Finnish Day Length and National Moods

I had a spirited discussion about Finish and Ice Landish moods and the length of days with a friend. She’s lived in Russia for a significant length of time and has first hand knowledge of Finland and the general area. I was under the impression that the Finns are generally somewhat depressed. She’s been there. She is a very hyper, happy person, and she reports that it is not the case.

I had once watched a 60 minutes report on Finnish melancholy, which presented a picture of the Finns as sad, terminally melancholy, suicidal, alchohol dependent, shy,etc. He also talks about the unusual, to us, phenomenon of the Finnish tango in which times are set aside for a chronically shy and reserved society to let loose by dancing with a stranger.  

Morley does not talk about causes but I found this website of the Finnish Metereological Society which lists the length of days at various times of the year and in various regions.

Helsinki has quite the range of daylight. A good chunk of the year is about 6 hour-ish. And then other times of the year you get up to 18 hours. (I know, I know,  . . . what about Alaska? I have no answer). Now, Sodankyla, sometimes has sunlight for only 1 hour. That is not normal or healthy. My friend tells me that it is where Santa lives. Which, if that’s the case, that’s fine. However, they have a population of 12,500 humans, not counting elves and Santa staff. One hour of sunlight is not healthy for these 12,500 people. Although, they do appear to have fun there some times. There is the Midnight Sun Film Festival there.

Regarding Alaska, I’ve not been there and would love to visit. The fact that Alaska is a state and culturally linked to the lower 48 and has cable, etc, and the regular unreserved happy American culture, day length probably has a different effect.

But . . . my thoughts are anecdotal. There’s research on length of days and moods by a University of Chicago researcher. Here’s the news release. My understanding is that he is saying that Seasonal Affective Disorder is not common:

Although some people report feeling more depressed during short winter days, seasonal disorder in humans is rare, affecting probably 1 to 3 percent of the population. The invention of electric lights has reduced the impact of seasonal changes affected by light on people’s moods, Prendergast said.

This researcher does attribute seasonal issues to memory. So in the case of the Finns, the melancholy, etc may be more cultural memory than anything else. Still, though, it is just so hard to see how day length does not affect mood.

AT&T versus Verizon

So I have been watching the AT&T and Verizon battle with interest. I have an iPhone and have an irrational hatred of AT&T. I have had connectivity issues as I have traveled and I have learned not to rely on my iPhone at crucial times. So as an iPhone user who has been forced to accept AT&T, I naturally harbor a resentment towards the company.

So it was with no small amount of pleasure that I watched Verizon smack AT&T with the map ad campaign. The map ad is the Verizon ad that shows maps of 3G coverage. The AT&T map shows coverage spots in blue and it is a sorry-looking map of the U.S. Then there’s the Verizon map which is a sea of red. Showing major coverage. The map ad was so good that AT&T reportedly sued to get Verizon to take it down and the suit failed.

Here’s one of the map ads.

 

Now this is where it gets interesting. AT&T fought back with its own ads. First, recall that ATT had these funny ads with the family and expired minutes. The ads had a Cingular wireless orangey theme. These ads feature a family with a dad and two sons and a mom who keeps trying to get them to use their old minutes because they don’t expire. I thought those ads were good, but I don’t think they stuck as ATT ads.

So with the Verizon map ads, it looked like ATT first came out with a new series of ads featuring a young hippish guy standing between stacks of these “orange” expired minutes. It seemed to me that they were clearly trying to make a connection with the previous series of ads. Smart move. These are the ads where the cool guy is throwing things around a map to show the extent of AT&T coverage. Clever, because the maps were about 3G coverage which is more a data thing I guess. So they first had to establish that you do get regular phone coverage everywhere.

They then began to counter the Verizon map ads with the quality not quantity approach. So the idea is that your 3G connection is incredibly better with AT&T when you do in fact get it. Now as an ATT customer, those hit home. so I now begin to think that even though my data coverage can be spotty in areas,  I may have better quality. I do use multiple apps and data, etc.

So as a AT&T-hating customer, I have to say that Verizon stoked my hatred, but ATT succeeded in mollifying me. What I find wierd is that Verizon seemed to let up when AT&T struck back. You think that a corporation that size would have a killer instinct and destroy the competition when they have them on the ropes. I have to say that if Apple ever gets out of that contract with AT&T I am jumping ship so fast–like a bat out of hell. Anyway, back to the wireless fight, I’ll call this one a draw. Verizon succeeded in creating doubt and forcing a narrative about AT&T, but AT&T successfully fought back. Nonetheless, they have been defined by Verizon’s narrative.

Christmas Census Poster for the Latino Community

I saw this in WaPo:

A poster showing Mary and Joseph heading to Bethlehem for a census and the birth of Jesus is raising eyebrows among some evangelicals, who consider it an inappropriate use of Christian symbolism for the headcount the government will conduct next year.

The posters, created by the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), have been distributed to more than 7,000 churches in an effort to raise awareness of the census among Hispanics. Most were printed in Spanish.

Luke 2:1-4 says Jesus was born during a census ordered by Caesar Augustus. Although historians question the accuracy of the account, Luke stated that everyone had to return to his ancestral town to be registered for taxes and that Joseph and Mary left Nazareth for Bethlehem.

The NALEO poster depicts that journey with an outline of Joseph leading Mary, on a mule, down a hill in the direction of a large star. “This is how Jesus was born,” the poster says. “Joseph and Mary participated in the census.” In smaller letters to the side, it adds, “Don’t be afraid.”

Fidelity Fires Employess for Playing Fantasy Football

Via Huffington Post, Fidelity fired 4 employees for playing fantasy football.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that four workers at Fidelity Investments have been fired for playing fantasy football. The company bans fantasy football at the office, but one of the fired workers, Eric Pettigrew, says managers disregarded the policy.

Pettigrew told the paper that Fidelity “interrogated me as though I was some sort of international gambling kingpin.” The next day, he says he was fired without warning or a pay cut.

Andy Behrens at Yahoo! Sports refutes a Fidelity spokesman who alleges that the ex-employees were gambling:

D.C. Inmates Play Cards with “cold case” Images

D.C. Jails thinking outside the box:

D.C. jail inmates play a lot of cards, and they almost always deal from “cold case” decks, which are handed out by corrections officials in the hopes that someone might help solve a long-dormant homicide. The cards urge people with information to call 1-888-919-CRIME. Each promises a cash reward.

Hopefully, it yeilds good results. It would be interesting to see data on this in a few years.

Virginia School Cancels Taliban Debate

Via Wapo, Swanson Middle School in Arlington, Virginia cancelled an assignment that asked students to represent the views of the Taliban.

A principal in Arlington County announced Monday that she will call off an assignment that asked students to represent the views of the Taliban during a mock United Nations after some parents called it inappropriate.

An e-mail sent to parents of eighth-graders at Swanson Middle School from Principal Chrystal Forrester and two teachers said the assignment was “clearly a bad choice for a debate topic.”

“Recognizing the pain that has touched many of our families and neighbors due to the terrorist attacks on the United States and acknowledging the sensitive nature of the conflict in Afghanistan involving many of our dedicated members of the U.S. armed forces, we have eliminated this topic as part of the U.N. unit of study effective immediately,” the e-mail said.

Forrester said in an interview that she did not want controversy to undermine an opportunity for students to learn critical skills, such as how to build a persuasive argument, support it with solid research and present it in a public forum.

Chris Wilson, parent of an eighth-grader at Swanson, said he was pleased with the decision. His daughter was one of the students asked to represent the Taliban’s views and pose solutions to the conflict in Afghanistan, where the Islamic fundamentalist group is trying to reassert its authority and oust U.S. troops.

The assignment “seemed like . . . an abuse of the academic freedom that we cherish,” Wilson said. He found it morally questionable to ask students to represent the Taliban’s views about the United States and was uncomfortable about the idea of his 14-year-old daughter trolling the Web for pro-Taliban sites and information.

The Afghanistan conflict is one of nine in the world that eighth-grade students were asked to research before presenting and defending solutions during an annual session of a mock Security Council.

The Afghanistan issue is an incredibly complex issue and it does help if we develop a more nuanced view of the Taliban. However, I would be extrememly hesitant to have 8 graders represent the diversity and spectrum of views among the Taliban. That’s more of a senior college project.

Alicia Keys: Wapo “Yawns”

Wapo’s Allison Stewart has a review of Alicia Keys new album, “The Element of Freedom.”  Here’s a snipet:

“Freedom” relies unusually heavily upon mid-tempo, carefully layered lovesick ballads. At their best (“Like the Sea”), they’re underplayed and affecting. At their worst (“Love Is My Disease,” “That’s How Strong My Love Is,” which is very similar to, but unfortunately not a cover of, the Otis Redding classic), they’re showy emote-athons that initially appear more profound than they are. Like many of Keys’s songs, they have a raw, diaristic feel, as if Keys was baring some deep emotional truth. And like many of her songs, they only seem to give something away. In reality, they traffic in the sort of banalities (love as an addiction, ships that pass in the night) better suited to the inside of an eighth-grader’s Pee Chee folder than the lyrics of a 28-year-old woman.

I have to say this is how I feel about her songs. I do find them boring but felt it was anathema to say so.

Tiger Woods, Accenture and the Anatomy of Succesful Press Release

So accenture has discontinued its sponsorship relationship with Tiger Woods. Here is the press release:

NEW YORK; Dec. 13, 2009 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) today announced that it will not continue its sponsorship agreement with Tiger Woods.

For the past six years, Accenture and Tiger Woods have had a very successful sponsorship arrangement and his achievements on the golf course have been a powerful metaphor for business success in Accenture’s advertising. However, given the circumstances of the last two weeks, after careful consideration and analysis, the company has determined that he is no longer the right representative for its advertising. Accenture said that it wishes only the best for Tiger Woods and his family.

Accenture will continue to leverage its “High Performance Business” strategy and “High Performance Delivered” positioning in the marketplace. The company will immediately transition to a new advertising campaign, with a major effort scheduled to launch later in 2010.

Nike ,on the other hand, according to Reuters  is not dropping Tiger. In fact Nike Chairman Phil Knight says “it’s all part of the game” when dealing with athletes. For instance, there was Kobe Bryant’s alleged rape issue. Nike has learned that with athletes, wait it out and the public is pretty forgiving.

What I found interesting was Accenture’s press release. I really liked how they phrased things. Now Accenture is a global consulting firm. I think they do finance, tech, and a bunch of things. They used to be a part of Arthur Andersen, the accounting firm, so think men in white short sleeves, glasses, pencils and ledgers. So, if you’d ever seen those accenture ads, they were usually somewhat expansive, wide open space, with the prominent figure of Tiger Woods on the greens focused and studying the greens before his par shot. The ads were good. You felt open about Accenture. You did not feel that they were stodgy or closed in, but open to possibilities, yet competently focused on accomplishing a goal (Tiger for par). So I think Tiger’s image was very useful in giving them a contemporary edgy image.

Now, with the Tiger scandal, the slow trickle of bad news, and Tiger’s indefinite leave of absence from golf, Tiger sponsors then had to make the decision if they would stick with him or drop him.  For sports outfits, the Michael Phelps drug scandal was probably instructive. Phelps recovered from that and shouldn’t have problems with sponsorships going forward. So sport related companies have nothing to gain by dropping Tiger. However, for a company like Accenture, it is a different ball game. They are not a sports company. In fact the Tiger image was what they describe as “a powerful metaphor for business success.” So Accenture is betting that they can switch metaphors if needed and proceed.

About their press release, what I like is that they initially recognize the mutually beneficial relationship. This absolves them from any perceptions of sanctimoniusness, i.e., we are dropping Tiger because we are holier than thou. They agree, he made money, we leveraged his image to improve our brand, now his image no longer fits our brand. The language is very positive and forward-looking. I just flat-out loved how they handled it. It is the transparency of motives that makes this press release very successful. As for their new advertising campaign, one has to wonder if they had a plan B all along. Did they know what Tiger was like in his spare time and did they have potential replacement advertising campaigns in the wings? Who knows. It would interesting to watch.

How to Get Families More Involved in Parish Life

Okay, this is not intended to be a long post, more like jotting down of quick ideas. Most Catholic parishes are afflicted with the issue of lack of involvement and participation by families/people in general. There is no easy diagnosis but there are a few things that occur to me.

INVITE PEOPLE! Parishioners are simply waiting to be asked.

1. Never let the ushers take up the gifts, the priest should insist that a family or group take them up. This, at a minimal level, makes people feel involved in the liturgy.

2. Make people and families commit. A priest friend provided a piece of paper and pencils on every pew and had everyone write down a commitment of time, talent and funds on a sheet of paper and then bring the paper up to the altar and drop it in a basket.

3. Database management–following on 2. Create a database of Church families using something simple like Microsoft Access. You can create entries for a family including members, with info like birthdays and other important days, talents, etc. The database should let the adminstrator create and develop fields to tag people which means that you can sort by groups. So if you are looking for people possibly interested in HIV/AIDS ministry, you can sort and then invite people.

4. I’m not a liturgy expert (anyone remember the liturgist/terrorist jokes?) but it would seem to me that you can sign up families to get involved in the litirgy. So each family would have a week. In that week, the family would take the lead in cleaning and decorating the Church, and also help with ushering, and the Mass readings. I’m thinking, for the readings, the whole family goes up, even if only one person actually reads. Now, cool your jets if it is not liturgically correct. My expertise is not in liturgy.

5. Leverage the natural interactions that occur between parents and families during religious education. I think that people begin to get to know each other more when their kids join the religious education program. This is tricky, though. Some parishes make parents meet while the kids are in class and some parents don’t like this. I don’t know. I just know there are possibilities here.

6. Encourage lay-run retreats, bible studies, reflections, gatherings, breakfasts, etc. This would follow on #2. There are usually people with advanced theological knowledge in the congregation. The important thing here is that it must be apolitical.

These are just a couple of thoughts that occur to me. As much as the Church is a spiritual body, it is also an organization. This means that that there must be a marketing plan, a way to reach out and create a certain perception to influence. Parishes thus have to use social media to get things going such as blogs, facebook, tweeter, etc. The expertise for this is no doubt in each parish.

Asian Genetic Map & Diversity

BBC on a study of the genetic map of Asia and on the genetic diversity of Asia.

Apparently the Chinese population is younger and migration was from the southeast in a single event. Of course this was a few years before India crashed into Asia.