TOKYO (AP) -- Green-colored polar bears are drawing questions from puzzled visitors at a Japanese zoo.

Three normally white polar bears at Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens in central Japan changed their color in July after swimming in a pond with an overgrowth of algae.

The sight of green polar bears has prompted many questions from visitors concerned about whether the animals are sick or carrying mold, zoo official Masami Kurobe said Sunday.

Link

"Work" was the mantra of her life and her hands, knees and back bore witness to the fields she hoed, the loads she carried and the floors she scrubbed. Her enduring smile and bright eyes bore witness to her spirit.

She met Ronald Lynn Johnson while picking blueberries at a guard shack in the German countryside. Together this passionate couple spent 50 years in love - making a life and raising a family. Her purpose in life was to make everything she touched more beautiful - our home, the garden, the family gatherings. As an Army wife she traveled many, many miles by land and by air and by sea. As we held her in our arms she set sail on her final journey, no more packing or cleaning to be done, no disease to burden. Today beautiful white shear curtains grace the windows of heaven.

Heda is survived by her husband, Roni; her children, Hans Jurgen, Kyra Rhondaly and Erick Andreas; her grandchildren, Joshua, Justin, Travis, Taylor and Aden; great grandchildren, Kristian Faith and Jared Foster; and family and friends across the miles. In memory and respect, services will be held at St. Joseph's Church, 3425 Andersonville Hwy (TN 61) Norris, TN (www.rc.net/Knoxville/St Joseph). Schedule is as follows on Sunday, September 7, 2008: Rosary at 5:30 p.m.; Mass at 6:15 p.m.; interment following Mass, and receiving of friends / celebration of her life following the interment. In lieu of flowers, contributions accepted in the name of St. Joseph's Church, Norris, TN. Hatmaker Funeral Home, Lake City, TN in charge of arrangements.

So you have guitar Hero and Rock Band. You have two guitars BUT they do not play well together! Say hello to ezJam Combo Guitar from Nyko!

According to the gaming blogosphere, this is the gadget that all the rockers have been waiting for, a dual friendly guitar for all your rocking needs!

The price will be about $70, a small price to pay for the ability to rock out with your Wii out!

Searching Nyko's site came back with nada on shipping dates, pics or even a spec of info on this new Gee-Tar......

By now we have all seen the pic of the "new nano" (thanks 3J.R.) and there is wide speculation that this is the gadget that will be release on Tuesday.

My only observation is the packaging. I thought Apple was trying to be more green by not using so much plastic.

I could be wrong, this packaging may be constructed of a potato/organic concoction.... The good news is Tuesday we will ALL know the truth!

I am very excited about both but still waiting for a NEW MacBook!!!!

I was born in the year of the Rat, my age is no secret.  In pastry classes, I am exactly one cycle older than Jillian and I just found out the same for Raffaela too.  Initially it was just a Chinese horoscope to me, every Rat year reminds me I am older in multiples of 12s.  Then in 1997 during my home renovation, when I started packing my stuff - while packing books onto bookshelves, I found 2 rat figurines among my mess...  these were to begin my lifelong hobby ... and the bookshelves were never filled with books.  The first rat was a Selangor pewter figurine given to me by Katherine during my 15th birthday, the second was a wooden rat on wheel given to me by my high school friend XX when we passed through Czech during our Europe hols in 1995 ... then the obsession, no, it should be fascination, continued.

(continued after I dozed off...)

Every country I visited the must-have souvenir I would attempt to bring back Home is a rat/mouse or more mice.  They must be made of different materials from what I already have, must have a tail and cannot look like Mickey Mouse.  In the last 3 years, I moved out of family home to a rented apartment when I got married and again this March to a home we now have, my rats and mice are still waiting patiently to get out of their plastic bound in the sealed boxes.  When I get home, it is time they get some "air time".   I have wanted for a long while to photograph each of them, name their country of origin as well as the year I started owning them or from whom I received them as gifts, but 10 great years and more than 170 precious babes later, I really lost track of some of them.

On Tuesday when Sarah, April and I were reviewing through the Level 1 in prep for the exam next week ... we had a few recipes left that we skipped through as "not done".  I came across Bread Decorating Dough and I was thinking of having mice/rats made of bread dough.  The next day, during the Pastry Lab, Chef Sebastien asked us to prep Bread Decorating Dough and Yeastless Dough ... I was so excited.  At one point, during shaping of the Bread Decorating Dough after proofing, I must have stared at the dough so hard, Chef came over and looked at what happend.  Ha, nothing happened, I was mentally visualising how my little mice will look and where they would appear on the finished product.  That night, I drew how my mice will look.  I had wanted a standing one wearing an apron, holding to a spatula and a whisk.  On Thursday, we didn't manage to have sufficient time for it as we completed the mise en place for the Scholarship Gala on Friday and prepared tiramisu for lunch.  That night I had more ideas for the mice.  On Friday morning, I told Sarah it is our last go to have all out fun at the dough before our level 1 final.  While we prepared the petit fours for evening Gala, Chef gave us all the time we have to play our dough.   He  reminded us it must have something to do with Baking.

Time to roll, mold, shape, press, cut, pipe ... and lots of serious play and four hours later, our creation was finally completed.  Everyone has a story to their dough - Jill did a cute dragon with skeleton(?), Amanda on Elvis, Jennifer on her favorite record, April with a basket of breads on a checkered table cloth, and Sarah on viola, a musical instrument she played and Elizabeth made a jewellery box.  Some of us chose to have no break during class.  We baked our dough creation and cleaned up to leave for Houston Country Club at 2.  No chance to really take a good look at the final product, I got a quick shot before I left, and will have to take pictures of my classmates' on Monday.  The play dough session already made my day. 

Some called my creation Ratatouille, I choose to have no name for it.  None of my mouse or rat in my collection has a name, except one which is a fluff on my facebook and it is called Rattarattie-joi.  Naming them would show a different level of complex emotional connection or even favortism, and more importantly my lack of creativity in names.  I love them all equally, though some of them are associated with deeper memories and meaning as they represented the places I travelled or the friendship I have with the friends and families who fed my fascination.

With a layer of vanish to preserve the dough, the play dough "mouse" will travel with me back to Singapore and shall represent a part of my baking & baking journey in Houston.

Pues el día de hoy me despierto... enciendo mi laptop... espero a que todo cargue completamente... abro Google Chrome... y por mera curiosidad (y como rutina diaria) visito HeyBritney.com y que me topo con una gran, gran pero GRAN sorpresa!!

It's Britney Bitch!

Se trata de Miss Spears ensayando (aproximadamente a mediados de agosto) una coreografía. De fondo se aprecia una canción desconocida de ella. Según los rumores, se trata de el primer sencillo de su nueva producción discográfica (aún sin nombre), titulado Underground. Total, casi me vengo en seco 'n.n Podrá ser que Britney no solo abrirá los VMAs si no que también hará un performance? Yo estoy pero que si con ansias de ver el show el día de mañana! Creo que pediré el día en el trabajo =P Podrá Britney hacer su gran regreso a los escenarios éste domingo? Solo los VMAs lo dirán!

Y por si fuera poco el orgasmo visual que me llevé al ver a Britney bailando y con un cuerpazo (!!!!!), decido entrar (también como rutina diaria) a MusikFresk y a OnlyVIPMedia y que me llevo otra gran, pero GRAN sorpresa! El día de ayer se filtró lo que sería el sencillo promocional del disco de grandes éxitos de Christina Aguilera! El sencillo es titulado Keeps Gettin' Better y se desprende de Keeps Gettin' Better - A Decade of Hits. Como ya ha sido confirmado, Christina se presenta también en los VMAs éste domingo, pero se rumora que cantaría una nueva versión de Genie In A Bottle y no su nuevo single. Igual, sólo nos queda esperar y ver los VMAs para llevarnos una sorpresa. Por lo pronto, aquí les dejo KGB... enjoy!

Au revoir!

Hello! Please continue sending
fascinating questions like this to
journalcomic at gmail dot com
and I shall do my best to answer them
and also to amuse at the same time!

(do not worry: today's look for the comic is not permanent.
I am working on my tiny laptop,
and this is the best I can do under the circumstances.
Still, not bad though, eh?)

Hopefully this blog will serve a fullfulling purpose? Maybe. I'm going to try to bring the most interesting, and latest, I stress latest, news possible. Stick with me, don't be afraid to keep me informed on whats going on, or going to happen, and this could work out for the better?... Doubt it.

Anyway look around, tell me if you see anything interesting.

*...But as I am writing it now, I've modified it significantly so as to blend better with current thought, and also to incorporate recent concepts when relevant...*

As I explained in Playing the Victim, one of my co-workers was suffering from acute depression, and asked for advice. The solution I gave her was *obviously* to stop "playing the victim", and accept responsibility for her life - thus empowering herself and providing the psychological leverage needed to deal with the other issues, and begin progressing with life again. Although this solution is logically valid, I've become to realize more and more how much truth cannot be logically justified -so, for lack of better feelings, I should  "be more considerate of her feelings"- for lack of better phrasing - So this depression needs to be handled more gradually, using "gentler" methods :P

Due to the ever-constant chaos already eminent in her life, dealing with it logically would be impossible, because logic has already become irrelevant. I assured her that I would see what I could do in finding a [irony alert!] more *reasonable* solution, and fortunately, I think I've found one. Well, from the looks of things the *best* solution is a work-in-progress, but at the very least it's something to work off of. Of course the solution has nothing to do with drugs. I was medicated for several years in the past, and although I definitely had, and *have* the illnesses I was diagnosed with, I found I did far better without them. Come to think of it, the several different medications I was given did little more than sedate me. As far as I can tell, that was about it. Don't ask why, I have know clue :P

As I mentioned in that same post ("Playing the Victim") I was able to deal with my psychological issues best (by an overwhelming margin) without medication; if anything the medication just made things worse. So although I cannot speak for anyone else, From my person experiences I would definitely recommend against the ingestion of psychological drugs of any kind. Treatment is frequently contrasted with "Cure", being only a temporary/partial solution (i.e. to minimize symptoms)- Cures are permanent.

I think the fact that medication only minimizes symptoms is particularly interesting- after all, "Symptoms" are the proof that the body/mind/etc. is fighting against the disease/etc. If the symptoms disappear, that doesn't mean the person is better. In fact, if the disease/etc. still exist despite symptoms, that should be considered a bad thing, since the immune system is essentially being suppressed, allowing the disease freely roam, resulting in far worse [in this case] mental health. Well, that's just speculation on my part, but such an opinion is also implied in "I Never Promised you Roses". In the cases of depression, the "cure" might well be to deal with the problem as described in "Playing the Victim"- however, for now, a temporary solution [*treatment*] should suffice.

Among many-- more minor illnesses, I have Bipolar- previously known as "manic-depressive" disorder. The previous name is much more descriptive, but I guess they're trying to be more politically correct :P I regularly go through cycles- between depressive and more manic states; I maintain a more "normal" demeanor in-between. The upside and downside of Bipolar is the same: the cycles are predictable. That is- I only get depressed or manic "when I'm supposed to"- this makes cycles very predictable, and I can schedule accordingly, since it works like clockwork. But of course, no one likes getting depressed-- well, I'm sure plenty of people like getting manic though :P Then again, I don't ever get anxious (for certain reasons that I'll cover in later posts) so I don't have to deal with that part of the manic cycle...but for whatever its worth, that's the downside.

A while ago I realized that I could completely thwart the depression cycles (although the manic isn't so bad) by making a habit of automatically rejecting the logical validity of all negative thoughts. Although I did not realize it then, I had already been doing such a thing for a few years now. But I have also realized that, in accordance with balance, to disregard any emotion logically, I had to lose my emotions; this is because to logically get rid of emotions, one must believe any previous emotions to never have existed- this is necessary because emotions are the backbone of passion and desire- no decision can follow through without one's emotions backing it.

Getting back to habits though, as I detailed in [insert post], it's possible to force oneself to change the perception of anything you want, even if it is the exact opposite of the original and natural perception. In that experiment, as I was walking in the freezing cold (of last winter, to be exact) I decided to imagine the pain as being pleasure, and concentrated on the cold being a good thing, setting aside all "common sense" in favor of this perception. The result was a bit surprising- by concentrating the pain completely went away- it was very exciting seeing how perceptions can be manipulated this way.

The only thing lacking with this is that one must concentrate to experience the conversion. That's where habits come in. The purpose of habits is to keep of memory of thing that are done often, and usually require a degree of concentration. It is an adaptation that allows us to perform tasks better the more that we do it, because those things we've already concentrated on a lot are stored in our "cache", which frees up our "memory" to focus on the finer details, or other tasks. Although perhaps I'm a bit partial due to my hobbies, I think that the human brain is strikingly similar to the computer- or, even more likely, the other way around.

As a result of these habits, I have not felt depressed for a few years now.

*Note "felt"- "depression can mean more than one thing; "felt" meaning that I have not had any sad or depressing thoughts for a while. In retrospect BTW this is not a good thing- to accomplish this required "unbreacheable" psychological walls to be put up, resulting in an almost completely nonchalant perspective towards everything; the root meaning of depression ("to slow down"/ "fall" / "be undone" /etc) is still true even now- the depression just does not include the emotional components (i.e. sadness/melancholy/etc.)*

There was one brief period a while back (see Self-Awareness post ) but that only last half an hour. I was thrust into a terrible depression, due to not being able to prepare a decent resume (I had no work experience at the time). But, seeing that I needed it to get done, I forcibly moved myself forward, and was able to pull off what had appeared to be impossible, thus effectively ending that "episode". Recalling this incident has also played a key role in determining another, more "reasonable" solution to my coworker's problem.

All of "today" (*see top*), as expected, I experienced the usual wave of depression. Well, I say depressed, but (as explained above) the only symptom I still experience is a complete lack of motivation to do anything productive. On these days I might normally do nothing but watch anime- and in WCS even lack the motivation to play games. But even when I have such days, going to work is not a problem. Actually, on these days going to work is actually more of a vacation, anyway. Much of the reason for this is explained in Opportunity- that is, working each day with the awareness that half my pay is not in the salary, but in the opportunity to work. As I've discovered over time, the reason why working can be so fulfilling- is because of expectations- knowing that our coworkers and supervisors expect us to do the job well, and fullfilling those expectations, fills us with a wonderful sense of pride. The way I see it, this is "running away from ourselves"- here's why:

Who we are- that which we perceive ourselves to be, and also who and that which we perceive others to be, is dependent on memory, which also means that we can only see ourselves and other people as we were in the past. That is because we are contantly changing and growing, clarifying and building upon who we are every second, although the changes may not be noticed for years. Because of that, the person we perceive ourselves to be, is actually the past, and is not entirely accurate. The irony (and amusement) of this, is that we are able to change in the first place for this same reason. See, to move forward and grow, we must leave our past behind us, which I believe is a necessity due to balance. Interestingly enough, it is also a central theme for reincarnation. So "running away" from ourself in essence means "leaving behind the past" to move towards a better future. So perhaps a more optimistic phrasing would be "running to" (although that would totally kill the visual)

Since I am a restless individual, lacking in patience (although I have aquired a significant patience these past few months, in recognition of the need) I first dealt with my lack of motivation by being confrontational (i.e. a complete ass) with my roommates. Thinking about it now, that initial approach is strikingly similar to Linkin Park's song "Breaking the Habit". From what I can tell, this journey I'm going through has an extremely close likeness that the journey that Linkin Park depicts in their music, so I often listen to the words of their songs for guidance. As the contributers (of that song) in Linkin Park did though, I realized that there were better ways of dealing with it, that I needed to 'break the habit'.

So I started settling down, and played games with them instead. Here I realized another way of self-treating depression. Summing it all up, a person's psychological health is primarily dependent on one factor- pride. This is why it's important to not play the victim- depression is caused by insecurity. The opposite of insecurity is self-control. Taking control of a situation is an active way of alleviating insecurity (and thus depression), but it's likely that in most cases of depression, the person's state-of-mind renders them incapable of taking the initiative- thus a passive response is necessary. By playing games with my roommates that I knew I would win, and by following through with that expectation, I am able to alleviate my insecurity in a passive manner. That is, it required no initiative, because they already wanted to play- I only had to say "yes". Thus, one of the best ways to alleviate depression passively, without initiative, is to put oneself in an environment where we will succeed, and have the expectations of others to drive and support that success.

With both the resume incident and the days that I played games to relieve depression, the key factor is power. In one way or another, empowering oneself plays a vital role in allowing us to move on. To put in another way, the most efficient way to get over depression is to "pet your ego" by showing off your strengths to others. Pride is, after all, one of our greatest needs as humans, making this a reliable "quick fix" for depression

I`m still here just so busy with family and work and other things that I haven`t actually done a lot to write about. I will let you know as soon as something blogable happens. Is blogable a real word?

The picture above is my son, Sola, looking dis-interested in the whole photo process after a short photo session for some facial expression stock shots. It`s great having live-in models or is that living with models is great? One of those at any rate is really good I hear.

I love the look on his face here though, he has such a joy of life that capturing his outward expressions of such is a a photo job I could never tire of.

One thing did catch my eye this week about that subject.

Joy in life or sense of well being is something the Japanese call ikigai. Now, in one of those laughable bits of proud science news you read occasionally in the Japanese papers, I came across this gem from the hallowed academia of Tohoku University`s graduate school of medicine. Apparently, according to seven years of intense research, it has been discovered that those people that have no sense of joy in life are 50 percent more likely to die. Not, as I read it, earlier than happy people, just later; and for the purposes of this experiment that has to mean within the seven years of the test period. More than that, 60 percent of that 50 percent are more likely than happy people to die of a heart condition and even more than that, and this one does makes me chuckle, they are 90 percent more likely to die of "external causes" which includes suicide. 

Now when I say chuckle I don`t mean to suggest that suicide is a funny thing, far from it, but the shocking news that sad people commit suicide more than happy people is not exactly...well...shocking news is it? Indeed I`d be more interested in studying why it is ten percent of supposedly happy people apparently commit suicide, which even adjusted downwards for genuine accidents that resemble suicides: like falling under a train, off a bridge, or getting tangled in an inconveniently placed noose, must still leave some people who for no known reason what so ever kill themselves.

You have to love the medical profession in Japan don`t you?

No actually you don`t. Because this is typical of the waste of time and money they are all about: breaking the world down into percentages making sweeping generalizations about happiness and health as if they were syptoms of a cold. Please! Happiness is a transitory thing at the best of times (so is a cold actually!); sometimes I`m happy, sometimes I`m sad. Ikagai itself is an abstract notion: the proverbial meaning of, if not exactly life per se, your life at least and cannot be measured scientifically.

Meanwhile a true percentage for you: eighty percent of the most commonly prescribed and effective drugs on the planet are unavailable in Japan due to political and industrial protectionism and patients are suffering at the hands of doctors that think more about their bank balances than bedside manner. Of course I am now making a sweeping generalization (naughty naughty Damon) and I am sure there are good, caring, compassionate doctors in Japan. I know one in fact but, unfortunately, he treats only children. Yet even his hands would have been tied if I could have gone to him last week with a slightly swollen elbow from a mosquito bite or some other scratch and didn`t want to have antibiotics administered by Intravenous Drip twice a day for a week. Really that`s how they do it here. Quaint yes?

Unless that is you don`t fancy needles being but into your arm for half an hour each time then it does kind of lose its charm. So when I questioned the doctor at the hospital I`d visited as to why I couldn`t just get some anti-biotics in pill form for this small, trifling infection he went into some wounded-rhino rant about how long he`d studied to be a doctor and who was I to question his judgement and how much he didn`t care about the methods in the west; that this was Japan and I lived here now so had to follow Japanese ways and how he couldn`t give me pills because Japanese stomachs are more sensitive than western ones and can`t handle the them so that`s why they don`t have them; and how, in the end, after waiting and waiting and then talking and talking with nurses and receptionists and other missionaries of pre-historic medicine and future gore and doom (if I didn`t have the treatment apparently I was likely to get worse and I could even die) and then more waiting and waiting we went back to see him and when I said I still prefered the pills he declared my wife was not a good Japanese woman because she hadn`t been able to change my mind. That one did it for me, my wife was in tears and my elbow still hurt and this tosser was trying to lord is intellectual superiority over me and bully me into an agreement by insulting myself and my wife. I mean I`d already kept my mouth tight shut at the two completely un-needed X-rays I`d just had on my elbow. I mean what`s an unnecessary dose of radiation if it helps to grease the wheels of cross-cultural relationships?. Shit man, he`s a doctor, of course I respect that but...I also know that having needles stuck in my arms twice a day for week is dangerous. And it doesn`t work either, I know because I`ve undergone the treatment once before after a simliar bullying in another hospital and it took two months to get better. Everyday of those two months I was thinking that if I were in England I`d have had some anti-biotics by now that would have easily and painlessly cured me.

So I got angry, also a transitory thing, and growled at him to give me the pills, which he gave to me grudgingly and on the understanding that if I got sicker, as he predicted, he didn`t care and wouldn`t treat me. Not that I have any intention of ever going back to that hospital. If it was England I`d have thrown my "hospital registration card" (I guess that`s the word for it)  across the table at him and told him to go fuck himself and his hospital loudly. But this being Japan I didn`t, I took my pills; paid for the consulation and unwanted X-rays and left without saying goodbye. I threw my card in the bin at home.

Oh and I wrote this, when I had time, to get it all off my chest. Now I feel better which is what this post was all about really.

My elbow still hurts by the way!

Sho-go nii

Talk soon.

Damon

From Station Dar es Salaam in Tanzania

[caption id="attachment_326" align="alignleft" width="157" caption="My Bus"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_329" align="alignright" width="267" caption="Buigiri School"][/caption]

They learned the basic beliefs and practices and teachings of the histo ric Anglican Christian Church. They had many misconceptions. They also learned of the ethos of ordained ministry and how that is different from that of an independent minister. Their excitement grew every day. They sensed what was happening – they were learning new things and understanding them. It was making a difference in their thinking. The class on ordained ministry was especially moving to the priests, life changing. They were eager to return to the their parishes and deaneries and pass on what they had learned.

[caption id="attachment_328" align="alignleft" width="234" caption="Final Exam Taking"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_327" align="alignright" width="238" caption="Dodoma Class"][/caption]

There was much contact with local Anglicans who were vitally interested inthe details of the Jerusalem GAFCON gathering and in the details of the Lambreth Conference. We talked long about the future of the Anglican Communion and possible steps that they could take as faithful Anglicans in a diocese where the bishop was not
faithful.

[caption id="attachment_330" align="alignleft" width="133" caption="Bishop Chidawali"][/caption]

If the McCain team can't do their basic 'Google' homework, how can they say they have properly vetted and investigated the viability of their VP selection? 

From Daily Kos:

Green Screen Mystery Solved

by Scout Finch

Fri Sep 05, 2008 at 09:15:38 AM PDT

A lot of RNCC viewers were perplexed last night when McCain appeared from the light of the Obama logo, strolled to the podium, and began his lackluster speech before an enormous green screen.  We'd seen that lime green screen before and thought McGrinch had learned his lesson -- it was not a good look for McCain and was widely panned by pundits and the public alike.  So, why would he choose that hideous background for the biggest speech of his very long political career?

It turns out the green screen was only part of the story.  The close-up at the podium made it appear to be a giant green screen, but the arena audience was treated to a much different image. Hat tip to Talking Points Memo for the image:

Aaahhhhhh....much different.  McCain standing in front of a grand building, not a green screen.  And what building could possibly deserve such a prominent role as the main backdrop of McCain's nomination speech? According to TPM readers, it is Walter Reed.  As in Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, California.  

Wait, what?  Did they mean to have an image of Walter Reed Medical Center? Ouch. If only they were a little better at "the google", they might have recognized their mistake. Here is the Walter Reed Medical Center:

ABC News says the McCain camp isn't commenting. If they meant for the image to be Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, I'm sure we'd all love to hear why that fine school was selected for such an honor.

Between the lack of vetting on Sarah Palin and the botched presentation this decade week to the American people, the McCain camp would be well-advised to "do the google" a little more often. Let's hope they have plenty of time to explore the world wide web in November and beyond.

Update:  TPM has been in contact with the school.

TPM's Kate Klonick just got off the phone with an official at the school who confirmed this. "We didn't know anything about it until it showed up last night," Cathy McLaughlin, the school's office technician, told Klonick. She confirmed that multiple media outlets have been calling and that a statement would be forthcoming from the school.

There was nothing particular in that stretch of McCain's speech that would explain why this particular image was used.

DELLA post

Cineplex has just launched a social networking site at mycineplex.com that allows moviegoers to check the reviews of average people -- other moviegoers. Marke Andrews wrote a good overview of this site in yesterday’s Vancouver Sun.

 These kind of reviews are becoming very important in the decision-making process. According to The State of The News Media 2008 report which is an annual report based on American stats*, eight out of 10 people, 17 years old and up say that the Internet has become a critical source of information.  We are going online more and more to research where to go, where to eat, what movie to see, what camera or computer to buy.

Traditionally, most reviews were written by experts - specialists in the field, people who made a living reviewing restaurants, hotels, books or movies.  These reviews appeared in mainstream media, in books and on websites. I know I have bought more than one Fodor’s Guide when I was planning any kind of a special vacation.

 There are still expert reviews out there, but the average person has also found a voice in this arena. An individual can respond or add to an expert’s review or they can write their own online.  I know that I check restaurant reviews before I make a reservation and I check travel reviews before I book a flight. I love the reviews that are written by people like you and me.  I trust them. There is a connection that happens when you find someone like-minded, even if it is on a travel review site. There is a trust factor that comes from the review being authentic and “real” – if sometimes a bit raw. Reviews by real people are transparent, we get to share their experience – the good, the bad and the ugly.

 This is a growing trend and I began thinking about what it means in the context of business. What impact would this kind of citizen review process have on your organization?  Are people out there right now – in the “real” world or online – reviewing your organization’s services or products or perhaps they are looking at your role in the community? It’s an interesting thought. And since many reviews are based on personal opinion, perception and other bias, what would happen if there was a bad review – justified or not?

Citizen reviews are a growing influence and I think it’s something worth thinking about. Would your organization get two thumbs up?

 *We’re working on finding more Canadian stats, if anyone has suggestions on where to look – we’d love the advice!