Fall Foliage Spotter: Spot the colours

Ever wonder who decides when the fall foliage is at peak? Or what the difference is between 75 and 80 percent color? It is people like Steve Slayton, a county forester and foliage spotter.

Autumn brings changing colors to trees. Leaves change to various shades of yellow, orange, red and even purple. It may just be a chemical process of chlorophyll breaking down, but changing autumn leaves are a multimilliondollar business for tourism in many parts of the country, such as New England. Fall foliage viewing is a popular activity. Here's how to view fall foliage. The fall color season, Autumn usually runs from late September to mid-October.

"You have to know your area. Foliage varies not only because of climate, but from place to place and because of species variations. I was raised right here in Caledonia County, and I use familiar hillsides that I've been watching now for 36 years.” Steve Slayton says.

Fall foliage is determined by a number of factors, including shorter days, colder nights and the amount of moisture in the ground.

In United States of America, visitors spend some $400 million during the fleeting weeks of foliage in Autumn.

Vermont’s tourism department announced that Michael Snyder, commissioner of the Forests, Parks & Recreation department, had been named the state’s first official “Foliage Forecaster.” Vermont is likely the only state that could justify such a position. Leaf spotter as they are called; help monitor the state of the state's fall foliage. Twice weekly, he and the other spotters report what they see, which compiles the reports and relays the information to travelers who telephone the state's foliage hot line.

Fall foliage is always a hot topic for conversation in Vermont. And the spotters, many of whom have been doing the job for years, help take the guesswork out of foliage forecasts as they track the progression of color up in the hills and down in the valleys.

To avoid confusion, foliage spotters are requested to use specific termsin their reports. They talk about the stages as: early, mid-, near-peak, peak, past-peak and isolated color. Each stage usually refers to a specific elevation rather than a whole area.

It’s a seasonal job only in fall season. It’s for the person who loves to be out there in the nature. Although his job is very important since the official fall season would start based on the information he would provide. Visitors spend some $400 million during the fleeting weeks of foliage each fall.

Crime Scene Cleaner- One of the dirtiest Jobs!!!

As the police and fire agencies are the crucial agencies after any accident or deaths, similarly crime scene cleaners perform a very important task in the accident location.


Crime scene cleanup is the niche market in the cleaning industry and it involves cleaning of dangerous materials. It is called as CTS Decon –crime and trauma scene decontamination.

This may contain the chemically contaminated scene of any laboratory or anthrax exposure site. This also includes the biological contaminated scene of violent death ( suicide or accidental ). Crime scene cleaner does the restoration work by making the things back to normal.

In the family where any accident takes place, they don’t move out from their home. The cleaners are arranged to gather all the buzzards as any tissue, blood cells are considered the beginning of infection. If you have a thumbnail size spot on the carpet, there is a large probability that there will be a patch of about 2 feet beneath the carpet, that will be a major cause of infections.


The companies training the crime scene cleaners give them the thorough knowledge on what to look at the crime scene spot and how to handle the waste products at the crime location. It's not just to clean the spot, the goal of the crime scene cleaner is to entirely check the location and remove all the biohazards like infected body, skull, bones, contaminated body or damaged parts of the body. It is a very tactful job.


Every crime scene cleaner at least accept these three characters in them: a sympathetic nature , a strong stomach and the ability to emotionally detach from his workplace.


Crime scene cleaners charge up to 600$ per hour for their cleaning service and sometimes more depending on the stuff they are about to clean. It is the dirtiest job in the world but someone has to do.


It can cause emotional disorders also, therefore not meant for the emotional and heart disease people.

Professional Sleeper: Snooze for a living!

If you are one of those people who struggle to rise in the morning and could quite happily lay
in bed all day then you might want to look into a career as a professional sleeper.

Professional sleepers are lucky enough to get paid for sleeping as part of sleep research projects.
These projects help scientists and doctors figure out the mysteries behind numerous sleep disorders. There is lot said and read about sleeping.

Pat Phillips from Boston, Massachusetts is a professional sleeper. Pat is paid to participate in sleep research projects at area hospitals.

The salary for professional sleepers is $15,000 annually but can vary due to company, location and experience.

The benefits and the disorders of sleeping also its effect on body and mind, so how the doctors and researchers know all about it? Obviously they have to actually do the practical on someone who is sleeping. That’s how the professional sleeper job generated. Since it is a very important requirement for the researchers, they pay the sleeper well. Typically, professional sleepers participate in university studies on sleep or dreams, but other snoozers make sure beds are comfortable. Also, in a 2009 art show at The New Museum of Contemporary Art, women were paid to catch sleep as part of a “living art” exhibition. Not just doctors, but the students who are doing some researches on brain activity or dreams would also need professional sleeper. A professional sleeper will have a bunch of cords, wires, and research equipment put on them while they are sleeping. The students watch the brains activity and take notes on it while the person is sleeping.

An average salary for a professional sleeper could be around $15,000 per annum per it varies greatly due to company, location, industry and experience of the individual. Some places they received $10 an hour to sleep.

The job’s requirement is very simple; you get a very good sleep. And you can have a sound sleep in the middle of the hullabaloo of people and don’t mind having wires and tapes put all over you. What could go easier than just sleeping to earn your living?

Flavourist: Create an Aroma!

A flavorist, also known as flavour chemist, is someone who uses chemistry to engineer artificial and natural flavours. Flavourist needs to know what’s in a naturally occurring flavour before they can decide how to recreate it in the lab.

Large flavoring companies such as International Flavors & Fragrances, Givaudan, and Firmenich; smaller companies like Aromatech and Flavor & Fragrance Specialties; and the flavor divisions
of large food and beverage companies like Cadbury Schweppes and Kraft doneed the flavourist to make sure the flavour of their products are favourite among the masses. And for that purpose they higher Flavourists.

Lindsay Mahon, working at FONA for 11 years, completed her Society of Flavor Chemists Certification. She enjoys creating dessert flavors for chewing gum. In order to create an indulgent profile that tastes like the real dessert and captures the expectation of mouth feel, she has to rely on materials like pyrazines, lactones, and aldehydes. An appropriate balance of each is crucial to a well-rounded flavor that consumers prefer.

 

 

I realized that the creativity that is involved in flavour creation was something I enjoyed and could see myself doing it forever.
-Lindsay Mahon, Flavourist.

The tools and materials used by flavorists are almost the same as that used by perfumers with the exception that flavorists seek to mimic or modify gustation properties of various food products rather than creating just abstract smells. As well, they have to make sure the materials and chemicals that a flavorist utilizes for flavor creation must be safe for human consumption.

A trainee may get $50,000 a year, but a professional flavourist could make from
$200,000 to $250,000 a year.

Processes used in the food industry to provide safe products often affect the quality of the flavor of the food. To the detriment of the manufacturer, these technologies remove most of the naturally occurring flavors. To remedy the flavor loss, the food processing industry created the flavor industry. The chemists that tackled the demand of the food processing industry became known as flavorists, and, thus, the flavor industry was born.

To become a flavorist you should have a background in chemistry and a keen sense of taste and smell. The professionals works with chemicals to recognize and reproduce flavors for perfume, candy, and food manufacturers. Flavorists must work with aromas found in nature and then try to replicate them in a lab.


Educational requirements for the profession known as flavorist are varied. Flavorists may have had little or no formal education up to PhDs obtained in subjects such as Biochemistry and Chemistry. Because, however, the training of a flavorist is mostly done on-the-job and specifically at a flavor company known as a flavor house, this training is similar to the apprentice system. Being a flavorist requires creativity, in addition to an above-average sense of taste and smell. Flavorists have a good memory for scents. Motivation, patience and a willingness to experiment are also important.


Flavorists rely on the work of researchers who have analyzed about 80 to 90 percent of the components in most flavors. Armed with this information, flavorists determine which components are important to an overall flavor profile. They try to duplicate the original aroma. Worldwide, the flavor industry generates $18 billion a year in
revenue. Not bad! •

Music Critic: Music to your ear money to your pocket

Besides getting sent free CD's to review, music critics get backstage access and free concert tickets, often getting the opportunity to interview high profile musicians and performers, too.

Mark Swed has been chief music critic of the Los Angeles Times since 1996. He has also covered music for the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, and 7 Days, has also written for the New York Times, The New Yorker, The Economist, BBC Music and many other national and international publications.

The music critic may earn $150 for a CD review or between $100 and $500 for a feature article. An average salary for music journalists is $45,000 yearly.

So what do you need to become one? Music critics combine music studies with journalism. Many of them have earned a master's degree in a music-related field, such as music theory or musical performance, or in journalism. The music critic's goal is to describe the purpose and feeling of a particular piece of music as well as a technical breakdown of the composition. Some music critics focus on classical music, while others limits themselves to film scores. Many music critics, regardless of genre, can relate to the musicians they write about; they themselves are often musicians and/or composers. So if you love listening to music or it's your passion, you might like the job since music critic spend a great deal of time listening to music and then evaluating its quality for the purposes of informing and influencing consumers. In fact, the opinion of a reputable music critic can persuade or dissuade a consumer in his decision to purchase music.

Mark Swed has contributed liner notes for recording, program notes for concerts, and catalog essay for MOCA. Swed has received awards in criticism from the Los Angeles Music Center, ASCAP, the American Music Center.

Being a music critic can be an exciting job. Like any career in the entertainment or journalism industry, it takes clout and a keen sense of the latest and upcoming trends to be really successful. So if you are serious this career then do these few things :

• Entrench yourself in the local music scene. 

• Decide if you are going to focus on a certain genre of music. 

• Having a base knowledge and feel for many varieties of music will help you plan on writing for a magazine or newspaper.

•  Attend as many local, unknown artist performances as you can. 

• Talk to be band and get to know a little about their style of music. 

• Pitch your articles and yourself to newspaper and magazines.
  
  
  You are all set to try your hand or ear in Music.

The Office Party!!

We often see offices in India, celebrate festivals, be it Diwali or Christmas. And then, there are those office parties which we celebrate, such a success party or birthdays. So how to conduct a office party?

• Most important- Remember that this is one time where you are allowed to mix business with pleasure. So be ultra careful and handle pleasure with a lot of care.
  
• Unless specified that you can bring in a friend or your partner, refrain.
  
• This is one party where your boss will also be present. You can be yourself, but don’t forget to not let yourself go completely!
  
• If there is free flowing alcohol, that ultra careful bit I mentioned earlier, should be carried to the top of your brain from where it can issue you with safe warnings!
  
• Dress appropriately and please don’t give the wrong impression with your clothes.
  
• Do not stand in one place and never indulge in disapproving side glances!
  
• Be very careful if you are taking pictures. Always ask permission, especially if you are a social network fan and intend to post everything there!
  
• Never forget your Please and Thank You’s.
  
• Remember protocol works even here. If you are standing in line for dinner, it is indeed appropriate to offer a plate to your boss, who maybe standing behind you. What he does with it would speak for his etiquette of course.

Office parties are fun and great opportunities at clearing the air about misunderstandings and making friends. Be careful and smart.

Carnival Barker:A fun way to earn your living!

You might have seen a guy in any carnival or fairs, who is screaming and cracking jokes to get the attention of the visitors. He is actually doing his job, and he gets paid for that. He is called Carnival barker

 A Carnival barker is a person who uses voice and words to attract patrons to buy tickets for entertainment venues ranging from booths in carnivals to strip joints. Carnies, as they are called, might promise more than the show actually delivers in order to bring in a crowd. In fact, barkers have reputations for being hustlers who specialize in parting customers from their money. A barker may conduct a brief free show, introducing performers and describing acts to be given at the feature performance. Professional barkers dislike the term and refer to themselves as "talkers."

 

 

 

 

 For this job all you need is a very good voice, the ability to learn a carnival language and to be happy to work up to 18 hours per day. The pay for this job is around $250 per week.

This could be a good summer job for students. The job offers good pay, travel, and excitement. Long hours--often an 18-hour shift--are standard, and strong vocal cords are a must. It's also necessary to learn carnival language. A barker is a carny, a customer is a mark, a booth or concession is a joint, cheap prizes are slum.

In carnival lingo, a barker is a carny, a customer is a mark, a booth is a joint and cheap prizes are slum.

  Traveling carnivals used to be more common before than they are today as small towns had less entertainment and fewer attractions for people to enjoy. Barkers were part of the overall carnival experience. People who attended carnivals would be enticed to pay their entry fees by a barker.

Traditionally, barkers were unskilled laborers who had good voices and good people skills. A barker might also be a con artist. Even so, some barkers successfully moved into show business, including comedian and actor Jackie Gleason, television personality Ed McMahon and Col Tom Parker, Elvis Presley's manager.

Being a barker still has attractions for those who want to travel. The life of a barker can be challenging though as the carny must know how to deal with not only customers, but other eccentric carnies as well. So is it your cup of tea?