A long time ago, I read a book where the main character tries to persuade his dad that he should subscribe to some magazine. He explains to his dad that the magazine aims to educate their readership and to give them insight into blah-blah-blah. “Nonsense!” says his dad,

“The aim of the magazine is to sell more magazines. Same as all magazines.”

This was an epiphany for me. It explained all kinds of things that I had not previously understood.

Whenever you see the media doing something that seems counter-intuitive - something that is not in the customer’s best interest - ask yourself :

“Who is the real customer for this product?”

If the product is media-related, there is a good chance that the customer - the party who pays money for the product - is not the consumer, it’s the advertiser.

[Thanks to Jeff for this last insight]

In the old days, if the commentators of one game wanted to share the score of another they would say..

The score of the XvY game is about to appear on the screen. if you don’t want to know the result, please look away now.

Now you have to take counter-measures to avoid finding out who gets whacked in The Sopranos before the season even starts. The media has whole teams of people whose job it is to spoil your enjoyment of reality shows, sitcoms, movies and even American Idol by telling you the ending before the show is aired.

It’s all a ploy to confuse the enemy. In fact, the whole Rooney/injury thing… all a ploy…

We do it every four years. Our strategy is to look really terrible for the first round and then just squeak out of the group by way of arithmetical gymnastics in the last game against Poland. In the following rounds, we put on a stunning performance against at least two world cup powerhouses - leading to predictions which include the phrases /this time/ and /all the way/ - before getting knocked out by Germany on penalties.

This year we are being a bit more adventurous by actually winning a game in the first round. This time I think we can go all the way.

… I have the game TiVo’d.

This is a standing rule that sports fans understand very well. It’s the not-quite-fans who have trouble understanding. They think they are doing us a favour

So, not-quite-fans, follow this simple rule to save yourself - and, more importantly, the victims of your good intentions - a lot of heartache. Before you say anything about the game, ask this simple question :

Do you know the result of the Team X vs Team Y game ?

Thank you for your cooperation.

The NY Times says that Chief Executives should be outsourced. I don’t think we’ll really have a realistic debate about globalization until journalism and politics are outsourced too.

I am delighted for Rooney that he’ll be going to the world cup. I am even happier for me because now we are in with a shot at the trophy.

It’s hard to know how anyone can beat Brazil but if anyone can it’s England… and we are overdue some luck.

Paul Graham says,

If you don’t have a college degree you can’t get an H1B visa, the type usually issued to programmers. But a test that excludes Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Michael Dell can’t be a good one.

I’ll second that.

Andrew Sullivan et al have been using the No True Scotsman defense of conservatism. Today’s  is just the latest in a long series of blogs that attempts to draw a distinction between what a True Conservative believes and what the current Republican Party stands for.

It’s long overdue. I wish someone would do the same for True Liberals.