1. The 2008 Presidential Election provided a historic time in America’s relatively young past. CNN reported that, "voters were flocking to the most open election in half a century, inspired to support the first female president, the first black or the oldest ever elected."
  2. Barack Obama was elected the 44th President tonight and the foundations that our Founding Fathers laid so many years before have never been more obvious than through the voice of the people this late voting night.
  3. The demographics and election statistics spoke for themselves as CNN provided some of the most technologically enhanced polling commentary that I have ever seen. Their props and presentations consisted of touch screens, 3-D graphic visualizations, and Star Wars like holographic imaging during an interview. 
  4. Glen Dickson of Broadcasting & Cable, forewarned us of such technological enhancements. However, I was amazed at the endless technological delicacies the audience was provided and I thought about the wonders those enhancements could provide in a courtroom setting.
  5. South Carolina remained the stereotypical red state it has for so many years and provided incumbents with relatively inconsequential challenges but challenges wrought with great hopes and ambition from their opposition. 
  6. An all encompassing site to keep updated with South Carolina politics is the SC Hotline. 

A recent Wall Street Journal article entitled "The Power of Nonverbal Communication" provided some helpful insights from Dr. Alex Pentland’s studies of sociometer data that can be useful to almost anyone that communicates with others on a daily basis.

Dr. Pentland’s new book, "Honest Signals", focuses on four nonverbal ways people communicate:

  1. Activity– when you get excited about something your interest is higher you display more nervous energy.
  2. Interest– the timing of  filling in the gaps and pauses of a conversation  attest to the attention being provided by each party.
  3. Mimicry– a mirroring of gestures indicates trust and empathy.
  4. Consistency– fluency in tone or motion hard to fake.

The article indicated a study done on midcareer executives presenting real business plans in a competition, resulted in tone of voice and how the plan was presented.  "….they were listening to how excited the presenter was about the plan; they were not listening to the facts."  

Dr. Pentland went on to comment that, "In organizations, most of the communication that’s complicated, that’s really important, still happens face-to-face."

 

Pebbles is the Yorkshire terrier that became a symbol of the national pet food scare.  A multi-million dollar settlement for owners of dogs and cats, who were sickened or died after eating pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical, was reached on Tuesday, October 14, 2008. 

Most of the food turned out to contain Chinese-made wheat gluten laced with melamine, an industrial chemical. Since then, the nitrogen-rich chemical used to make plastics and fertilizers have been found in a variety of food products in China. Authorities there have issued guidelines limiting acceptable levels of the chemical in food.

China has been pushing the boundaries of safety limits required upon imports, lately.  This recent settlement is only the start of so many products that have caused substantial injury to everything to our family pet to our new born infant.  There are so many more issues of product negligence originating from China. 

Roger Parloff, a senior editor for Fortune Magazine, wrote an article last year entitled, "China’s newest export: lawsuits", that specifically points out this issue. Mr. Parloff references "incidents involving potentially deadly, defective, or contaminated products imported from China….. (including)…..pet food, toys, tires, toothpaste, cough syrup, shrimp…"

In the small western corner of South Carolina, the Trammell Law Firm, P.A. has one of the few known AMO Complete MoisturePlus Multi-Purpose lens Solution cases in the state.  Don’t assume your interest and well being are protected just because a product is available on shelves, in parking lots, or in restaurants.