Apr. 13
Stanley A. Milner library: I got this magazine called Alberta Views in the mail. It's a good magazine,
very well-written about the issues that are happening in Alberta in general from rent to politics.
There was a really good article called "Beyond Books" by Jay Smith. It talked about how a lot of people who enter the
Stanley A. Milner library are homeless, have significant mental health issues, or have considerable cognitive disabilities.
I
didn't know there were social workers at the library. It profiled
David McMain and Jared
Tkachuk who are social workers on EPL's payroll that started in 2011
from the provincial govt. Safe Communities Innovation Fund.
There
are a lot of social programs there like: "a weekly drop-in group for
people who are homeless, guest speakers talk about health and house, a
weekly youth group for at-risk teens, a Friday afternoon film series
that explores topics such as addiction, homelessness and shopping cart
racers (the movie is called Carts of Darkness.)
McMain: I'm a
big believer in social justice. I believe libraries at their very core
are a socially just enterprise because they share information- and
knowledge is power."
Margaret Thatcher: I found this
picture in 24 News on Thurs. Apr.11, 2013. There is this graffiti on a
wall in Belfast, Ireland. It says: "Iron Lady? Rust in Peace."
No disrespect to Margaret Thatcher, but I thought it was kind of
funny.
Apr. 24 Consumer psychology: I cut out this Globe and Mail
article "Who's at the top of your shopping list? You" by Zosia Bielski
on Dec. 7, 2012. It was about Christmas shopping and buying things for
yourself and then things for your family and friends.
"Self-gifting
has grown 27% in the past 5 yrs, with consumers now spending 20% of
their total Christmas allotment on themselves, according to the US
National Retail Federation, which surveyed 9000 Americans." It's
estimated they will spend $237 on themselves.
People justify it
as they saved so much money from the post recession discounts, that they
can spend it on themselves. It's also like a reward to yourself for
working hard all year.
Doug Stephens is the Toronto author of The Retail Revival: Reimagining Business for the New Age of Consumerism.
He is also the president of Retail Prophet which consults retailers
about
consumer behavior. They also talked to Kit Yarrow, a consumer research
psychologist at Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
Yarrow
(about our grandmother's generation): "They had much more stringent
rules around humility, gratitude, and giving. We live in an
all-about-me society...We've got marketers and retailers feeding people
lines like, 'You deserve it.' It's more socially acceptable to be
thinking about yourself at a time when, really, the gift season is
supposed to be about others."
Yarrow: "When you open your wallet,
it's like the floodgates open. The first spend is the hardest- every
spend after that is easier."
"Credit cards are worse than cash.
Worse is paying with your phone, and even worse is paying with a gift
card. And even worse is paying with a return where you get a store
credit. These things are all really commonly used during the holidays.
They all degrade the
real value of money."
"We're overloaded with stimulation: It's
crowded, we're carrying bags, it's hot, sometimes we're thirsty. When
we're stressed out by crowds, physical constraints, competition and fear
of missing out, we think just a little bit less clearly."
"It'd
be really nice if we could put a little meter in our heads. While we
shop, the meter would remind us how much we actually earn per hour. We
would really understand what it takes, workwise, to pay for some of the
things we buy. People would spend a lot less money. I don't think we
could tolerate it- that's why we won't do it."
Stephens:
"Consumers get overwhelmed with the endorphin rush and they can't help
themselves. Good retailers understand how to turn those screws."
"It's
psychologically easier to spend money online. You're not going through
the visceral feeling of handing someone your credit card or putting
your
debit card in that machine, entering the numbers. Once your credit
card and shipping information are entered into Amazon, all your saying
is 'add to cart' and then 'confirm.' That's a totally different
psychological thing than having to physically go to a store and go
through the guilty process."
Professors at Boston College and the
University of Houston said that after people bought one high end item,
they started buying more high end items because they felt nothing could
measure up to the one luxury item.
Apr. 26 Hit and run: I
found this on Yahoo about how a hit-and-run driver hit a 4yr old girl
way back in 1968. He then was never caught. He finally confessed, but
he won't be arrested due to the statute of limitations.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/facebook-posting-leads-police-driver-us-girls-hit-174539241.html
Survival tips: Here are 11 tips on how to survive during a mass
shooting. I was checking 20/20 website to see what's on.
1. Prepare- practice exit drills.
2. Run- and take others with you.
3. Leave the cell phone.
4. Can't run? Hide- and block the doors with a sofa, chair, desk.
5. Silence your cell phone- use the land line phone.
6.
Why the land line? -Because then if you drop the phone, the address
will appear on the computer and they will know where you are.
7. Fight- if it comes to that. Hot coffee, pens, scissors are good weapons.
8. Forget about getting shot- fight. "Most people who are shot by a gun survive. So understand that and cling
to that. Just keep fighting. ... You want to buy time. You want to
distract this person, because it's going to take police three or four
minutes to get [there]."
9. Aim high- fight his hands and get the gun. Or go for his face like eyes, face, shoulder, and neck.
10. Fight as a group.
11. Whatever you do, do something- like don't freeze.
"The first five seconds of an active shooter incident [are] paramount,"
Bruner said. Don't freeze in disbelief. "React immediately."
"The game has changed," Bruner said. "This country is experiencing a lot
of traumatic incidents, as we well know, so you have to be prepared."
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/run-hide-fight-11-tips-survive-shooting/story?id=18990573#.UXsMRkpcfTo
Apr. 27 20/20: I watched the whole 20/20
episode last night. It was good. They talked to Irene Taiman who
works in a NYC design company. One man was a co-worker and a rival to
this other worker there. They got into a fight and Man #1 shot Man #2
outside the building.
Hundreds of people die a year in workplace
shootings. They talked to this like 70 yr old guy, last name Husfield.
There was video taped footage of a school board meeting, and a deranged
man pulls out a gun and points it at them. Husfield tries to calm him
down by talking him down. The man points and shoots at him pretty
close, and shoots at the others and misses. Fortunately a security
guard shoots the gunman down.
I think I have seen a lot of office shoot outs like in Criminal Minds and
Flashpoint. I watch lots of TV shows and movies. I remember in Miami Vice movie, there was a shoot out in the club. Everybody runs away screaming.
On a Flashpoint ep, a guy holds up a bag and says "I got a bomb!" Everybody runs away screaming. You should run and call 911.
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