Month: June 2012

The secret handshake | Photographers Blog

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To watch a “challenge coin” being passed from one person to

another is to witness the equivalent of “the secret handshake.” Starting and ending as quickly as a bullet, the ritual is performed out in plain sight and almost always in the presence of others.

Most “civilians” remain clueless as to what they witnessed even though it happened right in front of them – seeing nothing more than a stone-faced soldier or Marine at attention quietly facing a commanding officer, politician, or at best a nation’s President, before reaching out firmly to shake hands.

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An afterword from one of our readers:

Peter,

My daughter was in Navy ROTC at Notre Dame and she received the Secretary of Defense coin from Bob Gates when he officiated at the Navy ROTC Graduation last year. Among other things, that coin guarantees she does not have to buy drinks in a navy bar. The person with the highest ranking challenge coin, does not buy drinks. The only higher coin than hers is the Commander in Chief and they are not given out very often. Nice story…..

Thanks,

Tom Kay,  General Manager,  Outdoor Elegance Patio Center

Green Car Journal announces five finalists for 2012 award | reviews.cnet.com

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Green Car Journal announced five finalists for the publication’s annual Green Car Vision Award. The award recognizes innovations in fuel efficiency, low emissions, alternative fuels, or electric power.

To be considered for the Green Car Vision Award, vehicles must be in demonstration on public highways today or nearing commercialization but not yet widely available to consumers, Green Car Journal said in a press release.

The five finalists include

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Does Radioactive Tuna Mean Fukushima Was Worse than Expected? | LifesLittleMysteries.com

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Radioactive isotopes from Japans Fukushima nuclear disaster turned up in bluefin tuna caught off California in August, a new study reports. The 15 fish that were tested contained 10 times the background levels of radioactive cesium, including a short-lived isotope that the fish must have absorbed while swimming in contaminated waters near Japan before migrating east across the Pacific.

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China Abandons Role of Global Engine as Wen Tempers Stimulus – Bloomberg

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“The government is trying to strike a better balance between stabilizing growth in the short term and adjusting structure in the long term,” said Peng Wensheng, chief economist in Beijing at China International Capital Corp., who worked at the International Monetary Fund and Hong Kong’s central bank. Total stimulus this year may be less than one- third the size of the 5.4 trillion yuan fiscal and monetary firepower of 2009, Peng said.

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Jargon Madness | Forbes

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The next time you feel the need to reach out, touch base, shift a paradigm, leverage a best practice or join a tiger team, by all means do it. Just don’t say you’re doing it. Because–and please believe us–all that meaningless business jargon makes you sound like a complete moron.

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Hacked companies fight back with controversial steps | Reuters

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Some experts also say executives should identify their most prized intellectual property and keep it off of networked computers and consider evasive action – such as having 100 versions of a critical digitized blueprint and only one that is genuine, with the right one never identified in emails.

“There is a reason that people fly halfway around the world to have a one-hour meeting,” Joffe said of intelligence agencies.

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