News You May Have Missed This Week

Sept. 28, 2012

Thanks to multiple ways to keep informed available and the
hard limit of 24 hours in every day, keeping up with the news is harder than
ever. So as a semi-regular service of the SoundOff! Team, we bring you a few
stories you may have missed that you'll wish later you hadn't.

Thanks to multiple ways to keep informed available and the
hard limit of 24 hours in every day, keeping up with the news is harder than
ever. So as a semi-regular service of the SoundOff! Team, we bring you a few
stories you may have missed that you'll wish later you hadn't.

Nanoline 2013 Contest. Another chance to get the young ‘uns excited about process
automation. Work hard and you could win a trip to Germany!
Register online between now and October 6.

Emerson Process Management's chief expert on all things social media, Jim Cahill, shares this on why social media could be the next big thing in process automation-and no, it's not because it enables checking your fantasy football standings at work.

This from the folks over at Industry Week: Last week, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) released a report titled, "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Competitiveness Woes Behind: A National Traded Sector Competitiveness Strategy," by Stephen Ezell and Robert Atkinson. In the report, they state, "A comprehensive strategy aimed at strengthening U.S. establishments competing in global markets is needed for the United States to boost short-term recovery and long-term prosperity..." A good, thoughtful read.

Speaking of reads, a book on alarm management has won the ISA Award for best-selling book of 2011. Seriously, Eddie Habibi and Bill Hollifield are experts in this field. This might be one book you want to add to the stack on your nightstand.

And our inevitable "Bad News Story of the Week."  This time, it's a South Korean chemical plant. Not as bad as the Pakistani factory fire of a couple of weeks ago, but pretty bad just the same.

Out of Control

Finally, what would a Friday afternoon be without a little silliness and News of the Weird?

First, there's what is, in my book, either the strangest idea out there or the culmination of iPhone technology-Smart Socks.  

And the Animal Video of the Week: What Happens When Engineers Own Dogs.

Plus, when cats do political commentary or spend too much time watching French movies while you're at work, you get this.