Is most published research false?

Quite possibly, the answer is yes. Science has it's own dirty little secret.

Scientist John Ioannidis has produced a cult classic entitled "Why most published research findings are false".

Using ATM's abroad

When traveling overseas, you may be getting the best exchange rates through an ATM. MSNBC has some tips for using your current ATM card while on vacation.

Rejoice, the Hummer is Dead!

This article is hilarious. I don't often laugh out loud for real, but I did several times reading this article. It never occurred to me how much Jerry Falwell and the Hummer have in common.

Don't be evil. Be very evil.

Google has worked out a questionable implementation with Dell on its new computers involving shady redirects when web users mistype urls and searches. After reading this article from OpenDNS, the folks that redirect mistyped urls and searches correctly, I must admit to being very dissapointed in Google. Here was not only a company considered a technical leader, but a gestalt worthy of emulation behaving in a very devious fashion.

Nine Inch Nails frontman rips recording industry

Get an artist's perspective of the current state of the music industry. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nail's tells all in an interview with the Herald Sun.

CEO's out of touch with Customers

Three out of four CEO's, in a recent survey, thought their customer service was great. In stark contrast, a seperate survey showed three out of five customers thought their customer service was awful. Why the big disconnect? The Red Tape Chronicles has some thoughts on that.

Strangest Disaster of the Twentieth Century

I never heard or read about this disaster when it occurred. But even more shocking was the mysterious cause that led up to the event. As an environmental scientist, I had never been aware of such a phenomenon, let alone imagine that it could be unleashed on such a large scale.

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
:: Voltaire

When in doubt, press 0

One of the greater failures in the implementation of customer service is the phone maze. Many are either very difficult to navigate or extremely tedious and time consuming. The very fact that you are forced to go through the phone maze should be your first clue that your company is not service-oriented.

If your goal is to talk to a human as soon as possible, you do have options. When in doubt, press 0 (the zero key). Most voice systems will send you directly to a human. If this doesn't work, you just received your second clue that your company doesn't give a hoot about customer service.

There are also websites like gethuman which can give you the specific sequence of keys to press in order to bypass the phone maze for a variety of companies and services.

Mingle not in projects with men whose ways are not yours.
:: Confucius

When love is at stake, yield not to an army.
:: Confucius

If you want a quality, act as if you already had it.
:: William James

If you are going through hell, keep going.
:: Winston Churchill

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.
:: Winston Churchill

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.
:: Abraham Maslow

Always let losers have their words.
:: Francis Bacon

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
:: T.S. Eliot

If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.
:: Winston Churchill

There is a homely adage which runs: ``Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.''
:: Theodore Roosevelt

Impossible to carry, but once you shoulder it, it's the lightest thing in the world.
:: G.I. Gurdjieff

The nobler sort of man is proficient in the knowledge of his duty; the inferior man is proficient only in money-making.
:: Confucius

Knowledge about life is one thing; effective occupation of a place in life, with its dynamic currents passing through your being, is another.
:: William James

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.
:: Ralph Waldo Emerson