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  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Salesforce publishes self-themed activity book to keep your kids ‘Appy

(2020/04/03)


Salesforce has decided to offer some help to parents who are trying to balance working from home with keeping kids entertained.

The SaaS titan has given us all [1]At Home With Appy , a collection of puzzles, crosswords and even colouring-in pages, all featuring the colourful menagerie of characters it has developed for its “Trailhead” community. And especially “Appy” the bobcat who “leads the way to help you navigate the AppExchange ecosystem to solve your business challenge”.

“I wake up each morning to my seven-year-old’s footsteps, as he’s running around his room; impatiently waiting for me to rise. He’s excited for home school with Mrs. Mommy. And I, Mrs. Mommy, am appreciating these new-yet-challenging moments,” [2]wrote Salesforce social and content marketer Amanda L. Nelson.

“We are all working to embrace this new normal, and there are ways we can help each other,” Nelson added. “That’s why our team came together and worked on something fun. Here’s the AppExchange Activity book, At Home with Appy, including crossword puzzles, word searches, a page to color, and more. It’s something all ages can enjoy.”

Enjoy? Some crossword clues are quite fun, such as “Leonard McCoy’s nickname”. Your humble hack is less confident that the clue “Salesforce annual event” is appropriate or in any way amusing given [spoiler alert] the correct answer of “Dreamforce” is a decent chance of being cancelled. The find-a-word veers straight towards branding, with all terms being Salesforce-related. Kids probably won’t spot the Salesforce characters all over the colouring pages or the spot-the-difference puzzles, because the cartoon figures wouldn’t be out of place in an age-appropriate book.

The effort is of course very well-intentioned. But then so was Ronald McDonald. ®



[1] https://www.appexchangeguides.com/e/appexchange-activities-at-home-with-appy-5e844e5db6d5v

[2] https://medium.com/inside-the-salesforce-ecosystem/crossword-puzzles-word-search-coloring-and-more-games-to-play-at-home-from-appexchange-487599eaa5a

I like Find-A-Word...

Shadow Systems

I would find all the words they *didn't* intend. All the naughty ones, foul language, & ones that would make my teachers go pale in worry, bright red in embarrassment, or green in nausea.

"Mrs. Davies? What does (CENSORED) mean? I found it in the Find-A-Word homework you assigned, but I don't know what it means... What do you mean I've got Detention? What did I do? All I did was ask what (CENSORED) meant!"

*Cackle*

If the Tao is great, then the operating system is great. If the
operating system is great, then the compiler is great. If the compiler
is great, then the application is great. If the application is great, then
the user is pleased and there is harmony in the world.
The Tao gave birth to machine language. Machine language gave birth
to the assembler.
The assembler gave birth to the compiler. Now there are ten thousand
languages.
Each language has its purpose, however humble. Each language
expresses the Yin and Yang of software. Each language has its place within
the Tao.
But do not program in COBOL if you can avoid it.
-- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"