Guerrilla vs Gorilla

On the train home I was pondering the difference between guerrilla marketing and gorilla marketing. Antonio points out that the Cadbury’s Phil Collins advert might be an example of gorilla marketing, but I think it’s probably deeper than that. According to Wikpedia: Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy… Continue reading Guerrilla vs Gorilla

Literacy and Professionalism

I remember a time, not very long ago, when people assumed a link between literacy and professionalism. When producing text for public consumption people would always take the time to ensure that their spelling and grammar were correct. Obvious errors in copy would be seen as a lack of attention to detail and would throw… Continue reading Literacy and Professionalism

Thunderbird and Exchange

This morning a friend was complaining on Twitter about using Evolution on Linux to talk to his company’s Exchange server. Evolution is the default answer to the question “how do I talk to Exchange from Linux”, but my past experience has been much like my friend’s – it’s really not a very good answer. I… Continue reading Thunderbird and Exchange

Darwin, Humanism and Science

Yesterday I was at the British Humanist Association’s one day conference, Darwin, Humanism and Science, at the Conway Hall. I confess that I was really going to see Richard Dawkins speak, but actually I got a whole day of fascinating speakers. Following a brief introduction by Polly Toynbee, Dawkins was the first speaker. His talk… Continue reading Darwin, Humanism and Science

Voting Dilemmas

There’s a European Parliament election on Thursday. I’ve been trying to work out who to vote for. That’s not normally a problem for me. I’m a natural Labour voter and have been for most of my life. Voting for any other party feels strange. But I’m so disillusioned with the government right now that it… Continue reading Voting Dilemmas