Rebecca's Blog
Mostly news stories or articles of interest in the future to me. I'll eventually get around to adding my own ideas and stories on a more regular basis.

 



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  Tuesday, August 12, 2003


Consumer Focus Groups. Fascinating stuff tonight. I won't go in to too many details, but I find it's so interesting to be "behind the glass" listeining to "real" customers. I was talking with some co-workers who are with me here, and we decided... [John Porcaro: mktg@msft]

I've done this on a small level and have the chance to do it more in the next few months.  Very fascinating.  I don't think any amount of self-opinions can show you exactly what happens in the real world with your products.  It can be vain when we think we know exactly how someone else will see something we see (sh'up, dallas) in the same way.  I love to hear the other opinions.  Any good focus group book/reading recommendations?


Comments11:20:01 PM    

I enjoyed reading this post.  I'm not sure I would say completely "I'm surrounded literally and virtually with nice, smart people who inspire me and whom I learn from almost daily..." about my job, but I would certainly say that about my life.  There's few things that make me smile more comfortably than a conversation with a nice, smart  person who wants to share their knowledge and excitement with someone else.  It makes me want to turn and do the same for someone else. 

I like Denise's posts from what I've seen so far. I have a feeling reading from nice, smart people will keep this an active part of my life (blogging, that is).

Smart nice people. I feel like one of the privileged folk to be able to honestly say that I like my job. I don't pop out of bed like a piece of toast every morning in gleeful anticipation, but I honestly find happiness in what I do. The reasons are simple - I'm surrounded l [Cheskin Perspectives: Denise Klarquist]


Comments11:12:22 PM    

More grist for Mill
Every now and then I get to pull back from my managerial duties and write a full-length piece. Today in Salon you can find my essay on John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty." It's part of the series we've been running called "Documents of Freedom" -- a look back at some of the pieces of writing and speech that form the foundation of the liberties Americans often take for granted. (Here's the full list so far.)

David Weinberger has posted an interesting response. David raises questions about what he sees as Mill's too-rational vision: "Nevertheless, Mill has always struck me, in his views on liberty as well as his utilitarianism's calm calculus of interests, as being overly rationalistic in his proposed methodologies, even while repudiating authority and legislated principle."

I think it's probably impossible that Mill, given who he was and how he was raised to be the Ultimate Utilitarian, could avoid seeming overly rational to us -- steeped as we are in all the irrationality that followed his era, in heaps of Freud and gobs of Nietzsche and decades of 20th-century horrors that have made us justifiably suspicious of Victorian progressives' optimism. And yet it's also clear to me that "On Liberty" intended to expand the boundaries of that utilitarianism in what, to Mill himself at least, probably felt like profoundly non-rational ways -- to encompass all of the eccentric traits and organically developed characteristics that make us individuals and that enrich the world without necessarily being useful in a way that Bentham would have recognized.

[Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment]
Comments11:09:06 PM    

I love to dance.  I love to look silly.  I love to make other people laugh.  When I was in college, on the way to classes I would sometimes drive around a few extra minutes to see if my crazy car-dancing could make people laugh.  It's weird, but true.  So, when I saw this link in Dave's blog, I really enjoyed it. 

http://davenet.userland.com/1998/05/24/heyPockyWay

From Dave

I could dance when I was a kid. Somewhere inbetween then and a few years ago I lost the ability to dance without worrying that I was looking silly. And of course worrying about that makes you look even sillier, and it spirals round and round, and it's not fun.

Then one evening, quite surprisingly, I saw a fat naked woman dancing at an amateur talent show. I had to look. She was good! Her big fat body had the rhythm of the music. Her huge breasts swung to the beat. A big funky happy smile on her face! It made the point. If a big fat naked woman can dance so beautifully in public, what do I have to worry about?

Hey it's quite the opposite way. The sillier your body looks the more fun you have dancing! The dance is about the smile on your face. That's all it's about. What better way to have fun than to laugh at the funky body you have? That's why a fat naked chick dancing in public can have so much fun. And that's how she taught me the secret to dancing.

OK. So as the music starts up, I hope it's loud enough but not toooo loud, let your body start moving, don't worry at all about dancing to the music. Just start moving. Let your arms jangle. Do something silly. Need an idea? Move your hands in front of your face. Put your palms up and massage the underside an invisible plate in front of you. Bounce up and down with your hands moving in this stupid way. Then do it your own most stupid way. Roll your eyes back inside your head. Sing along. Laugh! That's the key to dancing. It's your thing. Do what you want to do! It's the rhythm that's in you. That's the first thing to know. There's no right way to dance, no right set of steps. It's you man. It's you woman.

Now you're moving! Start paying attention to the music. See if you can get some of it to flow thru your body. Bounce up when the music bounces up. Let it down when the beat comes down. Do it again. Now start walking. Let your left hip lead you and bend backwards as you step. Now let your right hip lead. Go somewhere. Smile. Shout loudly. Wooo hooo! Shout something stupid. Make eye contact with someone. Bounce your bounce, but dig their's too. Do you get in synch? No? That's OK! Smile, laugh. Bounce somewhere else. Do it again.

When the song's finished, catch your breath, wipe the sweat off, and laugh! If you feel like it go get a drink and watch the other happy people. In a minute you'll be dancing again. Righhhhhhht. Ooooooh.

That's what dancing is about to me.

 


Comments11:07:08 PM    

"nyc.blogs.com/eats" [Daypop Top 40]

'Cause I love NYC....


Comments3:50:15 PM    

Find out your sci-fi character:

http://www.tk421.net/character/

My profile:

Galadriel

Galadriel

Possessing a rare combination of wisdom and humility, while serenely dominating your environment you selflessly use your powers to care for others.

Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.


Comments3:49:16 PM    


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