Saturday, July 02, 2005

Remember the Cluetrain Manifesto?

The Cluetrain Manifesto didn't prevent the dot-com crash, and the ticking time bomb of Y2K was defused in time, but it's still a good read. Some highlights:

  • 2. Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.
  • 20. Companies need to realize their markets are often laughing. At them.
  • 15. In just a few more years, the current homogenized "voice" of business--the sound of mission statements and brochures--will seem as contrived and artificial as the language of the 18th century French court. (Do they know this yet in Singapore?)
  • 68 & 69. The inflated self-important jargon you sling around--in the press, at your conferences--what's that got to do with us? Maybe you're impressing your investors. Maybe you're impressing Wall Street. You're not impressing us.

Probably been reading the instructions for the triathlon, where the race is consistently referred to as "the race proceedings."

Friday, July 01, 2005

Annex 2 to the International Baccalaureate Diploma

It's fun finding stuff while packing. Related to my career options are the activities I participated in during high school.

Math Club, President, Secretary; Model United Nations Club; Newspaper; Mock Trial; SHS; ETW; NHS; FPS; Memorial Lutheran Church Handbell Choir; employee of local fast food restaurant

It's signed by my principal, so it must be accurate. The abbreviations were because I didn't want to admit being in the National Honor Society, which I regarded as a snobbish organization. I regarded them thus because they rejected me my junior year. And the initiation involved wearing a suit. SHS = Spanish Honor Society, ETW = Experimental Theatre Workshop, NHS = National Honor Society, FPS = Future Problem Solving. My Model U.N. teammates are now in politics; my newspaper friends work for newspapers; the mock trial participants are lawyers; much of the ETW crowd has made money in performance. Oh, and at least one Spanish Honor Society member lived in Spain for a while. I'm sure my colleagues from the local fast food restaurant have served time in jail and suffered acne.

Sunday, June 26, 2005

Milwaukee: heaven for cyclists, freaks, or both?

Not only is it host to Superweek, with the Trek factory just 60 miles away, but Milwaukee also has this event going for it.

Says the founder of the event: "Basically the idea was that you can bike all day, but you can't drink beer all day. But if you bike between your beers, you can burn it off."

The article says, "Saturday's ride...started at Wolski's Tavern and progressed through downtown Milwaukee to a parking structure where riders whizzed at high speeds down the ramp's corkscrew exit." The article is unclear if the high speed whizzing was a result of the bicycles or the beers.

Attempting to explain the event, the article quotes Sky Yaeger of Bianchi USA: "Bicycling back in the '70s and '80s was kind of a freak thing. Now it's too mainstream." Yeah, it would be really bad for the bike companies if people other than freaks started riding bikes.