BLOG WATCH
Chinese checker
Strategypage.com on what the earthquakes shows about China and its military.
“The army has recently received new combat/work uniforms, so they looked good on TV. Every little bit helps. And the troops will be there for a while, since the quake, and the aftershocks, weakened hundreds of dams in the region. This requires disciplined manpower to evacuate threatened populations, examine and monitor the dams, and make repairs. As a result of the military’s preparations, a disaster turned into a showcase for how professional and competent the troops had become. Sure, it wasn’t a war, but it was the next best thing (a stressful situation that required discipline, planning and good leadership to overcome.) The government is spending $13 billion on the relief effort and immediate reconstruction. In addition to helping the victims, this effort will make China look good as thousands of foreign reporters come in this Summer for the Olympics. On the down side, with a disaster this large, reporters will have no trouble finding people who have fallen through the cracks and gotten a raw deal.”
Paid to quit
Bill Taylor at Harvard Business Review (discussionleader.hbsp.com) on a company that pays employees to leave.
“Zappos sells shoes – lots of them – over the Internet. The company expects to generate sales of more than $1 billion this year, up from just $70 million five years ago. But here’s what’s really interesting. It’s a hard job, answering phones and talking to customers for hours at a time. So when Zappos hires new employees, it provides a four-week training period that immerses them in the company’s strategy, culture, and obsession with customers. People get paid their full salary during this period.
“After a week or so in this immersive experience, though, it’s time for what Zappos calls ‘The Offer.’ The fast-growing company, which works hard to recruit people to join, says to its newest employees: ‘If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time you’ve worked, plus we will offer you a $1,000 bonus.’ Zappos actually bribes its new employees to quit! Why? Because if you’re willing to take the company up on the offer, you obviously don’t have the sense of commitment they are looking for. Zappos wants to learn if there’s a bad fit – and it’s willing to pay to learn sooner rather than later. (About ten percent of new call-center employees take the money and run.)”
Wild Bill
Al Giordano at ruralvotes.com notes that it’s Bill Clinton – not Hillary – pushing for a vice president spot.
“When the Clinton surrogates continue to advocate that Obama choose Senator Clinton as veep, everybody will know: It’s Bill, and not Hill, stoking the fire. And it’s not even about the vice presidency. For Bill, it is about wrestling back ‘the Clinton brand’ from his spouse. How’s that for petty? Arianna Huffington wrote a compelling essay last week listing the triumphs of Senator Clinton’s campaign, paving the way for other women in politics, and noting that, ‘she has redefined and taken over the Clinton brand . . . she is the Clinton who will now be most relevant to the country’s future.’ Not so fast. ‘The Clinton problem’ today is not: what will the Democratic Party or Barack Obama do about Senator Clinton? It is: what will Senator Clinton do about that loose cannon of a former president?”
Waterworld
On Discovermagazine.com, Heather Pringle explores whether humans colonized the world far early than thought.
“Until recently most researchers would have dismissed talk of Ice Age mariners and coastal migrations. Most scientists believed that Homo sapiens evolved as terrestrial hunters and gatherers and stubbornly remained so, trekking out of their African homeland … only when the Ice Age ended 12,000 to 13,000 years ago. But that picture, [some scientists say], is badly flawed, due to something researchers once rarely considered: the changes in sea level over time. Some 20,000 years ago, for example, ice sheets locked up much of the world’s water, lowering the oceans and laying bare vast coastal plains – attractive hunting grounds and harbors for maritime people. Today these plains lie beneath almost 400 feet of water. New evidence even raises the possibility that our modern human ancestors may have journeyed by raft or simple boat out of Africa 60,000 to 70,000 years ago, crossing the mouth of the Red Sea.”
SITES
Web pages to add to your bookmarks this week:
Addictive new way to find photos online; type in word, follow the planets.
With a cool Google Maps feature to see the locations of important events in history.
An ode to the &.
The Danger Room – one of the best sites for news on military technology.
