Reuben 'Call a Halt'

From Reuben's website:

I regret to announce that Reuben are unable to play their slot on the 2000 Trees Festival in July .... The band are all in good health but the culmination of several pressures just makes it impossible for Jamie to go ahead with it.

The band are not planning any more gigs or releases for the foreseeable future - I should make it clear that the band members are all on amicable terms and are supportive of the need to call a halt.

This seems like a good time to thank everyone who has helped and encouraged Reuben along the way; some of you have been there from the start, others from last week, some are within the music industry, others are simply fans - it doesn't matter which, you are all important and have given great strength to all concerned.

And there's that sound again. It doesn't make clear whether or not the halt is definite, but it looks so. This + SikTh = egg-sucking all-round.

SikTh Split Up

SikTh's blog:

It deeply saddens the four of us to announce that we are closing the book on SIKTH... it's time to split up. ... We are so proud of all that we have achieved as Sikth and we have agreed to work together again in the future. ... And finally, we owe such huge and sincere thanks to all of you for listening to our music and enabling us to live our dream. ... Your loyalty will never be forgotten.

What can i say...? At least i got to see them play live...

And English metal gets a little more bleak.

Neuroplasticity

'The ability of mere thought to alter the physical structure and function of our gray matter':

When OCD patients were plagued by an obsessive thought, Schwartz instructed them to think, "My brain is generating another obsessive thought. Don't I know it is just some garbage thrown up by a faulty circuit?" After 10 weeks of mindfulness-based therapy, 12 out of 18 patients improved significantly. Before-and-after brain scans showed that activity in the orbital frontal cortex, the core of the OCD circuit, had fallen dramatically and in exactly the way that drugs effective against OCD affect the brain. Schwartz called it "self-directed neuroplasticity," concluding that "the mind can change the brain."

Bed[-]sharing 'drains men's brains'/Russians' 'Creative' Job Interviews

Bed[-]sharing 'drains men's brains':

[...]When men spend the night with a bed mate their sleep is disturbed, whether they make love or not, and this impairs their mental ability the next day.

The lack of sleep also increases a man's stress hormone levels.

According to the New Scientist study, women who share a bed fare better because they sleep more deeply.[...]

*

If you survive the interview, you get the job

I read this in last week's Sunday Times, and knew i had to type it out, here. Thankfully, it's on-line:

AT FIRST the job interview seemed to be going well for Natasha Grishkina. The questions were straightforward and the female interviewer seemed friendly. But suddenly the atmosphere changed.

The woman started shouting, accusing Grishkina of lying about her qualifications. Yelling abuse, she ordered the 26-year-old applicant to leave, throwing her CV after her.

The next day the same recruiter telephoned to offer her the job. Her hostility, she explained, had been faked to test how Grishkina reacted to difficult situations. “I was so shocked I told her to get lost,” said Grishkina, a public relations manager in Moscow.

As Russian businesses grow more competitive, employers are increasingly using the so-called “stressovoye” — stressful interview — to help them hire the best staff. Interviewers shout at applicants, throw water over them, insult them and ask intimate personal questions.

Elena Agoshina, a 32-year-old personal assistant, stormed out of a job interview at a Moscow headhunting firm when the female recruiter first congratulated her on her successful interview, then said there was one small formality: her future boss liked Scandinavian-looking women and “before you get the job we’ll have to colour your hair and improve your nose and lips with a bit of plastic surgery. But don’t worry we’ll pay for everything”.[...]

Recruiters claim unconventional methods help them to assess potential staff more accurately. Throwing a glass of water in someone’s face is said to be especially revealing: the interviewee is considered to have strength of character and leadership qualities if they react aggressively.

If the humiliation fails to provoke a reaction, the candidate is seen as ideal for a boss seeking a submissive deputy with little ambition who will pose no threat.[...]

Some firms call new employees with a bogus job offer from another company. Those who express an interest are sacked for disloyalty.

However, many in Russia find such tactics unacceptable. Grigory Ganin, 32, a Moscow telecommunications manager, said: “No serious professional would stand for such treatment. If a recruiter threw water at me I would definitely hit him in the face.”

Clearly he is a born leader.

Indeed.