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Strange Request
The following is an excerpt from an actual email I received today from an old college friend:
I have a special request to ask of you. I have become a semi-finalist in the second season of the “Apprentice” and have to list people as my “worst references.” It just requires a name and phone number. I was wondering if you would do me the honor?
When someone lists you as their “worst reference” should you be flattered or offended?
Best Amazon List
This is the funniest thing I’ve seen all year. Enjoy.
First A Rap Album, Now This
Yes, that was actually Cornel West appearing as a Zion Elder in The Matrix Reloaded. I sincerely wonder what his colleagues at Princeton are saying about his new film career.
Malaria Pills
My sister is in Senegal and she’s taking Malaria pills. She’s had some interesting dreams as a result:
Everyone always warns about these weird side effects you can get, like anxiety attacks and going bonkers in general. The only weird thing I’ve had is some pretty intense dreams. Last night I thought there were ducks and frogs in my bed. Then I dreamed that I went to the orthodontist to have my bottom retainer wire taken out, and all my teeth fell out. Apparently, the teeth-falling out dream is one of the most common. It supposedly signals a feeling of powerlessness. I wonder what it means if you think ducks are in your bed–can’t find anything on that one.
To paraphrase Freud: Sometimes a duck is just a duck.
Obligatory Raging Cow Post
It seems that pretty much everyone has been commenting on the Raging Cow site today. Some people have decried the use of weblogs as a tool for corporate marketing. Others have called for XML disclosure of all marketing interests on weblogs.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, for the record, that I don’t think this kind of marketing is going to become too prevalent in the future. People smell this kind of thing a mile away. Look at the outrage this cow shit caused today–the marketing droids definitely won’t want a repeat performance of this one.
However, I thing this Raging Cow marketing campaign was brilliant, nonetheless.
Nobody knew what Raging Cow was yesterday. By being the first to upset the standards and sensibilities of a particular emerging medium, Dr (no period) Pepper was able to effectively make Raging Cow the discussion topic of the day in that medium. If you don’t believe me, just look at Blogdex.
Pissing people off is generally a good way to get attention. I have no doubt that major media outlets from Playboy to The Wall Street Journal will soon pick up the story and run with it. Later this week people who have never even visited a weblog will read all about Raging Cow’s new marketing campaign.
Part of me has always believed that Paula Jones was the reason Bill Clinton was able to get elected in 1992. The scandal gave Clinton the media exposure he needed to win name recognition early in the campaign.
This weblog fiasco may just give Raging Cow the name recognition it needs to make a strong entry in the cutthroat non-alcoholic beverage market.
Can’t Wait Much Longer
This screenshot of a Mac OS X System Preferences panel for TiVo file sharing has been making the rounds.
When Home Media Option debuts, it’s going to kick some serious ass. I just hope I’ll be able to access my iTunes playlists from the TiVo.
Miracle on 34th Street
So David McCreery decided to send a letter to Santa via Federal Express and he was thoughtful enough to include a link so we could track the delivery route online.
Looks like Santa has relocated to Basalt, Colorado.
Way Too Much Free Time
I’m all for historical accuracy in period films, but sometimes people go just a bit too far.
Crossing My Fingers
I’m preparing to upgrade the server this evening to deal with some enigmatic issues. I’ll be moving from Redhat 6.2 to Redhat 7.2 and if all goes well it should only take a few hours.
Dear God I hope there won’t be too many issues resulting from the upgrades. Unfortunately, only time will tell.
Tonight I learned my sister Katie will be attending a summer program at Georgetown University. It should be pretty cool. It will be fun to show her around. Erin and I will have to keep her out of trouble.
Doublespeak
Main Entry: op·por·tu·ni·ty
Pronunciation: “ä-p&r-’tü-n&-tE, -’tyü-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ties
Date: 14th century
1 : a favorable juncture of circumstances
2 : a good chance for advancement or progress
Main Entry: 1prob·lem
Pronunciation: ‘prä-bl&m, -b&m, -”blem
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English probleme, _from Middle French, from Latinproblema, from Greek _problEma, _literally, obstacle, from _proballeinto throw forward, from _pro- _forward + _ballein _to throw — more at PRO-, DEVIL
Date: 14th century
1 a : a question raised for inquiry, consideration, or solution b : a proposition in mathematics or physics stating something to be done
2 a : an intricate unsettled question b : a source of perplexity, distress, or vexation c : difficulty in understanding or accepting
synonym see MYSTERY
If you look carefully at the above entries from Merriam-Webster Online, you might notice these two words have different meanings. When we allow the practitioners of corporate doublespeak to use the former when they really mean the latter, we do a grave injustice to our language. Know it. Learn it. Live it.
