Dave Mancuso dot Com

Donald McCarty, the CEO of American Airlines, resigned amid controversy over his hidden management pension plan that was funded even after significant union concesssions. After asking and getting critical concessions from the unions, the management pension stuff surfaced. So he apologized about 50 times in a press conference (well, actually 3 or 4 times) but had to take the bullet.

I’m interested in this story because, well, is the guy a complete moron? Politically, did he really believe that he could talk his way out of this? You pull great concessions from your workers by telling them how tough things are and that “We all have to tighten our belts,” and a day later show them that you lied through your teeth? He justified the darkest nightmares of his workers–that their leaders are the enemy and couldn’t give a crap about them. It wasn’t just politically incorrect, it was blatant political suicide. It was inevitable from the outset that he would have to fall on his sword–it was the only salvageable way out of the situation for the company. If it survives at all, after a one billion dollar loss.

You know you’re on Atkins when you eat some Worcestershire sauce on a steak and actually think “this Worcestershire stuff tastes kinda sweet–I wonder how much sugar is in it?”

This just in from the “freaky stuff is all over the Internet” department, a marriage of Beatles and Metallica songs can be found here. I’m not quite sure what to make of this, but the songs are available in MP3 format (at least until the site goes down or the lawyers sue every drop of blood out of these people).

If you’re into this kind of thing, that is.

The first DVD is out on August 26, 2003, and the extended edition (to me, the real one) is due out on November 18, 2003. the details are here.

The extended release may have up to 48 minutes of new footage.

Way cool.

By the way, the prime mover and shaker behind Chandler is Mitch Kapor, the guy who started Lotus and designed Lotus 123.

I’m trying to wrap my mind around the idea of this new uber personal information manager, Chandler. This piece of software is in its nascent stages. It’s a super office manager–it’s like having a super secretary as a piece of software. Say you have a project you’re working on. Chandler will help you organize a project file that ties together everything to do with the project: emails, calendar dates, to dos, address book contacts, pictures, audio (MP3s), video, notes, spreadsheets, web pages, and more. It seems that virtually anything you have on your computer that has to do with your project can be tied together in Chandler.

But there’s more. It doesn’t just tie things together. It will help you create these things too. It helps you share them too.

If it does all this stuff, it really becomes a computer platform like Windows or Mac OS, or in this case a “sub-platform” inside Windows, Mac OS, or Linux.

I’m really curious about how this thing will turn out. I’m also curious how they’ll pull all of this off for three operating systems within 10 years.

So I see the weirdest thing as I’m shopping at Giant, and I figure “why not?” I buy it for the kids. It’s a new Jimmy Neutron food product. The kids want these every time I suggest them, but they’re never able to actually eat them. As my wife said, “These are possibly the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen.” The product? OreIda Jimmy Neutron chocolate french fries. I swear I am not making this up. Look here for the “Funky Fries” if you don’t believe me.

Mmmmmmm…Choclified french fries. Even Homer would have trouble getting behind that.

To me, this is parenthood.

Two weeks ago at Giant, they have no Sesame Street vitamins, so the kids beg for Jimmy Neutron vitamins. They look good nutritionally, so that’s what I get.

Over the next week I get the kids to try the Jimmy Neutron vitamins on five separate occasions. They hate them. They won’t take them. Six bucks down the drain.

Last week, I mention to my wife that the kids won’t take the new vitamins. Denise doesn’t like to take her own vitamins (she considers them pills and she hates all pills–really hates them), so I think she will empathize with the kids. She doesn’t. I’ve already since bought the kids Sesame Street vitamins, so Denise decides to take the Jimmy Neutron vitamins herself.

Denise has now been taking Jimmy Neutron vitamins for over a week. She says she’ll finish the bottle. The kids really don’t know what to make of it. I think it’s hysterical. Apparently, the only thing my wife hates more than pills is wasting money.

You know you’re in Atkins diet Induction mode when strips of bacon start looking to you like tiny little steaks…

I’ve updated the logo at the top, thanks to Brad Rhine for the concept and tips with Adobe GoLive [Later–I actually meant Adobe ImageReady, but Brad got to the comments section before I could correct this, as usual]. It’ll change more, but it’s a start.