The incomparable Malcolm Gladwell’s got an article on personality tests in the most recent New Yoker. Kottke’s got a snippet here.
My brother posits that you can gauge an individual’s true nature by the way he or she treats restaurant wait staff. I think he’s on to something.
Jill and I teach kids between the ages of 5 and 13. And they often have funny names. That’s because when they start studying English, which is usually when they’re 5 or 6 or 7, they get to choose their own English names. Why? Because their Chinese names probably don’t have a romanized equivalent, and their odd pronunciation and tones would simply sound weird in an English context.
As it happens, students–and, quite often, their parents–sometimes choose amusing names. Sometimes unwittingly, but often times quite knowingly.
Here’re a few funny ones. None of these are our students; these come from fellow teachers (I’ve been keeping a list). Just imagine a pint-size Taiwanese child being called:
Nokia
Konika
Ketchup
SuperPig
Demon
Pizza
Tiger (his father’s name, FYI, is Panther)
Wee-wee
Next up in our Chinese studies: Jill and I get to choose our Chinese names. Stay tuned…
…is an inflatable pub. Seriously. I mean it. I need an inflatable pub. Dear readers, please pitch in and buy me an inflatable pub. I want nothing more and nothing less this holiday season. (Okay, truth be told, I’m also dying for a banana guard. And a Roulette Chocolate.)
…are detailed in this interesting Columbia Journalism Review article, “The Education of Stacy Sullivan: A First-Time Nonfiction Author Learns That Getting Published Is Not Necessarily the Hard Part.”
I mentioned recently that I like David Allen’s approach to personal productivity. If you’re interested in reading more about his philosophy and how you might put it into action, check out this excellent overview.
Check out this video of a drive from LA to New York–compressed to under four minutes, and set to music (via The Agitator).
Then try some creativity techniques.
An article I wrote called “Four Steps to Better Online Communications” was published last week at OnPhilanthropy.com.
I argue that nonprofit organizations must:
1) have an easy-to-use Web site that caters to their audience,
2) adopt an email strategy,
3) achieve search engine visibility, and
4) consider using Weblogs and RSS.
I’ve also posted a longer version of the article–complete with links for more information–here on Newley.com.
Nonprofit technology guru Michael Gilbert has compiled a thoughtful description of the email newsletter marketing model for nonprofit organizations.