On Wed, 21 May 2008 12:38:50 +0100, Phil Cook wrote:

>> Another good one.  Funny thing, at Novell's BrainShare, they had an
>> "Oxygen Bar" set up.  Someone got to talking with the folks who were
>> running it, and asked where they got the oxygen from.  The word
>> "breathing" was used in the answer.... ;-)
> 
> Boggles the mind

Yeah, I wish I could remember the exact phrase used, because it was very 
funny.

>> "New and Improved" is one that always gets me.  Oh, and "Organic" - as
>> if the other option is "Inorganic".  Yuck.
> 
> Monster Raving Looney Party Manifesto Pledge #129: Manufacturers will be
> made to compensate for the "Old and Inferior" goods that they have now
> replaced with "New and Improved"

I like it. ;-)

> I just heard the oxygen claim and thought "What, is the tube pumped with
> it or something?" I mean you could just add more water, oops sorry aqua,
> and gain 'oxygen'.

LOL

>>> And it's normally white text on a light background too.
>>
>> In 3 point font.  One that's difficult to read.
> 
> We do have some standards IIRC it has to be deemed as legible on a
> 'standard' screen and thus can't be too small, on exactly the same
> colour background or appear for just 1 sec.

Ah, but "legible" by whom?  I used to print notes out in 2 point on 3x5 
cards for my chemistry exams using Lotus ... um, ... I forget the name of 
the program now - got the boxes downstairs still.  Started with an F.  
Damn, that's going to bug me now.

Of course, my vision has become slightly less good since then. ;)

>>> One of them said this herself 'If I'm spending £50 on a cosmetic then
>>> I'd expect to see a difference'.
>>
>> Heh.  Well duh. ;-)
> 
> But it does highlight that the entire '% noticed a difference' may have
> some flaws

Absolutely.  In learning evaluation (something I measure in my job using 
an established methodology), one question asked frequently is "how much 
of your job performance improved as a result of this training?" - and 
answers are a percentage.  Behind-the-scenes, the entered values are 
averaged and then adjusted downwards by something like 15% because people 
tend to overstate, particularly right after class.

Same principle applies here - but I think also that people want the 
percentage to be higher as a result of having paid what they paid, so 
that's what they report.

>> Wish I'd seen that one.  I'd have paid for that. ;-)
> 
> You've got 16 hours left if the link works outside the UK, but [sigh] it
> needs WMP11 to play.

Well even if it doesn't work outside the UK, tor solves that problem for 
me.

>> Gotta love deniability.  They should send someone into one of the
>> training sessions on the products - POS staff does need to be trained
>> on the products, you know.
> 
> Well they've done it for some shows.

I'll bet that was fun. :-)

Jim

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