use that vacation time (wsj)
"A growing body of research suggests the American trend toward skipping vacations is hazardous. In a nine-year study of 12,000 middle-age men at risk for coronary disease, researchers found those who failed to take vacations had a higher risk of death from any cause, but particularly from heart disease, than those who took regular vacations."

I've always thought that those people who never take vacations were amazingly stupid; it's one reason that I firmly believe companies should stop rolling over vacation time, and make sure their employees have the time to take time off. Without the latter, the former becomes mean instead of enabling.
(Monday, March 31, 2003)

nyc goes non-smoking, soon (nyt)
"'It's the continued suburbanization of New York,' said [Fran] Lebowitz, smugly dragging on a Marlboro Light. In a city filled with undersize apartments, the bars and restaurants, she says, are collective living rooms and parlors, the places for intellectual discourse and artistic give and take.

"'The history of ideas, as opposed to notions, is that you sit around bars and talk,' she said. 'You can't sit around in bars and not smoke.'"

The difference in San Francisco before and after California's anti-smoking law was enacted was amazing. After the law was enacted, one didn't have to shower immediately after coming home from a club, one could see the stage from the back, and the crowds of smokers outside of bars made them all look insanely popular.

Moving to Boston was a horrendous shock: people could smoke anywhere, and all of those atrophied habits had to be renewed. Or avoided altogether by not going out, which is how we dealt with it.
(Sunday, March 30, 2003)

a photographer's near-miss (fayetteville observer)
"First, Iraqis chased him down a desert highway, spraying his truck with bullets. Then, the former Fayetteville Observer photographer spent three days waiting out a sandstorm in the back of a Black Hawk helicopter."
(Friday, March 28, 2003)

angry little squirrel (suck)
I'm applying for a job at Sanrio where I'd get to do stuff like this. The first thing I'd do is propose a new squirrel character. And a crack-smoking rabbit. Heh.
(Friday, March 28, 2003)

SARS spreads panic (wsj)
"The situation raises odd questions of etiquette. Businesspeople are having a hard time deciding whether wearing masks puts customers more at ease or frightens them off. Many restaurant staffers are wearing them, although most restaurants have seen a sharp drop in business. Some cab drivers are not donning masks for fear they will frighten away fares. Instead they leave their car windows rolled down."
(Friday, March 28, 2003)

air 'safety' changes (ap via nyt)
"Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., has suggested moving federal air marshals to coach so airlines do not lose revenue from first-class seats."

Lott really does have his head up his ass, doesn't he? The reason air marshals sit in first class is because that's where the 9/11 hijackers sat. Move them to coach and how, exactly, are they supposed to protect the pilots?
(Friday, March 28, 2003)

adonal foyle's thought-out opinions prove that athletes should speak out (nyt)
Foyle said: "It wasn't we're-right-and-you're-wrong. It wasn't people saying, `If you are against the war, then you're not a patriot, you are for Saddam.' That's idiotic, a cover for avoiding a real dialogue. We have to get to the point in this country where people are allowed two or three thoughts in their head at the same time."

Foyle founded Democracy Matters, which "informs and engages college students and communities in efforts to strengthen our democracy."
(Thursday, March 27, 2003)

coping with job loss (wsj)
"Nearly one in five out-of-work executives say a job loss creates difficulties in their relationships with a spouse or partner. That number, based on a DBM study of 3,000 executives, is likely lower than the national average, because the managers in the study were receiving outplacement counseling. Other research suggests laid-off workers separate from or divorce their spouses at a rate two or three times higher than average."

Some tips on dealing with the stress at home following a layoff. (I could have used this in November.)
(Thursday, March 27, 2003)

will have sex for clothes (ny post via gawker)
"'It's a hell of a lot less demeaning than working as a waitress or something. And I always reward myself by getting a manicure and pedicure and going on a shopping spree at Bergdorf or Barneys every Saturday afternoon.'"
(Thursday, March 27, 2003)

ups drops paul rand's logo

I think FutureBrand's new logo sucks. UPS is spending $20 million to fix something that wasn't broken. While I understand their desire to have their brand reflect their broadened capabilities, the Paul Rand logo was the only one they'd had in 43 years. And the new logo doesn't seem like something that's going to age very gracefully, either.

This trend of venerable designs being redone is very disturbing to me. Wrigley repackaged their gums recently, too, and they're not nearly as nice as they used to be. Maybe I'm just getting old.

It's also worth noting that UPS had some $2 Billion on hand at the end of Q4 2002, so the new logo isn't costing them all that much of their cash. Sigh.

(Wednesday, March 26, 2003)

mnftiu on the war
"All I have to say is, Once this is over the Iraqi people better be the freest fucking people on the face of the earth. They better be freer than me."
(Wednesday, March 26, 2003)

michael graves prefab coming to target (wsj)

"'We kind of keep throwing things against the wall and see what resonates with customers,' says John Remington, a vice president of events marketing at Target. The kits will be marketed under the name Pavilions."

These show up next month on target.com, priced from $10k-26k. Put four of them together and you can have a pavilion house for under $100k.
(Wednesday, March 26, 2003)

Anchor!
This is one of the nicest looking websites I've seen. Looking through it made me want to move back to San Francisco, instead of moving to New York. It's that good.
(Tuesday, March 25, 2003)

alien press pot
I love this Alessi French Press (or should I call it a "Freedom Press"?). It's just so funny and cute, the kind of thing that Sanrio should be making.
(Monday, March 24, 2003)

need a car?
Molly's in Italy, and as such is selling her cute GTI. It's in San Francisco.
(Monday, March 24, 2003)

stop before you call it "freedom" toast (food tv)
"One version of the story is that [French toast] was invented in 1724 at a roadside tavern near Albany, N.Y. According to the tale, the tavern owner, Joseph French, gave the dish his name."

French fries are Belgian. French dressing is whatever it is. I'm still waiting for teens to say they're "freedom kissing."
(Saturday, March 22, 2003)

eu offices bugged (nyt)
"Listening devices were found late last month in the offices of the French, German, British, Austrian and Spanish delegations in a headquarters building, officials said."

An earlier version of this story on the NYT website quoted Belgian police sources as saying that the bugs were American-made. That sentence no longer appears, for whatever reason. They did add, "Two years ago, the European Parliament investigated reports that an American-led global spy network dubbed Echelon spied on Europe's business sector."
(Friday, March 21, 2003)

the domestic agenda ramps up (nyt)
"The Bush administration is considering changes to fuel economy regulations that would encourage manufacturers to offer more large cars, station wagons and smaller sport utility vehicles that are built more like cars."

In the middle of a war for oil, the Bush administration is taking steps to reduce fuel economy standards for the Big Three. Isn't this completely the opposite of what they should be doing: ramping up production of hybrids and fuel cell-powered cars?

This is MOTTO (more Onion than the Onion).
(Friday, March 21, 2003)

cisco buys linksys (wsj)
I was wondering how long it was going to take Cisco to start developing products for home networking. The answer: they won't, they're spending half a billion to buy someone else's product line and distribution. Growth through acquisition has always been Cisco's m.o.
(Thursday, March 20, 2003)

'the magic ratio' (espn)
"A former business school lecturer at Stanford, Thompson says he got the idea of the Magic Ratio from a previous boss at an Oregon energy company who actually charted his comments to subordinates. He later found academic foundation for the theory in a University of Washington study of couples, in which researchers found a correlation between the 5-to-1 [5 positive comments to 1 negative comment] ratio and successful marriages. The further from that mark, the more likely they were to divorce."
(Thursday, March 20, 2003)

stephen malkmus (playboy)
"PB: Is it possible to have classic rock in your mind while still having indie rock in your heart?"

"SM: Yeah, absolutely. I don't think you can choose what's in you. Sometimes things just stick to you. You can try to choose. Like all your friends are into Television's Marquee Moon and they say it's really cool, and you can eventually listen to it a lot and maybe it'll stick to you, but certain things are just in you, because you listened to them before you were cool. Whatever your parents played on the radio before you got taste. I liked Paul Simon and Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles, and Rush and Queen. That's dating myself. There was no indie rock back then. You could like the Grateful Dead and be weird, in my town, back then."
(Tuesday, March 18, 2003)

Chicken-Nugget Boom Leads To Worries About Kids' Health (wsj)
"What's particularly troubling about the growing consumption of nuggets is that they've become a dinner-time staple in households where parents think they're feeding their kids healthier alternatives to junk food. In fact, the popularity of high-fat, highly processed foods like chicken nuggets is one reason the percentage of overweight kids has tripled in the past 20 years to 15%. And experts now know that heart disease, which is linked with obesity, can begin in early childhood."
...
"[C]ontrary to what many parents may think, a simple hamburger at McDonald's is a better option, with 280 calories, 10 grams of fat and 30% of its calories from fat."
(Monday, March 17, 2003)

espn's upgrade page
"While 98.4% of our audience uses a standards-compliant web browser, you appear not to be using one."

ESPN is nice enough to include a long explanation as to why standards-compliant browsers (i.e. NOT Navigator 4.x) are a good thing.

Just more fuel for coding for standards, instead of allowing ancient Netscape browsers to dictate what one can and can't do online.
(Monday, March 17, 2003)

can-am
very nice cd/media storage.
(Saturday, March 15, 2003)

code bar
One of Annalisa's friends got her a CodeBar plush. It has a barcode on its belly. Pretty cute. (n.b. Keep in mind that those product prices are in HK$, not US$.)
(Saturday, March 15, 2003)

jenna jameson hawking pony kicks?!? (nyt)
"We were talking to the folks at Pony for a long time to see if we could create something interesting," said Steven Hirsch, co-chief executive at Vivid Entertainment in Van Nuys, Calif. "We're always looking for unique ways to showcase our Vivid Girls, and this one was perfect for us."

"We target some of the same people," Mr. Hirsch said of the consumers who buy Pony apparel and footwear and Vivid tapes and DVD's, "and Pony is known for sort of hip campaigns, so it made sense."

One wonders whether or not Pony's endorsement deal with Vivid actresses will result in product placement in upcoming porn flicks.
(Friday, March 14, 2003)

ad agencies subvert the ads themselves (guardian)
"Ping! A friend emails you a video clip parodying a well known advert. You watch, chuckle, and forward it on, presuming it to be the handiwork of some mischievous subversive. In fact, there's a good chance the spoof was made by the very brand it appears to bash."
(Friday, March 14, 2003)

one of the worse airline horror stories i've read recently
egad.
(Friday, March 14, 2003)

is this the leafs' year? (espn)
"Just how viable a Stanley Cup candidate is "Canada's Team," though? In truth, the Leafs are every bit as likely to be bounced in the first round by Philadelphia as burrow through three rounds to face the survivor of the deeper, more talent-clogged Western wars for that rickety old silver mug they all dream about. Their defense still doesn't scare anyone and they've gotten so old there was talk George Armstrong was being brought out of mothballs and Frank Mahovlich out of the Senate. Then there is the weight of history to be borne on their shoulders."

Who in the East can beat the Leafs? Ottawa looks good, but the Leafs have trounced them in the playoffs for the past three years straight. The only team that looks better than Toronto is New Jersey.
(Thursday, March 13, 2003)

design in las vegas (nyt)
"'I think Las Vegas is about buying into romantic images,' [the head of design for Steve Wynn] said. 'I don't think you sell a sofa; you sell the romance of the sofa.' Mr. Thomas suggested that Las Vegans are hooked on vignettes, 'preassembled, ready for consumption, layer upon layer.'"

They even sell pre-furnished houses in Vegas. Wow.
(Thursday, March 13, 2003)

the post-boom [developer] job guide (webmonkey)
"Sure, even if the economy improves drastically, things are never going to recover to the point where they were three years ago, at least not in our lifetime. So let's all take a deep breath and re-adjust our expectations."
(Thursday, March 13, 2003)

AI should go to the Olympics (espn)
"How hot is Iverson globally? So much so that a photographer from Japan has moved to Philadelphia, the better to get shots of Iverson for a string of Japanese "AI" magazines. His name is Yoshi, and Iverson has allowed the foreigner into his posse's inner-circle, where he clicks away, servicing a rabid audience on the other side of the globe."
(Thursday, March 13, 2003)

outhouse racing (wsj)
"What does it take to make an outhouse go really fast? Each year, that question grips Trenary, population 400 or so, when it plays host to the Outhouse Classic."
(Wednesday, March 12, 2003)

p.diddy has his swagger back (london telegraph)
"Now he has translated his tireless energy and self-promotion into a budding lifestyle empire aimed at every corner of urban culture. Under the aegis of his Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group, which employs some 600 people, Combs has aspirations to be a global force in music, film, TV, apparel, marketing, restaurants and more."

I didn't realize how young the man is. He's 33. A year older than me. Sigh.
(Wednesday, March 12, 2003)

airline pricing goes from bad to worse (wsj)
"Here's a quick quiz: Which airline sells a higher percentage of unrestricted, full-fare tickets: American Airlines, which prides itself as the business traveler's carrier, or discounter Southwest Airlines? Bonus question: Which airline has a higher average fare per mile, American or Southwest?

"Answer: Southwest sells full-fare tickets to about 35% of its customers -- three or four times American's full-fare percentage. And in the fourth quarter last year, Southwest passengers paid 12.25 cents, on average, to fly one mile, compared to 11.72 cents per mile at American. Southwest's yield was also higher than United, Delta, Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines in the fourth quarter."

The only thing anywhere near as random as airline pricing is Las Vegas hotel room pricing.
(Wednesday, March 12, 2003)

binging and purging on stress = wrong (wsj)
"The problem: The relentless exposure to daily, chronic anxiety is the most toxic form of stress. It can actually be poisonous, wearing down the immune system and increasing the risk of everything from colds to cancer. Stress can damage neurons in the brain, causing memory problems; it can interfere with sexual performance and lead to heart attacks and premature death. Worst of all, it can make you fat. That exposure simply isn't mitigated by dutifully scheduling in nighttime bubble baths or ducking out to watch 'Joe Millionaire.' Ultimately, it is how you spend your days -- not your downtime -- that matters."
(Tuesday, March 11, 2003)

random audits coming soon (wsj)
"Internal Revenue Service officials have begun sending letters to taxpayers chosen largely at random for special [calibration] audits later this year and next year. These audits, the first of their kind in more than a decade, are designed to give agents a fresh look at how much cheating exists, what types, how to spot it and how to reduce unnecessary audits in the future.
...
"Because of outdated information, the IRS acknowledges it's now auditing far too many people whose returns turn out to be perfectly accurate. Officials estimate the new program will produce information that will result in eliminating about 15,000 "no-change" audits each year."
(Monday, March 10, 2003)

in cleaning out my bookmarks, i found these
The LV House: prefab vacation home
Putting the fab into prefab (nyt): Even Target is doing a prefab house, by Michael Graves
good mp3s: a rotating selection
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story: huge mpeg videos of the underground classic
Yao's mom (Houston Chronicle): "Even his mother, once an accomplished player for the Chinese national team, said she did not expect Yao to succeed to this degree so quickly."
How to beat Nike (NYT magazine): "No one company could possibly beat Nike alone, but they all want a bigger piece of the pie, and there is one logical place for that to come from."
Paco Rabanne (NYT)
Bagged salad isn'tsimple (NYT)
Hotels for Nomads: the NDM exhibition

(Saturday, March 8, 2003)

blik blik
make your own damien hirst dot painting with these blik wall decals. it's a lot cheaper, and reconfigurable.
(Friday, March 7, 2003)

the battle: speed
I love this Nike Basketball ad. Four great point guards going at it, all crossovers and pressure defense. The Nike Basketball site has making-of video as well, so the web is kinda like a DVD.
(Friday, March 7, 2003)

what's in fashion for auto thieves (nyt)
Xenon headlights in the northeast are counterbalanced by airbags in Texas. And Accords and Integras are popular in Southern California for the street-racing scene.
(Friday, March 7, 2003)

bikini kat! flower frankenstein is back!
Kitty Katty has become Bikini Kat. Yay! Cute things available online and at National Product (1845 Market Street).
(Thursday, March 6, 2003)

when i'm bored at work (craigslist mc)
hahaha
(Wednesday, March 5, 2003)

Chappelle's show
oh man this show is funny. i'm watching it right now, and laughing a lot. Wu-Tang Financial: "This ain't no Trading Places, this is real fucking life here, y'all."
(Wednesday, March 5, 2003)

terry richardson (hint)
"Taken with an old Instamatic, Richardson's body of work has become one of fashion's most instantly recognizable, and sought after; his sizzling images have appeared in the pages of i-D, French Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, as well as campaigns for Gucci, Sisley and Armani Exchange."
(Wednesday, March 5, 2003)

regime change begins at home

purchase from the good people at K. only $7.50!
(Tuesday, March 4, 2003)