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Archive for December, 2009

George “Ebenezer” Will

Andy Spero | December 25, 2009 | 0 Comment(s) |

The Joy of the Season… is Lost on Him

The children are all snug in their beds with visions of Wii’s dancing in their heads, and after four weeks, we finally have the chance to finish a post that we started on Thanksgiving Day, when we read a very silly column by George Will.

His column was entitled, “No gifts, please.” In it he discusses (and approves of) a pamphlet called Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays by Joel Waldfogel. Based upon both Mr. Will’s column and the… Read the rest

Dark Matter and God

Andy Spero | December 22, 2009 | 0 Comment(s) |

There is an excellent column in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal entitled, A Dark Matter Breakthrough?

In it, the physicist Lawrence Krauss writes about dark matter, which may or may not exist. It does exist in many theories that seem to require it to eliminate otherwise incongruent observations, and there may be empirical evidence that supports its existence, or not.

If it does exist, it may have a mass that is ten times greater than visible matter.

When we read articles like his, a few things come… Read the rest

A Rise in Internet Hacking Attempts

Andy Spero | December 18, 2009 | 0 Comment(s) |

For the last six weeks or so, we’ve seen a huge increase in the number of internet hacking attempts of our site.

We don’t take it personally, and we doubt those attempts are related to anything that we do or say, but we have very nice ways to track both “eyeballs” and robot visits to this site; so, we notice such things. We’re surprised that the trend at our site, which we first observed in the beginning of November, seems to be accelerating in recent weeks. (If we did take… Read the rest

Inexpensive but Valuable Web-based MIS

Andy Spero | December 18, 2009 | 0 Comment(s) |

Making Information Technology Work for You…Finally

We’re not sure if our vague title is a good one because regardless of the formality of their other “information” systems, every firm and organization already has at least one relatively inexpensive, web-based, management information system (MIS). That system is e-mail, including the messages and the myriad of hideous, inconvenient, and awkward Word, Excel, and pdf documents that are so often attached to said messages.

The low cost of e-mail-as-information-system isn’t the issue. At issue, is whether greater benefits can be realized by using… Read the rest

Updated Theme

Andy Spero | December 15, 2009 | 0 Comment(s) |

We have been experimenting with new graphics software and filters and decided to up-date our template/theme at Spero Consulting’s web site.

The theme is mostly blue on 80% of the PCs at world headquarters but has a strange, purplish cast on our other screens.

We will make changes as we find items that annoy us, and we ask regular visitors and friends for feedback and to report any problems. Thanks.

Government Takeovers and Ungraceful States

Andy Spero | December 8, 2009 | 0 Comment(s) |

William McGurn has an excellent column in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal. It is entitled, “My Big Fat Government Takeover.“

In the column, he decries those in favor of governmental solutions to all man’s ills, and he mentions that lack of humility of those like President Obama and his ilk, who believe that a few “smart” people with centralized power can solve the nation’s (and the world’s) problems. (Yet, they can’t prevent party-crashers to a state dinner. Good luck with that.)

We want to emphasize the hubris… Read the rest

Living with Yourself…Forever

Andy Spero | December 7, 2009 | 0 Comment(s) |

Today, we went to a funeral Mass for a friend’s father, and the priest had an excellent homily. It was the kind that one can only give if he well knows the decedent, and in this case, it seemed that the priest had known our friend’s dad for over twenty years due to the latter’s deep involvement in the parish.

During the sermon, the priest merged details and anecdotes of the man’s life with the typical (and very useful) Catholic emphasis on hope and redemption, rather than sorrow and despair,… Read the rest

Sherlock Holmes?

Andy Spero | December 5, 2009 | 0 Comment(s) |

So, we’ve seen the previews for the new “Sherlock Holmes” movie. (Note that we are not using the quotation marks in the previous sentence just to denote a movie title. No, we’re using them doubly in an ironic way, too, as “scare quotes.”)

For many years, we have thoroughly enjoyed reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short stories and novels (novellas, whatever) regarding the remarkable detective, his powers of inference and deduction, and his faithful and observant sidekick, Dr. Watson. (Remember, it is the doctor who relays the occurrences, events, and… Read the rest

Press Release: Insight Rising Web Site Completed

Andy Spero | December 3, 2009 | 0 Comment(s) |

We have completed the re-design and the development of Insight Rising’s web site, and it is live and looking good–if we do say so ourselves.

Insight Rising is a sustainability consulting firm based in Pittsburgh, PA. Its motto is: Business Consultants for Sustainable Profits.

The firm takes a common-sense approach to sustainability and “going green,” i.e., that the intelligent choice of sustainable policies and procedures are both short-term profit- and long-term value-maximizing.

Its founder and CEO, Bob McNeice, believes that because of the wealth-maximizing effect of such policies,… Read the rest

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