Deep thought...

I unlocked 2 Xbox Live achievements in Karaoke! http://t.co/fNOCzihJ5S

Deep thought...

I am playing Karaoke. http://t.co/pPR3EkiUAJ

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In a room full of Stanford fans rooting for ASU, pretending to know about football.

Deep thought...

A few hours with no kid (at @TopNoshCafe w/ 2 others) [pic]: http://t.co/Y8nDAj4Ke4

Deep thought...

Rocking KitKat on my Moto X. Feels weird having an Android phone that's actually up to date

You can change the context, but you can’t change human nature

Today’s New York Times has an interesting story about employer bias about long-term unemployed. It’s a cruel Catch-22: not having a job in itself becomes a top barrier to getting one.

Economists have long thought that the strain of unemployment, plus the erosion of skills and loss of contacts that naturally occur, helps explain the “structural” unemployed in a nation’s work force. But new evidence shows that bias plays a much larger role than previously thought. Some of the long-term unemployed might never find work because businesses simply refuse to hire them.

In a recent study, Rand Ghayad a Ph.D. candidate at Northeastern University, sent out 4,800 dummy résumés to job postings. Those résumés that were supposedly from recently unemployed applicants with no relevant experience were more likely to elicit a call for an interview than those supposedly from experienced workers out of a job for more than six months. Indeed, the callback rate for the long-term jobless ranged from just 1 to 3 percent, versus 9 to 16 percent for newly unemployed workers.

Unemployment becomes a “sorting criterion,” in the words of a separate study with similar findings. It found that being out of a job for more than nine months decreased interview requests by 20 percent among people applying to low- or medium-skilled jobs.

While the story presents this trend as a new phenomenon, I always assumed this to be the case; it’s easier to find a new job when you don’t need it.

Apparently, the conventional wisdom goes back further than I thought. Just yesterday I came across an uncannily relevant passage in E. M. Forster’s 1910 novel “Howard’s End.”

Again the Olympian laugh, and the lowered voice. “Naturally the man who’s in a situation when he applies stands a better chance, is in a stronger position, that the man who isn’t. It looks as if he’s worth something. I know by myself—(this is letting you into the State secrets)—it affects an employer greatly. Human nature, I'm afraid.”

Or as David Byrne might put it, same as it ever was.

Deep thought...

Hobbled by wife's old iPhone while I wait for new Android to arrive (The S3 died; one too many drops). But rocking purple Surface keyboard.

Giving up the quest for the perfect tablet

Since the early days of the Internet, I’ve been on a quest for the perfect mobile device. One device to rule them all: one device to connect, consume, create —and carry around. While the urgency of this quest has faded since I got out of journalism, I’ve never quite let go of the idea that somewhere, someday I’d find the perfect all-in-one gadget.

Until now. After several purchases — some wise, some not so wise — I’ve come to the conclusion that most people just need different devices for different purposes.

For me, the Microsoft Surface has come closest to this all-in-one ideal. I can use it as a tablet, and because of its excellent screen, wide-screen ratio and stereo speakers, watching video is more pleasant than on TV or even the iPad. The snap-on keyboard makes typing easy, and while the list of touch-specific apps is woefully short, I can use all of my old Windows applications.

But even this has shortcomings. As a reading device it suffers from a poor implementations of digital magazines and newspapers, heavier-than-practical weight, and half the battery life of most tablets. As a writing tool, it suffers from its unusual form factor and screen resolution, which makes working with most standard PC software awkward. Its top-heavy form is difficult to balance correctly on my lap. And while the keyboard is better than trying to type on screen, it’s not the greatest. (Reportedly, this has been improved with the soon-to-launch Surface 2 accessories, which I can use on the original Surface.)

I’ve ended up getting different devices for each use. A Nook tablet for reading books at night. A Nook e-reader for reading outside. (Yes, I have a habit of always picking the loser in a two-horse race.) An iPad for reading daily news. None of these is perfect, and carrying around multiple devices is a pain.

If I had to choose just one, I’d choose the Surface. It does a little bit of everything, and by all accounts, version 2 is better. But it’s a compromise. And I’m still not sure what the best approach is — trying to “tablet-ize” a full-fledged PC, like Microsoft has done with the Surface, or adding a third-party keyboard to the iPad.

Okay. Deep inside, maybe I haven’t given up the quest after all.

Deep thought...

I unlocked 5 Xbox Live achievements in Kinect Sports Season 2! http://t.co/fNOCzihJ5S

Deep thought...

I am playing Kinect Sports Season 2. http://t.co/pPR3EkiUAJ

Deep thought...

I unlocked the Golden Jubilee achievement in Karaoke! http://t.co/fNOCzihJ5S

Deep thought...

I am playing Karaoke. http://t.co/pPR3EkiUAJ

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Its about to rain on my parade. Literally. http://t.co/hNbLvT5syG

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Woo-hoo! I'm rich! (Not really.) http://t.co/Wx4IDAovUX

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"She mistrusted the periods of quiet that are essential to true growth" http://t.co/qasGpnTLGI #NOOK

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Finds it so odd how defensive gun nuts get after a mass shooting.

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My 5-year-old daughter's latest grievance: "We never go to dance parties."

Deep thought...

I'm a little concerned that one of the teachers at my daughter's school just said her classroom is near the "libary."

Deep thought...

Testing my ITTT recipe.

Magic Feathers

When I was a kid, I once saw a red flare burning at the scene of an auto accident. Two wrecked cars idled in the middle of the intersection as police investigated the collision and directed traffic. With the traffic lights flashing yellow, I naturally concluded that the flare was the burning ember of the red stoplight, which had somehow fallen out onto the street, resulting in the confused drivers colliding. Encyclopedia Brown, I was not.

We humans are uncanny in our ability to find patterns within randomness — as if trying to tame chaos by making it a knowable, a predictable mental model that explains arbitrary events. We see correlated events and reflexively assume cause-and-effect relationships.

I think that tendency helps explain “magic feather” syndrome. If you’ve seen the Disney animated classic Dumbo, you know what I’m talking about: Timothy Mouse, desperate to convince Dumbo to fly, gives him a feather that supposedly allows the elephant to soar above the ground. In one sense, the feather works, giving Dumbo the confidence he needs to try. Still, he sees the feather as the cause of his newfound abilities. Only later, when he loses the feather, does Dumbo realize that he had that power in himself all along.

Sometimes I cling onto my own magic feathers, looking for someone to validate my talent, appearance, intelligence, and so on — basically, my sense of self-worth. Without the magic feather of recognition and admiration, I begin to doubt myself. Or worse, I jump through hoops to gain the approval of someone I hope might give me that validation. I see my worthiness as the result of someone deeming me worthy rather than my worthiness being the cause of their acknowledging it. When you feel worthwhile only when other people affirm it, you’ll do anything — break boundaries, lower your standards, betray others — to get it.

That’s a lot of power to hand over to other people. I’m slowly recognizing that weakness. The irony of ego-stroking: those times when I was drunk on others’ affirmation were the times I grew the least, or even reverted. Personally, professionally, spiritually — you name it. While I don’t blame myself for not realizing it at the time (you rarely sense growth or regression when you’re in the midst of it), I do intend to use that knowledge moving forward.

Dumbo didn’t need a magic feather to soar. Neither do you.