This whole thing with mascot names has gotten out of hand. The most ridiculous, until now, was Elon University, which changed its mascot from “Fighting Christians” to “Phoenix. Apparently, it’s OK to have as a mascot a mythological bird that dies and rises from ashes, but not a Christian, who survives lion’s dens and such. Mascot names are not supposed to be general comments on actual groups of people. Wake’s Demon Deacon wasn’t meant to disparage Baptists. All mascots, whether Cowboys, Wrecks, Blue Hoses, or whatever, are supposed to be characters whose good qualities are inspiring to fans. Braves, Redskins, Indians as mascots are exaggerated in the same way the Demon Deacon is. UNCSA was wise to pick a pickle as a mascot. Because the way things are going, someone is gonna be offended by most anything else. Native Americans got a bad deal from the immigrating Europeans (along with Africans, Indians, East Asians, and pretty much everyone else). It would be nice to spend more time trying to remedy that, and less time on sports.

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Some notes for the business world: 1. If you leave me a voicemail, you don’t need also to send an email. First, it’s a waste of time, and second, when I get whichever one arrives second, I won’t know if it’s a new message, or just a copy, unless you mention that it is. So then I will contact you twice. 2. Chances are, your cell phone doesn’t work very well. When you leave your name and number on voice mail, you should repeat each one. Otherwise, there’s a good chance I won’t know your name and/or number. The also applies to people overseas and/or people with very hard to understand accents. 3. You need an email signature with your phone number and/or other contact information. When you email people and ask them to call, and don’t provide the number, they have to search for it, and or figure out who you are. The applies especially to John’s and Sanjay’s. If your address is [email protected], I am not gonna remember who you are when you sign “Sincerely, John”. If you are a personal friend, of course, none of this applies. I save your name, number, birthday and address is a special gold-leaf booklet with a lock in my treasure chest.

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