Mailbag: Why Go Green?, Who's Your Stooge?, More
In response to Doug's question about green IT, one reader says it's more a matter of money than environment:
I'll go green only if the green equates to dollars. I have lived enough years to remember discussing the coming ice age and the first Earth Day that was an awareness for global cooling. The climate is going to do what it wants and we can't influence it. Can we get Peter, Paul and Mary to sing "Where have all the sunspots gone"?
Now, if I can save some bucks by using an alternative and RELIABLE power source, I am all for it. My clients would go for saving some green, too.
-Anonymous
Steve Ballmer is bullish about the economy, particularly the tech sector. But Paul thinks technological innovation only goes so far:
Technology needs application. Without companies buying technology, its "resilience" is moot. To demonstrate a point of concern, a friend of mine works for a local FOX TV affiliate and says that the company has asked all managers throughout the FOX chain to take a week of unpaid furlough. Think of all the technology used by a typical TV station. If they don't buy, we don't fly.
-Paul
Incidentally, in that same item about Ballmer, Doug made a reference to economist Paul Samuelson -- for which Floyd is grateful:
Your obscure references -- I like 'em! When I run into these references (like the one to Paul Samuelson), I head to Google. I've learned quite a bit from these as I very often get caught up in tangential references to your references. So, thanks for the education...and thanks for creating a big time-sink for me!
-Floyd
And finally, who's your favorite Stooge? Shemp is Doug's pick. Here are some of yours:
Shemp?!?! Nobody compares to the always cranky, ever-present Moe Howard, king of the Stooges!
-Charles
Sorry, but my vote goes to Curly.
-Jim
My favorite is Moe. Nobody could slap a Stooge like Moe!
-Eduardo
Larry was my favorite; loved the hair.
-Carl
Curly gets my vote by far. Of course, my Italian mother always called me a "stroonza" (idiot).
-Anonymous
Curly, far and away. Great pratfalls and shtick!
-Neal
Curly.
-Anonymous
I'm a Shemp fan. Do you recall the Barney Miller episode where Levitt asks Dietrich what he's doing tonight? Dietrich answers he's going to a Three Stooges festival. Levitt says, "I always saw you as an art museum type, very cultured." Dietrich replies, "On the contrary, with its universal portrayal of interpersonal relationships, especially the machiavellian interplay between Moe and his siblings, it is an essential..." Levitt just blinks dumbfounded and blurts out, "I like the ones with Shemp." Dietrich gazes at Levitt as someone would look at the bottom of his sneaker expecting to see a swathing of canine excrement and says, "We dont have anything further to discuss" and turns to casually walk away.
Just a vignette to bring you momentary cheer. Hooray, Windows 7 is coming!
-Bill
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Posted by Doug Barney on March 16, 2009