rant

Ding dong, the trimmer is dead

Ryobi Trimmer I am finally rid of my Ryobi 720R trimmer. For nine years I’ve owned this pathetic excuse of a lawn maintenance tool. I didn’t think asking for occasional lawn edging and trimming was too much to expect, but it was always hard to get started. When it finally did acquiesce, it’s 2-cycle engine […]

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Schedule chicken

What is the game of “Chicken?” In the movies, two hooligans with something to prove settle their differences by racing their cars towards each other. The first one to turn away, averting certain collision, is the “chicken” and loses face among his cohorts. The other player, referred to as the “winner,” gets bragging rights and

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Truth in the Workplace

Director Mitch pointed me to an article on the interview twists and turns some HR people will inflict upon candidates. (Further commentary is available on Newmark’s Door and Just Procastinating. Guest blogger Dr Bob makes some general HR rantiness.) I decided it might be fun to spend next week blogging about some of the bizarre

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How much is your product, really?

When buying a car, I’ve become accustomed to having to research pricing until smoke billows out of my ears because I hate finding out that the “special deal” I received wasn’t very special. Multi-level pricing has oozed into the retail software industry and is especially rife with companies selling direct. After a couple of (expletive)

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Grade inflation

USA Today writes on Princeton University’s effort to curb “grade inflation” by rationing As to, you know, “preserve academic integrity.” Grade inflation “correction” is based on the theory that people will naturally fit into a bell curve, and that a C (or maybe a B) should be average. If you accept that Princeton is a

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tooth fairy

My oldest has had a loose tooth for a few months. She’s been very worked up about this, despite coaching from one of her neighborhood friends and assurances from her parents (both of whom are over 30) that she’ll survive. Last night the tooth fell out. Our daughter was picking through dinner for the soft

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One of my many paradoxes is having a blog under my real name, but going to extremes to filter out spam, spyware, virii, cookies, scripts, pop-ups and ad banners. All my efforts have been gradual, and I didn’t realize how much cruft gets filtered until I was surfing in the library the other day. I

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