« September 2003 | Main | November 2003 »
October 31, 2003
Happy Halloween
We didn't have any trick-or-treaters at all tonight. What a disappointment! We're leaving now for the first frat party either of us have been to in years. Breean is going as the Garden of Eden. You'll see me later on her site (you'd better, anyway).
Posted by sam at 09:44 PM | Comments (0)
For my dad...
cause I know he loves fall and leaves changing color and all that crap.
Posted by sam at 09:30 PM | Comments (0)
More history
I spent this morning walking around campus in the putting up fliers for the Cornell Business Idea Competition. It was about 70 degrees and sunny, just a beautiful October 31st. I've hardly seen anything besides the business school and the gym, so it was great to see all the amazing architecture and history on campus.
Cornell has a building from 1880 named after one Samuel Morse. Ezra Cornell started the company that became Western Union, and eventually founded the university with his proceeds.
Posted by sam at 09:24 PM | Comments (1)
October 30, 2003
Credit card dangers
Supposedly this went around "a large Valley company" (from SAP Ventures). Sounds to me like yet another theft issue not worth worrying about. But I won't be turning in the keys next time I'm at a hotel.
Although room keys differ from hotel to hotel, a key obtained from the "Double Tree" chain that was being used for a regional Identity Theft Presentation was found to contain the following the information:
a.. Customers (your) name
b.. Customers (your) partial home address
c.. Hotel room number
d.. Check in date and check out date
e.. Customers (your) credit card number and expiration date!
When you turn them in to the front desk your personal information isthere for any employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner.
The bottom line is, keep the cards or destroy them! NEVER leave them behind and NEVER turn them in to the front desk when you check out of a room. They will not charge you for the card. (Information courtesy of: Sergeant K. Jorge, Detective Sergeant, Pasadena Police Department)
Posted by sam at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2003
Is network TV still relevant?
WSJ.com reports (sub required) that men age 18 to 34 are watching between 8% and 12% less prime-time television than they did last year. The networks think Nielsen is wrong about the data. Right...
Posted by sam at 08:37 AM | Comments (0)
October 28, 2003
Is this really a surprise?
Good Night's Sleep May Benefit Immune System: "Researchers in Germany found that among a group of volunteers vaccinated against hepatitis A infection, those who got a good night's sleep afterward showed a stronger immune response to the vaccine."
Posted by sam at 06:37 PM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2003
Just like you and me. But with more money
We just watched Born Rich on HBO. It's fascinating. Jamie Johnson (of Johnson and Johnson) directed it around his 21st birthday and the huge inheritance that meant.
I thought it was interesting because it seems to reveal that (old) money just is not cool anymore, and after reading Old Money I think this is a relatively new environment. Pop culture defines cool these days, not some windbag Vanderbilt.
Posted by sam at 11:31 PM | Comments (0)
Glad I'm not there right now
Breean points out that our friends Penni and Jeff had to leave their home in Scripps Ranch, CA because of the fires. Their answering machine still works so they assume the house is okay. I hope the rest of my friends out there are safe.
Posted by sam at 11:17 PM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2003
Two movies, one night
Watched 28 Days Later and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle last night. Of the two 28 Days Later was far more interesting but much less pleasant on the eyes. A man wakes up from a coma to discover that a rage virus has taken over England, killing most of the population. It gets more interesting from there, but stay away if you don't like gore.
Nothing very positive to say about Charlie except that the first one was much better (Bill Murray).
Posted by sam at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2003
More scary than a haunted hay ride
My cell phone went off in class today. D'oh! And every single class specifically addresses this in the syllabus.
Later... in the comments my dad asks if "d'oh" is the proper spelling and says that he's always spelled it as just "doh." To that I'd say "d'oh!" for all those mispellings he's commited over the years. The Simpsons Archive says:
The correct way to spell it is "D'oh". Homer's trademark "D'oh" manifested out of a general exclamation to indicate anger, and therefore was and has always been referred to in scripts as "Annoyed Grunt." Therefore most titles that feature "D'oh" in them have the "D'oh" replaced with (Annoyed Grunt), e.g. E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt).
The origins of "D'oh" can be traced to Jim Finlayson, who played support in many Laurel and Hardy films. His trademark was to yell "D'oooooooohhh" whenever Laurel and Hardy would do something to agitate him.
Posted by sam at 11:07 PM | Comments (4)
Early Halloween
Went to a haunted hayride at Knapp Vineyards tonight. Scary stuff.
Posted by sam at 10:50 PM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2003
Homework tomorrow...
We just watched The Italian Job (2003) on dvd. Breean and I both liked it a lot. It's a great story, now I want to see the original as well.
Posted by sam at 11:30 PM | Comments (0)
The key to Meagan's heart is...
Meagan's been asking why her personal ad has not attracted enough responses. The reason, apparently, is that the entry was closed for comments. So single guys, please check her out and leave a comment here or for that entry.
... her pet Oz.
Posted by sam at 05:16 PM | Comments (0)
Pringles
The first case we discussed on the first day (today) of my introductory marketing class was Pringles. Development on Pringles started in the 50's when P&G saw an opportunity for a national brand to "beat-up smaller and less sophisticated competitors". At the time the potato chip market was dominated by local producers because of the product's limited shelf life and frailty in transit. P&G hoped to solve those problems with the round aluminum can and a product designed to have a shelf life of one year.
When Pringles was finally released in 1968 it quickly rose to 25% market share due to heavy trials but soon dropped to 7% because of few repeat purchases. Our professor's justification for the lack of repeat buyers was that customers 'inferred' an artificial taste from the strange packaging and year-long shelf life. My hand was raised but the professor never called on me, so I'll make my point here.
How could you assume that customers thought the taste was artificial because of the packaging and shelf life? Could it be that they actually looked at the ingredients and saw for themselves just how engineered the product was? Is this how marketing thinks - that there is no 'truth', only perception?
Pringles was discontinued in 1978, but as we all know became extremely successful in the 1980's and is now a $1b business. You could argue that I'm wrong, that consumers are now accustomed to strange packaging and potato chips with a half-life of one year. I think tastes have changed. In the potato chip aisle at Ralph's today, Pringles just might be the least artificial product available.
Posted by sam at 03:45 PM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2003
Thanks Breean
I finished Tricky Business [amazon.com] today. It's Dave Barry's second novel, the first being Big Trouble. I liked that also but Tricky Business is more humorous and I'd say more polished.
Dave (I have a hard time referring by last name to someone who writes about boogers 95% of the time) has defined and absolutely perfected the Miami crime drama. It's about dumb criminals, corrupt politicians and unlikely heroes. And boogers. What more could you ask for?
Posted by sam at 10:25 PM | Comments (0)
Sharks with frickin' laser beams
Remember Real Genius with Val Kilmer? The climactic scene shows the government bad guys trying to use a satellite-mounted laser to kill someone. Apparently this is now for real [from /.].
In the movie Val and his cohorts are able to save the day and redirect the laser towards a house full of corn kernels, making their evil professor look stupid and discrediting any military purpose the technology might have. Where is our real-life hero?
Posted by sam at 09:30 PM | Comments (0)
I'm not going to claim there's any link here, but...
U.S. Budget Deficit Hits Record $374.2B: more than double last year's deficit. The A.P. is nice enough to point out that the previous record was set in 1992 "when President Bush's father was president."
Posted by sam at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2003
$5? $10? Remember that I'm a starving student...
What would it take see some photos of my little cousin Julie?
Posted by sam at 08:37 PM | Comments (1)
Lazy living
We just finished Winged Migration on pay-per-view. I love the scene in the Amazon where a macaw (heck, I don't know what it is) unfastens the latch on his cage and flies away. This movies gives you a real appreciation for the intelligence of birds. And the scenery and cinematography are amazing. Breean likes it so much she wants to be a bird.
Posted by sam at 08:00 PM | Comments (2)
"They're Down On Their Luck And Up To Their Necks In Senoritas, Margaritas, Banditos And Bullets!"
I'm lying around feeling under the weather and watching ¡Three Amigos! with Martin Short, Steve Martin and Chevy Chase. It never gets old.
Posted by sam at 11:09 AM | Comments (2)
October 17, 2003
Don't know what to make of this
I have a take-home final due in one hour. Two paragraphs to go and I haven't done a single rewrite.
Warrillow & Co: "being your own boss has unexpected benefits, with 19% of entrepreneurs claiming to have a more satisfying love life now they are a business owner versus when they were an employee." [from FC Now]
Posted by sam at 03:04 PM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2003
$0.99 per song is still too much
Apple introduces iTunes for Windoze. If anyone tries it out please let me know what you think. My guess is they'll capture the market pretty quickly. I think the meaningful question is if it's easy enough to use and comprehensive enough to displace file sharing.
Posted by sam at 03:50 PM | Comments (3)
Even if he dances around like that
Lord of the Dance takes on Ticketmaster [from bubblegeneration]: "I think we can have 20% of the Las Vegas market in the next two years, and that's a $500 million market in terms of annual revenues." You've gotta like anybody that takes on Ticketmaster.
Posted by sam at 10:44 AM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2003
Give it a watch
Why wasn't The West Wing on tonight? I’m hooked on it now.
What does it say about us when a TV show about politics is more ‘political’ than the Davis recall campaign?
As Penni points out in her comment, she definitely deserves all the credit (blame) for getting me hooked on the show.
Posted by sam at 10:18 PM | Comments (1)
Any ideas?
The Global Social Venture Competition is "a partnership of the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, London Business School, Columbia Business School, and The Goldman Sachs Foundation." The deadline to submit an executive summary is November 15th. I don't have any great ideas right now but I'm open to suggestions.
Posted by sam at 09:55 PM | Comments (0)
Long-Term Unemployed Say Networking Has
Long-Term Unemployed Say Networking Has Run Dry: "Nearly three years into the worst employment slump since World War II, many unemployed professionals are finding that the job networks they have been tapping are no longer producing. This turn of events - which some call network burnout or network fatigue - appears to be a natural consequence of too many job seekers asking for too many favors. And many people in a position to hire are getting tired of it." [from bubblegeneration]
Posted by sam at 04:26 PM | Comments (0)
I hope the FDA rules against Rodney
Cloning Remains a Meaty Issue: "The FDA will decide if cloned meat becomes commonplace on American dinner tables. The agency also will determine whether to label cloned meat so consumers know what they're getting." Is this really an issue already?
Posted by sam at 07:39 AM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2003
Big news
Today we're officially announcing the Kay-Tingleff merger! Our individual cash flows are way down but we see a lot of synergy and cost savings resulting from the union. And we love each other a lot.
No date or location set yet but right now May in Ithaca looks like a good possibility.
Posted by sam at 09:51 PM | Comments (6)
Justices Take Case on Pledge
Justices Take Case on Pledge of Allegiance's Reference to God. I wonder how big an issue this will be in the presidential race...
Posted by sam at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)
"Ninety-five percent of the people have to be told what to do, have to be given orders."
The Audio-Animatronic Candidate The Terminator brings Disney politics to life:
The candidate's "town meetings" were open to invited guests only. (Not even a game show retains such tight control of its extras.) Until the final days, "meeting the press" meant spurning the actual press entirely for TV entertainers like Oprah and Jay Leno. Political "dialogue" for Mr. Schwarzenegger meant dialogue akin to that of actors in costume playing Disney cartoon characters: he plucked well-worn tag lines from his films and shuffled them into crowd-pleasing medleys of his greatest hits. A debate? The only one he attended allowed him to deliver more scripted lines, written in response to questions provided in advance; he mouthed them with all the spontaneity mustered by "Abe Lincoln" at the Hall of Presidents in Orlando.Sorry dad, I haven't had time to read this until now. It was definitely worth the time.
Posted by sam at 02:19 PM | Comments (2)
I'd buy some sun out here
Can Rain Be Bought? Experts Seed Cloud and Seek Answers: Denver has invested more than $1m in cloud seeding in the last two years.
Posted by sam at 08:56 AM | Comments (0)
Evolving by Accident, Not
 |
Evolving by Accident, Not Fitness: Biologists should learn from life's existential quandaries, he says, but many do not. Instead, they sweep the difficulties under the rug of "adaptationism," the notion that everything about an animal's body and behavior has been honed to enhance its "fitness" or chance of passing on genes. |
Posted by sam at 08:49 AM | Comments (1)
October 13, 2003
More on Atkins
Low-Carb Diets Are Working, Study Says:
(The study) found that people eating an extra 300 calories a day on a very low-carb regimen lost just as much during a 12-week study as those on a standard lowfat diet.
...
The study was unique because all the food was prepared at an upscale Italian restaurant in Cambridge, Mass., so researchers knew exactly what they ate. Most earlier studies simply sent people home with diet plans to follow as best they could.
Each afternoon, the volunteers picked up that evening's dinner, a bedtime snack and the next day's breakfast and lunch. Instead of lots of red meat and saturated fat, which many find disturbing about low-carb diets, these people ate mostly fish, chicken, salads, vegetables and unsaturated oils.
Posted by sam at 09:03 PM | Comments (0)
I signed up for the
I signed up for the National Do Not Call Registry today. It takes less than a minute, less hope it works.
Posted by sam at 08:23 PM | Comments (0)
Why do many fast-food restaurants promise a free meal if you are not given a receipt?
Because Google seems not to know the answer I thought I'd post my last microecon essay here.
What possible benefit could a restaurant see from giving away meals to customers not given a receipt? The potential goodwill generated between the restaurant and a lucky customer would likely have some benefit in increased future visits; whether this distant payoff is worth the meal cost or not is doubtful.
The policy is in fact designed to provide incentives for customers to verify the accuracy of a cashier’s work. Without such a policy, cashiers are free to skim the cash receipts - to charge for food or drinks without booking the item, pocketing the difference. Managers of fast-food restaurants are far too busy to monitor every cashier on every transaction. Nor is it feasible for them to match inventory to activity at any individual register.
Once given a receipt, customers will naturally verify its accuracy for the purely self-interested desire to not be overcharged. Noticing that she paid for a 99¢ soda not on the receipt, at least some percentage of customers will bring it to the attention of the cashier (attracting management) or, recognizing the situation, talk directly with the store manager.
Considering that the cost of free meals is probably taken directly from the cashier’s salary, this policy provides a free, inobtrusive and effective mechanism for management to prevent employee theft.
Posted by sam at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)
Digital camera for sale
I'm looking to sell my digital camera. I do not need it any longer, as I am in the hospital. I am including the last photo that I took with it so you have some idea about the picture quality.
...
Posted by sam at 07:19 AM | Comments (2)
A warm and friendly NASA
Touchy-Feely NASA Effort: "Two NASA reformers try to create a warmer culture after the Columbia probe suggests engineers are too intimidated to speak up about hunches that have proved deadly. Not everybody agrees with the fuzzy approach."
We discussed NASA and the Columbia disaster in one of my classes recently. It was pretty clear that upper management at NASA has real problems reacting appropriately to bad news. But how much can only two people accomplish?
Posted by sam at 07:07 AM | Comments (0)
I hope these are entirely unrelated
Technology Therapy For Computer Illiterate Executives:
These old time execs realize that computer skills are important, but feel silly going to basic training classes and sitting in with "the masses". So, computer "therapists" are showing up, promising to teach these old timers how to use their computers quietly so that no one knows they're seeking help.
From the always-reliable New York Post gossip column: 'funnyman Rodney Dangerfield has met with members of the alien-obsessed Raelian cult about cloning himself... "Rodney and I are clone-curious," Joan Dangerfield told us. "Rodney said he'd like a clone to help him write jokes... Rodney and I remain skeptical," Joan says. "But if the ethical and legal concerns could be met, I would start painting our spare room blue."'
Posted by sam at 07:00 AM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2003
I need to catch up
Breean is becoming extremely prolific with her online photography.
Posted by sam at 08:16 PM | Comments (1)
Heard from another student in econ
Ithaca, NY has a strange trash policy. Instead of paying increased taxes to pay for trash services, residents are required to buy $2 'trash tags' from city hall and stick these on each trash can every trash day. The purpose is 1) to reduce overall trash by inducing people to recycle; and 2) to insure everyone pays for the amount of trash they actually produce.
There's one interesting side effect though. You'll notice that - especially in areas with a lot of students - public trash cans are often overflowing. To avoid paying the two bucks many people try to dump household trash in public places. To compensate some public trash cans have signs that say: "No household trash."
Posted by sam at 05:47 PM | Comments (1)
October 10, 2003
Say what?
Why does our grocery store carry 'color enhanced salmon'? That phrase does not inspire confidence in the quality of the fish.
Posted by sam at 06:44 PM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2003
Gimme the truth
Who did you vote for today? Unfortunately I'm registered in New York now and cannot partake in this madness.
Posted by sam at 09:25 PM | Comments (2)
Wine tasting Sunday
Posted by sam at 07:00 AM | Comments (0)
October 02, 2003
Can you believe 2% of U.S. GDP in 2000?
Even Business Week thinks Wal-Mart is too powerful (registration required): "Low prices are great. But Wal-Mart's dominance creates problems - for suppliers, workers, communities, and even American culture."
Even the VC's think Wal-Mart is bad for the music industry.
Posted by sam at 09:24 PM | Comments (0)
So much for fall
Believe it or not, it hailed today. On October 2nd.
Posted by sam at 02:42 PM | Comments (0)
Don't hold your breath
Israeli pilots refuse to fly assassination missions: "A group of Israeli airforce pilots declared yesterday that they would refuse to fly missions which could endanger civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip."
"There Go My People, I Must Catch Them, For I Am Their Leader." - Gandhi
Posted by sam at 09:35 AM | Comments (0)
October 01, 2003
Fear of the cold call
B-schools often use the cold call as a motivational tool. The idea is that students will prepare for class or face the risk of getting called on and looking stupid in front of the entire class. At Cornell, at least in my accounting and econ classes, this tool has already lost much of its weight.
With only ~250 people in our class, we've all gotten to know one another at least to some degree. To the point where - at least - you know that pretty much everybody is not a complete moron. And that's where the cold call loses its effectiveness.
When you know that nobody is a moron, and you know that everybody knows that you're not a moron, the fear of looking like an idiot loses its effectiveness. In accounting and econ everybody is guaranteed to look stupid at one point or another, and we all know it. So there's no shame in it.
Posted by sam at 03:30 PM | Comments (0)