April, 14, 2002 archives

back in october, karen armstrong wrote a two-part article for the guardian about the events of september 11 and some of the causes behind them. great stuff.

this story about bad customer service from compusa has all sorts of little tips that any customer-respecting business should take to heart. far too often, customer service is just seen primarily as a cost to be contained, and not one of the most critical components of the company. “the art of turboing” is a good read, too. (via boingboing.)

“the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”—alvin toffler (via the quotations page: random quotations.)

hey, joe versus the volcano is finally out on dvd! i was just complaining about this a week ago, and didn't find it when i made the mistake of searching for “joe vs. the volcano” a few days ago. (thanks to the esteemed mathowie for spotting this.)

here's a shocker: cash cards (like from starbucks) aren't a good deal for you. of course, companies love them. why shouldn't they? people give them money, only some of them get anything back for some of that money, and they don't even have to give them any sort of discount. it's about as close to free money as you can get, except for issuing stock options.