. Canjar, MadiÂsonÂville; a property at 123 Elm St., Dunmore, for $125,000.

-âJohn Hice and Shirley Allen by power of attorney, Daniel R. Sutphin and/or Linda L. SutÂphin, trustees of the Sutphin Family Trust, to Joseph Andzulis, Dunmore; a property at 321 Sheridan Ave., Clarks Summit, for $130,000.

-âLawrence Smith ConstrucÂtion Inc., to John Basalyga; a property at 117 Wellington Drive, Roaring Brook Twp., for $504,088.

-âBernard J. and Hollie Saxe, Clarks Summit, to Jonathan E. and Rachel L. Strayer, Clarks Summit; a property at 117 Ackerly Road, Glenburn Twp., for $144,000.

-âStacey DelVecchio and Lori Brucheri, co-executors of the estate of Anthony DelVecchio, Dunmore, to Robert J. Tupe, DunÂmore; a property at 542 Chestnut St., Dunmore, for $115,000.

-âWells Fargo Bank, to RichÂard Paul Swingle; a property at 21 Prospect St., Fell Twp., for $34,000.

-âCountry Time Properties LLC, Clarks Summit, to Kristel Gallagher and Amanda Stanley, Factoryville; a property at 324 Tulip Circle, Clarks Summit, for $180,000.

-âFrancis J. and Madelyn A. Vanston, Scranton, per attorney in fact, Mary Lance, Moscow, to Joseph and Vilma Amendola, Scranton; a property at 104 N. Gravel Pond Road, Glenburn Twp., for $200,000.

-âDavid D. Huggler, executor of the estate of Gladys RankÂin, Newton Twp., to David H. and Holly Gilpin, Clarks SumÂmit; a property at Route 440, Newton Twp., for $165,000.

-âMary E. Kramer, Blakely, to Patrick Willson, GouldsÂboro; a property at 808 W. Grant St., Blakely, for $115,000.

divorce decrees

-âFrances Atwell-Lynn v. Patrick G. Lynn.

-âDale Stine v. Judith Dailey Stine.

-âMegan Jean Westgate v. Joshua Arthur Westgate.

-âVirginia Ruth Boone v. David J. Boone.

-âMary Jude Ulmer v. Dale Ulmer.

-âDonna K. McDonough v. Gerard M. McDonough.

-âTamara Mislinski v. Walter C. Mislinski.

-âEdwin Alvarez v. Cinthya Romero.

-âMary C. Matos v. Matthew S. Matos.

-âAnalicia Bayon v. Moses Bayon.

-âApril Oliphant v. Chahi Oliphant.

-âLinda Carroll v. Ricky Martin.

Estate filed

-âAllen J. Exeter, 1300 Springbrook Ave., Moosic, letters testamentary to Aileen Exeter, same address.

-âRobert and Lori Sweet, 2223 Capouse Ave., ScranÂton, v. Dario and Lenore Fiorelli, 525 Main St., Eynon; seeking in excess of $50,000 on two counts for injuries suffered Jan. 10, 2011, in a motor vehicle crash on Route 6, Blakley; James J. Powell III, attorney.


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Marriage licenses

-âDavid Allen Romanowski, Nanticoke, and Pamela Sue Learn, Jefferson Twp.

-âJamie Jude Ghigiarelli and Alison Joy Slater, both of Hauppauge, N.Y.

-âVernon Edward Lorhmann III and Candace Marie Williams, both of Old Forge.

-âChristopher Cieszkowski and Jodi Lynn Carey, both of Carbondale.

-âMark Anthony Golden and Lisa Ann Bukowski, both of Dunmore.

-âCraig Andrew Blasi and Kimberly Ann Caljean, both of Carbondale.

-âMichael Joseph Sciandra and Amanda Lee Marino, both of Scranton.

-âDavid E. Falchek and Rosemary T. Gownley, both of Scranton.

-âJason Angelo DiBileo and Megan Ann Sallavanti, both of Old Forge.

-âJose D. Medranod and Celeste Acosta, both of Eynon.

-âDaniel Edward Martin Jr. and Melissa Ann Swika, both of Mayfield.

-âRobert A. Dellecave Jr. and Amanda Marie Boylan, both of Jessup.

-âRobert Phillips Sheridan and Jamie Patricia Eastwood, both of Old Forge.

-âMichael Bauman Jr. and Tina Marie Verrastro, both of West Pittston.

-âMatthew Jared Connolly and Kristen Marie Skotleski, both of Scranton.

Property transactions

-âLouise Klarer Nichols, South Abington Twp., to Brian P. and Carla A. Patten, South AbingÂton Twp.; a property at 402 Adams Place, South Abington Twp., for $183,000.

-âMeridian Asset Services, to Zhao Zheng and Qiumei Liu, Scranton; a property at 105 WalÂnut St., Dunmore, for $40,000.

-âRobert Jr. and Noreen ColeÂman, Blakely, to Sean N. McAnÂdrew, Archbald; a property at 210 Ontario St., Blakely, for $174,900.

-âPeter Amato, Clarks SumÂmit, to Mona R. Griffer, South Abington Twp.; a property at 35 Wyndham Road, South Abington Twp., for $245,000.

-âFred and Joan T. Karam; Esme Felins, formerly Esme Karam, and Robert Felins; Patricia Karam and Michael F. Felins, per attorney in fact, Esme Felins, to Brian Mackey; a property at 853 N. Main Ave., Scranton, for $117,553.

-âVinita F. Anderson, Dunmore, to Jason C. and Anna M. Foytack, State College; properties at 1743 and 1745 Jefferson Ave., Dunmore, for $150,000.

-âUSA HUD, to Juan A. Salina, Nanticoke; a property at 722 N. Lincoln Ave., Scranton, for $54,000.

-âStanley Miller and Roseann P. Chomko, trustee of the Miller Family Trust, to Roberto Juarez, Scranton; a property at 302 S. Ninth Ave., Scranton, for $63,600.

-âJeffrey J. and Kiersten Semon, to Louis H. Fauerbach and Pam Conserette; a property at 445 Ridge St., Blakely, for $133,385.

-âChris and Jeff Galluzzo, to Jorge Zhau and Rose Castro; a property at 531 Beech St., Scranton, for $49,000.

-âJudy Tarchak, executrix of the estate of Alberta A. Racht, Carbondale, to Christopher and Sherri A. Kearney, Scranton; a property at 239 Canaan St., Carbondale, for $80,000.

-âNancy Kimble, executrix of the estate of Ann L. Preslock, Old Forge; and Charles Lawrisky, Mayfield, to Robert J. Swartz, Dunmore; a property at 406 W. Grove St., Dunmore, for $50,000.

-âSuzzane K. Seland, Old Forge, v. Brent T. Seland, ScranÂton; married Sept. 16, 2008; Harry T. Coleman, attorney.

-âDavid Hawk, Scranton, v. Tanya Hawk, Scranton; married April 26, 2008, in Larksville; Theresa J. Malski-Pezak, attorney.

-âMatthew Brown, Old Forge, v. Candace Brown, Avoca; married May 11, 2011, in Riviera Maya, Mexico; Patrick Walsh, attorney.

estates filed

-âMorris H. Koehler Jr., 819 Jefferson Ave., Scranton, letters testamentary to Penn Security Bank and Trust Co., 150 N. Washington Ave., Scranton.

-âMildred Stacknick, 123 Morris Ave., Chinchilla, letters testamentary to Andrew H. Morris Jr., same address.

-âWanda Ryczak, 66 Parkland Drive, Clarks Summit, letters of administration to John Ryczak, same address.

federal tax liens

-âNew Hope Rehabilitation Affiliates LLC, Ronald A. Halko, sole member, 929 Cedar Ave., Scranton; $18,585.78.

-âDelane F. Rhodes, 214 W. Taylor St., Taylor; $389,097.15.

-âTheodore Morris, 183 J&J Road, Moscow; $27,114.17.

-âYerfry F. Jiminian, 513 HampÂton St., Scranton; $29,661.75.

-âPuppy Paradise Inc., 1979 Business Route 6, Blakely; $893.71.

-âMonique S. McDonald, 311 S. Irving Ave., Apt. Rear, ScranÂton; $8,279.63.

-âBB & O Management Co., an LLC US Mini Marts, 137 Lakeview Drive, Scranton; $126,288.68.

-âMikarma Inc., Green Ridge Assisted Living, 1533 Adams Ave., Dunmore; $1,068.

state tax liens

-âAndrew Arnberg, 175 Fallbrook St., Carbondale; $23,398.17.

-âSatish and Neelam Mallik, 205 Carpenter Hill Road, South Abington Twp.; $3,779.70.

-âMichael P. Perechinsky, 103 Overbrook Lane, Jermyn; $987.96.

-âMarion E. Tito, 346 WashÂingÂton Ave., Jermyn; $1,097.22.

-âAnthony P. Amendolaro, 622 E. Drinker St., Dunmore; $1,060.30.

-âPenelope A. Fasulo, 1938 Price St., Scranton; $1,104.24.

-âGeorge Nackley, P.O. Box 456, Chinchilla; $1,591.10.

-âThomas Kuduk, 406 Fourth Ave., Jessup; $309.33.

-âWaneesha R. Hatcher, 1424 Wyoming Ave., Scranton; $1,305.13.

-âSatish Mallik, 205 CarpenÂter Hill Road, South Abington Twp.; $6,465.01.

-âEdward Smeden Jr., 1117 Albright Ave., Scranton; $1,809.14.

-âArmand V. Zangardi, individual and president of Mikarma Inc., 1533 Adams Ave., DunÂmore; $47,113.28.

-âRobert J. and Amy L. FlowÂers, 2226 Winfield Ave., ScranÂton; $1,343.18.

-âBrian J. McIntosh II, 718 Prescott Ave., Apt. A3, Scranton; $943.28.

-âMark L. and Laura Kinney, 511 Haven Lane, Clarks SumÂmit; $1,277.68.

-âPerry Schomburg, 800 Henry St., Apt. 2B, Archbald; $1,291.29.

-âJulian P. and Susan L. LaSota, 26 Pond Road, Apt. C, Moscow; $1,191.96.

-âDeborah A. Cerra, 710 S. Keyser Ave., Scranton; $1,117.06.

-âMark J. and Susan M. KobyÂlanski, 1100 Dimmick St., DickÂson City; $1,036.79.

-âJoseph and Lisa Murrin, 515 2nd St., Dunmore; $1,049.32.

-âDaniel and Joeyanna C. Lane, 431 Bellman St., Throop; $962.55.

-âJoseph Distasi Jr. 13 Casey St., Old Forge; $4,182.69.

-âDawn M. Lopez, 210 Crane St., Scranton; $657.48.


text:
But before I get mesmerized by watching the waves of the bright blue ocean (hands down the most beautiful ocean I have ever seen), here are five questions I'm hoping to get answers to:

How's the Radvision Acquisition Working Out? Avaya's purchase of Radvision in March bolstered the unified communications and collaborations vendor's videoconferencing portfolio, and Avaya announced all of its Connect partners will be able to sell the Radvision Scopia technology starting in January 2013. So what is Avaya hearing from its channel partners about the Radvision technology?

What's Going On with Collaborative Cloud? We wrote about it when it was announced in March, but since then we've heard nada. Are channel partners warm or cold to the cloud service? Is Avaya seeing new business stemming from its cloud foray? In short, what's the deal?

Where's CEO Kevin Kennedy? Rumor has it he and a handful of other Avaya execs won't be enjoying the warm ocean breeze along with the rest of us. What's that about?

Is the Long-Planned IPO a No-Go? I asked this question last year to Channel Chief Tom Mitchell, who essentially said the IPO would happen when the time was right. A year later and still no IPO. What might this mean?

How's Basking Ridge After Hurricane Sandy? New Jersey was one big disaster area after the hurricane, and I know some Avaya employees were still without power or connectivity as of late last week. Did the headquarters make it through Sandy well enough? Has the electricity come on for everyone?

I'll have my work cut out for me over the next few days. Perhaps the most difficult part of the event, however, will be keeping my attention focused on the goings on rather than the ocean. Wish me luck.


text:
An almost universal law of folk wisdom is that every proverb has an equal and opposite proverb. So, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Then again, it’s never too late. Great minds think alike, but one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Two heads are better than one, but too many cooks spoil the broth.

Such oppositions don’t mean that the aphorisms cancel each other out. Rather, each saying captures only part of the truth. Aphorisms can trick us, through their wit and brevity, into thinking we’ve grasped a deep thought. But it’s important, once in a while, to examine the wise words that we sometimes parrot unthinkingly. Wisdom can mutate into folly when it is repeated without thought or reflection.

Songwriter Ray Evans (1915–2007)

In 1956, Doris Day first sang a song whose title would become one of the most familiar sayings in English. Not in Spanish though, where it is actually meaningless. (It’s not, incidentally, the only English phrase of bastardized Spanish origin. We also say, No problemo, and native Spanish speakers don’t.)

The exact wording may have been a 20th-century invention, but the basic sentiment recurs at almost all times, in almost every culture. There is, however, one important variation in how it is expressed or understood, reflected in the 14th-century British version, “What must be, must be.”

The difference between the two versions is critical. If you say, “What must be, must be,” it is reasonable to ask what must be and what could be different. If you say, “What will be, will be,” then that is by definition true, but it doesn’t tell you how what will be will actually come to be. Is it inevitable, or can we do something to change it?

Compare and contrast: What isn’t yet can still become. (German proverb)

William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

Theater is the source of numerous fruitful metaphors for human life. Horace Walpole described the world as “a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those who feel.”

Many people spontaneously come to something like Shakespeare’s conclusion at certain moments in their lives, when the disjunction between the persons they feel they really are and how they have to be on a regular basis becomes too stark. There is a powerful ring of truth in the image of putting on a mask in order to go to work, fit in socially, or even fulfill the role your family has come to expect of you.

Such ways of thinking, however, presuppose that there is a distinction between character and player. But what if all the world truly is a stage? If we are always performing, don’t we simply become our performance? A mask that has nothing behind it or is never taken off is not a mask at all, but a face.

It is too simplistic to think that we go through life pretending to be people we are not. When pretense becomes the norm, it is no longer pretense at all.

That’s why we should choose our roles carefully, because when we inhabit them deeply, we become the characters we play.

Compare and contrast: Faces we see, hearts we can’t know. (Spanish proverb)

Thomas Edison (1847–1931)

Statistical analogies suffer from the same weakness as actual statistics: They may not lie, but they sure can mislead. For instance, when quality not quantity is the issue, 1 percent can make all the difference.

Consider human DNA. Most scientists agree that humans share about 98.5 percent of our genetic code with chimpanzees. However, it would be very misleading to say that humans are therefore 98.5 percent chimp. We also share 50 percent of our DNA with bananas, but that doesn’t make us half plantain. What makes each kind of biological organism unique is determined by their small genetic differences, not their numerically greater similarities.

What is literally true of DNA might be metaphorically true of genius. Edison’s analogy is often taken to mean that we can all be brilliant if we work hard enough. But just as the 1 percent difference between our DNA and that of our closest primate relatives is enough to ensure that a chimp can never be a human, so the 1 percent of exceptional talent that the genius mixes with her sweat might be enough to set her apart from even the most industrious of the less gifted. Sheer hard work can take you closer to genius, but it might not be enough to earn you the cigar.
Edison’s words are most useful not for the majority striving for greatness, but to make geniuses mindful of what they need to do to exploit their gifts. The 1 percent of inspiration the rest of us lack might always elude us.

Compare and contrast: Genius without education is like silver in the mine. (American proverb)

Neil Young (1945– )

It is not just rock ’n’ rollers who have railed against life ending in a damp squib. Poet Dylan Thomas urged, “Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Likewise, when T.S. Eliot wrote that the world ends “not with a bang but a whimper,” he wasn’t trying to cheer us up.

But is this what we really think? Ask the question, “Is it better to burn out than fade away?” and many people will say yes. But ask the question, “How would you like to die?” and most reply, “Peacefully in my sleep, at a ripe old age.”

The truth behind the rhymes of Young and Thomas is that it is better to reach your life’s end with all its credit spent. That is far removed from the naïvely romantic rock-’n’-roll desire to live fast and die young.

Dying too soon is as much of a waste as living long and frittering your time away. Neil Young knew that, which is why as well as “My My, Hey Hey,” he also wrote a song called “The Needle and the Damage Done,” which is a lament for lives cut short by heroin abuse. It’s not the length or speed of life, nor the manner of one’s death that really counts. It’s that, when the final reckoning comes, there’s no wick on life’s candle left to burn.

Compare and contrast: Everything has an end, only a sausage has two. (German proverb)

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

Nietzsche’s aphorism is not a statement of fact but a resolution, meaning: I will try to ensure that every experience I go through, no matter how bad, will be turned to my ultimate advantage.

That’s why it’s no use simply quoting Nietzsche to someone having a hard time and expecting it to console them. There is absolutely no inevitability that such a person will emerge from an ordeal stronger than at the start. It takes willpower, if not a Nietzschean “will to power,” to turn adversity to advantage. To believe that hard times naturally empower us couldn’t get Nietzsche more wrong, since his point is precisely that it is up to us how we deal with difficulty. That which does not kill you may well make you weaker, if you let it.

Compare and contrast: What won’t kill you, will feed you. (Italian proverb)

Late 16th century

We hear much about the power of positive thinking today. Some go so far as to say that it is the secret power that brings some the success that eludes others. If you want something enough, and ask the universe for it, it will happen.

In my mind, this is a monstrous lie. How many people have wanted and begged whatever higher power there might be to stop their loved ones dying, only to get silence in response? Is it a greater desire and focus that enables some babies to emerge into the world with silver spoons in their mouths while others die of malnutrition? Should the finger of blame be pointed at those who have failed, telling them, “You just didn’t want it enough”?

Such ways of thinking have led people to take quite literally Hamlet’s line that “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” If every exit is an entrance, and every problem an opportunity, then it seems everything that is bad in life is also really good.

This Panglossian outlook is surely not what any sane person would assent to on reflection. Even if every obstacle is an opportunity, that does not mean that it isn’t a very real obstacle. It is not that the bad is really good, but that even from the bad, some good can come. Rather than providing glib reassurance, the thought that every obstacle is an opportunity should lead us to look squarely at the obstacle for what it is and not wish it were something more benign.

Compare and contrast: Everyone makes lumber from a fallen tree. (Spanish proverb)

Ubiquitous, origin unknown

Three organs battle it out to be the individual’s executive decision maker: head, heart, and gut. (There are those who argue that men have a fourth center of will that is a little lower, but we’ll ignore that for now.) The head tells you what reason concludes, the heart what you would like to do, and the gut what your instinct says you should do.

No sensible person believes that in this battle you should always and only trust one organ. But in any case, the distinction is somewhat artificial. What we call head, heart, and gut are really all functions of the same embodied brain. What we think is affected by how we feel, and vice versa. How much you want to marry your fiancé, for example, will depend on what you know and believe about him.

There is another sense in which the heart sometimes should be led, not followed. When motivation is lacking, it is often inadvisable to just wait until you feel like getting on with whatever it is you want or think you should be doing. Making a reluctant start is often the best way of creating more motivation to carry on.

This is even true of the rawest of desires, such as sex. Many couples in long-term relationships lose the spontaneous desire to make love, so they just don’t, and as a result, they end up feeling a loss of intimacy, which can threaten the relationship. Therapists often advise that the best thing to do is simply get on with it: If you do, you’ll find the desire soon returns.

Compare and contrast: Appetite comes from eating. (Spanish proverb)

From Should You Judge This Book by Its Cover? ©2010 by Julian Baggini. Used with permission of Counterpoint Press. All rights reserved.


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June 2, 2015
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

In a statement released Tuesday, WikiLeaks announced that it is offering a crowd-sourced $100,000 reward for the "missing chapters" of President Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal.

A video posted to WikiLeaks' YouTube channel features top Democrats speaking out against the trade deal. According to its opponents, the deal would offer incentives for big businesses, while harming American workers.

"The transparency clock has run out on the TPP. No more secrecy. No more excuses," WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a statement. "Let's open the TPP once and for all."

WikiLeaks has already published three draft chapters of the TPP about intellectual property rights, the environment, and investment, Politico notes. WikiLeaks hopes users who want to see the TPP's remaining chapters will contribute funding for the $100,000 reward. Meghan DeMaria

9:59 a.m. ET
Sean Gallup/Getty Images

On Thursday, President Trump threw his conditional support behind a border adjustment tax, giving a boost to the centerpiece of a tax overhaul championed by House Speaker Paul Ryan. "It could lead to a lot more jobs in the United States," Trump told Reuters. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer also spoke approvingly of the proposal, which would get rid of corporate taxes on exports and tax imports at a 20 percent rate, pitching it as a way to create jobs. The proposal has split Big Business, and several Republican senators are opposed, meaning it faces an uphill battle. "If Trump supports it, that makes it considerably more likely," Harvard Business School professor Mihir Desai told Reuters.

Like all big tax changes, this one creates winners and losers. But it's not clear exactly how much the losers would lose and the winners would win. As Andrew McGill explains at The Atlantic, a lot depends on how quickly the U.S. dollar strengthens in response, theoretically lessening the blow to consumers. "Economists differ on the particulars of the border adjustment tax," he writes. "Some people like it, and some don't. Every expert I spoke with agreed on one point, however: If Trump is looking to make new jobs, this isn't the way to do it."

The sharpest hit for U.S. consumers is expected to be on clothes and shoes, at least in the short term, but gas prices are widely expected to rise, too. The American Petroleum Institute and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, oil industry business groups whose members are divided over the tax, have concluded internally that a border adjustment tax would raise U.S. gas prices by at least 20 cents a gallon, The Wall Street Journal reports. Barclays PLC estimated in January that a border adjustment tax could add $400 a year to a family's gasoline bill. The tax "really is going to increase domestic crude prices at the benefit of domestic producers, to the detriment of the consumer," Marathon Petroleum CEO Gary Heminger told investors earlier this month. Without the tax, though, Ryan's tax overhaul plan falls apart. Peter Weber

9:34 a.m. ET

President Trump is boosting business for at least one U.S. industry: mental health care. The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that therapists across the nation have been inundated with patients wanting to talk about the president, to the point that therapists claim no one topic has been so frequently discussed in their offices since the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Patients as young as 10 years old have talked about Trump, and patients seeing therapists for "issues as seemingly unrelated as relationship troubles or eating disorders" have brought up the man in the Oval Office, the Los Angeles Times reported. Patients reportedly complain about insomnia, severe anxiety, and even panic attacks — and it's not just Trump dissenters coming in to talk:

Some patients who support Trump say they feel isolated because they can't share who they voted for in their workplace or home for fear of being harassed or called xenophobic or misogynistic. With few people to talk to freely, they turn to online forums and their therapists.

Opening up about voting for Trump has already stoked conflict with family and friends. One therapist mediated a case in which an adult son threatened to cut off his relationship with his parents because they voted for Trump. [Los Angeles Times]

The Trump trend presents a unique challenge to therapists, many of whom have been trained to not disclose their own beliefs to patients. Some are trying to maintain that neutrality, and other therapists have decided to sympathize with patients who don't support the president. "If this were just another session, if this weren't such a big thing, if this weren't so evil, I wouldn't," said Arlene Drake, a therapist in West Los Angeles. "But I have to stand for what I stand for and that does cross over into politics."

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times. Becca Stanek

8:38 a.m. ET

Legendary director Hayao Miyazaki is reportedly working on a new feature-length animated film after having announced his retirement in 2013, Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki has announced.

Miyazaki has a cult following thanks to beloved films like My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away, and he has recently been at work on a 3D CG short titled Boro the Caterpillar. The new feature will reportedly be a full-length version of the Boro short.

The Verge writes that there is "little known about [Boro's] story other than Miyazaki's description," which reveals that it is the story of "a tiny, hairy caterpillar, so tiny that it may be easily squished between your fingers."

The Boro the Caterpillar short is expected later this year, with the feature out in 2019. Watch clips of the new project below. Jeva Lange

8:18 a.m. ET

Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, apparently intervened to cut language critical of the Paris climate deal from a forthcoming executive order from President Trump, The Wall Street Journal reports:

Mr. Trump is expected to sign within days at least two executive orders that will begin the process of trying to dismantle former President Barack Obama's climate and environmental regulations. Mr. Kushner, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump, and Ms. Trump, the president's eldest daughter, intervened to strike language about the climate deal from an earlier draft of the executive order, according to [multiple people familiar with the move]. The executive order, which targets Mr. Obama's broad climate agenda, now includes no mention of the climate deal, which nearly 200 nations struck in Paris in 2015, in large part due to a strong push by Mr. Obama’s administration. [The Wall Street Journal]

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer sidestepped a question about if President Trump plans to withdraw from the monumental climate agreement that was signed in April of last year and lays out a cooperative approach to combating climate change and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. Spicer referred reporters to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on the topic; Tillerson has previously backed the Paris agreement, The Hill reports.

Ivanka Trump and Kushner, for their part, are increasingly seen as a moderating force against President Trump. Earlier this month it was reported that the pair worked to sink an executive order that would have limited protections of LGBTQ people. Jeva Lange

8:10 a.m. ET
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Trump senior counselor Kellyanne Conway has been a member of the D.C. Bar since 1995, though she is currently suspended for not paying her dues. With the White House and House Oversight Committee both apparently declining to discipline Conway for what the Office of Government Ethics calls her "clear violation of the prohibition against misuse of position," a group of 15 law professors specializing in legal ethics is asking the D.C. Bar to sanction her for both violating ethical norms and "conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation."

"We do not file this complaint lightly," the professors wrote to the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel. "We believe that, at one time, Ms. Conway, understood her ethical responsibilities as a lawyer and abided by them. But she is currently acting in a way that brings shame upon the legal profession." The D.C. disciplinary counsel, Wallace "Gene" Shipp Jr., tells The Washington Post that his office investigates 400-500 of the 1,500 complaints it gets each year, and cases that aren't dismissed are prosecuted, with punishments including disbarment. Peter Weber

7:45 a.m. ET

The New Yorker's dandy monocled mascot, "Eustace Tilley," got a makeover worthy of the Trump era for the cover of next week's issue.

World, meet "Eustace Vladimirovich Tilley" — and you might need to brush up on your Russian while you're at it. Jeva Lange

7:25 a.m. ET

President Trump is set to take the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday. While Trump pulled out of speaking at the conference in 2016 at the last minute, he addressed the group in 2011, where he was booed for claiming Sen. Ron Paul could not get elected. He also spoke at the conference in 2013, 2014, and 2015.

White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon teased Trump's speech to the crowd Thursday, hinting that the theme would be "appreciation," Fox News reports.

Others are looking to Trump's speech as a signpost of what to expect from his administration. "Trump may either accomplish more than Republican presidents did in terms of a conservative agenda, despite all the chaos and drama … or he will redefine conservatism," Rick Tyler, a GOP strategist, told NPR. "The movement is at a crossroads, and it remains a known unknown where it is going." Trump speaks at 10 a.m. and will be broadcast live on C-SPAN and cable news channels. Jeva Lange

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text:
Oct 24, 2004

The Ironies of Being Earnest

Has L.A. got religion? There seems to be a recent mini-bumper crop of shows that don’t just treat the topic of religion but give it a kind of earnest, un-cynical reckoning, whether their creators’ intention is to satirize its absurdity, interrogate its purpose, even simply celebrate it.

To me this approach couldn’t be more welcome; as a lifelong Lutheran who went to a Jesuit high school—in other words, as someone who was raised in two of the more benign, un-stark Christian traditions, in my view—I’ve always taken religion, and the case for and against it, more seriously than many of my educated friends, while at the same trying to recognize that for many of them religion looks like mania at best, fascism at worst. Many folks I know either have reasonably rebelled against a harsher tradition than the one I’ve known, or have simply taken at face value the uglier aspects of ascendant fundamentalism. To me, the latter is just a lamentable sign that in the battle to define religious observance, the hard-liners always win in popular perception as the most devout, the most representative of the “true” core of the faith, with the rest of us mainliners being somehow lapsed or watered-down from the “real” thing. Bruce Bawer has an excellent, justifiably shrill book on this, Stealing Jesus; for him as for me, it’s nails on a chalkboard to hear the Christian right and its political agenda called simply “Christian.” Whatever you think of that so-called “family values” platform, it’s simply not true that it represents any monolithic “Christian” worldview. (This would be news, for instance, to Martin Marty, Peter Gomes, or Huston Smith, three wise, circumspect old men who don’t lead a movement--though maybe they should.)

Which is why I respect Julia Sweeney’s LETTING GO OF GOD so much, and why it often reduced me to helpless giggles. She takes on the topic from the inside rather than scoffing from the outside; as she says late in the show, as she bids farewell to the deity she’s decided she can no longer believe in: “It’s because I take you so seriously that I can’t bring myself to believe in you. That’s really sort of a compliment, don’t you think?” It is, and it’s a compliment to the audience, too.

This more straight-faced approach is also behind two other much-talked-about new shows, HOLLYWOOD HELL HOUSE and A VERY MERRY UNAUTHORIZED CHILDREN’S SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT. I wrote an article on these two plays for Weekly Variety, which has not appeared (and may never, apparently), in which the comment of SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT co-creator/director Alex Timbers seems like these shows’ central principle: “Almost all the information in the show is taken from their own literature. We thought that the best way to satirize the Church of Scientology was to let the Church speak for itself.”

Likewise the creators of HOLLYWOOD HELL HOUSE, Maggie Rowe and Jill Soloway, have used as their raw material actual text from real fundamentalist “hell houses”—Halloween walk-throughs that use blood and guts and special effects to illustrate the wages of such sins as homosexuality, abortion, Harry Potter, raves, or happening to have the wrong religion. Among the leading impresarios of these scarefests is Pastor Keenan Roberts at Destiny Church in Arvada, Colo., from whom Rowe bought a “hell house” kit for a “youth group in West Hollywood.” When I spoke to Pastor Roberts, he was upset that Rowe had misrepresented herself, and he was miffed above all that the HOLLYWOOD version didn’t represent the full production value of his original. He wasn’t particularly bothered by the fact that Rowe and co.’s intention was to satirize his fire-and-brimstone beliefs—indeed, he said he was grateful for the publicity for his own “hell house” kits.

That would seem to be a danger of doing this stuff with a relatively straight face; Rowe told me she’s had Christian fundamentalists attend and not get the joke: “We’ve had a couple of Christain groups come and think it’s a real hell house. We had a woman come up to us and tell us, ‘You are doing such a good thing. Girls need to know what happens if they get an abortion or go to a rave. This is such a great service!’ ” Rowe, herself a more-or-less recovered Baptist, laughs a little uneasily at this, but for Timbers and SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT co-creator/playwright Kyle Jarrow, this kind of misunderstanding is the highest tribute such a satire can receive. Said Timbers: “The basic principle that guides us is that the ultimate sign of success would be if [the Church] embraces [‘Pageant’] and wants to stage it for themselves.” (That’s unlikely: the Church of Scientology spokeswoman I spoke to, Chel Stith, said dismissively, “This is nothing,” and then delivered the ultimate blow to the credibility of any Scientology critique: “This is not litigation material.”)

Towering above all these critiques and satires with its own extraordinary brand of earnestness is THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, a smashing example of an increasingly rare cultural commodity: unintentional camp on a grand scale. There’s no winking here, no self-conscious acknowledgement of its own cheesiness, which somehow makes it all the more stunning. I went because Weekly Variety was interested in a story from the scene of a purported train wreck—there were reports that its performances had been cut back in response to bad press, and fresh talk that its planned January run at Radio City Music Hall in New York has been “postponed.” (Souvenir item of the year is a $7 totebag, for sale in the Kodak lobby, with the “Val Kilmer IS Moses” artwork and the following optimistic itinerary: “Hollywood New York Chicago Boston Las Vegas.”) Frankly, it doesn’t look like a train wreck; it looks a well-oiled vehicle utterly confident of its destination. It’s a crazy train, surely, but it shows no signs of going off the rails.

That is, except in the lead performance of Val Kilmer, who seems genuinely humbled by the scale of the show. He’s not a natural stage performer; he has a reticence that can draw us in on-screen, and while it’s often weirdly compelling onstage, he seems to be not entirely present but simply lets the show wash over him and take him. At one point on the night I saw it, while the cast was booming a closing number about saying a prayer for the children (favorite lyric, from the just-down-from-Sinai-with-the-tablets Moses: “Beyond right and wrong, we’re all the same”), Kilmer put his head down and stopped singing for about 30 seconds, either in sincere prayer or exhaustion. You just don’t see this on American Idol.

Spotted in the audience, by the way, was hack director Joel Schumacher, no doubt collecting ideas for the next Batman movie (though he bolted at intermission after buying a bag full of souvenir items), and Carson from Queer Eye, surely picking up some fashion don’ts.

And so the stages of L.A.—home of everything from the Kabbalah Center to the Zen Center, from the Lake Shrine to my own spiritual home of choice—is talking the talk, and walking the walk (or catwalk, as the case may be), of the region’s rich spiritual life.

Can I get a witness?

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text:
Richest people in the Philippines

The Families that Own Asia

The Families that Own Asia

With the help of different business tycoons Philippines’ economy continue to stay positive even with the presence of negatives issues regarding political, social and environmental.

Overall, the number of billionaires has more than doubled this year to 11. Among the newly imprinted billionaires is port operator Enrique Razon Jr., who saw his net worth jump to $1.6 billion from $975 million last year.

Among the four newcomers in the top 40 list are Jose Antonio, founder of high-end property developer Century Properties; Jacinto Ng Sr., founder of biscuit-maker Rebisco; and 34-year-old Edgar Sia II, the youngest on the list, who sold his barbecue chain to Tony Tan Caktiong’s Jollibee Foods.

The Philippines’ top 25 richest are:

1. Henry Sy, $7.2 billion/diversified

2. Lucio Tan, $2.8 billion/diversified

3. John Gokongwei Jr., $2.4 billion/diversified

4. Andrew Tan, $2 billion/diversified

5. David Consunji, $1.9 billion/construction

6. Jaime Zobel de Ayala $1.7 billion/diversified

7. Enrique Razon Jr., $1.6 billion/ports

8. Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., $1.4 billion/food & drinks

9. Roberto Ongpin, $1.3 billion/diversified

10. George Ty, $1.1 billion/banking

11. Tony Tan Caktiong, $1 billion/fast food

12. Inigo & Mercedes Zobel, $980 million/diversified

13. Emilio T. Yap, $930 million/diversified

14. Andrew Gotianun, $795 million/real estate

15. Jon Ramon Aboitiz, $760 million/diversified

16. Beatrice Campos, $685 million/pharma

17. Manuel Villar, $620 million/real estate

18. Vivian Que Azcona, $555 million/retail

19. Robert Coyiuto Jr., $400 million/power

20. Mariano Tan, $375 million/pharma

21. Alfonso Yuchengco, $370 million/diversified

22. Enrique Aboitiz, $310 million/diversified

23. Oscar Lopez, $280 million/media

24. Jose Antonio, $245 million/real estate

25. Eric Recto, $200 million/diversified

Source: Manila Bulletin

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Home HK > Articles > Working Life > It takes two- Be nice to your nurse

It takes two- Be nice to your nurse

in Working Life

It takes two- Be nice to your nurse

Marjani Orchery studied at Kings College London and qualified in 2012. Marjani is currently working as an associate in an NHS practice and after speaking with the nurses with whom she works, she was  inspired  to write an article. This item is about the importance of a strong professional relationship between dentist and nurse and the value of maintaining it. It also explores ways to strengthen the relationship.

Maintaining and strengthening a good relationship between dentist and nurse is paramount to the success of any practice. When the dentist and nurse are in harmony, work is efficient and smooth; yet when there is conflict, it is all too apparent to the other staff and most importantly, the patients.

Upon speaking to many nurses in different fields of practice over the years, it is evident that unfortunately some practitioners may take their nurses for granted. Brusque language, lack of politeness and dismissiveness are all too often common complaints heard from nurses and other team members.  Whilst root fillings and crown preps can be stressful procedures, the preparation made by the nurse is vital to complete work in a timely fashion.

Four handed dentistry remains the basis for effective treatment with the nurse and dentist both actively involved in the transfer of instruments and materials. The nurse must anticipate the dentist’s actions and respond just as quickly, whilst avoiding becoming an obstruction.

So, imagine having to drill a crown prep on an upper left 7? Without any aspiration or retraction?  Or better yet, imagine full mouth pocket charting, with no one to help you? The time needed to carry out what should be a relatively simple process would increase exponentially, leaving you frustrated and the patient probably exhausted.

Yet beyond the physicality of work, the attitude and tone of voice that a dentist can display towards the nurse is perhaps more concerning.  Words like ‘please’ and  ‘thank you’ do not go amiss and it must always be remembered ,that there is a patient keenly observing and listening to everything happening around them. It is well known that patients will often relay their experiences in the chair to anyone who will listen, particularly those which are unpleasant and negative. That’s not great news for building a practice….

Team building activities can be beneficial to improving relationships within the practice. Getting to know other staff on a personal level, outside of the clinical environment can often be an enlightening experience and prove the foundation for greater commonality.  Taking the time to express an interest in those you work with will also help to develop the relationship in a positive way.

Activities to try:

•Team lunches/dinner
•Attending an activity day with staff
•In-house team building
•Organising staff parties
•Empowering  nurses with opportunities to attend seminars/lectures with the dentists
•Encouraging nurses to pursue opportunities in further training/learning in subjects which interest them

A wise old dentist once told me, ‘the nurse knows as much as you do, but about different things,’ and this still remains pertinent advice. An experienced nurse can often help to reassure and calm anxious patients, deal with difficult patients and offer a different and valuable perspective on treatment. After all, it was a great nurse who taught me everything about units of dental activity!!
Therefore, though it remains a minority of dentists who are culpable, it is imperative to always appreciate our nurses and the value they add to the dental team which ultimately benefits our patients.

Marjani Orchery
NHS Dentist

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text:
A Matter of Heart

(Translated from Hindi)

So many things are happening in our lives, and we think they are the reality. But they aren’t. We try to fulfill our responsibilities, and we are so busy concentrating on this that there is a void inside. A voice within says: “Fulfill your life. Experience fulfillment.” No one tells us this, but we know it. How? Who taught us how to laugh or how to smile? Who taught us to hear the voice of peace? These things we have known since childhood.

We have peace within us. This is our nature. We try to enjoy everything on the outside, yet we do not really. We need peace; we need absolute joy. Until the heart is at peace, we will not have peace. We think that the higher we climb the ladder of success, the happier we’ll be. I am not saying, “Don’t climb the ladder.” If you can reach the top, then reach the top, but experience the peace that resides within.

Until your thirst is quenched, you’ll try anything. That’s why it’s been said that the whole world has cataracts. Peace is there in the heart, but people cannot see it. There are so many excuses. Young people say: “We can think about these things when we are old.” Middle-aged people say: “I don’t have time. I’m busy.” The elderly say: “I can’t even walk. I get tired easily. I have high blood pressure.”

What do you have time for? The real enjoyment is when this heart is fulfilled, when this heart is complete. If you really want to enjoy, quench your thirst and fulfill your heart. Only then will you be able to feel the real joy and calmness in your life.

It is the nature of things to come and go in this world—like the waves, sunlight, clouds in the sky. This is your life. Life is one day—a rising sun, one morning, one afternoon, and one evening. There was darkness before the sun rose, and there will be darkness again after the sun sets. What will you do with this day? This is your day—this life, this body.

The opportunity you have is yours today. The day will go, the sun will set. What have you felt today? Tiredness? There are so many people who get up early in the morning, go to work, come home tired, have their food, and go to sleep. Yet, like the day today, you have an opportunity—you have the great fortune to have this human life.

Wise are the ones who experience peace within, who experience joy. No matter how tired they are, when they go to sleep, they feel how beautiful the day was. The ones who know the riches of the heart are the richest of the rich. It’s a matter of heart.

I have experienced peace, and if someone comes to me, I will help them experience that peace. For this, you need to dig your own well; the water that you are looking is within you. You need to dig until you are satisfied. It will be you who will know when that happens. Only you can say, “Yes, I have peace in my life.” And if peace is not there, only you can see that.

In this life, it’s already morning—the sun is there, and the day is passing by. As long as the sun is up, it’s not too late to experience joy in your life.

— Prem Rawat