COBOL, French Fries and Roger’s Sprite

“The computer is a moron.”  ~ Peter Drucker; Management Consultant.

“Cobol is Fun!”  That was the enthusiastic claim made the first evening by the instructor in the COBOL class that I was taking with my friend Scott at the College of San Mateo. I'm certain that Scott and I exchanged a derisive rolling of the eyes.  If COBOL was fun he was going to have to prove it.  A few weeks in and we knew that he was either a liar or just plain loony.  With his stout frame cloaked in a bright red blazer Scott and I immediately christened him Hank Stram after the coach of the Kansas City Chiefs football team who wore a similar red blazer while roaming the sidelines.  It seemed to us that there could only be two men in the entire world who would wear a scarlet blazer. One because it was his team's color and the other because he apparently had no fashion sense. 

Peddling Arrogance

During the recent Olympics Cadillac dusted off that worn out and musty Protestant work ethic to peddle their ELR.  In the process the car maker scored an impressive hat trick by also trafficking in xenophobia and firing some salvos in the ever escalating class war. The ad opens with a vaguely familiar actor standing in a well-manicured yard in front of a gorgeous pool asking nobody in particular, “Why do we work so hard?  For this?  For stuff?”  And then as he strolls towards his well-appointed, ultra-modern kitchen he takes up that great American pastime - Euro-bashing.  “Other countries; they work, they stroll home, they stop by the café.  They take August off – off.”  Then with a sneer he asks, “Why aren't you like that?  Why aren't we like that?”