Halloween Trivia

I'll bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween.

Unknown

Halloween is big business and if you think it’s a kid’s holiday, you’re mistaken. According to the National Retail Federation more money is spent on costumes for adults than for kids. And believe it or not last year Americans spent over $300 million on pet costumes. Yet, there are people who are samhainopobic – afraid of Halloween.

Here’s some fun Halloween trivia for you:

• Halloween is the 2nd most commercially successful holiday. Christmas is the first.
• Halloween is recognized as the 3rd biggest party day after New Year's and Super Bowl Sunday.
• The ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts roamed the countryside on Halloween night. They began wearing masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as human.
• Halloween was brought to North America by immigrants from Europe who would celebrate the harvest around a bonfire, share ghost stories, sing, dance and tell fortunes.
• Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange is associated with the Fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.
• The tradition of carving jack-o’-lanterns originated in Ireland, but they used turnips and beets instead of pumpkins.
• If you see a spider on Halloween night, it's thought to be the spirit of a loved one watching over you.
• Black cats were once believed to be witch's familiars who protected their powers.
• Last year, shoppers bought 90 million pounds of candy during Halloween week.
• Halloween candy sales average about 2 billion dollars annually in the United States.
• Chocolate candy bars top the list as the most popular candy for trick-or-treaters with Snickers #1.

According to Google, these are Canada's most-searched costumes for 2015:

1. Harley Quinn
2. Baymax
3. Joker
4. Minions
5. Paw Patrol
6. Cruella Deville
7. Minecraft
8. Mad Max
9. Steampunk
10. Star Wars
11. The Purge
12. Deadpool
13. Left Shark
14. Donald Trump
15. Sugar Skull
16. Black Widow
17. Princess Peach
18. Descendants

Proof of our society's decline is that Halloween has become a broad daylight event for many.

Robert Kirby

Make someone smile today and have a happy and safe Halloween!

Geri

Is LinkedIn Really More Than an Online Recruiter?

Social networks do best when they tap into one of the seven deadly sins. Facebook is ego. Zynga is sloth. LinkedIn is greed.

Reid Hoffman

I’ve been on LinkedIn since the beta stage. It was an interesting concept and in my opinion never lived up to its promise as a business networking site. LinkedIn has become a recruiting site and that’s not just my opinion; it’s LinkedIn’s opinion too. According to Reuters, “Expanded offerings helped boost revenue from the company's Talents Solutions business, which connects recruiters and job seekers, by 46 percent in the third quarter. The business accounted for nearly two-thirds of LinkedIn's total revenue”.

Having a LinkedIn profile is viewed as a necessity. It’s used as an online business card, business overview, resume and content management system but rarely as a business networking tool. The groups have become no more than locations for shameless self-promotion. 100% of the unsolicited emails I receive from LinkedIn members are solicitations. In fact, a cottage industry has sprung up around LinkedIn with a plethora of companies offering to help you create a LinkedIn profile that will stand out from the crowd, build your business brand, etc.

I recently had coffee with an old friend who was the one who introduced me to LinkedIn in the beta stage. I asked him if he still used LinkedIn. He said that he uses it to keep track of people, but nothing more. I asked my friends on LinkedIn if they've generated any net new business from LinkedIn or found any benefit at all from a business perspective. The answer across the board was no, except for one friend who's a recruiter. This is the one category of professionals that derives a great deal from LinkedIn.

LinkedIn’s demographic doesn’t speak well for its longevity in the long run. According to Pew Research Center, in 2014 among online adults, the highest percentage of LinkedIn users were the 50 – 64 demographic and the lowest percentage of LinkedIn users was the 18 – 29 demographic. In fact it’s the only online platform where those ages 30-64 are more likely to be users than those ages 18-29.

Online platforms come and go and eventually LinkedIn will be replaced by the new latest and greatest, as will Facebook and Twitter. In the meantime it’s likely to keep growing as an online recruiter. But, like everyone else, I’ll keep my profile updated; for what purpose, I have no clue.

You can buy attention (advertising). You can beg for attention from the media (PR). You can bug people one at a time to get attention (sales). Or you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free.

David Meerman Scott

Make someone smile today.

Geri

One More Off the Bucket List

One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.

The Bucket List

I just bought a digital piano and I’m going to learn to play. That’s one more thing off my bucket list. Truth be told, I hate the term bucket list. It makes it sound like my demise is imminent and that I’m scrambling to get in the last few line items. For me, it’s actually a wish list of things I want to learn, accomplish or experience for the first time. Learning to play piano has been sitting in the number 1 position for well over 20 years. The problem as I saw it was that I live in 700 sq. ft. of splendor and although I could accommodate a harmonica graciously, there just isn’t ample space for a digital piano. And, there still isn’t. But, something changed that rocked my world.

One of my oldest and closest friends was recently diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer. I suddenly realized that I was spending way too much time “waiting” and not enough time “doing”. I’ve spent 20+ years wanting to learn to play piano. No, it isn’t ideal having a piano in a 700 sq .ft. apartment, but why does everything have to be ideal? If I want something badly enough I’ll make it work. I have no idea where my new piano is going to go and I don’t really care. The only thing I do know is that I’m now the proud owner of a digital piano and I’m going to learn to play. If any of my neighbours happen to be reading this blog don’t worry; I’m going to use my headphones so that I don’t get evicted. And friends, I will not be inviting you over to hear my rousing rendition of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”.

Waiting for the ideal time or perfect situation is a fool’s errand. I'm done with waiting for things to happen. I'm going to make them happen whether or not the stars are perfectly aligned. 

Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful.

Unknown

Make someone smile today.

Geri

We’re So Lucky to Live in a Country Where the Only Thing We Have to Complain About is the Weather

The headline news in Toronto today was the weather. It rained. We apparently caught the tail end of Hurricane Patricia and experienced wet, windy weather. This was the news that consumed the media – radio and television. Shortly we'll be obsessing about winter and snow.

Weather forecast for tonight: dark.

George Carlin

I wonder how many of us realize how lucky we are to live in Canada. We’re a peaceful nation. Our country is not bankrupt. We have democratic elections. We don’t have tsunamis, devastating earthquakes, famine, locusts, plagues or war. Canadians enjoy an excellent healthcare system that is available to all. Although our American neighbours would have you believe that we can’t choose our own doctors – that’s part of the American propaganda machine - Canadians can and do choose their own doctors. We make headlines because Rob Ford, the former Mayor of Toronto was an alcoholic and crack addict. And, more recently the Toronto Blue Jays made it into the post season.

While most of the countries in the world are concerned with life and death matters, Canadians are consumed with the weather. Traffic comes a close second. When I wake up every day, turn on the radio and listen to endless chatter about the weather and the traffic I realize how lucky I am. By an accident of birth I was born in Canada, the greatest nation on the planet. I wonder if I’ll need an umbrella today…

Every time I hear someone make a really mean joke about being Canadian, I go to the hospital and get my feeling checked for free.

Dumpaday.com

Make someone smile today.

Geri

How Much Privacy Are You Prepared to Give Up in the Name of Science?

If I could time travel into the future, my first port of call would be the point where medical technology is at its best because, like most people on this planet, I have this aversion to dying.

Neal Ashe

The recent advances in medical technology have been fantastic and I’ve just read about a new pill that amazed me. This is no ordinary pill; it’s an ingestible sensor. The new pill, referred to as a digital drug, has the ability to communicate with your Smartphone. The sensor, once swallowed, sends signals to a wireless patch attached to a person's skin. Every time you take your medication this ingestible sensor collects data and sends the data to you or your doctor. Currently there are two companies that manufacture this technology. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is going to be reviewing a version of the psychiatric medication Abilify, equipped with the sensor microchip. Clearly this is ground breaking technology that has the potential to go way beyond this psychiatric medication and revolutionize healthcare. Isn’t it just fantastic!

But, this fabulous technology comes with a downside. Nowhere have I read about how this very sensitive and personal information is going to be protected during transmission. Michael Teehan, the former president of the Canadian Psychiatric Association and the Deputy Head of the Department of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University says, “​Anytime we upload personal information into the so-called cloud, we invariably raise new questions about privacy and ethics. And when it comes to information about our health, and health care, the picture gets especially cloudy”. 

We’re all aware of how insecure wireless signals can be. Will these digital drugs come with password protection? Would you take a chance and allow your medical data to be transmitted wirelessly to your Smartphone and then to your doctor? Personally, I would but I don’t think I’d feel the same way if I had a condition that I didn’t want anyone knowing about. Wireless transmission is a risk and it’s a matter of how much risk you can bear. Regardless of the risks involved, I find these new medical breakthroughs very exciting!

There will come a time when it isn't 'They're spying on me through my phone' anymore. Eventually, it will be 'My phone is spying on me'.
Philip K. Dick

Make someone smile today.

Geri