MS Explorer Crashes

Really, name a cruise ship the MS Explorer, and of course it'll crash. Silly people. :-)

A Canadian cruise ship struck submerged ice off Antarctica and began sinking, but all 154 passengers and crew, Americans and Britons among them, took to lifeboats and were plucked to safety by a passing cruise ship.

The Chilean navy said the entire MS Explorer finally slipped beneath the waves Friday evening, about 20 hours after the predawn accident near Antarctica's South Shetland Islands.

No injuries have been reported.

Preparing Effective Resumes

I get asked pretty frequently to review resumes, by strangers and friends alike. I wrote a bit about this on CareerCup (my other website - technical interview questions and such).

When I was in high school, a teacher returned an essay of mine with the following written on the top of the paper: "Know your audience." The task was to write a persuasive essay on any topic of our choosing. I just so happened to pick a topic on which the teacher had extensive knowledge and strong feelings. I hadn't been thinking about this at the time I chose the topic, but he was right - I should have known this wasn't a good topic. Lesson learned.

Writing a resume is no different. Tailor what you're writing to the specific company and position.

[more on Cosmetics, Content, Software Engineering Resumes, Wording & Proofing, Customization, etc]

Read the rest... CareerCup: Preparing Effective Resumes

Next Topic on CareerCup: How to Choose a Company

Barack Obama on Sorting Algorithms

Barack Obama is speaking at Google today. Supposedly, Eric Schmidt explained his speaking at Google was kind of like an interview. When we interview candidates at Google, we like to ask technical questions.

Schmidt: What's the fastest way to sort 32 bit numbers?
Barack: Not bubble-sort.

Sure, we'd expect a little more from a technical candidate, but as a presidential candidate, I'd say that's not too bad of an answer!

Age Is Not The Issue

I still read my university's newspaper. I'm not sure why, really - other than that little 'subscribe' in Google Reader is just too easy to hit.

Each year, it's the same set of crimes - some shootings near campus that don't involve Penn students, a bunch of muggings, the bank being robbed, and some violent crimes towards students. And really - I do think Penn security does a good job, but it's still West Philadelphia.

One of the recent incidents actually involves a Penn security officer:

The guard offered to escort the student from 38th and Sansom streets to her house, near 41st and Locust streets, at about 9:00 p.m. They arrived at her door, and he said something to get the student's attention. When she turned around, he had exposed himself.

The security guard, 21, was arrested shortly after the incident was reported and has permanently been removed from campus. He did not have a criminal record, Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said.

Interesting, and upsetting to the student involved, but what really caught my attention is this:

Rush said the minimum age for security guards is being raised from 21 to 25 to ensure that guards are "mature enough" to handle the job.

Since it's not really acceptable for PR reasons for Penn to say "well, sh*t happens," Penn's trying to make a response. Do background checks? Already done - he didn't have a criminal record. Make the guards carry around IDs? Ok, but they've already caught the guy - that wasn't an issue here. Require guards to be 25 instead of 21? Yes! Now we're taking preventative action!

Right. Because boys don't learn until they've reached the age of 25 not to just whip it out in public. At 21, how could the guard have really known better? Bump up the minimum age to 25 and now we'll have guards "mature enough."

Is this legal? Yes. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) only protects people 40 and older from age discrimination. I love the irony in an age discrimination law that discriminates based on certain ages.

Though Penn's reaction abides by the words of the law, they are against the spirit of the act. Whether you're 21 or 25, guys know not to expose themselves - age is not the issue.

Sexual Assault on Reality TV

Coming to you from Big Brother in South Africa...

... viewers of the incident, which took place on Saturday afternoon after an extended drinking bout which ended in copious vomiting and apparent blackout for Molokwu, remain adamant about what they saw: Bezuidenhout lay down next to the comatose young woman and penetrated her vagina with his fingers. He carried on despite the pleas of another female housemate for him stop.

The TV station asserts that the incident was consensual:

if a "non-consensual physical relationship" began there, the producers - Endemol SA - would have intervened. "There is no indication that she was unconscious at the time," said Joseph Hundah, an executive at M-Net.

No indication? Really? Yeah, I know the media distorts things, but I'm having a hard time understanding this. How could a woman have clearly given consent while viewers perceive her as comatose and another housemate pleas for him to stop?

Bezuindehout, defending his sexual behaviour in a show that has featured copious nudity, recently told his housemates, "Well, this is Africa."

Yes, indeed. It is Africa....

In addition to being a fairly wealthy country, South Africa boasts the title of Rape Capitol of the World:

• 1.7 Million rapes per year, in a country of 23 million women. 7.3% of women are raped annually (assuming an even distribution of rape - which is probably not quite correct, but the alternative isn't any less scary).
  
• A girl is more likely to be raped than to learn how to read (more)
  
• 25% of girls are raped before they turn 16 (more)
  
• Of South African men who know someone who was raped (doesn't that have to almost everyone?), 16% believe that the survivor enjoyed their experience and had asked to be raped. (more)
• 50% of women will be raped in their lifetimes (more)
• About 30% of adolescents report that their first sexual experience was forced (more)