Weird Business News #17


Teething problem:
Our Public Service Award to Friendly Systems of Irving. It was recently
convicted in federal court in Aberdeen, S.D., of selling pesticides, which
were supposed to be used to sanitize floors and silverware, to a Head Start
program as a toothbrush disinfectant.

Our Plain Speaking Award to Compaq Computer for its announcement "that is
has exceeded its ASCI (Accelerated Strategic Computering Initiative)
PathForward phase one goals by successfully completing the first of three
supercomputers-from-commodity-parts demonstrations ... Using 128 dual
processor AlphaServer DS200 Systems, Tru64 UNIX, and Quadtrics switch
technology, the Alpha-based supercomputer surpassed PathForward goals for
all memory bandwidth, process latency and performance scaling across all
256 processors."

The Have They Tried Prozac Award to Party411.com, a party and
event-planning site on the Internet. To help their customers overcome the
anxieties of planning events, they have added advice on the site from Dr.
Sonya Friedman, a psychologist who has given advice on CNN and ABC
TalkRadio.

Advice from Lewis H. Lapham, editor of Harper's Magazine, on getting
ahead "Flattery (is) comparable to suntan lotion or moisturizing cream. It
cannot be too often or too relentlessly applied. The novice careerist might
think that very important people (movie stars, corporation presidents,
secretaries of state, etc.) grow tried of hearing themselves praised. This
presumption is false. Important people listen to little else except praise,
and they tend to regard all other forms of speech as un-American."

From reader (and apprentice old fogy) Michael Fjetland comes this lament
about computers. "Remember when if you had a 3 1/2-inch floppy, you hoped
nobody found out?"

True Travel Agent Tales as collected by the trade magazine Travel Weekly.

"A client called in inquiring about a package to Hawaii. After going over
all the cost info, she asked, `Would it be cheaper to fly to California,
and then take the train to Hawaii?'"


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Copied from Houston Chronicle Columnist, Jim Barlow
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And thanks to Ken Brousseau Sr.