Memoranda...

In the Islam-is-a-religion-of-peace Department:

Nigerian Muslims burned a newspaper office over a story saying the prophet Muhammad might have chosen a Miss World contestant as a wife. Nigeria is hosting the pageant.
   -- The Wall Street Journal, 21 Nov 02

Also, from slashdot:

Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there.
   -- Josh Billings

And in a takeoff of Abbot and Costello:

HU'S ON FIRST
(We take you now to the Oval Office.)

George: Condi! Nice to see you. What's happening?
Condi: Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China.
George: Great. Lay it on me.
Condi: Hu is the new leader of China.
George: That's what I want to know.
Condi: That's what I'm telling you.
George: That's what I'm asking you. Who is the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes.
George: I mean the fellow's name.
Condi: Hu.
George: The guy in China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The new leader of China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The Chinaman!
Condi: Hu is leading China.
George: Now whaddya' asking me for?
Condi: I'm telling you Hu is leading China.
George: Well, I'm asking you. Who is leading China?
Condi: That's the man's name.
George: That's who's name?
Condi: Yes.
George: Will you or will you not tell me the name of the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir? Yassir Arafat is in China? I thought he was in the Middle East.
Condi: That's correct.
George: Then who is in China?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir is in China?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Then who is?
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Yassir?
Condi: No, sir.
George: Look, Condi. I need to know the name of the new leader of China. Get me the Secretary General of the U.N. on the phone.
Condi: Kofi?
George: No, thanks.
Condi: You want Kofi?
George: No.
Condi: You don't want Kofi.
George: No. But now that you mention it, I could use a glass of milk. And then get me the U.N.
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: Not Yassir! The guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi?
George: Milk! Will you please make the call?
Condi: And call who?
George: Who is the guy at the U.N?
Condi: Hu is the guy in China.
George: Will you stay out of China?!
Condi: Yes, sir.
George: And stay out of the Middle East! Just get me the guy at the U.N.
Condi: Kofi.
George: All right! With cream and two sugars. Now get on the phone.
(Condi picks up the phone.)
Condi: Rice, here.
George: Rice? Good idea. And a couple of egg rolls, too. Maybe we should send some to the guy in China. And the Middle East. Can you get Chinese food in the Middle East?

This last came from Nealz Nuze.

Cheers...

Not my usual style of posting, but...

Interesting article on developing the capability to build dossiers on all Americans.

Cheers...

Another (yawm) normal day...

Opened the store, did the report, etc.

Finished the translation; sent the invoice.

Chased paper.

Noticed that the professional web site looks significantly different under Opera and IE, having to do with the minimum height of a table row. Noodled around a little with CityDesk to try to resolve the issue, with no luck.

* * *In sorting through some stuff I picked up at the ATA conference, I notice I picked up a lot of items with advertising on them. This includes a handful of cheap pens, a combination letter-opener and staple remover, and other stuff. Perhaps the "prize" item is an electronic calendar/calculator/currency converter (interestingly enough, there is no company name on the thing).

I've looked through a number of catalogs that advertise such novelty items, seeking something different, useful, and inexpensive. I can't seem to find anything that satisfies all three criteria. Personally, I have all the coffee cups that I need for groups of up to about 50 people (any more, and then I'd have to hit the cups that are in storage).

Again personally, I have never made any kind of buying decision on the basis of a name on a pen, or a pad of Post-It paper, or whatnot. Perhaps the closest I've ever come was looking for the phone number of my local bank branch on one of the pens that lie ubiquitously around here. Anyway, looking at that letter-opener/staple-remover I mentioned earlier, all it had on the side the company's name and phone number.

Let me clue you in to something: there is only so many ways you can compose reasonably short names that include words such as "language," "service," "translation," "company," "associates," and so on. So the name recognition afforded to "Language Translation Services" is not that much different from that afforded to "Language Services Associates" (which happens to be the name on the letter opener).

So what drives people to buy and distribute this kind of stuff? Tradition? A yearning to have an inexhaustible supply of pens? Or is it because it's simply expected of a conference exhibitor?

I guess, to a certain extent, it's a simple (and simple-minded) way of telling customers you care. Here, I am recalling all the stuff that we distributed when I was at Borland, including tee-shirts, but then again, a well-made tee-shirt with a nice design is something that gives a recipient the warm fuzzies. You can't say that about a letter opener or a 10-cent ballpoint made of plastic.

Too, any business generated by the novelty may not come from the recipient, but from someone who comes into contact with him or her. Handing over a keychain doodad that opens bottles and has an imprint that says nice things about, say, Symantec C++ may put the name in front of a prospect that one additional time necessary to eventually trigger a buy reaction.

But that's too much of a reach for me.

Cheers...