Quoted: Now comes word of Google promising to become carbon neutral by the end of the year.
The Google plan essentially has three parts:

* Reduce energy consumption by maximizing efficiency;
* Invest in and use renewable energy sources; and
*

Purchase carbon offsets for any remaining emissions.

In a recent entry on the Official Google Blog, Urs Hoelzle, Senior Vice President, Operations told readers about the self-assessment the company undertook before setting off on the green initiative.

Whenever people say, "outside the box", I want to ask, "what's wrong with the box?"

But I am not a smartarse.

danke joe.

Quoted: Get the latest design news from The Creative Group.

Nice and much needed.

Quoted: The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS), for example, has in recent months held meetings on subjects ranging from Asian upper-eyelid surgery to so-called ethnic rhinoplasty. The discussion will come to Boston this summer when the academy will host a five-day event that will include sessions on nose reshaping techniques tailored to racial groups. And increasingly, plastic surgeons are wooing minorities – who make up one-third of the US population – by advertising specializations in race-specific surgeries and using a greater number of nonwhite faces on their websites.

Wow. I'm glad to have read this article(http://www.careerjournal.com/myc/officelife/20061026-schaefer.html) and the letters responding to it. I would do what the article advocates, to "talk things out" and negotiate. Reading the responses and other perspectives, especially from the men, is so very eye-opening indeed.

(to read the letters, scroll down a bit)

Quoted: I am a boss who lives for his job. I manage a department that is primarily women. That said, I think you missed the boat with your advice. To say something like you suggested is only going to make matters worse.

Quoted: We already know the boss is a man, and men don't like to talk about feelings. Saying to him, "Can we talk about it?" is just going to make him cringe. Avoid this approach at all cost. He already thinks this woman is a burden because she's either not there for 4 p.m. meetings or she leaves in the middle. Why make it worse? Instead, this woman should approach him from some place he's familiar with. Try saying to him that she hates missing out on all those meetings, that she could contribute more if she were there, and then ask if there's any way we could push those meetings back an hour to 2:30 p.m.? That she wants to contribute will be welcome because that's not what he's currently thinking. He's used to problem solving, and this is an answer he can like. I believe this is a winner for her and certainly something I would prefer to hear from my staff.

Quoted: You may say that's not being sensitive to her needs to discuss it. Well, we're not here for that; we're here to get a job done. That's his focus and rightly so; that's why everybody's taking home a paycheck. That we enjoy our jobs is merely a perk. And besides, he's the boss. As my mother told me when I first started working, "He's the boss; he always has one more vote than you do."

Quoted: Scoble, I TRY to have respect for your opinions, but every time I get close to thinking you have a grasp on reality, you go and post something like this. :)

Quoted: The personas were not developed as part of a marketing campaign. They were not meant as a means to categorize people for recruiting purposes. They are not printed under the names of visitor’s badges at Microsoft to help us better identify who they are. They are not injected into every single conversation and design decision. They do not carry more weight than actual customer feedback. These are simply starting points that help remind us that there are various types of developers who benefit from different features in different ways. Having been around the consulting block long enough, I know that the M/E/E designations are fairly accurate depictions of SOME of the types of developers as a stereotype, but in no way define any single customer to a tee. Take them for what they are, and not for the evil you apparently want them to be.

I'm reading the chapter written by this guy, Mister Robert Barlow-Busch, who feels like eating sushi every day. The topic is Marketing versus Design Persona. It is ok so far, (I'm on ... uh... page 2).

Quoted: Robert leads projects for clients who want to distinguish themselves through products that are well designed, usable, and deliver an outstanding customer experience. As Practice Director of Interaction Design, he also works with teammates to develop Quarry’s design methods. For instance, Robert introduced the use of personas to Quarry and has since then employed personas for projects in a variety of industries. He has also helped develop methods for better aligning usability with the goals and practices of marketing and branding. Some of this expertise is captured in Robert’s invited chapter about “Marketing Versus Design Personas,” in The Persona Lifecycle, a book Morgan Kaufmann will publish in 2006.

Fall is upon us and a few of my friends are starting Grad School, which makes me anxious to do the same (peer pressure never really dies). However, after my brief stint with a Distance Masters Program, I realized that Formal Schooling doesn't neccesarily equal Learning (though it helps for some people).

I also realized why most Grad Schools require working experience first, simply because you come with a little bit more to offer and reflect upon.

Not to poo poo distance learning (ok, to poo poo distance learning), half the fun of going to school is meeting people and getting some diverse perspectives. Distance/virtual programs will have a long way to go to replicate that rich environment online and on the phone.

Working full time and going to school at the same time makes economic sense (both time and money), but there are still trade offs. Doing school full time, you have time to tinker with ideas, sit around and shoot the breeze and build relationships, maybe try to materialize some pipe dreams.

Meanwhile, you are very poor.

Quoted: After a two-year stint as an investment counselor in Boston at Putnam Investments, a unit of Marsh & McLennan Cos., Kenny Lao decided to pursue an MBA because he "just didn't want to sit in an office anymore."

Quoted: That antioffice stance may sound counterintuitive for a business student, but it worked for Mr. Lao: He went on to win the 2003 business plan competition at New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business. The plan resulted in Manhattan's upscale Rickshaw Dumpling Bar -- a favorite of college students that Mr. Lao says has also drawn celebrities including Martha Stewart, Diane Sawyer, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick. "People are using education to do what they have always wanted to do," says the 29-year-old restaurateur.