(found via multiple blogs pointing out Obama asking for a PBR on a campaign visit which then said the bar was populated by "hipster douchebags" which then linked to this article)
NYT - The Marketing of No Marketing
Although I have been a fan of PBR I'll stop drinking it now as I thought I was keeping water in the Great Lakes basin by drinking it.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Are You A Good Wife?
I gave Megan a pre-dating quiz that she barely passed but this is a real gem via BoingBoing- 1939 Marital Rating Scale For Wives
Jeffrey Goldberg Interviews Barack Obama
What impresses me about Obama is he consistently displays a level of thoughtfulness, understanding, and nuance that the other presidential candidates do not.
TheAtlantic - Obama on Zionism and Hamas
TheAtlantic - Obama on Zionism and Hamas
JG: Go to the kishke question, the gut question: the idea that if Jews know that you love them, then you can say whatever you want about Israel, but if we don’t know you –- Jim Baker, Zbigniew Brzezinski –- then everything is suspect. There seems to be in some quarters, in Florida and other places, a sense that you don’t feel Jewish worry the way a senator from New York would feel it.
BO: I find that really interesting. I think the idea of Israel and the reality of Israel is one that I find important to me personally. Because it speaks to my history of being uprooted, it speaks to the African-American story of exodus, it describes the history of overcoming great odds and a courage and a commitment to carving out a democracy and prosperity in the midst of hardscrabble land. One of the things I loved about Israel when I went there is that the land itself is a metaphor for rebirth, for what’s been accomplished. What I also love about Israel is the fact that people argue about these issues, and that they’re asking themselves moral questions.
Sometimes I’m attacked in the press for maybe being too deliberative. My staff teases me sometimes about anguishing over moral questions. I think I learned that partly from Jewish thought, that your actions have consequences and that they matter and that we have moral imperatives. The point is, if you look at my writings and my history, my commitment to Israel and the Jewish people is more than skin-deep and it’s more than political expediency. When it comes to the gut issue, I have such ardent defenders among my Jewish friends in Chicago. I don’t think people have noticed how fiercely they defend me, and how central they are to my success, because they’ve interacted with me long enough to know that I've got it in my gut. During the Wright episode, they didn’t flinch for a minute, because they know me and trust me, and they’ve seen me operate in difficult political situations.
The other irony in this whole process is that in my early political life in Chicago, one of the raps against me in the black community is that I was too close to the Jews. When I ran against Bobby Rush [for Congress], the perception was that I was Hyde Park, I’m University of Chicago, I’ve got all these Jewish friends. When I started organizing, the two fellow organizers in Chicago were Jews, and I was attacked for associating with them. So I’ve been in the foxhole with my Jewish friends, so when I find on the national level my commitment being questioned, it’s curious.
Biofuel Comparison Table
Here's a table that's been making it around the blogosphere...
Source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20080503/biofuels_compare.gif
Source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20080503/biofuels_compare.gif
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Well Said
Via Scott Rosenberg in his post What deep pockets say:
When the history of this strange and soon-to-be-concluded Democratic primary season is written, let it be noted that the candidate whose income was modest (in political-class terms) until his books became bestsellers was somehow framed as the representative of the elite — while the one who was able to dip into her own personal coffers to fund her campaign to the tune of $6 million succeeded, with a little help from the media, in casting herself as a woman of the people.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Subaru's New Marketing
NYT - Trying to Connect in a Crowd
Dear Subaru, I believe you can tell the livability of a city by the number of Subaru vehicles per capita. I call it the Subaru Index. And it is why you see more Subarus in Traverse City, Portland, Pinedlae, WY, and Vermont. This essence is all you need to capture; even if it means remaining a niche product.
To keep people like me a customer just bring your boxer diesel engine to North America; and keep making safe, ergonomic (meaning square lines, no more of this low, curved hatch glass crap), versatile, and reliable cars. The sales will then take care of themselves. See Apple for how this is down with a so-called niche offering.
Dear Subaru, I believe you can tell the livability of a city by the number of Subaru vehicles per capita. I call it the Subaru Index. And it is why you see more Subarus in Traverse City, Portland, Pinedlae, WY, and Vermont. This essence is all you need to capture; even if it means remaining a niche product.
To keep people like me a customer just bring your boxer diesel engine to North America; and keep making safe, ergonomic (meaning square lines, no more of this low, curved hatch glass crap), versatile, and reliable cars. The sales will then take care of themselves. See Apple for how this is down with a so-called niche offering.
Finally
Via the Cato blog - Atlas Shrugged . . . the Movie . . . at Last?
...confirmed that Angelina Jolie will star as Dagny Taggart.
A Website That Creates Packing Checklists
I love lists. ScoutLists is a simple little web site that will build a packing list for your chosen activity and weather. It is a good starting point although like most camping lists it misses the one item I think is forgotten and under-rated more than any other - a packable nylon hammock.
Take a hammock with you and you can use it for sleeping, trapping fish in a stream, trapping birds in a flyway, trapping rabbits on a trail, a rescue sling, or most importantly, even an emergency badminton net.
Take a hammock with you and you can use it for sleeping, trapping fish in a stream, trapping birds in a flyway, trapping rabbits on a trail, a rescue sling, or most importantly, even an emergency badminton net.
Senator Clinton Compares Outsourcing To The Holocaust
David Brooks in the NYT - The Cognitive Age
This could be part of the reason why she lost North Caroline so badly as parts of that state have a thriving economy thanks to globalization.
Hillary Clinton summarized the narrative this week: “They came for the steel companies and nobody said anything. They came for the auto companies and nobody said anything. They came for the office companies, people who did white-collar service jobs, and no one said anything. And they came for the professional jobs that could be outsourced, and nobody said anything.”
This could be part of the reason why she lost North Caroline so badly as parts of that state have a thriving economy thanks to globalization.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Printable Topographic Maps
I have always had a big crush on topographic maps. Finally they've been made available via Google Maps and can be printed out for free.
Thank you Digital Map Store.
Thank you Digital Map Store.
A Tuna Without Species Guilt?
Via SeriousEats - Kona Kampachi: The Wonder Fish
Unlike most fish farms, the Kona Kampachi are bred "offshore"—in deeper waters, farther away from land—limiting their exposure to pollution to decrease the potential of contracting disease or contamination. Since they're not genetically modified, any fish that escape also won't impact the native population.
Man's Best Friend In Life And Death
NatGeo - Buried Dogs Were Divine "Escorts" for Ancient Americans
I can completely understand a death ritual for a dog. Atlas has told me where he wants to be buried.
"I'm suggesting that the dogs in the New World in the Southwest were used to escort people into the next world, and sometimes they were used in certain rituals in place of people,"
I can completely understand a death ritual for a dog. Atlas has told me where he wants to be buried.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Seeing Clearly
Eyesight meme in this week's news:
MSNBC - Panel calls for clearer Lasik warnings
IHT - Drop in Lasik eye surgery appears to be a barometer for recession
Wired - Gene therapy experiments improve vision in nearly blind
MSNBC - Panel calls for clearer Lasik warnings
IHT - Drop in Lasik eye surgery appears to be a barometer for recession
Wired - Gene therapy experiments improve vision in nearly blind
Skipping Breakfast Also Makes More Girls
Via PhysOrg - You are what your mother eats: First evidence that mother's diet influences infant sex
“Potentially, males of most species can father more offspring than females, but this can be strongly influenced by the size or social status of the male, with poor quality males failing to breed at all. Females, on the other hand, reproduce more consistently. If a mother has plentiful resources then it can make sense to invest in producing a son because he is likely to produce more grandchildren than would a daughter. However, in leaner times having a daughter is a safer bet.”
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