Category: rant


Study the past“Never Again!”

These words have been used in the past 70 years since World War II ended. During that time, millions of Jews, Gays, “Gypsies”¹, and their supporters were put to death. Most were killed for their beliefs, some by association, many simply because of who they were.

For those unfamiliar with the concept of Godwin’s Law (of the internet):

“As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1”

The invocation of Godwin is used to prevent one side or another to equate evilness or incorrectness with the “Ultimate representation” of ‘Evil’ and/or ‘Wrong’ which for the lifetime of the Internet has been Hitler and the Nazi regime.

The problem with Godwin is two-fold. First on a direct level, secondly on a meta-level.

Directly, the use of “Hitler” and “Nazi” by equating them to “Evil” divorces us from the reason. In general this empowers the words “Evil and Wrong” and trivializes Nazism and the acts of Hitler as merely the natural or unnatural ‘limits’ of the definition of evil. We could just as easily say that anything good would inevitably equate out to Firefly. Eventually the context is lost beyond, Firefly was ultimately good.

I am a 47-year-old Jew. WWI did not affect my immediate family (at least without being removed by 2-3 degrees of cousin-hood). They only had the Russian Pogroms to deal with, and even then this is distanced by 2 generations from me. However, despite a lack of direct contact with these atrocities, I still have personal context as to the horrors done to my race, just as readily as even the most affluent person of color has to the horror of Watts, segregation, or slavery.

But there is a frightening and even more dangerous side to misusing the idea of Godwin’s Law. There is a tangible danger in the invocation of Godwin as a means to diffuse or worse avoid a needed conversation. This is especially the case when that conversation is in true comparison to what Hitler and Nazism represented.

There are many well-defined terms for the actions of the Nazi regime as created and directed by Hitler. All of which are put as off limits by misusing Godwin’s law if the comparisons strike to closely.

Genocide, Eugenics, Racial Superiority, Totalitarianism, Authoritarianism, Fascism, Radicalized Nationalism.

As a result of misusing Godwin’s law… there is a growing fear to confront these topics. Godwin gives a safe blanket to prevent us to from ever believing that we’re heading down the same road as has occurred in the past. Hitler… It could never be as bad as Hitler.

We forget that in 1938 Hitler was viewed in Time magazine as “Man of the Year” Consider at that time, that discussions concerning the most “Evil man in history” might have referred to Pizarro, Caligula, Ivan the Terrible, Nero, Rasputin, Torquemada, or Vlad the Impaler. Does the legacy of making Hitler the “ultimate evil” reduce the crimes of Pot Pol, Idi Amin, or Osama bin Laden?

By wrapping society in the safe blanket that we have seen the ultimate evil and it could never be worse condemns us in an instant to be granted the wish of being wrong. Even in the movies we know better than to posit “At least it couldn’t be any worse”

In 1938 people were singing the praises of Hitler. At least the media was. Hitler was a sense of nationalism to a very battered country. And nobody disagreed with him or his burgeoning government. Granted, by 1938 Hitler had given more power to the Schutzstaffel (SS) and the people that opposed him and his government were evaporating quickly. By 1938, Hitler had already been in power as Chancellor for 5 years. His popularity started building as early as 1927 from his policies and beliefs on a unification of all German speaking lands, the distrust of all Jews and any governing that gave the people any power. Any policy he didn’t approve of, was inevitably dismissed as part of a Jewish Agenda/Conspiracy. After 10 years of this… The US still said he was “Man of the Year.” After 3 years of bloody war, the US hadn’t entered. Not because of isolationism… but because we hadn’t decided which side we were on. Hitler was courting the US as an ally, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor made the decision easy.

Evil… is a relative and flexible term. In ‘entertainment’ we have moved from black and white into shades of grey. In life we talk about all of one ethnic group as evil, while a person who kills 10-15 people as potentially misunderstood.

Terrorism isn’t the act of destroying our bodies. It’s the act of destroying our souls and our wills.

It’s time to stop using Godwin as a crutch. It hides facing a potentially terrifying future which as a path that we’ve travelled down in the past. Stop using Godwin’s Law to excuse debate. Godwin didn’t want it.²

Words aren’t meant to be thrown around. Words are meant to represent something and to be as used as tools, shields, and weapons of truth for what they mean.

“Never again!”

 

 


1: A racial slur unto itself

2: “I Seem To Be A Verb: 18 Years of Godwin’s Law” – Mike Godwin; http://jewcy.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/i_seem_be_verb_18_years_godwins_law

menacing-bearded-man-angryNote: Comments are mine, unedited, and at times… stream of conscious. Not everything is researched as well as it could be. A lot is based on impression and what I have seen. So I expect people to complain about minutiae more than the spirit behind this posting. I do welcome ALL comments. I will respond to as many as I can. I will potentially disagree… or I may say, quite frankly… I didn’t see it that way. But I have a strong feeling on this and I need to put it out there, even if nobody reads it.

It is November, or as several misguided people are calling it Movember.

From Wikipedia: Movember (a portmanteau from moustache and “November”) is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer and other male cancers, and associated charities. The Movember Foundation runs the Movember charity event, housed at Movember.com. The goal of Movember is to “change the face of men’s health.”

I appreciate the fact that an organisation has decided to be YA (yet another) point of donation for Cancer research. Granted, like many of these organisations of late there are several immediate issues.

  1. Operating costs temper the amount that goes for research The American Cancer Society took in just shy of 1 (B) Billion dollars; over 25% went back into Management and Fund Raising.
  2. The average participant is in it for the coolness factor and not for the donation. This seems like an over generalisation but during this month, walk around your office. See how many men are growing their moustaches and ask them about it. How many really want to talk about Cancer? How many have made a donation? You may be upset to find out. And I’ve done this in past offices. The numbers are worse than some of the charities.
  3. We’ll get back to how this is a spin-off of Breast cancer month and my issues with that.
  4. And the thing that pisses me off more than anything about Movember

What kind of an ass thinks the best way to gain awareness for Cancer is to GROW hair?!?!

In the case of Movember, they are very clear about the rules (but not about what the Administrative expenses are.)

  1. Once signed up a “Mo Bro” must begin the 1st with a clean-shaven face.
  2. For the entire month each “Mo Bro” must grow and groom a moustache
  3. Don’t fake it. No beards, no goatees, no fake moustaches
  4. Use the power of the Moustache to create conversations about men’s health and to raise funds for prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health.
  5. Each “Mo Bro” must conduct himself like a true gentleman…

Let’s start with the spectacle of charity.
In Judaism Maimonides points out that one of the highest forms of charity is:

“…to give to the poor without knowing to whom one gives, and without the recipient knowing from who he received. For this is performing a mitzvah solely for the sake of Heaven. This is like the “anonymous fund” that was in the Holy Temple. There the righteous gave in secret, and the good poor profited in secret. Giving to a charity fund is similar to this mode of charity, though one should not contribute to a charity fund unless one knows that the person appointed over the fund is trustworthy and wise and a proper administrator, like Rabbi Chananyah ben Teradyon.”

Of course not everyone is Jewish, and (at least Orthodox) Jews aren’t supposed to shave… So I guess the attitude of not making spectacle really doesn’t hold water for most. However, this pervasive attitude towards, “Show me something in support” tends to show up as “Wear Jeans if you support, foo” in High Schools. So, whoever didn’t get the memo and wore jeans has just been labeled as ‘in support.’ And when that is “Teach the Christian Bible in our school” maybe you would have preferred not to.

But lets talk about the growing of hair for raising awareness for Cancer patients. Simply, it misses the boat. 100%. How many people have I seen die from cancer? One. How many people have I seen die from cancer? One TOO MANY. Let me tell you… growing hair and conducting themselves like true gentlemen? It’s not on their list. If you want to raise the topic of cancer… let’s shave everything. Including body hair. (And as a very furry man, I know what that would entail) And that means all of it. Or if you like, leave a few clumps. Then try reducing your diet down to about 200 calories a day. People see the happy, fun side of Cancer… Except when people talk about a lost loved one… But those are just stories. It can’t be as bad as they make it out to be.

One of the most supportive things I have seen for a recovering cancer patient is when friends and family shave their heads in support. This isn’t for discussion. This is to show the human being recovering person that they are loved, and should not feel embarrassed or ashamed. Because as corny as it sounds, love and support go further in recovery than ostracisation and embarrassment.

Cancer is a disease. Not a theme. Many of these people have lost parts of themselves in the hopes that they won’t lose more… like their lives. They pray for the words ‘benign’ and ‘remission’. But in the meantime as “Bro’s” once again stand up and say ‘what about us. We’re downtrodden too.’ Lest we forget Breast Cancer; or what has become the pink ribbon brand that far too many refer to as “Save the Boobies”

But this time, instead of being told to grow hair, now we are painting the disease in Pepto-Bismo pink. (I suppose at least this is closer to the cause because Pepto is designed to curb vomiting which for the cancer patient is pretty much the norm. Honestly, if you want a good colour, perhaps vomit olive and beige might be best. But that’s not exactly pretty and of course this isn’t women’s health; it’s more about ‘the pretty.’ (By the way, pink ribbons… stolen from a woman in 1979 who (inspired by the Tony Orlando song) tied ribbons around trees in the hopes that she would see her husband again who had been taken hostage in Iran. So, the next time you see a ribbon… it originally meant, “will I see you again?”

The ribbon isn’t the problem so much as “Once again” it’s using pink and branding the movement, not helping the women who are suffering, losing so much, and dying. Breast cancer awareness is more about getting people talking about Breast cancer than doing something about it and from a high percentage of actual people suffering from Cancer; it’s really not about their welfare. There are some excellent articles
– Wikipedia’s reference on “Breast Cancer Culture” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_cancer_awareness#Breast_cancer_culture
– Jezebel.com – Save the women not the Boobies http://jezebel.com/5953952/save-the-women-not-the-boobies
– Jezebel.com – The NFL’s Campaign Against Breast Cancer is a Total Scam http://jezebel.com/5950971/the-nfls-campaign-against-breast-cancer-is-a-total-scam?tag=breast-intentions

For as much as a man may be embarrassed to have to be bald. Women are not afforded the same social grace to be a recovering victim of cancer. Women are encouraged to hide behind wigs because the appearance is more important than the educating of others. And the worst part of all are the throngs of people so insistent on saving the boobies, that the numbers of people who a repulsed or push away a woman who has had to lose a breast. It was said that a fetish is having something one needs to be aroused. It is a sad concept to know the number of people who have breast fetishes.

Do I speak for any person who suffers from any cancer? No. Do I have any idea what it’s like to suffer from Cancer? No. But what I will do is see through the morass of pathos avoiding commercialism and put my money and time where it will do the most good.

So this year as you put away your pink… In Pittsburgh, there is a fountain downtown at Gateway Center where the water is tinted pink. I often joke that the irony is that the squirrels are likely getting cancer from the dyes. As you trade in your pink for moustache wax…

Stop, and consider just donating the money, spending time helping someone who is suffering or recovering from Cancer. And make the conversation about the people and the disease… and not about seeing pink-soled cleats, buying overpriced merchandise that donates 10 cents on the dollar, or how handlebars really will impress the gals.

I for one… will not be shaving for Movember. But I will shave for a loved one, a friend, or coworker, or just someone who needs the support and kinship. I am fortunate… I grow a full beard in 3 days. I do not have breasts; I have a working prostate and working testicles. There are others who have so much beyond what they are losing or have lost. Make them see what is left that is fortunate so that they don’t spend time suffering.

-=-=-

Dearest Chris… I gladly came to you in the hospital even though at the time the sight of dying scared me nearly to paralysis. At your service I cried for at least 15 minutes. I loved you in my heart more that I could ever communicate and more than you’d ever believe. I see your smile in my heart sometimes when I look in the eyes of my son who carries your name in remembrance.

I wish you’d had the medical coverage and care that would have detected this before it was too late. I’m glad that so many of your friends were around to keep a smile on your face for as long as we could. The number of people who shaved their heads for you; the number of clergy that you taught and guided who wanted to be the one to deliver you communion from masses.

I miss you so much.

(Part zero of… probably ∞)

Note: As I have current co-workers who read this blog on occasion it behooves me to note that just because I am receiving mail from recruiters or for that matter reading them and commenting them, this should NOT be taken as an indicator that I am currently looking for jobs or “on the hunt.”

I receive approximately 3-5 emails a day and close to 20-30 in a given week specifically with “Job opportunities.” Now to be honest; I fulfill a niche career of which there isn’t a lot of competition. I specialise in writing software for Apple’s computing platforms. This would include: Macintoshes running OS X, and OS X Server, and devices that one can program that use iOS (the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad). Unlike the average iPhone App developer, I have about 4 times as many years developing with the development tools software kits. If I’m willing to move, I could theoretically pick up and have a new job fairly easily.

So, it should not come as a surprise that as iOS grows there are more and more companies searching for a way to get an app on the iThings. And since companies have NO experience with iOS development, iOS Engineering, or iOS Engineers (Yes, these are three VERY different beasts) they call a recruiter who is an expert in these things.

That’s not entirely accurate. Companies have a pool of recruiters when they have an opening and the recruiter tries to then become an expert at what their clients need to have filled. This falls into 3 primary categories regardless of job.

  1. Bob left and we need a new “Bob”
    • This is called the ‘Replacement’ listing
  2. Bob is going to quit if we keep piling stuff on him; we need to get him help.
    • This is called the ‘Junior’ listing
  3. We found a new potential for revenue, and not even Bob knows how to do it. We need something NEW.
    • This is called the ‘New’ listing.

For the sake of this posting I am skipping two things: Middle and Upper management. Let me visit each briefly to explain why I’m not going to address them.

Middle management is never an external position. In general middle management is posted externally because the law requires it. Inevitably, middle management is created from within a company. Usually as a result of Managerial Mitosis or worse, a need for an internal Junior listing because the group is getting horribly under-managed due to its weight and size.

Then there is upper management. Apart from my own small freelance company of 1 I have never been upper management. It’s somewhat a beast unto itself that follows it’s own set of rules. Most Upper management jobs fall into two grim and opposing versions of the “Replacement” Listing. Either it is “Crap, Bob left. We really require another Bob IMMEDIATELY” or the scarier form, “Okay, we’ve convinced Bob to get the hell out of our company, now we need to find someone who is exactly not like Bob.”

But let us steer back to the recruiters who are the real targets of this post’s ire. In my career I typically see “New” listings but have seen a growing number of “Junior” listings. In all cases the exchange between company and recruiter comes down to “What do you need?” At which point the hiring manager (usually 2-3 levels up) will list off the technologies they think they need. In the case of “Replacement” listings this becomes an exercise in describing how long Bob was at the company (or the experience Bob had, and listing every responsibility Bob had his hands in. In most cases the company will ask the recruiter for guidance complimenting it with the requirements their company uses.

The recruiter with requirements in hand reformats it (often poorly) into a job description turns to the mighty Internet. Usually about this point all goes wrong.

The online employment world now dates back nearly two decades. Companies like Monster (dc) started in 1994 Yahoo’s HotJobs (Originally HotJobs, Inc) goes back to 1996. Career Builder (originally Job Opening Web Site software company NetStart, Inc) started in 1995. Odds are that if you’ve been online for more than five years there is likely an out of date resume out there somewhere for you. I know this because I received an email yesterday to my maiden name at my 5 year unused yahoo email account.

If you do not believe that recruiters use buzzword scanning techniques, now’s the time to finally jump on the faith train. The buzzword scanning is so bad that if you have the phrase “I don’t do windows” on your resume, you will receive recruitment email for jobs at Microsoft. This will occur if you truly are a maid service. (Yes, I was relayed this story by a maid)

Suffice this to demonstrate, at this point, if you want your resume to be seen by several recruiters, I strongly recommend a “Buzzword” section. I even can suggest calling it the “Buzzword” section. As in “Experience, Education, Buzzwords” Just list them off in a neat fashion. This will set off recruiter’s scans/search algorithms and then you too can siphon thru mail from someone who contacted you before actually reading your resume.

I don’t want to finger point the entire industry for being bad. Honestly there are a still a good percentage of recruiters who do due diligence in the process. Personally, I think they can all still learn something from this series. This may be because I’ve both hired and worked in my niche.

In my next installment (Which I will post over the weekend) I will take a REALLY bad recruiter’s email, post the listing and then explain everything that is wrong with it. Please note: if I were to post everything right with this listing it would barely fit a twitter posting. I will not out the company or the recruiter, but the job listing alone will hopefully serve as an embarrassment to someone.

Finally, in the near future, I will comment on my own niche industry and how a recruiter can make the postings much clearer and more importantly far more effective in filling your talent pool with the best candidates.

This post is not for my dearest Heather (who really needs to stop reading this now) as she’s lived through this more than enough for five lifetimes.

I am still gathering thoughts and impressions over this. I also still fully intend to write a book on our experiences. But one can say that after three and a half years this part of the journey is over.

I am home recovering today because going back into work on the East Coast Monday morning after 10 days on the west coast and travelling roughly 8 hours on the day before with a 4am wake up and landing at midnight (Pacific) (an hour late) may not have been the wisest idea.

During the case we asked for $1.4(M). This was based on several things not the least was permanent spinal damage that was going to cause a life of pain managed by monthly prescriptions of closely monitored narcotics, MRIs every 1-2 years to assure the damage wasn’t getting worse, the loss of our ability to have further children (Narcotics really aren’t good for children in utero), and the general upheaval to our lives. (The breakdown was $1M for Heather, $300K for myself, and $100K for Aiden)

The testimony of the “Independent” Medical Examiners, which is legal talk for Doctors hired by the defense to destroy the credibility of the injured party, were horrifying. Both made Heather out to be someone who was suffering from Scoliosis from before the accident and overselling her pain. They also went so far as to say that narcotics were bad for her.

The closing argument from the defense attorney was horrid. Any desire I ever had for legal work evaporated as he bent the misinformation into truth and bent the truth into unreliability. It was in a word sickening. This included such statements as, “I’m an only child and I’m happy.” I do not know how this man lives with himself. And I hate the argument, “You were just doing your job.”

The jury came back and awarded fair damages for medical work done in Washington (<20K which will likely all go to repay subrogation), but once we moved it was considered unnecessary. I’m not really sure how leaving a state cures someone. They believed no future medical costs were necessary. There was some pain and suffering as Washington mandates its award if economic damages are awarded. On Aiden and my behalf they awarded chump change for pain and suffering. Of whatever we see, 25% goes to the lawyer as payment.

Our lawyer informed us that two jury members utterly believed our story and were prepared to offer us what we asked for. One elderly woman however utterly felt that Heather was a narcotics addict and believed everything else. And the rest of the jury… compromised in the middle. Well conservative side of middle.

We’ve now seen what works and what horrendously doesn’t work in the Justice system. We know the games and powers that insurance companies use to batter away at the will and confidence of victims.

Make no mistake, Heather has received permanent spinal injury from the accident that she was a victim of. The type of injury can cause an array of neurological damage that she as been blissfully spared (so far). At the same time it also causes pain that is on par with delivering a child 24/7 and will live with that forever.

The insurance company and the defense lawyer where solidly aware of that. But did their jobs to undermine her as a victim. That is their jobs. Ours is to learn and to change the system so that the innocent aren’t damaged to the level we were.

Yesterday I left a note for housekeeping:

No Coffee Please

They leave about 3 coffee samples and they are in bags with the coffee filters to attach to the water generator in the room.

Neither H nor I drink coffee. I figured, rather than getting something that will just lie around… I’ll leave a note.

Housekeeping saw the word Coffee and thought I wanted MORE. And they left MOOORREEEE. I talked to the front desk who explained that housekeeping didn’t speak English, only Spanish

Well, unfortunately I’m back to the basura scandal of 2002. I will link to that when I find it.

So, round two. Today I left a two sided note. The front said, “Flip page for English” at the top and then (thanks to Google Translate:)

Hola, servicio de limpieza.

Por favor, no sustituir el café

Ya no se bebe café. El café se tiran a la basura

Nosotros preferimos tomar el té. Le invitamos a salir de extra de eso.

Gracias.

Por favor, tome de nuevo el café. No queremos ponerlo en la basura.

I really hope that is translated correctly.

The back of course starts with: “Por favor, a su vez este documento al otro lado del español.”

And then (for those that don’t speak Spanish or at least comprehend google translated Spanish):

Hello, housekeeping.

Please don't replace the coffee

We do not drink coffee. We will throw it in the trash.

We prefer tea. You are welcome to leave extra of that.

Thank you.

Please take back this coffee. We don't want to put it in the trash.

I’ll report on my successes/failures tomorrow.