© 2008 -- 2011 the Grandpa at The Word Mechanic. All rights reserved.

Friday, January 16, 2009

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?
*
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:
*
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.

14 comments:

  1. Well I get your point, but that was FUNNY, cooler. haha.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh dear, made in china...be glad it wasn't red paint of the gift giver would trying to poison you by lead paint!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wish more newspapers wrote something worth reading even if the editors and writers are in 4th grade. We have the Toledo Blade. It's on newsprint all right and also on the bottom of the guinea pig cage.

    And, I heard this methane story on NPR. But they didn't say the possibilities were cool. How disappointing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You're kidding? They wrote that?!! That's hilarious...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Maybe the gas on Mars came from Uranus.

    (I have to admit, I stole that bit)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Is there anything left on earth that doesn't say China on the bottom?

    ReplyDelete
  7. humm..it's like the kid was thinkin n came up with a good one huh?
    Enjoyed the post!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hey, someone gave me the same mug!

    And I agree with you about option #1. Way cool-er.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Of course! The belching rocks of Mars. I should have known.

    ReplyDelete
  10. That is truly hilarious. Option 1 is cooler? Aren't all things made in China? I guess the meaning of quality is such a personal thing...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Loved your observations!

    PS Mugs make wonderful pencil holders ;-)

    ReplyDelete