I was searching the New Yorker archives yesterday for a couple old favorites and inadvertently found a favorite 50 years older than anything in my subscription history. What advertising or sales person hasn't heard the adage - "Sell the sizzle, not the steak!" And here it is - back when it was a new idea - from 1938! - The Sizzle by John McNulty. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1938/04/16/1938_04_16_021_TNY_CARDS_000170940?currentPage=1
Give credit to Elmer Wheeler and his Tested Selling Institute. Makes you wonder how many ideas today are really new or just forgotten by a culture of short attention spans with little interest in history.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
DWC, How About Those Chinese Drivers
If you've ever wondered how or why Chinese drivers have achieved such a bad reputation that people want to issue DWC tickets, the "Wheels of Fortune" article by Peter Hessler in the November 26, 2007 issue explains a lot. You're not sure whether to laugh or cry. The abstract on the New Yorker website does not do the article justice: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/11/26/071126fa_fact_hessler
It doesn't even mention the reflexive honking with ten distinct meanings, including hooooooooonnnnk for attention; hoooonnnnnk, hooonnnnnk for irritation; and honk, hnk hnk hnk hnk hnk hnk hnk hnk hnk hnk for pure panic. There are even items on the drivers' exam regarding honking. Question: When driving through a residential area, you should a) honk like normal. b) honk more than normal, in order to alert residents. c) avoid honking, in order to avoid disturbing residents.
That was the laughing. The crying part is the statement that a 2004 World Health Organization report that China, with 3% of the world's vehicles, accounted for 21% of its traffic fatalities. Overall, however, the tears from reading the article were of laughter. One critical point: the study guide for the exam describes how people drive, not how to drive. Basically, there appear to be no actual road rules. A case of too many cars too quickly and, unfortunately, figuring out how to drive came later.
The Contributor section of the issue notes that Mr. Hessler is working on "Country Driving", a book about driving in China. I can't wait.
It doesn't even mention the reflexive honking with ten distinct meanings, including hooooooooonnnnk for attention; hoooonnnnnk, hooonnnnnk for irritation; and honk, hnk hnk hnk hnk hnk hnk hnk hnk hnk hnk for pure panic. There are even items on the drivers' exam regarding honking. Question: When driving through a residential area, you should a) honk like normal. b) honk more than normal, in order to alert residents. c) avoid honking, in order to avoid disturbing residents.
That was the laughing. The crying part is the statement that a 2004 World Health Organization report that China, with 3% of the world's vehicles, accounted for 21% of its traffic fatalities. Overall, however, the tears from reading the article were of laughter. One critical point: the study guide for the exam describes how people drive, not how to drive. Basically, there appear to be no actual road rules. A case of too many cars too quickly and, unfortunately, figuring out how to drive came later.
The Contributor section of the issue notes that Mr. Hessler is working on "Country Driving", a book about driving in China. I can't wait.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Ben Franklin the Blogger
Twenty-five years of "Poor Richard's Almanack" with assorted essays and proverbs as described in the January 28, 2008 article "The Creed" by Jill Lepore made me picture Ben as the first blogger. He fits the mold: self-published, revising awkward prose into pithy sayings, popular with everyday folks, and quite a bit of satire. Read the article: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2008/01/28/080128crat_atlarge_lepore
Friday, February 1, 2008
Bullet Points Run Amok
Absolute PowerPoint by Ian Parker appeared May 28, 2001. It's is one of my all-time favorites and the only article I literally cut out to save and show anyone that was interested. I still have it on my desk. It starts out with the story of a women who creates an eighteen page PowerPoint presentation to "pitch" the household chores to her two daughters. One daughter becomes so upset that she bursts into tears.
The program orginally went on sale in April 1987 available only for Macintosh. It took until 1990 for PowerPoint to bullet point it's way into our consciousness when it was bundled with Windows 3.0. Today everyone has their personal tales of how it has both annoyed and captured them, from Screen Beans and multiple effects photos zooming and folding into view to charts in neon colors that make lackluster sales results look dazzling in 3-d bars and pie charts.
There are "business" PowerPoint training classes in every major city, on live webinars and on-line tutorials. Not to mention a full range of PowerPoint for Dummies books and various bibles and guides. All this to reduce the art of actual conversation to five or seven word bullet points. Preferably three to five per slide. The only proper New Yorker reader response to this is ARGG! Tearing out one's hair is optional.
The New Yorker site now has the complete article: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2001/05/28/010528fa_fact_parker
The program orginally went on sale in April 1987 available only for Macintosh. It took until 1990 for PowerPoint to bullet point it's way into our consciousness when it was bundled with Windows 3.0. Today everyone has their personal tales of how it has both annoyed and captured them, from Screen Beans and multiple effects photos zooming and folding into view to charts in neon colors that make lackluster sales results look dazzling in 3-d bars and pie charts.
There are "business" PowerPoint training classes in every major city, on live webinars and on-line tutorials. Not to mention a full range of PowerPoint for Dummies books and various bibles and guides. All this to reduce the art of actual conversation to five or seven word bullet points. Preferably three to five per slide. The only proper New Yorker reader response to this is ARGG! Tearing out one's hair is optional.
The New Yorker site now has the complete article: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2001/05/28/010528fa_fact_parker
Saturday, January 26, 2008
I've subscribed to The New Yorker for over twenty years. I initially received a subscription as a birthday gift because I liked reading the short stories. For the first few years those were my favorites, but the quirky characters and meandering plots grew tiresome. What was once a pleasure became just another 3000 words to slog through to yet another pointless slice of life ending. But there were always the cartoons! In the worst years (thank you Tina Brown) they were about all I could truly look forward to. So I renewed year after year, not wanting to miss Roz Chast. Gradually I noticed I was reading more than the cartoons, talk of the town, and movie reviews. Sometimes I even skipped a cartoon when turning the page. There are suddenly more interesting articles that I want to share. And as a bonus, the writing can't be beat. Always sophisticated but not pretentious. Writing that makes reading a real joy.
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