A renaissance man for the twenty-first century!
Continuing the series, I’m definitely coming back here because this snap was taken just outside of a HUGE industrial park that was deserted – sort of a ghost factory. It was all open to the public, so it’s on my bucket list to head back and just poke around. According to a small plaque here, this chimney was part of a textile factory – and I assume that the streams running down from the Vosges Mountains in the background were the reason for its location (water power):
A friend asked me to provide some advice for a family member of his, now living in Asia, who wants to find a job in Europe and relocate here.
I can’t speak for all of the countries – and I can’t speak for all of the jobs – but I can give a few pieces of advice. This advice is:
Here goes!
People having their own websites were all the rage back in the late 1990’s (when they first appeared on the scene) throughout the early 2000’s, pretty much until MySpace (now dead) then Facebook took hold. But this does not matter: a personal website is the most important tool you have for advertising yourself and “branding” yourself today!
If you are reading this now, then you know exactly what I am talking about.
Some principles now follow.
Website Principle 1: Content does not matter
Content does not matter, look-and-feel does matter. The advantages are all sublimin
Website Principle 2: Professionality matters
This means use a professional tool (WordPress is the best and the easiest, full stop). And using a professional hosting site (I like Ionos because the customer service is incredible and the self-management tools are excellent). And using a very attractive template (this one uses the Radiate template – still one of the most popular templates in the WordPress world).
Website Principle 3: It is not the obvious, it is the subliminal
The power of the website is not the content you show, not the creativity you show, but rather the “behind-the-scenes” and subliminal message you are sending to everyone, imperceptibly: you are professional, you work with a top quality, and you do unusual things (like a website) that other people do not normally do.
Good Personal experiences
Before I got a website, any time I applied for a job, usually there was a 30% chance I’d speak with HR for a first interview. After my website, almost every job application results in a quick HR interview. Why? Have a look at my landing page and I hope the reason is clear: wow, this looks like an interesting and usual fellow, let’s have a quick chat with him.
Bad personal experiences
I’ve shared this advice about branding and a personal website site 2015, and sadly, nobody has acted on it. And yet many of the same people who have not acted on the advice still come to me from time to time with a message like, “Ken, it is really hard to get an interview these days.” No wonder. Act on my advice and I can guarantee with the right branding and marketing, your chances will improve exponentially! Because . . . it’s not about what you show, it’s is all about the subliminal messages you are sending.
With the sole exception of Germany, where stubborn Germans are reluctant to leave XING, which only Germans use, the rest of the Western world uses LinkedIn. Here are some reasons it is so important:
LinkedIn Reason 1: Companies now hire by hunting
Increasingly, companies do not rely on job advertisements to hire: it’s too wide a net to cast, and the net brings in the wrong kind of fish. So particularly for the jobs at the upper level, senior recruiters use LinkedIn to find you and contact you personally.
LinkedIn Reason 2: A user-friendlier CV
Many companies still require you to submit a CV or a resumé when you apply. But even those that do will probably use your LinkedIn profile rather than your CV. The trick is: enough of the right keywords to allow the right kind of people to find you, but no so much writing that it is difficult to read.
Optimizing your LinkedIn profile
If you create a LinkedIn profile, I recommend reading some articles that discuss LinkedIn search optimization. For example, the line under your name has a higher priority in the search than the rest of your profile – so instead of “wasting valuable real estate” by repeating your company or job title, add in the keywords that you want people to find you for – and add in the words that strengthen your brand.
A guest blog, by Chuck Ritley
While I enjoy movies, I’ve never been interested in the goings-on in Hollywood. To me, it was a crowded place to pass through to get to the Burbank Airport on my way home to The Valley. That changed – for a while – in 1980. At that time, computer terminals were downright ugly – just square boxes with keyboards. But the company I worked for paid a Swedish design firm (I think they also did the 1979 Saab) to come up with a streamlined, injection molded terminal. Same electronics – fancy look.
Six months after the intro, I got a call from a guy who said he was the prop master at Universal Studios. He had seen one of our terminals, liked the look, and could I help him get one in a movie? Sounded like great publicity, so I flew to Burbank and drove out to Universal. It turns out that prop masters for major studios are big-time executives, with golf carts, managing everything from jet planes to spears. But he made me welcome.
The movie that needed a computer was “Captain America”. No, not the one you saw in 2014, with CGI and wide screen explosions. This was the 1980 version. No CGI, much smaller explosions. The plot: Captain A, who rides a nuclear-powered Harley, must save Phoenix from a nuclear bomb, but he needs a computer to figure things out. That’s where we came in.
So I shipped a couple of computers and some terminals South and showed up at the studio for shooting the computer scenes. The studio techs had built panels of flashing light, since our computers had none. And I cobbled up some nonsense programs to make things jump on the screen. But it was tough to keep a straight face while showing a guy in a red, white, and blue jump suit how to tap the keys.
We appeared for only 6 minutes in what was not a very good movie. But, Universal fell in love with the design of the terminals, and I got offers to bring more equipment down for appearances in “The Rockford Files”, with James Garner, and “Mrs. Columbo” (the wife of the Peter Falk detective, who sadly only lasted for 4 or 5 episodes, but was computer literate.)
But the apex was this: we provided the computer terminals for “ET”, while the studio did their own flashing lights. (Next time you see a re-run, watch the credits closely. We come up just before the caterers.)
And no, I never even saw Steven what-his-name. And I had no idea it would become a classic.
This guest blog was submitted by Chuck Ritley, an adjunct professor of computer science with several major universities in the San Antonio area.
Here are the links to the other blogs in this series:
Reflections of a Valley Guy – Part 1: “The Way It Was”
Reflections of a Valley Guy – Part 2: “First Wave of Characters”
Reflections of a Valley Guy – Part 3: “Evolution of the Geek”
Reflections of a Valley Guy – Part 4: “When Giant Frys.com Sold Pork Chops”
Reflections of a Valley Guy – Part 5: “Mr. Yee and the Albrae Street – Taiwan Connection”
Reflections of a Valley Guy – Part 6: “Hollywood discovers the Valley”
Reflections of a Valley Guy – Part 7: “The Hollywood adventures continue”
Continuing the series, I could not resist capturing this snap of some tall grass (or a bush?) with the leaves all covered in ice,
Continuing the series, this street art seems to be an homage to hungry people, but to be honest I never stopped to see if there was a sign that described it.
Cernay in the eastern French part of Alsace known as Haut-Rhine is an interesting village for two reasons. First, apparently the German SS used this village as an “indoctrination” center during the second world war; and second, because the Thur river flows through it, and there was a river of the exact same name flowing through Winterthur when I lived there. (Note: it flowed through Winterthur before I moved there, and it probably still flows there today.)
Anyway, here’s the church:
At the very far end of the Promenade des Anglais you’ll find this hotel, and just to the left is a staircase that leads to a wonderful platform where you can get a great look at the old city of Nice (Ville Vieux):
Here’s a plaque that describes the history a bit:
Continuing the series, I took these snaps in the sleepy French Provence town of L’Isle-sur-la-Sorge. I have no idea what they are! I assume they are remnants of a long-gone mill, but it is on my bucket list to one day return and find out!
Here is the first snap:
And here is the same strange thing, but from a different perspective:
Not exactly overflowing with people, which actually is a good thing because at the time of this writing, the Omicron variant of “Covid dixneuf” was exploding in France: 
Continuing the series, this garbage receptacle located on the Promenade des Anglais is really a mixture of low-tech (opened by a foot pedal) and high-tech (a light shows whether or not the container is full):
This is my Buddha, and it’s set up in my box:
Continuing the series, this is a completely different socca that I ordered in Nice,
It was firmer and less goupy than the first socca that I had, but I have to say: I much prefer the goopier and less firm socca, which I found to be much more flavourful.
Continuing the series, here is another snap but this one showing more of the city of Nice in the early morning sun,
Continuing the series, I am not knocking all these paddlewheels, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that it would be nice if they actually turned instead of just sitting there idly,
Continuing the series, here is another snap of that unusual fog phenomena,
Continuing the series, this is farcis niçois, a speciality in Nice,
It was essentially capsicum stuff with some type of meat. It tasted an awful lot like lamb, even though most of the recipes I’ve subsequently found online say that it is typically Italian sausage. And the meat was really chunky, which I would not expect from a sausage. So it is on my bucket list to return one day and find out more about the stuffing!
At the main market in Nice I spotted this stand,
I took this snap one morning late in December while in the Southern French city of Nice. I took the snap from a lookout high above the city that you need to climb. It was early in the morning, and there was only one person there – a man with a big fancy camera on a tripod.
As you can imagine, it blew my mind when I saw exactly my snap shown on 03. January on CNN in Switzerland! According to the caption shown on CNN, this is some type of fog phenomena that is very rare in Nice. Is it true? Is it not true? At any rate, it is clear that the man with the big camera on the tripod was either working for CNN or else sold his photograph to them!
Continuing the series, this statue of Alphonse Benoit (1809-1872) is not a trivial little adornment; no sirree, this is a monster obelisk that sits in a very prominent position in the sleepy French Provence town of L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue:
Not only that, but this man has an entire school in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue named after him!
What did he do? Why is he so famous? Good question – I don’t know! The only reference to him that I could easily find was this one, and it doesn’t say very much.
Here’s part of a snap at the bottom of the obelisk:
Continuing the series,
Continuing the series, what really appeals to me in this snap are the plants, which are some of the most famous horticultural hallmarks of South France,
This is a snap showing the famous Promenade des anglais, a pedestrian area in the Southern French city of Nice that was sadly the place of a terror attack in 2016. As you can see, the Promenade is today fully protected with barriers that keep out unwanted vehicles.
I find it fascinating: the medieval villages and cities erected walls to keep bad things at bay – today, centuries later, we do the same! And centuries from now? Well, the Enterprise does have its shields!
Actually a color snap, even though it does look black and white. That lighthouse is the Phare de Nice,
