WWW.FOOL

FOOL'S PARADISE...

welcome to fool’s paradise
where exists no parasite
about a new craze me a neophyte
of this thing called web site
first is me looking for email
that my pal me could exchange mail
to do this me will fail
for my email address reads:
fool@paradise.dontcom
to this no one hooks up
soon this email packs up

ozie says email’s nothing
that i should get something
something live and direct
to hook up with the wild wild world
ozie says web site is something
me then should get a web site
a world wide window for me a neophyte
that goes faster than email and pmail

as me finishes reading ozie’s correspondence
should me say what coincidence
i raise my head in my residence
catch sight a buxom spider spinning her own web of residence
at a conspicuous site in my residence
in my presence
elated my eyes shine bright
and my joy knows no height
i watch this spider with delight
spinning its web to fabricate
a wide web intricate
for me to communicate

this spider me removes from its site
for other sites she could fabricate
and me communicate
at every spun web this spider me will extricate
eureka! me finds a web site to participate
to the wide wild world to communicate
through this web site intricate
me then calls ozie to investigate
my exquisite site

ozie calls me a fool.com
but me likes that name
and names my web site:
www dot fool don’t com!

[wrote this poem in 2001; then i knew nothing about internet. there was this friend of mine who always told me about the fascinating net…i didn’t care much. ozie would never believe am blogging now! my friend is late!]

P&G: FRESH GRADUATES & UNDERGRADUATES

Are you an excellent undergraduate student who combines leadership
skills with strong analytical capabilities?

And do you expect to graduate in 2008 or 2009?

APPLY NOW AND TAKE THE CHALLENGE

The European Financial Leadership Seminar will expose
you to a real life business case study, which challenges
you to develop strategies and drive decisions together
with top students from all over the world.

GENEVA, MAY 4TH - 9TH, 2008
Application deadline: February 24th, 2008
For more details and online applications:
www.joinpg.com/efs

Please note the following:

Multiple applications will be rejected
Applicants will have to go through the P&G recruiting process
Candidates who have written a P&G test in te last 12 months
need not apply.

ACCOMMODATION, MEALS AND TRAVEL TO AND FROM TE SEMINAR ARE PAID
BY THE COMPANY. P&G- PROCTER&GAMBLE

IS IT WISE TO INVEST IN THE STOCK MARKET?

Buying a 'Piece of the Pie'

Companies need capital, or invested money, to operate successfully. When a company prospers and requires a large amount of capital, its management may choose to offer shares of its stock to the public. One guide to the stock market illustrates it this way: "Stocks are pieces of the corporate pie. When you buy stocks, or shares, you own a slice of the company."

Invest Wisely

The apparent ease of trading stocks on-line and gaining access to information previously reserved for brokers and professional traders has prompted many individual investors to take up day trading, the buying and selling of stocks full-time. Some have given up lucrative careers to become day traders. Why? "The allure is obvious," explains Money magazine. "No bosses, complete control over how and when you trade and the potential—or so it seems—to make a lot of money." One 35-year-old man who quit his $200,000-a-year job to trade stocks at home is quoted as saying: "How else can you have no inventory and no employees, pay no rent, tap-tap-tap on a keyboard and make a living?"

Experts warn that trading stocks is not as easy as it may seem to a new investor. One psychiatrist who specializes in the stresses of trading observes: "Trading seems deceptively easy, but I like to say that it's the hardest way to make an easy dollar." The endless stream of financial news and advice has not come without side effects. Paul Farrell, quoted earlier, notes: "The relentless thrust of information racing at lightning speed at the individual players—both the individual investor and the institutional trader—is having a major psychological impact: rattled nerves, frustrations, stress."

Overconfidence can also be a snare. Financial columnist Jane Bryant Quinn warns of dangerous attitudes among traders: "You think that if you're at the helm—or at the mouse—bad things can't happen. You'll always be able to intervene in time." She adds: "Because we can access information used by pros, we start to think that we're pros, too." Despite the widely publicized stories of investors who have become rich overnight on the stock market, the trading of stocks carries inherent risks. Some investors have been very successful. Others have suffered significant losses.

Corporate Lottery?
In view of the risks associated with the stock market, is buying stock the same as gambling? A measure of risk is involved in nearly all financial investments. Some people buy real estate, not knowing if the value of a property will increase or decrease over time. Others deposit their money in a bank, trusting that their savings will be secure. While the stock market is more complicated, simply put, one who invests in stocks buys the shares of a company in the hope that the enterprise will prosper and the stocks will increase in value.

Such an investment differs from gambling because the stockholder has purchased part of a company. These shares may be sold to another person or saved in the hope of future growth. This cannot be said of a person who bets money at a casino or on a game of chance. Against the odds, the gambler seeks to predict an uncertain outcome and win the loser or losers' stakes.

PORNOGRAPHY: HARMFUL OR HARMLESS?

"It creates appetites that should not exist, it stimulates cravings that should never be satisfied."—Tony Parsons, columnist.

JOHN never intended to become addicted to 'Internet sex.'* Like many other people who are accidentally exposed to pornography and sex chat rooms, he was using the Internet one day when he stumbled upon a site offering such chat rooms. Soon, he was completely absorbed in cybersex. "I would wait for my wife to go to work," he remembers, "hop out of bed and spend hours in front of the computer."

During marathon sessions, he would not even stop to eat or drink. "I had no awareness of [being] hungry," he says. He began to lie to his wife about his secret activities. It started to affect his concentration at work, and he became more and more paranoid. His marriage began to suffer, and when he finally arranged to meet one of his cybersex partners in real life, his wife became aware of it. Today John is being treated for his addiction.

Antipornography activists point to stories like this as proof of the degrading effects of pornography. It destroys relationships, they claim, demeans women, abuses children, and engenders a perverted and harmful view of sex. On the other hand, supporters defend pornography as free expression and view the detractors as prudish. "People should not be ashamed of their sexual orientation or desires," writes one proponent. "Pornography can be used to start and stimulate open discussions about sex."

A few even suggest that the proliferation of pornography is the hallmark of an open, healthy society. "A society mature enough to cope with the explicit depiction of sex between consenting adults is likely to be one comfortable with sexual diversity and women's equality," says writer Brian McNair.

Does society's ambivalence make pornography acceptable? Why is it so widespread? Is pornography really a dangerous pursuit?

FACIAL MARKS: NIGERIA'S FADING 'IDENTITY CARD'

ONE morning in the late 1960's, six-year-old Danjuma approached his father and insisted that he be given the cuts that Igala citizens wore on their faces with pride. Danjuma felt that he could no longer endure the ridicule of his schoolmates who taunted him for not having the facial marks. Though the cuts were usually administered to Igala infants too young to dread the operation, the boys viewed the marks as a sign of bravery. They regarded those without them as cowards who could not face the knife.

Until then, Danjuma's father had resisted giving his son the facial marks. But that morning, pressured by his son's determination to prove his bravery, he took a knife and made three deep horizontal cuts on each side of the boy's face, slightly above the corners of his mouth.

Danjuma's father knew that the real significance of the cuts had little to do with courage. Instead, the cuts would heal into scars of identification. They would be a permanent 'identity card' that could be neither lost nor forged. They would make his son instantly recognizable to his kinsmen, qualifying him for the rights and privileges of an Igala citizen. But the marks would also set him apart from the more than 250 other ethnic groups in Nigeria.

Should facial marks be [outlawed] made illegal in Nigeria?

SAMPLE CV FOR THOSE WITHOUT WORK EXPERIENCE

Your Name:

Your Address:

Your Telephone Number and E-Mail Address:

Objective: Seeking entry-level position in manufacturing.

Education: Graduated from Hometown High School, 2004.

Courses: Language skills, mathematics, computers, woodworking class.

Skills and Abilities: Work well with my hands. Regularly service the family car. Made wooden chairs and a table in my home workshop. Enjoy using my math skills while making furniture. Installed roofing material on a volunteer building project. Can use most types of computers and enjoy learning new programs.

Personal Information: Reliable—missed only two days of school in senior year. Honest—returned a lost wallet that contained money. Friendly—regularly engage in volunteer work in the community and enjoy assisting the elderly. Athletics—love playing basketball. Hobbies—enjoy repairing automobiles and woodworking.

References: Available on request.*
________________________________________
* Reference contacts could include a schoolteacher who knows you well or a family friend who runs a business. By making these names available on request, you can get an early indication that a prospective employer may be interested in hiring you. Be sure to obtain the permission of those you list as references.

WHAT ABOUT ONLINE EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES?

One of the largest online employment Web sites in the United States has 17 million résumés listed for potential employers to peruse and some 800,000 jobs listed for the unemployed to consider. Surveys indicate that up to 96 percent of people in some countries search for jobs using the Internet. However, research compiled among professionals from 40 countries shows that only 5 percent of the job seekers among them actually find work through this medium.

Posting your résumé online increases the number of potential employers who know you are looking for a job, but caution is in order. It also increases your chances of becoming a victim of fraud. To protect yourself from this fate, industry experts provide the following advice:

1. Read the privacy policy of an online employment agency before you post your résumé with them. Some job sites sell your personal details to mass-market companies or other interested parties.

2. Post your résumé with only a handful of reputable online job sites. It is vital to protect your personal information to prevent its being misused. Your résumé should never contain the information a thief would need to steal your identity and cause you endless financial trouble. Legitimate employers do not need to know your bank account number, credit card number, or exact date of birth.

3. Beware of vague job offers. Pam Dixon, a researcher with the World Privacy Forum, says that the more general the offer, the less valid it usually is. “Vague wording like ‘We have thousands of jobs’ or ‘We work with major companies’ is a red flag,” she states, adding: “Requests to send in a new copy of your résumé can spell trouble, too.”

Remember, even the most reputable online job sites cannot control what happens to your résumé once it has been downloaded by a potential employer or other interested party.

5 KEYS...CONTD

NUMBER FIVE: PREPARE WELL FOR YOUR INTERVIEWS

What is involved in preparing for an interview? You may want to research the company you hope to work for. The more you know about the company, the better the impression you will make during the interview. Your research will also help you determine whether the company really has the kind of work you want or is one you want to work for.

Next, think about what you will wear to the interview. If the job you seek involves manual labor, wear appropriate neat, clean clothing. Neat dress and grooming tell the prospective employer that you take pride in yourself and are thus more likely to take pride in your work. If you are hoping to work in an office, choose modest clothing that is considered suitable business attire where you live. Nigel says: “Choose your clothes long before you are due to attend your interview so that you don’t feel rushed and unnecessarily increase your levels of stress prior to the interview.”

Nigel also recommends arriving for your interview about 15 minutes early. Of course, arriving too early is not wise. But arriving late could be disastrous. Experts say that the first three seconds of your interview are crucial. During that brief time, the interviewer makes assessments about your appearance and your bearing that deeply influence his or her opinion of you. If you are late, you will make an overwhelmingly negative impression. Remember, there are no second chances to rectify first impressions.

Remember, too, that the interviewer is not your enemy. After all, he likely had to apply for his job, so he knows how you feel. In fact, he may be nervous, since he may have received little or no training on how to conduct an interview. In addition, if the interviewer is the employer, he may have much to lose if he chooses the wrong person for the job.

During the interview, concentrate on what the employer needs from you and what you have to offer. Regarding things to avoid, Nigel says: “Don’t fidget or slouch—good posture conveys confidence. Don’t be too informal or overly talkative, and definitely do not use profanity. Also, avoid being negative about your former employers and workmates—if you are negative about them, the interviewer will likely feel you will be negative about this job too.”

Regarding things to do and say during the interview, experts recommend the following: Maintain eye contact with the interviewer, use natural gestures when you speak, and articulate clearly. Be concise and honest when answering questions, and ask relevant questions about the company and the prospective job. At the end of the interview, if you still want the job, ask for it. Doing so will show your enthusiasm.
By following the suggestions outlined, you may soon have a job.

5 KEYS...CONTD

NUMBER FOUR: PRODUCE AN EFFECTIVE RÉSUMÉ

For those applying for executive positions, compiling and distributing a professional résumé is a must.* But no matter what job you seek, a well-prepared résumé can be a great asset. “A résumé tells potential employers not only who you are but also what you have accomplished and why they need you,” says Nigel, an employment consultant in Australia.

How do you compile a résumé? Provide your full name, address, phone number, and e-mail address. State your objective. List the education you have received, highlighting any training and skills that relate to the job you are seeking. Provide details of previous work experience. Include not only what you did but also examples of the goals you reached and the benefits you brought to your previous employers.

Also highlight aspects of your previous employment that qualify you for the job you are currently seeking. Include personal information that describes your qualities, interests, and hobbies. Because companies’ needs differ, you may have to adjust your résumé for each application.

Should you produce a résumé if you are applying for your first job? Yes! There may be many things you have done that qualify as work experience. For example, do you have hobbies, such as woodworking or perhaps fixing up old cars? These can be listed. Have you engaged in any volunteer work? List the type of volunteer work you have done and the goals you have achieved.

Preparing a résumé will help you feel more in control as you search for work. Nigel, mentioned earlier, says: “Writing a résumé helps you organize your thoughts and goals. It also builds your confidence by helping you prepare for potential questions you may be asked during a job interview.”