5 Reasons Why Science Studies Are Wrong

There are few things the media love more than a quotable science study. Catty soundbites from reality TV stars don’t get as much attention as one crazy science statistic. A “9 out of 10 people prefer garlic cereal” headline garners clicks regardless of the study’s merit. Here’s the real truth: Study results are not trustworthy. [...]

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Next-of-Kin Spam

Here’s some more spam, fresh off the e-mail presses. I like to put these up here so people can search on the terms in the e-mail and find a spam alert. The next-of-kin angle is somewhat clever. But be assured that if you are the legitimate beneficiary of anything, certified mail (real, paper mail with [...]

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Tech One-Liners

I saw a post on Craigslist from a comic asking for a writer. I didn’t reply, but I was inspired to exercise my line-writing chops. My work life centers around tech, so I concentrated on writing tech lines a comic could use. Here are 2 of my old lines and 8 new ones for your [...]

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Traffic Ticket Spam

Well, this is new. Here’s the spam email text: New York State — Department of Motor Vehicles UNIFORM TRAFFIC TICKET (ID:342501), POLICE AGENCY NEW YORK STATE POLICE Local Police Code 8 THE PERSON DESCRIBED ABOVE IS CHARGED AS FOLLOWS Time: 7:25 AM Date of Offense: 07/02/2011 IN VIOLATION OF NYS V AND T LAW 443 [...]

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3 Words That Define PurpleCar

WORDS by Feuillu In their September e-newsletter, Merriam-Webster had this to say about which words usually make their monthly Top Twenty Looked Up Words list: “What we do see, for the most part, are familiar words that are looked up on a daily basis and not news-driven words that come and go.” This theme comes [...]

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Don’t Get Caught Up Online

School of fish andres_colmen I just realized a person I “circled” on G+ is a controversial mommy blogger of questionable judgment. I promptly uncircled her. It doesn’t matter if this blogger “deserves” my uncircling. She may or may not, in your opinion. In my opinion, it behooves me to avoid drama. I’ve learned many, many hard [...]

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Social Media Strategist Job Listing Misses the (Ara) Mark

I just saw this job posting: Director, Social Media Strategy Hiring Company Industry: Food & Beverage Number of Employees: 10,000+ Employees Total Compensation: $120K – $145K Reports to: VP, Consumer Strategies Location: Philadelphia, PA Job Description   ARAMARK is a leader in professional services, providing award-winning food services, facilities management, and uniform and career apparel to health care institutions, universities [...]

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A Letter to The World, 11 Sept 2011

Dear People of the World, We are Americans. Today is the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, and you may be feeling a bit annoyed at the staggering amount of news coverage and online status updates devoted to those moments when we found ourselves a target of vile hatred. We see [...]

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More Travel Scam Email

I just received this in my email today from one of my social media contacts. I know it’s spam because 1. This is a common travel scam. 2. This friend and I are not at a level of friendship that would allow for a request for money. 3. The request is outrageous to receive via [...]

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