Nothing in Particular

Twitter Added to School Curriculum

From Derek's Blog - "Seems in the UK they’re taking the challenge of linking ICT to the curriculum very seriously, to the extent that their draft plans will require children to master Twitter and Wikipedia . . . Included in the proposal is the requirement for those leaving primary school to be familiar with blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter as sources of information and forms of communication."

It’s odd if only because kids are usually early adopters of technology. It’s like a school system declaring that there will be mandatory computer game classes. “Thank you for meeting with me, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. As Billy’s teacher, I’m worried that he is falling behind in ‘World of Warcraft’. For instance, yesterday during open kill time I caught him reading.”

Twitter Inverted

I think the problem with Twitter is its mundane question, "What are you doing?" It is the reason the hompage is filled with posts like "Eating tuna" and "Thinking of carpeting". It seems like it would be more interesting if it was based around the question "What aren't you doing?" Sure you still might get somewhat dulll answers like "Work" and "Practicing any kind of hygiene", but it seems you would also get a number of more creative answers like "Expressing myself through creamed corn" and "Putting a saddle on my neighbor."

AIG Bonuses

So how badly do you have to screw up at AIG before they don't give you a bonus? Vehicular manslaughter? Do they draw the line there? "Well, Peter, your work has destroyed the company and crippled the US economy. On top of that 17 women have restraining orders against you. Keep up the good work."

Madoff Court Appearance

From USA Today, at Bernard Madoff's court appearance, his lawyer "asked the judge to continue Madoff's $10 million bail and allow the disgraced money manager to remain under house arrest until sentencing."

He then stated that his client was technically a lender in trouble and thus entitled to a large bailout package from the government.

Newspaper Advertising: Stickers

Our local newspaper is having success selling sticker ads. These are colorful coupons or sale notices pasted to the front page. It sends the subtle message that the election of a new president is slightly less important than discounted tire rotation.

The stickers do grab your attention, though. It's just surprising that, despite the leaps in technology over the years, the most effective technique is the same as the one used to put brand names on bananas.

Small Print in Commercials

I saw a commercial on TV for a patch that helps you quit smoking. In the midst of the voice-over saying how effective it is, small text suddenly appeared at the bottom of the screen that said, "versus placebo". I thought that was great. In fact, I think all commercials should do something like that.

"Disneyland! The happiest place on Earth! (versus your local burn center)"

"Total cereal has more of the vitamins you need. (versus heroin)"

"Wal-Mart cares about you and your community. (versus some terrorist organizations)"

Skittles and Twitter

Skittles recently changed their website so that it is really just a floating icon that takes you to different social media sites. However, apparently the comments got a little out of hand on the Twitter page they send you to. According to the blog mooneythinks.com, "Spend 5 seconds on the Twitter page and you'll see a range of responses from 'props to skittles marketing' to things I don't want my kids to read there or on this blog."

It makes you wonder what the thought process was at that marketing meeting. "If only there was some way we could associate Skittles with obscene messages and people who regularly use the word 'sucks'."

Christian Bale in "Terminator Salvation"

From the blog FilmoFilia - "Set in post-apocalyptic 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators."

And by "Terminators" they mean "innocent stage hands who get in his line of sight." Watch as Bale unloads a steady stream of machine gun fire while yelling, "Die, union member!"

Scott Adams: Marriage and Economies

Scott Adams recently had a blog post where he ruminated about the correlation between marriage and entrepreneurship. "My hypothesis is that places where marriage happens early, by custom or religion, will also be the places with the slowest rate of development. In such places there might be fewer entrepreneurs and everyone would take fewer risks."

It is an interesting idea. What would be even more interesting is seeing how people try to turn this into a promotion tool. "Smith Design Associates is a company of cutting edge, risk takers. Our staff is filled with some of the most selfish, commitment-phobic sleaze balls you've ever met. In fact, if any one of our employees stays in a relationship for more than a year, we fire him immediately. Smith Design Associates: Where creative breakthroughs and divorce are always just around the corner."