Keep on Growing

More on Pretexting (Moron Pretexting?)

Now that Pattie Dunn has proven that my friend MaryAnn's "was there a woman in the room" theory is wrong (MA would ask this after various corporate evil doing, pointing out that a woman would never, say, order her legal team to hire someone to impersonate a board member), I thought my interest in the HP shenanigans would flag.  However, two of the reporters involved were CNET News journalists during the time I was responsible for CNET sites.  That's my excuse for continuing to devour the gossip. Today it was old news that struck me: HP, a legendary tech powerhouse, inserted software into an email sent to Dawn Kawamoto to see if she forwarded it to a leaker.  But the software didn't work.

THAT should send the HP stock down. One thing to have questionable ethics.  But for a tech giant not to be able to electronically snoop competently....it shakes my faith.

Pretexting

Beyond the sheer entertainment value of the HP Board shenanigans, I enjoyed the use of the word "pretexting."  This gerund refers not to text-messaging, as teenagers call "texting," but to using false pretexts to gain information one is not entitled to.  I think another word for this would be spying or lying.

HP Board, thanks once again for making the business press read like People Magazine.

Killing President Bush

I read this morning about a British movie that portrays the October 2007 assassination of President Bush. Perhaps it's because I woke up with a Republican in my bed (and it's not me), or maybe because I can still remember the horror of the days JFK and Reagan were shot. I find this appalling and an abuse of free speech.  I am second to no one in my distaste for our incompetent and dangerous President.  But this is over the line.  Just because we can use computer-generated images doesn't mean it's entertaining, or appropriate.

Southwest You Are No JetBlue

I flew Jetblue in the middle of the new heightened security procedures, and Southwest this past week -- so Southwest had more time to adapt to the new reality (many more people checking bags).  My experience left me an even bigger JetBlue fan, and resolved to try to avoid Southwest.  I arrived at Oakland 1 hour 50 minutes before my departure time, to snaking lines.  Since I had already checked in online, but needed to check a bag (which you can do online with JetBlue but not Southwest), I asked the curbside luggage guy whether I had to wait on the line.  He said yes.  There were no signs, and the crowds were so big I couldn't easily get into the terminal in any event.  So I waited in line for over an hour -- when I got inside the terminal, it was clear we could have just walked up to the self-service kiosks to check our bags. I ended up getting to my gate 15 minutes ahead of departure time -- for some people this is normal, but for me it's excruciating. My road warrior boyfriend couldn't believe I hadn't gone into the terminal but had accepted a Southwest employee's directions. I never will make that mistake again.

On my return, it took 35 minutes after landing before luggage began appearing. Hey, bring back Herb Kelleher! Southwest has lost its edge.

Falling in Love Again

It was almost over for me and my blackberry.  The relationship started in the late 90s at CNET, but when I left CNET and transitioned to a non-enterprise account, while I couldn't give up the addiction, it was no longer as fulfilling.  Messages took forever to get to me.  Synch-ing calendar manually was a pain. I was looking into other options, since the hot techies I know are preferring Treos these days. Then my company switched to an exchange server for mail, and I asked our tech guy Scott to move my blackberry account.  Back in love.  Instant mail delivery.  Viewing of all my emails, even those sent from my computer. The thrill is back.

"Welcome to America, Macaca"

What I most enjoyed about Senator George Allen (R-Virginia) making the above quote to a Virginia-born student of Indian descent, is not that a racist got caught in the act, but the pathetic attempt of his campaign spin-meisters to claim that Macaca (apparently a derogatory word meaning monkey) was a slip of his tongue and the word Mohawk, referring to the student's haircut, was intended.  Macaca, Mohawk.  Very believable.  Even a tongue-slipping President couldn't make that one.

Nora Ephron is a Genius

Her new collection of essays is so brilliant I can't stop reading to everyone around me (okay, Stewart, David and Portia) so I better post a paragraph so you will buy it yourself.

"Because here's what happens with a purse.  You start small.  You start pledging yourself to neatness.  You start vowing that This Time It Will Be Different.  You start with the things you absolutely need--your wallet and a few cosmetics that you have actually put into a brand-new shiny cosmetics bag, the kind used by your friends who are competent enough to manage more than one purse at a time.  But within seconds, your purse has accumulated the debris of a lifetime. The cosmetics have somehow fallen out of the shiny cosmetics bag (okay, you forgot to zip it up), the coins have fallen from the wallet (okay, you forgot to fasten the coin compartment), the credit cards are somewhere in the abyss (okay, you forgot to put your Visa card back into your wallet after you bought the sunblock that is now oozing into the lining because you forgot to put the top back onto it after you applied it to your hands while driving seventy miles an hour down the highway)....Perhaps you can fit your sneakers into your purse.  Yes, by God, you can! ...Everything you own is in your purse. You could flee the Cossacks with your purse.  But when you open it up, you can't find a thing in it--your purse is just a big dark hole full of stuff that you spend hours fishing around for.  A flashlight would help, but if you were to put one into your purse, you'd never find it."

How does she know that?  We are either the same person (I have a still-good neck but she's a better writer) or she is spying on me.  And there's so much more that I'd be violating all sorts of copyright laws. Her chapter on Parenting makes me embarrassed to have founded the magazine.

Another Emperor With Holes in His Clothing

I have been interested in the "destination clubs" like Exclusive Resorts, as a way to own a second home without the headaches of an actual house, and the flexibility to move between locations. Now the WSJ reports on the bankruptcy filing of one of the pioneers in the field.  Sometimes something that sounds too good to be true, isn't.

The Long Tail is Short on Substance

Not to sound like a jealous author, but Chris Anderson's Long Tail doesn't ring true to me (okay, I only read the article in the New Yorker, not the whole book, kinda busy these days).  Today, Lee Gomes in the Journal skewers the book.  This emperor may have some clothes, but not the wardrobe he's claiming.

Great Moments in Reporting with a Straight Face

Today's Wall Street Journal (I only read in print and can't link to the story) has a front-page story on Terry Lundgren, the CEO of Federated Stores, that is a scream, perhaps literally.  "When Terry Lundgren planned his wedding last summer, he painstakingly deliberated the reception room's layout, chose the menu and handpicked the wine selection.  Then he went a step further, designing the wedding gown for his fiancee, Tina Stephan. ... Over the course of five fittings, during which Ms. Stephan was blindfolded, Mr. Lundgren worked with designer Vera Wang to construct the dress he had in mind."  The article quotes Mr. Lundgren: "I wanted something very unique, that no one had done before."

Poor Ms. Stephan.  Honey, those of us who have married controlling nut jobs feel your pain, even if you don't as yet.