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Ah, to take some time off to enjoy a few days of weeks of peaceful bliss, just soaking up the rays of a gentle Caribbean sun and bathing in the gentle swells of the beautiful clear blue waters…

Or – I get to work like a dog for two weeks.

Yep, that’s right, it’s moving day at the ol’ MZM homestead again, and hopefully this time will be the last for a while. We’ll be loading up the donkey cart and heading a few miles north. So for the next two weeks my posts will be, shall we say, somewhat less than regular. I know, I know - you’re disappointed. After all, it’s true what they say: a day without MZM is like a day without hives.

But that’s OK my friends, I’ll be back before you know it.

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Here’s Part 2 of this month’s File Cabinet. This is the best of what I considered “blogworthy”, but never quite made it into print –

It’s all in how you look at it

Although the standard IANAL (I am not a lawyer and I don’t play one on TV) disclaimer applies, I still appreciate the posts on Julie Fleming’s Life at the Bar blog. She writes to lawyers, but in this post she says something that should be proclaimed from every rooftop in the land. IMHO it applies to everyone.

“Very often we diagnose based on what’s wrong. But today, I’d like to suggest a different set of questions. What’s right in your practice? What do you enjoy? When are you at your best in practice? What gives you the rush, the thrill, the joy of being a lawyer? And how do you get more of the good stuff?”

Now let’s all apply that to our own lives and see what happens.

The Zone of Mediocrity

It never ceases to amaze me how Dilbert has become such an integral part of our corporate culture here in America (I assume it’s just as popular in other parts of the world, too – with the possible exception of Western Slobavia or Northern Zampini). Kathy Sierra makes the case that if your product or service is “in the zone” (of mediocrity, that is), you are exposing yourself (eek!) to unnecessary risk.

“Today, it is often far more risky to create something “safe” than to take a big frickin’ chance on something deeply provocative, dangerously innovative, or just plain weird. Think about all the things you love today that once seemed very, very weird. Things that someone took a huge frickin’ chance on.”

Is change really that hard?

Jeffrey Phillips delivers a short soliloquy (my word-a-day toilet paper is starting to pay off, don’t you think?) about a phrase he hears all the time: “Change is hard.” But, he wonders, is it really all that hard?

“Think about it - we all change every day. We change our hairstyles, change our diets, change our relationships. In fact, if you don’t change, you’ll become very stagnant and dull. So, it’s not necessarily an issue that people WON’T change, or are even uncomfortable with change. Most people change some factor or attribute of their lives on very frequent basis.”

I have to admit, even though I’m guilty of using it, I’ve always wondered about that phrase myself. I agree with his conclusion – but ah-ah! that would be telling; you’ll have to read it for yourself.From the “Kick ‘Em While They’re Down” School of Business

Via a post at the Business Innovation Insider comes a list from Paul Graham on fatal mistakes startups often make. Not being content with just a few (is this from the “kick ‘em while they’re down” business school?) he explains all 18 items quite well.

“In a sense there’s just one mistake that kills startups: not making something users want. If you make something users want, you’ll probably be fine, whatever else you do or don’t do. And if you don’t make something users want, then you’re dead, whatever else you do or don’t do. So really this is a list of 18 things that cause startups not to make something users want. Nearly all failure funnels through that.”

Where to Start

I know, I know, it sounds stupid, doesn’t it? Where to start? The from-the-hip answer is “the beginning”, of course - but is that really the best place? Kathy Sierra at Creating Passionate Users has a good roundup of techniques that will help you get that book, presentation, paper, or etc. off that dreaded first blank line. Pretty good stuff if you ask me.

Just to whet your appetite, I’ll give you point number 1: Do NOT start at the beginning! “Advice for first-time novelists is often, “Take the first chapter and throw it away. Chances are, chapter 2 is where it just starts to get interesting, so start THERE.”

Well, that’s all for now! Y’all come back, y’hear?

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You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

I see the ol’ file cabinet is getting overstuffed again. Alas, there’s just not time enough to write about all the great stuff I’ve collected over the last few weeks. In fact, there’s so much here I think I’ll break it up into two days’ posts. So here’s Part 1 of what I considered “blogworthy”, but never quite made it into print –

On Business Cards…Elaine Fogel at Daily Fix has a little quiz that will help you rate your business card’s ability to say what it should about you. “Your business card, along with your company logo, letterhead and materials need to reflect credibility, professionalism and trustworthiness. They’re part of your brand identity.”

Have You Found Your Voice Yet?

Tom Ehrenfeld, also at Daily Fix, came up with a truly good thought (surely he’s had a few more since!) about what he calls “finding your own voice”. Stated another way: instead of getting good at something just to make money (or whatever it is you’re pursuing), you find out what you’re good at and do that. Doing what you like to do, and what you do best, produces its own reward and then some. “Regardless of whether you are writing a book, starting a business, cobbling together a career, or simply living a life, it all makes far more sense when you’ve found your voice, and then travel down a path that serves as a place for you to sing.”

“Found” in Translation

Ever find yourself wondering if consulting is a relatively new sport, or what a gig would be like in ancient Greece? I know I do, at least once a day (insert roll of eyes here). Well if your curiosity hasn’t quite killed the cat yet, then you gotta check this one out. Dave Snowden over at Cognitive Edge (let’s see if I can get this right) wrote an article about structured approaches to management, that was picked up and modified a bit by Christopher Bellavita, then published on Dave’s blog here. Great stuff!

What Size Hammer Did You Need?

A friend of mine once told me when he was a jeep mechanic in the Army (back in the ol’ WWII, that is) he was issued an “Army Toolbox”: when you opened it, all it had in it were 11 sizes of hammers. (I’m almost sure he was joking.)

Does it seem like email has become the new hammer – I mean, it’s become the solution for everything, even when it doesn’t really suit the task. Check out this blog entry from Jack Vinson, “Email is the default for everything”.

“With this adoption as the universal application for business and personal life, there is massive resistance to changing away from it, even when email isn’t the best suited to the type of interaction. Even where there is a better solution, such as an informational repository in a wiki or a document management system, these frequently have a email notification of changes. For most people, email - or their email tool - is their default operating system.”

What’s Your Purpose?

Think everyone in your organization is on board with your stated business purpose? (Do you even have one?) If so, you might want to check out this post by Jeffrey Phillips. “I suspect if you could conduct a survey within most companies and ask people what they think the key “purpose” of their business is, they’d answer “to make money”. More enlightened or aware employees might answer that the purpose of the business is to enrich shareholders and employees. What I think many people miss is that these are OUTCOMES not purposes.”

The Sound of Silence

And in case you’ve been under a rock lately, here’s a post from John Koetsier at Bizhack that summarizes some of the issues and best lessons learned from the Wal-Mart – Edelman blog fiasco. (Sorry, John – I finally took a good look at your name and realized I may have misspelled it on a previous blog!)

Pick Any Two

Carmine Coyote’s post (still can’t figure out if that’s a real name) on Slow Leadership suggests that of the four possible desirable qualities you want in a project (quick, innovative, cheap and good), selecting any two automatically de-selects the other two.

An interesting proposition, but I’m still not sure I buy it completely… I’d be interested to hear some feedback on this one.

Well, friends, that’s all for now! Tune in tomorrow for the rest of the File Cabinet for this month.

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You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Looking for inspiration? Something to provoke a thought or two? Just need a giggle? Try this potporri of quotes from the famous, infamous, and not so famous…

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–/ I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost

“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man.” – Bertrand Russell

“No animal should ever jump up on the dining-room furniture unless absolutely certain that he can hold his own in the conversation.” – Fran Lebowitz

“A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought.” – Dorothy L. Sayers

“I like rice. Rice is great if you are hungry and want 2000 of something.” – Mitch Hedberg

“The trouble with jogging is that, by the time you realize you’re not in shape for it, it’s too far to walk back.” – Franklin P. Jones

“At the age of eleven or thereabouts women acquire a poise and an ability to handle difficult situations which a man, if he is lucky, manages to achieve somewhere in the later seventies.” – P. G. Wodehouse

“If you put a good person in a bad process, the process always wins.” – Chuck Knight

“It matters not whether you win or lose; it matters whether I win or lose.” – Darren Weinberg

“The first 90% of a project takes 90% of the time. The last 10% takes the other 90% of the time.” – Chuck Templar

“Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.” – William Feather

“Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.” – Wendell Johnson

“Either I’ve been missing something or nothing has been going on.” – Karen Elizabeth Gordon

“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” – Hunter S. Thompson

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.” – George Bernard Shaw

“Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.” – John Kenneth Gailbraith

“I not only use all the brains I have, but all that I can borrow.” – Woodrow Wilson

“An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex.” – Aldous Huxley

“Life is what happens while we’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon

“They always talk who never think.” – Matthew Prior

“The difference between stupidity and genius is stupidity has no limits.” – Albert Einstein

“Inspiration isn’t in what you look at, it’s in how you look.” – Russell Davies

“He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I ever met.” – Abraham Lincoln

“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” – Ronald Reagan

“The difference between a violin and a viola is a viola burns longer.” – Victor Borge

“The point of living and being an optimist, is to be foolish enough to believe the best is yet to come.” – Peter Ustinov

“I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest way to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” – SunTzu

“A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time, and a courageous person afterwards.” – Jean Paul Richter

“I take my children everywhere, but they always find their way back home.” – Robert Orben
“When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less.” – Paul Brown

“Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.” – Ralph Charrell

And, in what has to be filed under “best advice ever” we have this from those venerable ancient Chinese:

“Do not remove a fly from your friend’s forehead with a hatchet.” – Chinese proverb

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You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Feeling down? Feeling blue? Did you just kick your dog, and he turned around and kicked you back? (Sounds like the first few lines of a blues song, doesn’t it?) Are you tired of using shampoo, and finally want to try the REAL poo? Well, lift up those sad baby blues, my friends, because help is on the way!

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen – the time has come for another exciting edition of… OOB!

Farm-Fresh Eggs Dept.

A British inventor says he’s perfected the boiled egg. (Aren’t you glad to know they’ve had their top man on this one?) Instead of water, his device uses 4-500 watt bulbs to cook the egg in 6 minutes, then cracks open the shell for you.

Let’s see, that’s about 3000 watts of power for every egg. So if the population of England is about 60 million, and about 25% eat boiled eggs for breakfast, that’s equivalent to an additional 4.5 MW power load, every morning!

Now maybe they can justify that new Nuclear power plant they’ve always wanted.

Make Your Own Statement Dept.

I’m sure you’ve seen those posters with various motivational sayings on them. And, I’m also sure you’ve probably seen those DEmotivational posters as well. Well, good news! The wonderfully twisted folks at Despair.com have set up a handy web form so you can now make your own! All you need is an appropriate photo, a delightfully cynical line or two, and you’re on your way to misery and despair. The real genius of the site, though, is that you’re not limited to depressing statements only. Find a good picture and have some fun!

More from the Dept. of Defining Measurements

You may remember from my last OOB that study that found taller people got paid more. (I can still hear Randy Newman’s classic song, “Short People” running through my mind, leaving short little footprints all over the place.) Well, fresh off the press is yet another study that found that women whose ring fingers were longer than their index fingers performed better at sports that focused on running, like soccer or tennis. (I can see thousands of women surreptitiously checking their hands after reading this.)

All you moms out there better check your daughter’s fingers! You might just have a sports scholarship available to help with their upcoming college tuition.

Giant Insects Dept.

Think I’m kidding? Check out this story in the Register that features satellite images from Google Earth showing a giant 50 meter long earwig rambling across the German countryside, heading for the town of Arlesberg, Germany.

AHAH, you say, it’s only a bug on a lens. But is it? Think about it for a minute. Where, exactly, IS this bug? If it was really up there in space admiring the scenery, then how can it survive without air? Or is there a secret government conspiracy to grow colonies of super-bugs up there? And another thing: if it were that close to the camera, wouldn’t its appearance be bigger, like maybe the size of Antarctica?

I think the prudent course of action would be to prepare for the worst. Film at 11.

Slow Messaging Dept.

The pace of modern life keeps increasing, and every day it’s fast food, instant messaging, and Do It Now, right? But on the other hand, for those of us who are still traditionalists, it’s nice to know there’s still a place for the old ways of doing things.

A message-in-a-bottle a Scottish girl threw into the sea managed to turn up in New Zealand – but the kicker is, it made the trip in only 47 days, or about 18 miles per hour. Compare this with a cruise ship that makes the trip from Britain to New Zealand in about 40 days.

Well, it’s been good enough for the characters in Johnny Hart’s comic strip B.C. all this time…

Picture = 1000 Words Dept.

The men’s room is not exactly the first place you think of when it comes to innovative interior design, but perhaps that’s starting to change. But I gotta ask – could the Sofitel Hotel in Queensland, New Zealand have gone a bit too far? Methinks this’ll raise more than a few, um, er, eyebrows.

We’re Definitely Screwed Dept.

And finally, those quirky folks at NEC have really done it to us this time (I mean “us”, as in the human race). It seems they invented a robot that can analyze (i.e., “taste”) wine and all sorts of foods with a battery of sensors that can be modified to detect, among other things, chemical composition of foods, or even identify them (hey, that really IS meatloaf!) OK, no problem there, right? There’s bound to be lots of useful applications.

But when the robot was asked to analyze a reporter’s hand, the dirty little secret came out, and brings up images of I, Robot (the pathetic excuse of the recent Will Smith movie, not the excellent book by Isaac Asimov).

When asked to identify the reporter’s hand, it replied, “Bacon.”

Yup, we’re screwed.

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You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Yes.

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

With the proliferation of weblogging have come a variety of new terms derived from the word weblog. So for a quickie today, I thought I’d try to help us all out by listing as many variations as I could, starting with the granddaddy of them all:

Blog – short for weblog, typically it’s a website with a series of journal-style posts, displayed in reverse chronological order

And here are the variations I know of…

• Clog – a weblog for either concert or music-related postings, or alternatively, a weblog designed to be part of a company’s marketing efforts (also a charming form of dance where participants attempt to beat the floor to death with wooden shoes)
• Flog – a photolog (apparently photographers have problems spelling)
• Glog – an expert’s (sometimes) commentaries (on a weblog) while covering live games; these weblogs are typically short-lived
• Plog – a project weblog
• Slog – an extremely difficult Cricket shot (completely irrelevant to the internet, but then again, who understands Cricket anyway?)
• Splog – a spam weblog with fake postings (see Wal-Mart & Edelmen, etc.)
• Vlog – a video weblog

Hmmm. I notice there are still some consonants not being used. Just to round things out and make things easier for future webloggers everywhere, here are my suggestions for some of the remaining letters.

• Dlog – colloquial term for “the weblog”; a reference to a specific blog (as in, “Joe, here’s my post for dlog today. Now I think I’ll grab a beer, kick back dBarcalounger and watch dTV.”)
• Hlog – dedicated to blogs whose writers can’t seem avoid expletives that start with the letter H
• Jlog – a fan weblog devoted to following every moment of the life and times of J-Lo
• Klog – a variation of the above-mentioned Clog, but featuring Bluegrass and Country music
• Mlog – I propose this term for blogs having to do with marriage? (you know, the “M-word” – with a nod to Steve Martin in the movie, All of Me)
• Qlog – blogs dedicated to Star Trek; named for Q, the petulant, semi-godlike character from Star Trek the Next Generation
• Xlog – all weblogs devoted to (you guessed it) sex, making them easier to avoid (or to find, you pervert!)
• WLOG – alas, already in use as the call letters for a radio station in Logan, West Virginia, USA (besides, what else could it be?)
• Zlog – the French version of Dlog, above (as in, “Monsieur Josef, here is my post for zlog today. I think I will now relax in zchaiselounge, have some wine and watch zTV. Those crazy Americans, they are so funny, no?”)

Still having problems with these last few, so I’m open to suggestions from the vast, unpaid research department (uh – that’s you – but notice the “unpaid” part).

• Nlog –
• Rlog –
• Tlog –

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!