Random Acts of Blogging
A New Sniglet
Thursday, April 13th, 2006Remember Sniglets? Words that should be in the dictionary but aren’t? Why did they ever go away?
Anyway, I need a new one: what should we call that feeling you get when you accidentally type your password in the UserID field, and it shows up as actual characters instead of asterisks? You know – that feeling that everyone can see it now, even though no one is looking at the screen but you?
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging, Tech Talk | 2 Comments »
We Really, Really Appreciate This…
Tuesday, April 11th, 2006Red Envelope informs me that April 24-28 is Employee Appreciation Week.
First of all, I remember when this used to be called “Secretary’s Day.” My first year out of college, someone bought the office manager in our office a huge bouquet of flowers on Secretary’s Day, and she got royally pissed off that he thought of her as a secretary. Now, not only do we appreciate all of our employees (not just the secretaries!), but it takes a week, not a day.
Here’s the irony, though: The Thursday in Employee Appreciation Week Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, which itself used to have a different name (“Take Our Daughters to Work Day”). For the employees with kids, this day can be a lot of fun. For everyone else, especially the secretaries quite frankly, we’re basically telling them we appreciate them by making them take care of our kids all day.
Interesting thing, this Political Correctness, huh?
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 3 Comments »
The Most Trivial Piece of Trivia This Millenium
Tuesday, April 4th, 2006At 1:02:03AM tonight, the date and time will be:
01:02:03, 04/05/06
Of course, you know what that means….
That’s right: Absolutely nothing.
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Fun Facts from Charlotte
Tuesday, April 4th, 2006Two fun facts from my business trip to Charlotte:
1) The area of town where all the businesses are, typically referred to as “downtown” in most cities, is conveniently referred to as “uptown” in Charlotte. Takes a little getting used to, but no big deal…
2) Most of the office buildings have this sign posted in the lobby:
No Firearms Permitted on the Premises
Yes, that’s right – I said MOST buildings…
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Whatever happened to the Soup Nazi?
Monday, April 3rd, 2006For Seinfeld fans who might be wondering what ever happened to the (in)famous Soup Nazi (based on Mr. Al Yeganeh, located at 55th Street and 8th avenue in Manhattan, and on the web at http://www.originalsoupman.com), here’s a press release announcing several of his planned 100 grand openings throughout Manhattan and around North America, which each include a $10,000 donation to City Harvest (a New York hunger relief group) from his charitable organization, known as Soup For Life.
The press release says he opened his first store in 1984, in order to fulfill his desire to “feed the world.” It also gives a website and phone number for those interested in franchising opportunities.
I hope this man calls Jerry Seinfeld each and every day and thanks him.
And maybe brings him free soup.
Not that Seinfeld needs free soup.
Nevermind….
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The Best Reason to Own a Laptop … Ever!
Tuesday, February 21st, 2006Via InternetWeek:
Internet cafe computer mice are the second most bacteria-carrying item found in public facilities, surpassing toilet doorknobs and hand straps on busses, a study showed.
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The Year in Review…
Tuesday, December 13th, 2005James Lileks sums up 2005 for The American Enterprise Online. This will likely tick some people off, but I thought it was hysterical. (Hat tip: Instapundit)
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 2 Comments »
Another College List
Wednesday, November 9th, 2005Jeff Porten sent me a link to the Washington Monthly College Guide. Here’s the setup:
[Colleges] produce most of the country’s cutting-edge scientific research and are therefore indirectly responsible for much of our national wealth and prosperity. They are the path to the American dream, the surest route for hard-working poor kids to achieve a better life in a changing economy. And they shape, in profound and subtle ways, students’ ideas about American society and their place in it. It seemed obvious to us that these heavily subsidized institutions ought to be graded on how well they perform in these roles, so we set out to create the first annual Washington Monthly College Rankings. While other guides ask what colleges can do for students, we ask what colleges are doing for the country.
This is fascinating, especially since our Alma Mater, the University of Pennsylvania, came out #9 on the list (one of only three Ivy League schools to crack the top ten, and one of only three US News top ten to repeat on this list).
The authors conclude with this:
Imagine, then, what would happen if thousands of schools were suddenly motivated to try to boost their scores on The Washington Monthly College Rankings. They’d start enrolling greater numbers of low-income students and putting great effort into ensuring that these students graduate. They’d encourage more of their students to join the Peace Corps or the military. They’d intensify their focus on producing more Ph.D. graduates in science and engineering. And as a result, we all would benefit from a wealthier, freer, more vibrant, and democratic country.
OK, so this is going to sound really obnoxious, but here’s the thing: I wasn’t a low-income student. I also didn’t attend college in the hopes of joining the military or the Peace Corps. I went to college to get a good job that could turn into a career.
I think the Washington Monthly list is a valuable one, if the attributes measured are what one is looking for in a college. The right school can literally be a life saver for a kid who’s caught in a downward economic or social spiral, and this gives great insight into which schools excel at providing that service.
On the other hand, I don’t think I’m that unique in my collegiate goals. If memory serves, a great many of my fellow students also viewed college as the path to a career, rather than a societal “leg up.” My guess is that this has to do with their middle-class upbringings, in which college was affordable (or at least close to it) for most, and expected by just about all. High school could probably get you a job, but college enabled you to have a career. Given that, I’d love to see someone produce a list of colleges that are best at preparing their students for the job market. Factors could include strength of the recruiting department, number of interviews per graduating student, number of job offers, average starting salary, average salary after 5 years, etc.
Given that my kids will probably view college in much the same way I did (and given that my kids have yet to go to college), this would be both a valuable and interesting list to peruse.
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Philosophical Questions for the 21st Century
Thursday, October 20th, 2005If the person you’re talking to sneezes with his phone on mute, do you need to say “God Bless You?”
And if you say “God Bless You” while you’re on mute, and the person doesn’t hear it, is he really blessed?
Discuss…
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 2 Comments »
Plane Blogging…
Sunday, September 25th, 2005I’m sitting on a plane bound for Orlando (business conference in a Disney hotel). Some immediate observations that didn’t didn’t occur to me until I acutally boarded the plane:
– Before we boarded, they announced that there are more kids on the flight than adults.
– They didn’t preboard people with kids as they usually do because, well, what’s the point?
– Any adult that plans on needing a bathroom during the flight might as well forget it. I can imagine that it will be occupied the entire way down, and that the line to wait for the next one will not be a pleasant one.
– I’m sitting near the back of the plane, so I got on before most people, but when I got on, there were already *NINE* strollers tagged with “gate check” tickets on the jetway. I’m guessing there’ll be at least 20 by the time we takeoff.
– Nobody’s crying yet, but there have been about a dozen digital pictures taken since I sat down, so the most common sound on the plane is “CHEESE!!!”
– The scheduled movie is “Monster-in-Law.” I’m *SHOCKED* that it’s not an animated movie. Anyone on the plane with a portable DVD player (and an Elmo disc) will be heroes once we’re in the air…
– Just as I’m typing this, the kid behind me began kicking my chair, and the mother began scolding him to stop. It will be a competition the whole flight to see which is more annoying – the kicking or the scolding.
UPDATE:The crying as now begun. One kid for now, but we’ll see if it spreads. The mother is offering something called a “Baa-Baa” which seems to be helping. Wheeeeeee!!!
UPDATE #2:Flight’s over – if there was any crying, it was not loud enough to outshout my iPod headphones. Gotta love technology…
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging, The Disneyverse | 2 Comments »