Bizarre, quirky, thought-provoking. Some stories that might make you shake your head in wonderment or disbelief.
The printing press is unquestionably the most important invention in modern human history, but can the television remote control be far behind? It seems we have long taken the remote for granted, but take a minute to think about its liberating qualities. We’re now a heartbeat away from a channel change when years ago we [...]
Read more →Attended our daughter’s college graduation at The University of Texas at Austin recently. Having sat through many, many commencements over the years I had steeled myself for the inevitable tedium. But like so many seemingly mundane events in life this one provided some fodder for reflection. Because it was a College of Communication ceremony I [...]
Read more →Thought we’d share some tunes that never got a lot of air time, but we think are worth a listen. Here are 20 to get us started. Give them a shot if you haven’t heard them and let us know what you think. Looking Into You Jackson Browne (A great songwriter at his best.) [...]
Read more →Writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge noted a long, long time ago that enjoyment of fiction requires our “willing suspension of disbelief.” That, of course, was long before films and television hit the scene. This Internet list of “Things You Would Never Know Without the Movies” is proof of Coleridge’s adage. During all police investigations it will [...]
Read more →Long-time friend Joe Biscontini, one of the funniest men we’ve met in the higher education PR business, has taught an upper-level undergraduate public relations course at Penn State University. As part of his introduction, he has used film clips from feature films and television to show his students how public relations people are typically portrayed [...]
Read more →A funny take on the academic pecking order shipped to us by Ann Curran, then editor of Carnegie Mellon Magazine. The Dean Leaps tall buildings in a single bound. Is more powerful than a locomotive. Is faster than a speeding bullet. Walks on water. Gives policy to God. The Department Head Leaps short buildings in [...]
Read more →Big fan of “The Simpsons” television program and one of the highlights, as fans well know, is the opening scene in which Bart writes the same sentence on the chalk board over and over as punishment. We had to scarf this highly abridged compilation of the best of Bart off the Internet. I will not [...]
Read more →Kudos to James Kennedy, publisher of Executive Recruiter News, for this list of many terms you can use instead of that dread word, firing. Asked to resign Axed Canned Career assessment and re-employment Career transition Chemistry change Coerced transition Decruited Degrowing Dehiring Deployment Deselected Destaffing Discharged Dismissal Displacement Downsizing Excessed Executive culling Force reduction Fumigation [...]
Read more →The New York-based public relations firm Porter/Novelli conducted a survey of 1,100 consumers in 1996 to determine the credibility of information sources, individuals, groups and institutions. The survey basically confirmed the declining credibility of the news media and the public’s lack of trust in big business and institutions. But one bright spot for higher education [...]
Read more →Jim Leyland, manager of the Detroit Tigers, says he dreams of settling in to the quiet world of public relations when he is through managing. When he managed the Pittsburgh Pirates, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Paul Meyer his “ultimate dream is to manage the Pittsburgh Pirates until I get out of managing. And then [...]
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