Promoting Family Values, Their Own

In the interest of full disclosure, a publication will occasionally include a disclaimer within a story when it may appear that there is a conflict of interest or that they are bein hypocritical. Perhaps that need does not apply in this situation, but the New York Times certainly published one ironic piece on Wednesday.

A story on the front page of the Arts section, dated October 24, 2007, tells of the controversy surrounding the annoucement of John Podhoretz as the next editor of Commentary magazine. Podhoretz's hiring has attracted claims of neopotism; Podhoretz's father, Norman Podhoretz, was editor of the magazine from 1959 to 1995.

While the New York Times only reports on the controversy and not offer its own opinion, the story is still quite ironic considering the history of the paper. One needs only to turn to the editorial page to find why. There one will find a listing of the current staff along with a list of past publishers and the years they held the position.

Adolph S. Ochs
Publisher 1896-1935

Arthur Hays Sulzberger
Publisher 1935-1961

Orvil E. Dryfoos
Publisher 1961-1963

Arthur Ochs Sulzberger
Publisher 1963-1992

And the current publisher... Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. The Ochs-Sulzberger family has been heading the New York Times for 106 of the last 109 years. I wonder if this fact crossed the mind of author Patricia Cohen as she wrote this piece.

We Speak Different Languages

Brandon listened intently as the female classmate read aloud from the German text book with impecable pronunciation. He and a third classmate had been grouped with this apparent perfectionist to read the passage aloud and work on translation. The perfectionist was apparently the only who knew what was going on.

As the classmate finished reading the paragraph, she looked up from the book and made the most astonishing of proclamations. "I think German is my new favorite foreign language," said the female classmate.

"Oh," said Brandon, feining interest yet hoping that this noncommital response would not lead to a conversation.

Truthfully, Brandon was left a little puzzled as to how anyone could have a "favorite foreign language," let alone a "new favorite foreign language." It must be an innate quaility some poses from birth.

Where back? There back!

A picture is worth a thousand words. However, a picture doesn't always have to be grammatically correct. The marquee at the Topeka Steak and Shake has been displaying this message since at least October 7. Either no one has the nerve to tell the management how embarrassingly stupid this makes them look, or they don't care.

If someone is going to misuse the English language, at least do it correctly. Case in point, the title of this blog. At least employ humor or irony when butchering the language.

Overheard At Washburn

It's a lazy afternoon in Memorial Union at Washburn University. The buzz of students going to a fro that resonated off the walls just a few hours before has died down to a relative calm.

On the lower level two students play ping pong while a third sits in a chair watching ESPN on the nearby plasma screen TV. A male student approaches and takes a seat next to his friend and strikes up the following conversation.

"Dude, there's a flier on the bulletin board with a picture of Ron Jeremy."
Ping. Pong.
"Yeah, he's going to be here next week."
Ping. Pong.
"What? Here at Washburn? Really? Why?"
Ping. Pong.
"Yeah, he's going to debate a former porn addict about the pros and cons of porn addiction."
Ping. Pong.
"Wait, there are pros to porn addiction?"

Laughter ensues.

Ping. Pong.

Decisions, decisions

Difficult decisions are a part of everyday life. Some require careful consideration due to the impact on the decision maker's life. "Should I ask her to marry me?" While others are quite trivial. "Soft taco or crunchy taco?" Others decisions can leave a person in such disaray that they start cursing the heavens in frustration. Such is the case with the new line of Apple iPods.

Apple recently unveiled the latest updates to the popular line of music player to much media fanfare. Among the new line are the iPod Nano with a larger screen and video capabilities, the iPod Classic with more hard drive space than most would know what to do with, and the iPod Touch with a large touch screen interface and internet browsing capabilities.

For someone looking to purchase one of these new iPods, it looks like a simple decision on the surface, until one take the price into consideration. An 8-Gigabyte iPod Nano can be purchase for $200. That seems like a good deal for an unbelievably small device that can play music and videos, until you look at the iPod Classic. The slightly bulkier 80-Gigabyte iPod Classic can be purchased for $250, a $50 dollar difference. Wow, seems like a great deal. Oh, but look at the iPod Touch. The iPod Touch can be purchased for $300, yet again, a $50 difference. Keep in mind, the $300 iPod touch only holds 8-Gigabytes.

It all comes down to minimizing buyers remorse. Storage, capabilities and price. With so many factors to take into consideration, one might just give up and never purchase an iPod at all.

Disturbing Signs

In the film "Stranger Than Fiction," Harold Crick, played by Will Farrell, is asked by literature professor Jules Hilbert, played by Dustin Hoffman, to discover whether he is living in a comedy or a tragedy. Crick starts keeping a tally of events that support his living in a comedy or a tragedy. Washburn University is certainly shaping up to be the the setting of a comedy.

It is not uncommon to see large tent on the Washburn campus. The kind usually associated with fireworks stands are regularly pitched on the lawn around the union for one event or another. However, the signage that adorns the tent is a cause for concern about the state of the human race.

Posted inside the tent are the standard "No Smoking" signs. There was really no arguing with these painted ply wood signs, mounted to the two inner tent poles. Smoking while under a large cloth canopy isn't the brightest of ideas, even if the fabric is flame retardant. No, it was not the "No Smoking" signs that is cause for concern. It is the "EXIT" signs.

The small ply wood signs hang from the edges of the canopy, showing the way out of the tent. There in lies the ridiculousness. It's a tent. A wall-less tent. There's no excuse for not finding the way out of a wall-less tent.

The existence of these "EXIT" signs absolutely dumbfounding. A great comedy in the making.

Discredited, so to speak

Credit card companies will never cease to amaze the masses. Take for instance the latest service offered by the Chase Credit Card company. (Offered meaning harassing customers via phone in the evening.)

For the low price of $7.95 a month, Chase will alert their customers within 24 hours if any fraudulent activity is detected on their credit card account. That means it you don't pay them they will turn a blind eye to crime. Hmmm. That's nice to know.

Fraud detection? The fraud here isn't hard to detect, probably because it's coming from within Chase.