The RatRaceRebellion.com Blog

Beware the Dread Home-Based Self-Doubt Syndrome

Working at home alone can give rise not only to what we call Species Deprivation Syndrome (when you find yourself talking earnestly to Elmo -- or better yet, Dorothy, his goldfish -- then waiting patiently for a reply, sometimes for days), the isolation can also breed self-doubt.

If you answer "yes" to any two of the following three questions, you're almost certainly an undiagnosed sufferer of HBSDS (Home-Based Self-Doubt Syndrome):

• Are you insomniacally sensitive to the tone of emails you receive in response to those you've sent?
• Do you habitually ask a significant other (or worse, hapless strangers you've stumbled into online) if your understanding of a given situation -- no matter how ludicrous, absurd, grotesque or melodramatic -- is accurate?
• Do you look at yourself alot in the mirror?

Any one of these work-at-home peculiarities can spell problems. But two or more... Well, let's just say that two or more are definitely cause for concern. Indeed, they're cause for self-doubt.

VW's "App My Ride" Contest Pushes Trend Toward the "CloudCar"

VW's is running a new contest -- App My Ride -- for the best Apps for its projected in-car "infotainment" system, joining Ford's Sync and other initiatives to transform the horseless carriage into a CloudMobile. 

With steadily-lengthening commutes, rapid population growth, thickening traffic and the mobile workforce in the US predicted to reach 120M by 2013 (source: IDC), it makes eminent marketing sense to build CloudCars. We lose billions of dollars in productivity alone (not to mention writhing in the toxic clutches of frustration, rage, and boredom) when we're jammed up on the road with nothing to do. 

What does this do for a rat race rebellion? Not sure. What do you think?

Fave Work-at-Home Job Lead of the Day - Online Teachers Wanted in VA

We need much more online teaching in the US. Get school buses off the roads, get kids off the roads (6AM pickups, anyone? Kids need sleep -- and so do parents! And we won't even mention highway accidents, no seatbelts in buses, etc.), let teachers and kids leverage this beautiful resource called the Net.

So herewith my favorite job lead of the day, which we posted to our "Fresh Job Leads" page this morning: Online Teachers Wanted in Virginia.

PS - Memo to Capitol Hill: We need tax incentives to let parents spend more time with their kids at home. Too many "time-starved parents and parent-starved children"!

Free Web Page Button Helps Job Seekers Control Search Results

Most job seekers probably worry (or should) about what prospective employers might bump into about them on the Net. Inebriated forum posts? Apoplectic tweets? Facebook indiscretions? MySpace shout-outs to, um, disconcerting bands?

Now, a free button from Vizibility helps you control at least the first few pages of what that inquisitive HR person might see.

Just fill out your profile and "[e]asily add [the button] to your LinkedIn, Facebook and other online profiles. Get notified when your search results change. Receive alerts when you are searched on Google."

I haven't tried it, but with all the casual material popping up in social networking trends, it might be worth a peek. (With a thumbs-up to Springwise -- much more detail on Vizibility there -- for the tip.)