Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with spin

Questions about PR job interview

t0astie — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:23:55 -0800

Oh my! I've been shortlisted for a PR job at a university. AskMe, what might they ask me at the interview, and have you any tips as to how I ought answer? I'm a (newspaper) journalist who's been shortlisted for a job doing PR at a university. Hurrah! I understand from this question how my reporting experience will be valuable to a PR employer. But I'm a bit at sea as to what PR-specific questions might ask me at the interview tomorrow.

I've had a look at areas of research the interview panel members specialise in with a view to tailoring my responses in the interview; am au fait with the university's media and marketing efforts, including social media, and I'm able to provide specific examples of how I can leverage my experience/skills into positive coverage for them.

I'm also OK with general interview stuff – how to answer the ''Where do you see yourself in five years / what's your greatest weakness / why did you leave your last job?'' type questions.

But PR specific questions? And University PR? The only other question I can think of is how might I approach damage control and negative incidents.

i) What else might they ask me?
ii) How could I best answer?
iii) Have I forgotten anything?

Also: I'm in Australia, not the US if that makes any difference.

Thank you AskMe. (And wish me luck!)

How to find the number of pages in back issues of magazines.

imjosh — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 05:44:36 -0800

Please help me find out how many pages are in back issues of several popular magazines. I'm doing some research into shrinking magazine size and one portion of this is to try and find the number of pages in several magazines, specifically; Blender, Esquire, WIRED, Maxim and SPIN. Ideally I'd love to know the number of pages v. ads in every issue but I think that's a reach.

Do you know where I could track this information down?

Is there a certain person on a magazine staff who I should approach to try and find this?

Do you have the last 12 issues of any of these and can help me out?

Perhaps I should hire an Amazon turker...

Is Scott McCLellan a patriot or a weasel?

minkll — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:30:52 -0800

Who spins for the White House? As O'Reilly berated Scott McCLellan he made him admit that he wasn't getting talking points from the White House. Who are the "pundits and commentators" who do get these talking points. I've heard Rush Limbaugh, the O'man mentioned Chris Matthews. Who else? Michael Gordon? Roger Ailes?

External hard drive keeps waking up

one_bean — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:15:24 -0800

Why does my external hard drive (OS X) keep spinning up? I have a Mac Mini connected to a Lacie external hard drive. I've had them for about a year and a half, but about two weeks ago, the hard drive started spinning up every two minutes or so. All the time. How should I go about investigating this?

Hard drive pain.

gjc — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:15:04 -0800

Highly technical hard drive filter: My hard drive failed. Came home, and PC was sitting at the "where's my hard drive" BIOS screen, to my great horror. My question is more of a "please confirm my diagnosis" and "what have I missed" sort of thing. Hard drive does not spin at all. In fact, it does nothing at all. Doesn't spin, click, hum, vibrate, whine. And the PC doesn't see it.

I looked at the controller board and could find no burnt spots nor any visual indication that something was fried. I even pulled off the board to make sure the contacts were clean. Completely fine, visually. If I give the drive a twist along the axis of the platters, I can hear them move, so I know the platters aren't stuck. And there is nothing rattling around inside.

So my thinking is that the controller simply went belly up, and if I go out and get another identical hard drive and swap controllers, it will function long enough to get the data off. I have done this in the past with success, on an older IDE drive of the 4GB vintage. This drive is a 7 year old SATA drive.

But there are comments on websites saying that there is "tuning" information on the controller, and thus it won't work. I'm not sure I believe that- sounds more like scare tactics perpetrated by data recovery people to drum up business. But maybe not? Is the bad sector table stored on the board?

Anyway, thanks in advance.

It's a great place for a holiday, but I wouldn't want to live there.

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:38:45 -0800

How do I tell my friends and family that I'm just not going to move home? I moved away from home for college, and now I'm about to graduate. People back home have assumed that I would be moving back when I graduate, which is not unreasonable given it's a larger city with better job prospects - net migration goes from here to there. However, I've decided that I don't want to go back - I've finally settled in here, made friends, have networks. I'm still friends with people back there, but I've changed and I am not keen on going back and adjusting my social life back to my school friends, fun though it is to catch up with them on visits. I would honestly rather move to a new city altogether, because I'd be more confident about being myself.

So: What's the best way to (publicly) justify not moving back, when the real reason is basically 'I have better friends here now and I'm scared I'll turn back into a screwed up kid'? Or does this sound like the wrong decision?

I have to become an athlete for one night: what do I eat?

grumblebee — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:57:58 -0800

My boss has challenged me to complete some sort of marathon workout at his gym. I'm not very athletic, but if I can finish, my boss will buy all his employees an expensive steak dinner. I need tips -- especially as to what/when to eat. The workout is at 8pm tonight. The workout is a combo spin class and weight-lifting course. It's only one hour long. Apparently, you ride the bikes for a while (alternating tension), then you stop, lift weights for a while, and then get back on the bikes. And it continues to alternate this way for the whole hour.

It seems you have some control over how heavy the weights are, which is good because I never lift weights and have low upper-body strength.

On the other hand, I ride a stationary bike (very fast) for an hour every morning.

I've only ever worked out in the morning. This event is at 8pm. I got a good night's sleep last night, and so far I've only eaten a power-bar for breakfast. I'm drinking a lot of water.

What can I do to maximize my changes of getting trough the workout. Eat before? Don't eat before? Carbs? Proteins?

I will be at work all day, so I can't do all that much prep. But I will be able to control what and when I eat.

So, why did you leave your last job?

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 20:03:50 -0800

My very first post-college job has little resemblance to the one for which I interviewed. In a couple of weeks, my trial period is up. I do not intend to take the option for employment. How do I spin this in future interviews? When I was offered this job as a Java programmer with a year-old startup, I negotiated a salary based on information in the interview. They described a relaxed work environment. It was described as a "full time job" when I asked about the approximate number of hours I'd be expected in the office, and in discussion of salary the phrase "40 hours" was mentioned. Furthermore, I interviewed for a position that existed to develop a new product from the ground up on a platform with which I had a great deal of experience.

In reality, the work environment is anything but relaxed. I expected to work hard, but I hadn't expected to be ordered about on an hourly basis responding to the arbitrary whims of my superiors. Schedules are prepared by my superiors (who have no technical background whatsoever) with little or no input from engineering, and the two of us engineers are expected to complete them "on time" by working overtime (unpaid, of course, since we're salaried). This can amount to 60-hour weeks for weeks on a stretch.

Recently, the comfortable 10-6 schedule I was enjoying so much was dessimated by a decree that we should arrive no later than 9.30. No other information on this new policy was given. When I arrived half an hour late, in the middle of the eternal "crunch time", I was sent home and my pay was docked.

The generally non-relaxed atmosphere, the below-median salary, and the nearly non-existant benefits have lead me to decide that I cannot continue my employ with this company.

I hear constantly in all advice about interviews, not to be negative about previous employers. Likewise, these people are not going to provide a good reference; in their eyes, I'm sure I underperformed. So when asked why I left, I'm going to have a hard time explaining this positively. Likewise, I'm going to need to qualify the report they might get from my previous manager.

However, I don't just want to leave these folks off my resume. The development was smack dab in my field, and I learned more there in the three months than I did in a year of university. The knowledge I have is an asset that I don't wish to deny.

My entire trial period is 1099, so can I spin this as a contract-to-hire gig that I just didn't take the hire option on?

3DsMax website plugin to zoom, spin and tag

spinko — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 03:10:21 -0800

3D-filter I need to know if there is some sort of web plugin that can show full 3dsMax creations on the web. Spin, Zoom and Tag, more info after the link... Originally I was thinking of rendering the animation as a movie and then streaming it in Flash on the web.

However my client wants to be able to spin the 3d creation and have the ability to zoom in and possibly tag areas of the 3d image.

This needs to be embedded into a html page. I know that Nokia had something similar with their showcased phones years ago. You could rotate the phone, open cases, turn on, etc. It doesnt need to be that advanced, just zoom, rotate and possible tag.

Another problem, it needs to be easy to import from 3DsMax and foolproof.

Thanks.

Wicked slice, Jim.

gleuschk — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 04:00:03 -0800

Theoretical physics of a ball in flight: could I put so much spin on a ball that it came back at me? Assuming drastically reduced gravity (so no worries about the ball hitting the ground), and an extremely curve-prone ball of significant mass (so it maintained its spin as long as possible against air resistance), is it possible to impart so much sideways spin that the curve of the ball turns it completely around, so if I hit it north, it would eventually be heading south? If so, could it even be made to do a complete loop and head back to the north again?

Putting a professional spin on my Burning Man experience.

lannanh — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 13:19:23 -0800

How can I spin my experience so it sounds more professional? I am trying to switch careers and move into professional event planning. I have tons of experience doing this for my Burning Man theme camp yet I do not want to say outright that a bulk of my event planning, promotion experience is derived from Burning Man due to the stigma(?) surrounding it.

Camp planning and fundraising are a lot of work all of which would be applicable in a professional setting. How do I show them the extent of my experience without them thinking I'm a drugged out hippy raver freak? Unfortunately, our camp name doesn't sound remotely professional. We do toss around a name as a joke that may pass for something less silly, would it be misleading to use that name. And I'm still stuck trying to explain why we throw these events.

Any helps appreciated and I'll invite you all to my blow out party if I land a job in the field.

What does 'Terror' mean?

beniamino — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 12:33:32 -0800

Is the definition of 'terror' as 'Violence committed or threatened by a group to intimidate or coerce a population, as for military or political purposes' a recent development, or a regional variation? The American Heritage Dictionary includes this as one of its definitions. Merriam-Webster has a similar definition. Coming from the UK, I have never known the word could be used this way. I would use 'terrorism' to mean this. To me, the main definition of 'terror' is an emotion or mental state.

The Oxford English Dictionary seems to agree with me (can't link to it, sorry). It has three definitions: 'The state of being terrified or greatly frightened...', 'The action or quality of causing dread', 'A person (occas., a thing) fancied to excite terror'.

My question: Has this definition of 'terror' as 'an act of violence' been used by US (or other) English speakers for a long time, or is it a new meaning that has resulted from recent political usage?

[Obviously, it affects how you interpret the term 'War on Terror'. I'm interested because of the debate in this thread. However, I'd really like to avoid any political debate here.]

Health Insurance Application Spin?

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 19:31:39 -0800

Do I have to represent myself with a flawlessly healthful past to be approved for individual (Blue Cross) health insurance? I'm not talking about fraud here; I'm just wondering what the standards are on truth vs. spin. I don't have any major illnesses or conditions to cover up, but I've always heard that when filling out a health history you're expected, (even by doctors and insurance brokers) to obfuscate a bit, and if you mention a medical issue, it's assumed to be much, much worse and you get blackballed. The form is asking for every detail of every single medical issue I've encountered in the last DECADE. Do I pretend I haven't had "sign or symtoms" of anxiety, acne, dizziness, infections or athlete's foot since 1995? If I say I have a glass of wine with dinner do they assume I'm a drunk? And if I omit anything, will they catch me by checking my doctor's records, specifically on prescriptions? I'd prefer to be completely honest, but if I get turned down I may just move to Canada, or someplace with a sane health system.

Misreading Books and Movies

Raybun — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 08:45:00 -0800

Many people, including myself, read personal observations and see references to current events in literature that do not reflect the authors thinking on a subject. An example is the Robert Frost poem Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening as being a reflection on suicide. Frost has denied that this was his reference. Some current book and movie viewers and some reviewers also see references to current United States politics in current books and movies. Revenge of the Siths and the latest Harry Potter novel are examples. What is this called? Can it be recognized when someone is putting spin on a work that the author/director never intended?