This morning, the Business section of the Seattle Times has an article about how the current scandals are affecting the Seattle branch and its employees.
Links
Things I run across that I find to be interesting, but might not have the time or inclination to craft a fuller post around it. Generally, short little “go here, look at this, isn’t it neat?” posts.
I’m organized, really
Equal parts fascinating and reassuring:
The messy desk is not necessarily a sign of disorganization. It may be a sign of complexity: those who deal with many unresolved ideas simultaneously cannot sort and file the papers on their desks, because they haven’t yet sorted and filed the ideas in their head. [Many people] use the papers on their desks as contextual cues to “recover a complex set of threads without difficulty and delay” when they come in on a Monday morning, or after their work has been interrupted by a phone call. What we see when we look at the piles on our desks is, in a sense, the contents of our brains.
9/11 slang
The phenomena itself shouldn’t be a surpise, but the Washington
Post has a good article about teenagers adapting Sept. 11th buzzwords into modern-day slang.
Neuman sells out
An interesting piece about Alfred Neuman’s product endorsements. William Gaines is probably rolling in his grave about now.
Better days
Some good news from NewsWeek, after the past couple years or so of dot-com ex- and im-plosions: according to their cover story this week, Silicon Valley is alive and well, and there are brighter days ahead.
A history of Arthur Andersen
A good in-depth article from the New York Times detailing the history behind Andersen’s part in the Enron/Andersen scandal. I’m no legal or financial expert, but I can’t say that things look good in the least.
CIA anthrax connection
So — would the BBC reporting that the CIA may have been involved in the Anthrax scare be a major scoop of hard-hitting investigative reporting, or merely conspiracy theories spilling over into mainstream media?
The American brand
Having conflicting views about the U.S. — admiring its creativity, for instance, but resenting its double standards — doesn’t mean you are ‘mixed up,’ to use Mr Olins’ phrase, it means you have been paying attention.
— Naomi Klein, in an article on the branding of America, something that in many ways has far too many overtones of Wag the Dog for me to be entirely comfortable with.
Britney Underground
Apparently New York wasn’t too keen on the Britney Spears posters dotting the subway lines. Britney Underground shows off some of the graffitti decorating Britney’s ads.