In most failing projects, there are a few people at the top of the organization who think they are in trouble, lots of people at the bottom who know they are in trouble, and a bunch of worried middle managers trying to keep those at the top from talking to those at the bottom. — Ken Orr Read more →
October 2010
Twitter: 2010-10-05
RT @BetteMidler: There is no big picture anymore. Just lots of little pictures of sex and violence and product placement. # RT @capricecrane: The thing about reality stars is they don’t get that we’re not laughing *with* them. # Read more →
We All Keep Going
It just seems so amazing and wonderful and, well, a miracle, but I guess it’s just ordinary life, how we all keep going, isn’t it? — Joyce Carol Oates, We Were the Mulvaneys Read more →
Twitter: 2010-10-04
I hear my kid downstairs yelling about Kunta Kinte & the 13th Amendment. His mom must have asked him to bring the groceries in from the car. # RT @eddiepepitone: Does it make me a bad person if to get to sleep I visualize boating accidents? # Read more →
Outsourcing
Contracting hordes of itinerant trainees to write important software, and guiding them from a distant point in time and space. — Ron Jeffries Read more →
Etiquette Tip of the Day
It’s considered poor form to borrow someone’s car and then bring it back with an empty gas tank, even if you’re members of the same family. It’s like borrowing a pen and giving it back with no ink . . . Read more →
Why We Need a Big-Screen TV
“This TV cuts off the bottom of the scrolling bar,” my son says as we’re watching a football game. “I can’t tell if it says SCORE ALERT or SCORF ALERT. I assume it says SCORE ALERT but I don’t really know.” “That’s a really good point,” I say. “And I don’t care about scorfs. I only care about scores.” Read more →
Not in My Backyard
James Taranto on press coverage of President Obama’s Backyard chats: What’s most telling about these encounters is the absence of fear on the part of the citizens challenging Obama. In October 2008, in his own Ohio neighborhood, “Joe the Plumber” confronted the future president and objected to his tax-hike plans. Obama revealingly replied that he was eager to “spread the wealth around,” and the media pounced–on Joe. He’s not really a plumber! Joe is his middle name! Who knows how history might have been changed if the media had been as aggressive in investigating Obama’s background? But now, it seems, the lesson of Joe the Plumber has been lost. Citizens feel free to criticize Obama with impunity. The reporters who wrote these stories don’t even mention the names of the critics, much less conduct opposition research against them on Obama’s behalf. Read more →
Stephen J. Cannell, 1941-2010
“Rockford Files” and “A-Team” creator Stephen J. Cannell has died of complications from melanoma. He was 69. — TheWrap.com I PITY THE FOOL WHO DON’T WEAR SUNSCREEN! Loved Rockford Files. R.I.P. Read more →