Ceteris Diversibus

I got a catalog in the mail last week. It’s one of those that make you really curious about what marketers think they know about you. It was from Beretta – you know, the company founded in 1526 by gunsmith Bartolomeo Beretta? [Really, you didn’t know that? And you think of yourself as well informed.]…

A computer interaction shouldn’t be this difficult. Me: What’s the weather for tomorrow? Siri: It should be nice tomorrow… up to 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Me: Any chance of rain? Siri: There’s no rain in the forecast for tomorrow. Me: Good. Siri: Good what? Me (taken aback): Um … Good grief? Siri displays some possibly-responsive information…

I just saw a commercial for Dealdash.com. It included some testimonials, followed by the assurance: “These aren’t actors; they’re real people.” It struck me as an interesting distinction, possibly the result of a copywriter having had his artful prose being only paraphrased by actors. However, as the saying goes, some of my best friends are…

Recently, I was looking at the Web site for Corridor H, a highway project in West Virginia, and learned that “statistical experience indicates the completed project could produce a reduction in the accident rate of nearly 150 percent.” I used to work in advertising, and I can appreciate the occasional claim that, while superficially impressive,…

At a place I used to work, a guy in the office next door got a phishing e-mail that purported to be from Amazon.com.  Now, admittedly, I have a perverse enjoyment of oddly engaging spam (like the ones from addresses like “Spinning U. Slowly”), but I hadn’t previously found anything remotely amusing about phishing.  This one…