Surveys or sneaky ways of trying to sell you something

I am absolutely certain that I am not alone when it comes to hating the phone calls that try to sell me something or are “simply doing a survey”.

Have you ever noticed how they perform according to a script?

It’s usually “Good Mr./Ms how are you?”

To which of course you are supposed to respond with something like “I’m fine thank you, can I help you?"

Instead of what you really want to say which is more likely to be along the lines of: "Who wants to know? Who the hell are you and what do you want? I am just about to “

At this point the caller—who could be someone from a call centre in India or somewhere else in the world will then proceed with the real purpose of the call which is to tell you the wonderful news about whatever product their company happens to be
marketing at that point in time.

By allowing the call to proceed to this point you have just confirmed to the caller that you are normal, polite, and somewhat tolerant and you have also provided some really meaningful information. You have told the caller and his/her company that you
are who they think you are, and you have confirmed that you are of a particular gender, that your phone number is correct and that you are at home doing something at this time of the day.

Now ALL of this is more information about you than you may wish the caller to know.

So what can you do to prevent yourself from giving away all of this information?

The most useful tip that I have for people is that they should recognise that the other party is following a script and simply interfere with it.

For example, when the first part of the script is stated respond with something completely unexpected like:

“Do you have $1,000 handy?”

The person at the other end will in all likelihood look at the possible answers
to his or her question and be totally bamboozled about how to respond.

Press your advantage at this point and say something like, “If you would care to let me have your bank account details so that I can debit your account to the value of $1,000 I will be happy to continue this call.”

At this point even the most persistent caller will hang up AND with any luck will place a big black mark against your name on the list he/she has been provided noting that you are a waste of time and space to call again.

At the end of the day, their job is to try and get your attention about whatever it is they are selling and YOUR job is to protect your privacy, ensure that you do NOT get called again and where possible, let people know that your time and your intellectual property are valuable commodities. Provided that they are willing to pay, you might be persuaded to part with some, for a fee.

The psychology of interfering with scripts is really simple. Most people perform tasks in a way that becomes routine over time. Thus how you respond to greetings, how you do things is usually conditioned over time by repetition until it becomes so well learned that you have virtually automatic responses. People who call you to try and sell you something rely on this training. They create a script that stimulates the normal auto responses and before you know it they have obtained details about you and your habits. Even if they do not make a sale at that point they have obtained information about you that they can then on-sell to others and take advantage of when they call again. Similarly if you allow web sites to control your browsing by permitting cookies you will be sending information back to the source that can identify your browsing habits and hence provide valuable information that the site can then use to target further information to you and at the same time, if they are really clever, use data mining techniques to aggregate the information that they obtain and so develop a data base over time that they can use for their own marketing purposes or to on sell to others who may wish to market something that happens to be suitable for people with your profile.

There is not much you can do about modern technology so as it becomes more intrusive in your life you can at least start thinking of ways to control and benefit from the intrusion that is inevitable.

Your information and your privacy is valuable charge for it or protect it but do NOT give it away.

Clinton as President? or Two for the price of one!

The latest headline is that Clinton has triumphed over Obama in the Nevada primaries.

I guess the American public will be getting an interesting choice when the elections really start if Clinton is the candidate for the Democrats. Not only would Americans for the first time be able to elect a female to be the President of the United States, if they did so they would also be getting what amounts to a "two for the price of one" Presidency.

This would surely be a most interesting outcome for the most capitalist of economies.

In one hit the American public would be able to get both a current and former president to reside in the White House.

It simply boggles the mind what this could mean.

Can you imagine the bedside conversations?

No, not about that woman!

How about national and international policy?

The former President was cleared for even the most top secret information as will be the new President. Does this mean that they will be able to have meaningful dialogue in the privacy of the Oval Office or will Bill simply be relegated to hosting tea parties for his wife?

Like I said - it boggles the mind!

"Customer" or what's in a name?

One of the largest government agencies in Australia is called "Centrelink" which seems to be a great name for an organisation that (according to it's own propaganda) offers "a range of services delivered on behalf of ten government policy departments and a number of other agencies."

Specifically:

1. Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
2. Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.
3. Department of Transport and Regional Services.
4. Department of Veterans' Affairs.
5. Department of Health and Ageing.
6. Department of Education, Science and Training.
7. Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
8. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
9. Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.
10. Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

As part of this same propaganda, Centrelink also manages to add to the confusing double speak of governmental language by its use of the term "customer"

One would imagine that in normal parlance, a customer is someone who actually pays to receive a service or a product from someone else. Thus, you would imagine that Centrelink's customers are actually the so called policy departments and agencies that commission it to deliver certain services on their behalf.

However if you have a chance to look at Centrelink's Customer Charter, a 2o page PDF document you will discover to your surprise (and hopefully delight) that the word "customer" actually refers to both those organisations that pay for work to be done for them and also those people who are required to come to Centrelink to obtain the services that are being provided.

It's a fascinating use of the word.

In many instances it could be argued that as each individual who receives a service is a tax payer of some sort, thus he or she is actually (if indirectly) paying for the services that are received by means of their contribution to consolidated revenue.

Accordingly, it is merely right and appropriate that they are considered not only to be consumers of these services, but in a particularly funny and convoluted way because they are actually paying for them, should be called "customers".

In the dim and distant past people who received services from government departments were called 'clients,' but in this more modern and upbeat society that we live in, I guess it's no longer fashionable to use such terms - it's far more appropriate to use the terms that refer to all of us these days, consumers and customers and of course manufacturers, distributors, sales persons and marketers.

The world seems to have been overtaken by fiscal attributes and much like the old saying - "they who live by the sword shall die by the sword" perhaps we should now re-frame the saying into a more explanatory option that uses fiscal terminology.

That would certainly make sense of the billions that are being made through "virtual" businesses like PayPal, Facebook etc.

For those of us who used to work in the new business of "knowledge management" we are likely to reap the whirlwind of what we have sown.

The CIA infiltrates Facebook through a financial stake in its operations, (see the Canberra Times article "Facebook's faceless men" Sat. January 19 2008), companies pay billions to gain access to our personal preferences in the data bases of the so called 'free services' that abound on the Internet so that they can target their advertising to those preferences and so reduce our ability to resist their blandishments, our banking systems rely on our greed to have what others have and then suffer the loss of all our investments because they are virtual and not real, these are the risks.

If the world markets do result in a global meltdown following the so called Sub-Prime lending that went on in the USA we have only ourselves to blame.

Investing in rhetoric and double speak and virtual reality is merely a great way to play some games with each other. Life is not a virtual game as some people are realising for the first time - for most of us it's reality.

When you take games theory and practice and actually introduce it into the real world the characters that in a game might die horribly when you (the person playing) makes a mistake, in real life the character cannot spring back to life in the next round of the game, he/she just dies.

Are we all just customers or consumers in someones mad idea of a reality game or are we finally going to grow up and realise that we do NOT live in a virtual world and that our actions in the world in which we live have real consequences that do NOT lend themselves to a quick press of the 'reset' button.

It's a dog's world or is the world just going to the dogs?

It's not often that I manage to find anything of interest coming out of Hungary.

Today is an exception.

According to the news media there are some Hungarian scientists, who are being paid to work on computer software which aims to analyse dog barks and which could, as a result, allow people to better recognise dogs' basic emotions.

Dr Molnar and his colleagues at Budapest's ELTE University have tested software which distinguishes the emotional reaction of 14 dogs of the Hungarian mudi herding breed to six situations:

1. when the dog is alone,
   
2. when it sees a ball,
   
3. it fights,
   
4. it plays,
   
5. it encounters a stranger or
   
6. it goes for a walk.

"A possible commercial application could be a device for dog-human communication," he said.

The computer correctly recognised the emotional reaction of the dogs based on their barks and yelps in 43 per cent of the cases.

People had judged correctly in 40 percent of cases.

Scientists said the software could be improved.

Dr Molnar said the Hungarian scientists' research provided further proof that different types of dog barks convey messages humans can understand, even if they had no experience with dogs.

Given that humans seem to be almost as successful as the current software, I think that the only market for this development would be for humans who are totally insensitive - in which case they would probably be better off not owning a pooch.

Of course I could be wrong.

What's next I wonder?

Will there be someone out there who wants to find out if the bark of dog species that are NOT Hungarian herding animals speak a different dialect to express their emotions?

Perhaps we will be treated to a new set of languages that are taught at schools of the future.

I can see it now - advanced courses on Labrador speak - especially useful for the duck hunter and the blind person who uses a seeing eye dog.

I am sure that the French would want to explore being able to communicate with their Poodles and of course the Germans would want to be able to teach German Shepherd speak to those upstart Alsatians! Even the English may wish to get into the act, eventually, just to make their fox hunting so much more enjoyable if you can understand what your dogs are trying to say to you.

Of course the mind reels at other possibilities like being able to communicate with your pit bull about it's emotional state or with your Rottweiler to ensure that it does NOT think your children are pet food!

Yes folks - it's a dog's world - or perhaps more accurately the world is going to the dogs!

Lack of nursing staff or lack of planning for the future?

It's surprising to read in the papers that a government would actually pay a bonus for former nurses to come back to the work place because there are a shortage of these professional staff in the hospital system of the country.

I wonder what this says about the labour planning that has been going on for the last few years.

Everyone knows and indeed has known for some years that the population in this (and many other countries) is ageing. The world of the "Baby Boomers" - children born during and immediately after the 2nd world war is coming to an end. As the "boomers" age so their need for services that pertain to their health situation also changes.

Part of the planning process for all governments should have featured planning for this eventuality - however it appears that short term goals and particularly short term political goals have led to a situation in which most governments are likely to have to play 'catch up' thus costing taxpayers a great deal of money at a time when there is also likely to be a requirement in many other sectors of the economy for additional funding for lack of planning in their areas of expertise as well.

A new French Revolution?

Patrick Henry is reputed to have said "Give me Liberty or give me death" in a speech on March 23 1775 at St John's Church in Richmond Virginia. It seems that Americans everywhere have taken and modified this cry for freedom and instead now express their wish for both liberty and

American are now free to eat what they like and what they like seems to be killing them in great numbers.

The revolutionary war against British rule was, at least in part, inspired by the French Revolution and so it was with some relief that I read that the French who inspired the bases of the American constitution, are perhaps on course, once again, to inspire some changes to a different type of American constitution. The constitution of American bodies, by their suggestions for altering eating habits.

Already much taken by French fashions, there are now millions of Americans who would find it difficult to fit into any of the fashions that come from that country simply because of the epidemic of obesity that seems to have struck the USA in recent times. Even worse there are rumours that this epidemic has only just begun with childhood obesity ever on the increase in all parts of the country.

America is arguably among the most obese nations on earth and death. Mississippi is the fattest of all!

I suspect that the notion of "Let the good times roll" (Louis Jordan and BB King) has been taken to excess by those who now seem to consume vast quantities of various take away foods and end up being the focus of national programs to reduce obesity - if for no other reason, than to reduce the cost of health care in the future.

The Americanisation of the world has led to outbreaks of this epidemic in other western nations. The English and the French in particular seem to be suffering from the obesity epidemic.

The French it seems are fighting back!

In this case it is the town of Evereux in Normandy that is at the forefront of a French program to prevent childhood obesity. The program is called EPODE and its main focus is on primary school children. This small quiet town has been running the scheme called for three years and it has been adopted by 127 French towns and has even spread to Spain. Thus it should present no problems of cultural acceptance by those parts of the USA that have a history of association with French and Spanish cultures.

It could, for example come as a great contribution to Mississippi in the Deep South which is proud of its hospitality and of being the home of Blues music and it's association with a French Heritage. One thing it is not proud of is being classified as the fattest state in the union (The figures come from an annual survey by the Trust for America's Health.)Perhaps it's time for them and many others it seems, to learn from the image and food conscious French, another way of attacking the problem of obesity that is both nutritious and tasty.

EPODE is a program where Dieticians visit the schools to run special lessons on food.The aim of the exercise is to encourage children to eat something in the morning and to ensure it is a balanced meal. The French don't see it as simply nutrition but something to savour, to celebrate.

This means both variety and moderation. Breakfast can and does include a nice slab of Camembert and lunch in the school canteen while consisting of three courses has small portions.

Two-year-olds are having lunch started with cold cooked asparagus, raw cauliflower and carrots - all with sauce dips. The idea is to introduce different tastes to the children early on, to get their palates used to more bitter and acid foods. The children apparently love it.

I wonder how many two-year-olds (not to mention their parents) in the USA would welcome something like this being introduced into THEIR schools?

"We concentrate on prevention because we know that a child who is overweight at age 12 has 80% chance to be obese all their life," said Sandrine Raffin, director of the EPODE program.

"To gain a healthy lifestyle you need the whole of childhood to build good food habits and incorporate physical activity."

Nationally, big names in the food industry, like Nestlé help fund the EPODE programme, but they do so at arm's length. In the large supermarket in Evreux there were signs promoting the programme. Groups of children are invited in to learn about seasonal produce and how food is produced."

What a wonderful example to America where world wide food companies abound and where the supermarket concept was started. Indeed it may be a recipe for preventing obesity, designed by an image-conscious and food-loving nation, which might once again come to the aid of Americans who need inspiration for a new revolution in their fight on fat!

The Stolen Generation - Compensation Claims

It appears that Aboriginal leaders in Australia have threatened to launch a class action to demand compensation to the tune of 1 billion dollars for the actions of various State and/or Commonwealth governments which resulted in Aboriginal children being taken from their homes and made wards of the State for their own protection.

Apparently the Rudd government has already ruled out any compensation I suspect that the States will soon follow.

Given the most recent set of events in Central and Northern Australia where there are continuing allegations of child abuse in Aboriginal communities I wonder whether officers of various Child Welfare Departments who try to protect children today are also likely to be at risk of doing the wrong thing by removing children from abusive parents.

More to the point though, my personal question to the Aboriginal communities around Australia is to ask how far back in history do we look for find actions for which we should be able to claim compensation from today's society?

Fifty years? One Hundred Years? 500 years or should we be allowed to go back even further?

If we look back far enough we might be able to argue that really most of the issues in the Middle and the near east are due to the invasions of the Egyptian Pharaohs, the Mongol hordes, the Macedonian/Greeks armies of Alexander and the Roman Legions.

Then a little later in history we could blame the Napoleonic wars, the British Empire and so on for dozens of other historical injustices, deaths and dispossession. Let's not forget either the German, Japanese and the Soviet regimes which managed between them to get well over 20 million people killed not to mention dispossessed.

Are we now seriously suggesting that since China is becoming an economic superpower we should all go back in our family histories and look for signs of the Mongol invasions and if we can manage to track our ancestors back that far, sue the Chinese government and people of today for all the damages that were suffered by our ancestors at the hands of the Mongol hordes.

Ludicrous? OK Let's wind the clock on. What about the Greeks and the Romans?

Surely they have a lot to answer for. Why not sue the Italian and Greek governments for the damage that they did?

I have no problem with accepting that whoever had the great idea to remove children from their Aboriginal parents may have got it badly wrong and I have no problems with accepting that if there are any of the people responsible for those tragedies today then they should be asked to explain what happened and why they did what they did and then if the Aboriginal community wants to sue them - do so!

As for the rest of us who were either not alive at the time nor necessarily even IN Australia at the time - I can see no reason why OUR hard earned taxes should now compensate those descendants of the Stolen Generation who suggest that they suffered as a result of the actions of officialdom at that time.

The Citizenship Test What's all the fuss about?

Should people who migrate to Australia or land here as refugees learn something about the history, culture and way of life in Australia and prove it, before they are allowed to become citizens?

Sounds reasonable, it's something that should actually help those who are newly arrived to 'fit in.'

However in the history of this country we have never before set people a test which they had to pass to get citizenship.

So why NOW?

The recently defeated Australian government, with the full support of the party that won the elections introduced a Citizenship test that appears to be too hard, as many of those who currently sit the test, actually fail.

Having looked at the test, I have to say that I cannot find anything in it that is so difficult.

Given that all the answers are actually provided to potential examinees, free of charge and translated into some 29 languages, given that there is no limit to the number of times that someone can sit the test and that there is no castigation of anyone who fails the test I am uncertain what all the fuss is about and why the current government wants to dumb down the test.

OK I take the point that it's apparently no longer a "free ride" to become an Australian citizen, why are some people so upset about it all.

"The Federal Government has rejected a call by the New South Wales Ethnic Communities Council to dump the controversial citizenship test.

The Government has launched a review of the test, which asks immigrants questions about Australia's values, history and way of life.

The review has been prompted by the release of statistics which show out of nearly 11,000 citizenship tests taken, more than 2,000 people failed."

I guess the question is WHY they they failed the test?

Was it because it was in English and they can't speak the language?

If this proves to be the case, surely the question should be "what facilities exist to assist them to learn the language?" and "what incentives are there to ensure that they are able to feed their families while they do so?"

Was it because some people simply don't want to learn about Australia's history and culture or deal with Australian values?

Hardly - they would then simply not bother to take the test.

Some people in the community I am sure would love to be able to argue that there are those in the community now who want to retain their old values and cultural ways and actually impose them on the community that they have joined and in this process sow the seeds of disharmony.

Personally I don't think anyone already living here will permit this to happen. What they will permit however is the enrichment of the existing culture in much the same way that waves of immigrants have always shaped and enriched this land.

The reality for Australia is that most of the population has migrated here from somewhere other than Australia. Indeed the history of this land and its values have been formed by immigrants (voluntary or otherwise) and like most unplanned roads or pathways has developed in a higgledy piggledy fashion over time.

So back to my questions, why, all of a sudden, a citizenship test and why such a fuss?

Assuming that it is a way to assist people to learn about the country that they have chosen to come to and assuming that it is NOT meant to hostile to those who do come to live here - why is there so much pressure to get rid of the test?

I am certainly happy to hear from any reader who has some idea what all the fuss is about!

What's happening in France?

Stephanie Kennedy, the ABC's London reporter advised January 1st 2008 that:

"The French are getting ready for one of the biggest changes in their country's history, with smoking banned in cafes, bars and restaurants from today. Out of a population of 60 million, about 13.5 million French people smoke. Any smoker caught flouting the new ban faces a $750 fine and those who turn a blind eye to smokers on their premises can be fined up to $1,250."

"Oh what bliss," say all of the supporters of the Anti Smoking lobby.

"Oh what a shame," say all those tourists who have always wanted to visit to a dark smoky café on the left bank of the Seine in the hope of seeing the latest artiste in residence.

"Quel domage," say all those who want to continue to fantasise about perhaps just happening to come across the caricature of the laconic Frenchman with at least a shadow of a beard, with or without a beret, but with a tiny remnant of a Gitane stuck to the lower lip, sipping on a short black.

The world is changing.

The French have resisted the changing times more than perhaps any other nation on earth.

They stick to their habits and their passions and for this, "Vive La France!"

I certainly can't imagine a France in which it is not normal to have several Boulangeries competing with each other with their Baguettes, Boules, croissants and fresh pastries. Can you?

What would the world be like if you did NOT have to go to the Dordogne for it's gastronomic delights or to St Emillion for it's wine or to Normandy for the cider and the Moules?

Alas, not only is the world changing, the concept of making something BLAND from something unique - either because it's more economical or is healthy, is fast approaching.

Banning cigarettes in Cafés may be the right thing to do for everyone's health - but let's not get too enthusiastic and make everything bland and uniform!

I for one would mourn any further changes that alter the character of a country and a people that I personally find so delightful that I continually want to go back and spend a few months just visiting!