zianuray

What does that mean, exactly?  I've been on jury duty twice (both civil cases), and there was such a disparate mix of people on each panel that we were not each others' peers, nor peers of the people in the case, except for being over 18 and American citizens by birth.

In one case, the appellant was a college professor just shy of tenure; his wife did not pull a paycheck but cared for the house and children.

No-one on the jury had more than an associate's degree (and that was me).  Three of the jurors had not had children yet; most were either retired or blue-collar.

Several needed very simple terms like "accelerant" explained. 

Is that all that's needed for me to be considered to have experience and understanding equal to a business mogul or a stay-at-home parent, just be over 21 and a citizen?  There is no WAY I could understand the responsibilities and experiences of either person. 

I'd want people on my jury who could understand me without my having to explain or dumb-down my answers, I'd want people who had raised a child alone while working, who have been out of work a time or two and scared about it, maybe who had been on AFDC or foodstamps and got off the dole as soon as possible.  I'd want someone who had worked with their hands and gone to school outside work hours and lost sleep to get homework done and people who went more by how I try to live than by whether I go to their church.  If I am ever party to a case involving religion (more likely than you might think), there is no WAY I would get a "fair trial" in Greene or Lawrence county.  Some of the local cops in Aurora make warding signs when they think I'm not looking, like their great-grandparents might have done!  At least they're respectful to my face.

I know some of the people I'm linked with here do interviews as art of their profession, and I have a question about the best way to answer certain TYPES of questions. 

When I started in the job market, interviews were "Can you do the job, and can you learn what we need you to learn, and maybe help teach others eventually?"  *Shakes cane at today's darn kids*

Now, it's "Tell me how you handled this situation" and many times, it's a situation I've never come across, or something I seriously had no way TO handle because of the way whichever company I had worked for previously had been run.

"Tell me about a time you went out of your way to get a customer what they needed."

In the factory, you did what the lead told you, and if you exceeded your instructions you were written up or fired.  Heck, you could be written up for saying "Lead in this area says they need this, boss" because that was insubordinate, even though you were just relaying a message.

Situations like that, how should the "interviewee" answer?  Full-out truth, which sounds like an excuse, or fabricate something which is lying, or say "Here's how I think I would handle this fabricated situation"?

I got a little snitty with a co-worker today.

She said of someone, "What a witch!" and did not intend it as a compliment.

I asked why she didn't call the woman a Baptist?

Then explained that it was just the same thing as calling her a Witch -- that if she was going to denigrate one person's religion she may as well spread it around.

"Well, I'm not going to say 'bitch' in a call center!"

"Just remember, it's harassment on religious grounds and I am not afraid to talk to HR about it.  Are you willing to go that far?"

I did try to put a humorous spin on it and presented it as informational -- but everyone there knows I'm a Witch anyhow, I'm so far out of the broom closet I was never in that it may as well have burned down.

In the end, I think I got the message across -- and we're ok, as far as I can tell there are no feelings of being "picked on" on her part and as for me, I know she just hadn't thought of it that way before, so no harm, no foul.

Yeah, the whole PC thing also annoys me, but damnit, say what you mean!  A bitch is a bitch and a Witch is a Witch; confuse the two at your peril!(Thanks, jeffs_page !)  And no, being a Witch does not mean one cannot also be a bitch.  Or at least assertive.

So...what's your take?  Would you have spoken up if it were your religion being bandied about?  What about "just any" religion?

Updated my web page (Including link to White Hart Faire)

Working on cleaning out the fishpond

Wash comforter (Thanks, Puppy)

Do more boxing/clearing in big BR

Figure out what exactly has to go to Faire with me next weekend


ALSO QUESTION: What makes a book/series/character believable? Level of detail? How well the situation resembles the "real" world? How much the reader WANTS to live in a place like that?



And a scroll

I've had a couple of clients with FMS, and what one of them tells me is totally different than the other as far as pressure, etc.

One wants the very lightest touch possible, more a brushing with the fingertips, the other wants more pressure than I'd use on a cranky weightlifter!

I know some of you on my FL have Fibro, can you shed any light on this?  I had the notion it was a very tender condition, that a mild breeze could be too much some days, and this gal that basically wants all 350# of me balanced on one elbow over a pressure point scares me.  (So I "be the grownup" and go lighter than she says she wants, and she falls asleep anyhow so I take it I'm doing ok!)

Is there really THAT much difference in how it presents, or is she perhaps mistaken?  She had trouble remembering the diagnosis, and supposedly she's had it for over 15 years.  Seems odd, that.

What questions SHOULD I ask of clients presenting with FMS?   What is an intake question and what should be asked EACH time aside from the obvious like "What are you here for today, any special concerns"? 

And please, send anyone who can contribute to this post.

I've read Fahrenheit 451 several times, starting in grade school.  Tonight I saw the movie.

In such a situation, would you be a book?  Which book?  Why?  (Please include the Author and date of publication, if you know it -- there are several books out there with the same title now!)

And none of this "Oh, I'd be the whole Tarzan series!" stuff.  ONE.

For purposes of this discussion, assume you CAN memorize an entire book; "Oh, I'd like to but..." is not an option right now.  Maybe I'll ask that question later!

"No, and here's why not" IS an option.

I don't think I need to say this, but NO SNARKING other folks' choices or reasons.

And please, feel free to link to this -- I want lots of responses to think about!

In a recent entry,

09:56 am - Unreliable Narrators

As a reader, I love the "unreliable narrator" - you know, the guy who says that he's all good, and then he turns out to be the Devil Himself, that sort of thing.  My enjoyment of this device flavors my own first-person books - my characters are never one-hundred-percent accurate describers of themselves.

******************************

How many actual people -- not characters in a story -- are 100% reliable on how they describe themselves? 

To others?

To themselves?

Does it depend on who you're talking to, what time of day, etc.?

How to DEFINE "reliable"?  Objective? 

Now that's just being silly -- one cannot, by definition, be totally objective about hirself.  CAN sie? 

Does anyone have absolutely no illusions/delusions about hirself?

Get two or more people together who've known me the same length of time, and who've spent time with me in similar circumstances -- I'm betting that with my 4 classmates from Orler, you'd not recognize they were talking about the same person if you asked them separately the same set of questions and we spent 3 - 5 days together, 8 hours per day, in the same small classroom for 5 and a half months.

Ask me to describe myself as objectively and as honestly as I can on two different days and you'll get two wildly different answers, because my perception will have changed.

And most likely, it won't be an "honest" assessment, because there are things about me I don't want you to know, but those will be different things than what I might hide from someone else.  It may be because I want you to think of me in a certain way and that information would skew your opinion, or it may be that I don't wish to burden you with something beyond your control.  And I may not even realize I'm doing it. 

If I don't realize I'm doing it, does that in itself make me dishonest?  Less-than-honest?  Lower-than-the-low, a scum-sucking-whatever?

*Shrug*  "I yam what I yam," as the sage Popeye says.


Another situation dealing with perception and perspective:

I worked for some time with several people with whom I had little or nothing in common.  We worked in the same room, doing the same jobs, and we were human and ate food and drank liquids and breathed air. 

Some of these folk I was totally apathetic toward, some I actively disliked for one reason (or non-reason) or another.  To this day, three of these people -- two of the apathy-reaction, one of the get-FAR-away-from-me-you-ignorant-jerk-reaction -- are absolutely certain that I am their bestest friend ever, simply because I was able to hide my disdain and work with them.

Did I lie?  Did I have the obligation to SAY "I don't like you, you're a whiner and a slug and willfully ignorant to boot"?

I never said "Oh, JennieLouise, you're such a darling!" or invited them over for tea, never showed interest in their brag books and actively ignored the babble about soap operas.

There are perhaps three of the 30+ I worked with that I'd be glad to see again; two that I'd cross the street to avoid.  The rest are practical nonentities to me because we had no common ground to base a possible friendship on.  Heck, those three, there's very LITTLE in common.   Does the fact that I was able to set aside my personal outlook make me a hypocrite or a "good worker-bee"? 

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Since I don't want to say things that I don't mean, can someone tell me what these say (if anything)?  The stamp labels had things like "Chinese Banner" and House" on them which is not a lot of help!

And... anyone interested in trading for a set of these?

All  the OS i've ever had is MSWindows.  ME on the desktop, and XP on this laptop.  I am FAR from a professional, but I've heard Linux is an all-around better system and not hard to get used to.  For a non-pro, is that likely to be true?  

(If it matters, which I doubt, I've been able to load and use Mozilla Firefox, which if I understand correctly is based off a Linux/MS hybrid called "Lindows.")

thebruce, I know you told me earlier that a hard drive has a useful life of about 3 years.  

Anyone:  This one is on borrowed time.  Better to replace the drive and add some memory or just replace the whole shebang and have someone transfer files?

IF Linux is practical for a relative novice, is a Linux OS available on a new system, or is it all Windows Vista now (which again, I've been told is SOS and not in a good way)?  If I still have my XP disk that came with this laptop, can I (practicalities, not permissions) load XP onto the new hard drive?

What am I forgetting to ask?