Professional branding.

The Association for Computing Machinery (“ACM”) says this about themselves:

“ACM delivers resources that advance computing as a science and a profession. ACM provides the computing field’s premier Digital Library and serves its members and the computing profession with leading-edge publications, conferences, and career resources.”

If you check out their latest membership offer for students you’ll see that they offer a “FREE ACM Flip-Top Calculator (while supplies last)!”

Seriously? Did that actually sound like a good idea to anyone at the ACM? Is a lame calculator one of the leading-edge career resources they offer? Does that do anything but hurt ACM’s brand?

I had some other smart-alecky things to add here, but I think I’ll leave it at that.