EventHorizon1984 Log

The 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. Why Bother With Columbus Day??

The 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. Why Bother With Columbus Day??
20 July 2009
EventHorizon1984

Today the United States and the world remembers the historic 20 July 1969 landing of the lunar module Eagle (Apollo 11) on the moon, and human's first step upon the moon. 

Why forty years later is this uniquely American endeavor not a U.S. national holiday? 

Because the United States continues to have the inane 'America Discovered' holiday of Columbus Day.  A national holiday celebrating the 'accomplishment' of an Italian national, sailing for the Spanish government to find a route to China, but landing in what is now the British Bahamas instead.  Not quite the site of the future U.S.

Columbus Day is also celebrated in Spain.  And as we understand it no where else.  Of course.

Incidentally Leif Ericson was the first historically recorded European to land on North America. He did so and started a settlement about 5 centuries earlier (1003 AD).  Of course his party was greeted by the local indigenous population.

So much for Columbus being "first."

.

"That's one small step for (a) man.  One giant leap for mankind."
Neil Armstrong, United States, 20 July 1969

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Jettison Salvage Was Here

Jettison Salvage Was Here
17 July 2009
EventHorizon1984

The topic of preserving the Apollo moon landing sites is brought up in the article "Is the Apollo 11 Moon Landing Flag Still Standing?".

Beth O'Leary who "created the NASA-funded project to make the Apollo 11 Landing site on the moon as a National Historic Landmark" notes:

• 'the possibility exists to locate humankind's lunar leftovers precisely, assess their condition and most importantly decide then what and how to preserve this record for future generations'

There are six Apollo landing sites.

• Apollo 11    Mare Tranquilitatis  (Sea of Tranquility)
• Apollo 12    Oceanus Procellarum  (Ocean of Storms)
• Apollo 14    Fra Mauro  (edge Imbrium Basin)
• Apollo 15    Hadley Rille  (edge Imbrium Basin)
• Apollo 16    Descartes Mountains
• Apollo 17    Taurus-Littrow  (edge Mare Serenitatis, i.e. Sea of Serenity)

The current protection for these landing sites are the quarter of a million miles distance to reach them, and the cost.

But anyone who's lived a good part of the 20th Century might tell you, and science fiction fans will attest to, is that sometimes science fiction becomes fact.

 

Vulture of the Salvage-1 lunar mission at Serenity Base *.  Salvage (1979)

.

"I want to build a spaceship, go to the moon, salvage all the junk that's up there, bring it back and sell it."
Harry Broderick (Andy Griffith), Jettison Scrap & Salvage Company, Salvage (1979)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mR-gz9EFO8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDa25M-de70
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSsqsbv0FWg

* Possibly referring to the Apollo 17 landing site, or COL Steve Austin's** Apollo 19 landing site.

** "Salvage", "Salvage 1", and "The Six Million Dollar Man" are Universal Pictures properties.

We use some Salvage references from:

Salvage 1

Salvage-1: The Best Space Movie You've Probably Never Heard Of...

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Update 2013.09.11

We goofed.  Although a newscaster at the beginning of the first episode "Dark Island" describes his location as the "Jettison Salvage yard", and Harry Broderick in the pilot answer's the phone as "Jettison Salvage", that's not the full name of fictional company.  Harry Broderick's company is not the "Jettison Salvage", but "Jettison Scrap & Salvage Company."  Apologies to all fans of the show.

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The eBay Weed of the Day

The eBay Weed of the Day
16 July 2009
EventHorizon1984

 

In the article 'TripAdvisor Warns Of Hotels Posting Fake Reviews' author Melissa Trujillo reported one company "has been quietly posting disclaimers to warn customers of hotels writing fake reviews to improve their popularity rankings or hurt competitors".

This is a common problem. As referenced in the article:

• "Apple required that consumers purchase or download an application before they can review it online in the App Store"
• "A plastic surgery company, Lifestyle Lift Inc., agreed to pay $300,000 to resolve an investigation into positive online reviews written by employees, the New York attorney general announced Tuesday"
• "travel industry insiders — but often not casual travelers — understand the financial incentives hotels have to artificially inflate their rankings on the site. Some offer discounts or freebies to patrons who write positive reviews or hire public relations companies who say they can improve the reviews"

Common and widespread to the extent that the U.S. FTC (Federal Trade Commission) wrote the FTC GUIDES CONCERNING USE OF ENDORSEMENTS AND TESTIMONIALS IN ADVERTISING in 1975 and 1980.

Very briefly that Guide requires companies to identify themselves when commenting on their products. And people making comments about a product, that a company shows to the public, must be independent of the company. Or the person or company must provide to the public their relationship.

This Federal Guide apparently is so abused that the "Federal Trade Commission is revising guidelines on testimonials and endorsements to reflect the growth of online marketing".

Which brings us to what is a "Weed"?

We use the term "Weed" to describe people paid to post. The term derives from how these individuals are viewed. For example the featured article notes, "company has policies to weed out suspicious reviews".

A Wall Street Journal poster provided a partial description of the tactics an eBay Weed employs. This edited version is similar to PowerPoint discussion points given by public relations companies to writers.

1. Blame the messenger.
2. Attack the messenger or message.
3. Downplay the message.
4. Twist what the messenger is trying to say.
5. Spin everything positive for Ebay
6. Never blame Ebay for anything
7. Tell users to go elsewhere if they don’t like it

For the Weeds that will use some of those tactics on this article, tell your supervisor to study a little history. Or actually read the various Public Relations text books. Some of us did.

Philip Morris Public Relations 1992:

• Change the focus of the issue
• Explore and exploit the opposition's weaknesses
• Investigate legal challenges to opposition efforts
• Develop alliances with other groups being attacked by the opposition
• Begin large-scale program of journalism education (focusing on accuracy, accountability, objectivity, etc.)
• Become a source of information and expertise

The above combined checklists sounds familiar doesn't it?

One persona missing from the public relations tactics is the 'friend'. A theatrical example is Security Officer Price from the film Stalag 17 (1953). This personae and it's subtypes are the hardest to detect, and we'll leave that for a future article.

Which brings us to the eBay Weed of the Day.

Disclaimer: We are commenting on individual(s) associated with the following posts, who may have attempted to influence public opinion through methods unsanctioned by the FTC. This opinion should not be taken as fact, and the reader should form their own unbiased opinion.

This part of a recent post was made on a recent article involving eBay.

• #1  "Some people just can't handle change or changing markets. A handful of people have been complaining for more than a year now (mostly the same ones on every blog they can find in a day); they need to learn to move on."

Interestingly months earlier the following comment was made on a different article by another independent voice.

• #2  "if you take out the 10 or 15 most vocal anti-eBay people blogging all over the place (sometimes with different names as well), you realize that the noise is pretty low if noticeable at all. Life goes on, adapt or die.

To be obvious:

1. "Some people just can't handle change or changing markets"
2. "adapt or die"

1. "they need to learn to move on"
2. "Life goes on"

1. "A handful of people have been complaining for more than a year now"
2. "if you take out the 10 or 15 most vocal anti-eBay people"

1. "(mostly the same ones on every blog they can find in a day)"
2. " blogging all over the place (sometimes with different names as well)"

The dissimilar writing styles 'sound' like two separate writers. Which begs the questions. Two different people stating near identical talking points months apart?  Down to the parenthesis; "(", ")"?

We leave you with this thought. Those are not the only examples.

"Sure. Fine. Whatever."
Dana Scully, X-Files (Syzygy)

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Back In Time - eBay Would Like Your Input

Back In Time - eBay Would Like Your Input
7 July 2009
EventHorizon1984

 

eBay sends out surveys to gather data to justify their future plans. And we get a lot of them.

We received yesterday (7/6/2009) the survey email below (personal information edited out). And it told us a great deal about how organized eBay is today.

The email is dated "From eBay Research Wed Jun 17 21:24:51 2009 "

"Tell me Doctor, where are we going this time? Is this the 50's or 1999?"
Huey Lewis and The News
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4hwY061yQ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgyvMp5YWcI

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Dear *****,

We would like to invite you to participate in a survey about your experiences on eBay. Your input will help eBay to improve its communications and ability to meet customer needs. Your feedback is highly valued!

eBay has partnered with Decipher, an independent marketing research firm, to conduct this survey. This survey is for research purposes only. All the information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and will be used only for bona fide market research purposes. Survey results are viewed in aggregate. Individual responses are not identified.

We hope that you will take the time to complete this 12-minute survey, as it is an effective and easy way to share your feedback with eBay.

To take the survey: Please click here

Thanks for being a part of the eBay community, and we hope to see you on eBay again soon.

Kind Regards,

eBay Research Department

---

This email was sent to you (*****) because your Notification Preferences indicate that you want to receive eBay product surveys. These surveys will ask you for your opinion on various topics; you will never be asked for personal information such as your password or credit card/bank numbers. If you do not wish to receive further communications, please sign into "My eBay" by clicking on the "My eBay" link found at the top of the eBay home page, and change your Notification Preferences. Please note that this change may take up to 10 days to process.

Decipher, Inc., an independent market research firm, is conducting this online survey for eBay. For questions about its validity, you may email us at [email protected]. To stop receiving e-mails from Decipher, Inc., please click here.

Have safety concerns? Learn how to protect yourself from spoof (fake) emails at:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/account/reporting-spoof.html

For questions about eBay's communication policies, please visit our privacy policy at
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/privacy-policy.html and our User Agreement at
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/user-agreement.html

Copyright © 2009 eBay, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
eBay and the eBay logo are registered trademarks of eBay Inc.
Other trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.
eBay is located at 2145 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125.

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Comments

mylegacy-treasures ( 815) View seller's items | View Blog Recently, it appears that Mr D. and staff aren't asking Qs just to get the answers that they want to hear. Perhaps we can return to 2005, 2003, 2001 or even 1999! And have a happier, healthier and more successful buying and selling environment. Jul-07-09 14:17:48 PDT

madcat1010 ( 1536) View seller's items | View Blog I got one that asked for my age!! I assumed it was a scam and sent it in to ebay.....they said it was legit. Jul-07-09 14:22:49 PDT

cdlucel ( 481) View seller's items | View Blog check your ebay email first, before responding to your normal email provider..always go through Ebay..for all your needs..lol ;) woof woof Jul-07-09 14:26:50 PDT

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Richard Ambrose Is Leaving eBay. Does It Matter?

Richard Ambrose Is Leaving eBay.  Does It Matter?
1 July 2009
EventHorizon1984

 

During the irregular perusal of Tamebay we came across the article Richard Ambrose leaves eBay for new challenges.

Not being in the eBay European theatre of operations we (including me) went, "Who??"

For those unfamiliar with Tamebay, it an excellent blog covering eBay from the European point of view. Or for some posters over there, the British interpretation of how best to use eBay.

Getting back to "Who??", in the article, Chris Dawson of Tamebay wrote:

"With over 1000 feedback (and no negs!) Richard knows eBay inside out. He was a valued and valuable member of the community, spending his own time on boards and forums talking to buyers and sellers and taking their concerns back to eBay’s internal teams."

The impressive description was followed by multiple posts, including one that stated:

Since he took the reins – incidences of serious fraud
affecting multiple users have become the exception rather than rule

"We" being the curious type decided to ask:

Citation with actual numbers please?

And promptly received multiple responses, none with numbers.

Still leaving the issue of "Who??".  Not to mention the new issue of a rise in hits from eBay related IP addresses, after we made the tiny post.

This interest in Richard Ambrose got our collective interest up.  And like the keepers of The Prisoner, "we want information."

 

"Trust me. I know what I'm doing."
Sledge Hammer!

Richard Ambrose's eBay.co.uk ID is medievalist (918).

Richard Ambrose

From article dated, 14 November 2007.

Feedback Profile

	medievalist ( 918)
	Positive Feedback (last 12 months): 100%
	Member since: 12-Jan-99 in United Kingdom

Recent Feedback Ratings (last 12 months)   1 month 6 months 12 months Positive 39 115 205 Neutral 0 0 0 Negative 0 0 0

Detailed Seller Ratings (last 12 months) Criteria Average rating Number of ratings Item as described 57 Communication 57 Dispatch time 57 Postage and packaging charges 56

Feedback is excellent, but as wryly noted by many he is an eBay employee.

Speaking of which if you check his complete listings you will find something missing. 

eBay Employee Trading and Community Content Policy

The following are the rules that all eBay Inc. company employees must follow to use an eBay company Web site:

• When eBay company employees list an item for sale on eBay, the eBay company employees must identify themselves as eBay employees and include the link to this Web page in their listing.

The above required disclosure remains oddly missing from Richard Ambrose's listings.

Not to worry though as Richard Ambrose, before leaving eBay, was "UK's Head of Customer Support and Trust & Safety."

 

"So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"
Douglas Adams (1984)

Here's his goodbye post on an eBay forum.  European style date of "01-07-09" is equivalent to U.S. format "07-01-09".

Mr Ambrose, if you're lurking

medievalist  (915 ) View Listings | Report Afternoon everyone, Thanks for the (mostly!) good wishes. It's been a great privilege to spend six years at eBay supporting the buyers and sellers on the site. I've particularly enjoyed posting on the boards during that time (though I haven't done it much this year) - it's the best place there is to take the pulse of the community and understand how the changes we make are really affecting people. I'm pleased to say that James is doing a great job of making sure that all the staff who don't come here so much see the posts that are made and read the opinions that are aired here. They are more widely read, and have more impact on the decisions that eBay makes, than you might imagine. It's also been a pleasure getting to know some of you personally. Sorry for those of you who have ever found me direct in the past - I prefer not to mince my words, and I apologise for any times when that may have caused offence. I'll still lurk from time to time, and wish you all many happy and profitable years to come on eBay. Cheers Richard PS trufflington, many thanks for your post. James now owes me a fiver		01-07-09 16:31 BST	39 of 303

Since this was an informal goodbye, we'll overlook the violations involved.

• When eBay company employees submit Community content as members, not as employees, they must identify themselves as eBay employees and state that the content reflects their personal views and is not written on behalf of eBay Inc.
• Content posted by eBay employees acting in an official eBay capacity will normally be identified by a different treatment from content published by members; for example, a pink bar highlighting the User name.

"I hired you because you look good. It's like having a nice piece of art in the lobby."
Dr. Gregory House, House

According to Linkedin, like the mythical 'Elephant Graveyard' a company where ex-eBay employees end up:

Linkedin Profile:

Richard Ambrose
Director, Trust & Safety at eBay Europe
London, United Kingdom

• Director, Trust & Safety

• eBay Europe
• (Internet industry)
• November 2008 — Present (9 months)

• Head of Trust & Safety

• eBay
• (Public Company; ebay; Internet industry)
• October 2007 — October 2008 (1 year 1 month)

• Head of Finding

• eBay
• (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; ebay; Internet industry)
• September 2004 — September 2007 (3 years 1 month)

• Senior Manager, Collectables & Entertainment

• eBay
• (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; ebay; Internet industry)
• September 2003 — September 2004 (1 year 1 month)

• Head of Business Development

• Music Choice Europe
• (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Media Production industry)
• January 2002 — June 2003 (1 year 6 months)

• Commercial Manager

• Talkcast
• (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Internet industry)
• January 2000 — September 2000 (9 months)

• Consultant

• Decipher
• (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Management Consulting industry)
• June 1999 — January 2000 (8 months)

• Analyst 
Mercer Management Consulting

• (Public Company; Internet industry)
• 1996 — 1999 (3 years)

"The trouble with being infallible is that you have to deal with everyone else making mistakes."
Emperor Cartagia, Babylon 5

Anyone who's gone through stacks of resumes might be thinking 'what's behind the titles?'.

Glad you asked that.  Here's a small sampler of Richard Ambrose projects.

eBay to make free P&P compulsory for DVDs
Saturday, October 11th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

• "Richard Ambrose from eBay stated that some of the maximum rates will be below actual cost and for DVDs they will insist sellers offer free post, although upgrade to priority services and overseas postage can still be charged."

Ebay Spokesman Richard Ambrose on Feedback Strike Boycott
February 22 2008

eBay Hopes to Boost Membership by Removing Seller Feedback
3:22 PM Feb 7, 2008

• Starting Feb. 20, the online auction site will block sellers from leaving negative feedback about buyers.
• "The feedback system has been around for more than ten years, and it remains right at the heart of what makes eBay work," said Richard Ambrose, of eBay UK.
• "But it needs to evolve a little bit."
• But eBay says sellers shouldn't worry.
• "As buyers are more honest about their feedback, good sellers are going to stand out more and more," stated Ambrose.
• "We're also going to increase the help we give to sellers when they occasionally encounter a buyer who doesn't pay. And we're going to make it much easier for them to report that and get their money back."

eBay 'sorry' over policy change
Friday, 20 April 2007, 17:01 GMT 18:01 UK

• "eBay's Richard Ambrose says the changes make the site 'fairer'"
• "Until recently, items put up for sale by eBay customers on the UK site automatically appeared in the search results on the bigger American ebay.com site.
• But since February, the most common 'simple search' on ebay.com only brings up items for sale by US sellers."

eBay's 10-year rise to world fame
Friday, 2 September 2005, 17:11 GMT 18:11 UK

• EBay spokesman Richard Ambrose confirms that the company intends to make the site more user-friendly for businesses trading in bulk.
• "If you want to sell, say, 50,000 Jiffy bags or 25,000 bricks, you can do it, but it's not a great experience," he told the BBC News website. "In the next few years, we will be making it easier to wholesale items on the site."
• Mr Ambrose says that despite eBay's dominant market position in many countries, the company is not complacent about the future.
• "We're in a strong, but not impregnable position," he says. "We're under severe pressure from Yahoo! in Asia - we're in a fierce battle with them in China."
• EBay stirred up controversy among users by increasing some of its fees earlier this year. Mr Ambrose says this was to ensure that certain popular ways of making sellers' listings stand out were not devalued through overuse.
• "From the outside, it's easy for it to seem that we're trying to flex our muscles. But in the long term, we want people to grow on eBay and maximise their profits. When they grow, so do we."

The inspector calls on eBay
12:01AM BST 26 Sep 2004

• However, the Government is increasingly concerned that the sheer size of eBay means the Revenue is losing millions of pounds in tax.
• "What has really made the growth explode is the shift which we have seen from being a site that is associated with collectable, quirky, hard-to-find, used, vintage items to one where people buy what we call practicles," says Richard Ambrose, eBay's UK category manager.
• "By practicles we're talking clothes, cars, golf clubs, watches. We're seeing more professional traders and we're also seeing more private individuals who are just thinking of eBay as a place to sell things that they wouldn't have in the past."
• But just how easy is it for tax authorities to investigate traders? After all, this is cyberspace. How can investigators be sure tax dodgers can be tracked back to the real world?
• "When people register with us we do check that their personal details are accurate and that their phone number is accurate," Ambrose says. "Any seller is obliged to register a credit card with us."
• And what about the taxman? "Anybody buying or selling on eBay needs to be aware of what their tax responsibilities are," Ambrose maintains. "But we are not in a position to enforce it . . . although we can and do co-operate with outside bodies."

"Even though your wording was within the letter of the policy, it could easily have been interpreted as violating the spirit of it."
Richard Ambrose, eBay

Coming back to the original question, 'does it matter that Richard Ambrose is leaving eBay?'.

Based on what we've learned over the intervening hours:

Even though Richard Ambrose was working within the letter of the law, his actions could easily have been interpreted as violating the eBay Community spirit.

We find Richard Ambrose leaving eBay to be a non-event.

END RUN

"Gentlemen, I'm simply an honest businessman."
Harcourt Fenton Mudd, Star Trek

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