Tosh I've Learnt Today - I

Part one of what may become an occasional series - Tosh I've Learnt Today, or TILT, if you prefer (you won't).

The shape of that line of toothpaste, Aquafresh's logo since the year dot, is called a "nurdle". Honest. And it's trademarked by the pharmaceutical behemoth that owns the Aquafresh brand, GSK.

Who knew, eh? Or cared?

How I wanted to add an 'L'...

...and no, I cannot grow up.

He shouldn't even have made the shortlist

For some time, I've had jobs that require me to recruit people, and that involves shortlisting and interviewing. It's a process I really enjoy and, without sounding too modest, I have quite a good record in that everyone I recruit seems to turn out okay. Fortunately, I've hired no clunkers. In US parlance, I have an excellent batting average when it comes to recruitment.

Now it seems to me that the US election is a lot like an interview process - Clinton and Trump are the applicants, and there are 319 million people on the interview panel.

A common feature of just about every recruitment I've done in the last ten years is that the advertised post has a job description and person specification - respectively just written descriptions of what the post-holder will have to do and what skills/attributes they need to have. Applications are held up against these documents to do the shortlisting, and then at interview the requirements get drilled into in more depth. You know how it works.

A really good way for a candidate to not get shortlisted, or to fail at interview, is to not demonstrate how they meet the person spec. So for example, there might be a requirement that the applicant has the ability to organise, prioritise and co-ordinate the work of themself and others. And here's the thing - I score a candidate zero for just saying, "Yes, I have experience of that." It's not enough. You need to demonstrate it, show that experience, perhaps by talking through a recent example of doing that, highlighting the tools and techniques you might use. What went well, what you'd do differently next time, that sort of thing.

And so, by extension, if you view the US presidential race as a giant job interview, when being quizzed on your record with respect to women, simply saying "No-one has more respect for women than I do"¹ is never, ever going to be enough. And if you don't answer the question, you can only ever be judged by your actions. Oh dear, Donald...

Similarly, a judicious use of buzzwords might get a candidate through shortlisting but should never be enough at interview. So, whilst just saying "Gantt charts" and "Microsoft Office" over and over might be enough for the shortlister to give you the benefit of the doubt on project management experience, it should never be enough at interview. The same goes for just saying "Mosul", "bad hombres" and "ISIS" over and over again.

When you stop to think of it this way, it's incredible that the presidential race is still competitive. Why isn't it effectively over already? Sure, Trump's opinion poll ratings are lagging behind but that tends to happen when one candidate is perceived as unpopular or controversial, due to so-called "shy" voters who are reluctant to commit when surveyed but come out of the woodwork on voting day. Witness the Tory party's outright win at the last UK general election and the triumph of the Brexiteers, despite pre-election polling evidence to the contrary in both cases. Trump supporters have more to be embarrassed about than most, I'd say, so sadly I expect his performance on the 8th of November to improve on his current poll rating.

Anyway, my point. If you have a vote in the US election, please use it, and use it wisely. Vote HRC. And with luck, in four years time, you'll be able to vote for Michelle Obama...

^{1. A statement indicating an over-inflated or grandiose sense of self and self-importance like this really ought to be indicative of something, I think. ↩}

Memory card housekeeping

Found this on an old memory card. It dates from August 2007, when the camera phone in my pocket was a Sony Ericsson K750i. It took decent pictures, as I recall, and if you still have one in good nick, it'll fetch a decent price on Ebay. But anyway, what I don't recall is the name of the artist responsible for this installation, but I can tell you it was in Ashford, Kent, on the grass verge at the side of that town's constrictive inner ring road.

Give me a sign...

Proof that this blog is increasingly pointless, but anyway...

Yes, it's a nonsense post but then arguably so is everything else I write on here. So. Given that there is a new movie out, it seems timely to remind ourselves that Bridget Jones wasn't the first woman of note (see what I did there?) to wear big pants.

Note: it is also acceptable for Wonder Woman to look like this. Maybe this too, but I'm not convinced. If I were you though, I wouldn't go Googling WW images too hard - there's some deviant stuff out there, don'tcha know?

He sold the heat

Somehow I missed the news that Prince Buster died a fortnight ago. Another for the reaping of 2016. Here's a more than serviceable obit.

Like a lot of people my age, I first got into Prince and ska as a result of Madness. They loved him - they took their name from one of his songs (Madness, obviously), they covered him (One Step Beyond) and even had their breakthrough hit with a song about him (The Prince). If you liked Madness, as I did (and still do), then it stood to reason that you would investigate Prince Buster. So when I saw a cassette copy of the album pictured here, deep in the Woolworths' bargain bin for 99p, I was intrigued. The Mod imagery on the sleeve drew me in further - it seemed out of place to my teenage brain but this was before the internet and I lived in small-town East Kent, so I had no way of knowing how popular the Prince had become with scooterists. Anyway, I bought the tape and immersed myself in songs about Orange Street, Al Capone, Judge Dread and more.

Some years later, I went to see Madness at day two of Madstock, their seminal reunion at Finsbury Park. Morrissey was due to support but was (in)famously bottled off on day one, so cancelled his day two appearance. I was gutted - if I'm honest, Moz had been more of a reason for going than Madness, much as I loved the Nutty Boys. But all was well, for Prince Buster graced the Madstock stage, and I felt like I'd seen a little bit of history. If memory serves, Ian Dury was also on the bill - I know, right?! Not even Gallon Drunk and Flowered Up could spoil the show.

Anyway, enough old-man reminiscence - here's a song, Barrister Pardon, in a live performance from Later that also featured the late Rico Rodriguez. The Prince was nearly 70 when this was recorded - how cool was he? Enjoy.

Great road-signs in European history, part 54

As spotted recently in Granada's beautiful old town; this is probably what happens when the local highways department uses Google Translate.

MRIght about now

I had an MRI scan yesterday, on my increasingly decrepit knee. As you may know, the scanner makes a hell of a noise. A loud, repetitive, fast, atonal noise. Not for the first time, I couldn't help but wonder whether Norman Cook had an MRI before recording Praise You and, especially, Rockafeller Skank. Altogether now, Ri-Ri-Ri-Ri-Ri-Ri-Ri-Ri-Ri-Ri...

It also makes calls

Time to update the mobile phone chronology, as I have a new handset. And guess what - for once it is the same size as the last one!

I know it looks bigger, but that's an optical illusion caused by having a different colour bezel. It's actually smaller, being about half a millimetre thinner. But otherwise, it's the same. Hooray, I don't have to buy a new case...

What I have found is that it's getting increasingly difficult to get a high spec phone that isn't a behemoth. Aside from an iPhone, which I do not want, only Sony really seem to be pushing on with a compact flagship. Good for them, and lucky for me.

Lucky also for you that I don't post this rubbish often, no more than once every couple of years. Here's last time, the time before that and the time before that. Sometimes I wonder if I only ever really blog for myself.

Brexit and branding

You may have seen a news story recently suggesting people's brand loyalty and preferences are a marker for how they voted in the EU Referendum. If you haven't already read it, don't go Googling it just yet. Instead, let's test the hypothesis with a survey:

Okay, I'll help you search for the news story now.