A great invention for an entrepreneur's car
What any entrepreneur needs if the business involves a lot of driving, especially in the so-called "Garden State": deer insurance. Deer are a menace! I've hit two in the last two years. They run out in the street with no warning, and you can't miss 'em when they do that. They are too stupid to avoid cars, and are a danger to the lives of drivers and passengers, not to mention to themselves.
This site tells us that
A deer insurance was suggested but discounted since "every dink in a car would be blamed on a deer hit."
I don't buy it. Not every "dink in a car" can be accompanied by the carcass of a stupid deer. Those are the words of someone who doesn't want to think the problem through.
And don't get me started on so-called "animal lovers" who oppose extending deer hunts. If you are like that, you need to get it through your head that you are doing deer no favors! They will ultimately die anyway, crossing roads stupidly as they do! AND they will endanger motorists, and possibly the children of motorists, on their way to their own destruction.
But I digress again.
Though reducing the population of an animal with no natural predators left (at least in this state) will help spare danger to drivers, there are many other methods that will help. One interesting idea from the above site is
Deer-movement activated signs are being studied.
But deer insurance must be examined closely, even if it costs more than standard auto insurance, just as flood insurance costs more than home insurance. Entrepreneurs who drive should go to bat for this.
Labels: recommendations
So you want to start an entrepreneurs club at your high school?
Here's where I'd go for help -- where I WILL go if it turns out that
the school I'm working for agrees with me that an entrepreneurs club would be a Good Thing [tm]. They're called
SAGE -- Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship. And they deal with the subject on a very high level for young people.
Labels: young entrepreneurs
On conflict
Here are some typical sources of workplace conflict:
- "simultaneous" access to resources ("but I need to use the copy machine!")
- unclear or inconsistent decision-making authority
- unclear or inconsistent reasoning behind decisions or policy
- trying to know without needing to know
- failure to see or understand events and conversations in their context
- perceived deviation from some standard of behavior ("why do I do this while they get to do that?")
I find it's worth remembering this stuff -- the warning signs that help us prevent worse things from occurring.
Labels: education, rhetoric
The black hole of recommendation forms
I think the thing I hate most about filling out recommendation forms and writing recommendation letters is that I seldom hear what happens. For the last several years, a few students each year have asked me for recommendations for various honors: scholarships or student jobs, usually. And almost none of them has ever written me back to tell me what happened. The funny thing is that even
sites that describe the etiquette involved in requesting one of these things don't suggest that the requester report on the results.
But I can't help it. I want to know. I'd at least like the students who request a favor like that not to forget me. LOL And I'm learning a lesson here myself: I have to tell the people who've recommended me in the past that
my own job is going just fine. And thank them again.
A bit of history: five years ago, I worked with a group called the Weather Boys in one of my
Rhetoric classes. (They got the idea for their team name from watching the film
October Sky.) These kids, over the course of two semesters, performed the heroic feat of supplying
Ewing's Antheil Elementary School with a weather station. They convinced the Antheil Parent-Teacher Organization to donate $1000 for the purchase of the station, the rain gauge of which is pictured here. They installed the station. They prepared the software so Antheil's computers could receive data. And they did the groundwork for Antheil's weather feed to be supplied to
TCNJ's Web site.
All this work is now pretty much unknown except to the Weather Boys, myself, and a couple of Antheil staff members. This is because in the summer of 2003, Ewing schools put up a new firewall which prevented the weather station from sending data inside the building 20 feet away. And nobody would do anything about it. That situation still rankles me, years later.
But I digress. I brought this up because Matt Ledyard of the Weather Boys came along this week seeking a recommendation letter, as...
I am on the homestretch here at TCNJ, and upon graduation I hope to continue my service with the Air Force by becoming a pilot. Within the next few weeks I will be sending off application packets to various Air National Guard units across the United States. My top choice would be to fly fighter jets, specifically the F-15, F-16 or A-10 airframe.
This note came along just as I was beginning to get the annual spring rush of recommendation requests, and was most discouraged about them. Now I have to rethink my discouragement, because Matt is such a super guy. I see him as one of my greatest success stories.
Matt's the reason I'm posting this. I think my recommendation for a good young person is one of the best gifts I can give, and it really is flattering to be asked. It suggests that at least one person gives a shit about what I think. LOL
Labels: education, history, rhetoric, young entrepreneurs
The mystery of Zyzzyx Road?
How is it that a movie released in the United States can gross only $30? Yet this is exactly what's happened with
Zyzzyx Road. Even though it stars
Grey's Anatomy hottie
Katherine Heigl (pictured).
I mean, even a colossal turd like
Epic Movie can gross in the tens of millions of dollars. There can be no doubt that the movie-viewing public in the USA is not particularly... well, particular.
What matters, I think, is that if Heigl can appear in a movie that makes $30, anyone in the US who wants to can make a movie that does at least that well. I'm guessing there are
YouTube videos worth many times the value of
Zyzzyx Road. But I'm not making fun of it just because everyone else is. I'm saying there are opportunities out there for film entrepreneurs.
That's good news for my son: he wants to be something like that. :-)
So I gotta see this film. I gotta find out what its deal is.
Labels: young entrepreneurs
Common mistake freezes the office
The work-day was half over today when half of my department (including me) learned we were on the hook for an all-day meeting tomorrow. There go our plans for the rest of the week; we have to do alternative planning to be out of the office tomorrow, and the alternative plans have to be wrapped up by close of business. One colleague had to scurry around to arrange alternative child care as well.
The people running the all-day meeting knew about it three weeks in advance. So why, you may ask, did we learn so late? Here's the clue: the e-mail we got (I read it at lunch, only after hearing there was one) contained a "reminder" of the meeting. So... if we're "reminded" of a meeting we're hearing about for the first time, that is a sign that...
...the original e-mail was sent to the OTHER HALF of the department, which has gone through the meeting already, TWICE. And their two e-mails -- each identical -- included read receipts. Those read receipts should've been a sign that the sender made a mistake.
And it's a common mistake: the sender had two lists for the same message, and instead of sending it once to each list, she sent it twice to the same list. Why should the people who received the original message guess what's wrong? THEY were informed as they should be, though they were inconvenienced by extra read receipts. The sender made the mistake, and the read receipts should've tipped her off.
Funny, I mentioned that this mistake is common to one of my colleagues, and she looked at me like I was from Mars. Tough darts. It is. This is essentially no different than sending a message to an entire listserv, when it's intended as a response to one person. The colleague's counter-point? That even if any of us could do the same thing, the mistake still brings consequences. The one who made the mistake should be reprimanded. The reprimand didn't happen, but the sender of the undelivered message had to receive nasty return e-mails from several of those who were put out.
Entrepreneurs must be especially sensitive to this mistake, because we can't afford to inconvenience our first few customers with multiple repeated e-mails. They might even think of us as spammers if we're not careful.
Labels: internet, office space
I gave Dilbert a new job
I'm as big a fan of
Dilbert as any geek could be.
But the close affection I had for Scott Adams' comic strip isn't the same any more, as (a) I no longer work in a cubicle, (b) I no longer work for a pointy-haired boss, (c) my co-workers aren't incompetent, and (d) we actually have a
customer-service system that works, leading to relatively few headaches even when we're poorly organized. In the days when I didn't enjoy my work as I do right now, I hung Dilbert cartoons on my cube wall, as did thousands of other white-collar workers all over the USA.
But now that I don't hang the cartoons on my wall, I still have room for Dilbert-esque humor in my life. The True Tales of Induhviduals in Scott Adams' Dilbert Newsletter are, like he says, a "little ray of bitter sunshine." And I'm sensitive to other related stuff, like
this note from the
Dilbert Blog:
So when [Tim] Hardaway said on the radio that he hates gay people, I think he was surprised that it caused a problem. He's not good at pattern recognition. I'll bet he spent the first week of the shit storm just shaking his head and muttering, "I didn't see THAT coming."
Great sports commentary there.
I also want to mention
the Despair catalog for someone who loves the sarcastic. It's a gift that keeps on giving!
Labels: character
One great birthday present!
My son made me a mix CD for my birthday. Best birthday present I've had in years!
- Bon Jovi, "It's My Life"
- Lillix, "What I Like About You"
- All-American Rejects (pictured), "Swing Swing"
- All-American Rejects, "Dirty Little Secrets"
- Thin Lizzy, "The Boys are Back in Town"
- Lit, "My Own Worst Enemy"
- Queen, "Flash Gordon Theme"
- John Williams, Superman score
- James Blunt, "You're Beautiful" (LOL -- we make fun of this one, my son and I)
- Journey, "Don't Stop Believin'"
- Boston, "More Than a Feeling" (this was the song they were playing when I graduated from high school -- and I love Boston because Tom Scholz is trained as a mechanical engineer, like me)
- My Chemical Romance, "Welcome to the Black Parade"
- Hmmm... this last one was an instrumental I didn't recognize. It was Green Day, "Espionage".
There are a lot of songs there that are chosen just for me. I hope you know what it's like to have someone care for you that much. :-)
Now get back to work.
Labels: diversions, office space
zigzag.net murder-suicide
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- A gunman shot and killed three men at a business Monday night before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life, police said.
You definitely want to
read the whole article.
Of course, there's nothing about the shootings on the
zigzag.net Web site, at least not at the time I write this. But the shooter appears to have been an
investor, unhappy with some moves made by the small company, which does (among other things) marketing and Web development.
I found out about this company a year ago, when I met Nicole Graham (no relation) of zigzag.net at an activity held by the
Entrepreneur's Forum of Greater Philadelphia. At the time, Nicole followed up with the following:
I believe that Zigzag could be a valuable asset to your young entrepreneurs and I would like to learn more about the start-up companies and see how Zigzag can get involved.
I didn't follow up on this follow-up, and now I regret it. The young entrepreneurs I know are short on money (for now), but that doesn't mean they won't appreciate a professional contact down the road. Nicole will hear from me again.
And, zigzag folks, I want to publicly send you heartfelt condolences.
Labels: history, young entrepreneurs
The best online singles profile EVER!
I'm not gonna tell you where I got this, but it's hilarious. SOMEBODY out there knows how the singles Web sites really work. :-) :-) :-)
My Mother wrote this for me because I still live in her basement and she wants me to find someone new to take care of me so she can find a paying tenant. My last boyfriend ditched me because I got pregnant and asked for child support even though he never touched me. My sister wants me to pay back the money I owe her NOW, can you lend me a hundred dollars? I promise I will pay it back. My ex-husband left me for a younger woman so I dated his new wife's son and used my alimony to take him to a nice restaurant. When I get my period, I gain a little weight. And it's accumulative. I am running out of room, so please tell me now, do you still love me???
Labels: character, diversions
Nexus Trade born again! Born anew? Reborn?
I've been shown that
Nexus Trade has returned from "virtual" oblivion, and has a new look and feel -- a pretty good, professional one if you ask me. There are precious few items listed there though. That's a sign that the news is not yet out. Somehow the buzz has to be generated, or let's hope it doesn't cost anything to keep the site up at least. It's a good idea, but we know there's a graveyard for good ideas nobody knows about.
Labels: young entrepreneurs
You can link types of franchise as well as franchises :-)
| SEEMINGLY MISMATCHED COUPLE FINDS LOVE TOGETHER -- FILM #784 |   |
Michelle Rodriguez is engaged to be married to Some Jerk. The two travel to some small village somewhere to have a wedding. Michelle Rodriguez is exploring the town, when all of a sudden she bumps into Hugh Grant.
MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ: Hello. Me Michelle Rodriguez.
HUGH GRANT: I’m…I’m terribly sorry... I’m just... I’m... well I was just... I’m... I’m... pardon me, I’m... I’m... excuse me, I’m... I’m... I’m... I’m... I’m... I’m... I’m... I’m... I’m... I’m.
MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ: GAAAAH!!! BRITISH MAN TALK SO ANNOYING!!! MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ SMASH!!!
Michelle Rodriguez beats the crap out of Hugh Grant. The two hate each other for three quarters of the film and then magically love each other. Michelle realizes that her fiancé is a total jerk.
MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ: I am realizing that my fiancé is a total jerk!
Michelle plunges her hand into her betrothed’s chest and rips out his still-beating heart.
HUGH GRANT: The script says I love you, Michelle.
MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ: We sex now!
Hugh Grant and Michelle Rodriguez live happily ever after. All male members of the audience dragged to see this movie have now died of self-inflicted wounds.
Labels: diversions, history
The secret to reviving a dormant franchise
...link it with another one.
The above was created by Robert Graham for your dining and listening pleasure. :-)
Labels: diversions, history
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