Archive for June, 2009
Ross • 30th Jun 2009 • Living • chocolate, food, marketing
I am a member of BzzAgent, a recommendation-driven marketing agency. The deal is that BzzAgents (like me) get samples of products, which, if they like, they refer to their friends.
The first campaign I have been assigned was for Seeds of Change chocolate, to my wife’s delight. I was sent samples of Orange and Fig (odd but lovely) and Apricot and Cashew (less strange, more tasty) and some discount vouchers. It’s a great promotional idea, and great chocolate. I have passed on some vouchers to friends and family, who are suitably grateful. You can check out the Seeds of Change range here, but for some reason, they don’t mention the chocolate. Surely it can’t be a secret?
Ross • 18th Jun 2009 • Living • english, humour, language, writing
Jacqueline is “an evangelist for the serial comma”. Her article linked me to the following, from Wikipedia:
The Times once published an unintentionally humorous description of a Peter Ustinov documentary, noting that “highlights of his global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector.”
I think this is an area where intelligence and discretion use beats slavish convention.
Ross • 15th Jun 2009 • Living • jargon, work
I read an interesting piece in yesterday’s Sunday Times on government use of jargon. So I was amused to come back to work today and find the emergence of a new term in my burgeoning, post-holiday inbox:
phoenixed (verb): the process of having gone into bankruptcy to emerge stronger and more streamlined, e.g. General Motors, Chrysler
Ross • 5th Jun 2009 • Thinking • ayn rand, computer games, films, gaming, movies, philosophy
‘A Liberal Christian’ writes about Bioshock, The Incredibles and Ayn Rand:
“Bioshock” and “The Incredibles” show two visions of objectivism. “Bioshock” glorifies this vision before burning it to the ground, and quite rapidly at that. “The Incredibles,” on the other hand,” simply glorifies it. Yet regardless of what these works have to say, they remain some of my favorites of all time, and I hope they will be for you too.
More here.
Ross • 3rd Jun 2009 • Learning, Thinking • air france, aviation, flying, technology
While new technologies such as GPS satellite tracking could have provided a more accurate minute-by-minute update on the planes location, not all planes are equipped, and there is no requirement for them to be. Flight Wisdom
That a four year old plane doesn’t have GPS when most four year old executive saloons do strikes me as odd.
