July 2001

Funny Sign: Walk on Water

July 30, 2001

The Mississippi at St. Louis during a flood – only one rather special pedestrian could be expected to use this crossing!

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Out on the Usenet: Supporting a Company in an Online Public Forum

July 30, 2001

My presence in online public discussion groups dates back to the CompuServe forums I frequented starting around 1993, where I helped customers with Incat’s CD-R software, and CD-R technology in general. I was eventually invited to start a section specifically for Incat software. Then a friendly user wrote me: “Hey, you should be out on [...]

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Funny Sign: A Garbage Can

July 29, 2001

Every item in this outdoor museum in Thailand is clearly and carefully labelled, in two languages.

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Reflections on Machismo: “Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates”

July 28, 2001

Tom Robbins has long been one of my favorite authors; every one of his seven novels is a gem, infused with his uniquely loopy sensibility and style. This novel (Amazon UK | US), published in May, 2000, was eerily timely in its discussion of West vs. East and Muslim vs. Christian, in the context of [...]

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Pope-O-Vision

July 28, 2001

As popes go, John Paul II is certainly one of the best there’s ever been: he is truly upright and deeply religious, and he has tried to use his position to be a force for good in the world. I respect that, even though I’m not Catholic and don’t agree with everything he says. But [...]

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Newsletters: Customers Love ‘Em – If You Do Them Right

July 28, 2001

Begun in 1998, the newsletters I wrote/edited for Adaptec and (later) Roxio covered technical, how-to, product news, and other information of interest to CD-R users. I initially did all the writing myself, then hired other writers as the topics became too varied and the schedule too punishing for one person to handle (and I had [...]

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Reflections on Brand and Homogeneity

July 28, 2001

My daughter’s school year ended in mid-June (with three intense weeks of tests, quizzes, and papers), and we left Milan almost immediately for a trip up the middle of the United States. We started in Texas, where I have relatives, and pleasant memories from my days at the University of Texas (Austin). I love that [...]

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Campo Imperatore – Home of the Spaghetti Western

July 25, 2001

Looks kinda like Montana, doesn’t it? As a matter of fact, many “Spaghetti Westerns” were filmed here. The scenery comes complete with cattle, horses, and sheep, brought here to graze during the warm months. The latest movie to be filmed in Campo Imperatore is White Hell (Inferno Bianco), a low-budget horror Western: TRAILER: INFERNO BIANCO- [...]

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How to Write a Product Newsletter That Will Get Raves

July 23, 2001

One of my newsletter stories, quoted by MarketingSherpa Distilling what people have written over the years about why they liked our newsletters, here’s my advice on how to write a successful company newsletter: You first need to decide: is your newsletter only about selling things, or is it about building relationships with customers and a [...]

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English Not Spoken Here

July 20, 2001

At least not very well. English is taught in Italian schools from third grade on, but most people who want to learn it properly take courses outside of school and try to do a study tour in the UK or US as well. Still, things are changing… When I first arrived in Italy 10 years [...]

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Subscriber Comments About the Adaptec Discussion List

July 17, 2001

In response to complaints of censorship on the discussion list, Stan (a long time Adaptec/Roxio List recipient) wrote: Adaptec/Roxio has always ‘paid the freight’ for their own, honestly identified “moderated” <news group> & openly controlled forum. “Their” newsgroup exists as a wise, long term business decision to: 1) Cultivate real world user feed back – [...]

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The End of an Era

July 13, 2001

Yesterday I said goodbye to the subscribers of the Roxio newsletters. And the email  came pouring in. Sure, I’ve heard from people about the newsletters before. I always knew I was doing something right there. But (in spite of my considerable ego) I didn’t expect the warmth and kindness of some of the messages I [...]

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Digital Photos – Display and Storage

July 1, 2001

“WILL BAKER’S digital camera has helped solve quite a few problems around the house. Several old PC’s that Mr. Baker would otherwise have placed in deep storage have been put to work in the capacity of dynamic photo frames or, as Mr. Baker likes to put it, “picture flippers.” Mr. Baker, a 46-year-old entrepreneur, cut [...]

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