Archives by Subject: Observations
Key Dfferentiators!
Quoted from a just-received press release:
"Commercial Audio Giant's High Quality, Heavy Duty, No Fluff Products Provide Key Differentiator in Crowded Market"
I'm sold!
Posted in on April 02, 2007, 06:00 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
97%
Eep! I'm hoping that Gmail will just give up and let me go past 100%, as clearing off space would be pretty annoiying.
Posted in on April 02, 2007, 02:11 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Rockefeller Center
More on my Flickr.
Posted in on April 01, 2007, 04:24 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Facebook and Grey's Anatomy
Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz shows what happens to Facebook traffic when Grey's Anatomy comes on. You can even see the commercial breaks.
Reminds me of some similar graphs I saw Google speak at a NYU Recruiting event.
· Another Thursday Night at Facebook... [Facebook blog]
Posted in on March 07, 2007, 12:15 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
"You should be sitting beside us at the table."
From President George Bush to New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller:
The president said quite forcefully that this program was something he regarded as part of the crown jewels of our national security, and that if we exposed it, we would be at least in part responsible, or [should] feel ourselves responsible, if there was another attack on the U.S. I think what he said was, "When we were called up to explain to Congress why there was another attack, you should be sitting beside us at the table."
(The emphasis is mine.)
From the excellent PBS Frontline documentary series Newswar.
Posted in on February 25, 2007, 06:28 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Happy Belated Valentine's Day!
"An Arizona woman is under arrest, accused of tying up her lover on Valentine's Day in order to drink his blood...after tying him up, police said, she pulled out a knife and cut the man on the leg. She then told him she likes to drink blood and proceeded to drink from his leg, officials said.
...the victim managed to break free from his restraints and run from the bedroom. The woman then chased him with a pickax, police said."
· Woman Allegedly Ties Up Valentine, Drinks His Blood [NBC5]
Posted in on February 17, 2007, 03:40 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Who Cured Polio?
As part of a recent 20/20 piece on Americans' obsession with fame, students took to the streets of Boston and asked two questions:
- Who is Nicole Richie's best friend?
- Who cured Polio?
How many of the questions can you answer?
Posted in on January 07, 2007, 12:23 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Election Day!
"We got five machines -- one of them's got to work." Take that quote from an Ohio election official as your inspiration when you vote today. The Associated Press says electronic voting machines are causing headaches (and maybe stolen elections, whatever) all over the country. Some machines are just down all morning....
"I never thought I'd say this, but...can we get some help from a Web 2.0 company?
Really, right now I have more faith in a thumbs-up on Digg than in those Diebold touchscreen machines."
Posted in on November 07, 2006, 05:51 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Breaking News!
Another one of the reasons I'm cool is that I tivo Good Morning America, and watch it when I wake up, whenever that might be. This morning during the local news break the top local story was Bull on the Loose!
Am I the only one who finds this funny?
If you don't find it funny yet, the headline on their website is:
'Who let the Bull out? woof, woof, woof..'
Still not funny yet?
It happened in Newark, New Jersey!
Posted in on November 03, 2006, 12:10 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
They Say Imitation...
They at least could have copied the design better!
· Viral 'Studio 60' Gossip Blog Unlikely To Bring Up Aaron Sorkin's Problems With Drug Abuse And Mouthy Call Girls [Defamer]
· Defaker
Posted in on September 20, 2006, 06:24 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Facebook's Giant Blunder
This morning, social networking megasite Facebook launched self-proclaimed "cool features" called feeds AKA stalker aides. You can see everything every one of your friends has done -- changed their relationship status, written on people's walls, changed their interests -- and exactly when they did it.
Facebookers are not happy. There are dozens of groups bashing the feature, the largest of which has over 20,000 643,000 (as of 5pm EST 9/7) members -- in under a week.
Mike Arrington got a secret preview of the features which he says will let users have "a much easier way of staying up to date on what their friends are up to." GigaOm writer Liz Gannes announces that "Facebook finally makes itself useful."
Mike and Liz: have you ever used Facebook? Not tried it out, but seriously used Facebook, day after day? This is not cool. It's one thing to stay up-to-date by seeing a friend has updated their profile. It's quite another to be able to view the history of their relationship status, and see exactly who and when they make new friends.
I feel bad for Facebook Feeds Product Manager Ruchi Sanghvi, whose name is plastered all over the anti-feeds groups and is likely receiving thousands of messages.
I feel especially bad because this mess is overshadowing Facebook Elections, which also launched last night -- and is a pretty cool feature.
My suggestion: Facebook needs to immediately make a very simple way for users to stop their items from appearing in anyone's feeds. Then, they need to publicize it. They say you can just change your privacy settings, but I don't see an option to disable feeds.
If Facebook chooses to ignore the impressive and loud feedback of its users, it may lose them.
Posted in on September 05, 2006, 07:49 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Caveat Emptor
Yesterday, my old nasty tennis shoes were stolen in the locker room of a New York Sports Club while I was showering. Curiously, nobody touched the jeans or nicer shoes in my unlocked locker.
Not sure what to make of this...
Posted in on September 04, 2006, 12:40 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Adventure on Flight 4219
I woke up at 3:30am to go to Chicago. Unfortunately, 5 hours later, I am still on the ground in New York.
Apparently bad thunderstorms have closed the airports. When the flight attendant noticed I was looking at the radar, she asked if she could walk up and down the cabin with my blackberry and show the other passengers.
I maintain she shouldn't have charged me $3.95 for my snack box!
Update: Over 6.5 hours after settling into my seat, I landed in Chicago.
Posted in on August 24, 2006, 08:34 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Searching on Wired.com
If someone can tell me how to search for an article on Wired.com, I will give them a cookie.
Posted in on August 22, 2006, 11:34 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Ford's Executive Dining Room?
From an article in today's New York Times about the troubled Ford Motor Company:
In the executive dining room, the last of its kind at Detroit’s big automakers, waitresses take orders from a multicourse menu and bring silver finger bowls between the main course and dessert.
Uhh...
His company reported losses of $1.6 billion in North America last year and lost $1.2 billion worldwide in the first quarter this year.
Posted in on July 16, 2006, 09:53 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Spam of the Day
Posted in on July 12, 2006, 06:24 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Live Announcers
One of the things that makes me cool is my interest in local news. I've worked at Baltimore's ABC and NBC affiliates, but I certainly wasn't doing much of anything in 1987, the date of this news open.
They had a live announcer for the local news at WNBC in New York, announcing directly in front of the anchor desk -- how random yet cool.
Posted in on May 23, 2006, 05:23 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
"I hope NBC goes broke"
I'm always interested in how the major news outlets are using blogs, and as so many call it, "joining the conversation." Sometimes, though, I wonder why they bother. Take this "blog" entry from ABC News.
The story interviewed a current air marshal and drew attention to alleged operational and management failures making, according to the marshal, the program significantly less effective.
Many of the comments praised the story. Many of the posters said they were air marshals or flight attendants.
Then, there was this:
I have been flying almost every week since May 1998. I was on a flight on 911 and held at DEN for days.
I, as well as most honest citizens see this segment for what it is. A slap at President Bush and his administration as all the liberal press has been doing since President Bush was elected.
I worked for a major airline for 34 years and after retirement worked for a air line contractor. I am extremely familiar with air marshals and procedures as well as aircraft boarding procedures. While traveling by air I never noticed marshals and I never witnessed any other passengers identifying or even mentioning air marshals.
Air travelers want the security that the air marshal program brings but that was shot all to hell by your lousy report exposing details of that program.
I am incensed by your stupidity in trying to descredit the President and his administration.
I intend to never watch you stupid network again. You have jepordized the safety of air travel in the United States by your selfserving interests at getting back at the President.
Shame on you.............I hope NBC goes broke........there are many viewers that do not appreciate you lack of interest in keeping air travel safe to further your petty attempt to "Get Bush".Posted by: James Blue | May 19, 2006 10:36:31 PM
Well, okay, I support free speech. But the fact the poster confused ABC and NBC -- I guess they are all "liberal media" -- is, to me, representative of the quality of his comment. Not to mention the numerous spelling mistakes.
Posted in on May 20, 2006, 06:21 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink
Things You Don't Want to Hear on the 6 Train
While stopped in the middle of a tunnel:
"Downtown 6 service is currently suspended. We have a sick passenger at Spring Street. EMT units are on the way, and once the situation is resolved, downtown 6 service will continue."
First they tried to have us all go to the first car so they could edge into the station and let us out through one door. Eventually they decided to evacuate the train currently in the station, let it go slightly up the tunnel, and then let all us out.
Fun!
Posted in on May 11, 2006, 03:07 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Protesters Outside My Door
It was quite a sight to walk outside my apartment today and be surronded by thousands and thousands of protesters.
Regardless of what you think of their cause, their skills of organization are incredible.
· Protesters Photo Set [flickr]
Posted in on May 02, 2006, 01:51 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink
How to Mingle
From the always interesting Tricks of the Trade:
Always enter a conversations with a drink you are about to finish.
If things don't go well, all you need to do is take one last gulp from your drink and excuse yourself to get another, never to return.
If the conversation is going well, finish your drink and ask the other person if you can get them anything when you go to get another. They will appreciate the gesture even if they decline, and it impies that you'll be returning for a longer conversation.
· Mingler [Tricks of the Trade]
Posted in on April 30, 2006, 10:27 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink
London Judge Hides Secret Message in "Da Vinci Code" Ruling
You couldn't make this stuff up:
Parts of London's legal community ground to a virtual halt Thursday with lawyers turning into aspiring code-breakers as they tried to decipher a hidden message inserted into "The Da Vinci Code" trial judgment.
With the revelation that Judge Peter Smith inserted a secret code of his own into the April 7 judgment that cleared "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown in his copyright infringement case, lawyers have been hustling to solve the puzzle.
· 'Da Vinci' Judgement Code Puzzles Lawyers [ABC News via AP]
Posted in on April 29, 2006, 04:44 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Schmap Uses Photos from Flickr
Got a cool email today from Schmap asking permissions to possibly use some of my photos from Florence for use in some kind of online travel guide of Florence (like this one for Rome):
Hi skidder,
I am writing to let you know that six of your photos with a
creative commons license have been short-listed for
inclusion in our Schmap Florence Guide, to be published
mid-April 2006.Clicking this link will take you to a page where you can:
i) See which of your photos have been short-listed
ii) Submit or withdraw your photos from our final selection
phase
iii) Learn how we credit photos in our Schmap Guides
iv) Download one of our recently released Schmap Guides.
Pretty cool!
Posted in on March 29, 2006, 04:59 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Make the Bad Man Stop
Trying to work is difficult when they are filming a movie literally right outside your window.
Especially when that movie involves a car crash scene.
Which they are shooting approximately 3,466,352 times.
I'm just saying.
Posted in on February 27, 2006, 05:01 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Gizmodo: Your Boxes Resource
Are these people serious? Emphasis added.
Hi,
I took a look at your site a couple of hours ago...and I want to tell you that I'd really love to trade links with you. I think http://www.gizmodo.com/ has some really good stuff related to my site's topic of boxes and would be a great resource for my visitors as it deals with some great aspects of boxes that I'd like to give my visitors more information about.
In fact, I went ahead and added your site to my Boxes Info4u website at [redacted]
Is that OK with you?
Can I ask a favor? Will you give me a link back on your site? I'd really appreciate you returning the favor. There's some html for linking back to me on my Add URL page (http://boxesinfo4u.com/addurl/).
Thanks and feel free to drop me an email if you'd like to chat more about this.
Best wishes,
Nick
Boxes Info4u
info@boxesinfo4u.comP.S. If you'd like the description of your site modified just drop me a line.
Posted in on February 22, 2006, 05:28 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Persuasion vs. Intimidation
As some explained to me recently:
If someone has something you really want, intimidation will not work. If they were intimidated, they probably wouldn't have that thing. Instead, you need to persuade them: how can you make it work for both of you?
Posted in on January 10, 2006, 11:49 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Credit Card Roulette
If you're ever out to dinner with a bunch of people and feeling adventurous, you can always play credit card roulette when the check comes. Each person puts in their credit card, and you ask the waiter to choose one at random. Whoever win's pays for the entire check!
Posted in on January 10, 2006, 11:47 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Dell Hell, Indeed
Jeff Jarvis isn't the only one that has been unhappy with Dell recently.
For as long as I've been dealing with the technology needs of myself and my clients, I've recommended Dell. In the past 14 days alone, I've spent thousands of dollars at Dell ordering new computers for clients.
So, obviously I was upset when I got a lemon yesterday. I'll save you from the technical details, but the machine just simply didn't work. From out of the box, Windows crashed with every opportunity. I called them and after 1.5 hours on the phone, "Sam" determined that the problem was... a defective Dell Resource CD?
I don't think so. Later they said it was the hard drive. Then they weren't really sure. They also apparently have no way to tell the time in America from India: they asked me what time it was at least six times.
Almost 5 hours of being on the phone, hours of hold time, 2 techs and a manager later, I convinced them to ship me a completely new system. But the experience was far from pleasant.
Buyer beware, indeed.
Posted in on January 06, 2006, 07:17 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
JetBlue and Las Vegas
The holidays have given me some time to do a lot of reading I've had on my wish list for a while, including Blue Streak, a well-written and interesting business biography of JetBlue.
I also managed to catch the tale end tonight of CNBC's Las Vegas, Inc, an excellent look at the mysterious business of Las Vegas.
Both are highly reccomended!
Posted in on January 02, 2006, 08:34 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Thanks, Tivo!
One of the things I got this Christmas was a Tivo -- something I'm very excited about. But what made me more excited was that even though we ordered a 40GB version, they sent a 80GB version!
Even if they don't send you a higher model than you ordered, they have a great promotion where you pay only $50 for the hardware when you prepay the monthly service for a year.
Posted in on December 26, 2005, 01:21 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Why PayPal Sucks
Lots of people don't like PayPal. But I've never had any problems with them. I use them with a lot of my clients, and we use them at Gawker to power our Shop.
Yet on today, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, their downloadable log files decided not to work. For no reason. And that's all they told me: "Please try again later."
This is topped only by an email received from PayPal earlier in the weekend:
I couldn't believe they were serious. After waiting a week for a response for a serious issue, they just decide not to answer my question and then have the nerve to tell me what to do if I have "further questions"?
PayPal sucks. Right now, at least.
Edit: Apparently the history problems are only with the accounts with the highest numbers of transactions. In other words: their best customers. Go figure.
Posted in on December 20, 2005, 05:53 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink
From Florence to Baltimore
On Saturday evening, I arrived at Baltimore's Penn Station. Over 48 hours earlier, I had left Florence's airport. Quite an adventure, indeed.
Some of my friends were bumped off of the flight in Florence because too many girls had too many shoes -- so many shoes that there was a weight problem, and they had to bump people to make room for luggage. Other highlights included waiting in lines, waiting in lines, and waiting in lines.
Be on the look out for all that I've been meaning to post, but just haven't had time to.
Posted in on December 19, 2005, 11:43 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Bank of America Hates Italy
Here's my gripe: each time I withdraw money, using any ATM in Italy, I am charged $5 USD and another percentage surcharge -- on top of the exchange rate.
So... if I wanted to withdraw EUR 250, or USD $292.06, I ended up paying USD $299.97. USD $7.91 may not sound like too much to complain about, but imagine being charged ~USD $8 to access your account for several months.
The best part? My roommate John uses Bank of America, withdraws money from the exact same ATMs, but isn't charged any of these fees! I've called BOA's national call centers, my local branch, branches in other states, and everyone tells me the same thing: "Sorry, there is a $5 fee. We're not sure why you're being charged that second fee (the percentage), though. And we're not sure why your roommate has no fees charged. Maybe you can give us his account number?"
Citibank isn't the only bank with problems.
Posted in on November 29, 2005, 06:47 PM | Comments (3) | Permalink
Travelogue: Reflections on Hungarian Culture
The instant we arrived in Budapest's airport, two people came up to our group and asked if we needed a cab. They were pretty good salespeople, armed with tons selling points: cabs were cheaper than the airport buses for large groups, cabs were quicker, cabs took you directly to your place, these were especially cheap cabs, you can pay in Euros instead of the Hungarian Forints, etc.
Yet the cab ride proved interesting. Our cab driver, fluent in English, was very honest and open. Though I assumed it was obvious, he asked if we were American, and had a lot to say. He didn't like the globalization of America. He didn't like American films, American politics, American food, or American cars.
"You go to a movie theatre and there are 10 films, and 8 of them are American." He was adamant: Hungary has its own private market, and doesn't need American products.
Throughout all this, he was weaving the cab through traffic like a madmen. European traffic lights seem to flash the yellow light when the light is red to indicate that it's about to turn green, allowing the drivers to prepare to take off at full speed. If he hadn't had us as passengers, he told us, "there is only one rule... no crossing the cars." Or, in other words, no car accidents.
Posted in on November 08, 2005, 11:02 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Travelogue: Budapest, Hungary
Having spent any time in Europe up until a few months ago, I had no idea to expect out of Budapest. But I love it!
Budapest is the first step on my three city Fall Break all this week. I wish I had more time to spend here! It's a beautiful city rich in history and with plenty of things to see, do, and look at.
We arrived last night on WizzAir (actually a suprisingly good airline) from Rome. We checked into our hostel around 8:30pm and then went off to get dinner. My first observation: it was cold. For some reason, Italy has been blessed with weather almost consistently in the 70s. And somehow I managed to leave the jacket I brought for this trip on the bus in Rome, making me one very cold traveler. Yet I persevered, as we were all pretty tired anyway and it was pretty clear last night would not be a late night. After some delicious Hungarian food (salty!), we walked along the river and went to bed.
We rose this morning at 9:30am and spent a few hours doing... nothing. It takes a group of six longer to get ready than we thought. After a late breakfast, we began our walk across a bridge into Pest (you may not know that Budapest actually used to be two separate cities: Buda and Pest) and began to climb to the Citadel, or the highest point in the city with certainly the most beautiful view. I managed to hurt my ankle (again!), so that slowed me down briefly, but we eventually made our way down and all around the city.
It should be noted that geniuses that we are, we managed to schedule our trip to Hungary during a national holiday. Today and tomorrow all museums are closed, and I'm told many of the locals have left the city entirely. But that's okay, there's still lots to see! This city is huge -- the fifth largest in the European Union.
We came back here and went to one of the city's famous baths. After testing our Hungarian trying to read all the signage, we made our way outside to the warm pools. They were packed, and while we dashed from pool to pool trying not to freeze, the Europeans casually strode to wherever they were going. "Silly Americans," I'm sure they were thinking. The warm water was incredibly relaxing -- perhaps too relaxing -- but after a few hours we headed back to our Hostel.
We got a late dinner and, as seems to happen often here, were pretty tired when we finally got back here, about an hour ago.
Tomorrow: Vienna!
· Photos from Budapest [Flickr]
Posted in on October 31, 2005, 06:53 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
LinkedIn Contractdicts Itself
(Click thumbnail for a larger image.)
I'm a fan of LinkedIn.
So I was surprised to log in tonight and see one of the stupidest promotional blurbs I've seen in a while. I'm told that:
You have no new opportunities — users with at least 10 connections and complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities.
An impressive statistic and compelling reason to get more connections and complete my profile. But less than an inch to the right of this, I'm told I have 16 connections. And my profile is pretty complete.
I appreciated the tip, but how hard would it be to only show that message to relevant users?
Posted in on October 09, 2005, 07:12 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Travelogue: Thoughts on Rome
My first month in Florence has unfortunately not consisted of much travel. I went on a day trip to Lucca, and last weekend was supposed to travel to Perugia, but that fell through. So, this weekend, I decided to go to Rome. I originally was going to travel and stay with some friends, but they had to cancel because they were sick. They also cancelled the hostel reservations.
But none of this deterred me, so at 11am on Friday I walked the five blocks to Florence’s Santa Maria Novella train station, without a place to stay, people to travel with, or even a map.
It just so happened that sitting across from me were two students from Pepperdine University in California that were studying abroad for the year in Germany. Unlike me, they have traveled extensively, and had decided just the night before to travel the many hours (somewhere around 13) to Rome on the train.
They, too, had no where to stay in Rome, and immediately upon entering Rome’s giant “Termini” (train station), someone with a nametag that said “Tourist Information” came up to us and asked if we were looking for a room. He then walked us several blocks to a hostel (or, as he called it, a “bed and breakfast”) that was only €23 for one night. (And for the record, the “breakfast” aspect of the hostel consisted of orange juice and a stale croissant.)
This was actually my first time in a hostel, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. We were placed in a room with six beds (including two bunk beds). Everything seemed okay to me (they even had maps for me!), so we paid our money, showed them our passports, and went to explore Rome.
I just followed the seasoned travelers, and we saw dozens of sites, one after another. I had little knowledge of what Rome had to offer, and some of the coolest things I saw were things I didn’t even know existed!
Unfortunately, I didn’t keep track of where we went, so using my map, I’ve tried to piece together photos, memories, and names.
A few highlights, thoughts, etc:
The Vatican
I’m actually going to be spending a lot more time here when I go back to Rome this weekend for a class field trip. Somehow, our professor has gained special access to a normally restricted portion of the Vatican Museum. Regardless, I spent Saturday morning in the area near the Vatican. The plaza near St. Peter's Basilica was beautiful. The lines for the Sistine Chapel and other major tourist destinations were much too long for me to wait in, especially since I'd be going back the following week. I was surprised by the large amount of advertising in the plaza.
I tried to enter the Vatican proper, but was denied entrance by the clown-like Swiss Guards. As I approached, he made some gesture resembling a salute. I obviously didn't know the correct response, and he told me I couldn't come in. It's also possible I wasn't let in because of the bag I was carrying. I'm going to try and figure out what I need to do to get in next week.
Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II
This was one of the most incredible structures I've ever seen in my life. We first saw it while looking at the ruins of the Roman Forum, and it was one of the few buildings where we could go anywhere. It is difficult to communicate its size through words or photographs. It was apparently constructed between 1895 and 1911, in honor of King Victor Emmanuel II. It was heavily secured with Roman police, and every so often one would start blowing their whistle at someone doing something you weren't supposed to.
Fontana di Trevi
They say that you're supposed to supposed to throw a coin over your right shoulder, but I'm not sure how I could have pulled that off without hitting anyone! We were walking down a street, turned a corner, and all of the sudden, there it was.
One of the most shocking things was that as soon as you turned around, you saw a giant advertisement for a cell phone. I guess that's capitalism for you.
Changing of the Guard at the President's House
I saw a surprising amount of heavily armed authority figures throughout Rome. While standing outside of what later I learned was the President's house, I witnessed a changing of the guard. Like something out of a movie, a guy comes out and starts chanting instructions. I managed to capture some of it on video.
I go back to Rome next week, so I'll have lots more to say then!
· Rome Photoset [Flickr]
Posted in on October 02, 2005, 04:01 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Italians Love Receipts
I'm just back from Rome, where I had an incredible time and will post more on it soon. But in the interim, I feel the need to tell you: Italians love receipts.
Italians give you receipts for everything, and when I try to refuse them, they are suprised. When I was on the train and ordered a three Euro sandwich, they gave me a receipt. When I went to the 99 cent store to get a bottle of water, they gave me a receipt. What's even sillier is the receipts are often void of the important information... such as what you bought. They just give the name of the establishment, its address, and how much money you spent.
As if I need a reminder of how much money I'm spending.
Posted in on October 02, 2005, 07:04 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Perche No?
Just off Via del Calzaiuoli lies Perche No? (translated: "Why Not?"), Florence's first ice cream parlor ("gelateria"). I stopped in yesterday for my first taste, and while all the people made it hard to decide which flavors I wanted, my chocolate and banana was delicious!
Many friends have suggested I go there, so I'm glad I took them up on their suggestion. Though apparently we aren't the only ones who enjoy Perche No?:
During World War II when the American army reached Florence after the Nazi withdrawal, they had the power grid specially reconnected so that Perche No?'s gelato production -- and G.I. consumption -- could continue.
This, at least, according to Frommer's.
Perche No?
Via dei Tavolini 19r, off Via del Calzaiuoli
Posted in on September 25, 2005, 07:26 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
The American Green Card Lottery?
There are lots of poorly designed banner ads out there. In my experience, a poorly designed banner ad is usually for an undesirable product. Hopefully, that isn't the case here.
While surfing the internet today, I saw this (poorly-designed!) banner ad. Apparently, my tax dollars are going to pay for banner advertising to promote the U.S. Green Card Lottery Program, where you can win a green card to the USA.
Those who want to become a US citizen have to do a whole bunch of things:
- a period of continuous residence and physical presence in the United States;
- an ability to read, write, and speak English;
- a knowledge and understanding of U.S. history and government;
- good moral character;
- attachment to the principles of the U.S. Constitution;
- favorable disposition toward the United States.
Apparently, all you need to win the Green Card Lottery is an education. And if you are lucky enough to be selected, "Winners will get FREE Airline ticket to the USA"!
Posted in on September 20, 2005, 06:07 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
What's In a Name?
Hopefully not that much.
I've always been awful at remembering names, but it's not often as embarrassing as it is now. Since arriving in Florence a little over ten days ago, I've met dozens and dozens of people. I've had trouble with almost all of their names.
Even the fifteen other people that I live with had to be patient for a few days until I finally figured out who they are. There are always those days when you pretend you know somebody else's name and you really don't. The key is to avoid embarrassment.
This problem continues to manifest itself on a daily basis. Plenty of people seem to know my name, yet I struggle to remember theirs. I’ve tried the same old suggestions: associate their name with an article of clothing, or use their name in a sentence out loud. No such luck.
So, if I forget your name, no hard feelings?
Posted in on September 13, 2005, 11:52 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Good Luck to the Big Easy
In between packing for my departure to Florence on Tuesday, I've been glued to the television watching the preparations for Hurricane Katrina.
While I wish everyone in the area the best, I wonder what has happened to the new students at Tulane preparing to move in. The storm hasn't made official landfall and Tulane's web servers are apparently already down.
I'm also interested in how New Orleans's local news media (specifically television) is getting by.
· New Orleans braces for monster hurricane [CNN]
· Hurricane Katrina targets New Orleans (good links) [Lost Remote]
· WWL evacuating to Louisiana State University [Lost Remote]
Posted in on August 29, 2005, 01:54 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink
New York Times Profiles Today's Rebellious Youth
In today's New York Times Styles section, the rebellious youth of 2005 are profiled:
"We hang out late because there's less people around, so we can do what we want," said Devin McKenna, 17, a high school senior, who was eating cake frosting from a can. He threw the frosting high into the black night sky, letting it splatter white onto the pavement.
"See? You think I could do that in the daytime?" he said. "I'd probably hit a car or a person, and then someone would throw a fit, and we'd be in trouble again."
Uhhhh...
· The Endless Night: Hanging Out in Cars With Boys, and Girls [New York Times]
Posted in on August 21, 2005, 02:00 PM | Permalink
More Thoughts on San Francisco
"The coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco." -- Mark Twain
Despite San Francisco's suprising chill, I continue to have a good time exploring the west coast. Instead of stopping by the Blog Business Summit, today I played tourist and took a bunch of neat pictures.
In more useful news, WorkHappy.net, self-described "killer resources for entrepreneurs," is an excellent read for all entrepreneurs and wanna-be entrepreneurs.
Posted in on August 20, 2005, 03:05 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Observations: the San Francisco Bay Area
Posted in on August 18, 2005, 06:43 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
