Road Accident in India Kills 21
The victims were Hindu pilgrims on their way to a temple to worship Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction.
Disqualification
Alessio Cioni, one of the finalists at the Rachmaninoff International Competition and Festival, not only did not win, he was actually disqualified for playing too poorly.
Are You Proud of Me Now?
Barbra Streisand’s mother died last week at age 93. The two had a strained relationship, as people sometimes do with their mothers.
When Mom attended one of her shows in 1994 — she would have been 85 years old at the time — Barbra addressed her from the stage, saying, “Are you proud of me now, Mama?”
I’m not a big fan of anything Barbra Streisand has ever done, but for articulating a lifetime of pain in seven words, you can’t do much better than that . . .
We Were Programmers
In We Were Soldiers, commanding officer Mel Gibson is the first man off the helicopter and the last man back on. He leaves no one behind, dead or alive.
Contrast that with my manager, who has far less enthusiasm for his work than for his car, his dog, leering at women, painfully coarse humor, or getting drunk on a golf course somewhere.
Not the kind of inspirational leadership you make movies about, unless it’s kind of an ultra-dark comedy in which the leading character is eventually humiliated and/or killed, to thunderous applause . . .
Thus spoke The Programmer.
Hiring the Best
The following email went out at the office:
Please stop by and say hello to our newest Project Manager Skip Intro [names changed to protect the guilty]. He is a great person, lives in [a nearby city], tons of experience, and has two black labradors. What more could you ask?
Leicester Dedlock
Director of Project Management
What more could I ask?!
We’re hiring project managers and can’t think of anything more to ask them than what kind of pets they have?
This explains a lot . . .
Thus spoke The Programmer.
Related Links
- Hiring the Best Explained
Guest columnist: Céline
Fluffy Had Babies
Last week, we bought a hamster. This afternoon, I got a call at work from my son, who was yelling something into the phone. On the third try, I understood it: “Fluffy had babies!”
I Fought the Law . . .
Doreen Waddell, a former vocalist with the chart-topping 1980s British band Soul II Soul, died after being hit by several cars as she ran across a busy road.
Police said it appeared she had been running from a supermarket after being confronted about shoplifting.
Take a Hike!
According to the email, our (former) COO “is no longer with the company in any capacity.”
There’s a phenomenon at our company, of which he was a perfect example: People get excited and animated about a variety of things — their cars, their pets, a TV show, binge drinking, etc. — but never, never about their jobs.
In his case, the favorite topic was hiking. Since we’re in the winter months now, you could frequently hear him among the cubicles elucidating the finer points of crampons:
“The thing about crampons is you have to be careful where you put your feet. It’s not like walking around the living room in a pair of loafers.”
I did not know that!
Of course, if I were interested in crampons, which I’m not, I could research them on my own time.
I would have much rather overheard him saying something like
“I read a great journal article last night, and I was thinking about how we might apply it here. I think we need to start building a software engineering culture where people can get excited about their jobs.”
This has nothing to do with why he was let go, but it’s the thing that bothered me most about him personally.
With the opportunity that he had as COO of the company, and the money he was pulling down, he should have been contributing something more than hiking tips.
Thus spoke The Programmer.
Word of the Day
defenestrate, v.t., To throw something or somebody out of a window.
I just love that there’s actually a word for that.
ArsDigita, Vita Brevis
I was a big fan of the original vision of this company . . .
Andrea Yates’ Confession
Transcript of Andrea Yates’ confession
This is very, very sad and hard to forget. You may want to just skip it.
Teaching Kids to Write
Having students write essays about books accomplishes three things. It makes them hate writing, because it’s such a fruitless, uninteresting assignment. It makes them hate reading, because even books they enjoy are turned against them. And it probably makes them hate thinking, because the kind of analysis they’re forced to do is so strained and dull.
Happy Valentines Day
People I Thought Were Dead
- Joey Bishop – TV host
- Ernest Borgnine – actor
- Red Buttons – actor
- Kitty Carlisle – game show panelist
- Alistair Cooke – TV host
- Buddy Ebsen – actor
- Glenn Ford – actor
- Eugene McCarthy – U.S. senator
- Jack Paar – TV host, “The Tonight Show”
- Don Pardo – TV announcer
- Artie Shaw – clarinetist and bandleader
- Byron White – U.S. supreme court justice
- Richard Widmark – actor
Updates
- Joey Bishop – died 10/17/2007, age 89
- Ernest Borgnine – died 7/8/2012, age 95
- Red Buttons – died 7/13/2006, age 87
- Kitty Carlisle – died 4/18/2007, age 96
- Alistair Cooke – died 3/30/2004, age 95
- Buddy Ebsen – died 7/6/2003, age 95
- Glenn Ford – died 8/30/2006, age 90
- Eugene McCarthy – died 12/10/2005, age 89
- Jack Paar – died 1/27/2004, age 85
- Don Pardo – died 8/18/2014, age 96
- Artie Shaw – died 12/30/2004, age 94
- Byron White – died 4/15/2002, age 84
- Richard Widmark – died 3/24/2008, age 93
Got a Minute?
Samuel Butler Meets Rusty and Andrea Yates
“Poor people! They had tried to keep their ignorance of the world from themselves by calling it the pursuit of heavenly things, and then shutting their eyes to anything that might give them trouble.”
Related Links
-
Transcript of Andrea Yates’ confession
This is very, very sad and hard to forget. You may want to just skip it.
Is That All There Is?
Peggy Lee dies at 81. No report as yet on her final words . . .
Convergence
Ted Demme
Director Ted Demme dies while participating in a celebrity basketball game.
I can’t think of any plausible reason for attending a celebrity basketball game other than watching some fat cokehead keel over.
Kudos, Ted!
Topics to Avoid
From ExecutivePlanet.com:
- England
- Do not make references to the mediocrity of British food, since it has now improved significantly.