Business Organization Fail: The failure of the sales pipeline
In my line of business, purchasing services is part of doing business. Unfortunately, many businesses fail at sufficiently managing this budding relationship properly. This time is a crucial in relationship building between the two companies. If the order process does not go smoothly, is delayed or is slow to process or complete, this can damage the relationship from the start. A lot of companies pride themselves on their actual services, but how many company’s pride themselves or tout their order entry and completion processes? Not many.
All too often, you place an order for a service and the order does not complete as you expect. At first, you think this operation should be simple. However, when installation day and time passes without a peep, this leaves you wondering what happened. So, you call the sales and/or customer support line only to find out they don’t have a record of your order. Unfortunately, this is a sign of disorganization. A sign that this company fails to manage the order entry and order pipeline system properly. This is a company that should leave you with the question, “Do I really want to do business with them?” Rightly, you should be asking yourself that question. In some cases, however, this may be a cable company or some other company where you are over a barrel. Defacto monopolies exist in society and there’s little we as consumers can do about that. So, if you want that service, you must purchase it from that company or you don’t get it. But, even with all of that in mind, you should still ask the question, “Should I do business with this company?”
Disorganization is nearly always a sign of things to come. If there is this much disorganization surrounding the installation and the order process, that does leak into other parts of the business including the actual service itself. So, you may find your service affected in random ways throughout the life of the service. These problems may include, unintentional service disconnection, incorrect billing and invoicing including double billing and inaccurate billing to sporadic service quality and uninformed service outages and even installation issues resurfacing months or years later. Disorganization affects far too many businesses. Worse, most businesses don’t even recognize that they are affected, let alone do anything about it. Bigger businesses are more prone to disorganization than smaller companies, but business of all sizes can and are affected. With large companies, the departments and staff get more and more disconnected. As the departments get bigger and more disconnected, employees adopt a ‘not my job’ mentality and once something reaches the limit of their job description, they push it off their desk with no thought to the customer’s relationship. Once it’s pushed off their desk, they don’t really care what happens. This can leave holes that let customers’ orders fall through the crack and not be serviced.
With small businesses, disorganization happens from immature processes and/or constantly shifting priorities. Also with small businesses, these companies are usually understaffed and that leaves the employees overworked. So, instead of the service order falling into a black hole like a larger company, the order simply gets buried on the desk (or in email). This results in lack of order tracking. Effectively, big or small company, the problem is the same: a lost order.
Organizing: Documentation and Communication
Order taking doesn’t have to be a complex process. It does, however, need a process. In large companies, each department needs to be on the same page. So, that means sales, billing, customer support and technical support all need to use the same system to reference order numbers. Having multiple order tracking systems is ripe for failure in the order process. There’s nothing worse than need three or four reference numbers to discuss an order. Worse, though, is when you call and they can’t even look up any of the order numbers and they resort to company names, service addresses and phone numbers. Sometimes these don’t even work. When nothing works to look up your account, that indicates either an incompetent service representative or fractured systems. If you get a service rep who can’t seem to find your order, ask them for their name, thank them and call back. When you get a new representative ask them to look up your order or company. If they immediately find it, you should report the previous representative to their supervisor. Representatives can sometimes intentionally prevent finding the company to get you off the phone faster. These need to be reported.
Companies must recognize disorganization in order to fix it. Without recognizing this issue, the company cannot change their internal processes. The processes must be streamlined from start to finish. This is why many businesses adopt and use ISO 9000 standards certifications. These certifications, while rigorous and somewhat costly to obtain and somewhat costly and rigorous to maintain, ensure a high quality customer experience from start to finish. These certifications require that every department follow a blueprint each time they interact with customers. A set of steps that always lead the customer through the same experience. It sets quality standards from services and products and, again, it overall ensures a high quality customer experience.
Many larger companies require ISO certifications of their vendors. This certification process ensures there is a commitment of quality and a level of organization associated with a company’s service offerings. In other words, ISO certification immediately tells would-be buyers that they can expect a certain level of quality. ISO certifications require each employee to write their processes down of how to properly work through their daily jobs. Once these processes are documented, it’s easy to hand the documentation to new staff and have them follow these standards. Standards set by a company ensures that products and services are efficiently provided. Without any standards in place, this quickly leads to disorganization and haphazard and random methodologies in placing and managing the order process. Without standards and processes in place, a company cannot provide high quality services as easily or consistently.
Communication with prospects is key to an order’s success. If there is an issue with an order, there needs to be someone in the organization to manage these delays. Someone should be tasked with keeping track of orders and managing (by contacting the customer) when there is to be a delay or an unexpected issue that may prevent an order from completing properly. So, on top of the processes in place to make sure orders always take the same path, there needs to be a person to manage the order fully from start to finish. Additionally, systems need to be interlinked properly so that Sales, Customer Service and Billing can be on the same page at the same time. There is nothing worse than calling in and asking about the progress of an order only to find out the order was cancelled from lack of communication.
Update: iTunes 9 and Windows 7
As an update to an earlier Randosity article, I have upgraded my system to Windows 7 and then installed iTunes 9. Since making this change, I am no longer having the registry issue documented in this previous Randosity article. So, it may be worthwhile to upgrade your system to Windows 7 to alleviate this issue. Of course, it could be a fluke, but iTunes installed and started up without any issues on Windows 7. Before you upgrade, though, you’ll want to remove iTunes from your system, then run the upgrade to Windows 7, then reinstall iTunes 9. If you still experience registry issues with Windows 7 and iTunes 9, refer to this previous article for tips on what to do.
Getting a virus: Clearing it up faster
I’ve recently discussed what I do to help prevent the cold and flu virus, that one is the longer of these two articles. So, this one will be much shorter. If you do get a cold, the flu or even a throat infection, you can help reduce the symptoms by using a simple remedy: Zinc. But, not just any zinc. I personally use Zicam. The reason I use Zicam is the formulations available. While the zinc tablets work, they taste nasty and only coat your throat. This can work, but I find that the other Zicam formulations work much better.
Gel Swabs
The Zicam gel swabs are my favorite to use. The way this works is to swab the inside if your nostrils and then close the nostrils just briefly after swabbing. Apparently, as I understand how this works, the zinc in Zicam kills viruses on contact and, at the same time, prevents new viruses from taking hold. Since the viruses apparently start and multiply in the nasal cavity, the application of zinc coats your nasal passages and prevents the virus from taking hold and building full colonies. So, the theory goes, the symptoms are reduced and the length of infection shortened. For me, this works.
Reduction in symptoms
Whenever I get sick with a virus, I find that using zinc (Zicam variety) reduces sore throats from 5-7 days to about 2-3 days. So, without zinc, the cold may last 2 weeks. With Zicam, I find that my colds are over in about 7-9 days. For me, the symptoms of the cold are greatly reduced as well.
Other zinc formulations
You may get similar results with the lozenges, but I prefer the Zicam formulations. If another company begins making a similar formulation to the gel swabs, I may try those out. Right now it appears that Zicam is the only brand with this formulation. I will say that I have also tried Zicam’s nasal spray and throat spray. For the same reason that I don’t like the lozenges, I don’t like the throat spray (it tastes nasty). As far as the nasal spray formulation, I don’t like spraying this up inside my nose due to irritation. So, I stick with the swabs which simply coats the opening to your nose and doesn’t have taste or irritation problems. Apparently, though, the gel does move up into the nose through breathing, but I don’t seem to feel it like I do with the spray.
So, for prevention, follow my previous article. But, once you get sick, try using the Zicam gel swabs (or a knock off if you can find one) and see how well they work for you. If they do nothing, don’t buy them again. But, if they reduce the severity of the symptoms, as I expect they will, then I find that it’s well worth the $12 for a box.
Prevention: Flu Season is here
Now that flu season is upon us, I always like to take steps to prevent myself from getting infected from other people or items they may have touched. While there is no magic bullet for this, here are some rules that I personally follow that may help you avoid getting the flu.
Wash your hands often with soap and warm water
Washing your hands frequently will eliminate most viruses and bacteria from your hands and prevent you getting them near your nose or mouth. If you can wash your face while out, you should do this as well.
During winter months, do not purchase foods from serve-yourself open buffets
Eating off of salad bars at buffet-style restaurants or other communal type restaurants only serves to get you sick. Instead, opt for ordering from the menu so the food is cooked in the kitchen and served to you directly. This doesn’t eliminate the risk of getting sick, but it drastically reduces your chances because the plates will be clean and the food will be prepared fresh and hot. A cook in the kitchen could be sick, but most better restaurants don’t allow sick cooks in the kitchen (it’s a liability, after all). The fewer people who touch your food, the less chance you are to pick up a virus.
For this same reason, don’t buy foods in grocery stores from open buffet fill-it-yourself containers. The reason for this rule is very clear. Most buffet style places leave spoons out all day in containers and simply switch out the food leaving dirty utensils. Thus, spoons may have been touched by hundreds of people. By touching the spoon on the buffet table, you may be infecting yourself immediately. The food itself may also harbor the flu or a cold virus simply from someone sneezing. For sanitary reasons, avoid buffet serve-yourself meals during the winter to keep yourself healthier.
This covers both hot and cold food bars including olive bars.
As a side note about buffets.. Buffets are extremely unsanitary. The required sneeze guards do nothing for children. The guards are designed with adult height in mind. So, a child can easily be face high to the food, yet their face is under the guard. So, it’s easy for them to cough, laugh, sneeze or play around or even with the food or utensils. Since children seem to be the prime carriers for cold and flu viruses, this makes buffets and other serve-yourself food tables very unsanitary. Instead, you should order from a menu at a table. You should also ask the server if they plan on serving you food from the buffet table or if they plan on making it fresh. You should always specify having them make it fresh in the kitchen instead of serving you from the buffet food.
Tanning beds and UV
While this next portion may seem unusual, it may actually prevent you from getting the flu or colds. If you use a tanning bed, you may decrease your chances of actually contracting a virus or bacterial infection during the winter months. UV is known to disinfect surfaces and kill bacteria and viruses. So, using a tanning bed should kill viruses and bacteria on the surface of your skin, both hands and body. You don’t necessarily need to use a tanning bed for the maximum time. It may take as little as 1-3 minutes to successfully disinfect the surface of your skin (not necessarily enough time to tan you), although, likely enough time to kill viruses. Disinfecting the surface of your skin through UV should kill off any viruses you may have picked up through contact with other people.
However, once a virus has entered your nasal passages, you are already infected. UV doesn’t penetrate deep enough to disinfect inside your body. So, don’t tan once you are sick as it won’t help you and may only serve to dehydrate you even more than the virus already has. Tanning can be dehydrating. So, drink water after tanning.
How often you do this really depends on how often you are out in public with lots of people around you. The longer you are out in public around potentially sick people, then you should tan at the end of the day to kill off anything you may have come in contact with. You should tan at the end of the day rather than the beginning so you kill the viruses you may have gotten earlier that day.
Shower regularly with soap
Having good hygiene by showering will also wash of any viruses that may have landed on your skin. So, shower regularly to reduce viruses and bacteria on the surface of your skin. A reasonably hot shower or bath combined with soap is quite good at doing this.
Cover open wounds
If you have any cuts or open wounds, cover them properly with bandages. Having an open wound is an invitation for viruses to enter. Keep your cuts clean and keep them covered. Also, using antibacterial ointments like Neosporin on wounds can reduce infection and may also kill off or prevent entry of viruses.
Don’t use public phones or public computers
If you must use public phones or computers, you should bring along some Windex wipes or other disinfecting towelettes to wipe down and disinfect the surface before using it. Basically, you should avoid these devices or clean surfaces where the item could come in contact with your face (like a phone). With public computers, you’re touching the keyboard and may then wipe your nose with your hands. So, carry some disinfecting towelettes around during the winter months for quick disinfection. Also, carrying hand sanitizer allows you to clean your hands immediately after touching such items or, alternatively, go the restroom and wash your hands.
Wipe down surfaces in your office
Because offices are where we spend most of the day, always wipe down your phone, desk and keyboard. You never know when someone may sit down at your desk and temporarily use your space without your knowledge. So, wipe and disinfect your space each day during the winter time.
Public transportation
While I know that public transit is very ‘green’ and, in some cases, cost effective, it can also be a place where you can get sick. By sitting in seats where sick people may have been, you risk contracting the flu or cold viruses just by being there. You may not be able to avoid the use of public transportation, but you can reduce your chances by standing up rather than sitting down. If you stand on public transportation during the winter, you are not touching the seats where someone sick may have been sitting. Holding the hand rail only, you can easily clean your hands with instant hand sanitizer once you exit. So, carry a small sized hand sanitizer with you in winter months. If you must sit, then avoid touching your face and use a hand sanitizer after you exit the transit.
If you notice someone coughing around you, move away from them (preferably to another car on a train) or further back if you are in a bus. You can also get off at the next stop and simply wait for the next bus or train, if they are frequent enough.
For airplane transit, there’s not really much you can do here. If there’s someone who is sick on a plane, you’re very likely to catch it. So, the best bet is to limit travel to only necessary movement during winter months.
Avoid eating out often / order take-out if possible
Eating at any restaurant exposes you to viruses. So, to avoid this risk, don’t eat out. Instead, buy foods and cook for yourself. Eating at home, there is no risk of becoming infected with a virus (except what you or your family brings home). Because your home is basically a controlled environment, you can prevent getting sick by staying home more often in the winter. If you really do want to eat out, take the food from the restaurant as takeout. Order over the phone from home or your cell and then pick the food up after it’s ready. This means you get exposed to almost nothing other than door handles and money handling. So, use some hand sanitizer or wash your hands when you get home.
These are several of my rules that I choose to follow. However, sometimes it isn’t always convenient to follow them. So, you should wash your hands as the bare minimum to help reduce your chances of getting sick during the winter months.
The reality behind Reality TV: Hell’s Kitchen Edition
Hell’s Kitchen
For those of you who like Reality TV shows like Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen, realize there is even more reality than what you see on the tube. For example, in the First 2 Seasons of Hell’s Kitchen, the winners didn’t actually win what the show promised during the seasons. The first season winner, Michael Wray, was to win his own restaurant, but the show didn’t deliver on that award. Instead, he was awarded kitchen equipment and a trip to the UK to study under Ramsay. He first accepted and then later declined the trip. The second season winner, Heather West, was promised a newly built restaurant in Las Vegas in which she would have an investment stake and help design it. This prize also never materialized. Instead, she signed a one year contract to be Senior Chef at Terra Rossa (an existing restaurant) in Las Vegas. After her contract terminated, she left and became Sous Chef on Hell’s Kitchen during Season 6. Still, not the prize she had won.
It wasn’t until the third season that Hell’s Kitchen actually awarded the prize to Rock Harper that it had announced all season. He became Head Chef of Green Valley Ranch’s Terra Verde. Of course, the question remains, was it just a limited stint for Rock like it was for Heather? Only time will tell. Fast Forward… The award for Season 6 was to be ‘Head Chef’ at the Araxi in British Columbia. Unfortunately, the restaurant began to get cold feet at the start of Season 6 after seeing the contestants. So, Ramsay apparently had to talk with the owner to quell any fears that there would be a competent winner. Unfortunately, Araxi had already made up its mind. The winner of Season 6 (Dave) will simply become an ‘employee’ and not ‘Head Chef’. So, once again, Hell’s Kitchen has not delivered on its announced award.
I also have to wonder about those other award winners. Did they only somewhat win or slightly win? At least Hell’s Kitchen should award cash and tangible prizes. As long as the sponsorship remains, the prizes will be there. Top Chef got that one right at least.
Kitchen Nightmares
Kitchen Nightmares, on the other hand, is its own nightmare. Of course, it doesn’t help that Ramsay attempts to save restaurants on the brink of collapse. Needless to say, in the 2 US seasons of this show and of the 13 he’s tried saving in New York, only 5 are still in business. Sebastian’s in LA has also closed. Most of the failed restaurant owners blame Ramsay and Ramsay blames the owners for not following his advice. The reality is probably somewhere in the middle combined with the economy. The downturn has taken its toll on lots of places, including restaurants. Fine dining is quite expensive. So, people are cutting back and eating more frugally. It doesn’t help that most of these ailing turned failing restaurants really had no regulars anyway. So, giving it a coat of paint and a new menu is probably not enough. Their reputation was already tarnished.
Of course, Kitchen Nightmares also pays to have people dine at the restaurant so that it appears as though it might succeed. The reality, of course, is far different. This is all Hollywood smoke and mirrors. After the cameras stop rolling and the production is no longer paying diners, the restaurant goes back to its old dismal self (bad sales and all). Basically, polishing poop doesn’t make it better.
Makes You Wonder
I have to wonder just how many more reality game or fix-it shows really work after the dust settles and the cameras are gone. With shows like Trading Spaces and Bridezilla, is it only about the cameras and drama? Does the ‘reality’ really mean anything. After the cameras stop, it’s really not that exciting. In fact, when the cameras are rolling, it’s not that exciting. That’s why they hire excellent editors to take random shots and intercut them together. For that reason alone, that’s how Tek, who was eliminated much earlier in Hell’s Kitchen, can reappear in an episode where she shouldn’t have been.
Smoke and Mirrors
Remember, Hollywood is all about appearances. Appearance is the only thing that matters. As long as its glitzy and offers some drama, Hollywood assumes people will watch. To some degree, I guess that thinking is valid. But, once you realize that it’s only smoke and mirrors, then it becomes just fluff. For me, that’s not really enough to keep watching.
Recruiting: Job seeker’s friend or foe?
I have been successfully placed by a recruiter once in my career. After that, I’ve had nothing but bad experiences with recruiters. The main problem with technology recruiters isn’t necessarily with the recruiting itself. It’s the human element that always gets in the way. A recruiter’s bottom line is the commission they will receive when they place a candidate. This commission, unfortunately, drives the entire placement process. When a recruiter’s sole motivation is based on money, the candidate and the hiring company both get the short end of the stick.
Case in point, I have used recruiters for the last two or three jobs I’ve attempted to land. In nearly every case, the recruiters misrepresented the job to me in the phone interviews. So, when a recruiter sent me on an interview, the job was clearly not a match for my skills. Basically, either the job was entirely wrong based on my skills or I had specifically told the recruiter not to place me in that industry or job type. Yet, there I was, interviewing where I shouldn’t have. This ends up as a wild goose chase. When I explain that to the recruiter, they get defensive and blame me for the ‘bad interview’. It wasn’t bad, it was just a mismatch because of the recruiter’s lack of skill or inability to listen. But, this comes back to the commission. Once the commission dollars become a reality in their mind, the recruiter puts blinders on. They then attempt to force a square peg into a round hole to avoid losing that cash.
That’s not to say that there aren’t sincere recruiters out there. I’m sure there are some. But, the recruiting industry is so filled with inexperienced recruiters only willing to make a buck that you can’t tell the difference between who is sincere and who isn’t. It’s not like recruiting is regulated or has any grading system. So there is no method for you, the candidate, to determine just how a specific staffing firm works.
The one recruiting game that gets to me is when recruiters simply resume collect to fill a database, but have no intention of placing you. Robert Half (RHI) is notoriously bad for this. They’ll collect your resume, ask you to step into their offices for a ‘face to face’ and additionally ask you to spend an hour or longer filling out paperwork. After you’ve done this for them, they never call you back. That’s such a waste of time. So, instead of wasting a day at their offices, the candidate could have better spent that time sending out resumes to actual employers and going on legitimate interviews with direct employers.
Other tactics from recruiters include them finding a job posting on the Internet, collecting resumes and contacting qualified candidates. Only after they have the candidates in hand do they then try to lasso in the employer. So, they string the candidate along thinking they have a chance at the position when they haven’t even talked with the hiring company about the position. Once the hiring company turns down the recruiter, this is when the recruiter stops calling the candidate and stops taking your calls. This is yet another colossal waste of time. These become very apparent when you get two or three recruiters calling to recruit for the same hiring company and same position. In a typical recruiting engagement, the hiring company only allows one recruiter to recruit for the position. When multiple recruiters are recruiting for the same position, either the hiring company doesn’t understand the process or the recruiters are not on retainer.
When choosing to work with recruiters, be cautious and ask lots of questions. They do attempt to be the candidate’s advocate, but usually only to the point that they don’t lose their commission. If losing their commission becomes a reality, recruiters can become desperate in the relationship between the candidate and the hiring company. In fact, a working recruiter relationship can turn sour in about 30 seconds once the candidate or hiring company expresses disinterest. This is when the recruiter’s professionalism is tested. If the recruiter keeps pushing the candidate or the hiring company after disinterest has been expressed, that behavior is not professional. It also shows just how much the recruiter values their commission over a properly filled position.
For a recruiter, it’s much more valuable to place a qualified candidate in the proper position than collecting recruiting commission. But, many recruiters turn desperate when the square peg won’t fit into the round hole. On the other hand, some recruiters just don’t care. They’ll attempt to place anyone in any position just to fill their quota.
It can be difficult to find a recruiter who is actively willing to work on your behalf as a candidate. If you find one, stick with them. Keep in mind, however, that they are all working on commission, so placement of you fills their (and the recruiting firm’s) bank account. That money motivation can cause the recruiter to do things they would not otherwise do. Finding the most suitable job for you should be their number one priority. Unfortunately, it isn’t always the case.
WHO ups ante: Sunbeds now classified as bad as ‘tobacco’ for cancer risk.
A new study conducted with mice that the WHO has latched onto and that I’ve yet to read, now classifies sunbeds specifically and all UV exposure at the highest risk of causing skin cancer (on par with Tobacco). I’m not sure what prompted this change in view, other than a single study, but they have made this change. Clearly, one study is not enough to make this determination, but that is exactly what the World Health Organization is doing. There must be some subtext here that’s prompting this change. Perhaps the sunscreen industry is losing more money to people choosing to tan rather than buy and slather on the sunscreen.
The WHO claims that “It has been estimated that a sunbed tan offers the same protective effect as using a sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of only 2-3.” I’d guess that most lighter skinned people can only produce a tan (in a sunbed or outdoors) that protects you 2-3 times the amount you normally could stay outside. Without a tan, if you can stay out 1 hour without burning/tanning, then with a tan you can stay outside 2-3 hours without burning or substantially tanning. That’s fairly significant. The WHO shrugs it off as miniscule. Compared to SPF 50, it is miniscule. But realize, that even at 15 minutes max time outdoors without sunscreen, there aren’t 12.5 hours of sunlight in a day when using SPF 50. So, SPF 50 is overkill for most people. I’d also venture to guess that the WHO’s SPF 2-3 tan protection estimation is on the low side. Yes, if you only tan once a week in a bed and get only a very light tan, that might only make an SPF of 2-3. But, if you get a darker tan, then it will be a lot more protective perhaps up to 4-6 depending on color. Of course, how much melanin you can produce will also dictate how strong your protection is. Note that all skin colors will eventually burn, even the darkest tones. The question is, how long does it take?
The WHO’s SPF arguments completely discount the fact that a tan is full spectrum UV protection and, instead, suggests reliance on the sunscreens to protect you. What is this nonsense? Sunscreens are nowhere near full spectrum protection. In fact, most suncreens only really protect you from UVB and many provide limited or non-existent protection to UVA. Many UVA blocking chemicals wear off or degrade far faster than UVB protection. So, even while you may not burn with the UVB protection, your UVA protection may have worn off 10 minutes ago. A tan is visible, you can see it. Sunscreen is invisible, you can’t see it. A tan that you can see, you know is working. A sunscreen that you can’t see, you can’t know that it’s working. So, you have to reapply at least every 30 minutes to 1 hours to ensure constant protection.
For SPF, consider this. There are 8-10 major sunlit hours in the day. If you have an SPF of 3 and can stay out 1 hour without burning, that means you can stay out 3 hours without burning with SPF 3 protection. How often do people stay outdoors longer than 3 hours in direct sunlight? Of the places that come to mind, I see an amusement park, a waterpark or perhaps at the beach surfing. These three situations can easily kill more than 4 hours outdoors. So, in these instances, you wouldn’t want to rely on a tan alone to protect you even if you had an extremely dark tan. But, of the three, two are water activities where sunscreens don’t really work well. So, with outdoor water activities, having a tan is far more helpful than using sunscreens that continually wash off.
Benefits outweigh Risks
William B. Grant (Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center (SUNARC), San Francisco, CA, USA) suggests in his December 2008 article that the benefits of UV exposure outweigh any risks that UV might impose. For example, he states,
“Humanity’s relation to solar UVB and vitamin D should first be put into the biological perspective. Solar UVB has always been the primary source of vitamin D for life on Earth. On the other hand, UV can damage DNA and generate free radicals, as well as destroy folate in the skin. As a result, skin pigmentation adapted to prevailing solar UV doses where people lived for many generations: very dark in equatorial plains regions, brown in tropical forests and subtropical locations, and very light in high-latitude European locations (Jablonski and Chaplin, 2000). Many people now may live where their skin is too light for prevailing UV doses, resulting in increased risk of skin cancer, or too dark, leading to vitamin D deficiencies.”
Assuming that UV and skin cancer are linked conclusively, his argument suggests another reason for higher incidence of skin cancer. Because the world is literally an open travel destination, peoples from all over the world are now moving to regions they would not normally inhabit. Thus, lighter skinned people are moving to regions with more UV exposure than normal for their protection level. Darker skinned people are becoming vitamin D deficient because UV isn’t strong enough when they move to less sunny areas.
Of UV exposure, Mr. Grant also writes,
“The benefits of UVB irradiance and vitamin D extend well beyond cancer. There is mounting evidence that vitamin D also reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases (Dobnig et al., 2008). The benefits for UVB irradiance accrue even in youth, as reported for bone development (Lamberg-Allardt and Viljakainen, 2008), multiple sclerosis (Grant, 2008; van der Mei et al., 2003), breast cancer (John et al., 2007b), and prostate cancer (John et al., 2007a). One reason for an early-life benefit is that vitamin D increases absorption of calcium, which reduces the risk of cancer (Lappe et al., 2007; Peterlik and Cross, 2005).”
On the one hand, you have the WHO claiming ‘tanning beds’ are the highest risk for cancer (especially for those under 30) and on the other you have the benefits of vitamin D (especially during early years) that help reduce your chances of cancer and aid in health. These statements are very opposing. In fact, evidence suggests that UV exposure also aids in the reduction of other illnesses. Of the benefits of Vitamin D, Mr Grant again states,
“Also, vitamin D strengthens the innate immune system against both bacterial and viral infections through the production of human cathelicidin, LL-37 (Aloia and Li-Ng, 2007; Hewison, 2008), thereby reducing the risk of viral infections such as Epstein–Barr virus that lead to other diseases such as multiple sclerosis and several types of cancer (Grant, 2008).”
And he states that 1000-2000 IU of Vitamin D per day can aid in the reduction of other diseases and of contracting viruses including “… seasonal influenza and the common cold (Aloia and Li-Ng, 2007).” I can attest to that. UV exposure has kept me from getting the flu or a cold for the last two years running.
Sunlight
Humans have enjoyed sunlight since the beginning. To now claim that natural sunlight is more dangerous than a chemical bath in sunscreen products is basically ridiculous. Let’s actually do some studies to determine if sunscreen chemicals are truly long-term safe, shall we? I digress. If sunlight were truly as carcinogenic as the WHO puts forth in their very alarmist announcement, then humans would not exist today and we would have been one big heap of skin cancer. Yet, that hasn’t happened. So, then the question becomes, what has changed? What are we now doing that we weren’t doing years ago? I think the answer is in the all of the manmade products and foods that we consume. The unnaturalness of working in closed indoor spaces instead of being outdoors. Of course, this includes Mr. Grant’s argument of inhabiting regions with higher doses of UV. So, when we do go outdoors to play, we get badly burned and we effectively have no protection.
Other sources of UV
There are other incidental sources of UV that you may also not be aware. If you work in an office building or perhaps even in your home, fluorescent bulbs have become extremely common place. While the UV that emanates from these bulbs is not as strong as those in tanning beds, they still give off UV. Haven’t you ever wondered why plants love to be under fluorescent lights? That’s the answer.. UV. So, while there isn’t enough UV exposure from these fluorescents to actually tan you, there is enough exposure throughout an 8 hour day to account for higher incidence of skin cancer in individuals. These fluorescent lamps may even be in your home in the new ‘energy saver’ bulbs. So, you may also be further exposing yourself to additional UV without even knowing it.
WHO warns only targeted UV sources
If the WHO wants to exclaim warnings, they need to exclaim them in the proper places. Right now, they are unfairly targeting tanning beds and tanning salons when natural sunlight falls directly under their warning. They make no mention of UV from office building flourescent bulbs. Awardspace.com describes standard fluorescent lamps:
“Fluorescent lamps illuminate 71% of the commercial space in the United States. Most fluorescent lighting gives off UV radiation. Inside the tube, fluorescent lights are pure ultraviolet (UV). Passing through the coating of the tube, they change to visible light (spikes of violet, green and blue) and are not “supposed” to give off UV radiation, but some leaks out. There are special filters that can be purchased to block UV light, but most businesses don’t install the filters because of cost. The filter is a panel that allows light through, but blocks the UV radiation. [Sewell]“
Note that UV exposure is cumulative. So, sitting under fluorescent lights every day for 8-10 hours is probably equivalent to being out in the sun for several hours. Note that what’s blocked appears to be mainly UVB or else everyone would go home sunburned every day. So, what’s left that comes out of the bulbs is likely the longer UVA waves. These are the UV sources that account for skin aging and sun damage and potentially skin cancer.
William B. Grant quotes from the WHO’s very own web site:
“Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure is a minor contributor to the world’s disease burden, causing an estimated annual loss of 1.6 million (disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs)); i.e. 0.1% of the total global disease burden. A markedly larger annual disease burden, 3.3 billion DALYs, might result from reduction in global UVR exposure to very low levels.” –WHO Review via William B. Grant
Let’’s read that again… diseases from UVR exposure (i.e., skin cancer) account for 0.1% of the total global disease burden! Yet, from the WHO’s announcement, they would have you think that it’s nearly all of the world’s disease burden. The bottom line is, even if the WHO could manage to get every tanning salon in the world closed, the incidence of skin cancer would not likely drop as dramatically as they would think. First, sunlight is still readily available. Second, there are plenty of other unexpected UV sources (like office lighting) that go unchecked. But, even the WHO cautioned that reducing UVR exposure to very low levels might result in a ‘markedly larger annual disease burden’ (due to the lack of vitamin D). So, the timing of this increase in the risk levels is odd and must have some other subtext that’s pushing it through. One thing is quite clear, this warning clearly targets tanning beds and tanning salons. Because this notice clearly intends to target tanning salons and tanning beds, the question then remains as to the motivation behind this announcement at this time.
Spray tans and Self-Tanners
As a follow up to Sunscreens vs Natural Tanning, I thought I would discuss spray tans and self-tanners. Because suntanning is now almost considered taboo (thanks to the sunscreen and medical industries), many people opt to use a Mystic, Magic or Mist-On spray tanning booth to get that golden glow. A lot of people, for whatever reason, feel these are safer alternatives to sunlight produced color (melanin). Here’s some information that you may not know about these spray tan and self-tanners.
Spray Tan Booths
How safe are spray tans? Well, let’s start with what’s in these spray tanning formulations. Obviously, there’s water in the solution. The active ingredient (that tans you) is Dihydroxyacetone (known as DHA) and possibly even Erythrulose. Both of these ingredients do self-tanning. Both Erythrulose and DHA are the ingredients in most off-the-shelf self-tanning products that you can find in the drug store. I say ‘most’ because there are other alternatives that can provide skin color without self-tanners (although, these are simply dyes, colorants, coatings or powders). Inactive ingredients include temporary bronzer colors (to give immediate color gratification) and possibly other chemicals to aid in delivery. There are some spray tan booths that provide clear solutions instead of bronzed solutions (which can mark up clothing). The benefit to the spray tan is that they tend to spray on very evenly and help prevent blotchy, streaky and uneven application. The drawback to spray tanning is that it aerosolizes the DHA and other ingredients so that you inhale it. Most spray tanning booths offer no ventilation systems during the spray tanning process. In fact, they don’t want the ventilation because the floating particles may help you tan better. But, because the solution is aerosolized, you are now inhaling these ingredients. Yes, you wanted your skin surfaced tan, but did ou know that you are now tanning your lungs and nasal passages? This is not a good thing.
DHA, Erythrulose and the dyes and colorants are not intended to be inhaled in mist particles. So, while the spray booths are great for even application, they don’t really offer the necessary ventilation to prevent inhalation of these potentially problematic chemicals. Salons are supposed to provide nose plugs that may help filter out these chemicals. Too many times, however, salons are out of the plugs and you end up inhaling anyway. In fact, because of the time it takes to spray tan, you really can’t easily hold your breath. So, you will eventually breathe in the chemicals.
Note that salons that have spray tan booths may opt to purchase third party DHA solutions. These are solutions not made by the original manufacturer. As a result, some people have experienced orange or yellow tones from spray tans in salons. If you spray tan and your color is highly orange, it’s possible that your salon has opted to buy cheaper refills with cheaper ingredients.
Self-tanners
The two self-tanners listed above include Erythrulose and Dihydroxyacetone (DHA). Erythrulose takes up to 5 days to fully appear. Erythrulose provides a yellowish color to the skin. This color is used to offset the oranges that DHA provides. DHA begins developing in 4-6 hours reaching maximum color by 12-15 hours. DHA’s color actually looks reasonably natural between 4-6 hours after application. Once ie begins to darken, however, it begins to gain the familiar orange and unnatural look by the 12 hour mark.
Airbrush Tan
For the same reason as a booth is a problem, so is an airbrush. The airbrush provides finer control and finer particles, but that doesn’t equate to safer inhalation risks unless they provide an active vent hood which can reduce inhalation risk. Airbrush tans, though, do provide better and more even coverage than a spray tan booth.
Safest Way to Apply Self-tanners
The lotion versions are, in fact, the safest way to apply a self tanner. While an aerosol makes it even and fast, it also makes it more dangerous for inhalation problems. So, opting for a lotion prevents the inhalation issues. The difficulty with lotions is uneven application and the possibility of an orange color.
Why do self-tanners turn orange?
Part of the reason for this is color theory. If you have a bluish undertone to your skin or are very pale, that mixes with the developing color to produce an orange-ish tone. If you have a tanned tone, the self-tanner enhances the tan and produces a much more natural color and deepens the tan. Another reason that DHA turns orange is because of the base ingredients with which it’s mixed. The lotion base that most brands use are cheap. As a result, the lotion ingredients change the color of the developing DHA to become more orange. To avoid this, you want to find a high quality lotion base or alternatively find a self-tanner mixed in a gel base. Some lotions that work well and keep their proper color are Dave’s Famous Moisture Tan and L’Oreal’s Sublime Bronze Gelee. Dave’s lotion is made in a white base and has a very light nutty scent. L’Oreal’s product has the typical nasty self-tanner scent, but it spreads on incredibly even (not streaky) and gives very good color.
What skin tones can use self-tanners?
While I know that dermatologists recommend self-tanners, you don’t want people to know you fake bake simply by looking. So, you need to assess your present skin tone to determine if a self-tanner is right for you. Certain skin tones do not do well with self-tanners. For example, the white-bluish skin tones do not fake bake well. The self-tan will likely make you orange or yellow very fast. The best you can hope for is getting a very light self-tanner, applying it and then washing it off right as the color develops. Washing immediately as the color develops lets you stop the color development at a point before it gets too dark. You will also need to find a self-tanner that gets you to the proper color. Some ‘light’ self-tanners still get way too dark, so you should be cautious. If at the 12 hour mark you are getting too dark, take a shower and lightly soap and rinse to stop further development.
Why do self-tanners smell?
The developing process between the DHA and the skin’s protein gives off an aroma as a result of the developing process. The smell has been described as ‘wet dog’, ‘musty’, or ‘earthy’ . The smell comes to its height at about the 12 hour mark after application. It begins to subside after the 24 hour mark (when the color begins to wear off). Because of the smell, this is a very telltale way of knowing when someone has used a self-tanner. Frankly, I find the smell offensive and refuse to use self-tanners for this reason alone.
Note that Dave’s self-tanner is made with limited fragrance, so it pretty much smells like the lotion mixed with DHA (it has kind of a nutty scent). The good thing about this is that there is no fragrance to mix with the developing odor to make an even nastier smell. Too many self-tanners on the market include entirely horrible fragrances to mask the DHA smell. So, when the color (and odor) develops and mixes with the fragrance, it can sometimes be a nauseating combination. You want to shower just to get the smell off. With Dave’s lotion, the light nutty fragrance dissipates rapidly so there is no fragrance left when the DHA color and odor develops… and that’s a blessing in disguise.
Self-tanners make my skin rough and dry
Yes, they do. The best way to resolve this issue is to use a moisturizer frequently. If you must use DHA to color your skin, your skin texture will change as a result. You may find that you don’t like the texture that a self-tanner leaves on your skin. If that’s the case, you may have to abandon use of DHA.
Flaking, peeling and splotchy uneven wear
Self-tanners don’t wear off evenly. It can wear off to make your skin look splotchy or odd colored. This is a lot more apparent when you try to go too dark and your skin is very light. The good thing, though, is a fake bake usually wears off completely by 7-10 days. That means, if there was a problem during application, it’s gone pretty fast. The downside, of course, means that you have to reapply the color every 7-10 days to keep your skin tone. The problem with reapplication is that you need to completely scrub the color off before adding more. Otherwise, the new color won’t adhere to your skin well enough. To make your self-tan last as long as possible, here are some tips.
- Scrub your skin with a exfoliating buff pad thoroughly prior to application (to remove as much dead dry skin as possible).
- Let your skin dry completely before application
- Apply a small amount of lotion to the backs of your hands, knuckles, knees, elbows and ankles to prevent full strength absorption
- Once the color appears, apply lotion daily to keep the tan as long as possible
- Remove the tan fully with a buff-pad once the tan begins to noticeably flake
Always fully remove any previous self-tan before applying a new tan. If you don’t do this, your tan will become uneven and may go on too dark. So, remove the old tan first.
Removing the old self-tan
To remove a self-tan, the best way is to wait until most of it has worn of already. Then, use a body exfoliating buff pad to rub the rest off. The benefit if using a buff pad is that it will get all of the old color off and, at the same time, prep your skin for a new tan. You should always prepare your skin by exfoliation to use a self-tanner. Otherwise, it may wear unevenly and/or turn way too dark in places.
Tips for working with self-tanners
Self-tanners will tan any skin surface or hair. So, be careful with it around the plams of your hands and your nails. Always wear gloves when applying and use a sponge applicator if possible. For ease of application, buy a lotion with a dark guide. The guide will aid getting it on evenly. Gels with oil are reasonably easy to get applied evenly because you can see where the oil is. The problem with the gel type with oil is that the oil dries slowly. Lotions dry much faster. Guides can stain clothing, so be careful. Do not swim, shower or sweat within 4-7 hours of application. This can wash off parts of the DHA and cause splotchy or uneven color. Wait until the color develops before doing swimming or other activities that make you sweat.
If you choose to go the route of a drug store lotion, look for reviews on the Internet first. People who like a product will usually recommend it. Amazon is a good place to get reasonably honest reviews of products. To get self-tanner off your palms, fingernails or cuticles, use a cotton swab and some bleach. The bleach will lighten the self-tanner and make it far less noticeable.
Overall
Finally, expect to spend between 1-3 hours prepping, applying and waiting to dry. Then, 4-6 hours before color begins to develop. So, this is not a fast process by any stretch. Be sure to fully exfoliate before you apply a self-tanner (whether from a bottle or in a salon). You should moisturize daily to keep the skin moist and preserve the look of the tan. There’s little you can do to mask the developer odor, so just try to keep yourself from getting wet (when it smells the worst).
Finally, I would like to point out the following possible health issues with self-tanner chemicals:
- A DHA tan does not protect you from UV. Do not use it thinking that you won’t get burned outdoors. In fact, DHA offers no UV protection at all. So, if you must be outdoors with your DHA tan, apply sunscreen to fully protect your skin from a burn.
- DHA has no long term toxicity studies for its use on the skin. It is a possibility that DHA leeches into the bloodstream on application. So, applying DHA may not be healthy to your skin or body… which may take years before it’s ultimately linked to any injury.
- Aerosolized DHA in spray tanning booths will be inhaled. You should be cautious of inhaling aerosolized DHA when using a spray tanning system. Inhaling DHA into the lungs has not been tested for possible health issues.
Why Serial ATA will ultimately fail
Serial ATA is the replacement for Parallel ATA hard drives in computers. Serial ATA offers faster speeds, yes, but is still immensely inconvenient in the Windows world (and probably with Linux and Mac as well).
Problematic design / brittle plastic
First, the thing you’ll notice different between a PATA drive and SATA drive is the connectors. Gone are the bigger multipin data connector and the 4 pin power connector. Instead, now we have a multipin power and multipin data connector that has a slim/thin form factor. At first glance, you might think this is cool looking replacement connector. We’ll I’m here to tell you it’s not. The plastic used to hold the flat pins in place is weak and brittle. If you’re not absolutely light touch careful with how the drive fits in place, you’re likely to break one or both of the connectors off. Once that happens, the drive is toast.
In the 18 years I’ve been a systems administrator, I’ve changed many a hard drive and never once broken an IDE’s data connector. I’ve torn a few cables and I’ve bent a few pins, but this is nothing that can’t be corrected easily leaving the drive fully functional. With the brittle plastic SATA connectors on the drive itself, it’s extremely easy to break them off. For this poor design choice alone, this is one reason why SATA manufacturers must eventually redesign this connector or the drive acceptance will fail.
Out with the old, in with the new
Hard drive manufacturers and motherboard manufacturers have been steadily pushing EIDE (IDE) out the door in replacement for SATA drives. That’s great if everyone was on board at the same time. Unfortunately, Microsoft still isn’t on board with this change over. There are still limited native SATA drivers even in Windows Server 2008 (which is an offshoot of Vista). This means, you must still load drivers for certain popular SATA controllers. For example, one of the most common controllers used on motherboards is the SI3114 (Silicon Image) controller. Yet, you still must load drivers to get Windows to recognize a drive connected to it before Windows will install. If you forgot the driver or don’t realize you need it, you’ll easily spend 30 minutes chasing it down from your controller or motherboard manufacturer.
I realize the hard drive and motherboard manufacturers are trying to affect change, but you can’t do it when Microsoft still isn’t on board. I guess these businesses haven’t really figured this out yet.
Road to failure
I don’t mean hard drive failure either. I mean failure of the standard to be accepted in the long term. For poor design choices and the lack of giving Microsoft time to embed the most common SATA drivers into Windows installation media, SATA drives are likely to eventually fail to be the defacto data storage device of choice. Connectors on the back of drives need to be rugged (or at least more rugged than the brittle plastic they are using). The connectors could have been both bigger and more thoughtfully designed than what is on the back of SATA drives. For hot plugable configs, these connectors seem to work reasonably well, but they are still not perfect (as you have to play with alignment to ensure proper connectivity, hoping you don’t break parts off). The SCA connector was a much better standard as far as hot plug standards go: one single connector, big enough to be functional, easy to hotplug and rugged enough to keep from breaking parts off.
SATA drive manufacturers need to work on a design spec for better more rugged connectors on the back of SATA drives. Motherboard manufacturers need to ensure their SATA controller has a built-in driver in Windows installation packages so no specialty setups are necessary. Without these two steps, SATA drives will eventually fail to gain the acceptance and the momentum to keep these products going. Manufacturers seem to think that there is no other choice for data storage in the computer. When you think of hard drives, ATA drives are the first that come to mind. But, we are fast approaching solid state technologies. These solid state storage technologies don’t need the hoggy space of a hard drive chassis, the spinning noise and the eventual failure. With solid state drives, instead of 1U machines, we may even begin seeing 1/2U machines or less.
Fix it or fail
Hard drive manufacturers need to rethink SATA. They need to design both a better connector and faster data rates. 3Gbps speeds is reasonably fast, but we need to be about 10Gbps before vast improvements in transfer rates are actually noticed at a storage level.
Without the necessary support, which by now we should have had in the SATA world, it doesn’t make sense for HD manufacturers to push IDE out the door. There are still far too many times where IDE devices are necessary to get a system to a workable state. Motherboard manufacturers need to be doubly careful. SATA-only motherboards lead to challenges during installation of Windows due to lack of drivers. These installation challenges can lead to frustration and eventually a return of the motherboard to the store.
For all of these reasons, the SATA specification and design needs to be rethought. The brittle plastic connectors are no where near rugged enough and need to be made much more sturdy. The lack of driver support makes installation and repairs extremely frustrating. Chasing down SATA drivers to place on floppy disks can be a challenge even for the most knowledgeable.
For now, this is the state of SATA. It was a promising standard, but for now it’s become a problem because the hard drive industry is trying to push for change far too rapidly without adequately testing the design of the drive. For anyone reading who may work with SATA designs or manufacturing, please feel free to take this to your bosses for review.
Thoughts: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
After getting back from seeing this film (twice), I felt it needed some discussion. So, let’s go. Note, this may contain Harry Potter spoilers.. so do not continue if you haven’t seen or read. You have been warned.
Conversion
The book to movie conversion was done reasonably well. This movie, like most that have preceded it, have missed the mark on certain aspects. What makes a Harry Potter book good is all of the nuances that J.K. Rowling includes. Most of these nuances and subtleties just can’t be placed into the films and Half-Blood Prince (HBP) is no exception. You would think that by 6 films into this series that the die-hard critics would understand and be used to all of the missing things. Unfortunately, they aren’t and they are still complaining about this same aspect. Critics, get over it. If you want an exact conversion, do it yourself or wait for a TV series version.
Yes, there were a lot of small subtleties that were left out of the movie. Some of them can’t easily be filmed and others just don’t work for the story. However, there were some things that were left out of the films that I felt were important to understand. Like, for example, the apparation classes in Order of the Phoenix (OOTP) that were completely left out of that film. By leaving it out of OOTP, it means that this can’t be easily taken advantage of in HBP. So, when Harry apparates with Dumbledore, it’s a surprise to everyone. Yet, we would have already seen this in OOTP if it had been in the film.
The one thing that is noticeably absent from HBP is the Dursley family. Gone is Little Whinging. Other than cursory mention of it and a background street scene, there is nothing in the film. Granted, I haven’t read the HBP novel since it came out, so I don’t even really recall how much of the Dursley’s were in the novel. Note that I haven’t re-read the novel because I wanted to go into the film without having recently read the book. I find that I enjoy the films more this way. I will now re-read the novel having seen the film.
Thoughts
While I generally liked HBP, I felt that the movie wasn’t as thrilling or as much a rollercoaster as OOTP. The Order of the Phoenix was one of my least favorite books in the series, yet it turned out to be one of my top favorites in HP films. Why? Because they were able to turn the lackluster pacing of the book into a spectacularly paced film. Half-Blood Prince’s pacing is a bit too even and, frankly, slow. There was not enough going on in most of the scenes, even when there was something going on. Instead, HBP relies more on cinematography to pull off the slow paced scenes. In most cases, it does so quite well. This film was beautifully filmed for the most part. For the same reason that many critics filmatically liked Prisoner of Azkaban, I’d say those cinematography critiques also fit with Half-Blood Prince.
Unfortunately, the pacing was far too lackluster throughout most of the film to give the necessary emotional power needed after Snape does his deed in the Astronomy tower. So, you really don’t feel emotional at a time when you need to. The whole thing feels very detached. I think part of the problem is that Dumbledore wasn’t given enough character build-up throughout the films to provide the necessary emotional attachment in this film. In other words, we really needed to see just how dear Dumbledore was to everyone to really get the sense of loss. Even still, this film should have been able to set it up enough to give that emotional punch at the end even when the previous films failed in character building. I also believe that this is part of the reason so many people weren’t completely convinced of the death at the end of the HBP novel.
Because of the lack of the emotional ending and the lack of the necessary rollercoaster ride needed for this film, it leaves the experience a bit on the flat side. There was plenty of teen angst moments throughout much of the film and that is probably the thing that carries this film. We definitely needed to see that part of the story to fully understand what is about to happen in films 7 and 8 (assuming book 7 is still planned as a two-part film), but we also needed the emotional impact to feel for the character we’ve just lost (and that didn’t happen).
Overall
I liked Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince, but not as much as the Order of the Phoenix. OOTP is better primarily because the intensity level was much higher than HBP. There were a few tense moments in HBP, but nowhere close to OOTP or even Goblet of Fire. I also felt that for what’s about to happen in Deathly Hallows that this film needed to ratchet up the intensity and failed to do so. Whomever is directing Deathly Hallows will have to ratchet up the intensity in that film rather than relying on HBP to do it.
