A short article to raise awareness of how the office towel or cloth in the kitchen and bathroom are being ignored as potential means for carrying germs. Provides 8 tips on how to better manage office hygiene in the kitchen and bathroom.

"But I don´t have a boat!" That´s usually the first incredulous remark I hear when I encourage interested sailors-to-be to give it a try. Little do they know how welcome they are on many boats in the local club races Often, skippers are grateful for an extra body on board because extra weight and watchful eyes add an edge that might just nudge their vessel ahead of their rivals at an opportune moment. Casual crewing is a great introduction to the sport, on a small budget. Although I have been crewing on and off for about ten years, I always learn from fellow crew and skippers on race days. Each boat may be rigged quite differently, and even on identical boats, the tactics and techniques vary greatly. Here are 5 tips for people venturing into becoming ´crew´: 1. Show up regularly Although some boats only take experienced crew, most will take anybody with a willing heart. It´s like life. All you have to do is show up and the rest happens. Go the extra step. Be available at the same time, same place repeatedly and you have a shot at becoming regular crew. 2. Be Honest

A comparison of the progress in consumer adoption of smart-chip based banking by mobile phone between North America and South Korea. Purports the value of smart-chip based technology for its superior security and flexibility. Encourages forward momentum in North America to adopt the technology and come out on top at the end of the recession. References 2008 and 2009 Juniper Research forecasts.

The key to a successf for managers is helping their people know when it is time to pass an issue or task on to someone else. excerpt: Working in project management means hearing a lot of sports and war language. Although it is not the language everyone speaks naturally, you have had to learn to use and comprehend it within the cultures that employ it. For example, “Dropping the Ball” literally means accidentally fumbling or letting go of the ball that is in play during a game, but the slang definition means making a mistake or blunder. “Dropping a Bomb” literally means to drop an explosive device on a target, in warfare, while in slang it means to unexpectedly tell someone something which is upsetting to them. When a project goes awry, the project manager usually has to deliver the news up the food chain, and the sponsors or senior managers get called in to examine the issues. Although it can be avoided, more often than not, they have had a bomb dropped on them and the meeting is going to be a “Come-to-Jesus” meetings. Not surprisingly, the project manager is usually the one who is under fire. They are required to have the information, background and facts that explain what is happening, and in an ideal case, they also have their bullet-proof solutions ready. In “Come-to-Jesus’ meetings, the fallout can be permanent career damage for the project manager and others, along with project failure. Alternatively, effective decisions and open dialogue can bring about support to make the needed corrections, sometimes with successful project turnaround. If a project has started to fail, or has already failed, because someone dropped the ball, then it is important to question why they were holding that ball, or juggling so many. Balls include issues that can’t be resolved, tough decisions that need to be made, tasks that are on the critical path, and risk indicators that aren’t understood but are dangerously loaded with trouble. When the wrong player has the ball, or when there are too many in one person’s care, one of them will get dropped. Potentially, many more people and tasks will fail as a result. Time will be spent gathering and sorting the balls, re-allocating them, soothing and treating the person who dropped them and potentially was injured, and so on. Most people hold on because they care, and sometimes because they are afraid. On occasion, they are simply so swept up by the excitement of the game, or the project is so overwhelming, that they don’t assess each ball or the situation. Many caring team members, project managers and sponsors have kept balls that they didn’t need to, and eventually the balls dropped. At the same time, nobody else knew that they existed, so they kept throwing more balls to those people, who kept catching them and holding on to them with more and more difficulty. People who care will keep catching the balls and keeping them. They truly want to please and will run a marathon to do so. Sometimes they will pass a ball to someone else, but on occasion, they do not realize that it isn’t their ball. For example, the person doesn’t’ recognize that the issue is not something they can control, the required decisions are not theirs to make, the issue or task is a high risk one that should be escalated, or they feel they are simply doing someone a favor and it is not a big deal . In other cases, they know it is a ball that should be passed, but are afraid to let anyone know. They think they can resolve the issue themselves, under cover, and prevent a political or technical disaster. They are afraid of the consequences of being associated with a problem if it isn’t fixed, they want to protect a team-mate, or they believe they have a better chance of resolving the problem than anyone else. When a project starts to heat up and get exciting, when the actual organization has morale issues, or when the organization is going through transformations during a project, everyone can get distracted by all the noise around them and just start grabbing balls. Or, they can become overly optimistically empowered and think they can take on more than they can actually handle. Worse, if the project is getting out of control, or if they are overwhelmed with their assignment, they can go numb and work in automatic mode. In these situations, there is no awareness that each ball (issue/problem/task) needs to be examined quickly. Their eyes won’t even be turned towards the ball, but their hand will keep going up to catch it. When someone has a ball thrown their way, the organization needs to support them so they feel comfortable asking: • Should this ball have been thrown to me? • Does it belong elsewhere? • Is it mine to keep? • Is there something I need to do with it? • Who needs to know about it? • Is there anything obviously wrong with the ball? • How many other balls am I responsible for right now? If any of the above area answered with a ‘no’, then the team member needs permission and pathways to get the ball to the right person, and they need to do it without fear of reprisal. There are many workplaces out there that either formally or informally block people from doing this. No surprise, then, when balls get dropped. So how does dropping balls lead to dropping bombs? The most important thing to do is pass the ball when it needs to be passed. Drops will happen. That is the nature of work. Even with a fine-tuned team, mistakes are inevitable. However, if the key managers and executives are not aware of what balls are in play and how, then bad news can rock them from their teeth to their toes. It’s like a bomb has been dropped. Communication is the key to success at this point. Effective project managers, sponsors, team leads and senior executives need to know what the situation is, so they can properly adjust the project. If they know far ahead of time or almost in real-time what is happening, then those “Come-to-Jesus” meetings will be about managing the project, not about shredding a person’s career or finding a culprit. Anyone on the team should be able to go to their peers or their project lead and say: “Pardon me, this ball came my way but is not one that I should be holding. I’m giving it to you because you can do something about it and that will keep this project going along.” “Who should this ball go to? My hands are full and this ball is going to sit with me for a long time before I can deal with it” “This ball has a hole in it and should be disposed of” The project manager who is constantly communicating upwards, and not just trying to please everyone by putting a false happy cover on the project will likely never drop a bomb, because the people who need to know will already be aware of the key issues. Quite possibly, these people may been appropriately given a few balls to toss around themselves as a result of good communication. Good communication alone won’t save a project that is in trouble, or ensure all projects are smoothly successful. However, when project members are clear and about the balls that are in play will undoubtedly perform better. Other terms used in this article (see Wikipedia for many of these definitions): “Bullet proof” literally means to be able to withstand bullets from a gun, and the slang definition is to be able to withstand criticism, attacks on character, and intense examination. “Come to Jesus” literally means person has decided to convert to the Christian Religion, or bring their problems to their Lord, Jesus Christ. The slang definition is to be ready to make significant changes for the better, and have brilliant revelations. “Fallout” literally means particles of debris falling to the ground after an explosion, and the slang definition is the actions, discussions and consequences that follow an event such as a meeting, conflict or action. “Under fire” literally means to be the target of enemy gunfire, in warfare, while the slang definition is to be the target of aggressive questioning and/or criticism.

Do you ever allow yourself to drift into a dream of flowing along on a boat, with water tinkling along the hull, as you sit at your desk with your eyes blurring over the work you have to do? When the kids start howling, do you sometimes hear the roar of the wind instead? The dream of cruising is what has kept me going for many years in sailing. Being boatless, and a non-millionaire, of course, I don’t get many chances. Outside of paying sums of money to take a cruising course now and then, I did what I could and within a few years I felt almost ready to charter a boat and be my own extended cruising skipper. Are you? Do you own your own boat, but hesitate to venture out on more than a day cruise? Have you obtained your certification and have the on-the-water experience to charter or borrow a boat? Cruising can quickly turn from pleasure to peril. An illness on board, a rush of bad weather, equipment failure, short tempered shipmates, unhappy spouses or bored kids can quickly shatter the dream that floated you away so many times during those tough days. There are some key things we can do to minimize the impact of such events during a cruise”. This is not an exhaustive list, just some food for thought.