Random Notes from a Crank

I know morons use the stuff in Advil Cold & Sinus to make methamphetamine, but that medicine works. With the harvest happening here in central Illinois, I'm all congested and a bit sickly. Having to provide my driver's license to get the good stuff (Advil, people, not crystal meth) is no problem since it's going to make me feel better.

This pisses me off: "Drop Dead." We should expect many folks from Florida universities polishing their CVs and going on the job market again. And New College (one of the colleges noted in the article) is consistently ranked as one of the best college values in American education.

What's the deal (channeling Andy Rooney) with people not acknowledging you've sent them an email? I say this as an occasional offender of what I'm complaining about, so I also need to do better. But lack of acknowledgement happens to me all the time, whether it's colleagues or students. A simple "Thanks" will do.

For whatever reason, my son insists on making the past tense of the verb pee to be "peeped." For example, "I peeped in the toilet, Dad." He knows better, but he's just using the word because he knows it's not right. Good thing we didn't name him Tom.

For those painting the Wall Street protesters as clowns, I give you a piece in Business Insider that is heavy on visuals: "CHARTS: "Here's What the Wall Street Protesters Are So Angry About..." by Henry Blodget. Those visuals cohere with the article I linked in my previous "Random Notes..." post.

The passing of Steve Jobs has created some interesting claims about what he did for the world. Since I'm not the most technologically savvy or knowledgeable about computers, I'll quote what one of my buddies, who works for a major computer company, put as his FB status for a short while: "Dear Internets, I like my iPhone and all but it's worth noting that Jobs did not invent the smartphone, or the computer, or digital music distribution. He did it better than anyone else had done up to the point they were introduced. He was a phenomenal marketing and design guy with a flair for the dramatic. Apple is Apple because of Job's marketing and design brilliance not because he invented anything. So, please stop with the Edison comparisons and just remember him for what he really really did, make great products and market the hell out of them." I don't know how right my buddy is, but I did notice that many of the articles written about Jobs quoted professors of marketing.