half-positive feedback

Did not get an offer from the company I wanted. They said that I am very good, but not outstanding. Also I can call them in 3 months and then they will decide.
In the beginning I was pretty upset about this fact. But on the other hand if I got an offer now I would relax and did not look for a job anymore. And in this case I would not have a base for comparison and probably would miss something better.
So, anyway thank you to the company for a half-positive feedback and let's see what my next steps will be.

"Сначала они тебя не замечают, потом смеются над тобой, затем борются с тобой. А потом ты побеждаешь" (Махатма Ганди).

dilemma

Is a negative experience is also good as an experience or it would be better if it never happened?

social projects ranking model (the model I designed and would like to test empirically)

my favorite godess

and 2nd favorite:

will add description later

the theory of love (attention) from the recepient point of view.

             I do not remember where I heard this story. Like several years ago a group of American businessmen started a join venture with one Arab Sheikh. He came to US and got a crash on one low educated but pretty sexy blond secretary. She was in the end of her twenties, sexy and married.  She did not care of that, but Americans willing make the Sheikh feek in their country as at home paid to the blondy additional bonus in order to make her more friendly. As a result she had a passionate affair with the Sheikh and the join venure was prosperous as well.
             At some point the Sheikh had to returt to the Emirates and continue the business from over there. And his main condition was that he wanted to take that blondy with him. I do not remember the exact reason but that woman could not go to the Emirates. Probably she requested from the  businessmen to much money for such a business trip.
             The Sheikh got disappointed, the business went wrong, American businessmen got concerned. They invited the Sheikh to discuss the situation and discovered that really he did not care which blondy will go with him. So Americans just picked up another woman, who agreed to travel to the Emirates for more reasonable amount.
             Now the dillemma. If you think that you can execute power because the person is enjoying your attention (love) there is always a trick. Unless you are really unique and can set up a benchmark for this person. The strategy for the recipient of attention (love) can be described with the following matrix:

             I would put it like that. The majoruty is average people with medium level of attention (the even bigger majority is ignored) , they can be converted to average ppl with sustainably high level of attention and interchangeble.

             Also let's evaluate the value (as increase of self-confidence for example) of external attention (you may call that attention - love) for the recepient of attention:

           At vertical axis is the significance of people, we can notice that the more perceived significance of the people  the more valuable is their attention.

           Negative attention is hatrid and all the negative emotions people may have toward the receipient. It is difficult to have really significant enimies, but it might be enjoyable to have insignificant enimies which will be a source of energy and happiness for the receipient. If the significance of the person giving attention is really low, it does not matter for the receipient if he/she loves of hates him. The top point is a benchmark and can be changed. It is a perceived maximum of the quality of the person executing attention (love).

             If we go back to the example of Sheikh the objective level of significance of the blondy was about 10, but for the Sheikh perceived level of her significance was about 20. Initially American businessmen (including the blondy as well) were overestimating her level of significance. They were thinking that it was close to the benchmark. But after they figured her real value they pretty fast solved the problem. The problem is that the person who lost in this case was Sheikh, who overestimated her real value.  According to the strategy matrix he was in the middle point of that. But who knows...Maybe he saved transaction costs, or maybe the business with Americans was profitable for him as well.

feedback

When I was a kid I was always upset when I got to know that people were talking something bad about me.
When I became a teenager I avoided to hear people gossips not to be upset.
Then I stopped care and ignored their not always constructive criticism.
In the beginning of 20s I was forming my opinion of people based on their critits in my address.
Now I agree with what they are saying, accept my drawbacks and think what advantages I can get out of that.

german latterns

               She was looking at the window at that snow falling down and not melting...At the sparkling road with dirty cars, at the dim yeallow laterns and changing traffic lights of the crossroad...
               Everything was so usuall...The world was living by its standard rules, so standard and usual that people forgot the meaning of all these principles. They follow them automatically, without even single thought, like animals moving by reflexes they would probably prefer never to have. What is her main instinct? Simply self-protection like for the wildest animals? And if it has psychological nature, that is even worse...
               For some moment she imagined her life which also looked very undefined and unclear as if it was lightend by those yellow laterns. Yellow laterns which are made by Germans to save energy. So did she. She tried not to bother to comprehend the results of her actions and absence of actions (which is even worse when the action is required).
               She knew that as soon as she start to change something around the world will punish her. And from her past experience she had an idea how sevire this punishment can be. She knew that if she does nothing, the curcumstances can change themselves. And maybe it will be favourable to her... Maybe not, but inaction and sweet feeling of ignorance would at the end hurt maybe not her, she is ready to that, but the people who had no idea of some future event. Maybe not all the people, one person...
               Does it matter how many? Can she use an excuse that the person who will suffer is imperfect as well? Can she convince herself that the person who potentionally might be hurt would do the same she is doing? And after that close the eyes, look at another more optimistic direction and forget about the whole issue for a while.
               Like a poor family in a story of the Russian shriftsteller Zoshenko. They got electricity to their room and understood how miserable they are. They realised that the room requires repairment. But they had no money for that and decided to live in a darkness, without electricity. To live ignoring the problem like they did before.
               Maybe it is a way. But if she can accept the sufferning of a single person (potentional sufferning of course) because she does not want to suffer herself, does that mean that she is a bad person? Or she is unperfect just like all people around. Is she sure that she wants to change world? To change the world starting with herself?
               She knows what she will do. She moved, closed the curtains not to see the yellow german latterns and went to bed thinking about completely differnt things.

Itaka

           Was in German theater... Not that I am really impressed. Sometimes it is difficult to find the difference between the art (talant) and strange mix of desire to be original and modern.  Honestly I did not really distinguish today what it was -  the talant or the absence of that.
           Actually I would opt for the absence but some people said that it was really cool, so I am trying to justify what I saw.  Well, the play was about that people who immigrated to Germany and trying to get used to the country.  People with their advantages and unperfections, opportunities and fears...Regular, not perfect, not positive, not negative international people ...
           What I like that at the end they were say telling their names and deliberately lied from which countries they are. That was very cool and funny.
           So they were:
Indonesian girl (called herself Thai. she reminded me an Indian godess, do not remember her name but the one with the tongue...)
Argentinian man (showed hot dances)
A man from Iran (I was really sure that he was Turkish, because the song he sang sounded like Tarkan)
Brasilian man (called himself as "Sascha aus Russland", very good body)
A man from Danmark (called himself French and Sweeden) -(the one who was yelling "Frauen, Fleisch" and doing sex-imitating movement).
           So, it was really a mix of cultures (a lot of ethnical stuff, for example: the girl was throwing the flowers which was very beautiful or long dialogues hold on different languages). And the main point of that was how difficult to get used to another country and do not lose your identity and uniqueness.

you create your own universe...

              Sometimes I feel so lonely that I cant think about anything else... Usually I am trying to kill that feeling with meeting with my friends, dating with a man, reading books, watching movies... whatever it takes....
            Well, even more, not to be lonely (read bored) I am studying foreign languages, building career, traveling...
             It is interesting that talking to another human does not make you less lonely. Well, people can get some relief but some people are not that interesting, another people are not that interesting when you get to know them better. Even interesting people can't solve all your problem, becouse nobody knows better than you what you want.
            Sometimes I think that only set of interesting activities and hobbies can save me from the lonleness and boredom. If I am engaged into them together with interesting people it is amazing. If no I have to plan out my way in the space alone. And during this way I meet people who are moving in the same direction...
           At some point I am getting tired from the new hobby and change the direction. In a couple of weeks I feel like I am surrownded by completely different people.
           Old friends stay of course. But it is impossible to save that old connection we had when we were doing things together... It is sad, but anyway you do not have a lot time to regret, you are already in a completely new universe - universe you created yourself. Which you based on your own choices and decisions...
            Probably five years ago you have seen your life completely different. Probably you planned that with more or less ambitions. Probably you were thinking that different people will be around. And after that you ask yourself if that was really you who is in charge of your life. You and your real priorities or the chain of spontaneous decisions you had to make because of the curcumstances?

AND God stepped out on space,
And He looked around and said,
“I’m lonely—
I’ll make me a world.”
And far as the eye of God could see
Darkness covered everything,
Blacker than a hundred midnights
Down in a cypress swamp. James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938)

just some curious facts:

1) Today a man with MBA degree, 3 years of work experience and wgo is going to get married soon asked me if the Soviet Union still exists. Good looking man btw...No comments any more :-)
2) Since I am always getting an eye infections here it occured to me that maybe Germany is called so because there are so many germs here :-) \no offence it is just a joke\
3)  "Nobody knows anything... it’s a guess – and, if you’re lucky, an educated one." (Goldman, 1983)
Found this amazing quotation during my marketing research....so true...You never have all the relevant information in advance. And that's why the most of choices we are making in our life are guesses, so we try to justify them using our "not that perfect, but we are not gonna to admit that" judgement and the survey of close people who usually have no idea what we really want". That's a scary thought.
4) even the language bareer could not hide his stupidity (q -mine)
5) What an artificial limitation! (about the 2-dimensional model in perception - marketing)
6) She speaks like a soviet communist in american cartoons (about my accent)
7) Goodwill is a result of poor negotiations (q - Pr. Sri)
8) Man should never get too comfortable with women. (q- Anthony)
9) I am not surprised about the content of feedback, I am surprised that people are giving feedbacks this time (q - Zhenya)
What I am surprised that some people are asking for feedback :-) Usually those are men who want to show off))))
10) Borat is an American movie about Americans. But the producer could not really allow himself to tell that directly. That's why he had to pick a random country and it happened to be Kazakhstan.

I am thinking that people appreciate the person in line with their own values...And there is no point to be beautiful and smart if you are surrownded by people who are not up to the level to understand that. Only some people who are equal to that are able to estimate the amount of labor per every achievment....

Indian style (Diwali)

ready to become a Bollywood actress :-)

we ourselves create our own universe

И Бог шагнул в пустоту. И Он поглядел вокруг и сказал — Я одинок. Сотворю себе мир (Джонсон)
Well, everything what we have is the result of our own decisions + some element of probablilty (white noise or random error).
The problem is that we can't predict the future, we can make only backword estimations and realise (if we have enough information to get that) if we made a right or wrong decision.

1) If you are depressed, watch Kill Bill, both parts if needed.
It always helps me. I think that everything is possible but nothing is easy...
2) If you want to impress people just be a day ahead of them...There is no need to do something extraordinary if the people around are not able to appreciate that. At least for those people.

несколько мыслей

1) Такое наблюдение. Я заметила, что умные и образованные люди во всех странах одинаковые. А вот дураки очень разные. Все-таки логика единообразна, а глупость безгранична в своей фантазии. Немецкие дуркаи отличаются от русских, а русские от американских.

койкованна

Вчера читала блог одной свой знакомой по университету и неправильно прочитала ее ник. Вместо какая-то ciocovanilla, я увидела прекрасное слово coicovanna. По-моему, гениальное название какого-нибудь бренда, от товаров для дома, до названия отеля!
койкованна - это то о чем мечтает каждый!) приходишь с работы и она начинается....

Erich Maria Remark "Drei Kamerade"

Er nickte hastig und griff nach dem Glase. Aber er stellte es wieder hin, ohne zu trinken. »Gestern bin ich Bürochef geworden«, sagte er leise. »Oberbuchhalter und Bürochef. Der Prokurist hat es mir abends gesagt. Ich bin es geworden, weil ich in den letzten Monaten immer Überstunden gemacht habe. Man hat zwei Büros zusammengelegt. Der andere Bürovorsteher ist entlassen worden. Ich bekomme fünfzig Mark Gehalt mehr.« Er sah mich plötzlich verzweifelt an. »Glauben Sie, daß sie dageblieben wäre, wenn sie es gewußt hätte?«




»Nein«, sagte ich.



»Fünfzig Mark mehr. Ich hätte sie ihr geben können. Sie hätte sich immer etwas kaufen können. Und zwölfhundert Mark habe ich doch auf der Sparkasse! Wozu habe ich das nun gespart? Ich wollte etwas für sie haben, wenn es uns schlecht ginge. Und nun ist sie weggegangen, weil ich dafür gespart habe.«

interesting quotations

1) Helping a person you deprive him of the chance to improve himself. (Fanky radio)
2) Money and beauty do not hide boringness. (A) /about  man who think that they are so good that they can treat women any way they want/
3) I promised but I did not make a commitment. (H)
4) One more desperate man (A) / About men who keep calling women after they have not talked to each other a long time. Can be also used if somebody started to contact you after a break which is long enough to forget the person./

strawberry fiellds (weekend summary)

ACCA annual dinner
Wine and coctail stolen from another banquet
Little black dress
Pink sneakers, pink T-short  and jeans
Italian restaurant in Brooklyn
Bar with Bocce court inside
Midori Sour
Sonic the Hedgehog
Morning xxx
"Straberry fields"  - Beatles concert at BBKing
Brunch
T-shorts shopping
Paulo Coelho
Cooking
Heroes (season 4)
Sawna
"I promised but I did not make a commitment" freak
Tee with pastries
BBQ in the Bayonne park
Belinda
Jogging with the dog (giant Chihuahua)
Basketball
Cake

The girl with the dragon tatoo

More than a year ago in Munich I bought the book under the title " The girl who played with the fire" of Stieg Larsson. My English was not the best, I had to use dictionary quite often, but it did not prevent me from falling in love with the book. I woke up an hour earlier to have time for reading and I went to bed only when I could not read anymore.
Then I got to know that it was the trilogy "Millenium", which consists of 3 books:
1) The girl with the dragon tatoo
2) The girl who played with the fire
3) The girl who kicked the hornet's nest
I have read 2 first books and can't wait when the 3d part will be available. All of them are about a strong woman who lives her life the way she want.  A lot of different things are involved in this trilogy and it is impossible to describe the intriguing plot in few words.
This trilogy exposes all the flaws of the modern society. The main charachter, Elizabeth Salander, is a desperate child of this world. In her life she met people with almost all possible sins. She got used to be abused by unethical people who see a perfect victum in her. Being treated unfair she has no choice to respond  by crime to crime, by violence to violence, by murder to murder.
This character is very likable and people are in her side inspite all the crimes she commits.
Last week I got to know that they already shot movies for all 3 parts and the first one is already released in U.S.A.  Even in spite the fact that film runs 152 minutes I enjoyed it all the time. Probably they could cut some investigation moments, but without them people would not understand the story.
The movie was in Swedish, with English subtitles (sometimes incorrectly translated), but the theater was packed.
Now some information about the movie:
Plot summary for the movie:

A middle-aged journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, publishes the magazine Millennium in Stockholm. In the opening courtroom drama, Blomkvist loses a libel case brought by accused Swedish industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström, and this has serious repercussions for the future of Millennium. In disgrace, Blomkvist agrees to be hired by Henrik Vanger, the aged former CEO of the Vanger companies, owned by a wealthy but dysfunctional dynasty. The old man offers not only to help his financially strapped magazine, but also to give him information to prove that Wennerström is corrupt. Officially, he is to spend a year writing the Vanger family history.

Blomkvist's real mission, however, is to solve a cold case—the disappearance, some forty years previously, of Vanger's niece Harriet when she was sixteen.

Vanger is convinced that the girl was killed by someone in his family. Blomkvist is ultimately helped in his quest by Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), a young punk who has been victimized or misunderstood by those in authority throughout her whole life, but who is also a brilliant computer hacker. The unlikely couple become a classic detective pair.

Blomkvist comes to feel that he can discover nothing new. But the title character of the story now appears—Lisbeth Salander, an asocial punk who has been victimized and/or misunderstood by authorities throughout her life, but who also happens to be a brilliant computer hacker. By chance, she meets Blomkvist and the unlikely couple form a classic detective pair. When Blomkvist teams up with Salander, their delving into family secrets sheds a disturbing and shocking light on the four-decade-long puzzle.

Brihgton Beach (May 1, 2010)

Zumba

Yesterday my friend fitness instructor in the gym invited me to Zumba. She told me that Zumba is a good dance workout and a lot of fun. Also she told me that she was going herself, so I decided to join the class as well.
I am so happy that I did not wear dress and high heels as I wanted. I thought that zumba will be a relaxed dance but it tuned to a hard workout. A lot of jumping was involved and the instructor was moving non-stop. Also I did not know the movements, which would be nice to remember. I couldn't turn my head in dancing because I had to observe the trainer. At the end I got really tired, with pain in the legs and wet hair.
When I came home I decided to do some research about Zumba. Here are the results:

Zumba is a dance fitness program created by dancer and choreographer  Alberto "Beto" Perez in Colombia during the 1990s. The program combines Latin and international music with dance in an effort to make exercise fun. Beto invented Zumba in the early 1990s: as he entered his aerobics class he realized that he had forgotten his music. His only option was to use whatever tapes he happened to have in his backpack, mostly traditional Latin salsa and merengue music. Beto improvised the entire class on the spot using this music (which was non-traditional for aerobics) and from this experience he began to further develop Zumba. Soon, it became the most popular class at the fitness facility. Zumba classes are offered through licensed instructors in more than 50,000 fitness center locations in over 75 countries.
The Zumba workout provides fitness benefits because its routines feature interval training sessions with fast and slow rhythms and resistance training, which are intended to tone and sculpt the body while burning fat.
Music is the key ingredient to Zumba classes. The score, created with specific beats and tempo changes, transitions the workout from one toning, strengthening or cardio move to another, thus targeting every major muscle group in the body. 

I have not decided yet if I will attend this class because the timing is not so convenient. But my point is that Zumba is a lot of fun and interesting work out.

Danish guys 2 (BBQ)

Yesterday when I came home after my crazy zumba class, Danish guys, Thai girls and Jasfer had BBQ on backyard. I decided that anyway I would not get a chance to sleep because my window faces backyard. So, I came to them and told: "Hey guys! How is your party going?"
They showed themselves as gentlemen. One of them cooked a hot dog for me and even found a can of pickles (somewhere on the ground). When one Thai girl saw that she started to complain: "I am waiting for my hot dog since 9:30..."
Then we talked a little bit about them and their plans for future. All of them 20-21 and plan to apply to the college. They took two years before college to travel and to earn money for college. In Russia it is impossible, uneducated workforce is really cheap. It is difficult even to survive on the salary of nanny or construction employee. Well, I have to admit that in Russia educated people struggle as well.
So, they are very nice guys, very athletic (in Denmark they trained 3.5 hours a day as minimum). Also they have ambitions plans for the future. They good English and some German, so they consider different European colleges, especially one school in Berlin. One guy share with me his plans, he wants to be a designer and has a lot of ideas, which are secret.
What did I want to tell and what is the purpose of this passage? Most of people I spend time with are about 30-40 y.o.  They are different, they do not want to change anything and feel comfortable the way they are. They do not want to travel, they are less interested in the world in general, they do not have abstract ideas which they eager to realize. Those 20 y.o. Danish guys are so inexperienced and so fresh...They are so young and have the whole life ahead of them. They enjoy the life and plan their future. They are just like me and I should not forget that I am not an old spinster yet....

Danish guys

This week one friend of my roommate is visiting our place. He is a Danish guy who used to live in our place back to October. He came with his cousin, with whom he is traveling over here. Yesterday I saw that he brought another friend.
Today  I came from work and gym very tired and striving for privacy. When I came to the living room I noticed four Danish guys sitting around, drinking and watching TV. It looks like they are gimmating - that's was my first thought.
"I did not know that there are so many of you. Are you procreating?"- could not resist I.
In five minutes the living room became empty. Then the ex-roommate came and told sorry for bringing a bunch of friends. I nod and mumbled something resembling "ok".
And now I am enjoying my privacy in the place I am renting.
Danish guys forgot their sneakers in the room with read beer plastic glasses sticked into them. I have never seen that before, maybe it's a Danish tradition to leave glasses in their sneakers. Maybe it helps against hungover.

my stalker

We had several dates in August. Regular boring dates. Nothing special. The guy was boring. Well, I can't tell that he was a bad guy. No, not at all. 28 y.o. Hardworking. His own company. Nice car. Two cars actually. But it happend that I was not interested and after 2 dates or so I told him that I did not see any point to continue the development of our relationships. I expressed my thoughts very nicely, actually I told him "thank you" and wished him to find a new girl who will love him.
I did not know that it was only beginning of the story. He started to call me many times a day, park his car near my house and try to contact me anyway. He called me several times a day. I could not even text to my friends because of his calls. The battery was down all the time, I charged my phone every day. I told him that if he called or contacted me in the street I would call the police. He started to hide his number during the calls.
Two times during that period my I switched my phone off for a month or so. But as soon I turned it on in several hours I noticed missed calls from him.
On Wedesday I accidentially picked up the phone.
"Hello, my love. How are you? Did you miss me?"
"Who are you?"
" Oh, you don't know! That's me!"
"Me is here, but who are you? I have no recollections..."
" That's me, your pain in the neck, that's what you are thinking about me!"
At that moment I felt so sorry for him, poor guy who can't control his feelings. Poor guy who is ready to do everything to make me be with him. How desperate and pathetic he is.
He called me when I was in Hoboken, when I came to Bayonne he met me at the train station.
I asked himseveral questions, I told him that I used to feel the same several years ago. I tried to convince him that the best for him is to forget about me and find a girl with whom he will have mutial feelings. I found out that he has not dated anybody since I broke up with him (if I can use this word, we were not a couple).
That guy is sick, he is obsesssed with me. I told him that I sleep with other guys, he proposed to me. I told  him to give me money, he asked how much I need. I asked him to leave me alone, he begged me to think about it. He told me that he could not control his emotions and sometimes he was waslking aroung the phone hours thinking if he sould call me.
He offered me to do different activities together. He asked me to dance together and watch movies, have dinners and go to the beach. He behaved as we were a couple, which got some issues and wants to work over them. I realized that he was so crazy, obessed and insecure. I noticed that he stopped feeling the reality and listening to me.
I regret that I talked to him.....I was hoping that I will convince him to leave me, but I gave him new hopes and he doubled his efforts.
That night I got a nightmare. It is not fun, I am scared.

the scam I got

This week I got the following letter:

Hello!!! My name is Ekaterina! I write to you from Russia. Be not
surprised. But I wish to learn you. I the lonely girl from city
Pavlovo, in Russia. I search for the future husband. And it not a
joke. I write to you from the Internet-cafe. I have seen your address
and have decided to write to you. I think, it is greater success. I
trust in destiny. I for the first time search for the man from other
country. And I hope, it is a correct choice. I think, it is my female
intuition. I ask to answer soon. I send you my photo. I shall wait
your answer with impatience. And certainly I shall answer you at once
and I shall send a new photo. My e-mail: bonitosupra@yahoo.com

Ekaterina
That's how Russian women's reputation is created. I could not resist and answered her. I asked her what exactly she found particularily attractive about my email.
My friends were laughing about that....) They told me about Nigerian scum as well. Nigerian people create their profile and in the graph "nationality" they put "native american". For userpic they use a picture of a white girl. And their legend is that the girl wass visiting her dieing relative in Africa and ran out of money...)))
Well, Russians are not that dull, but still it is very sad that the issue above has place to exist.
Because of it Russian girls have a reputation of sexy gold diggers and desperate free loaders. I as a traveler and a single beautiful woman  heard this opinion from several men. Sometimes I even notice that they are trying to test me. How do I react? Ask for money in the most open and bold manner! I can offer them to go and spend their money on next date,  which will never be. I do not care what prejudiced dudes think about me. Let cheap insecure 40 y.o. losers, who have not been married and never will be, and desperate uneducated and fake girls from Pavlovo go and fuck themselves! Or maybe each other?

shapes and professions

Why tall shapeless genderless women are in high fashion and women like me, with round asses, skinny waistes and big boobs are in porn?
Well, at least 1950 pin-ups were like me....

car show in MH

another day in the office 4

Here I would like to talk about the lamest excuse I ever have heard. When I start to complain about something, some mishaps or obstacles in my way, some people answer: "Ya know, there are some people who live in the street and have nothing to eat. You should be happy that you are not one of them."
I heard this expression many times from people from different countries. Honestly, I do not find this comparison reasonable. People do not compare the economy of the United States and the economy of Ethiopia. Nobody tells: " Ya know, what crisis over there? We are happy with our unemployment money, especially in comparison with people from Ethiopia".
Also people who tell the stuff like that do not really know how much time and energy I spent to get the result I want. Are people living in the street work eleven hours a day? Are they ready to study five years? Are they ready not to date with anybody, because they have an assignment to finish?
Maybe people have approximately equal potential from the birth, but some of them invest more in their development and other invest less. And it is impossible to tell that 2 people over 20 can be equal. No, everybody gets what he deserves (with adjustments to good luck). Well, another problem is that people do not have equal opportunities. But it is a different problem. But anyway, I think that every normal person in long term is able to organize his life in a way not to live in the street and to have some food to eat.
So, the comparison with homeless and other people with mental issues always sounds offensive for me. And I am very surprise why people from different country use this lame excuse. Interesting, if all those people think alike? If yes, what kind of logic brought them to this inference?

another day in the office 3

I know why people do not change their job even if they can't stand it, why they do not divorce husbands who do not attract them physically, why they eat the same fattening snacks even if they want to loose their weight.
That's not only the matter of habit, also they do not move forward because they are more or less comfortable in the current situation and afraid that the changes either will be too difficult to implement or will lead to even worse combination.
It is human nature to find thousands excuses for out complexes, laziness and fears. I am telling myself that I can't go back to Russia, because I love my gym and afraid that my next job will consume all my time. How ridiculous it sounds in writing!
Based on this thought I am locking myself in the office I do not like and can't change because of the visa condition. Do I really need and deserve that?
I would like to quote one comparison from Coelho. That's about a frog. If a frog sits in the water which is gradually heated up, the animal does not feel the temperature changes. And at the moment the water boils the frog dies, fat and happy.
That's what I am afraid, to be consumed by routine and nothingness. I am afraid to be consumed by my own excuses and procrastination. And I am afraid of that more than I am afraid of changes (which I am also afraid of like all humans).
So, I have to be confident and make the steps forward, otherwise the frog's destiny will be mine as well...

who's fault?

About a month ago I was talking to my mom about my negative sides of charachter. I needed to clarify that for my MBA admission essay and decided that the person who knows me the best is my mom.
So, I called her and she named several my negative traits. Honestly I found an excuse for all of them except one. She told me that I make men fall in love with me and then leave them. At the beginning I did not know what to answer. It felt like she was completely right.
But today it daunted to me why I do so. Usually when men want to attract a woman they do their best. Rhey try to be creative, interesting. They try to impress girls and look good for her. It works.
Girls get attracted. They date, enjoy each other..Then men get tired of constant thinking, they realise that they can't be perfect all the time. They want to be themselves finally, is something wrong with that?
So, they relax and start to show their real personalities...It can be different. Somebody can be cheap, somebody can be boring - it does not really matters. They relax more and more with every date...Initial flowers, attention, dinners, rommance - everything slowly disapperes. They reduce the amount of their charm and attraction from day to day. And they think that if girl does not complain it is ok. They think they already got her and there is no need to make any further attempts.
At some point, girls get tired. They feel that men used them, that men lied to them...In my case that point comes really early. And I always feel deceived. Even more...usually I am able to keep track on development of relationships and be smart enough to desappear before he has fell in love.
Sometimes I see than on the 2nd date, which becomes the last one. Usually they do not understand what happened or pretend that they did not. They think that they can fix everything. They think that it is my freakiness...
So, mom, whose fault is that? Who is more guilty the man who lied from the beginning and pretend the person who he isn't or me who happened not to fall in love with a real person I saw?


PS
And if I am not in love how can I be with somebody I am not telling the whole life but even several years? How I can lie in the same bed with him and see all his negative and positive traits so clearly? How can I be comfortable with the person I am not really attracted by? How can I have children from the man I do not love? How it is possible to love children from the man I do not love?

does the winner stand alone?

On Wednesday I bought a book at the train station news paper stand. I love books and wish I had more time for them. Reading of fiction for me looks like wasting of time. It is better to give a call to my mom, to run on a treadmill, to read something I need for my work. All this actions are real, they move my life forward. Reading of fiction is more like watching poor content TV shows and generally doing nothing.
But I like it. So, I read in English. At least I can make an excuse for myself that I am improving my language skills, which is true at some extent.
The name of the book is The Winner Stands Alone of Paolo Coelho. It is a regular book about money, feelings and freaks- all is just as I like. It's the regular adventure book in which people become desperate and happy, sick and murdered, rational and illogical, hating and loving.
At night I had to make several calls to Russia, so I decided to read the book to fill the time between the calls. In total I read about 46 pages, but I am not about it. The heading is really interesting. I do not agree that only the winner is the person which stands alone. A loser also can be alone, forgotten by everybody, lonely and disgruntled. The winner attracts people who want to get the part of benefits he can provide to them. Different relatives, grammar school friends and people who accidentally met him will ask him to help to find a job, to lend some money for two weeks or to do any other favor. But who is interested in loser?
And why does so successful and apparently very intelligent leader stand alone? Let's start from workaholics...they do stand alone. Sometimes it goes so crazy that people who concentrated on their careers do not know what to do when they get some time for themselves. And of course they do not have anybody close to spend time together, they invested all the energy in the company they worked for, not in relationships and other stuff. They were to busy working (what does not always mean making money and enjoying the things they are doing) that forgot how to talk to other people, enjoy a movie or just relax with the a mag of coffee and book the whole morning. The people like that can forget what they really want and concentrate on the careers which happened to them.
Or it can be different, people can love their work. I mean that they can be really interested in the things they are doing, because those activities match their personalities. In this case people can became extremely intelligent in one particular sphere and ignorant of the rest of the world. Usually narrow specialists can't conduct the conversation to the variety of topics and the rest of the world does not wish to talk about their professional interests all the times. Such type of people thinks that they are superior others. They do not realize that the advantage they have is really limited by their profession.
Another type of winners who feel lonely are people who are smarter than the people from their surroundings. These winners/leaders do not have anybody equal to talk to. At some point they realize that nobody really can give them a useful



to be continued

another day in the office 2

From the first part of this story it becomes clear that I do not really like my work. The same tasks every day. Nothing really depends on me. No money. I am not complaining, what I have now is the result of my actions in my past. I came to the States to improve my English, pass TOEFL and GMAT. I did it somehow.
There is another saying: Life is that what happens when you are busy making plans. My plans are great. No problems with that. And no realization. In the university I used to think that everything would change as soon I graduated. I graduated two years ago...nothing really changed yet.
Usually a yoga instructor from the gym tells us to ask ourselves if our mind is preoccupied with past or future events. My mind is completely devoted to the future. What I will do when I quit? That's the main thought. How can I use my skills and knowledge to get paid? How to be able to do what I like and still get paid? If I am so smart, why I am so poor?
I know that I can't be successful doing things I do not like. Audit, accounting. Operations. Any routine processes. I am more creative.
The more I think about the future the more I understand that the position I want does not exist. I have to create a working place myself. But doing what? Maybe some of my ideas are too complicated to become truth. Maybe I do not know how to live my life.
Well, sleeping in the office eight hours a day and being busy with the tasks I do not like will never bring me closer to my goal. Those activities do not accelerate my career as well. Probably that's what people call self-destruction in its purest kind. And probably my attitude is my main problem. Change of the place, country and employer does not lead to happiness. I have to change basics. It's not in my power to change myself completely. I can't love the things I barely tolerate. So, I have nothing to do than to change the area of my occupation in general. It should not be accounting or any routine job of this kind. No stupid boss and unnecessary limitations. No ineffective ways of work.
Yes...my mind is preoccupied with the future events, the events I have to initiate to change my life...

another day in the office

Another Wednesday. Everything is the same. Office. Sleepy people. The smell of cheap coffee. The sound of printed out documents. And feeling that something should happen but has not happen yet. Every day is the same...
There is an expression that every smoked cigar shorten a life by 10 minutes, every bottle of vodka by 30 minutes and every day at office by 8 hours...
That's about me. Even more in my case if include in the formula the time I commute to work, the time I feel tired after work and the time I am thinking how to avoid my work and do it smoother for me. To be busy with the things I do not like takes so much of me.
Sometimes I feel like I am misspending my life...Even the thoughts that my present occupation is merely temporary do not help. I am temporary myself.
I want to do the things which are interesting for me, to choose my projects myself and get the results which move me forward. Yes, I can quit my job and I will do so soon enough. But what next? To find a similar position? And work to be able to pay my rent?
To open my own business? How I will finance it? That's the question.
Get MBA degree? Will any bank give me the loan I need? The same question.
To write a book? What will I eat during this time? I definitely have to find the answer.
Who told that money did not buy the happiness? Somebody really wealthy I guess. The lack of money definitely buys you misery.
A lot of questions. Even more options. Not one is easy. Are any of them possible?
It is depressing and exciting is the same time, depends on which emotion to concentrate. There is no shortcut to the way how to live my life. Nobody can give me a right advice, because nobody knows me better that I do. Only I responsible for the results of my decisions.
Yes...Let's see what happen tomorrow. By tomorrow I mean the day when I will be able to do what I want not what the society expects from me. The day when I won't enjoy seeing sleepy and disgruntled faces of the colleagues I have nothing to talk about, inhale the smell of their coffees and expect the things which probably never happen.

perfect couple

Today I needed to buy shoes. When I went from the Newport mall with the desired purchase I saw a couple of people. A man and a woman. They came to the train stop and the women stood in the corner. The men looked at her and told: "Watch were you are standing, it's a spit-center". Then he came closer to her and showed her the place on which she was standing. The woman did not react. Then man started to yell: " It is so disgusting! You are in flip-flops over there! You are disgusting!" "There is nothing over there. It is printed on your glasses! Already seven years"- answered the woman.
Then the man got really mad. He could not tell anything new, so he just repeated the word "disgusting". The woman also could not stand that, so she went to another side of the train stop to hide from him. Then the man noticed, he got worried. He was walking around, looking everywhere but could not find her...
He came back and stood on his old place. He look worried. He was looking for her. When the train came the woman approached the man from behind and scared him. For the moment their faces looked happy.
Then they got into the train and sat in far from each other, but not that far they could not see each other.
I was looking at them and thinking how amazingly they matched.

russian bitch (devoted to the man I like...)

I found her profile in Internet and decided to take a chance and get to know her closer. I wrote to her and she answered. We started talking. I could never pronounce her weird foreign name correctly, so I used to call her baby. When we dated I always paid for dinners. She was very cheap, lived in industrial part of New Jersey with a bunch of retarded roommates. She had broken English and I had a hard time with her. But her body was young and curves were appealing. Sex was good, especialy without a condom. But if she got pregnant I would tell her to do an abortion and break up with her. Her visa expired. She could not keep up here any more and went back to Russia. Russian bitch, I have never loved her.

GMAT analysis of argument

ESSAY QUESTION:

The following appeared in a corporate memorandum of a beverage manufacturer:

“Our promotional price reductions on energy drinks have been highly successful, as we have seen a dramatic increase in unit sales. Further, surveys of our consumers indicate that this promotion was favorably received by the majority of our customers. Therefore, to improve our company’s profitability and enhance its perception in the eyes of consumers, similar price reductions should be offered on all drinks produced by our firm.”

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. Point out flaws in the argument's logic and analyze the argument's underlying assumptions. In addition, evaluate how supporting evidence is used and what evidence might counter the argument's conclusion. You may also discuss what additional evidence could be used to strengthen the argument or what changes would make the argument more logically sound.

MY RESPONSE:

The memorandum of a beverage manufacturer states that promotional price reductions on energy drinks led to a dramatic increase in unit sales and therefore the best way to improve profitability and increase customers' perception is to reduce price in a similar way to all other drinks.

The argument logics might be correct but some assumptions are definitely missing. First of all, the author of the argument did not specify if there is any difference between the group of customers who consume energy drinks and customers who purchase other types of beverages. There is no guarantee that people buying energy drinks wish to consume more other types of drinks even in case of discounts.

The second missing assumption I would like to outline is the correlation between profitability and increase of the unit sales of discounted goods. It can be that price reduction is not compensated by the enhanced sales volume. For example, elasticity of demand on other beverages is very low and it can lead to the failure of the price reduction strategy. So, if the author wants to prove the profitability he has to provide calculations supporting his statement.

The same I would like to tell about the correlation between brand perception and price reduction. What if beverages of this company are considered luxury goods and the whole segment of customers will be lost? To be more convincing the author should name the factors which influence on brand perception and evaluate the role of price among these factors.

Also I would like to notice that for better understanding of the memorandum it is worth disclosure precise numbers: how many percent is the "majority of customers", what is the amount of the "dramatic increase of unit sales" in dollars and percentage, what is the amount of "similar price reductions". It is always difficult to make practical inferences from the abstract information.

From the statistical point of view I would also like to see more information about surveys of customers indicating that promotional was favorably received. Were those surveys representative enough? Did the customers favorable to price reduction as to a short term sale campaign or as to a change of the sales policy? Also I would like to notice that I think that substantial decrease of prices can affect the quality of the product. Are the customers aware of that?

Also, I cannot unambiguously understand if the memorandum suggests offering price reductions as a promotional action or as a long term policy. I think that the author should be more careful with the choice of vocabulary for expression of his ideas.

“Out of respect for individual freedom, government should impose no restrictions on an individual’s ability to wager at online casinos.”

Regulation of on-line business is relatively new because of the nature of the business itself. On-line business is extremely complicated because some the people can participate in it without revealing their identity, because it is international and because it has been changing all the time.

If the government wants to impose restrictions on the individual's ability to wager at on-line casinos it has to clarify the following details. First, the government can control only on-line casinos which are registered in the country the government belongs to. It means that citizens of the country will be able to gamble in foreign casinos without any restrictions. If the purpose of the government is to restrict a freedom of its citizens the government will not achieve it. Second, most probable that the government wants to protect only its own citizens and interested in the development of national casino business. But the restriction on an individual's ability to wafer at online casinos will lead to decrease of the profit the casinos get from the foreign citizens.

So, even from these assumptions, we understand that regulations of on-line casinos are too complicated to be implemented in the nearest future. But let's see leave the technical point of view and look if it fair to restrict a personal freedom in this way.

Of course a lot of people are ready to tell that it is unfair of the government to prohibit make big stakes in on-line casinos because it deprives people of right to manage their own money. But those people should not forget that here we are talking of on-line business which creates several times more opportunities for fraud than any other type of business. It can happen that somebody will try to use a credit card of another person for gambling, or that a grandchild will spend all the retirement money of his own grandparents. Internet has a plenty of opportunities for people who want to use the identity of another person.

Also it is difficult to control access to gambling sites. We know that there is security which can prohibit from casino some types of people because of their appearance or failure to show an ID proving that people are legally capable. It can be that some people have a gambling addiction and prohibited from the casino. But without special restrictions nothing can stop those people from performing actions they may regret.

So, I think that government or even casinos itself should impose restrictions on an individual's ability to wager at online casinos. It can be a phone call to make an identity check, a system of password and codes confirming the amount. Sometimes a small typo can lead to dramatic events. What if a person typed 1000 instead of 100? What if he accidentally presses "ok" instead of "close the window"? I think that the questions as "are you sure that you want to bet a 1000 of dollars now?" will be very useful. Also I think that the government and casinos should give people as much information about online business as possible because knowledge is the best weapon against of fraud.

The purpose of government is not to ensure the financial well-being of its citizens, but rather to maintain order.

What is the government? There are so many concepts and doctrines explaining the meaning of this word. The pivotal element of this definition are the functions of the government. The only purpose of creation of the government is to make it to fulfill the functions private sector cannot perform.

There is an opinion that the purpose of the government in not to ensure the financial well-being of its citizens, but rather to maintain order. I think that today in the conditions of global economical downfall almost nobody will agree with this statement. All the taxpayers know that the amount of taxes allows to the government to finance a plenty of social projects. And I cannot agree that maintain of order and the reduction of violence crime rate are the only activities deserving sponsorship.

I think that government should care about the financial well-bring of its citizens. Especially it should be concerned about children and retired people. I believe successful government cannot let the children strive, live in the street and do not get the access to education. Also people should be able during their working time to save enough money to provide a up-to-level standard of living for the rest of their life. In case if government takes the responsibility of accumulation and distribution of the retirement money it has to make sure that retired people can buy food, medicines and pay their rent. In this case I would like to provide an example. In Russia government takes control over retirement money, it takes the whole amount as a part of taxes and manage it. Only government can determine how much a person will get paid when he is retired. Honestly I do not think that this function of the government is performed effectively in Russia. There are a lot of striving poor retired people. And it is very difficult for me to see an old women who cannot allow candies in the shop or an old an old man who cannot buy medicines necessary for maintaining his health. And those people worked and paid taxes the whole life!

The second example I would like to provide is a fiscal policy of the government. I am a 100% sure that government should be responsible for currency rates and the level of inflation in the country. Only government has enough resources to maintain stability in which business thrives. And in 1998 during default in Russia people almost overnight lost all their savings. Is that a stimulus for farther development of the business? Do people really want to work when they do not know what happens tomorrow.

So, I never can agree with the statement that the modern government is not ensure the financial well-being if its citizens, but rather to maintain order. Maybe this statement can be useful for another types of societies, but not for a modern one. Well, maybe for native of Australia people in the year let's tell 1450 the government should maintain the order only. They did not need any centralized control and were not involved in any type of international activities. But today the world faces much more global problems which are so complicated that cannot be solved without active government interference.

does the store need re-branding

ESSAY QUESTION

The following appeared in a market research report examining consumer perceptions of a chain of clothing stores:

"A recent survey commissioned by the market research department of XY Gen Stores indicated a high level of recognition among consumers of the brand and the nature of the apparel sold in XY Gen Stores. However, the survey also indicated that approximately 60% of those surveyed that recognized the name of XY Gen Stores had never shopped at one of the company's stores. Because of this result, XY Gen Stores executives should launch a significant rebranding and marketing campaign to change the company's image and thereby bring new consumers into the stores.

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. Point out flaws in the argument's logic and analyze the argument's underlying assumptions. In addition, evaluate how supporting evidence is used and what evidence might counter the argument's conclusion. You may also discuss what additional evidence could be used to strengthen the argument or what changes would make the argument more logically sound.

MY RESPONSE

The market research contains the argument that XY Gen Stores is recognized by the customers, but 60 % of the customers who recognize the brand have never shopped at one of the company's stores. The author of the marketing research decided that the best for XY Gen Stores would be to launch a re-branding and to change a company image. He claims that these actions will attract customers who heard about brand but have never thought to buy it.

I think that there are some flaws which create ambiguity in the report. First of all, the author told that there is a high level of recognition of the brand. But he did not tell the precise data. It would be useful to know how many percent of customers recognize the brand. To prove the fact that the brand recognition is really high this indicator should be compared with the industry average or prior year data.

Also author noted that 60% of the potential customers recognize brand but have never got the idea to try it. As an owner or executive of XY Gen Stores I would like to get to know two facts related with this statement. First, what is proportion of this group of customers to other people who can be customers? Is this number material in comparison with number of people who have never heard about the brand? If yes, I would like to get to ask a second question. What is the reason that the people who already know about the brand not to shop at XY Gen store?

The marketing specialist who wrote a report proposed a quite expensive action - re-branding. But why did he decide that the company actually need it? Maybe the people who recognize the brand but do not uses it do not think that brand has a bad reputation? Maybe the store is far from their houses and they prefer to shop at the stores nearby? Before considering the idea of re-branding the author of the marketing report should name the reasons to do so. In the argument above those reasons are missing.

Also the marketing specialist did not tell anything about the influence of the re-branding on the existing customers who shop at XY gen. How will re-branding influence on them? Will it be possible that some existing customers will stop buying from XY Gen in the result of re-branding?

So, I think that the author of the marketing research did a good statistical job. But his interpretation of the data is not quite clear. It can be that he just skipped some assumptions about which I have already mentioned in my critique. But it is also possible that the agency did not collect enough verifiable data and conducted the consulting intuitively. But, anyway, as a CEO or a major shareholder of the company I will require detailed calculations supporting the inferences made by the author. And if I did not get a reasonable explanation of the course of action proposed in the report I will never hire this marketing agency again.

essey for gmat (about digital cameras)

ESSAY QUESTION:
The following appeared in an article in a consumer-electronics magazine:"Company X's latest model of digital camera to be released next month, the TR12, is being promoted as the most portable, user-friendly digital camera available, and also an excellent bargain. It can be expected to live up to these claims, because Company X's previous model, the TR11, was universally lauded as setting the standard in these areas last year."
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. Point out flaws in the argument's logic and analyze the argument's underlying assumptions. In addition, evaluate how supporting evidence is used and what evidence might counter the argument's conclusion. You may also discuss what additional evidence could be used to strengthen the argument or what changes would make the argument more logically sound.


MY RESPONSE:

The author of the article in a consumer-electronic magazine claims that the latest model of digital camera TR12 is the most portable and user-friendly because the previous model of digital camera TR11 produced by the same company set standard in the area.

The mail flaw in the logic of the author is that the forecast of success of a new camera is based on the result of production of previous model of the company. There is no guarantee that the company X is able to repeat previous success second time. It can happen that photographers would prefer to use the previous model TR11. In case if there is no principal difference between TR11 and TR12 some customers would continue to use TR11. So, it can happen that sales of TR12 will be hurt by sales of TR11. And TR11 will be considered as the most portable, user-friendly digital camera available.

Also the author did not take into consideration the external competition in the market. It might be that any other rival company invested a huge amount of money in R&D and is ready to introduce to the market a new revolution digital camera.

Also author was not specific describing main advantages of the TR12. The qualities like "most portable, user-friendly" and "an excellent bargain" do not provide details about camera. What fixtures the camera should have to be considered as user-friendly? Being simple in operations? In this case the cheapest camera with only one button is more user-friendly than innovative professional camera. What means "excellent bargain"? Is that cheaper than a similar model? If yes, in what extent? I think that such an abstract description of advantages does not provide useful information to consumers.Also I would like to notice that the author is also imprecise in the description of the market or field in which TR11 set the standard. The author referred to "these areas", but for me, a person who is not an expert in consumer-electronics, is rather difficult to understand what areas the author was talking about.

I think that if author wants to make his argument more reliable he should be more precise in the choice of words and try to consider more factors which can influence on the final result. Also he can add more details about the models of camera. What quality made the TR11 the setting standard product? Does the TR12 is up to the standard? What is the advantage of TR12 in comparison with TR11? What made TR11 "the most portable, user-friendly digital camera available"? With all this details the argument will provide a clear description of the camera. And the knowledge about the models of digital camera will allow to reader to make all the inferences about the future of the TR12.

"Children today have an unprecedented number of options when it comes to entertainment.

ESSAY QUESTION:
"Children today have an unprecedented number of options when it comes to entertainment. Since no parent can be aware of all of these options, it falls to the entertainment media to ensure that their content is suitable for young consumers."
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your point of view with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

MY RESPONSE:

Nobody likes high responsibility. And in situations when the lack of control can lead to serious consequences nobody wants to be responsible for the execution of control. One of the most important issues ever has been a problem of children's education and upbringing. It is really difficult to decide in general what children should be allowed to know and which information can be harmful for their development. The aggreviation of this problem is the fact that all children are different and their perception of the information can lead to different results.

Nevertheless, I think that the common standards of children's education and ledger should be developed. We know that school programs are already more or less unified. But most part of their time children spend at home. According to the recent statistics of the Times magazine the main sources of information for children are television, music and internet. And if parents know that most of their time young people spend watching entertainment channels, listening to radio and surfing into internet of course they are concerned about the content of information in those sources.

Everybody heard about cases when children downloaded porn from internet, watched racist programs and chatted with perverts in dating sites. How to avoid it? On the one hand, parents should control their children, because at the result they and only they are responsible for the future of their children and only they will struggle with the problems which potentially can occur. On the other hand, parents cannot control everything, they have also other responsibilities. At least, they have to go to work and provide money for their families.

So, I think that the best solution for this problem will be mutual control over content of entertainment media. Of course, people should understand that entertainment is not devoted to children only. There is a demand on programs designed for grown-up and media companies do not want to loose their profits. One of the solutions of this problem is to translate the grown-up programs on TV in the evening. By this time parents have to be at home and be able to check what show their children are watching. Also at day time media companies should be very careful about the content of the advertisement, because children are very sensitive to it. If children see the advertisement of alcohol or cigarettes they can get an impulse to try that. I have to admit, that in the most of countries this type of advertisement is not allowed. For example, in Russia it is prohibited to advertise beer at day time and the advertisement of strong alcohol drinks is not allowed at all.

I think that the responsibility for the content of entertainment media should be beard by parents and media companies simultaneously. But I know that there is an expression that in the situation where there are too many people are responsible for something it can happen that nobody will try to perform his duties properly. I would offer to separate responsibilities in the following way: at the day time entertainment media should be responsible for making the content suitable for young customers. But in the evening when the parents are at home, they have to be responsible for the information available for their own children. In this case entertainment media still will be able to make profits and children's education won't be hurt by improper information.

Should the government regulate fast food industry?

ESSAY QUESTION:

The following appeared in an article in a medical journal: "The major increase in new cases of adult-onset diabetes during the past decade is the result of poor nutrition, which is itself the result of a lack of government control over the quality of foods available at low prices. If the government placed more emphasis on proper nutrition by requiring that food manufacturers include more vitamins and minerals in their products, the rate of adult-onset diabetes would be reduced significantly." Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. Point out flaws in the argument's logic and analyze the argument's underlying assumptions. In addition, evaluate how supporting evidence is used and what evidence might counter the argument's conclusion. You may also discuss what additional evidence could be used to strengthen the argument or what changes would make the argument more logically sound.

MY RESPONSE:

The article in medical journal includes a statement which claims that the rate of adult-onset diabetes would be reduced if the government took control over the quality of the cheap food. I have to notice that this argument contains several flows. The first flow I would like to stress is the fact that the author wrote that poor nutrition is "itself the result of a lack of government control over the industry". There is no evident logical connection between cheap food available for sale and existing eating habits. It can be that adults like to eat cheap and unhealthy food instead of cheap and nutritious. For example, they prefer to buy a hamburger instead of cereals. In this case even if government controls the food industry people still will try to select the food which tastes better. For example, they can choose only limited number of even healthy products, which will also lead to unbalanced diet and diabetes in a consequence. Also, the author of the statement did not specify the source of financing of the "healthy enriched food". It is understandable that adding of more vitamins and minerals in food will lead to raise of prices. This means that food won't be cheap anymore. And some people cannot allow to purchase expensive food. What will they do? Probably they will eat less. But we know that the major reason of adult-onset diabetes is poor nutrition. So, at some point it can happen that the control over the food industry will lead to increase of number of people suffering from diabetes. I would advise the author to be more careful with inferences. It can be that he did not provide all the available assumptions. Maybe he missed some points which are necessary for the inferences he did. If so, he should add the details in the article. Also instead of blaming the government for not executing control over the industry he could write a business plan. Statements without any solid background cannot be taken seriously. Statistical data would help to understand and estimate the level of the problem. Does the rate of adult-onset diabetes increase during the past decade? If it did, what changes occurred in the industry? Was the industry regulated before? If there are any other solutions of the problem? Also a economically developed model with estimations based on the verified data would be useful for estimation of the government project proposed. So, I think that the author of the article should make his argument more complete adding all the relevant facts and intermediate inferences. It will make the article more scientific and give the reader a chance to evaluate the information.

"Employees always perform better when given a say in determining the boundaries of their roles within a company."

There is an opinion that employees always perform better when their tasks used as a basis for determination of their roles within a company.

I agree with this opinion in general, but I would like to present to your attention some exemptions of this rule. For better understanding of the concept, let's see what factors influence of the employees performance? The most important factors are the following: the amount of money compensation, the career perspectives and the climate withing the working team. In case if employee knows that the result if his work will determine his role within company, what means his weight in the collective and his position, he is motivated to improve his performance. But let's admit that this way of employees motivation is challenging for the company which is not in the stage of the constant growth. So, it is a good but rather short term strategy. Roles within a company will be determined at some point and this stimulus will disappear. Of course, the company can changes the roles of its employees from time to time but it will not only increase costs on staff trainings but also crate the atmosphere of anxiety what can actually constrain motivation level.

I would like to provide an example. In Ernst and Young after the results of every year the employees who met or exceeded management expectations get promotion. The level of management expectations is standard and staffs know them in advance. Actually this means that doing every single task employees of Ernst and Young are aware that they will be evaluated and promoted according to results of their work. So, they should always perform better because the result of the work determines their roles within the company. Auditors are motivated to get a higher position, respect of their colleagues and bonuses. But do you really think that it is possible to perform better all the time? Even if we admit the fact that there is always a place for improvement, what is the size of the improvement? What is the difference between two consequent tasks performed? Is always the next one better than previous? If yes, how much better? As I know from my own experience, there is no gradual improvement until infinity. The results of several projects within a year can be different. Work results can be determined by other factors like health condition, family considerations, team building. And in case of a constant process of evaluation most of auditors are not able to consider this factor as a prevalent. Even the formal evaluation process with calculation of all the KPIs (key performance indicators) can be understood by employees like a formality.

So, I think that employees do preform better when the task they are completing determines their roles within a company. But I think that this policy strategy of the raise of motivation should not be abused. yes, it works in short term, but in long term it becomes just an additional and time consuming formality.