Dotcom media invite regains e-relevance
Two years ago, a company only had to mention the word 'e-business' and the media would crawl over broken glass to be the first to get the story.
These days, public relations firms are having to sell their souls to get their clients even the briefest of column space.
'The chairman will be there to talk about the company's new e-initiatives and we expect him to announce something really important that we can't tell you about but we know you'll really want to write about it. Okay, there will be some free sandwiches and warm beer,' concedes the PR executive.
So Newell Public Relations must have thought it had hit the jackpot when it landed the account for Jebsen & Co - a Hong Kong-based private marketing and distribution company.
It's Monday morning and the brief arrives on your desk.
Jebsen wants to host a press conference along with Oracle Hong Kong to announce its ambitious business development programme, JET (Jebsen Enterprise Transformation), which will migrate Jebsen's information systems to a single consolidated infrastructure based on Oracle's E-Business Suite.
GROOOAAAANNNNN.
Fortunately, Jebsen is the sole agent/distributor for Renault, Pentax, Rollei cameras and Bollinger champagne.
Which is why Jebsen will discuss its new business development programme at the Porsche showroom in Causeway Bay over a champagne lunch.
And who says e-business has lost its sparkle?
Snakes arrive first: Two things are inevitable in Hong Kong with the approach of the hot summer months - typhoons and snakes.
Walks in the country parks or outlying islands will have everyone waving sticks and stamping their feet through the undergrowth to warn the legless ones that a face-to-fang meeting would not be appreciated.
However, some people have found that waving sticks and stamping feet is not always that effective.
Wildlife experts would have us believe that snakes are more frightened of us than we are of them.
Uhmmm, rubbish.
Jogging on Cheung Chau recently, our athlete glanced down to see a large brown snake slithering between his feet. Unperturbed, the snake was keeping pace and showed no sign of slowing.
Perturbed, our runner did the first thing that came to mind, he accelerated and didn't stop until he got home.
Another fresh-air aficionado was strolling around an outlying island when a (different) large brown snake fell out of a tree on to the path in front of him.
Our brave stroller also did the first thing that came to mind: he retraced his steps back down the path and waded around the headland to meet the rest of his party.
Another snake story that reached our ears concerned a man out walking in India.
A snake made to strike at the man's leg but missed and got its fangs caught in the leg of his trousers.
The man ran around in circles dragging the poor snake behind him until locals were able to beat it off with a stick.
A case of near fatal attraction.
From bail to jail: An old expression reads: When in a hole, stop digging.
A man in Pennsylvania, in the United States wanted to stay out of jail, so he robbed a bank.
Donald Guthrie had been charged with robbing a coin-operated laundry and released on US$9,000 bail, according to this month's Hong Kong Lawyer journal.
However, he found he didn't have the funds to cover a post-dated cheque made out to his bondsman so he robbed a bank.
Guthrie is now being held in lieu of US$100,000 bail.
Word of the Day: Isoseismal: adj - having equal strength of an earthquake shock.
Readers should try to use this next time they return from a walk in the country.
Reader: I fell over a snake today.
Friend: That must have given you a shock?
Reader: Isoseismal.
Graphic: whee10gbz
