Eubie's notes

Judge Slashes Lawyer’s Rate for Typos, Careless Writing from law.com. If I’d paid myself a nickel for my typos, my retirement would be well funded.

Marketers are missing a major market segment: those over 50. They have money to buy and are interested in more things than life insurance and prescription medicines, from Seattle Post Intelligencer.

MediaPost’s MediaDailyNews: Casting Milestones: The Internet Is Now More Wired Than Cable. Sounds like a revolution, but also in article: While penetration levels are important, it is actual time spent with a medium by consumers that translate into the audience impressions bought by Madison Avenue. And in that regard, cable still beats online media by a wide margin.

Current: George Washington’s Christmas Farewell by Stanley Weintraub
Finished: Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Audio books
Current: What Went Wrong? : The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East by Bernard Lewis. Article with same title published by The Atlantic magazine January 2002.
Finished: Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.

USA Today — Car buyers pay more, owe more longer

From N.Y. Times via RichDad.com — Robert T. Kiyosaki, the author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” created Cashflow game, which fans say is teaching them how to create wealth and change their lives. The game costs $195 and has sales of $33 million, creating a good deal of wealth for Mr. Kiyosaki.

Update: I’d seen “Rich Dad” in bookstores, but I didn’t realize it’s become such an industry, including seminars and a show soon on Fox News.

“Rich Dad, Poor Dad” has critics, including John T. Reed, author of books on real estate investing and publisher of the newsletter Real Estate Investor’s Monthly. Reed’s criticism of Kiyoaski is that many of his biography claims are inaccurate, including the basic premise that he learned from two dads.

“I am extremely skeptical as to whether he has done or seen many of the investment things he claims to have done or seen. He claims to be an experienced, millionaire, real-estate investor, yet the book is full of statements that I would expect only from a rather ignorant, not very bright, novice, investor wannabe,” Reed writes. Reed also maintains a site about many real estate gurus, who seem to be more active lately with their two-hour free, introductory seminars at local hotels.

Hotels advertise free internet access now from their interstate billboards. Reminds me of the old ads for color TVs, continental breakfasts, etc. The Guardian’s Onlines’ blog writes that many companies will lose the bet on charging for high-speed access in hotels and elsewhere. Decades ago, others lost on the business model of providing air conditioning in rooms, for an extra fee.

Years ago someone loaned me their copy of “The Psychology of Everyday Things” by Donald A. Norman and warned that I would not be able to go through doors the same again.

He was right. I now no longer blame myself with I pull on “push” doors even if the sign says push. Norman explains in that book that the design of the door and other things often tells us how to use it at some level more basic than reading instructions. He argued that’s how things should work.. The books has returned to print two years ago and been renamed The Design of Everyday Things.

Norman has a new book out “Emotional Design” about why we love and hate everyday things. That’s on “To read” list now.

Museums become entrepreneurs in search for more income — Cincinnati Business Courier

Happiness is their own franchise: More baby boomers enter franchise field — The Business Journal of Milwaukee