From the article: "The tongue and the mouth, assisted by the nose, are considered the body’s primary defense against poison. They are designed to ensure that nutritious substances are ingested and harmful substances rejected. For this reason, says Hildegarde Heymann, another sensory scientist at UC Davis, the human body can taste faster than it can touch, see, or hear. The body can detect taste in as little as 1.5 thousandths of a second, compared with 2.4 thousandths of a second for touch, and a sluggish 1.3 hundredths of a second for hearing and vision." - Ginger Makela via Bookmarklet
I wonder if that's a survival thing: ingesting something toxic is much more immediately harmful than life-threatening things found via other senses. I liked this: "If understanding your genome allows chefs to understand, in advance, your possible likes and dislikes, that would allow them to personalize the experience even more. There’s a greater chance of your saying, ‘That was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I feel like the chef was cooking just for me.’” - Mark Trapp
What I find interesting is that the primary purpose of the senses is to avoid bad instead of finding good. If that is true, we should be in much more agreement about what is bad, and much less than what is good. It also reminds me about how FM radio stations are notoriously avoid a "bad" song like the plague for fear of losing a listener and instead fill the air with blandness. - RAPatton
Sadly I thought this article was about fashion taste - as in the shirts in the pictures above - Jason Kaneshiro
"I've walked down Caniff holding a glass / Atlas root beer bottle in my hands / And I've entered closets of coney islands / early in the morning too." - Ginger Makela via Bookmarklet
"Free is not bad, but it can lead us to make unwise or at least useless choices. Who hasn’t loaded up on freebies at a convention that you later toss away? Or bought two DVDs to get the third free when you had planned to purchase only one?" - Ginger Makela via Bookmarklet
You know, it is for this reason that I am going to make a real effort to not load up on 'stuff' at Comic Con this year. All of last year's stuff is still sitting in the ginormous bag WB gave out (with Superman Doomsday on it), and it hasn't been touched. - Shawna Benson
This article reminds me of a pet peeve of mine: I get frustrated when people are excited about getting a good deal when they buy non-commodity / luxury items on sale, claiming "I bought it for $100, but it is worth $200!". No, it is worth only what people will pay for it, in this case, $100. If it were worth $200 it wouldn't be on sale for $100. And most importantly, you still need to judge whether or not it is correctly valued at $100. The fact that it was once priced at $200 is absolutely irrelevant. - DeWitt Clinton
From the article: “People who believe in the power of talent tend not to fulfill their potential because they’re so concerned with looking smart and not making mistakes... too many companies believe that hiring the best and the brightest from top-flight schools guarantees corporate success...the problem is that, having been identified as geniuses, the anointed become fearful of falling from grace." - Ginger Makela via Bookmarklet
Hire people who can get things done. Not Geniuses. - Muthu Ramadoss
"Society is obsessed with the idea of talent and genius and people who are ‘naturals’ with innate ability,” says Ms. Dweck, who is known for research that crosses the boundaries of personal, social and developmental psychology." - Hutch Carpenter
Piece is so true. Doubtful that most recruiters do it. Sad - Charlie Anzman
reminds me of this Po Bronson article about praising kids for intelligence versus effort. “When we praise children for their intelligence, we tell them that this is the name of the game: Look smart, don’t risk making mistakes.” http://nymag.com/news/features... - David Vasileff
GE, Xerox, and IBM are unconvincing examples. The iPhone example is about selecting for people excited by risk and opportunity, which doesn't confirm anything about "believing in the power of talent". We've all met prima donnas who think they're superstars and mostly spend their time avoiding challenges (look at all those people pissed off by technical interviews which ignore their years of experience) but does it take "three decades of painstaking research" to figure out those people are bogus? - ⓞnor
It's never too late to grow and learn new things. - Bjorn Tipling
I think there is natural ability, but one should try to grow and improve on themselves anyway and become the best that *they* can be, which may or may not be better than others. I feel like I want to fullfill my potential, whatever it may be. I am not discouraged by smarter or stronger people, because it is about me, and not about how I compare to others. - Bjorn Tipling
I feel like in my industry I'd much rather have an army of people who give 100% instead of just a few geniuses aiming low with a sense of entitlement about what intelligence owes them. - Jason Lowe
Pretty interesting. I was just reading Josh Waitzkin's book "The Art of Learning" and he cites Dweck's research (of "entity" vs. "incremental" intellegences) as well. - Jake
"In the beginning was the word, the word
/ That from the solid bases of the light
/ Abstracted all the letters of the void;
/ And from the cloudy bases of the breath
/ The word flowed up, translating to the heart
/ First the characters of birth and death." - Ginger Makela via Bookmarklet
Thanks for bringing up Dylan Thomas - he is the kind of guy I've been wanting to hang out with lately. - Thomas Brox Røst
From the article: “People’s expectations of quiet for their very expensive apartments have risen, so something that might not have bothered somebody 20 years ago because real estate was so inexpensive then does become an issue now,” said John Hauenstein, the president of JRH Acoustical Consulting Inc., which assesses and mitigates child noise issues." - Ginger Makela via Bookmarklet
I am so glad I don't live near any of these people, they would hate me. It's nearly impossible to keep a toddler quiet. - Michelle Martinez
Once upon a time it was perfectly acceptable for apartments/condos to specify that they were "adults only". Had not so many developers become greedy and abused this privilege, these kinds of places would still exist and people like me -- and the parents who get tired of the complaints -- would be a lot happier. - Cecily Walker
I was a be seen and not heard if unappropriate or get my ears boxed or backside slapped child. Louder children today, you say? hmm - Michael W. May via twhirl
Michael, that's how I was raised as well. Sometimes I'm surprised by what parents let their kids get away with. I was spanked, but rarely - all my mom had to do was give me "the look" and I knew to behave. - Cecily Walker
*nod* Rarely needed that spank myself. The Voice and The Look worked well, but without knowing what came after, I doubt they would have. - Michael W. May via twhirl
This is more an issue of parenting than anything. I think parents are afraid to actually raise their children anymore. They're far too interested in being their child's friend than teaching them expected social behavior. </rant> - Kyle Hebert
I agree with Kyle, so many of today's parents simply don't take parenting seriously and it impacts ALL of us, not just noise, but behavior, education, manners, responsibility, etc. And there are far better ways (in fact wildly more effective) than corporal punishment. If you're not willing to really be a parent, then don't have kids. - AJ Kohn
@ajkohn care to elaborate on "better ways than ..." ? ;) - silpol
@silpol: Set expectations. Treat them as a human being, not some substandard adult knockoff (aka - they're smarter than they think), use time outs and naughty rug, follow-through on your warnings/threats (aka - do that again and we leave the park, they do it again, you MUST leave), make sure they have enough sleep and good food, take every opportunity to teach. - AJ Kohn
I could go on, but in the end, is it acceptable for an adult to scream like a banshee? No. Then it isn't for a child. When an adult does do this, do you go up and hit them? No. Then you don't for a child. - AJ Kohn
The only time screaming kids really annoy me is when I'm having a late dinner at a nice restaurant (say, 9 - 11pm) and there is a screaming toddler. Either that restaurant needs to adopt a curfew for kids, or the parents should know better. - J. Phil
Have to agree with most here. This is a parenting issue. On the weekends my wife and I prefer an early dinner out. At 5PM a mostly empty restaurant and they seat us next to the table with three kids standing on their chairs making a racket. The staff should also know better. We asked to be seated somewhere else and I think they were upset with us. My kids are 19 and 20 I can assure you they never acted like that in a public place. - Kevin Shannon
And I must add, we never hit our kids, we just took the time needed to teach them the right way to behave. - Kevin Shannon
I don't understand parents who push their screaming kids on others. Both Patrick and Milan only screamed when they needed something. Usually their problems are easy to solve. Bottle. Diapers. Etc. But if they were having a temper tantrum for some reason I sure wouldn't keep them in a restaurant where they could destroy someone else's experience. They would get a quick walk outside, to demonstrate that they need to care about other people's feelings too. - Robert Scoble
We brought our kids to FL this week and they were pretty good. I usually buy a round of drinks for the people around us on the plane, in anticipation of our noisy kids though. :-) - Steven M. Cohen
Hmm. Kids being loud = bad parenting? I think that is a stretch. Now I can understand this line of thinking if parents don't even try to keep kids in line, but occasionally kids are just loud. I agree with Robert that overly fussy kids should be removed from public situations to calm down. I have spent more nights in a hotel not sleeping due to drunk adults than noisy children... - Sean Brady
@Sean: Perhaps drunk adults were raised by parents who accepted noisy children and didn't teach them to be respectful of other people? - AJ Kohn
@Sean Not a stretch. The amount of unruly children in public and parents who let them be that way now compared to 20 years ago is sadly greater. That speaks to parenting and social norms. - Michael W. May
Well, the architects I know say that it is very easy to skimp on the acoustic separation between units. Building codes and unit design will become a bigger deal as the world population becomes increasingly urbanized. That having been said, I think that lower birth rates have made people less tolerant of children. - Steve Lynch
@ajkohn you went no further (so far) than local Finnish leaflet on parenting, yet it is not enough - _my_ kids do every sure thing to test limits till infinite and it takes me often effort to avoid going "short path" (read - body punishment)... and yes, I do time to time those old tricks from my military past just to avoid being too harsh - some of them true evil, but no physical touch or mental push, just "disziplin über alles" - silpol
@Sean Let me qualify. Kids being loud is natural. Kids allowed to be loud in public places where parents make no attempt to quiet them or teach them it's wrong - That's bad parenting. I sat at dinner 2 weeks ago for 20 minutes with a kid singing a song, walking around the table, while the parents and friends had an after coffee conversation. They encouraged the child telling them how cute the song was. Never once telling the child to sit and be quite... or just getting up to leave.since they were done! - Kevin Shannon
So I have a related question .. is there a rise of no-kids restaurants springing up? As for the apartment issue -- agreed with Cecily, new apartments could be made a lot more sound and vibration dampened to be attractive to young families. - J. Phil
@Phil I have not seen any NO KID places here on LI. When my kids were young we would take them to Friendlies, McDonald's, Nathan's, Chucky Cheese. I didn't really want to eat there but hey, we had kids and that's what we had to do. I don't frequent fancy places, Outback, Charlie Brown's medium priced steak houses. They seem to be the place people with 3 and 4 year olds go now. If I take my kids (19 and 20) to Outback were looking at $120. I'd like to enjoy that without kids running around my table. - Kevin Shannon
Ok we were all kids once...fricking awesome kids of course, and well I think the fairy tale that children are to be seen and not heard is very yesterday. WOW what an elitist thing to say..I mean they are PEOPLE not dogs. Crazy statement. - tanya
Tanya, I can only speak for myself, but I did say the only time I was annoyed was at a nice restaurant, and after 8pm. I do not begrudge kids being kids. I don't like screaming kids in R-rated movies either, but even that I will forgive faster than issue #1. As for the original discussion about families in apartments.. meh, what are you going to do? - J. Phil
@Tanya Can't tell what comments are setting you off. Well behaved children is not a fairy tale. I have two of them. I think parents today find it easier to argue that it's impossible instead of admitting that they may be causing the problem. Take a look at "Nanny 911". A crazy show but it drives home the point week after week that it's not the kids it's the parents. I love children and have spent many years working with them, Magic, Cub Scouts, Baseball. I have no problem with kids. - Kevin Shannon
@Tanya Not sure about the statement, kids are people not dogs. If you buy a dog and take no time training it and teaching it what's right and wrong it will be out of control. Kids are kinda the same. Take no time to parent and see what you wind up with. - Kevin Shannon
Don't assume just because a child is behaving in a way that annoys you, that it's because the parent isn't doing his or her job. The parent may not agree with you about the best way to parent a child. That's just one of the risks we take in living in communities with other people -- we might sometimes have to deal with others whose values or priorities are different from our own. - nathan
Had to be my statement, which alluded to the the way I was brought up, which included my grandparents preaching that old saying, "be seen and not heard" when noisy children were inappropriate. Those words implied or else and we understood that. Same as my mother's look or tone implied it. And btw, I was far from a fairytale child and yet, even with all this, I still grew up with constant love and respect for those elders. - Michael W. May
@nathan I would NEVER assume a child behaving badly was automatically a parenting issue. And after re-reading my comments I don't think I said that. That's why I gave very specific examples. When a parent lets a child mis-behave for an extended period of time doesn't say a word and doesn't have any care about other people around them, that's bad parenting and also shows they do not respect living in a community. I have never said anything to a parent with a mis-behaving child. I play well in community. - Kevin Shannon
the way I play with my children is one that is not quiet. I would try to ensure it would be at a level that would not bug me if I were them, but I sound more forgiving. - RAPatton
@Kevin Shannon I guess my point is that your idea of misbehaving and another person's might not be the same. I put a very high premium on my kids' acting civil and respectful towards adults, and i don't typically take them to places where "childish" behavior would be disruptive, but at the same time I know how hard it is to quiet an ebullient toddler, say, in a grocery store or something. Now that I've got kids of my own I tend to withhold judgment of other parents. - nathan
@nathan Totally agree. I was where you are 20 years ago. A toddler having a tantrum in the grocery store is no reflection of a parents skills. God knows if it did then I would have to admit to being a bad parent. And for every example I offered to the extreme, we've had situations where we sat next to very well behaved kids... I give them credit too. You sound like me and my wife, we gave up fancier dinners during the years our kids were young. I kind of miss Chucky Cheese. - Kevin Shannon
I'm nervous about this very issue because I'm taking my wife and two kids to NYC for three weeks this month. We are not exactly a quiet family, used to living in our own house for the past decade or so. I read the article, and the behavior that they are complaining about is normal kid behavior -- getting up in the middle of the night, walking down the hall, playing with toys. I'll admit it would suck to buy a place for $1M+ that comes with the sound of a baby crying. - Todd Nemet
I wouldn't say it's automatically a reflection on the parent but, if you take a toddler to a restaurant and don't bring stickers and crayons or something to do and instead let them jump around and scream ... I will judge you. I just don't buy the 'kids are just noisy' stuff. It's the worst kind of stereotype. Kids should be kids. Be loud at the park playing, or when having a tickle fight. But there's a time for an 'inside voice'. If you expect it, you will get it. - AJ Kohn
Wow, this article hit a nerve, eh? :) I think many of us are in agreement here, and I also suspect that the vast majority (if not all) the parents on this thread are the sort of parents I appreciate and respect. I totally get that kids will be kids. But when they ARE acting up, I believe it's the parents' responsibility to take appropriate action... not only with their kids directly (setting an example, enforcing time-outs, etc.) but -- of more selfish importance -- minimizing the negative impact on others - Adam Lasnik
This means, for instance, taking the kid outside (of the restaurant, theatre, etc.). I've also been tempted to ask parents "could you kindly take your kid outside?" on airplanes, too, but that's a bit more problematic, admittedly. - Adam Lasnik
Don't get me started on the subject of child discipline. I've read it all from The Old Testament to Alfie Kohn. As American adolescence extends into the 30s, I see people who are intolerant of children until parenthood and then become incredibly indulgent of their children once they become parents. The article indicated that about half of the complains were unfounded, and half were valid. The real story is the lack of conflict resolution skills in these so-called adults. - Todd Nemet
Nice article. Thanks for sharing it. I've actually thought that this problem should be quite unique to Russia with it's small flats, large cities, thick walls and rude people. - Andrey Ivanov
I do prohibit my child from running around the house after 9pm and do not let him scream too much in public but even here in Russia where people are more antisocial, strict and rude than in nearby Europe everyone is sane enough not to complain about the babies crying at night so no sympathy for some of the "baby noise victims" the article mentiones. - Andrey Ivanov
http://www.pantley.com/elizabe... This link to this book might help any parents with the ideas about gentle but firm discipline. I was unaffected by any form of violent intervention. I was openly defiant to that sort of discipline.Many spankings and whippings were seriously wasted on me.Armed with that, i sought a different means for seeking my kids good behavior.My girls are amazingly behaved in public and at home. I would never lay a finger on my children. - Jason Lowe
I think this has to more to do with adult conflict resolution and lazy parenting. if i were a lazy parent i would seriously think about investing in some sound proofing. At the same time I've had enough experience with just plain old loud neighbors. - Jason Lowe
Looking at the article, it sounds like most of the complaints are about the noise made by toddlers walking (or running) around their homes. As a parent, this is not behavior I think I would want to try to restrict, for the sake of my own mental health and the kid's normal development. I used to live in Manhattan myself, and it seems crazy to me to live in a Manhattan apartment and expect it to be quiet. Harrumph. - nathan
Questions to ask before building or buying new technology (from Neil Postman's book): 1) What is the problem to which this technology is the solution? 2) Is this a problem that really needs to be solved? 3) Whose problem is it? 4) Which people and what institutions might be most seriously harmed by a technological solution? 5) What new problems might be created because we have solved this problem? 6) What sort of people and institutions might acquire special economic and political power because of technological change? - Ginger Makela
We have a culture which wants to do all that is possible instead of chosing the best paths. - RAPatton
From the article: "Audiobrain and NBC are still in the process of amassing more than 30,000 tension-building, mood-enhancing, goose-bumps-inducing tracks. The goal is to ensure that NBC has the right music for every imaginable Olympic vignette..." - Ginger Makela via Bookmarklet
if it has any military capability, it is then only looks-like-mobile-missile-launcher -- there is nothing defensive in standing (erected) building... but somehow I am not freaked over pictures. - silpol
That is awesome. I love that interior space between the silos, that's some big glass! - felix
looking over the other offerings on that site... man, what you get in Denver compared to what I'm getting, not even staying in Manhattan, but moving to Williamsburg? Ouch. Sigh. - felix
Never heard of any Dallas office, but isn't Denver just a tiny handful of people sitting half an hour's drive from the much much bigger Boulder and Thornton offices? I mean, closing that sounds more like a standard office move than a relocation... - ƃuɐʞ
Are you sad you didn't hang around for the severance or happy you don't have to go through an office closing? - Clare Dibble
Or is there a distinction between the Denver and Boulder office? - Clare Dibble
Dang. I applied for a job in the Dallas data center earlier this year. Never heard a word. I guess I know why now. - Harvey Simmons
ƃuɐʞ, right. It is a handful of people. But they're pulling sales positions entirely out of CO and Dallas, so people only have the option of moving to Chicago, NY or SF, where there are ad sales jobs. Not catastrophizing here. It's just curious to me that the company spends so much money building amazing offices, then mere months later, decides to shut them down. Clare, I'm happy with my timing :-) - Ginger Makela
Clare, yeah, Boulder is a separate office. It's folks from the Sketch-Up acquisition and I think other mapping projects. - Ginger Makela
These were strictly sales offices, right? No eng? - ⓞnor
so there is no sacred cow in Google either... our modern corp slang for downsizing is "open sourcing" - wonder how they will translate it on sales/marketing ppl, since all previous head-slashing was majorly in engineering :) - silpol
"Nexting." I like that term. I compulsively next an entire week, then get paralyzingly overwhelmed at the plethora of things I have to do, and wind up only accomplishing 10% of what I planned out. I'm interested to see what strategies work for you over the next few weeks/months. Oh God, did I just next not nexting? - Mark Trapp
I think it is much more healthy to spend time thinking about the future than the past. Myself I am more of an eat whatever is around when I am hungry person like your husband. But my lack of planning means I miss out on activities and later regret the lack of planning. - Brian Sullivan
"I clapped my hands over my ears and chanted, 'NA NA NA NA NA NA,' until I realized I was driving, and turned the radio volume down instead." :D - possible248
Thinking about the future can be dangerous if it takes you away from enjoying the here and now. I sometimes can't relax and enjoy what's going on right this second because of obsessively contemplating what's going on later... - Jason Kaneshiro
Yoda had a lecture about always looking to the future, of course if would have planned ahead a little more we could have avoided that whole Empire thing - RAPatton
Your description of how your husband thinks about eating vs. you is classic. Exactly describes my wife and me. Cereal for dinner? Not a problem! - Hutch Carpenter
I think you're onto something: it's often a lot more relaxing to just stop and breathe and stop thinking about the future. - j1m
I think I'm a NEXT-er and a LAST-er. The future and the past both seem more important than the now usually does. - Wm Scott Rees
@Amit Patel Yeah, he was the mastermind behind blowing up the death stars and runs a terrorist training camp on Dagobah - RAPatton
Isn't thinking about the future what's supposed to get us to drive Priuses and save for retirement? Americans seem to be accused alternately of being short-sighted and of being unable to focus on the moment. Maybe it's all about being smart about what to next and how much. For example, if you did plan your meals (or a default choice) on paper a week ahead of time, it might free you from having to think about it as much. Not that I could bring myself to do that. - ⓞnor
I like the friendfeed comment widget on your blog. - Shakeel Mahate
as my mind is just about ready to explode on some of those issues, thanks for linking it so I can get my mind back! ;) - Nicole Simon
Michael Ian Black kills me: “What happens if I mix Paxil with alcohol?” I wondered to myself one day, while working on my collaborative mail art. Yes, it had been a long day in the Chesapeake Bay Area, but my Yankee custom truck cap was still fresh, my Okuma saltwater rods were still in order, and my Subaru 2.5i speed parts were ready to go." - Ginger Makela
From the Business Week article: "Roy Illsley, a senior research analyst at the Butler Group, echoed Mackenzie's sentiments. "It's going to give brand managers a massive headache," he said. "There will be a huge number of potential extensions. If [the brand owners] don't use them, then, if someone else gets them, it does potential brand damage." - Ginger Makela
I'm intrigued by the phrase "brand damage" and how brands feel like situations like this online hurt their brand. So someone buys starbucksfrappuccinocalories.com, puts adsense for domains on it, starbucks buys keywords on the content network for its brand terms, ads redirect users to starbucks.com. So starbucks pays for the click, and the domain owner and Google get a handful of change. Is it cheaper for starbucks to do that or hire someone to register all variations of starbucks domain names? - Ginger Makela
From the article: "The moral hypocrite, by contrast, has convinced himself that he is acting virtuously even when he does something he would condemn in others. You can understand this “self-halo” effect — and perhaps discover it in someone very close to you — by considering what happened when two psychologists, Piercarlo Valdesolo and David DeSteno, tested people’s reactions to the following situation..." - Ginger Makela via Bookmarklet
The word to explain our forgiveness of these postions switches is "rationalization." - RAPatton
In a similar vein, the skill that Bill Clinton had, that no one else ever done so well, is that everyone knew he was lying, but everyone was convinced he was lying to the other guy and that he was secretly on our side. We forgave/rationalized x because we knew he was really y. Or he said z, but we know he is really for j. No one before or since has been that good of a polical animal in my opinion - RAPatton
I'd join in, but if I posted a picture of me after back to back work @ home days, you wouldn't be able to keep those sausage patties down. - Kevin Shannon
Followed your example, even though my current whereabouts are much more mundane and don't involve the sophistication of either sausage patties or a patio reference http://www.flickr.com/photos/m... ;) Like the idea. - Mustafa K. Isik
I did it, too. Are all cellphone pics universally bad? - Harvey Simmons
From the article by A.O. Scott: "In the 1940s and ’50s the Walt Disney brand of wholesome, universally appealing animated features was built on the grace and pluck of fairy-tale heroines, but Pixar, the heir to Disney’s tradition, has yet to make a movie with a female protagonist. And while everyone loves Hermione Granger and Princess Fiona, they are permanent sidekicks in serial sagas owned by Harry Potter and Shrek." - Ginger Makela via Bookmarklet
Yeah, Pixar needs some estrogen, center stage - - good point. - Wm Scott Rees
I think much of it also has to do with the people that are the creative leads behind movies. How many female writers/directors do you see out there? I really enjoyed the recent documentary on Pixar but was acutely aware of how male-dominated the leadership there is/was. - Jennie Lin
As the father of two wonderful little girls i actually think about this very often. My wife and I actually had to look at foreign films in order to find what we felt were proper value systems. Sadly speaking of Disney if you look at all of the princess movies, all of the girls need rescuing. I don't want my daughters to feel for a second that they need rescuing. I want them driving the car. I want them empowered. Until then this would be my animation of choice for little girls http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S... - Jason Lowe
Spirited Away was haunting but so good. Loved Kiki's Delivery Service as well. There is this moment in SATC (not saying that it is appropriate for children) when Carrie tries to tell Charlotte's little girl that Cinderella and happy endings don't happen for everyone. Disney movies should come with warning labels. :) - Yolanda
Older girls might enjoy the non-animated The Man in the Moon and ever popular My Girl. Both hit on emotional issues but portray girls honestly and strong. - Michael W. May via twhirl
The Miyazaki movies are great, even Princess Mononoke is not looking to be rescued. However, Disney is just dubbing them, they're not really Disney movies. - Victor Ryden
JASON LOWE--You're a good man and a great father for putting this much thought into what you choose to show your daughters. To you and your wife-- Hooray for wonderful parents! - Anna Haro
Denver Water has a great ad campaign (locally done by Sukle) to make people in the city aware of their water usage. This is a cute little TV ad. - Ginger Makela
For a while, they've been running a public service ad here in Vegas where a poodle attacks a homeowner for keeping their sprinklers on that's downright hilarious. The ad was produced by the same husband-wife team who created and starred in "New Zoo Revue." - Chris Reed
From the aticle: "Do you respond to fashion images that are vaguely convincing or pure fantasy? For the better part of a decade, I’ve found it difficult to connect with a £2,000 suit carried down a catwalk by an 18-year-old Finn who is narrow of frame but wide of the core target." - Ginger Makela via Bookmarklet
I was ABOUT TO POST THIS too. Was reading it yesterday morning over coffee. Tyler Brule makes some great points. Thanks for sharing :) - Jennie Lin
I think the point of all Fashion with a capital "F" is that it is always rooted in some degree of fantasy. Trying to convince yourself or those around you, that through your outfit, you are more wealthy, intelligent, exotic, young, or fascinating than you truly are. Clothing is who we truly are. Fashion is who we'd like to be. We need them both! - Wm Scott Rees
"And one would think that we would now have abundant leisure time, that we’d all be working 20-hour weeks and spending time in happy repose with family and friends.
Instead, almost everyone talks about how busy they are, and how there’s no time to do anything.
" --- Amen - RAPatton
"shifts resources away from problem-solving in favor of perception" - Clare Dibble
I'll have to check this out. I was wondering when someone would do an Upton Sinclair-like exposé of the advertising industry. Brand equity and brand recognition are what gets people: advertisers play consumers like a well-tuned fiddle. It's not just branding, it's also your information: so many people have been conditioned to give valuable information to advertisers when they could just as well be compensated. Crazy. - Mark Trapp
"She comes up to the desk and tell me that there is something wrong with the copier. She is holding almost a reams worth of blank paper.
When I get to the copy machine I look over it, inspect it, listen for the goblins that live inside and steal your quarters. And everything seems to be copacetic.
After what seems like an eternity of conversation (she was one of those people that you have to pry what they want out of them), I finally realize that there is nothing in the copier. She was trying to make copies of nothing. All of her copy stuff was sitting on the counter. Now I can understand one. Maybe even two. But she had so many. Somewhere in the Amazon, rain forests are disappearing. And all because of her copy habits." Classic. - Mark Trapp
Maybe Librarians and Tech Support people should combine our unions, kinda like the AFL-CIO. I think I know the people being described in these stories. - Harvey Simmons
I've just recently had my qualifications accredited by the ALA (American Library Association) they sent a list of sites and societies to check out and join - why was this one not on the list!! This is only society worth considering. Thank you Ginger! - Patricia Hanrahan
Patricia, congrats on the accreditation. I don't know much about library science -- does this mean you're making a career change? - Ginger Makela
I can see it now. Samuel L. Jackson comes out of the reference section, "Motherfucker. I have had it up to here with all these motherfuckin' snakes in this motherfuckin library." - Slippy Lane
Slippy Lane, nearly fell off my chair reading that! Ginger, did my LIS studies at non-US universities so had to get the qualifications from Australia and Denmark officially recognised by the ALA if I want to get a visa to work in the States. - Patricia Hanrahan
Angry librarians are great. I'm angry-by-proxy, as a patron who gets bloody irritated by people doing stupid things in libraries. Okay, angry patron story: I was using a library a while back and wanted to check a dictionary. Ask man on desk where I could find a dictionary. Response: "On the shelf with the dictionaries". Yes, thank you so much. - Tom Morris
From the Denver Post article: "Suspicious activity" is broadly defined in Terrorism Liaison Officer training as behavior that could lead to terrorism: taking photos of no apparent aesthetic value, making measurements or notes, espousing extremist beliefs or conversing in code, according to a draft Department of Justice/Major Cities Chiefs Association document." - Ginger Makela via Bookmarklet
Hmm, I wonder who is defining aesthetic value? If you were taking a photography class, jotting down notes of about shutter speed, aperture, and writing up the subject matter in shorthand, you'd be a prime suspect. - Chris White
We've had this in New York since 9/11. Everyone is encouraged to keep aware, alert (but don't be afraid!) of any suspicious looking people, suspicious activity, or suspicious packages. I haven't been on the subway recently, but there used to be Orwellian posters hanging up in the terminals asking to keep your eyes open. - Mark Trapp
Any time there's a report on the news about a possible terror plot foiled (and there are a lot of them, but they always turn out to be a lost suitcase or something like that), they take special note to mention that it was a regular joe who reported the activity to the police. It's a real trip sometimes to watch the local news. - Mark Trapp
cynical side apart, i feel for US photographers, trainspotters and even simple brainy people, who has miserable-now habit to make notes just for sake of own diary... - silpol
"So sad. Some of the most beautiful women I know (including professional models) have some of the worst self-esteem and are very depressed. What a terrible paradox." - Ginger Makela
From the article: "Gasoline in the United States is cheap. Not as cheap as American drivers would like, of course. And not as cheap as it is in Venezuela and other major oil-producing countries, where it is heavily subsidized. Compared to prices in most other industrialized nations, however, the American national average of $4 a gallon is a bargain.' - Ginger Makela via Bookmarklet
I'd love to see if the allegations about speculation driving up the prices 100-120% go anywhere. I was reading somewhere if they banned speculation on the oil market, oil prices would go down to $60 a barrel within 30 days of the start of the ban. Then again, my dad always told me if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. - Mark Trapp
Speculation cannot keep the price trending up over the long term. Eventually the bubble bursts. Some moving companys are dieing because a lot of foreclures are empty speculator houses. - Russellreno via NoiseRiver
The impact of speculation is a very open question. (Plug for "oil talk": http://friendfeed.com/rooms/oi....) There are many good points on all sides. See Krugman's blog (http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.c...) for one point of view and a lot of links to other participants. The short answer seems to be that it's really hard to make a definitive conclusion. Personally, I think the answer to "peak oil, or speculative frenzy?" may well be "both", because they feed on each other. - ⓞnor
