What to say when you fall asleep in a meeting and wake up not knowing what's going on

"So where's the value add?"

That was the advice a friend gave Michael Kanellos of CNET News.com.

According to Dan Mitchell's "What's Online" column in the August 18, 2007 New York Times, it worked.

I like it.

I'm reminded of something Dr. Raymond Last, a superb lecturer in my first year gross anatomy class in med school, told us.

He said that if someone ever asked, regarding the body and its structures, how many of something there were, "Middle teens" was correct surprisingly often, and if spoken with sufficient authority was convincing enough to get by if the questioner wasn't absolutely certain otherwise.

He was right.

On a similar note, if someone asks, "What's the source of that quotation?", replying "The Bible or Shakespeare" will — at least in English — be correct about half the time.

Also proven under fire.

Now, don't you feel smarter?

I do.

But then, it's hard not to around here; there's so very little downside....