Take 10 Years Off Your Image

Suggestions on how take 10 years off your image and be perceived as more youthful in the office.

Stephen Viscusi

How old an impression do you make when you're interviewing? Of course, we all know that an interviewer can just count backwards from the year of graduation printed on your resume. However, here is the truth: Perception is the new reality, like 60 is the new 50. So you need to learn the fine art of being perceivedas younger as well as looking younger. It’s more than just the way you look.

Is this fair? Is it even legal? And most importantly, should you give in to such nonsense? I'll put it this way: If you are over 40, you need to read on.

The recession we've all been feeling for months is now official. So now bosses can use that magic "R" word as a blank check to fire almost anyone for any reason. And pay attention, over-40s: The wounded economy is an especially perfect opportunity for higher-ups to fire those senior workers whose high wages and big egos have outlasted their welcome.

For those who are unemployed, you must do whatever it takes to convey to hiring managers that you are employable. What does this mean? No one wants to hire someone who's stuck in the old-fashioned way of thinking that being qualified, working hard and being loyal to a company is enough. Your Princeton degree and enviable references won't get you far if you're that naïve.

So back to the age thing.

While many workers have learned that good looks and a polished appearance go a long way toward success in the workplace, too many of them fail to realize that cultivating the perception of youth and a hip attitude is an equally important part of the equation. It's no secret that we live in an age-obsessed society. Like it or not, "interviewing younger" is the new catchphrase.

"Interviewing younger" and being perceived as more youthful at the office is a vocabulary, a body language and a look. And here's a secret: These rules apply even more when your boss is your age or even older. It's not like you are following these rules to impress a young person. Whatever the age of your boss or interviewer, you need to create a youthful perception about yourself. Otherwise, there's someone else waiting in the wings with quicker computer skills and contemporary pop-culture knowledge who will be all too happy to fill your shoes.

So how do you do it? Here are some of the secrets in my new book, “Bulletproof Your Job” (HarperCollins), use them to remind yourself how to hold onto your job while those around you are losing theirs):

Rule #1: Crest Whitestrips.
Yup, this is a shallow, cosmetic-based tip. But I get so many letters from people who just don't understand that having coffee-stained teeth doesn't do you any favors in the interview department. Stop rolling your eyes; go buy the strips (use the store brand for all I care – I'm not picky); and whiten those teeth. Then smile. Smiling makes you look and feel younger – not bitter, old and unemployed. I don't care if you really are bitter, old and unemployed. It's about perception, remember?

Rule #2: If you are over 40, I want you on Facebook today.
No friends? You already have one: just Facebook me. If you don't know how to join, let your kids show you, or even better, have a young person at work "reverse mentor" you on how it works. Let that same person help you choose your profile picture. Seriously. Read our coverage on how social networking plays a role in the job search.

Rule #3: Know about and frequently use Google and Wikipedia.
Bookmark them on your computer, and set one as your homepage.

Rule #4: Watch an episode of "Family Guy."
Discuss. Repeat.

Rule #5: Peruse your local Apple store.
At least learn the difference between an iPod Classic, iPod Touch and iPod Nano and you're on your way. And buy a set of those identifiable white headphones to keep around, even if you don't have the iPod to go with them. It's all about perception.

Rule #6: Do not disclose your SAT scores.
If for some ungodly reason you still remember your SAT scores, keep them to yourself. Not only does no one care, but the scoring isn't even the same anymore, and you'll just wind up aging yourself.

Rule #7: Don't talk about how you're so addicted to Starbucks.
Or Coffee Bean, or whatever your coffee place of choice is. It seems like this would make you appear younger, but it won't. Starbucks screams "unemployed loser." Besides, you should never walk into an interview with a coffee cup, especially since you just whitened those teeth.

Rule #8: Pick up a copy of “Entertainment Weekly” before an interview.
But for God's sake, don't take it in with you and don't let anyone see you reading it. That said, nothing gets you more up to date on the youthful world of pop culture like an issue of EW.

Rule #9: Learn how to text.

Rule #10: Lose the paper.
Young people get their news online - they don't read newspapers. So don't carry one into an interview with you or be seen reading it at the office like someone's mom or dad.

Rule #11: Brush up on sports.
This is easy; you can still get away with talking about Michael Phelps and get credit for this one. Bonus points for knowing who's in the NCAA tournament.

Rule #12: Make eye contact.
Eye contact is so critical to being perceived as young; don't be afraid to use it.

Rule #13: Rarely refer to your children.
Never refer to your grandchildren and never ever your great-grandchildren.

Rule #14: Go to the gym.
Or at least say that you do.

Rule #15: Never talk about the ’80s or ’90s.
Never use words from "your day." Nothing at work is groovy, dy-no-mite, or tubular. Ever.

Rule #16: Get a TiVo or DVR.
Know how they work.

Rule #17: Practice "sounding young" on the phone.
Take a small survey of how old you sound on the phone, and then practice with a friend sounding younger. (A tip: Talk higher and peppier.) This is critical. In the same vein, make sure your outgoing voicemail message isn't too long or boring. Short and sweet with a positive attitude is all you need.

Rule #18: Dress is very important: always dress age-appropriate.
No 40+ man should be wearing an Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirt. For more tips on updating your look without looking too young, review TheLadders’ recent coverage on losing the frump factor.

Take 10 Years Off Your Image

Career Advice from TheLadders

* What Really Counts with Recruiters
* Find Your Brand Harmony/a>
* Handling the Dreaded "You're Overqualified" Challenge
* Communicating Your Brand Message to Your Target Audience

Rule #19: Give your hairstyle a long, hard look.
No wonder there are so many makeover shows! My advice is to ask an outsider his or her opinion. Someone who loves you won't want to hurt your feelings or may love your look for sentimental or romantic reasons – but sadly, that won't help you find a job. A bad coloring job spells disaster for both men and women, and let's face it, hair weaves for men rarely work. Men, don't go overboard on finding a new hairstyle – just clip your nose and ear hair and you're on the right track. Ladies, pluck or bleach facial hair.

Rule #20: Skip the cologne and excessive perfume.
And while we're on the subject, wear deodorant. You may laugh, but many people just don't do it.

Okay... Feel any younger, or just berated?

Trust me, I just took 15 years off the way you come across. Yeah, some things I talk about here are cosmetic, but most are not. It's all about perception ... and perception is the new reality.

Stephen Viscusi is the author of “Bulletproof Your Job: 4 Simple Strategies to Ride Out the Rough Times and Come Out On Top at Work” (HarperCollins) and the founder of bulletproofyourresume.com, a resume writing service. You can e-mail him at Stephen@viscusi.com or call him at 212-979-5700.

A Vaccine Offers Instant Immunity

By Jennifer Chu Technology Review. Tuesday, March 03, 2009

A new approach primes antibodies to instantly attack cancers, HIV, and other diseases.

The body's immune system is often likened to an army, and vaccines to training exercises that build up defenses against pathogens. By exposing the immune system to inactive forms of a virus or bacteria, a vaccine trains antibodies to fight off a real pathogen in the event of an invasion. However, while vaccines prepare antibodies to identify an attacker, they often don't give specific instructions on exactly how to bring it down. Some antibodies may successfully hit a pathogen's weak spot, while others may miss the mark entirely. That's part of the reason why it normally takes several weeks or months for some vaccines to build up an effective immune response.

Now researchers at the Scripps Research Institute have developed preprogrammed chemicals that bind to antibodies and tell them how to recognize part of a pathogen, known as its epitope. In experiments, the team found that such chemicals prompted a therapeutic immune response that inhibited the growth of two types of tumors in mice. The researchers published their findings in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.

"We used a chemistry-based approach that wouldn't induce antibodies that might be wasted," says Carlos Barbas, a professor of molecular biology and lead investigator on the paper. "[This approach] could focus an immune response on functional epitopes of the pathogen, be it cancer or a virus."

The group's chemical-based vaccine may address a number of problems with some current vaccines, both in the clinic and in the lab. Today, there are only two FDA-approved, licensed cancer vaccines: one that targets Hepatitis B associated with liver cancer, the other for human papillomavirus (HPV), which leads to cervical cancer. For both vaccines, patients must go in for multiple immunizations to build up an effective defense over time. There are no licensed therapeutic vaccines that directly treat existing cancers, and researchers have found it difficult to train antibodies to attack cancer cells, since they arise from the body and are not generally regarded by the immune system as foreign.

In the past few years, however, researchers have identified cell-surface markers unique to cancer cells. There are molecules called adjuvants that attach to such markers and trick the immune system into recognizing and attacking tumors. Adjuvants are used in clinics today, but some come with unwanted side effects--for example, soreness, fever, and arthritis. Scientists are now looking for ways to genetically engineer monoclonal antibodies--antibodies created from a single cell line--to recognize tumor markers and attack cancer. But these methods are expensive, and Barbas says that a chemical-based approach may provide a cheaper and faster alternative.

Barbas and his team developed a two-stage chemical strategy that first puts the body's antibodies on alert, and then gives them instructions on which targets to destroy. In the first stage, Barbas designed a chemical that, once injected, enables antibodies to form covalent bonds. Normally, antibodies cannot form such bonds. The second stage involves injecting a small adapter molecule with two parts: one that bonds covalently with antibodies, and the other that binds with a specific epitope, or cancer marker. When injected, this adapter molecule links with antibodies and then seeks out and attaches to a target's specific epitope. The method is essentially like handing antibodies a beeper and putting them on standby. They wait around for a "call," in the form of the adapter molecule, which, once connected, instantly leads them directly to a target's weak spot, where the antibody can attack and deactivate the pathogen.

In their experiments, Barbas and his colleagues implanted tumors for colon cancer and melanoma into the flanks of mice and watched the tumors grow over time. They then injected mice with a chemical that "primed" antibodies, before injecting them again with adapter molecules that bind both with antibodies and with integrins--surface proteins found on each type of tumor. The researchers measured the volume of tumors up to a month after injection, then removed the tumors and weighed them. They found that those treated with the two-stage vaccine were significantly smaller than those removed from animals that had been injected with just the adapter molecules, or with a commonly used adjuvant vaccine. "The molecules we used can also bind human receptors as well," says Barbas. "This could potentially translate directly into humans."

Barbas says that it may be possible to tailor the new vaccine approach to other cancers and diseases. Researchers would have to first identify specific molecular markers for each disease, and then design adapter molecules that lead antibodies to bind to those markers.

"The challenges are just coming up with these targeting molecules," says Barbas. "Certainly, a lot exist in the literature that can be used, but the fascinating ones we want to go after don't exist yet. Recently, there's an epitope in flu that was found that's highly conserved, and we would like to design a small molecule that binds to that epitope and binds to an antibody. We'd also like to do the same thing with HIV."

Howard Kaufman, director of the Mount Sinai Melanoma and Sarcoma Program, studies cancer's immunosuppressive mechanisms, particularly in melanoma, and is beginning phase I clinical trials to test a melanoma vaccine. Kaufman says that Barbas's vaccine technique represents a new way to treat cancer and other diseases. "It's appealing as an approach," says Kaufman. "It's a way to get instant immunization as opposed to waiting for kinetics to develop T cell responses."

Kaufman also stresses that more work needs to be done to figure out if the technique would work in humans. "It's not clear if this is towards long-term protection, and it would be interesting to try and challenge mice who have rejected tumors with [another] tumor later, to see if they're still protected," he says. "That would be more relevant to the human situation."

The Iran-Israel nuclear endgame is now much closer

By EDWIN BLACK
opinion.jpost.com

In recent days, four key developments have clicked in to edge Iran and Israel much closer to a military denouement with profound consequences for American oil that the nation is not prepared to meet.

What has happened?

# First, Iran has proven it can successfully launch a satellite into outer space as it did on February 2. Teheran claimed, to the incredulity of Western governments, that the satellite was to monitor earthquakes and enhance communications. Few believe that, especially since America's own space program continuously launches unpublished military satellite missions. Teheran plans three more satellites this year, creating an easily weaponized space net that worries American military planners.

# Second, the International Atomic Energy Agency last week admitted that it had underestimated Iran's nuclear stockpile by about one-third. The watchdog group now confirms Iran possesses 2,227 lbs. of nuclear material, sufficient to create at least one nuclear bomb. That stockpile includes 1,010 kilograms of low-enriched uranium hexafluoride, or approximately 700 kilograms containing the vital uranium 235 isotope, the stuff needed to weaponize.
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# Third, Iran has ramped up its enrichment program with thousands of new homegrown, highly advanced centrifuges. As The Cutting Edge News reported in April 2008, Iran wants 6,000 centrifuges to speed the enrichment of weapons-grade material. The number of working centrifuges now exceeds 5,400, including 164 new ones believed to be the faster and more efficient IR-2 and IR-3 models made in Iran. These new Iranian centrifuges are at least as sophisticated as its recently imported P-2 models.

American policymakers are now convinced that Iran, despite all protests and charades, is in a mad dash to create a deliverable nuclear weapon. The Obama administration has almost openly abandoned the assertions of the CIA's much-questioned 2008 National Intelligence Estimate that concluded Iran was not pursuing nuclear weaponry for the simple reason that its atomic program and military programs were housed in separate buildings.

# Fourth, Binyamin Netanyahu has just become prime minister of Israel. He is determined to take action before - not after - Iran achieves its nuclear potential. This creates a volatile, hair-trigger situation that could explode at any moment. Hence, the endgame is now vastly closer than it was in mid-January, when many believed Israel might take action during the lame-duck interregnum.

Israeli countermeasures to date have included a massive international covert program of equipment sabotage, assassination of key nuclear personnel and a vibrant diplomatic offensive. But all these efforts combined amount to nothing more than delaying tactics, as Iran is irrevocably determined to achieve a nuclear weapon as fast as possible. Many believe such a weapon will be used to fulfill its prediction that Israel will soon be wiped off the map.

THE CONSEQUENCES for this confrontation are apocalyptic because Iran's full partner in this enterprise is Russia. The Russian company Atomstroiexport has provided most if not all of the nuclear material for the 1,000 megawatt Bushehr reactor, along with thousands of technicians to service and operate it.

Following its invasion of Georgia, Moscow forged ahead with final delivery plans for the S-300 advanced air defense system which can track scores of IAF airborne intruders simultaneously, whether low-level drones or high-altitude missiles, and shoot them down. But the S-300, the linchpin of Iran's defense against Israel, will not be fully operational for several months, creating a narrow window for Israel to act. Indeed, Russia has just announced a pause in missile deliveries for the system in fear that it will accelerate an Israeli response.

Iran, of course, has repeatedly threatened to counter any such attack by closing the Strait of Hormuz, as well as launching missiles against the Ras Tanura Gulf oil terminal and bombarding the indispensable Saudi oil facility at Abqaiq which is responsible for some 65 percent of Saudi production. Any one of these military options, let alone all three, would immediately shut off 40% of all seaborne oil, 18% of global oil, and some 20% of America's daily consumption.

America's oil vulnerability has been back-burnered due to the economic crisis and the plunge in gasoline prices. However, the price of gasoline will not mitigate an interruption of oil flow. The price of oil does not impact its ability to flow through blocked or destroyed facilities. Indeed, an interruption would not restore prices to those of last summer - which Russian and Saudi oil officials say is needed - but probably zoom the pump cost to $20 per gallon.

American oil vulnerability in recent months has escalated precisely because of oil's precipitous drop to $35 to $40 a barrel. At that price, America's number one supplier, Canada, which supplies some 2 million out of 20 million barrels of oil a day, cannot afford to produce. Canadian oil sand petroleum is not viable below $70 a barrel. Much of Canada's supply has already been cancelled or indefinitely postponed. America's strategic petroleum reserve can only keep that country moving for approximately 57 days.

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, like the Bush administration before it, has developed no plan or contingency legislation for an oil interruption, such as a surge in retrofitting America's 250 million gas guzzling cars and trucks - each with a 10-year life - or a stimulus of the alternate fuel production needed to rapidly get off oil. Ironically, Iran has undertaken such a crash program converting some 20% of its gasoline fleet yearly to compressed natural gas (CNG) as a countermeasure to Western nuclear sanctions against the Teheran regime that could completely block the flow of gasoline to Iran. Iran has no refining capability.

The question of when and how this endgame will play out is not known by anyone. Israeli leaders wish to avoid military preemption at all costs if possible. But many feel the military moment must come; and when that moment does come, it will be swift, highly technologic and in the twinkling of an eye. But as one informed official quipped, "Those who know, don't talk. Those who talk, don't know."

The writer is The New York Times best-selling investigative author of IBM and the Holocaust, Internal Combustion and the just released The Plan: How to Save America When the Oil Stops - or the Day Before (Dialog Press).

www.edwinblack.com
Photo: IDF

The Super Bowl Commercial You Won't See

That wonderful pro-life Obama commercial you may have seen here recently was supposed to run during the Super Bowl on Sunday. After first accepting it, NBC apparently changed its collective mind, saying it wasn't going to run advocacy ads during the big game.

Brian Burch, President of Fidelis, a Chicago-based Catholic organization responsible for the commercial, says that NBC initially responded positively and he was raising money to pay for it. Watch the commercial below, and imagine the impact it could have had on the millions who watch the Super Bowl.

by Marcia Segelstein on OneNewsNow.com

Vatican Strongly Critical of Obama

In an interview published over the weekend, a Vatican official was strongly critical of President Obama’s decision to end a ban on U.S. funding for overseas groups that perform abortions.

“This deals a harsh blow not only to us Catholics but to all the people across the world who fight against the slaughter of innocents that is carried out with abortion,” said a top official of the Vatican’s Academy for Life.

The official went on to say that instead of choosing from among the many good things he could have done, Obama chose the worst.

by Marcia Segelstein on OneNewNow.com

Huge crowds join French strikes

Huge crowds have taken to the streets in France to protest over the handling of the economic crisis, causing disruption to rail and air services.

Unions said 2.5m workers had rallied to demand action to protect wages and jobs. Police put the total at 1m.

President Nicolas Sarkozy said concerns over the crisis were legitimate and the government had to listen and act.

He will meet union and business leaders next month to discuss what programme of reforms to follow this year, he said.

Overall, the government estimated that a quarter of the country's public sector workers had joined the action, which was called by eight major French unions. The unions put the figure higher.

A spokesman for the CGT union told AFP that 2.5m people across the country had taken part in the day's protests. French police put the number at just over 1m.

CGT leader Bernard Thibault called on Mr Sarkozy to recognise the gravity of the situation and "reassess his measures" to deal with the economic crisis.

Workers on strike in Marseille
In pictures: French strike
Economic woes at heart of strike
France takes strike in its stride

In Paris, police said some 65,000 demonstrators had joined a march from the Place de la Bastille towards the centre of the city.

There were reports of violent outbreaks on the outskirts of the protest as it reached central Paris, with dozens of youths throwing bottles and lighting fires in a main shopping street.

Police in riot gear charged the youths, pushing them back on to the Place de l'Opera where the crowds were gathering, but the situation remained volatile, AFP said.

Earlier, some 25,000 to 30,000 people rallied in the city of Lyon, according to organisers and police.

In Marseille, organisers and the authorities disagreed, with the former putting the number of demonstrators at 300,000 but the police estimating 24,000 had taken part.

The protests are against the worsening economic climate in France and at what people believe to be the government's poor handling of the crisis.

Opposition Socialist Party leader Martine Aubry said people were out in the streets "to express what worries them: the fact that they work and yet cannot make ends meet, retired people who just can't make it [financially], the fear of redundancies, and a president of the Republic and a government that just don't want to change policy".

Staying home

The strike action disrupted transport services but did not cause the paralysis forecast by unions.

Regional trains and those in and around Paris were hit, and a third of flights from Orly airport were cancelled.

Striking is... the national sport, a selfish and narrow-minded way of dealing with just about any disagreement
Brigitte Cavanagh, Paris
French strikes: Your views

Forty per cent of regional services were running, train operator SNCF said, and 60% of high-speed TGV services. Three-quarters of metro trains were running in Paris. Paris's second airport was heavily hit by the strike, but flights out of the larger Charles de Gaulle hub were experiencing only short delays, AFP news agency said.

Schools, banks, hospitals, post offices and courts were also hit as workers stayed at home. Officials said just over a third of teachers and a quarter of postal and power company workers were on strike.

According to a 25 January poll by CSA-Opinion for Le Parisien, 69% of the French public backs the strike.

"I'm tired and frozen after waiting half-an-hour on the platform," commuter Sandrine Dermont told AFP as she arrived by train in Paris.

"But I'm prepared to accept that when it's a movement to defend our spending power and jobs. I'll join the street protests during my lunch break," she said.

Hit hard

Many people are furious that Mr Sarkozy said there was no money left to raise wages and consumer spending power, but nonetheless managed to find billions of euros to bail out floundering French banks, says the BBC's Emma-Jane Kirby in Paris.

The walk-out has affected transport, education and postal services throughout the country, our correspondent says, and is the biggest one-day strike since Mr Sarkozy took up office.

With unemployment looking likely to reach 10% next year, she says, the protesters hope he will drop his programme of cost-cutting reforms and focus instead on protecting workers' jobs and wages.

Mr Sarkozy cannot ignore this demonstration of anger, our correspondent adds. Street protests have repeatedly brought down French leaders and Mr Sarkozy does not want his government added to that list of casualties.

"We want to show how the people are dissatisfied with the situation at the moment," Thierry Dedieu of the CFDT general workers' union told the BBC.

People had the feeling they were paying for a crisis they were not responsible for, he added.

But earlier in the week, French Finance Minister Eric Woerth condemned the strike organisers, accusing them of scare-mongering during a time of economic uncertainty.

BBC Page last updated at 19:16 GMT, Thursday, 29 January 2009

Sepsis can strike, kill shockingly fast

(CNN) -- One look at her photo, and you can't help but ask: How could someone so young and vibrant die so quickly from an infection?

Brazilian model Mariana Bridi da Costa was a healthy 20-year-old when doctors told her she had a urinary tract infection, her family says. The infection spread, and after amputating her feet, doctors thought they had the situation under control, according to a blog run by a family friend.

"She's alive, [she] will survive," Renato Lindgren wrote on the blog on January 20. "She can eat well, visit the sea, swim, travel, talk with her friends and family, marry and have a baby. She has a full and beautiful life ahead."

Four days later, da Costa was dead.

Sepsis -- the body's inflammatory response to an infection -- really can kill that quickly, according to Dr. Kevin Tracey, author of a book about sepsis called "Fatal Sequence: The Killer Within."

"This isn't a one in a million case," says Tracey, chief executive officer of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York. "When an infection reaches a certain point, this can happen in a matter of hours."

Sepsis usually starts out as an infection in just one part of the body, such as a skin wound or a urinary tract infection, Tracey says. For example, Muppets creator Jim Henson died in 1990 from a case of sepsis that started out as pneumonia, an inflammation of the lungs. He was 53.

Most of the time, simple, localized infections remain just that: easy to treat and in one part of the body. Why some infections rage out of control and shut down vital organs is a mystery, but experts say it rarely happens in young, healthy people, like da Costa. Video Watch more on avoiding septicemia »

"You can ask, 'Why her?' but really no one knows why her," Tracey says. "It might have something to do with her immune system. It might be about her genetics."

The Mayo Clinic sees about 100 cases a year of young, healthy people who develop sepsis, says Dr. Priya Sampathkumar, an infectious disease specialist at Mayo. With treatment, which usually involves antibiotics and sometimes draining of the wound, about 75 percent survive.

Sampathkumar says the key is to keep an eye on even such simple infections as a small skin wound. A fever, a dramatic shift in blood pressure, rapid breathing and extreme confusion are all signs that someone needs quick medical help, she says.

"You need to watch it," she says.

Dr. Carl Flatley said he had no idea what to watch for when his 23-year-old daughter, Erin, developed sepsis in 2002. He says she went into the hospital for a minor hemorrhoid procedure and five days later was dead from sepsis. "It's a horrible death," he says.

Two years later, knowing the signs of sepsis saved his own life, says Flatley, a dentist in Dunedin, Florida. He fell ill, and an emergency room doctor said he had a urinary tract infection and sent him home.

But Flatley said he suspected it was much more than a UTI. "I felt very sick. My testicle was sore. I told him I was concerned I had sepsis and I refused to go home. He got very irritated with me," Flatley says. But in the end, Flatley was admitted to the hospital, where the infection had become so severe that doctors were forced to remove his right testicle.
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Flatley started The Sepsis Alliance to educate others about sepsis, where he tries to walk a fine line. "You don't want to panic people. We all get infections and, thank God, most of them heal," he says. "So this is what I tell people: If you're feeling bad all over and have a high temperature and either high or low blood pressure, those are all indications that your whole system has been infected. It could be sepsis."

He advises getting medical help immediately, and to specifically mention that you're concerned you might have sepsis. "You don't want to take any chances," he says.

By Elizabeth Cohen CNN Medical Correspondent
CNN's Jennifer Pifer-Bixler and Sabriya Rice and CNN Español's Cibele Lorenzoni contributed to this report.

Bloody Monday: Over 71,400 jobs lost

Seven companies announce massive job cuts in a scary start to the week.

See Chart of Companies and Cuts.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The final week of January began with a bloodbath for the job market, as over 71,400 more cuts were announced on Monday alone.

At least six companies from manufacturing and service industries announced cost-cutting initiatives that included slashing thousands of jobs.

More than 200,000 job cuts have been announced so far this year, according to company reports. Nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost over 2008, the highest yearly job-loss total since 1945.

"It's all about the consumer, and the consumer's been hit hard," said Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics. "It's a vicious circle as weakness begets layoffs, which beget more spending weakness."

Construction machinery manufacturer Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500) said Monday it will cut 20,000 jobs amid a "very challenging global business environment." The company had already planned to cut 15,000 workers since the fourth quarter of 2008, but added another 5,000, bringing the total to 20,000.

Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500) said in an earnings report it would cut 10% of its staff of 81,900 and close five of its manufacturing plants. And a second round of cuts will shed about 15% of employees from the combined Pfizer/Wyeth staff of 120,000. That makes a total of 26,000 jobs lost. The company already cut 4,700 jobs in 2008.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (S, Fortune 500) will cut a total of about 8,000 jobs by March 31, the company said in a release. The telecommunications company's plan is to reduce internal and external labor costs by about $1.2 billion on an annual basis.

Home Depot (HD, Fortune 500), the world's largest home improvement retailer, announced Monday it will eliminate its EXPO design center business and cut 7,000 associates, or approximately 2% of the company's total workforce. The company blamed a lack of demand for big ticket design and decor projects.

Texas Instruments (TXN, Fortune 500) said it will slash its workforce by 3,400 employees to cope with weak demand and the slowing economy. More than half of those cuts will be layoffs while "voluntary retirements and departures" will make up the rest.

Dutch financial group ING said Monday it will take a 2008 loss of $1.3 billion and cut 7,000 jobs. The company could not comment on where the cuts would take place. ING employs around 130,000 people across 50 countries.

Deere& Co. (DE, Fortune 500) , the world's top farm-equipment maker, said it would cut nearly 700 jobs between factories in Brazil and Iowa.

The job cuts across sectors didn't surprise Brusca, as nearly all are weak, he said.

"The services sector is shedding jobs at a horrific pace, because that's where most of the jobs are," Brusca said. "When the consumer is in tough shape it's hard for business to do well, because it all depends on consumption or investments."

Continuing the scary trend

The cuts mark a horrific start to the week, and a brutal start to 2009. In the previous week, around 40,000 cuts were announced across multiple industries.

Wednesday, in particular, was littered with a slew of job cuts: BHP Billiton, Clear Channel Communications, Intel, Rohm and Haas Co., UAL Corp. and Williams-Sonoma all announced job cuts totaling over 27,000 positions.

Schlumberger said Friday that it will cut 5,000 jobs worldwide, with 1,000 of the cuts taking place in North America.

Also last week, Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. Entertainment said it would cut about 800 jobs, or 10% of its worldwide staff in the upcoming weeks, while Microsoft unveiled its plan to cut up to 5,000 jobs - 5.5% of its global workforce.

Outlook: A recovery in sight?

Brusca said he agreed with many economists' predictions that the recession will end after the second quarter of 2009. Americans might feel the job market start to bounce back a bit sooner than expected, he said.

"These recessions are like geometry," Brusca said. "It looks like we'll have a V-shaped cycle, in that we're going into this with very sharp losses. This intense-phase recession will probably recover fairly quickly, with the job market coming out it at the same angle it came in."

In the short term, the economy and the job market are in trouble, Brusca said. But "it doesn't look like the bottom is falling out of the economy," he said.

And there's a silver lining to the gloomy clouds over America's economy.

"The good news is it's so bad right now that we will have a definite, noticeable recovery when it comes," Brusca said. "We're getting a lot of adjustment out of the way early."

By Julianne Pepitone, CNNMoney.com contributing writer
Last Updated: January 26, 2009: 5:58 PM ET

Replacemnet Geography

Google Earth: A new platform for anti-Israel propaganda.

The influence of the Internet on our lives is increasing. News, advertising, employment, education, and networking are being affected. Israel's security is especially vulnerable to the manipulation of geography. The online world allows the creation of a virtual reality that at times bears only passing resemblance to facts on the ground. The gap between reality and virtual reality is further exploited by political activists promoting what we term "replacement geography," a means of controlling the virtual representation of land in place of controlling the land itself. In an information age, control on the common map may be worth more in negotiations than control on the ground.

Google Earth

With a user base of 400 million, [1] Google Earth uses satellite imagery combined with maps, terrain, and 3D buildings to present the earth at various levels of magnification. Key features (geography, place details, pictures, etc.) are included with the download of Google Earth in what is known as a "core layer." Users can also download "custom layers" created by other users, which provide educational, historical, or special interest information to be accessed by those wishing to take the Google Earth experience further.

The Google Earth website was the 8th most searched for website in the UK at the start of 2006. [2] The user base in June 2007 was 200 million, [3] up 100 percent from reports10 months earlier. [4] The application has broad appeal, with almost a quarter of the visitors to Google Earth over the age of 55. [5] Google Earth has been used by campaign groups to raise public awareness; examples include grass roots environmental campaigns that created a layer with information against deforestation; a WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) layer showing large-scale environmental and socioeconomic shifts; and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum which created a layer with information on the crisis in Darfur. These projects were custom layers which users could add to Google Earth.[6]

Virtual Reality

Israel is depicted as a state born out of colonial conquest rather than the return of a people from exile.

Virtual Israel, as represented by Google Earth, is littered with dozens of orange dots. Orange dots represent contributions from the user community, and those appearing by default have been accepted into the core layout by Google Earth. In the case of Israel, most of these dots claim to represent "one of the Palestinian localities evacuated and destroyed after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war." For example, Ramat Aviv, the site of Tel Aviv University, appears as Al Shaykh Muwannis. While generally Google Earth does not erase Israeli towns and kibbutzim, it has heavily integrated a politically motivated Palestinian narrative into the map of Israel. As a result, Israel is depicted as a state born out of colonial conquest rather than the return of a people from exile. Each orange dot links to the "Palestine Remembered" site, where custom layers which further advance this narrative can be obtained.

Early press reports portrayed the virtual Palestine initiative as documentation of fact and included Israeli comments that it was "biased but legitimate." [7] Later research showed that many of the claims staked out in Google Earth were presenting misinformation. Kiryat Yam was wrongly claimed to be built on the Palestinian village of Ghawarina. Many sites known to be ruins in 1946 are claimed to be villages destroyed in 1948. Arab villages which still exist today are listed as sites of destruction.[8]The Google Earth initiative is not only creating a virtual Palestine, it is creating a falsification of history.

Google Earth's core information also includes other problems. Previously, areas beyond the "green line" were labeled as "Occupied Territories," a phraseology which is sometimes used to justify terrorism, rather than "disputed territories." [9] The area listed as "occupied" also included the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. [10] Google Earth places Mt. Scopus and its Hebrew University campus in Jerusalem within Jordanian territory prior to 1967, even though it was an area where Israel exercised control during that period, according to the 1949 Armistice Agreement.

In March 2008 the Gaza Strip was still listed as "Israeli-occupied," despite Israel's full withdrawal in 2005 and the military takeover of the Strip by Hamas in mid-2007. By May 2008 (after press coverage), the label was changed to read "Gaza Strip." A note states: "Many sources still regard the Gaza Strip as 'Israeli-occupied' despite formal Israeli withdrawal in September 2005." [11] There is still no mention of Hamas' control.

Politically-Loaded Geography

"Replacement geography" builds on the concept of "replacement theology," a position that spurred anti-Semitism within the church and which, starting with Vatican II, has been removed from Christian doctrine. Indeed, it has been stated that recognition of the State of Israel by the Vatican completed this process. [12] Replacement theology stated that Christians had inherited the covenant and replaced the Jews as the chosen people. The concept of replacement geography similarly replaces the historical connection of one people to the land with a connection between another people and the land.

This was famously applied by the Romans when they renamed Judea to Palaestinia, and Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina in 135 CE in an effort to destroy the Jewish people after the Bar Kokhba revolt. In more recent times, replacement geography has resulted in the destruction of Jewish artifacts at the Temple Mount. [13]

The inclusion of virtual Palestine, superimposed on Israel in the core layer of Google Earth, is an example of replacement geography advanced by technology. Those wishing to find directions, explore the cities of Israel, or randomly wander across this small piece of land are immediately taken to a politically motivated narrative unrelated to their quest. This is the sort of replacement the ancient Romans tried and failed to achieve. The promotion of a replacement narrative works against a compromise solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, inspiring absolutist positions rather than a negotiated settlement.

Main Implications

Google has incorporated the Palestinians' overlays and their accompanying narrative into its core maps of Israel.

Generally, Google allows all kinds of organizations or individuals to create overlays with their own information on its map. These overlays are only available to those who specifically request them, but they are not automatically incorporated into the core map of Google Earth that every user entering its website can see. Disturbingly, Google has incorporated the Palestinians' overlays and their accompanying narrative into its core maps of Israel. As Google maintains editorial control over its core layer, it has responsibility for its content, which it clearly has not adequately exercised.

Google Earth presents a tremendous challenge by allowing historical revisionism. Maps of the world have changed with evolving historical circumstances everywhere. Yet theoretically, with this tool, organizations seeking to make a claim for Mexican sovereignty over territories incorporated into the U.S. in the nineteenth century could raise such arguments by revising the map of Texas or California. Rather than serving as an educational resource, Google Earth could simply evolve into a website for political warfare.

For those who do not physically visit Israel, the "facts" on this virtual ground are real. It is to be expected that people will form their opinion on issues such as borders, land rights, and historic connection based on sources like Google Earth. The social propagation of a narrative of Israeli aggression and ethnic cleansing - an aspect of "Anti-Semitism 2.0" [14] - is spread through Google Earth.

Without a response that includes new information about the historical connection of the Jewish people to Israel throughout the ages, as well as modern Israeli history and the Israel of today, the world's opinion of Israel can only grow dimmer. An increase in content - assuming Google will eventually add it to the core layer, something that is far from certain - would address the vast imbalance, yet do little for the user experience.

A far better solution would be for Google to remove the narrative and treat Israel as it treats every other country on the globe. Both the Palestinian narrative and promotion of Israel can have their place, but this should be in optional layers. The core layer of Google Earth should be ideology free and not serve as a platform for indoctrination or a campaign to wipe Israel off the virtual map.

Courtesy of Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
By Dr. Andre Oboler. Published: Sunday, June 29, 2008 on http://aish.com

About the author: Dr. Andre Oboler
Dr. Andre Oboler is a social media expert. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Lancaster University, UK and is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Political Science at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. He is currently a Legacy Heritage Fellow at NGO Monitor in Jerusalem, and edits ZionismOnTheWeb.org - a website countering on-line hate.

Notes
1. Mike Swain, "Amazon Tribe Using Google Earth to Battle Illegal Loggers," Daily Mirror, 21 June 2008, http://www.mirror.co.uk/

2. Quentin Reade, "Google Earth's Popularity Booms," Web User Magazine, 25 January 2006, http://www.webuser.co.uk/news/news.php?id=73488

3. Stefanie Olsen, "Do-Gooders Doing Google Earth," CNET News.com, 7 June 2007, http://www.news.com/

4. David Meyer, "Google, Microsoft Vie for Earth Domination," CNET News.com, 12 September 2006, http://news.cnet.com/Google,-Microsoft-vie-for-Earth-domination/

5. Quentin Reade, "Google Earth's Popularity Booms," Web User Magazine, 25 January 2006, www.webuser.co.uk/news/news.php?id=73488.

6. Stefanie Olsen, op. cit.

7. Gal Mor, "Palestinian Villages Commemorated on Google Maps," Ynet News, 13 July 2006.

8. David Shamah, "Digital World: Google Earth's 'False Flags'," Jerusalem Post, 4 March 2008.

9. Dore Gold, "From 'Occupied Territories' to 'Disputed Territories'," Jerusalem Viewpoints, No. 470, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 16 January 2002.

10. "Google's Latest Anti-Jewish Outrage," WorldNetDaily, 11 March 2008. http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58658

11. See in Google Earth, 22 June 2008.

12. Padraic O'Hare, The Enduring Covenant: The Education of Christians and the End of Antisemitism, (Pennsylvania: Trinity Press International, 1997).

13. Mark Ami-El, "The Destruction of the Temple Mount Antiquities," Jerusalem Viewpoints, No. 483, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 1 August 2002, http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp483.htm

14. Andre Oboler, "Online Antisemitism 2.0. 'Social Antisemitism' on the 'Social Web'," Post-Holocaust and Anti-Semitism, No. 67, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 1 April 2008.

Why TIME is Right... and Wrong

How the Jews can win when we can't win.

Had the graphic artist at TIME magazine had as his goal to upset the Jews by his cover for the January 19 issue, he couldn't have done a better job. A blue star of David hiding behind a cinderblock wall topped with barbed wire is so evocative of the Holocaust and the old canard that the Palestinians are the "victims of the victims" that it has stirred up the Jewish world and elicited accusations that TIME is (and has always been) anti-Semitic.

The bold title across the cover, "Why Israel Can't Win" has further riled a Jewish world intent on doing exactly that in Gaza. But the cover article by Tim McGirk, TIME's Jerusalem bureau chief, has more truth in it than those of us who love Israel would care to admit. I'll spare you my list of examples of Mr. McGirk's pro-Arab bias. The essence of the article is the contention that there is no solution to the conflict that will allow Israel to exist as a Democratic Jewish state-or even to exist at all.

The article is peppered with expressions of despair: "...the many interlocking challenges facing Israel, some of which cast dark shadows over the long-term viability of a democratic Jewish state;" "...will require Israel and its defenders to confront excruciating dilemmas: How do you make peace with those who don't seem to want it?" "There's something tragic, too, in Israel's predicament: in any confrontation with its enemies, it is damned if does and doomed if it doesn't."

Israel cannot exist with hostile Arab states as close to it as the Bronx is to Manhattan.

Mr. McGirk's pessimism is based on a political reality and a demographic one. The political reality is that Israel has no way to get rid of Hamas, the overwhelming democratic choice of the civilians of Gaza, no matter how much it beats Hamas down militarily. In this, TIME is echoing a recent Wall Street Journal article by Max Boot, who contended that the only way Israel could eradicate Hamas is by fighting an all-out war like the U.S. fought against Germany and Japan. Since neither Israel's own moral scruples nor the international community would permit such combat, Israel can temporarily weaken Hamas, but can never defeat it.

The demographic reality is that there are nearly as many Arabs as Jews living in the total area between the Jordan River and the sea (which TIME readers may be surprised to learn is barely a distance of 40 miles). As TIME's handy chart points out, by 2020, the Arabs, due to their higher birthrate, will outnumber Jews at 8.5 million to 6.4 million.

In short, Israel cannot exist with hostile Arab states as close to it as the Bronx is to Manhattan. Nor can it reclaim those thickly Arab-populated territories and administer them without relinquishing its democratic ideals.

In this sense, Israel's victory in Gaza leaves us in a more desperate situation than our 2006 defeat in Lebanon. Then we could say that we lost due to poor performance by our governmental and military leaders. This time, both the government and the military have performed splendidly. Yet real victory -- the permanent cessation of attacks into our borders -- eludes us.

Israel is backed into a corner, with no exit. If I didn't believe in an almighty God who intervenes in history, I would give up all hope. But instead of groping around the floor for a trapdoor that isn't there, I look up and see a ladder. The only way out is up.

JEWISH HISTORY ACCORDING TO TIME MAGAZINE

Jewish history has always been a long shot.

Here is where TIME magazine is wrong. They fail to take into account what I call "the God factor." Jewish history has always been a long shot. The most dramatic proof of that is that I, a Jew, am sitting here in my home in Jerusalem, 2,595 years after my ancestors were banished from here by the Babylonian Empire, 1,939 years after my ancestors were again banished from here by the mighty Roman Empire, after 1,930 years of my ancestors wandering among hostile and often murderous European hosts, 60 years after five well-armed, well-trained Arab armies attacked the nascent Jewish state, and 41 years after Nassar, backed by superior Soviet weaponry, vowed to "drive the Jews into the sea."

The eternal survival of the Jewish people, which was promised by God through the Biblical prophets, is as unlikely as a cluster of grapes, thrown into an erupting volcano then being swept up into a tornado and pounded by a tsunami, surviving intact -- and returning to its original vineyard.

Just think how TIME magazine would have reported on some of the significant events of Jewish history:

Issue of 1737 B.C.E.:
Why Abraham Can't Win

Abraham ben Terach, the famous revolutionary preacher of the exclusionary divinity, has been promised by his God that his offspring will inherit the land of Canaan. This pledge is politically untenable, as the native Canaanites have no intention of ceding land to this recent immigrant from Ur Kasdim in Mesopotamia. Moreover, the promise is ludicrous, as the 75-year-old Abraham has no children, and, even more to the point, his wife Sarah is 65 years old and suffers from incurable fertility problems.

Issue of 1312 B.C.E.:
Why Moses Can't Win

Our Midian bureau chief has discovered that the former Egyptian prince Moses, for the last 40 years a fugitive in Midian, claims to have had a vision of God. The Divinity reportedly promised that He would rescue the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and would "bring them to... a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivvite, and the Jebusite." Egyptology experts agree that the powerful Egyptian Empire, led by Rameses II, would never agree to release their formidable slave population. Nor has any slave ever succeeded in escaping Egypt. Even if such an unfeasible escape were ever to occur, the seven aforementioned nations, well fortified in walled cities such as Jericho, could certainly hold their own against an untrained, ill-equipped army of ex-slaves.

Issue of 701 B.C.E.:
Why Judea Can't Win

The army of Assyria, led by the invincible Sennacherib, has laid siege to Jerusalem. This is the same superpower that vanquished the Northern Kingdom of Israel and exiled its ten tribes 19 years ago. The siege of Jerusalem was preceded by the Assyrian army's total destruction of the Judean city of Lachish. Experts agree that Judea's King Hezekiah, a weak monarch ruling over a tiny kingdom, has no possibility of lifting the siege by the Assyrian forces, who number 180,000 strong. The many interlocking challenges facing Judea, some of which cast dark shadows over the long-term viability of a Jewish state in the region, lead us to predict a crushing defeat for Jerusalem.

{Note: A few days after this issue was published, the Assyrian camp was decimated by a strange plague. The few survivors, led by Sennacherib, fled in panic. Jerusalem was saved.}

* * * * * * * * * * * *

No one will succeed in wiping out the Jewish People, because our survival was guaranteed by God.

I do not know how or when God will deliver the Jewish People and the Jewish state from our present predicament. But I do know that hordes of Islamic terrorists and their anti-Semitic allies will never succeed in their ambitions to wipe out the Jewish People, because God has guaranteed our eternal survival: "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, throughout the generations, an eternal covenant to be your God and the God of your descendants after you." [Gen. 17:7]

And I also know that when God does decide what will happen to us, He will not consult TIME magazine.

by Sara Yoheved Rigler on http://aish.com

Sara Yoheved Rigler is planning a U.S. speaking tour in May. To bring her to your community, please write to
srigler@aish.com.

About the author: Sara Yoheved Rigler

Sara Yoheved Rigler is the author of the bestseller Holy Woman and of the new Lights from Jerusalem. She is a graduate of Brandeis University. After fifteen years of practicing and teaching meditation and Eastern philosophy, she discovered "the world''s most hidden religion: Torah Judaism." Since 1985, she has been practicing the spiritual path of Torah. She is a popular international lecturer on subjects of Jewish spirituality and also presents a highly-acclaimed workshop for women, "Dressing the Soul." She resides in the Old City of Jerusalem with her husband and children.
Her articles have appeared in: Jewish Women Speak about Jewish Matters, Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul, and Heaven on Earth.

Click here to order Sara Yoheved Rigler''s brand new book, Lights from Jerusalem. Like Holy Woman, the stories in this volume both fascinate and inspire. Sara''s writings plumb the depths of human nature and aim toward the heights of spiritual aspiration. In the more than 50 selections in this book, culled primarily from Aish.com, Sara Yoheved Rigler shares with the reader her ever-fresh wonder and love for the transformative power of Judaism.