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Geotechnical News • June 2012
ASFE NEWS
an employee’s value by offering to
do something together, as equals. For
example, you might say, “I’m attend-
ing a writing seminar so I can improve
my proposal-writing skills. Would you
be interested in going with me?” This
is flattering to the employee because
the company wants to invest in the
person’s skills improvement, and
because it regards the employee as
someone who will be writing propos-
als.
5. Let people name their own
reward.
Rather than giving a standard
this or that for work well done, ask
people what they want; e.g.: “You did
an amazing job on that Foley project.
What can I do to reward you?” Doing
this can be scary, but it demonstrates
trust. And more often than not, the
reward sought is not that grandiose,
but it does have real meaning to the
person that deserves it.
What’s the common element in each
of the five? Each uses a different
means to say, “I trust you.” That can
be powerful praise indeed.
You’ve just got to be kidding
Let’s hear it for the late Philip A.
“Phil” Contos, of Parish, NY, an avid
Harley Davidson fan and an even
more avid opponent of mandatory
motorcycle-helmet laws. Combin-
ing his love and hate, Phil decided
to join fellow members of the NY
chapter of American Bikers Aimed
Towards Education (ABATE) in a
bare-headed, Saturday, July 2, Inde-
pendence Day-weekend ride to protest
what he regarded as an infringement
of his inalienable right to experience
a serious-but-avoidable head injury
and lay comatose in a hospital for
20 years at taxpayers’ expense. Phil
climbed aboard his 1983 Wide Glide
and was off, heading south on Route
11 in Onondaga, the wind in his face.
Not too much later, at 1:30PM, Phil
hit the brakes for reasons unknown,
causing his bike to fishtail. Phil lost
control, went over the handlebars, hit
his head on the pavement, and died on
the spot. According to State Trooper
Jack Keller, evidence at the scene
and information from the attending
physician indicated that Phil would
have survived had he been wearing
a Department of Transportation-
approved helmet.
Road warrior
There seems to be no such thing as a
standard airplane seating layout. Each
airline decides its own design. So how
do you know what the best seats are?
Simple:
.
Just insert the name of your airline
and the flight number, and you’ll learn
how your plane is configured and so,
where to sit. Face it: Every little bit
helps!
Thought for the issue
Cheap geoprofessional services can be
expensive.
Philadelphia courts named “top
judicial hellhole”
Philadelphia’s civil courts comprise
the nation’s worst “judicial hellhole,”
with courts in California coming in
second, followed by West Virginia’s
in third, according to the new
report issued by the
American Tort Reform Association
(ATRA), a group ASFE helped found
in 1986. ATRA accorded fourth place
to South Florida’s courts, perennial
all-stars thanks to the dedicated work
of the area’s well-known auto-accident
fraud racketeers.
Two neighboring counties in Illinois
– Madison and St. Clair – combined
to make a triumphant return to the
hellhole list, in fifth place, after recent
civil-justice reform efforts there
stalled. New York City and Albany
collectively took sixth place, thanks
to a never-ending stream of petty
lawsuits and personal-injury lawyers
who block reform. In seventh, Clark
County, Nevada, earning its recogni-
tion because of “an ongoing half-
billion-dollar miscarriage of justice,
which, at the very least, has contrib-
uted to spot shortages of a widely used
anesthetic.” And in eighth – making it
to the list for the first time (
drum-roll
please
) – McLean County, Illinois,
which adopted a novel asbestos-liabil-
ity theory that makes it unnecessary
for plaintiffs to show they were actu-
ally exposed to a defendant’s product.
The report also includes “dishonor-
able mentions,” with the top accolade
going to “an astounding Mississippi
Supreme Court decision that creates
unprecedented product liability for
defendants that never manufactured
or sold to consumers the products
in question.” Also criticized: an
Arkansas Supreme Court ruling that
strikes down the state’s statutory limit
on punitive damages and Missouri
appellate court decisions upholding “a
shameless class-action coupon settle-
ment first reported last year.”
But it’s not all gloom and doom!
According to ATRA president Tiger
Joyce, “This year’s report, more
so than any other in the past, also
emphasizes a boom in
good news
from
the states with an expanded Points of
Light section. Nearly 50 positive tort
reform laws were enacted in more than
20 states throughout 2011.” Why? “As
anemic economic growth and high
unemployment continue to plague
much of the country, many governors
and state legislators were determined
to make their states more competitive
and attractive to employers. A vari-
ety of tort reform measures figured
prominently in these policymakers’
pro-growth, job-creation agendas,”
Joyce said, citing new, comprehensive
reform packages in Wisconsin, Ten-
nessee, Alabama, and North Carolina.
Hand-held device can quickly
assess concrete structure’s
integrity, Alizadeh says
Aali Alizadeh, the 33-year-old CEO of
says that he and his
team have created a hand-held device
engineers can use to quickly assess the
structural integrity of concrete build-
ings and other structures. The device
