Author's archive
Stray Question, Tripping Hazard Dept. 0
When did shoe manufacturers decide that shoes need shoelaces long enough to moor a boat?
And, for Pete’s sake, why?
QOTD 0
Rex Stout, in the voice of Archie Goodwin:
. . . impetuosity is a virtue only when delay is dangerous . . . .
Stout, Rex, Too Many Clients (New York, Bantam, 1971), p. 32.
Punk’d in the Pocketbook 0
You may have heard about the Payless Shoe chain’s “Palessi” prank, in which Payless invented a tony ersatz brand, “Paylessi,” and gulled folks with more money than sense into paying hundreds of dollars for $20 shoes.
At Psychology Today Blogs, Utpal Dholakia draws three lessons from this. Here they are; follow the link for a detailed discussion of the Paylessi prank and of each of these items.
- We should be skeptical of recommendations given by influencers and so-called experts.
- We should treat brands like wrapping paper on a Christmas present, not the present itself.
- When making a purchase decision, we should pay attention to the product features that really matter.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Be polite as you complete your last-minute Christmas shopping.
“It was completely accidental,” Myers said. “The gentleman was actually very embarrassed about the whole situation.”
A quibble: “Accidental” is a less than optimal synonym for “stupid.”
Suffer the Children 0
There’s nothing quite like Christmas in Donald Trump’s kiddie koncentration kamps.
‘Tis the Season 0
Frederic B. Hill has a Christmas gift suggestion.
Bubble-Boy 0
Steven M. floats a theory. Here’s the gist; follow the link for his reasoning.
A quibble: I submit that we are all not “all in separate political bubbles.”
Rather, it’s the folks who choose to get all their news all the time from Fox News and its dupes, symps, and fellow travelers who have willingly en-bubbled themselves in Fox News’s nonsense nonsensical universe where up is down and down is–oh, never mind.