I’ve written hundreds of articles that have appeared in a broad spectrum of trade and business publications. Here’s a sampling:Funworld Magazine: “The Controversial Role of the Heimlich Maneuver”The problem when it comes to drowning and resuscitation research is that the subject matter of choice—humans—do not drown in scientifically controlled environments. This is why most research into these areas has been done on animals. But data derived from animal studies does not rank as high as data generated from human studies. Consequently, there is continued interest in studying this issue by compiling data on human submersions.However, this is terribly difficult. Research is a real “yeah, but” situation. By this I mean that researchers usually work to identify all the variables (factors) that could confound (influence) their results—hence the, “yeah, but what about this?” syndrome. This is essential because if the results are going to be valid, the groups being studied have to be comparable, or the outcome will be skewed. Law Enforcement Technology magazine: “Hidden Messages”Inspector Rob Currie keeps killing me off.“Imagine that someone has stabbed Pamela in her apartment,” says Currie, OIC of the technological crime branch of the RCMP. “One of her neighbors has come over and found her dead and calls the police. You might think, ‘this has nothing to do with computers’. Wrong. You can tell by the computer when Pamela was last on it, who she talked to, what chat rooms she visited, what messages she posted, what websites she looked at.“We can access valuable information about lifestyle," Currie says. “Has Pamela stopped seeing someone? Was he upset? Has she started seeing someone? What about the person she has started or stopped seeing? Then, we would look at Pamela’s phone and extract an analysis of her phone calls. For example, has she blocked any numbers? Who was the last person she spoke with?“Or, say someone shoots Pamela on the street,” Currie says, continuing in this murderous vein. “Her purse is nearby. We go through it, find her cell phone, and this is a treasure trove of information, and that’s just the phone calls. What about the photos she took with the phone? Who is this guy standing behind her at the party? Who is the person next to her at the bar?“Who would want Pamela dead?”Military Retailer magazine: “Surviving the Economic Storm”If trends forecaster Gerald Celente is correct, the toughest times are still ahead of us. Celente, founder and director of The Trends Research Institute in Kingston, NY, has appeared on Oprah, CNBC, Reuters, NBC, PBS, BBC, CNN Headline News and has been quoted in major print media including the New York Times, The Economist and the Wall Street Journal. To put it current vernacular, since this is, after all, an article about some of the top consumer trends impacting retailers today, the man has street cred. In fact, according to CNBC, there isn’t a better trends forecaster around.Military Retailer Magazine: “Looking to Lose” For most people, the process of embarking on a diet closely mirrors Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’ five stages of grief. First there’s denial (“This dress must have shrunk”) followed by anger (“Stupid, cheap dress”) and then by bargaining (“Let me fit into this dress tonight and I promise I’ll never eat another entire cheesecake again—ever!”). On the heels of this comes depression as the horrible reality begins to sink in. It’s at this point that the final stage, acceptance, is reached—the acknowledgement that a diet is definitely in order. NFIB: “Telling Customers ‘So Long’”When Sprint said “bye-bye” this summer to 1100 of its wireless customers it deemed too troublesome to keep, people were agog. It was the dumping heard across the nation and it had folks wondering—was the axiom, “the customer is always right” (TCAR) headed the way of typewriters, eight-tracks and analogue?Looked at more deeply, the Sprint move makes sense. According to company representatives, these folks accounted for an inordinate number of calls to Sprint’s CSRs—some individuals called up to 300 times a month—negatively impacting service to other customers. It appeared evident that Sprint was not going to be able to satisfy the malcontents and that consequently, they might be happier with another provider. And so, away they went.Cincinnati Beacon: “Drowning in Funworld,” part four of a four-part seriesI remember the mixed feelings I had when Ellis & Associates reversed their decision. On the one hand, it confirmed that my research had uncovered real problems. Otherwise, I believe Jeff Ellis would have stood his ground and presented evidence favorable to his decision. He had every opportunity to do that. But the quick reversal made it appear, in my mind anyway, that these problems were known all along, and this was troubling. Because it seemed to me that what had really taken place in the waterparks were the very human studies experiments that the IOM had said should not be approved. And it seemed like admission prices were high enough without tossing this into the mix.We’d like to think we can count on the gatekeepers, like Ellis, to protect us from people, like Heimlich, who would use us to their own purposes. I guess what I learned from this experience is that the gatekeepers need watching too. Successful Supervisor newsletter: “Falsely Accused”Obviously, being falsely accused of sexual harassment is terribly stressful, and not just for the person under suspicion. The entire staff can suffer a tremendous loss of morale. This situation can prove very divisive, made worse by the fact that such charges are unlikely to be disproved. The end result can be undermined productivity and quality, and the potential loss of the accused as well—especially worrisome if the person is a key employee.PI Magazine: “Negligent-Security Investigations”Perhaps the murder took place in a ground-floor apartment or in a hotel elevator. Maybe the rape happened in an office building or in the stairwell of a parking garage as the victim walked alone to her car. Whatever the scenario, the allegation is levied that negligent security played some role in the crime. Now it’s up to you, the private investigator, to gather the facts. Even though every civil litigation case is different, and the investigative strategy may vary depending on whether you’re working for the plaintiff’s attorney or the defendant’s, there are some generalities that hold true regardless, says Jim Carino, president of Executive Security Consultants, based in Gladwyne, Pa. Let’s look at some of the common channels of inquiry an investigator should explore when looking into an incident where negligent security is claimed.My objective is to give you one less project (and writer) to worry about. e-mail: pms@charter.net phone: (562) 296-8178 Published clips, editor references, and resume are available upon request.
