Boycott of RBC - make this a movement

By now there has been considerable outrage (at least on line) to the story published by the CBC about the Royal Banks snub to Canadians. The original post I saw was on Northern Insights and he had an interesting follow-up to his post of April 7th. The post is interesting but the important point he makes is here:

Back to the RBC, which should be stung by thousands of customers fleeing from their greedy clutches, beginning first thing Monday morning.

The bank's response begins like this,

"RBC wants to address media reports and provide clarification. Contrary to allegations, RBC has not hired temporary foreign workers to take over the job functions of current RBC employees."

No, what they did was hire a company who hired temporary foreign workers to take over the job functions of current RBC employees. However, being honest about that would admit that critics and complainers have been correct.

Allison at Creeksite in her post also reinforces the idea that RBC really does think Canadians are stupid and will believe their hype:
Royal Bank of Canada Chief Human Resources Officer Zabeen Hirji explains here that technically it's not RBC that has hired temporary foreign workers to replace RBC employees. No, rather it's that RBC has hired Indian offshore outsourcing company iGATE to do their own hiring as part of RBC's plan to transition RBC IT jobs overseas to India. 
What about government reaction that this is unacceptable?
Oh, says Hirji, we were already in conversation with relevant government departments last week and besides everybody is outsourcing overseas now.

The Mainstream media has not yet and will not challenging the RBC in its lies nor will they challenge the  government on its position.What I suspect will happen is if the public pressure continues to mount, the government will put the issue under review and the mainstream press that supports this corrupt government will slowly ease the story to the back pages (if in fact they cover it all). I also suspect the CBC will be looking at more budget cuts and attacks by the government for doing its job. 

Norms original post is here and my thanks to Norm at Northern Insights for this story that was published by the CBC on April 6th. 

If you bank at RBC they will only feel the pressure if you boycott them and transfer your money to a different financial institute. Consider transferring to a Credit Union. I belong to Vancity so I agree that they can be a good choice, but any Credit Union would also be a better choice then continuing to bank at a company that fires Canadians and hires foreign workers to replace them. 

RBC replaces Canadian staff with foreign workers, CBC, April 6, 2013

"Dozens of employees at Canada’s largest bank are losing their jobs to temporary foreign workers, who are in Canada to take over the work of their department.

" 'They are being brought in from India, and I am wondering how they got work visas,' said Dave Moreau, one of the employees affected by the move. 'The new people are in our offices and we are training them to do our jobs. That adds insult to injury.' ..."

If this style of business offends you and you are a customer of RBC, visit Vancity or a nearby credit union. They'll help you transfer your banking business and a year from now, you'll wonder why you didn't do it long ago. You'll get better banking services and the community will benefit economically

Share your good news

To borrow a line from the sacred texts of the west, why should you hide your light under a bushel? This might be just the light someone has been seeking all their lives. And you may hold the key to the door…

You don’t have to stand on street corners yelling at passersby, you don’t have to be obnoxious, or hectoring.

But, when appropriate, a mention of your spiritual tradition seems appropriate.

When you know someone you think might profit from it, an invitation to share your spiritual journey, maybe when there’s going to be a talk seems only respectful.

Sometimes you should hold your council.

And.

Sometimes you just have to speak.

It can change the world.

Or, at least, one life.

And maybe that is enough

Suspended Coffee

What a great idea and one that more of us should consider. 

Thanks to Norm at Northern Insights for the post.

From the forum at Urban Diner, a Vancouver-based online magazine for food and restaurant lovers around British Columbia. By Publisher Paul Kamon:

"We enter a little coffeehouse with a friend of mine and give our order. While we're approaching our table two people come in and they go to the counter - 'Five coffees, please. Two of them for us and three suspended'

They pay for their order, take the two and leave. I ask my friend: 'What are those 'suspended' coffees ?'

'Wait for it and you will see'

Some more people enter. Two girls ask for one coffee each, pay and go. The next order was for seven coffees and it was made by three lawyers - three for them and four 'suspended'. While I still wonder what's the deal with those 'suspended' coffees I enjoy the sunny weather and the beautiful view towards the square in front of the café. Suddenly a man dressed in shabby clothes who looks like a beggar comes in through the door and kindly asks 'Do you have a suspended coffee ?'

It's simple - people pay in advance for a coffee meant for someone who can not afford a warm beverage. The tradition with the suspended coffees started in Naples, but it has spread all over the world and in some places you can order not only a suspended coffee, but also a sandwich or a whole meal."

Brain imaging research shows how unconscious processing improves decision-making

Brain imaging research shows how unconscious processing improves decision-making published on February 13, 2013 in Neuroscience as well as Medical Xpress.

(Medical Xpress) New brain imaging research from Carnegie Mellon University provides some of the first evidence showing how the brain unconsciously processes decision information in ways that lead to improved decision making. Published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective

Neuroscience, the study found that the brain regions responsible for making decisions continue to be active even when the conscious brain is distracted with a different task. This image shows unconscious activity in two parts of the brain, the left visual cortex and right prefrontal cortex. When faced with a difficult decision, it is often suggested to "sleep on it" or take a break from thinking about the decision in order to gain clarity.

But new brain imaging research from Carnegie Mellon University, published in the journal "Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience," finds that the brain regions responsible for making decisions continue to be active even when the conscious brain is distracted with a different task.

The research provides some of the first evidence showing how the brain unconsciously processes decision information in ways that lead to improved decision-making. "This research begins to chip away at the mystery of our unconscious brains and decision-making," said J. David Creswell, assistant professor of psychology in CMU's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and director of the Health and Human Performance Laboratory. "It shows that brain regions important for decision-making remain active even while our brains may be simultaneously engaged in unrelated tasks, such as thinking about a math problem.

What's most intriguing about this finding is that participants did not have any awareness that their brains were still working on the decision problem while they were engaged in an unrelated task." For the study, Creswell, recent CMU graduate James K. Bursley and Northeastern University's Ajay B. Satpute presented 27 healthy adults with information about cars and other items while undergoing neuroimaging.

Then, before being asked to make decisions about the items, the participants had to complete a difficult distractor task—memorizing sequences of numbers—to prevent them from consciously thinking about the decision information.

The results included three main findings. First, the team confirmed previous research demonstrating that a brief period of distraction—in this case two minutes—produced higher quality decisions about the cars and other items. But did this effect occur because the distraction period provided an opportunity for the brain to take a break from decision-making and then return to the problem with a fresh look? Or alternatively, does the brain continue to unconsciously process decision information during this distraction period?

 This research supports the latter unconscious processing explanation.  When the participants were initially learning information about the cars and other items, the neuroimaging results showed activation in the visual and prefrontal cortices, regions that are known to be responsible for learning and decision-making. Additionally, during the distractor task, both the visual and prefrontal cortices continued to be active—or reactivated—even though the brain was consciously focused on number memorization. Third, the results showed that the amount of reactivation within the visual and prefrontal cortices during the distractor task predicted the degree to which participants made better decisions, such as picking the best car in the set. "We all face difficult problems we need to solve on a regular basis,"

Creswell said. "Whether it's buying a new car, finding a new apartment to rent, or seeking out a new dating partner on social networking sites. This study provides some of the first clues for how our brains process this information for effective problem-solving and decision-making."

This study is really a starting point. We also are using brain imaging to see if we find the same reactivation patterns in learning tasks that we saw here in decision-making." Journal reference: Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Provided by Carnegie Mellon

Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-brain-imaging-unconscious-decision-making-video.html#jCp