Not What I Expected...This is definitely Not What I ExpectedMakingLight reports on a Sting- January 31, 2005 Back when I was investigating grey-marketers and various fraud-types, there was nothing I loved better than a darn good sting operation. Teresa Nielsen Hayden talks about the sting that various SF and fantasy writers and others took part in (with the blessings of the TLA) against PublishAmerica. The book excerpts are both a scream to read and fine examples of how not to write. The book is available for purchase, and I sure know that I'm going to buy a copy!...http://www.plaidworks.com/lsefton/blog/001877.html Job Satisfaction and Health- January 31, 2005 An interesting abstract regarding job satisfaction and health. Back in grad school V1.0, when I was doing IO Psych, anything that showed an r-squared greater that 0.3 was paid attention to. That the correlations are greater than 0.3 (which usually indicate multiple factor correlation) are interesting in that, while there are other facotrs, there's definitely something going on here. A no duh--if employees are unsatified with their job, their health suffers. It's a good thing that the studies...http://www.plaidworks.com/lsefton/blog/001876.html When good hockey players do bad things- January 25, 2005 Or this is nature's way of telling you that you have too much money! Not sure what's worse--the music or the schmaltzy photos....http://www.plaidworks.com/lsefton/blog/001867.html "The Chairman" on Iron Chef America- January 2, 2005 No, not the nasty-bad version from last year. I was watching Iron Chef America in-between World Jr Hockey games today, and my first reaction upon seeing "The Chairman" was --"hey, isn't that Crying Freeman" Okay, that says a bunch about my movie viewing habits, but yeah, I was right. The new chairman is Mark Dacascos. He's not playng it nearly so much over the top as "Chairman Kaga", but he's having a good time....http://www.plaidworks.com/lsefton/blog/001823.html New Year's food trends- January 2, 2005 So, the coupons and adverts for the annual "It's New Years, time to diet" extravaganza are here. Two trends: 1. We're in the second year of "low carb everything you can think of". Kraft is betting a lot that low-carb craze will stick around for at least one more year in the mid-section of the US vs the coasts. It already looks like both coasts are moving away from low-carb for low-carb's sake. It doesn't appear clear whether the coasts are moving towards "appropriate...http://www.plaidworks.com/lsefton/blog/001822.html Cleaning out the kitchen- January 2, 2005 Today was clean the appliances I don't use out from the kitchen and into the donation boxes. It was like an archaeological dig into the last 15 years of Ron Popeil. Among the stuff that went into the boxes were a popcorn popper, a pasta maker, an electric citrus juicer, a deep fryer, multiple bundt pans, "checkerboard" cake pans, and other things that were taking up sapce, gathering dust, and not being used. Next on the list will be some old Circulon that's been replaced by Caphalon...http://www.plaidworks.com/lsefton/blog/001821.html This time last year- January 1, 2005 This time last year, Chuq and I were just outside of Eureka, having made a run from a snow-covered Portland. We loaded up on jerky and Pepsi, hoping to make it to SJC that night. No such luck--the storm that nailed Portland caught up to us while we drove through the Mendocino range, and we ended up holing up at a motel whose major advantage was that it was open, after grabbing dinner from the local Taco Bell. Things are going to be much better this year. Right off the bat, we're already in...http://www.plaidworks.com/lsefton/blog/001820.html |