Don't sell yourself short

From the Harvard Business Blog

JULY 15, 2009
How to Sell Yourself in 15 Seconds or Less

Finding a job in this economy is difficult and competitive. Make sure you can pitch yourself effectively, even when you've got nothing more than an elevator ride with a potential employer to make your case. Use these tips to sell yourself in 15 seconds or less:

• Practice, practice, practice. Don't be caught off guard. Practice your self-pitch many times before you need it.
• Focus on impact. Don't recite your resume. Instead of focusing on years of experience, describe your impact in previous jobs and what you hope to accomplish next.
• Forget what your mother told you. We were all told not to brag, but selling yourself requires breaking that cultural taboo. Be prepared to toot your own horn, gracefully.

For more, read the article by Daisy Wademan Dowling at the Harvard Business Blog.

Wizards

As Jill mentioned on her blog, we've been catching up on the Harry Potter movies so we can be ready for the next movie to come out. While we've been watching the wizards and witches of Hogwart's do their thing, I've been reading about some other, real-life wizards.

The book I just finished is called The Wizards of Langley: Inside the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology. It discusses the efforts of the Directorate of Science and Technology, some of the bureaucratic wrangling involved as the office changed over time, and some of the cool things they did (both failures and successes).

You probably knew that the CIA created spy satellites and participated in the botched Bay of Pigs invasion.

But - did you know that:

• Established ground stations in Iran, Norway, and China to monitor Russian missile launches, called TACKSMAN I and II
• MKULTRA drug experiments
• Employed psychics
• Tried to implant microphones into cats (using their tails as antenna) in a project called Acoustic Kitty, only to have the cat hit by a taxi during its first real mission
  
• Used birds as an intelligence collection platform
• Started a UAV program in the 1960s and 70s
• Made technologies available to help fight breast cancer
• And helped advances with pacemaker technology through their research into lithium iodine batteries (intended to benefit satellite operations)

Read the book to find out about more cool things these scientists and researchers did to improve the intelligence community's ability to collect information about America's enemies -- and helped out you and me along the way.

The Original Wizards of Langley
I also thought I'd point out that the CIA has a website up with a list of over 35

"documents and other material related to the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) offer a glimpse of CIA's overall contribution to the analysis of Soviet capabilities in science and technology during the Cold War. It is by no means intended to be definitive, or even complete, with respect to all the activities associated with the Agency's scientific and technological capabilities, analysis, and resulting reporting. It does, however, highlight some key events and selected activities that contribute to our understanding of the unique role OSI played in the Agency's history."

The site highlights the Office of Scientific Intelligence, and makes a document available from the "Original Wizards of Langley" symposium.

Ladies and gentlemen, the wizards are at work.

cyborg backronym

Get Your Cyborg Name

spoof

Jill just blogged about this video [Beyonce - Single Ladies], but we found this spoof - and it was just too funny not to share.

Fun in the Sun

Today [so I totally forgot to post this Saturday; this is what we did on 27 June] was a busy, fun, warm, fun, humid, fun, clandestine, -- and did I say, fun? -- day.

To start off the morning, I spent about an hour helping load a truck at someone's move.

After that (and a quick shower), Jill and I drove into the city to meet some friends for some counter-terrorism (CT) activities.

We completed an outdoor, interactive, GPS-guided, IR-enhanced, and location-aware mission that is part of the Spy Museum's "Spy in the City" program.

We walked around part of the District, saw some memorials/sites we hadn't gone by before (Navy Memorial, Newseum, fountains by the Federal Trade Commission buillding, Ford's Theater, etc.), got messages from our Special Security Division (SSD) "handlers," and foiled a mock attempt to set off an electromagnetic device in the District. We "used" optical scanners, chemical signature detectors, radio receivers, and other "spy gear" to crack cyphers, identify the bad guys, and disarm the "bomb".

Needless to say, we had a blast.

Then, we walked over to the Safeway BBQ Battle that was going on, taking up several blocks of Pennsylvania Ave. Our friend, Clint, with whom we've had other adventures (Tacqueria Poblano), got our entrance tickets, and we wandered around with him and his friend, Megan (a very nice Georgetown law student).

We tried to rope the steer to win a prize, but they were cheating and trying to make us do it with a heeling rope. We took pictures with 3-foot long, plastic Oscar Meyer Weiner dogs in front of the Weinermobile. We sampled Italian ice, different juices (one was like an orange creamsicle in a bottle!), watermelon (served by the Misses Alabama and South Carolina Watermelon Princess), bbq chicken and pork, and steak -- all while standing in the huge, long line for the Safeway tasting booth, which had chicken, brats, hamburger, chips and salsa, juice, pineapple, this spicy tomato drink, and more.

Unfortunately, the sample line took so long--and we had parked in metered parking--that we had to run as soon as we got our fill.

In any event- we had a great day!
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