Judy Smith: What is striking my fancy and makes me mad

Mon, 16 May 2005 22:46:28 GMT

Sam Ruby gives his part of IBM's new blogging guidelines.

Sam Ruby: "One of my early managers once shared with me the following piece of advice: if you don't get your hand slapped at least twice a year, you aren't pushing the boundaries hard enough."

I had a quote all picked out for the beginning of my book chapter, but this one might go there instead.

[Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger]

Mon, 16 May 2005 22:22:41 GMT

Be Cool to the Pizza Delivery Dude. We know them. We depend on them. We call them out on cold, rainy nights. Now, NPR listener Sarah Adams tells us why her life philosophy is built around being cool to the pizza delivery dude. [NPR Programs: All Things Considered]

Could do worse than have a life philosphy of being cool the the pizza dude

Mon, 16 May 2005 21:48:59 GMT

Make Your Blog Pay. How can bloggers make money from their daily efforts? Perhaps by getting paid for favorable reviews. ... J. Ryan has written an interesting story ("Blogging for Dollars") on new hidden forms of advertising that might make their way into the blogging scene. This is not really a story to encourage trust in blogs. By info@risolutions.de (Katja Riefler). [Poynter E-Media Tidbits]

Great, just what we need. More paid advertisments.

Mon, 16 May 2005 21:37:11 GMT

Merck Minds Its Manners. The drug giant's handbook for its salespeople has Congress offended. [The Motley Fool]

So - make a bet here. All the really serious ethical stuff that people should be looking at, we won't. But this? Language and small, something that can be changed with a strike of the workprocessor, we will rise to the challenge and rework yet once again all that silly, silly training course. Good business for the knife and fork school crowd I guess BUT what a waste of time and effort that would be.

Thu, 12 May 2005 01:25:50 GMT

Give Me an E!. The Texas House has approved legislation to ban sexually suggestive routines by school cheerleaders:

"Girls can get out and do all of these overly sexually performances and we applaud them and that's not right," said Democratic Rep. Al Edwards of Houston, who filed the legislation.
Edwards argued that lascivious exhibitions are a distraction for high school students that result in pregnancies, high school dropouts, contraction of AIDS and herpes and "cutting off their youthful life at an early age."

If Edwards hopes to turn the thoughts of teens away from sex, he'll have to restrict a lot more than an NC-17 rendition of "Rock Steady." He seems to have forgotten what it was like after the adolescent change of life known as Peter Brady, which turns the entire world into a lascivious exhibition.

When I was a teen, a legislator trying to protect me from knocking up a dropout would have banned all of the following:

The time Laura Dumais fell into my arms and my left wrist inadvertently reached second base
Drawing the She-Hulk naked
A breeze of at least three knots
Role-playing a female NPC with a charisma score of 15 or better in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
The scene in The Sword and the Sorceror where Kathleen Beller had to be lathered in oil to prepare for her wedding
Phoebe Cates

Good times. [Workbench]

Wed, 11 May 2005 23:23:35 GMT

In the World of NCLB It's All About the Data. This week I cut an advertisement from one of the educational technology magazines I get that featured the tag line: "It's All About the Data". In a fit of institutional subversiveness I tacked it on my bulletin board and added my own tag: "Wrong. It's All About the Students.

It's astounding the amount of energy, effort, and money that is now being poured into the testing, evaluation, and monitoring of student testing--all driven by No Child Left... [Brain Frieze]

Wed, 11 May 2005 22:31:13 GMT

Sexual scents and sensibility. JAMIE TALAN [Newsday.com Health News/Science News headlines]

Wed, 11 May 2005 22:28:26 GMT

Other cases of the 'syndrome'. STACEY ALTHERR [Newsday.com Health News/Science News headlines]

Fri, 06 May 2005 01:44:10 GMT

Fidelity's Heir Apparent: Still Abby. Abigail Johnson's shift from mutual funds to its more mundane benefits-outsourcing arm is probably to polish her skills before she takes over [BusinessWeek Online -- Top News]

This will be interesting to watch.

Fri, 06 May 2005 01:37:12 GMT

Stop Them Before They Shoot Again. Digital cameras are taking billions more pictures than anyone wants to see. The notion is finally dawning that perhaps less may still be more. By By AMY HARMON. [NYT > Technology]

Fri, 06 May 2005 01:27:58 GMT

Air Force Sets New Inquiry at Academy. There are complaints that evangelical Christians at the Air Force Academy intimidate those on campus who do not hold the same beliefs. By By LAURIE GOODSTEIN. [NYT > Education]

What is wrong with these people? They are so far from what is the basic tenet of what is their professed faith. It is like they don't real the Bible itself.. just some kind of PowerPoint bulleted version that skips over things like tolerance, sensitivity, etc. This makes the days of being at Greenville in the 70s and jokes about fighting the Christian Lion's den's seem tame and more like simple secular young adult rebellion than a religious boundary.

I've been around people like this for decades This behavior seems very unnaatural to me. I wonder if it is all tha victimization talk. Didin't that go out of vogue in the psychological mainstrem a few years ago? Now, it is alive and well in religious circles?

Fri, 06 May 2005 00:36:31 GMT

Q&A: Capgemini's Pierre Danon on restructuring. Capgemini COO Pierre Danon said the restructuring of the firm's North American division will place greater pricing and recruitment power in the hands of its top business leaders and bring the consulting and technology services firm closer to its customers. [Computerworld News]

Thu, 05 May 2005 01:24:25 GMT

Photo: Seeking the real Antonia Bayle. Sony Online Entertainment has announced a real-life quest for a woman who looks like the fetching "Everquest II" heroine. [CNET News.com]

Those marketing execs should just be looking at Sony and Everquest... The primer is here!

Thu, 05 May 2005 01:20:07 GMT

New Lobby, and Address, for a 1900's Hotel. The dome over a bar in the Hotel Carlton had been ignored for so long - decades, in fact - that the building's owners were not quite sure what its stained glass looked like. The layers of tobacco tar and dirt were so thick that the dome appeared to have been painted black. In fact, the glass held a cornucopia, its contents depicted in brilliant colors. By By JOHN HOLUSHA. [NYT > Business]

great story on restoration...

Thu, 05 May 2005 01:13:13 GMT

Working Moms Tear Down Office Walls. Women are reshaping the workday by interweaving jobs and parenting, thanks to technology, entrepreneurial smarts, and changing attitudes [BusinessWeek Online -- Top News]

Great article but the focus on the 20 to 30 year old demographic cohort is a bit misleading... But then, hey it is business week, what did I expect?
And of course, there isn't a way to give them feedback that the story is a bit bigger than they have covered...

Thu, 05 May 2005 01:08:00 GMT

N.B.A. Says Van Gundy Went Over the Line. Psychology aside, the game within the game took a day off, and the Jeff Van Gundy uproar will have to wait. By By LIZ ROBBINS. [NYT > Sports]

I get such a kick out of things like this. No assumption that it this guy might be telling the true, since after all, what could he possibly gain by starting up something like this if it doesn't have some truth to it? Nope, Stern just ASSUMES that it is more crazy shenninghans and his guys couldn't possibly be on th take... DUH!!!

Thu, 05 May 2005 01:05:11 GMT

New Technology is the Big Challenge for Madison Avenue's Executives. Advertising poo-bahs are gathering for an annual conference in Bermuda, where they will discuss how technology is challenging their ability to deliver commercials to consumers. By By STUART ELLIOTT. [NYT > Technology]

talk about bunch of people getting together to stare at their navels while the train leaves the station... Oh well, the longer they are lost in the clouds trying to figure out what is happening to their once automatic connection to the materialistic American consumer, the more we have a chance to break free of their influence and noise.

Thu, 05 May 2005 00:53:25 GMT

IBM LOGO MUST NOT BE MOVED. If you want to see the source of the prevailing PowerPoint paradigm today, look no farther than your own corporate PowerPoint template. If you don't have corporate template handy, it's pretty easy to find the PowerPoint template for many organizations... [beyond bullets]

This guy makes so much sense... No wonder 2500 people want to attend his webinar.
Great perspective on the realties of templettes, their cult of Queen Templet and their motto?
our work is done when we throw over the fence and hit you in the communication kester with it

Thu, 05 May 2005 00:44:11 GMT

Quote of the day: E-mail snoops and bathroom cams. Australian state attorney, in support of legislation to ban unauthorized spying on employees, likens e-mail snooping to surveillance cameras in changing rooms. [CNET News.com]

Go Aussies. Call this one for privacy!

Wed, 04 May 2005 23:05:08 GMT

A Gender Difference We Take for Granted. Everyone from university presidents to scientists have courted controversy with remarks about innate genetic differences between men and women. Commentator Lori Gottlieb points out that one area seems immune from the debate: communication. [NPR Programs: All Things Considered]

Wed, 04 May 2005 22:45:31 GMT

Adobe Unruffled by Macromedia Restatement (AP). AP - Adobe Systems Inc. says the restatement of Macromedia Inc.'s earnings for the past three years won't affect its planned takeover. [Yahoo! News: Technology]

Wed, 04 May 2005 15:37:39 GMT

6 Words You Don't Want To Hear When Your Project is on Deadline. "We better run that by Legal." [Brain Frieze]

Tue, 03 May 2005 19:21:02 GMT

Now they're wearing religion on their sleeves. T-shirts with edgy religious slogans or Christian imagery are suddenly in fashion. But what message do they send? [Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories]

pony meat lover may still have a chance - just need to get the victimization fantasy going on it.

Tue, 03 May 2005 18:33:17 GMT

Ugly Children May Get Parental Short Shrift. Parents would certainly deny it, but Canadian researchers have made a startling assertion: parents take better care of pretty children than they do ugly ones. By By NICHOLAS BAKALAR. [NYT > Health]

So this is the second time I've seen this thing. Frost me. This has so many research holes and yet, the MSM only quotes one person who questions the guys conclusion on the basis of inappropriate use of evolutionary theory. Duh, how about inappropriate study practices? This seems like a really, really tall order for only 400 participants that were "observed" at the grocery store. And, who defines what makes a kid ugly? Hell, almost every 8 year I've ever seen was ugly...

Dumb, dumb, dumb

Mon, 02 May 2005 20:15:31 GMT

Health Coverage Dispute Pits Older Retirees Against Younger. A recent federal court ruling forces employers who offer health insurance to early retirees to give comparable coverage to retirees who are 65 or older. By By MILT FREUDENHEIM. [NYT > Health]

Interesting to read this in at the same time I'm reading about the intergenerational fallout that is coming between retirees and their children. We're still fighting about the benefit discrepancies with the group with our entitlement mindset. Sigh.