Real life lesson (how to be a communication expert)

March 2, 2014 Brown Pundits Archive No Comments filed under Archived Authors

As they say it is never pretty to watch (and learn) how a pizza (or sausage) is made but the process is highly instructive.

Alternatively you can hang on to simple morals: be nice to people as you go up (and stay at the top), they will be nice to you as you come down.

Mekota said this is how Blazek
responded to her request to connect on LinkedIn:
“We have never met. We have never
worked together. You are quite young and green on how business connections work
with senior professionals. Apparently you have heard that I produce a Job Bank,
and decided it would be stunningly helpful for your career prospects if I
shared my 960+ LinkedIn connections with you – a total stranger who has nothing
to offer me.

“Your
invite to connect is inappropriate, beneficial only to you, and tacky,” the email continued. “Wow, I cannot
wait to let every 25-year-old jobseeker mine my top-tier marketing connections
to help them land a job. Love the sense
of entitlement in your generation. And therefore I enjoy denying your
invite, and giving you the dreaded ‘I Don’t Know’ [scribbled-out name] because
it’s the truth.

“Oh,
and about your request to actually receive my Job Bank along with the 7,300
other subscribers to my service? That’s denied, too. I suggest you join the
other Job Bank in town. Oh wait – there isn’t one.” The email ends with
“Don’t ever write me again.”

Blazek, a self-described “Job Bank Mother” was named “2013 Communicator of the Year” by the Cleveland Chapter of the the International Association of Business Communicators for her work
compiling job openings in the marketing, public relations, digital
communications, media, journalism, graphics, and nonprofit management
positions throughout Northeast Ohio.

Hours after the emails went viral via Twitter shares, Facebook posts and
emails, Blazek issued her own statement saying: “I am very sorry to the
people I have hurt.”

regards

Exotic food

March 2, 2014 Brown Pundits Archive No Comments filed under Archived Authors

In Bengali there is a saying: with enough money you can buy tiger’s milk. In China you can probably have a taste of tiger flesh (and rhino and elephant and…).

In Nigeria apparently you can carry out your indulgences a bit further than that. It seems there are literally no boundaries, food without borders so to speak. Bon appetit!!

A tip-off led police to the macabre discovery in Anambra, Nigeria,
with 11 people being arrested and AK-47 guns and other weapons being
seized. Human flesh was apparently being sold as an expensive
treat at the restaurant, with authorities saying that roasted human head
was even on the menu.

“I went to the hotel early this year, after
eating, I was told that a lump of meat was being sold at N700, I was
surprised,” a pastor who had visited the eatery said.

“So I did not know it was human meat that I ate at such expensive price.
“What
is this country turning into? Can you imagine people selling human
flesh as meat,” he added. “Seriously I’m beginning to fear people in
this part of the world. “

regards

Sava-asana at 7000 ft

March 2, 2014 Brown Pundits Archive No Comments filed under Archived Authors

Sanskrit for Hinduism (like Arabic for Islam) is dev-bhasha, the language used by denizens of heaven. Unlike Arabic though Sanskrit is a dying language here on earth. However, there is one silver lining- Sanskrit words are finding wide currency in the west as related to Yoga asanas (postures). Since the denizens of the west are very sincere (and are happy to mix earthy commercialism with spiritual advancement), they will learn all the correct words (and hopefully the proper pronunciation as well). Yay!!!

You could be forgiven for dismissing
ski yoga as the latest gimmick for people with more money than sense (and there
are certainly plenty of those here).

Holidays that combine skiing and yoga
classes are nothing new, but doing yoga on skis takes the concept a step
further. The Swiss yoga piste, also
known as the chill-out slope, was dreamed up by Sabrina Nussbaum, a local ski
instructor and yoga teacher. She noticed that her fellow ski instructors
were taking up yoga after suffering knee and back injuries, and thought that
everyone could benefit from skiing in a more “yogic” way.

Sabrina has selected four particularly
scenic sites at which to do eight asanas (yoga postures). The slope is a red run and the sites themselves are
off-piste, so beginners would struggle to reach them, but really the postures
can be done anywhere on the mountain. You can pick up a “Yoga on
Snow” leaflet at the surrounding ski lifts and follow the routine for
free.

We
started, appropriately, with a tadasana (mountain pose). I
dropped my poles, stood up straight and closed my eyes. Sabrina told me to
relax my feet and be aware of the mountain beneath them. It may have been the
fresh air and sunshine, or the altitude, but I immediately felt relaxed and
happy. After each pose, we skied for a while, applying the principles of the asana to the skiing…..We stopped on top of an easy run to work on prana, or life force. This involved covering my ears and concentrating on my breathing. We
skied down with our ears still covered, focusing on breathing calmly – quite
difficult when you can’t hear other skiers whizzing up behind you.

regards

Ceasefire alert!!

March 2, 2014 Brown Pundits Archive No Comments filed under Archived Authors

I would say that congratulations are a bit premature however Nawaz Sharif must be doing something right.

Good job sir-ji (Dr Omar may want to comment on the efficacy of the triangulation exercise whereby Mian Sahib manages to put both Captain Sahib and the Honorable Mullah on the wrong foot. He must be a very shrewd operator. Also this was kind of predicted by Prof Minai here on BP. Good show all around.)

The Pakistani Taliban has announced
that the group will observe a one-month ceasefire as part of efforts to
negotiate a peace deal with the government, throwing new life into a foundering
peace process.

Spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said in a
statement emailed to reporters on Saturday that the top leadership of the
militant group has instructed all of its units to comply with the ceasefire.
“Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan has initiated talks with the government with sincerity and for good
purpose,” Shahid said, referring to the group by its formal name.

The leader of the government’s
negotiating team, Irfan Siddiqui, praised the ceasefire announcement while speaking
on Pakistan’s Geo Television, saying the government will review any written
document from the Taliban about it. “Today,
we are seeing a big breakthrough,” Sadiqui said.

regards

Shia/Sunni = Catholic/Protestant

March 2, 2014 Brown Pundits Archive 1 Comment filed under Archived Authors

…and the (Christian) West must act as mediators in the S/S conflict. This is the message from His Excellency Aga Khan.

SQS (sincere question set): Where are the majority of (15 million) Ismailis situated (100K in Canada)? How are they theologically different from Shias (apart from being led by Aga Khan)? They were expelled from Uganda at the same time as the Gujarati Hindu community so is this basically a bania sect like Bohras? Was Abdus Salam an Ismaili (there is confusion that he may be an Ahmadi)? How about Jinnah- was he originally Ismaili?

The spiritual leader of the world’s 15 million Ismaili Muslims Thursday
compared a conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslims to Ireland, urging the West
to engage both branches of Islam.

Speaking to both houses of Canada’s
parliament, the Aga Khan said tensions between the two denominations “have
increased massively in scope and intensity recently and have been further
exacerbated by external interventions.” “In Pakistan, Malaysia, Iraq, Syria,
Lebanon, Bahrain, Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan it is becoming a disaster,” he
warned.

To
help bring an end to the strife in these countries, the Aga Khan said “it is
important for (the West) to communicate with both Sunni and Shia voices.”

“To be oblivious to this reality would
be like ignoring over many centuries that there were differences between
Catholics and Protestants. Or trying to resolve the civil war in Ireland
without engaging both Christian communities.”

Canada
is home to approximately 100,000 Ismaili Muslims, who found refuge in this
country after being expelled by Ugandan President Idi Amin in 1972.

regards