Tips on handshaking from an AOL article:

(Yes, I have aol, and I am lame. Deal. Things like this at least offer some lolz)

Things You Should Do

Be Friendly You should always be ready to initiate a handshake, demonstrating your eagerness to meet the person. Although etiquette rules once dictated that a man should wait for a woman to offer her hand, that's no longer the case.

Show Respect Make sure you're standing when you shake hello or goodbye. It shows respect for yourself and the other person.

Be Direct Look the other person in the eye. Don't allow the handshake to linger too long, but you can show an extra bit of sincerity by holding their hand a second longer after the last pump.

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Um... that second one kind of leaves me in the cold, doesn't it?

And one my mother added, particularly for the self-styled "charming" men out there:

Follow the other person's lead If someone offers her hand for a firm shake, do not turn it and kiss the back of her hand, instead. It's not romantic. It's condescending. A less gender-specific variation on the theme: if the person offers her/his hand for a firm shake, do not squeeze her or him in a bearhug, instead.

Basically, it all boils down to: The way a person offers their hand signals what her or his boundries are. The way you take that hand signals how well you respect those boundries. Period.

More Random!

Found this by following a trail from AOL's welcome page:

Companies That Vanished: Eastern Airlines

My father was a pilot for Eastern for 30 years (iirc; I think it was at least that). When he retired in 1987, he was the pilot with the single longest senority in all of Eastern's History. He got out just in time, because the company was being bought out by a single man whose sole mission was to break the union, and sell off the assets of the company for personal profit. If he'd stayed one more year, he would have lost his pension.

The blog post says the brand and logo may be revived as early as next year, but that won't bring the company back...

The comments following the post are the most interesting to read. Sure did bring back a lot of memories, both nice* and angry.

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Went to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicals) today, to register the van before my trip north for the Art Garden. Brought Dad's old compilation of Pogo along... Man, is that full of snarky Internets-worthy speach balloons.

The words in my last failed attempt were:

"It's the way of the world. I'm mere trying to be friendly, and I find myself in the mongst of a fight.

This morning, I read: "I points the finger-bone of Scorn at you!"

...

I'd say the humor in that strip is based at least as much on word-play as visuals, and more on word-play in general than actual punchlines to jokes. Father had introduced me to Pogo when I was a teen, and I remembered liking it, but I'd forgotten how much.

It was definitely the right book to bring to survive the soulless pit of government beaurocracy.

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You know, I've been wondering about this a lot, lately:

There has been a lot of talk about how food-based ethenol is contributing to the global spike in food prices. ... But how much does the cost of petroleum contribute to the cost of industrially-produced food (which relies heavily petroleum-based fertilizer)? How long will this trend of rising oil prices have to continue before it costs less to buy organic?

...I know it's already a lot less if you grow your own, but there are many people who don't have that option.

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I didn't want to cook, tonight. And I didn't want to order delivery... So my dinner was mozzerella cheese out of the bag, and salsa out of the jar. I may round it out with popcorn, later. ...I know. I'm tsking at myself

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*My dad had to fly a layover to Miami for my sixth birthday, so he arranged it so that my mom and I could come, too.... And we were invited to sit in the cockpit during the landing. That was cool. And even though we didn't get to go to any place special or touristy, we did get to play together in the dinky little playground at the motel by the airport. :-) Seesaw, FTW!!