Odds and Ends Again

February 27, 2010

• A speaker sends out a promotional piece stating “over 1 million audience members over 17 years.” What are we expected to believe with all this stuff? (Do the math.)
• When I respond to nuisance spam from some guy I never heard of, he replies that “we’re connected on linkedin,” and he’s very familiar with my work. Then why is he sending me a blanket, hyped-up offering to “improve my marketing skills”? Some Internet “marketing coach” probably told him this was a great way to market.
• We saw “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” at The Palace in London, and it is screamingly funny, performed with rollicking bad taste, and I’d rate it as a “must see.”
• I am now thinking that the best restaurant in London my be Scott’s.
• Bentleys, Jags, and Astons are all over the place in Mayfair, but the Ferraris with the Arab plates have largely disappeared.
• British ongoing wry humor:
ME: Would you like me to fill out some forms so that my luggage can be Fedexed home?
CONCIERGE: No, sir, but I imagine Fedex might.
• If Greece is bankrupt, and the Greek government realizes it must conform to EU demands, but protestors on the streets don’t want any kind of austerity measures, then what DO they want?
• Never be too blasé about democracy. Turkey is one of the great democracies in the world, and it’s now reacting to the fear of a military coup, for which there is precedent in the not-so-distant past.
• The level of newscasts on British television is worse than that in the US, where I think it’s pretty dismal.
• Are there better descriptions than “mushy peas” and “potted shrimp” and “bubble and squeak” and “cocklee”?
• You cannot get in and out of a London cab for less than $15.
• Why do service representatives feel that it’s friendlier to immediately call you by your first name? Who on earth is teaching them that a customer actually prefers to be a peer with the customer service people?
• The famous cartoon states that “On the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog.” Well add to that, “No one knows what to believe.” People seem to vacuum up names from their own data bases and elsewhere to send all kinds of irrelevant offers complete with phony credentials and ridiculous guarantees. On top of that, even legitimate companies aren’t paying attention. After buying a product which was exactly as advertised, I was asked for my email “to keep my registration on file for the warranty.” I asked that no promotional use be made of it. Sure enough, I began receiving email solicitations with an “unsubscribe” that demanded you log into their online store and “manage your account.” Good product, but they’ll never get a referral from me. (Recently, I was asked to sign up for a “major” international teleconference, where some big names were dropped, implying they were the presenters. The small print said that the material “was based on their work”!)