Friday Four

1. I really could have used this during grad school, but I still found some useful ideas in Dann Berg's "Getting Busy and Being Social for the Socially Awkward." To wit:

... Add anything and everything of interest to your calendar. Remember, you're not committing to these events, you're reminding yourself of interesting things to do.

After everything is added to your calendar, keep the same weekly routine and plan your life one week in advance. Check your calendar, see what's coming up the following week, and make a decision about each night. Maybe a friend or two might be interested in checking out a certain art gallery opening you saved. Perhaps you got a daily deal to an Italian restaurant and your friend loves Italian food. Or, even though there's a ton of events going on that week, maybe you're in the mood to just stay home and play video games. You'll now be able to make an informed decision and feel confident that you explored all your options. You'll have more fun no matter what you decide to do.

This will help me further implement an idea -- of achieving some form of "planned spontaneity" -- I had a couple of years ago.

2. At first, I thought this blog entry about a frivolous lawsuit referred to a very similar one I vaguely recall from my childhood about the same product, but no! Janine Sugawara sued PepsiCo in 2009, alleging that Crunchberries were being sold as a fruit!

"While the challenged packaging contains the word 'berries' it does so only in conjunction with the descriptive term 'crunch'," wrote Judge Morrison England Jr., reflecting wearily upon the course his life had taken. "This Court is not aware of, nor has Plaintiff alleged the existence of, any actual fruit referred to as a 'crunchberry.' Furthermore, the 'Crunchberries' depicted on the [box] are round, crunchy, brightly-colored cereal balls, and the [box] clearly states both that the Product contains 'sweetened corn [and] oat cereal' and that the cereal is 'enlarged to show texture.' Thus, a reasonable consumer would not be deceived into believing that the Product in the instant case contained a fruit that does not exist."

He dismissed the case and denied Sugawara the chance to amend her complaint. "The survival of the instant claim would require this Court to ignore all concepts of personal responsibility and common sense," he wrote. "The Court has no intention of allowing that to happen."

It's something of a relief to hear that not only common sense, but personal responsibility still have a foothold, however tenuous, in the minds of today's judiciary.

3. I enjoyed this article about my favorite American soccer player, Clint Dempsey, who had a great season in the English Premier League (EPL) with Fulham.

Over the past five years Dempsey has blossomed into one of the most productive players in the EPL and has won the respect of opponents and audiences alike with his no-nonsense, physical style, combined with a sharp eye for goal.

The article notes his growing international recognition, but it is just as heartening to me as a soccer fan that the article was produced by an American media outlet.

4. I found David Pogue's convoluted solution to the problem of a missing computer file amusing and inspiring at once:

Then it hit me: my home Internet connection is very fast. Could I command my home computer to download the files over my home's fast connection, and then transfer only the one chapter I needed to my laptop over the airport's slow connection?

As he says in his post, "When Technology Works, It Seems Like Magic."

-- CAV