A conversation between two friends of mine. Friend 1: Here's the fifteen dollars I owe you. Oh wait, I only have a twenty. Do you have a five? Friend 2: I don't carry cash. Everybody takes credit cards. Friend 1: I don't take credit cards. In my imagination, Friend 1 would have responded to "Everybody takes credit cards" wit...
On the weekend of November 10 during the 2007–2008 Seattle Symphony season, the symphony performed both Brahms piano concerti and two of his symphonies in consecutive concerts. My subscription included one of them, and I bought a separate ticket to the other one, and the seat I was given was in the very front row. You notice all sorts ...
In 1987, The Flying Karamazov Brothers performed their interpretation of Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors. When I watched this show (part 1, part 2) when it first aired, it was my introduction both to the juggling team and to the play. It also reinforced my impression that Shakespeare was meant to be performed and not merely read. The ...
Yesterday, I finished composing the last entry taken from an item in Suggestion Box 3. My prediction that the backlog would clear in early 2010 was off by exactly one year: The last Suggestion Box 3 entry is scheduled to be posted on January 3, 2011. I figure I'll open Suggestion Box 4 sometimes next year. But I'll leave it open fo...
The other day I was working in my office minding my own business when I suddenly lost network connectivity. I couldn't contact any machines other than the ones in my office. When this happens, I go through some basic troubleshooting steps. Is my neighbor's network okay? How about power-cycling the affected machines? Refreshing the TCP/IP security ...
Robins in Sheffield sing at night because it's too noisy in the daytime. That reminds me that when I was in Antigua, Guatemala, I was told that the songbirds in the city have started mimicking car alarms. Apparently this is also happening in Oregon with birds mimicking car alarms and cell phone ring tones.
Meetings run over all the time. In fact, you might say that that's their natural state. Meetings think gases are lazy. Whereas a gas expands to fill its container, a meeting expands to exceed the size of its container. It requires good management skills to keep all your meetings on schedule. And it takes great management skills to get them all to ...
I have been fortunate to have been spared exposure to this particular corner of Microspeak, but others have not been so lucky. Have you actioned on this ask? It's not clear whether actioning on something means that you've started it or you've finished it. As a result, this is another case of using jargon to impede communication. The inventors...
Sure, your company don't have an office, but that's okay. You can rent a fake one, with a fake receptionist, fake staff, and fake conference rooms, and whenever somebody stops by asking for you, the receptionist is trained to say that you're "out".
I was at The Museum of Flight and was waiting my turn at the Space Shuttle landing simulator. A six-year-old settled into the control seat, and as the simulation began I heard him ask his father, "Where are the bad guys?" I'm pretty sure the Space Shuttle doesn't come with onboard missiles. That didn't stop the kid from pressing the trigger on ...
