Don’t be a hoarder
You wouldn’t believe it, looking at my office last week, but I am not a hoarder. Hoarders, as displayed to the world in the A&E show of the same name, have “an inability to part with their belongings” that is so out of control, they are on the...
Another odd book title wins a quirky contest
In case you missed it, the winner of the prestigious Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year has been chosen. Drumroll, please. It is Daina Taimina’s Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes. No doubt you are as surprised as I that Governing Lethal...
Thank a teacher
“If you can read this, thank a teacher.” This is how a post linked to by my friend and colleague Joan Vinall-Cox began. While blogger Ralf Schwartz suggested that the best way to thank your teacher is to teach others “by further developing what your...Awareness up with Earth Hour
At 8:30 p.m. tonight, it’s Earth Hour. Turn off your lights, and get off the computer! Critics wonder, what’s the point of turning lights off for an hour on one day when we abuse the Earth for the other 8,736 hours in the year? But I truly believe that the...Newsletter points to ponder
I’m working with a new client who wants to introduce a newsletter for his customers, and I thought the discussions we’ve been having might be of interest to other people. So here are just some of the points to ponder if you’re thinking of a...
Watch out for jargon, Olympic edition
Among the many sports my family watched during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics was one that vividly reminded me to watch out for jargon. I’m talking about curling. I’ve never curled, so I found the unfamiliar lingo quite confusing. The commentators talked about a...Customer disservice files
Can you tell me… Why my bank has hired people to make “courtesy calls” to customers — which seem to be thinly disguised ways to sell other products/services — but cannot tell me that they have discontinued my paper statements? I have no...