Sunday, April 29, 2007

Sued By Scotts - Worm Poop is more valuable than Gold

 This company is trying to turn an unfortunate legal problem into free PR for its environmentally-friendly products.  It's a David vs. Goliath battle, and unfortunately since they're based in the US it would probably be cheaper to just close up shop and move to China than to employ a bunch of lawyers to try and defend this one.

Scotts claims that the two companies' products look similar and will confuse customers because some TerraCycle plant foods have a green and yellow label with a circle and a picture of flowers and vegetables on it.

Source: Sued By Scotts

 

Although they say they haven't made a profit yet, they employ over 30 people and have annual sales of $1.5M.

[the] story is a reminder about following your dreams. The pot of gold may require dealing with a ton of crap." -- CBS Evening News

Friday, April 20, 2007

YTMND - NES of a Down

 

Link to YTMND - NES of a Down

Evening out the playing field - 25 years murder-free in 'Gun Town USA'


 I think that mandating that everyone in town own a gun is ridiculous, but according to this article it worked for this town.

As the nation debates whether more guns or fewer can prevent tragedies like the Virginia Tech Massacre, a notable anniversary passed last month in a Georgia town that witnessed a dramatic plunge in crime and violence after mandating residents to own firearms.

Source: WorldNetDaily: 25 years murder-free in 'Gun Town USA'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennesaw,_Georgia

Monday, April 16, 2007

Dave Gorman - Googlewhack Adventure

The funniest stand-up I have seen in a long time.  Read the book first. 

Googlewhack Adventure - The stage show

At the age of 31 I decided to give up my stupid ways, grow a beard and write a novel. I failed to do two of those things. I did however grow a beard.

Source: Dave Gorman - Googlewhack Adventure

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Student punished for spaghetti beliefs | Metro.co.uk - Arrr..

 

Bryan Killian says that he follows the Pastafarian religion, and that as a crucial part of his faith, he must wear 'full pirate regalia' as prescribed in the holy texts of Pastafarianism.

Source: Student punished for spaghetti beliefs | Metro.co.uk

"Most Valuable Marketing Blogs 2007

Here's a list of the 32 most valuable blogs in the advertising world according to Joseph Jaffe's readers:

  1. Logic + Emotion - http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/
  2. Russel Davies - http://russelldavies.typepad.com/
  3. “Why Business People Speak Like Idiots” - http://www.fightthebull.com/blog/
  4. “Eggs, Bacon, Chips & Beans” - http://russelldavies.typepad.com/eggbaconchipsandbeans/
  5. Seth Godin - http://sethgodin.typepad.com/
  6. Jaffe Juice - http://feeds.feedburner.com/jaffejuice
  7. Cool Hunting – http://www.coolhunting.com/
  8. NussbaumOnDesign - ???
  9. Beyond Madison Avenue - http://www.beyondmadisonavenue.com/
  10. Wired – http://blog.wired.com/
  11. Adverlab – http://adverlab.blogspot.com/
  12. BrandAutopsy - http://brandautopsy.typepad.com/
  13. Gaping Void - http://www.gapingvoid.com/
  14. Hello_World - http://missinglink.typepad.com/hello_world/
  15. Mark Cuban - http://www.blogmaverick.com/
  16. SpringWise - http://www.springwise.com/
  17. PSFK - http://www.psfk.com
  18. Adliterate by Richard Huntington - http://www.adliterate.com/
  19. http://servantofchaos.typepad.com/
  20. http://conversationagent.typepad.com/
  21. http://blog.creativethink.com/
  22. http://www.scottweisbrod.com/index.php/
  23. http://www.micropersuasion.com
  24. http://www.toprankblog.com
  25. http://www.pronetadvertising.com
  26. Where’s The Sausage - http://wheresthesausage.typepad.com/
  27. Branding Strategy Insider - http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/
  28. http://www.ck-blog.com/
  29. http://powrightbetweentheeyes.typepad.com/
  30. Church of the Consumer - http://www.churchofthecustomer.com/blog/
  31. Modern Life is Rubbish - http://www.modernlifeisrubbish.co.uk/
  32. radical Trust - http://www.radicaltrust.ca

27 Marbles Training - Creativity Explained

A friend of mine asked me to publish a link announcing her new business venture. Here you go Leslie...

27 Marbles Training is the insider’s go-to training company for highly effective workshops that deliver a-ha moments to advertising, marketing and related creative industry professionals – and ultimately provide your organization with a true competitive edge.

I'm sure it will be as successful as she is, and I am glad she is teaching others her craft. Leslie is one of the most creative people I know, and has done some really wild things... how many people can say they hosted a television show, was a director at a successful advertising agency, travelled the world, and sang in a movie or two...


Here's a sample course outline from a recent class.

Her business partner, Joan McArthur, helped to pitch (and win) Oglivy's advertising campaign for Microsoft, presenting directly to Bill Gates. Here is

an interesting bio on her... And some comments from another blogger who spent some time with Gates on March 6, 2007 talking about the future of creativity in advertising.

Given a long enough timeframe … all mass ads will be targeted to individuals.
-- Bill Gates, March 6, 2007.

I wonder if Bill means by using his Smart Watch.

Here's a link to the 27 Marbles web site, or contact her at info@27marbles.com to request some one-on-one...

http://www.27marbles.com/

I hope the two of them start a blog - I'm sure they have many interesting stories to tell.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

It's who you know, and who knows you

Wild article from May, 2007 issue of Fast Company on how Facebook originated and where it might be going.

Thefacebook.com, as it was originally called, launched on February 4, 2004. Within two weeks, half the Harvard student body had signed up. Before long, it was up to two-thirds. Zuckerberg's roommates, Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, joined in, helping to add features and run the site using a shared hosting service that cost $85 a month. Students from other colleges began approaching them, asking for online face books of their own. So the trio carved out new areas on the site for places like Stanford and Yale. By May, 30 schools were included, and banner- type ads for student events and college-oriented businesses had brought in a few thousand dollars.

Source: Hacker. Dropout. CEO. - Mark Zuckerberg - Facebook - Social Networking

 

When I was in school, I was the first person to setup a game on the school's network that many people could play at once.  I'm afraid it probably cost a lot of people their semester.  The game was called Doom.

Before this I had set up IRC (the first massive chat system) & MUDs (highly addictive multiuser dungeons, think text-based World of Warcraft) on the network.  It was amazing how quickly people found out about these things and how they spread, and how empty computer labs filled up at 3 in the morning with people chatting on IRC.

Ironically, one of the most popular global groups started on Facebook was Students against Facebook News Feed.

In less than 48 hours, 700,000 people had joined the protest, and the blogosphere declared it the end of Facebook. News crews camped outside the Facebook offices, as if a bald Britney Spears were being held captive inside.

Their news feed supposedly distributes more 'news' in 1 day then in the history of conventional media.

Facebooks biggest advertiser? Microsoft.

Esperance bird deaths caused by lead?

 More on the continuing investigation as to why the skies have become eerily quiet after over 4000 birds died in an area of Australia.

Mining and other industries are other sources of lead in the environment. While some of the largest sources of lead pollution – leaded gasoline and lead in paint – have been phased out, lead continues to be mined, processed and transported. Recently, accidental and undetected release of a lead compound during shipping has been suggested as the possible cause of an extensive die-off of wild birds in Esperance, Australia. Such incidents remind us that the fates of birds can be a mirror of human fortunes: lead that is killing birds may be poisoning people and other animals as well. We need to pay close attention.

Source: Lead Poisoning in Birds: How and Why Birds Die from Lead Poisoning

Monday, April 09, 2007

New York Auto Show: Roadster gets 600 HP from lithium - Autoblog

 

Watching a car burning off an inch or two of rear rubber in almost dead silence is eerily unnatural.

Source: New York Auto Show: Roadster gets 600 HP from lithium - Autoblog

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Wow. Martin swims the Amazon.

Martin’s health took a turn for the worse last evening as he struggled with dizziness, vertigo, blood pressure jumping off the charts, diarrhea, nausea, and delirium. Despite having difficulty standing and being ordered by the doctor not to swim, Martin is obsessed with making it to Belem, and insisted on night swimming.

Martin fended off disease, dehydration, whitewater, weather, pirates, piranhas, and lost contact with his crew at one point.

He made it to Belem after 5,268KM of swimming, breaking his own world record.

I will make a toast tonight for Martin, to the Piranha I brought back from Brazil.  That is, if my wife hasn't thrown out the disgusting-looking thing like she is always threatening to.

 

Here's Martin looking like he's a character in Pink Floyd's The Wall, or maybe the Invisible Man.


 

Sign Martin's guestbook.

http://guestbook.martinstrel.com/index.php?L=2

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Google Maps - Draw on it!

 

Google just launched a facility to draw and annotate on Google Maps.

Great for sending directions or tracking your vacation.

Link to Google Maps

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Petoria down under

Did you know that there is a country within Australia?  It's called the Hutt River Province, and it has a Prince, who is also a farmer.

Declaration of war.

Fine strategist, this patient and peaceful Prince, decided that he had enough of the pressures  and harassments from  the Administration and abruptly declared war to Australia.

The geographic situation of the Principality of Hutt River Province, distant of less than 70 km from Geralton's military base, was making the challenge hazardous.

A simple police action would have been enough to put an end to the extraordinary adventure of the CASLEY Family, and to some other families wich followed him.

Nevertheless, on December 2, 1977, the Principality declared very officially war to the powerful Australia. The Australian Authorities ignored magnificently what they took for a bragging.

On the other hand, the Press, more attentive and maybe more amused, once again marked its sympathy for the small Principality.

Some days later, Prince Leonard notified the Governor General of Australia on the cessation of "hostilities".

The Principality overcame the conflict with Australia, what was quite interesting on the legal point of view.

Indeed, international law stipulates that sovereignty is automatically acquired for a country which gets out of a conflict unhurt.

Source: History of  Hutt River Province

There's no new news since December, 2005.  Hopefully they made it through 2006 unscathed.

The territory is approximately the same size as Hong Kong, but with 13,000 people (worldwide) instead of 7 million.

After succession in 1970, a drama unfolded when Prince Regent took over most commercial operations.  Throughout the 80's and early 90's, stamps, coins, and knighthoods were issued by the Prince.  There was even an attempt to overthrow Prince Leonard and found a new kingdom on a Pacific Island. (tax haven, anyone?)

See the Wiki article for more info.  Anyone know how to get citizenship for this country?

The Australian government generally appears to avoid any legal challenge to the HRP. While HRP builds its own buildings (without any Australian government approval), offers company registrations, car licences, sells coinage, philately and even runs its own University, many of these activities would seemingly draw the ire of the Australian government on any Australian citizen. However the Australian government has so far not interfered with HRP sovereignty in these matters, and appears to avoid any legal stoush with the HRP

I wonder what emissions standards they have there?

Here's a link to some coins and stamps available from Hutt River.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Ask Pud: April Fools

Apparently Pud didn't sell his web site... or did he.

Many people were confused... if this were an April fools joke, how did we get Wired, Valleywag, and others to play along days before the joke? And with everyone saying FC and Techcrunch should belong together anyway, is it really that funny?
Anyway, odd timing, sort of a clusterfuck, but nobody got hurt. Except maybe all the people who
fell for it.

Source: Ask Pud: April Fools

Monday, April 02, 2007

Problogger - 30 steps to a good blog

 

The Problem: Who reads this stuff anyway?

The Solution: Make it readable.

Present a Problem, The Solution, and The Results: Don’t present a solution before the reader understands there is a problem. Present the problem, give us the solution, and then lead us through the results and the benefits of the results. When readers follow along with the process, they better understand how it works and why it works for themselves.

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2007/04/02/blogging-is-about-writing/