Never let it be said there are no Frenchmen with senses of humor:

(From a marking on the side of a bridge showing the pedestrian walkway, click on the thumbnail for a larger image)

Technorati Tags: humor, letters from Europe, photos, photos of Europe

In the United States, one of the biggest problems among the poor is obesity, not starvation.

That math is easy, is it not?

Juliette at Baldilocks reminds us of the difference in the solutions to the math in different nations.

Technorati Tags: commentary, opinion

From a parenthetical statement made by Juliette at Baldilocks:

I used to think that Ms. Coulter used her legendary vitriol as a tool to get out the conservative message; something that I thought she believed in. Now I suspect that her vitriol is merely a character flaw, wielded against anyone who doesn’t toe her mark in the manner that she sees fit.

I was making similar points two years ago to the bloggers on the right-wing who found Coulter “amusing” rather than “destructive” which is still my opinion of her attitude and writings.

Strange how getting your own petard hoisted changes your viewpoint, isn’t it?

Technorati Tags: blogs, commentary, conservative politics, conservatives, right wing, right wing weblogs, right-wing, right-wing weblogs, weblogs

I have never revealed the name of the company I work for, although I’m sure the more canny and observant readers have deduced it. I have never mentioned my company by name because I did not want to lay myself open for any problems. However, I recently stumbled across the policy that my company has on blogging, and they actually has one of the most reasonable statements on blogging that I have seen, much less could come up with. Included in the policy is some sensible advice that I think bears repeating:

Respect
Most weblogs publish RSS feeds that others can subscribe to, so remember that others, including your colleagues, may be reading what you write. You may not post any material that is obscene, defamatory, profane, libelous, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful or embarrassing to another person or any other person or entity. This includes, but is not limited to, comments regarding Freescale, Freescale employees, Freescale’s partners and Freescale’s competitors.

Blogging on company time
When blogging about the company, you are permitted to post to your blog on company time as long as your efforts in no way interfere with the timely completion or quality of your work. Freescale understands that many employees work long hours and often take work home, and that time spent blogging will not necessarily impact productivity. However, if your productivity does begin to suffer from the time you are devoting to your blog, you may be asked to curtail your blogging activities at work.

Candor and disagreement with company/boss
You are free to express any disagreement you may have with company decisions or decisions made by your supervisor or company executives. However, you are expected to position these disagreements as differences in opinion and not as attacks on individuals or the company. Always be respectful in your discussions. An example of this is Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble’s disagreement with President Steve Ballmer’s decision to reverse the implementation of domestic partner benefits coverage. Scoble noted that he thought it was wrong to capitulate to political pressure rather than do what you thought was right. He never spoke disrespectfully of Ballmer or Microsoft, but merely expressed his views.

Cite and link
When writing about any given topic, it is always a good idea to find out who else is blogging on the topic, cite them and link to those blog postings.

Be factual
Even though your blog postings will reflect your personal opinion, do your research and check to ensure that your facts are accurate. Make sure you have permission to post any copyrighted items (e.g. images) to your blog, and be careful about posting or linking to items that may contain viruses.

Write about what you know
The best way to be interesting is to write about what you know. If you have a deep understanding of something, talk about the challenges and issues around it. Try not to rant about things you don’t understand, as you’re more likely to get embarrassed by a real expert.

Quality counts
Use a spell-checker and keep things clear and concise. Ask people whether your blog looks good, design-wise, and take their advice to improve it.

Setting the record straight
When you see misrepresentations made about Freescale in the media, by analysts or by other bloggers, you certainly may use your blog – or join someone else’s – to point that out. Always do so with respect and with the facts. Also, if you speak about a competitor, you must make sure that what you say is factual and that it does not disparage the competitor. You should avoid arguments. Brawls may earn readership traffic; but, nobody wins in the end. Don’t try to settle scores or goad competitors or others into inflammatory debates. Here and in other areas of public discussion, make sure that what you are saying is factually correct.

Correct your own mistakes quickly
If you make an error, be up front about your mistake and correct it quickly. If you choose to modify an earlier post, make it clear that you have done so.

Amazingly sensible… somehow I think this policy was crafted by someone who at least understands blogging, if not a blogger themselves.

Technorati Tags: blogging, blogs, weblogs

Some from today, some from earlier.

Perhaps I should start a new category.

The first is a black-and-white version of a photo I posted earlier. I’m still not entirely happy with how it turned out, even after a lot of work in Photoshop, but here it is (as is usual, click on the thumbnail for a larger photo to pop up):

I have been posting the photos of a few ads that I felt would never appear on street side displays in the US, here are two more.

The first is for the ladies to appreciate, the caption says, in a literal translation, “Lesson 1: To fly him the star,” but I think it means in English, “Lesson 1: Fly him to the stars.”

For the men to appreciate, here is the female version of the advertisement, with the caption (much easier for me to translate), “Lesson 67: Succumb to temptation.”

I think I need to take the photos of the roadside advertisements at night to avoid the reflections, despite the inadvertent art that can sometimes result.

I have many more photos taken especially this Sunday when I was out searching for good images. I will post more later.

Technorati Tags: letters from Europe, photos, photos of Europe

We have just enought religion to hate, but not enough to love one another.
   -Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745)

Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.
   -Mary Harris Jones (Mother Jones, 1830 - 1930)

There is no such thing as an underestimate of average intelligence.
   -Henry Adams (1838 - 1918)

Technorati Tags: quotes