Jack Simony | Hedge Fund Portfolio Manager and Chairman, The Negotiation Institute

Six Leadership Styles That Build Great Teams

2013-09-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

In Six Leadership Styles That Build Great Teams, Jack Simony explains that according to Harvard Business Review, six leadership styles are present in every workplace. Ideally, each leader should move through each of the styles as situations dictate. This research is contrary to the accepted notion that leadership is like a personality type. Unlike personality, leader are not bound by by one style or another. However, leaders must understand the strengths and weaknesses of each style to truly lead effectively. Find this post and other corporate skills posts on the Jack Simony Negotiation and Corporate Skills Blog.

Understanding Business Procurement

2013-09-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

In "Understanding Business Procurement", Jack Simony defines and explains the process of business procurement. In this post, the areas of tendering, vendor management and strategic purchasing are well covered. Jack also covers the responsibilities of a procurement officer. Read more on the Jack Simony Negotiation and Corporate Skills Blog.

Understanding The Basics Of Emotional Intelligence In The Workplace | Jack Simony

2013-08-16T10:51:00.002-07:00

Many unique and amazing components comprise a person’s mental abilities. A theory developed in the 1970s and 80s, Emotional Intelligence, concerns the ability to understand and regulate the emotions, strengths, and weaknesses of yourself and others. There is one school of thought that believes you are born with emotional intelligence, while a second more popular school of thought believes it can be taught and developed. Seminars and training programs offer employers and employees a realistic approach to achieving success and workplace harmony. One thing is certain, more and more businesses rely on the concept of emotional intelligence in the development of training programs and workplace relationships.

Self-Awareness

An important and valuable leadership competency, self-awareness is the power to recognize the areas in which you excel and the areas where you need to develop greater skills. No one has all the answers, but there are those in management who feel they do. This can be problematic in the workplace. Leaders who take responsibility for the areas where they lack knowledge increase their management effectiveness and build trust and respect with the employees in their departments. The business world is highly competitive, but when you pretend to know more than you do, it is recognizable to your superiors and those under your management. Recognition of your weaknesses and a willingness to learn makes a better impression than pretending to know it all.

Self-Regulation

The ability to control your negative thoughts and emotions in the workplace is critical to success. How do you react to disruptive actions and negative emotions? Is your reaction dictated by emotion, or do you have the ability to discern the reason for the negativity and direct it into a positive action. There are a number of important competencies associated with self-regulation, including trustworthiness, self-control, initiative, achievement, and optimism. Although it is necessary to gain control of our emotions, there are times it is good to be exuberant about positive emotions. The ability to adapt to changing circumstances in the workplace is an important aspect of self-regulation. Managing your emotions may be as simple as taking several deep breaths or taking a few minutes away from a difficult situation to get a drink of water.

Social Skills

Good social skills are essential in forming relationships with other people in the workplace. One important element of social skills is the ability to listen to others present their ideas and opinions without interruption or distraction. You can show your interest in what a person is saying by taking a few notes. If you have a question about what is being said, ask after the presentation is completed. It’s extremely important, as a management or team leader, to develop your communication skills in order to present your ideas and suggestions with clarity. This ability strengthens your efficiency and capacity for leadership and enhances your skill for getting those under you to accomplish tasks in a timely manner.

Empathy

When making workplace decisions, it’s important to take the needs and feelings of employees into consideration. Understanding the needs of others and how your decisions impact their perception of what is expected is crucial. Although to some this may seem altruistic, in reality it helps build stronger relationships and better cooperation in getting tasks completed. Show an interest in those working under you and pay attention to the signals they give you both verbally and non-verbally.

Motivation

Your ability to motivate others is key to your success in business management. Gentle praise is a motivational booster shot. Letting people know their efforts and accomplishments are noticed and appreciated is essential. Trophies and awards are often not as motivating as the pat on the back and a compliment in front of fellow employees. Assigning a new responsibility lets an employee know you trust their abilities to accomplish the task successfully. Get to know the people working for you, including their strengths and weaknesses. Help them to set challenging and realistic goals, and encourage them to meet those goals.

By developing and training your own emotional intelligence, you will find it is improving in your staff as well. By helping other employees achieve their work goals, you are also providing them with skills to enhance their life and successfully achieve personal life goals.

Jack Simony is a hedge fund manager from New York City, and serves as the Chairman of The Negotiation Institute. The Negotiation Institute provides customized executive skills programs to corporate, government, educational and non-profit entities in the United States of America and abroad.

Jack Simony Negotiation and Corporate Skills Blog

2013-08-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

MF Global Goes Down

2011-11-08T02:43:00.000-08:00

MF Global is apparently in talks to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The move could come as early as Monday. Apparently, the plan is to sell assets to Interactive Brokers Group (IBKR), The Wall Street Journal reported.

Here is another CIT disaster a once heralded CEO of a major firm comes out of retirement and takes over a mid tier shop and runs into a world of trouble. The reason is simple, while the underlying trades are the same and the will most likely succeed, MF balance sheet is nowhere near as robust as GS.

While the plan isn't final, the details released so far indicate that MF Global's holding company would be the one filing for the bankruptcy protection. Then as reposrted, Interactive Brokers is planned to make an initial bid of about $1 billion at the court-supervised auction of assets. It is important to note though, that none of MF Global's regulated entities are included in the deal. However, since nothing is final, it still remains to be seen exactly how the deal will unfold.

Not So Evolved

2011-06-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

I just spent 15 minutes watching a video of beautiful young women, and I'm thoroughly disgusted. I'll explain. I was watching excerpts of the 51 Miss USA contestants answering the question "Should evolution be taught in schools?" if you're like me, you'l watch it as you watch a horror flick -- you can't look, but you look anyway. I could not believe what I was hearing. Since when is science a matter of opinion? I also think these young women were coached to be uncontroversial at all costs. The result is deplorable. Watch it...if you can stomach it.

http://tosh.comedycentral.com/blog/2011/06/21/just-in-case-you-want-to-spend-15-minutes-shaking-your-head-in-disbelief/?xrs=synd_facebook

Pretty? Yes, pretty dismal.
-Jack Simony

Fun Summer Seaminess

2011-06-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to be invited to an "invited dress rehearsal" for Measure for Measure at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. I didn't have to wait on line from 3 AM until 1 PM, and I had a marvelous seat for what proved to be a fine production of a play that is often challenging to pull off.

http://www.nyc-arts.org/events/13603/shakespeare-in-the-park-measure-for-measure

The play is one of Shakespeare's "Problem Plays." Curiously, this summer, the Public Theatre has decided to produce two of the three "Problem Plays" -- the two plays in all of Shakespeare's canon containing "the bed trick", in which a man thinks he is sleeping with one woman while actually sleeping with another who has come in her stead under the cover of darkness. The two plays ("All's Well that Ends Well" is the second of the two) are being performed in repertory throughout the summer.

It's a curious choice, to offer up those two rather disquieting plays as the Park's summer fare this season. Even tragedies leave the audience more satisfied than upset at the end, whereas the "Problem Plays" are so named because while they fit the genre of romantic comedy, the catharsis they purport to achieve at the end is anything but, and audiences tend to leave feeling like they need a shower. But in for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose. It will be interesting to see how the performers navigate their different roles in the two productions, and it will be interesting to experience back-to-back "Problem Plays."

"Measure for Measure" is skillfully presented under the direction of David Esbjornson. A deconstructed but completely seedy Vienna is artfully and fully realized with the clever set by Scott Pask, and the costumes by Elizabeth Hope Clancy strike the perfect note. But it is the actors in the comedic roles of Pompey (Carson Elrod) and Lucio (Reg Rogers) who steal the show. They are remarkable. I'd wait on line from 3 AM until 1 PM to see them in these roles again.
-Jack Simony

Wal-Mart Loses Appeal (no pun intended)

2011-06-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

You've surely seen the commercials: A well-groomed, articulate and likable fellow explains how he decided against a corporate job in order to move up through the ranks at Wal-Mart from stockboy to manager. A frank-speaking, earnest young woman describes the pride she takes in her work, and her choice to pursue a career path on the floor of a Wal-Mart. They articulate what a wonderful employer Wal-Mart is, how they could't want better.

Have you filled out your application yet? No? Apparently, the Appellate Court of Pennsylvania wasn't buying it either. Wal-Mart just lost its appeal of the 2006 ruling that awarded $187.6 million to workers who had been denied meal and rest breaks in order to boost store productivity and profits, in violation of appropriate labor practices.

http://consumerist.com/2011/06/court-denies-walmart-appeal-of-1876-million-judgment.html

The judgment may be reduced slightly, but only to adjust for legal fees that had been double-counted.

It seems Wal-Mart must do more than damage-control -- it must pay damages. Hefty damages. I'm glad to see it. At what point will companies finally understand that their profits should reflect the quality both of their products AND of their employment practices? Wal-Mart wants to be an example of successful business practices. It's going to be made an example of, all right. But I don't think this is exactly what Corporate had in mind. They'd have been better off saving the money on the commercials and treating their employees with decency. They'd have broken even on the commercials...but would have been far ahead in public opinion. Never mind the karma that comes of not taking advantage of the disenfranchised.
-Jack Simony

Best Blogs of 2011

2011-06-06T11:53:00.001-07:00

I am not a Blogger (capital "B"), I'm more of a blogger. I read or hear or see something in the world and am occasionally moved to write about the experience. Perhaps the blogs get read, perhaps they don't. But the process of writing them is in and of itself satisfying.

It also has sparked an interest in blogging, generally. People blog about absolutely everything under the sun...plus the sun and everything beyond it.

Time Magazine posts its "Best Blogs of the Year." This year's list is a well-rounded selection of entries from politics to economics to fashion to cars to sports to lists (yes, lists made the list!) to climate change to itemizations of the contents of the backpacks and handbags of everyday people (yielding fascinating insights into the personalities of said people) to analyses of every David Bowie song to video games and gaming to celebrities to the minutia of a mom's everyday life. The writing on these sites ranges from funny to crisp to elegant; it is all good. The content is surprising, fresh and interesting. The Times' list has something for everyone.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2075431,00.html

Go! Skim! It'll do you good.
-Jack Simony

The Food Pyramid Gets a Renovation

2011-06-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

First Lady Michele Obama will unveil today an updated version of the food pyramid, to replace the current icon.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/02/on-the-radar-dietary-symbol-garrido-sentencing-civil-unions/?hpt=hp_c2

The new icon depicts more clearly the information it wishes to convey. It is the hope of the First Lady that it will help consumers make healthier food choices.

It seems like a small gesture, however it could be a useful tool for those who need the visual aids. Michele Obama is waging a war on many fronts to diminish malnutrition and obesity in our country. People mistakenly assume that an obese person is not malnourished when, in fact, the two problems are the two sides of one coin: The food available to our nation's poor is low in nutrition and high in fillers and such that cause obesity. Hence, our nation's poor tend to be both obese and malnourished. I applaud Michele Obama's endeavors on behalf of our nation's hungry. If the new food pyramid icon is part of the educational component of this endeavor, terrific. Enjoy the new icon, everyone.
-Jack Simony

Scrapping Scrubbing

2011-05-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

The NY Times came out with an article yesterday about how NY State education officials have ordered schools to end the longstanding practice of reviewing Regents exam scores that fall just below the passing grade.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/26/nyregion/state-prohibits-rescoring-of-barely-failing-regents-exams.html?_r=1&nl=nyregion&emc=ura1

The practice, known as scrubbing, was put into effect to protect students whose tests might have been mis-scored, where a careful review might prove that some of those students in fact deserved a passing grade. But schools began to look at essays -- where there is room to interpret what a grade should be -- as opportunities to add points and pass more students who otherwise would have failed.

In February, the city announced that it would introduce regular audits of schools that seemed to show suspicious amounts of grade-changes. But now NY State officials have decided that such audits don't go far enough to prevent grade inflation, and have removed the ability to rescore tests at all.

Let me state for the record that I believe hard work should be rewarded and that as a general rule I am not in favor of allowing students to coast without earning their grades. However let's take a step back, look at the larger picture, and be realists for a moment. First of all, some students' exams will be misgraded, and a review of their score may make the difference between passing fairly and failing unfairly. This is why the practice was begun in the first place. Removing the right to rescore tests in the 61-64 point range is unfair to those students. Second, the removal of the right to rescore does not factor in real world considerations: There is sometimes a hardship to many students and their families created by keeping them back, and a teacher might know of a particular student's situation. There are huge swaths of the population who are not going to be better off in life if they struggle through a class one more time in order to squeak out two more points on a Regents examination but who are going to be worse off if they can't graduate and get on with finding a job and helping out their households. A sad reality, perhaps, but a reality nonetheless.

But the larger problem lies in removing the ability to check altogether, in removing the protection for students who might have been robbed of a critical point of two they had, in fact, earned and deserved. Audits of the nature the city implemented in February are a big enough hammer -- if the state is concerned about unorthodox practices, whether because a school is concerned about getting funding under the No Child Left Behind provisions or because the test grader wants to help a student with his/her real-world needs, the state can simply audit those schools where there seems to be a pattern and practice of abuse. There was no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater by banning the rereading of tests altogether. What a shame.

-Jack Simony

Seeing a Himalayan Peak Scaled at BAM

2011-05-24T06:44:00.000-07:00

I'm seeing Sir Derek Jacobi in Michael Grandage's deftly directed production of "King Lear" at BAM tomorrow night, and I admit that I'm a bit punchy with anticipation. The production debuted at the Donmar in London, to superlatives:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/theater/derek-jacobi-in-king-lear.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=derek%20jacobi,%20king%20lear&st=cse&scp=1

It was nearly sold out here at BAM from the get-go, and has garnered raves here, too:

http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/05/07/theater/reviews/king-lear-with-derek-jacobi-at-bam-review.html?sq=king%20lear&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=1&adxnnlx=1305300046-WGRhGWcqOmuLtp5qlVP0oA&pagewanted=2

I'm thrilled to be seeing someone of Sir Derek Jacobi's intelligence, talent and finesse in the role. Here's what he said about playing the elderly King:

“It is a peak in the Himalayas, part of a mountain range that includes ‘Hamlet,’ ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ and the Scottish play,” [Sir Derek] said (following actorly practice, he never says “Macbeth” in the theater if he can help it).

He continued: “When you’re young you’re kind of judged on your Hamlet. If you get through that hoop successfully, you’re admitted to the classical club. When you’re older, you have to go through the Lear hoop to see if they were right to admit you to the club in the first place.”

He's far too modest. I am not going to see Sir Derek jump through hoops. He has nothing to prove to me, or to anyone. I'm just excited to be one of the lucky ones, one of the "happy few" who will forevermore be able to say that I saw him play King Lear in that legendary Grandage production at BAM.

-Jack Simony

Brave New World

2011-05-18T08:49:00.001-07:00

Scientists working with Conservation International surveying the waters surrounding Bali have discovered what may be nine new marine species. Eight are fish and one is coral.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/16/new-species-discovered-2011-bali_n_862568.html

The scientists were not seeking new marine life. They were conducting a survey to assess the health of the reefs. Good news on that front: the reef is recovering following years of unchecked depletion and destruction, though it still needs intensive protection. More good news: We may all maintain our senses of wonder for a while longer -- we have more to learn about the world in which we live. Henry Miller once said, "We are all part of creation, all kinds, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open up, only to discover what is already there."
-Jack Simony

No Trivial Purchase

2011-05-11T05:38:00.001-07:00

The whole world has been aflutter with the news this week that Microsoft has acquired Skype.

OK, no it hasn't. It's still been focused on what happened in Abbotabad last week. And Microsoft tends to elicit a collective yawn when mentioned in a crowded room. But there are a few potential uses to which Microsoft could put Skype that could be interesting, not only to the business world, but to the average Joe as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/05/10/microsoft.skype.users/index.html?hpt=C2

The article I just cited suggests that Skype might be integrated with XBox, which would vastly improve its real-time communication capabilities among remote-location players. This doesn't rock my world, but it would be seismic for many...and XBox would be giving PlayStation a run for its money.

Skype could help Windows mobile phones gain in popularity. It would cut into the hold Cisco has on video-conferencing and teleconferencing. It would boost users of Microsoft's Hotmail, which was left in the dust by the advent of Gmail. And Microsoft owns a piece of Facebook...Social media and Skype dovetail perfectly, don't they? This could be very big for Microsoft, indeed, not to mention for Facebook users.

I'm not yawning.
-Jack Simony

Focus at Home, Please

2011-05-06T06:40:00.000-07:00

Yes, the killing of Osama bin Laden is big news. Yes, it is cathartic to read and hear about it, fascinating to get glimpses into his compound, his world, his psychosis and that of his followers. But no, it should not push other very important news entirely off the front pages of our newspapers and off of our television screens.

What would have been our top story this week? Surely the devastation in the South wrought by a record series of tornadoes. More than 175 tornadoes in a three-day period have been confirmed, and the number may rise to over 300. Municipal leaders down South are fairly begging our nation to snap its eyes back in their direction:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/05/alabama.tornadoes.mayor/index.html?hpt=T2

We as a nation must unite around our internal tragedies as well as those of international scope. The tornadoes that ripped through the South last week have taken hundreds of lives that we know about, and many more are still missing and presumed dead. Tens of thousands of our fellow Americans have lost their homes, their businesses and, in some cases, their entire towns.

We can continue to be fascinated by the unfolding story about the raid on bin Laden's compound that finally killed that monster. But we should not do so in lieu of focusing attention on the catastrophe in our own country. Our fellow Americans need us. We need to rally around them -- doing so is what our nation is about.
-Jack Simony

Tonka Trucks and Fisher Price Weapons

2011-05-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

It could be a story from The Onion, except it’s no joke. Libyan rebels are going miserably ill-equipped and ill-trained into battle against Qaddafi’s forces (and a host of well-paid mercenaries, including hundreds of representatives of that relic of Soviet international interference, the Polisario Front from the Western Sahara). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8464254/Libya-Col-Gaddafi-has-spent-2.1m-on-mercenaries.html

Soviet tank guns that don’t shoot; pre-World War II Italian rifles that have no cartridges; 30-year-old French submachine guns without magazines; a steak knife. And the rebels’ inexperience, ignorance and lack of discipline match their arsenal. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/world/africa/21rebels.html?_r=1

Meanwhile, NATO is trying to figure out – without any serious help from the U.S. – how to help these It might just be funny if it weren’t so pitiful – and dangerous.
-Jack Simony

High Stakes Gaming

2011-04-28T14:56:00.001-07:00

This month's PlayStation network hack job is being called one of the biggest data breaches in history. The personal information of a full 77 million PlayStation Network users has been exposed, and the Big Question, of course, is: BY WHOM? Who has absconded with this information?

The answer: No one yet knows. In an interesting article on CNN.com, the authors walk us through an analysis of the possible culprits, from the hacktivist group that oh-so-ironically calls itself "Anonymous" (denied culpability and, in fact, probably not guilty) to China to the random recreational teen hacker to the (probably Ukrainian or Russian) for-profit cyberthief (probably guilty). Their M.O.s and motives are laid out and their potential culpability assessed.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/04/28/playstation.hack.wired/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

Folks should not fear that this was done for their credit card numbers. No, no, no -- the CVV2 security codes aren't stored with the rest of the info, and the hackers would have known that. Passwords: that's what they're after. People tend to use the same passwords for multiple sites, and so one's password for the seemingly innocuous PlayStation network may well also yield one's password for online banking.

Seventy seven million people is a lot of passwords. If even a fraction of those are also used by their owners for their personal banking, this could actually wind up being the largest bank heist in history. Let this be a cautionary tale to you, 91282ILBOB.

-Jack Simony

"Medically Ready"

2011-04-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

Since I've written about her in the past, I feel compelled to note that Representative Gabrielle Giffords has flown from Houston, where she is in hospital, to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to attend the Friday launch of the space shuttle Endeavour. The flight is to be commanded by her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/27/report-giffords-boards-flight-ahead-of-husbands-space-shuttle-launch/?hpt=T2

This is fantastic news, not just because Representative Giffords is happy to finally get some time away from the hospital that has been her home since she was shot in Tucson on January 8, but because of what it says of her current condition. Representative Giffords has been making a remarkable recovery.

This will be the final space mission for the Endeavour, and it will be delivering communication antennae and other equipment to the international space station.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/26/endeavour-commander-giffords-more-than-medically-ready-to-see-launch/

President Obama and his family are also slated to attend the launch.

Representative Giffords has long wanted to attend this launch. She worked hard at her rehabilitation to be "medically ready" to do so. I am so pleased for her and her husband that she will be there on Friday.
-Jack Simony

Back in Black

2011-04-20T10:45:00.001-07:00

The Gulf of Mexico is once again back in black. Oil drilling is resuming in the Gulf, as eleven new deepwater and forty nine shallow water drilling permits have recently been issued.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/20/news/economy/bp_oil_spill_drilling/index.htm?iid=HLM

Gulf oil workers are relieved – no surprise there. Most had retained their jobs, being assigned to maintenance work rather than drilling, but that was a tenuous stop-gap measure at best. Knowing that the government had stopped granting permits to drill new oil and gas wells pending regulatory revisions and reformation had these workers quite nervous.

Reform efforts are underway. Shallow water drilling was the first to be resumed, and now that the government believes that adequate protections are in place to handle another incident such as BP’s explosion of last summer, deepwater drilling is being allowed as well. These protections come in the form of an inverted funnel system such as that finally used by BP last summer. This system has now been made readily available.

Obviously the hope is that another such explosion does not even happen. If it does, I only hope that such a funnel system is adequate to contain the spill quickly and channel the oil that has spilled to the surfact.

Interestingly, oil production from existing wells in the Gulf has reached an all-time high despite the temporary moratorium. And this is just how most Americans would have it – Sixty nine percent of Americans support the expansion of off-shore drilling, despite the nationwide condemnation of BP not so very long ago.

I’d like to see a faster and more concerted move toward alternate sources of fuel. Meanwhile, though…we need our fuel. I’m glad to see the implementation of safety regulations so that we can access it while keeping our oil and gas workers and our planet safe.
-Jack Simony

Encouraging College Programs

2011-04-15T06:04:00.001-07:00

The rate of children with autism spectrum disorders has skyrocketed in the last twenty years. We all know someone with a young child with developmental challenges...but more and more of these children are now growing up and entering college, where they may be able to handle the academic rigors -- particularly if they're studying a field of intense interest to them (though they may need to develop skills for organizing and sequencing assignments) -- but where they need help navigating the life-skills and social sides of college life.

In response to the growing numbers of students with high functioning autism and Asperger's Syndrome, more and more colleges are beginning to implement programs to help these students cope.

http://www.djfiddlefoundation.org/links_college.cfm

They offer faculty and staff to help students learn to manage their own studies and hand in assignments on time. They offer peer mentors to help the students learn the finer points of social interactions, and they strive to find work-study opportunities so that students on the autism spectrum can learn "soft skills" necessary to be desirable job candidates in the future.

Autism Spectrum Disorders are disabilities, though they are often invisible, and they manifest in ways the rest of the world does not readily recognize as the neurological disabilities they are. Daily life is markedly harder for people with ASDs. Their sensory systems are out of whack, and they often find normal sensory input to be assaultive. They have auditory and visual processing challenges that make it difficult to filter, process and make sense of what they see and hear around them. They have dyspraxia and verbal apraxia, and cannot motor plan or execute a sequence of motor tasks most of us do reflexively, or, for many of them, summon the spontaneous language they wish as quickly as the rest of us. And the list goes on...

Colleges are required by law to make provisions for students with disabilities. I am encouraged to learn that they are doing so for those courageous young people among us who struggle through each day with the complex and multiple challenges of their autism spectrum disorders.

-Jack Simony

Lying is Lying

2011-04-13T06:50:00.000-07:00

Stephen Colbert has outdone himself. He’s been having a field day, both on his “Colbert Report” and via Twitter, ridiculing Senator Jon Kyl’s preposterous exaggeration on the Senate floor and even more preposterous attempt to justify the blatant lie. During last week’s debate about federal funding, Senator Kyl (R. Arizona) claimed that “well over 90 perent of what Planned Parenthood does” is perform abortions. Actually, that percentage is…drum roll, please…THREE percent. Three.

How did Senator Kyl’s office attempt to clarify the discrepancy (i.e., the lie that is now in the Senate’s permanent record thanks to Senator Kyl)? The office issued a statement that Kyl’s emphatic declaration “was not meant to be factual.”

Whaaaa?

Stephen Colbert grabbed that football and ran with it, to hilarious effect. He created the hashtag #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement and used it throughout the day to disseminate imagined “nonfacts” about Kyl…none actionable by Kyl because they all carry that hashtag.

Examples:
* Jon Kyl is an accomplished nude hula dancer. He is not welcome in Hawaii.
* For the past 10 years, Jon Kyl has been two children in a very convincing Jon Kyl suit.
* Jon Kyl cheated on Sandra Bullock.
* Once a year, Jon Kyl retreats to the Arizona desert and deposits 2 million egg sacs under the sand.
* Citing religious reasons, Jon Kyl refuses to utter the number 8.
* Jon Kyl once ate a badger he hit with his car.
* Carly Simon wrote that song about Jon Kyl.
* Legally, Jon Kyl cannot be within 100 yards of Helen Mirren.
* Jon Kyl has a shrine to Scooter from the Muppet Show.
* Jon Kyl developed his own line of hair care products just so he could test them on bunnies.
* Jon Kyl was sent from the future to kill Sarah Conner.

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/12/stephen-colberts-not-factual-hashtagging/?hpt=C2

Brilliant. Colbert’s followers on Twitter promptly followed suit, and Colbert shared some of their best on his program last night. You can see a clip from the show here:

http://www.mediaite.com/online/stephen-colbert-celebrates-sen-jon-kyls-independence-from-factual-statements/

This blog is NOT about whether Planned Parenthood should be federally funded. We can talk about that another time. It’s about blatant lying by Senators to further their agendas. I don't care whether I agree with a Senator's position or disagree -- s/he shouldn't lie about facts to garner support. I appreciate Colbert’s clever way of shining a light on the issue of lies on the Senate floor. If a Senator chooses to take a stand on a particular issue and wants to sway his or her colleagues to join him or her, it should be done on the merits. The actual merits. If the position has legs, it can be defended honestly. Citing a statistic of “ninety percent” when the actual statistic is “THREE” is unconscionable, regardless of what the statistic refers to. Claiming that your lie was “not intended to be factual”?!?! Even more so. Shame on Kyl — he deserves the ridicule being heaped on him.

Thanks, Colbert.
-Jack Simony

Safe Travels

2011-04-08T10:54:00.000-07:00

I travel all the time, and while the following is a matter of common sense, I hadn’t thought about it all that much before. I just saw that the US Department of State has issued suggestions about the information to put on one’s luggage tags. The DOS recommends using tags with flaps that cover up your information and, if traveling in countries where anti-American sentiment exists, not putting anything on the luggage tag that identifies you as a US citizen.

http://traveltips.usatoday.com/not-put-luggage-tags-13407.html?UTM_SOURCE=obrain

Further, one should limit and be judicious about the contact info one puts on such tags. Use an office address rather than a home address, and create a free email account to list rather than one’s principle email account. Also, do not use a home phone number! Gleaning that you are traveling from home, a thief who sees your phone number could do a reverse phone search and find your home address. Use your cell phone number instead. The one thing the experts agree you do need and should put on the tag? Your full name. Seems ironic, somehow. If I’m being coy and careful about everything else, how can I write “Jack Simony” for the world to see? The tag, we should not forget, is there in case your luggage loses its way…and the airline can track you down and reunite you and your luggage far more quickly if they have your name, can match it to your ticket, and can find out where you’ve gone.

-Jack Simony

A Sad Centennial, by Jack Simony

2011-03-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

By Jack Simony

Today is the centennial of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The horrific fire took the lives of 146 young immigrant women and teenage girls. Crowds that gathered at the sight watched in horror as the young women and girls crowded the windows and either leapt to their deaths or were burned to death before the crowd's eyes...or both -- many of those who hit the pavement were already on fire.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/24/news/Triangle_fire_centennial/index.htm?hpt=C2

The whole city grieved. Investigations of the building showed that there was no sprinkler system, flammable fabric was strewn throughout the building, there were far too many sewing machines crammed next to one another, an open bucket of oil was kept on the floor to lubricate the sewing machines, the wooden floors were themselves therefore oily, boxes blocked exits and the second floor egress was actually locked, stairwell doors opened inward rather than outward, and there was no third staircase as was required by NYC building codes.

The National Women's Trade Union League pushed for legislation, New York City established a Board of Fire Prevention, and then-State Senate leader Robert F. Wagner led a Factory Investigating Commission to scrutinize manufacturing conditions generally. That Commission wrote thirty six labor bills to improve workplace conditions. Later, when he became a US Senator, Wagner pushed through the National Labor Relations Act, a.k.a., the Wagner Act, which, among other things, gave workers the right to unionize and engage in collective bargaining with their employers.

A Simony family friend has an odd story about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. It seems his grandmother was one of the teenagers who worked there. On the morning of the fire, her sister begged and pleaded with her not to go to work that day but to stay in their coldwater flat all day and not venture out, saying that she'd had a strange dream and feared for her sister's safety. My friend's grandmother scoffed and prepared to leave for work, saying that she'd be fired if she stayed home, and they needed her salary, but her sister became hysterical, so she finally acquiesced and remained at home. Weird. My friend likely owes his very existence to his great-aunt: had his then-teenaged grandmother gone to work, she may well have perished that day.

- By Jack Simony

Twain's Autobiography

2011-03-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

By Jack Simony

As I'm sure you know, Mark Twain insisted that his autobiography not be published in its complete and unadulterated form until a full century had passed since his death. Said century has passed, and the first volume of his complete autobiography was released this past November. Twain's daughter Clara had donated approximately 20,000 of Twain's papers to UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library. It is the largest single collection of Twain's manuscripts, letters and other documents, and the editors and historians there have been painstakingly poring over the documents for over four decades to create the most accurate editions of Twains written works...including his autobiography.

Imagine their surprise when his autobiography became a runaway best seller over the holiday season. Copies were hard to come by. According to the LA Times, "editors realized that Twain's sly humor and skepticism about wealthy elites, U.S. Militarism, politicians and organized religion hold a seemingy timeless appeal."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-adv-twain-20110308,0,6686828.story

Of course they do. I'd be hard pressed to come up with a more fun read than Twain letting loose his true opinions on those subjects.

Meanwhile, the University of California Press is, well, pressing hard for the remaining two volumes of the autobiography to be released earlier than originally scheduled. But the scholars are holding firm: integrity over commercialism. They'll use the windfall from book sales of Volume One to bolster staff, but they won't compromise on scholarly accuracy. The process of sorting out what Twain himself called "a complete and purposed jumble" will take as long as it takes to be correct. Twain didn't want his views publicized during his lifetime. Nor did he want them incorrectly and inaccurately publicized a century later.

We'll all just have to wait a spell, I reckon.

-By Jack Simony

Riverpark

2011-03-07T06:46:00.000-08:00

By Jack Simony

When you think of going out to dine in New York, you don’t typically think of heading over to Kip’s Bay. But Riverpark, Tom Colicchio and Sisha Ortuzar’s recent addition to the NYC dining scene, will change that. It’s been open since the fall, which has given the kitchen and front-of-house staffs time to work out the bugs (should I use that expression in connection with a restaurant?!) and it is very, very good.

You can eat in the more casual bar area or dine in the more formal dining room. Both are great-looking spaces, pretty masculine and also vast – this is not an intimate space. The views of the river are terrific. The staff is warm, welcoming and unpretentious. The wine list is great and complements the menu well. And the menu itself? Intentionally eclectic, inspired by dishes from around the world while being playful with them. The portions are generous, to say the least, which is rare nowadays in finer restaurants. They accommodate dietary restrictions without a blink, and the dishes don’t seem to suffer for any omissions – this is a talented kitchen. I don’t think anyone can go wrong with any of the choices – order whatever strikes you and enjoy. Oh, and they have outdoor seating, and they serve brunch, too.

http://www.riverparknyc.com/

Bon Appetit! -By Jack Simony