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Is it ever appropriate to use profanities in an email?

It's hard to ever say never, especially when it comes to email. The advice committee decided 4-1 that while cussing online isn't necessarily a good thing, it can come in handy every once in awhile. Click here to read the final opinions.

If you need advice about something, and you, too, think many mainstream columnists don't understand today's world, email the Good Advice Committee. Surely we'll come up with something you can use to justify your position ... there's five of us!

GAC: Is it ever appropriate to use profanities in an email?

QUESTION

Is it ever appropriate to use profanities in an email?

LAEL: YES

It's okay by my standards to use profanities in email to people that you would normally say profantities when speaking. However, you should becareful not to tell grandma to kick @ss in tomorrow's bingo tournament ... As with all things email related, you should be careful what you write because you never know who is going to see it.

AMANDA: YES

Analyzing recreated events can be a good thing, even in JFK game

I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon and say the new video game JFK Reloaded is a disgrace. More importantly, a game like this could revolutionize our way of regarding historical events.

Amazingly, Hawaii and basketball do mix

I have returned. Oh yeah, you probably didn't even know I was gone. I took a little vacation to Hawaii for snorkeling and a basketball tournament. Although there were many high profile people there in the stands

More domain names coming your way

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has added .post and .travel to its list of allowable domain names. Businesses and groups apparently will have the right to apply for these domain names soon, it's not quite clear just when someone would expect to actually see them live on the web. For more information about the additions, read a recent USA Today story about it.

From the Archive

What's next ... Kentucky to ban the Internet?

People outside of Kentucky might think it's somewhat bizarre that government officials are now blocking state employees' Internet access to blogs that are critical of Governor Ernie Fletcher.

Unfortunately, it's not that crazy. I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner.

The current administration has made a name of cutting off as much negative opinion as possible, and since June 23, state workers cannot resolve the Bluegrass Report and other statewide blogs.

Winning, but before a true prize even existed

This year, 2024, marks the 42nd year (should be 43 years in a row since the tournament was canceled in 2020 due to COVID) that I have picked at least one NCAA men’s basketball bracket. I have copies of many of them, including the one from 1981, when I picked my Louisville Cardinals to win the championship. That was the year they lost their first game on a halfcourt shot. Some people might be deterred after that jarring experience, but not me! Then again, I was only 5 when it happened.

New feature: Good Advice Committee

Maybe starting a new feature with an acronym of GAC isn't the best idea, but that's all I have for now.

The Good Advice Committee will come to you on a regular basis, possibly weekly. A lot of it depends on whether or not the committee members are up to it, and it also assumes we have questions each week as well. The purpose of the GAC is to examine and determine sensible advice, which could be about technology, relationships, etc.

Signing (and free books!) on Friday in Elizabethtown

I will be at the Elizabethtown, Ky., Waldenbooks in Towne Mall 5-7 p.m. Aug. 4 to discuss and sign my latest book, The Developers. The humor-fiction novel mixes the insane and obscene with technology, romance and pop culture. But while the book's web development group tries to make its mark on the virtual world, it encounters pre-eminent issues that will soon be shaping the Internet of the future: Are individuals losing their remaining privacy due to the World Wide Web? Will online social interaction eventually replace in-person gatherings as a necessary means?

Zzzzzz ... uh? Yes, I'm at work!

Sitting in front of a computer all day (not to be confused with Otis Redding's "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay") isn't that glamorous. In fact, it's pretty easy to relax, lose focus on what you are typing slightly, hIT teh wrogn keys, and ... er, what was I saying?

Oh yes, the issue of people falling asleep at their cubes. Wouldn't it be nice to have nap time? At least in New Jersey, bosses aren't enamored with the notion of providing beds for employees.

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