Business Etiquette Goodbye Message

Business Etiquette Goodbye Message (Issue 20: July, 2009) by Mary CullenIt is summertime, and my deepest wish is that you are enjoying some time off, rejuvenating and relaxing. Sadly, many in this economy are encountering forced time off. This issue looks at the challenging business etiquette quandry of how to professionally write a goodbye message if you have lost your job.It is painful to lose your job. Whether it is due to a merger, layoffs, poor sales or a personality conflict, so many emotions rage: worry, stress and resentment. There is a hilarious layoff scene in the movie "Broadcast News:"Manager: Now, if there's anything I can do for you...Employee: Well, I certainly hope you'll die soon. As much as we might momentarily feel better with this scathing retort, it will not help us find new and better work.Instead, respond professionally to the notification, close out all work responsibilities fully, and foster connection with all contacts. Here is an example of a good message notifying colleagues you are leaving:Hi Carmen, (If you are friendly enough for a personal message notifying the recipient of your departure, use the more personal salutation "Hi" followed by a comma. More on salutations.)Tomorrow, July 29, will be my last day at Acme Company. I'm departing to new adventures. I don't yet know what they'll be, but I'm sure they will be wonderful. (Without overtly stating so, it's clear this person did not leave for another position. Yet, there is absolutely no bitterness. If you know what you will be doing, state it here..."I will be taking time off to care for my infant son." or "I am entering an MBA program at Rutgers.")It has been a joy to work with you during my time here. You are so energetic and positive, and I sincerely hope we stay in touch and find future opportunities to work together. (State something truthful and specific about this particular recipient, so it feels sincere and targeted, not a mass email. Also indicate your desire to stay in touch.)Gerry Malvers (gmalvers@acme.com) and Suresh Patel (spatel@acme.com) will be your new contacts for procurement. Feel free to contact them with any questions regarding your accounting services in the future. I have given them your contact information and briefed them on the work you've done so well for Acme. (Provide clear information about how your recipient will connect with your company or department, and any relevant information they need.)I wish you great success, and hope we get to work with each other again! I look forward to your updates on Facebook and/or LinkedIn. (This assumes you are already connected on Facebook and LinkedIn. If not, tell them you will be sending them a connec tion request, or provide your own contact information on these networks. If you do not yet use LinkedIn or Facebook, let this be a reminder to establish your presence on these social networks before you may need it. This is most important - you have honed good relationships, so stay connected with them. If you do not use LinkedIn or Facebook, provide your personal email address instead.)Best regards,Jeanine Ready to commit to improving your business writing so it is a career advantage?

Tobacco and the Origins and Domestication of Nicotiana

Tobacco and the Origins and Domestication of Nicotiana Tobacco (Nicotiana rustica and N. tabacum) is a plant that was and is used as a psychoactive substance, a narcotic, a painkiller, and a pesticide and, as a result, it is and was used in the ancient past in a wide variety of rituals and ceremonies. Four species were recognized by Linnaeus in 1753, all originating from the Americas, and all from the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Today, scholars recognize over 70 different species, with N. tabacum the most economically important; almost all of them originated in South America, with one endemic to Australia and another to Africa. Domestication History A group of recent biogeographical studies reports that modern tobacco ( N. tabacum) originated in the highland Andes, probably Bolivia or northern Argentina, and was likely a result of the hybridization of two older species, N. sylvestris and a member of the section Tomentosae, perhaps N. tomentosiformis Goodspeed. Long before the Spanish colonization, tobacco had been distributed well outside its origins, throughout South America, into Mesoamerica and reaching the Eastern Woodlands of North America no later than ~300 BC. Although some debate within the scholarly community exists suggesting that some varieties may have originated in Central America or Southern Mexico, the most widely accepted theory is that N. tabacum originated where the historical ranges of its two progenitor species intersected. The earliest dated tobacco seeds found to date are from early Formative levels at Chiripa in the Lake Titicaca region of Bolivia. Tobacco seeds were recovered from Early Chiripa contexts (1500-1000 BC), although not in sufficient quantities or contexts to prove tobacco  use with shamanistic practices. Tushingham and colleagues have traced a continuous record of smoking tobacco in pipes in western North America from at least 860 AD, and at the time of European colonial contact, tobacco was the most widely exploited intoxicant in the Americas. Curanderos and Tobacco Tobacco is believed to be one of the first plants used in the New World to initiate ecstasy trances. Taken in large amounts, tobacco induces hallucinations, and, perhaps not surprisingly, tobacco use is associated with pipe ceremonialism and bird imagery throughout the Americas. Physical changes associated with extreme doses of tobacco use include a lowered heart rate, which in some cases has been known to render the user into a catatonic state. Tobacco is consumed in a number of ways, including chewing, licking, eating, sniffing, and enemas, although smoking is the most effective and common form of consumption. Among the ancient Maya and extending down to today, tobacco was a sacred, supernaturally powerful plant, considered a primordial medicine or botanical helper and associated with Maya deities of the earth and sky. A classic 17 year-long study by ethnoarchaeologist Kevin Goark (2010) looked at the use of the plant among the Tzeltal-Tzotzil Maya communities in highland Chiapas, recording processing methods, physiological effects, and magico-protective uses. Ethnographic Studies A series of ethnographic interviews (Jauregui et al 2011) was conducted between 2003-2008 with curanderos (healers) in east central Peru, who reported using tobacco in various ways. Tobacco is one of over fifty plants with psychotropic effects used in the region that are considered plants that teach, including coca, datura, and ayahuasca. Plants that teach are also sometimes referred to as plants with a mother, because they are believed to have an associated guiding spirit or mother who teaches the secrets of traditional medicine. Like the other plants that teach, tobacco is one of the cornerstones of learning and practicing the art of the shaman, and according to the curanderos consulted by Jauregui et al. it is considered one of the most powerful and oldest of plants. Shamanistic training in Peru involves a period of fasting, isolation, and celibacy, during which period one ingests one or more of the teaching plants on a daily basis. Tobacco in the form of a potent type of Nicotiana rustica is always present in their traditional medical practices, and it is used for purification, to cleanse the body of negative energies. Sources Groark KP. 2010. The Angel in the Gourd: Ritual, Therapeutic, and Protective Uses of Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) Among the Tzeltal and Tzotzil Maya of Chiapas, Mexico. Journal of Ethnobiology 30(1):5-30.Jauregui X, Clavo ZM, Jovel EM, and Pardo-de-Santayana M. 2011. â€Å"Plantas con madre†: Plants that teach and guide in the shamanic initiation process in the East-Central Peruvian Amazon. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 134(3):739-752.Khan MQ, and Narayan RKJ. 2007. Phylogenetic diversity and relationships among species of genus Nicotiana using RAPDs analysis. African Journal of Biotechnology 6(2):148-162.Leng X, Xiao B, Wang S, Gui Y, Wang Y, Lu X, Xie J, Li Y, and Fan L. 2010. Identification of NBS-Type Resistance Gene Homologs in Tobacco Genome. Plant Molecular Biology Reporter 28(1):152-161.Lewis R, and Nicholson J. 2007. Aspects of the evolution of Nicotiana tabacum L. and the status of the United States Nicotiana Germplasm Collection. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution  54(4):727-740.Mandondo A, German L, Utila H, and Nthenda UM. 2014. Assessing Societal Benefits and Trade-Offs of Tobacco in the Miombo Woodlands of Malawi. Human Ecology 42(1):1-19. Moon HS, Nifong JM, Nicholson JS, Heineman A, Lion K, Hoeven Rvd, Hayes AJ, Lewis RS, and USDA A. 2009. Microsatellite-based Analysis of Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) Genetic Resources. Crop Science 49(6):2149-2159.Roulette CJ, Hagen E, and Hewlett BS. 2016. A biocultural investigation of gender differences in tobacco use in an egalitarian hunter-gatherer population. Human Nature 27(2):105-129.Tushingham S, Ardura D, Eerkens JW, Palazoglu M, Shahbaz S, and Fiehn O. 2013. Hunter-gatherer tobacco smoking: earliest evidence from the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Journal of Archaeological Science 40(2):1397-1407.Tushingham S, and Eerkens JW. 2016. Hunter-Gatherer Tobacco Smoking in Ancient North America: Current Chemical Evidence and a Framework for Future Studies. In: Anne Bollwerk E, and Tushingham S, editors. Perspectives on the Archaeology of Pipes, Tobacco and other Smoke Plants in the Ancient Americas. Cham: Springer International Publishing. p 211-230.Zagorevski DV, a nd Loughmiller-Newman JA. 2012. The detection of nicotine in a Late Mayan period flask by gas chromatography and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry methods. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 26(4):403-411.