More odds and ends

Just a couple of observations today.

1) I know quality when I see it

This morning S gave me a white coffee mug, the kind you would pick up in the dinnerware section at Target, that had her company's logo on it. (I don't even drink coffee, but that's another post.) It was a nice mug, but as I said, there was nothing special about it except for the gift card that came inside it:

A Gift for You

This beautiful gift is of the finest

quality available. Hand prepared by

true craftspeople, the design is kiln-

fired for permanence and inspected

no less than seven times through

production. All in all, your gift is the

product of our uncompromising

commitment to quality.

*

Now I was impressed. So I turned it over to see who had made such a fine mug. Printed on the bottom:

Made in China

*

2) How old do you have to be to get a job on a newspaper in Atlanta?

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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta's major daily newspaper, prints teases for stories on the inside down the left sidebar of the front page. This was the first one today:

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New reason

to look for

life on Mars

We're not sure

anyone is there to

say "excuse me,"

but a mysterious

belch of methane

gas on Mars hints at

possible microbial

life underground,

a new NASA study

found. It also could

come from changes

in rocks, but option

No. 1 is cooler.