Observed

The French seem to know that there's often more to something than meets the eye. When considering why empires go to war, for example, they might suggest cherchez la femme...or, look for the woman.

It’s important for me to remember that things are not always as they seem.  That it might be healthy to give people (including clients and prospects) the benefit of the doubt.  And that, in some cases, better management — not just better writing — might be an option.

Example:  I had a small cow the other day.  I went off after reading a story in my hometown paper, the once-mighty, Pulitzer Prize-winning Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky.

I don’t need to go into the details.  Trust me.  It was really bad.  Over the 24 hours or so since it first ran, the editors have cleaned it up a lot.  Here’s the on-line version, for what it’s worth. (more…)

I have no idea how these go with Spam. Don't eat meat. Or, whatever might be in Spam.

Are you over it?  Despite what I’ve heard from Matt Mullenweg, I decided that the minuses (e.g., discouraging legitimate comments) outweigh the pluses (e.g., improving rankings) of laissez-faire spam on my WordPress site.

So, if you’re looking for a great spam filter, check out TanTanNoodles.  Developed by Joe Tan.  Easy to install, donation requested, sweet Captcha feature and more.

It works.  Since I added it to my blog about a month ago, TanTanNoodles has blocked and rejected 4592 spam comments.

Seth suggests asking yourself this before hitting Send: Am I "taking advantage of the asymmetrical nature of email--free to send, expensive investment of time to read or delete?"

Of Seth’s 36 Questions To Ask Before You Send An E-mail, my favorite was Number 32:

If this is a press release, am I really sure that the recipient is going to be delighted to get it? Or am I taking advantage of the asymmetrical nature of email–free to send, expensive investment of time to read or delete?

Of course, this applies to IMs, Twitter and other digital platforms, yes?

Not that this would have done Anthony Weiner much good.  After all, making a stupid choice doesn’t make him stupid, does it?

Yet, too many of us (me included) would be smart to slow down, read the rest of Seth’s list and consider the following in addition:

1. How important is this relationship?
2. What does this client prefer?
3. How much is it worth to stand out?
4. Is it really either/or?
5. Is anybody there?

To escape their prison on Crete, Daedalus fashioned two pairs of wings out of wax and feathers -- one for himself and the other for his son, Icarus. Before they took off from the island, Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun or the sea. Alas, hubris got the better of the young man, clouding his judgment and causing him to believe he and his wings would survive the heat of the sun. He was wrong...and so was Anthony Weiner.

We all feed our egos.  For some of us, our choices take us too close to the sun, despite reason and the wisdom of others.

Anthony Weiner doesn’t have a PR problem.   My guess is he has some kind of gender-related psych condition or addiction, digitally enabled by the echo chamber we call Twitter.

The kind of condition that tells him some rules don’t apply to him.  The little voice that says, “I’m an exception.”

The ancients labeled this hubris.  It reminded them that mortals had better not trespass on the powers of the gods unless mortals were prepared to suffer the consequences.

Time and a lot of hard work may the restore the trust people once had in Weiner.  Just as Nixon was able to pull back slightly from absolute and permanent disgrace after San Clemente.

Clever branding may figure into such a restoration for Weiner.  Probably just not yet.

Meanwhile, he’s the latest (not the last) to fall into the sea.