It is Saturday morning!
The sun is shining, there is a small brisk breeze and the first pot of coffee is brewing with an aroma that reminds you of home.
Now is it time to sit on the porch and relax and play a little music to help you sooth into the weekend.
Enjoy this Saturday morning play list and let yourself go to a happy place
Saturday Morning Relaxing Play List
By Brian Solis, blogger at BrianSolis.com and principal of FutureWorks, Author of the new book
Engage!, Co-Author, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and Now Is Gone
You can find Brian on Twitter @briansolis
This twenty-three page comprehensive guide analyzes the utilization analytics around social media in different markets around the globe. It is a detailed look at how the changing world of social media outreach, branding, marketing, and interface is becoming a critical element in the success of individuals and business.
Brian takes us into each country and provides us with a birds eye view of the websites, the usage, and the engagement that social media plays in the foundation of different countries and cultures.
Take your first step onto the plane as we take a global journey from your couch and breakdown how the world sees itself in the eyes of the media monster. Release yourself from your local perceptions and see a world that has broken down the walls and become boundaryless. Welcome to the world of Global Social Media.
Thank you Brian Solis.
The State of Social Media Around the World 2010
Provided by: Patrick Walters, Associated Press
Full link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39711675/ns/us_news-giving
Philanthropist is promoting a $250,000 effort called Hire Just One
A suburban Philadelphia philanthropist who believes charity is a powerful incentive thinks he can help get Americans back to work one donation at a time.
Gene Epstein, 71, is promoting a $250,000 effort called Hire Just One, with plans to make $1,000 donations to charity in the name of businesses that hire an unemployed person and keep the worker on the payroll for at least six months.
Epstein, who amassed a personal fortune through car sales and real estate investments, has set aside his money for the first 250 hires — and thinks thousands more jobs could be created if others took on his idea, too.
“It’s an encouragement to businesses to not wait,” said Epstein, who thinks the incentive may be just enough to get small businesses over the hump to make a hire in tough economic times. “This becomes like an incredible stimulus program.”
The idea came to Epstein at his sprawling home in suburban Bucks County last month. He said he hopes his program will encourage businesses in the region and beyond to make hundreds of thousands of new hires they wouldn’t have otherwise made.
More than 100 businesses have expressed interest, Epstein said, but for the most part he plans to wait until the new employees have been on the payrolls for six months before he makes the donations. Only time will tell how effective the incentive may be.
Epstein, known for matching gifts for organ donations and other charitable programs, previously promoted a novel way to increase voluntary organ donor signups: $10,000 insurance payouts to each donor’s eventual beneficiary. He and his wife, Marlene, have a charitable fund that contributes to the Jewish National Fund, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and other causes.
“They are going to see that they need more employees,” said Epstein, a registered Republican who has donated money to both political parties. He said he believes his program is a good way to address unemployment without the need for government intervention.
One expert on small businesses said a charitable incentive might prove more effective at spurring discussion in the boardroom than in translating into new hires.
“The upside is small enough that it probably is going to have more effect in bringing the issue up than it is in actually getting people to hire people,” said Lawrence Gelburd, a lecturer at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania who teaches about entrepreneurship and works with small businesses. “That’s a pretty tough sell.”
When businesses submit qualifying paperwork, Epstein expects to donate to groups like the American Red Cross, the food program Philabundance, organ donor efforts and others. Despite his requirement that businesses keep workers on the payroll at least six months first, Epstein said he recently made an exception and sent $3,200 from the fund to go toward the Flight 93 memorial in western Pennsylvania.
Epstein said he has been choosing most of the charities that will get donations so far, but he is not against businesses choosing the charity themselves, as long as the charity is legitimate.
Several participating businesses said hearing about Epstein’s philanthropic promise helped to push them over the hump and move toward making new hires.
“We’re gun-shy like everybody else,” said Philip Chant, vice president of Chant Engineering in New Britain, Pa., which has fewer than 40 employees. “It spurred the conversation internally as to, ‘Hey, we should hire somebody.’ That in turn got the conversation to ‘Hey, we should hire more than one person.'”
The company ended up making four new hires, he said, estimating that Epstein’s program probably got the company to make the hires about six months before it would have otherwise.
Chant said he expects all the new employees to still be working there in six months. He does not know yet if they were all unemployed beforehand, as the program requires.
“If we qualify, that’s great,” Chant said.
The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce has briefly discussed Epstein’s idea but isn’t sure how effective it will be in the long run, said spokesman Christopher Pinto.
It’s an innovative concept that Epstein is bringing to the table, he said, but there’s simply no way to know how well it could work at motivating businesses to hire in tough times.
An executive at a credit union said hearing about Epstein’s program did encourage him to finally move forward with hiring a social media coordinator.
“You need a driving force, someone to get us off the fence,” said T. Christian Roach, vice president at TruMark Financial Credit Union in New Britain, Pa., which has more than a dozen locations in the Philadelphia region.
But Roach said he wasn’t committed to hiring an unemployed worker.
“I’m just looking for the best candidate,” he said. “Hopefully, you put somebody to work.”
J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets
This is a chant I have been saying since I was seven years old. Of course at that point, I wasn’t sure why I was saying it. I think it was because I was the youngest child and I was trying to gather my own identity swimming in a sea of Giants fans. My angst was coming out of its shell. Then again, I grew up in a small suburban town that has one violent crime every thirty years.
Growing up in Northern Jersey you adopted the New York teams. South Jersey took on the Philadelphia teams. It was that simple. There was no in between but within the family infrastructure there was always a divided camp. With me, I was my own camp. After all these years, I have remained loyal to Gang Green. I bleed green every August through December and pray it carries into January. This loyalty will remain with me for the rest of my life.
Why can we not feel the same level of loyalty for our employer? Let us weigh the concerns and try to rationalize:
1.) Companies are only out to make profit. Very true but so are the New York Jets. As we layer that deeper, so are each and every one of us.
2.) We are all expendable? We are all human and mortal, but when we dedicate ourselves to our friends, they remain with us. If we provide that same dedication and commitment to our roles and the beliefs of the company, that feeling will be reciprocated.
3.) It is just a job. A job is something you do the provide income so you can maintain a certain standard of living. A career is a passionate display of loyalty, commitment, dedication and determination to provide the tools and actions that will lead you to further personal growth and development. The correct question you need to ask yourself: Is this a job or a career?
4.) How do I know the company is rewarding my loyalty. Each day through a series of monetary and non-monetary reward and recognition programs, you are reminded of the impact your service is providing on the bottom line growth of the organization. Companies built trust through loyalty to their customers, vendors, suppliers and associates/employees. They do understand the value of recognition.
When one is offered a career opportunity, it is a tremendous risk to the employer. A new employee is being invited into a new environment and given a tremendous amount of trust with proprietary and sensitive information, excellent training and a request to adhere to the strongest of moral and ethical standards. A company is accepting the risk and the reason is simple: They believe in you and the talent you bring.
This is a formidable honor to be invited into this realm and asked to utilize your expertise for the greater good.
As we continue to witness extraordinary events take place and companies being forced to make decisions that are both trying and difficult, understand that these decisions are meant for the greater good of the population. If you are dedicated, moral, developing your strengths, and loyal to the mission, products/services and the name your stand beyond, your loyalty will pay off when it really counts.
If you are in a relaxed mood, feeling a sense of romance or compassion, looking for the deeper sense of human emotion or just want to light some candles and relax, this is a wonderful play list that will relax you and have you thinking about life and all that is good.
Why would I write a post about the death of agencies when they are still active and a valued part of many companies budgets and recruitment process? That is a very insightful question and one the deserves a well outlined response.
First, on behalf of all the companies both small and large, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the thousands of valuable human capital assets provided over the years. Those assets have provided us with innovation and productivity that have helped carry us onto the next phase in our evolution. It is with a deep heart that we say goodbye.
We will miss the gift baskets around the holidays, the 30,000 dollar vouchers, the feeling that you were our best friend in the world, and the comfort of knowing that you know our business, roles and products. It was a warm feeling that still provides chills at night.
Now, is the part of the broadcast where we explain why the demise is near.
1.) A growing number of organizations are developing dedicated strategic sourcing teams to pipeline current and future talent needs. These individuals blend a balance of talent acquisition and marketing to develop processes around finding and attracting talent. Utilizing Boolean search string technology, developing and managing talent communities, adapting targeted email campaigns, CRM tool tracking, and cold calling, it is only a matter of time before the church bells chime and we mourn the passing of agency fees
2.) Internet connection tools powered by sites including Ping.fm allow us to brand out opportunities to thousands upon thousands of people within seconds. Just yesterday, I sent a Tweet with a URL description through Pluggio.com and with the integration of Ping.fm, the tweet went to Flickr, Yahoo Profile, Google Buzz, Delicious, Yammer, Ning, Twitter, Facebook and Myspace and that was only the tip of the iceberg. Why Flickr and Delicious. Networking is no longer using professional communities as a way of finding talent. How many of us have Amazon or Barnes and Noble accounts and followers of our books lists. Talent can be found under many more rocks than ever before.
3.) Macros and schedulers are alive and well. Software like IMacro, Pluggio and Tweetdeck allow us to not only tweet and post jobs to Twitter and LinkedIn but they allow us to schedule how often we post them.
4.) Cost effective partnerships – Tweetmyjobs tweets 1.2 million jobs per day and they have accounts that send by region and discipline. Oodle.com posts roles to over 100 sites including Myspace and Facebook for free. Twitres.com allows you to post resumes or jobs for free and re-tweet as often as you like.
5.) Talent Communities – Companies are taking advantage of Linkedin Groups, Google Groups, Yahoo Groups and many others to build talent communities for networking and maintaining contact with potential future talent.
6.) As social media is making bringing the world closer together networking and referrals are a more valued asset.
7.) Many companies are building alumni talent communities and even offering referral bonuses
8.) Blogging, live chat and fan sites are allowing companies to talk to customers, vendors and candidates and educate them on culture, product/services and solicit information. As candidates become more involved, their sense of value will grow and thus their interest in the company.
9.) Mobile campaigns are taking the number communication media in the world and reaching out to the associates of tomorrow.
The evolution is here. As we step into a new age of cost effective operation, efficiencies of process are spurring out. To the victor, companies will rise again. To the search agencies, R.I.P.
Provided by Bbc.co.uk – Health News
Full Link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11537063
Love can ease pain, say brain researchers
Pain Researchers believe love can act as a painkiller
Love hurts, at least according to many a romantic songwriter, but it may also help ease pain, US scientists suggest.
Brain scans suggest many of the areas normally involved in pain response are also activated by amorous thoughts.
Stanford University researchers gave 15 students mild doses of pain, while checking if they were distracted by gazing at photos of their beloved.
The study focused on people early in a romance, journal PLoS One reported, so the “drug of love” may wear off.
The scientists who carried out the experiment used “functional magnetic resonance imaging” (fMRI) to measure activity in real-time in different parts of the brain.
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It has been known for some time that strong feelings of love are linked to intense activity in several different brain regions.
These include areas linked to the brain chemical dopamine, which produces the brain’s feel-good state following certain stimulants – from eating sweets to taking cocaine.
“Light up”
The Stanford University researchers had noticed that when we feel pain, some of the same areas “light up” on the scans – and wondered whether one might affect the other.
They recruited a dozen students who were all in the first nine months of a relationship, defined as “the first phase of intense love”.
Each was asked to bring in a picture of the object of their affection and photos of what they deemed an equally attractive acquaintance.
While their brains were scanned, they were shown these pictures, while a computer controlled heat pad placed in the palm of their hand was set up to cause them mild pain.
They found that viewing the picture of their beloved reduced perceptions of pain much more than looking at the image of the acquaintance.
Dr Jarred Younger, one of the researchers involved, said that the “love-induced analgesia” appeared to involve more primitive functions of the brain, working in a similar way to opioid painkillers.
“One of the key sites is the nucleus accumbens, a key reward addiction centre for opioids, cocaine and other drugs of abuse.
“The region tells the brain that you really need to keep doing this.”
Professor Paul Gilbert, a neuropsychologist from the University of Derby, said that the relationship between emotional states and the perception of pain was clear.
He said: “One example is a footballer who has suffered quite a painful injury, but who is able to continue playing because of his emotionally charged state.”
He added that while the effect noticed by the Stanford researchers might only be short-lived in the early stages of a love affair, it may well be replaced by something similar later in a relationship, with a sense of comfort and well being generating the release of endorphins.
“It’s important to recognize that people who feel alone and depressed may have very low pain thresholds, whereas the reverse can be true for people who feel secure and cared for.
“This may well be an issue for the health service, as patients are sometimes rushed through the system, and perhaps there isn’t this focus on caring that might have existed once.”
“It’s important to recognize that people who feel alone and depressed may have very low pain thresholds, whereas the reverse can be true for people who feel secure and cared for”
-Professor Paul Gilbert University of Derby
