(no subject)

The fantastic - Dad is already out of intensive care.

The crappy - I may not get to see him this weekend after all, because I'm showing all the signs of a headcold, and that's the last thing he needs me to give him.

The plain pointless - a road sign, barely readable in the fog, saying "fog alert."

Hmmmm

The New York Times Magazine did an article last Sunday on BzzAgent, an advertising agency that recruits volunteers to create "buzz" about products by discussing them, having samples to hand out, or even simply using them ostentatiously. (For example, people were asked to read a Bzzed book on the subway, making sure that the cover was clearly legible to other subway riders.) In return, these volunteers, get free samples and tips on how to market and, as they report back, points that they can exchange for goodies down the line.

I'm flirting with the concept. BzzAgents don't appear to have a quota to meet (the only incentive is accumulated reporting points, which seem to work like airline miles or skeeball tickets). Thus they can decide for themselves if they want to join any given campaign or not - in other words, they don't have to pimp anything they don't actually support, and if I read the page correctly, you get a sample to play with before you have to make that decision.

I mean - everyone who knows me knows that I have plenty of opinions to spread around. I certainly haven't ever been shy about saying "I loved this [fill in the blank]."

So I don't see much of a moral difference between "BzzAgent gave me this and I think..." vs "Reviewing The Evidence gave me this book and I think..." Or any difference in the way I've been chatting up The Librarian, which was essentially exactly what they're talking about, only I owe shawan_7 and terri_osborne for getting me the repeat & address info instead of BzzAgent.

Thoughts?

Diamond question

Does anyone know what would darken diamonds? I've been wearing my grandmother's wedding ring for only a few weeks, and one tiny diamond (it's really just a chip) is significantly darker than the others. I keep nervously checking that it hasn't fallen out. It hasn't - but for some reason it's dull and grey while the others still flash. I've taken the ring off and checked that there isn't anything wedged in the cavity beneath it.

Does anyone know what might have happened? I took the ring off the only time I handled anything really corrosive, and the entire ring has been through the cycles of handwashing/hairwashing, etc. How do I shine it up again?