Wealthy New York Family Begs for 1 Million Dollars: must maintain lifestyle and times are hard. Incredible story and incredible nerve. Pauvres bourgeois!
By the way, there are people far less fortunate than us. There are over a dozen causes in Montreal that need your REAL support:
http://www.danslarue.com/
http://www.oldbrewerymission.ca/
http://www.fondationdesmaladiesmentales.org/
http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=000005&tid=003
2.Pecha kucha
Unfortunately I was not able to attend the last event in Montreal last Wednesday but I have to say the format of these presentations is brilliant.
To quote Wikipedia:
Pecha Kucha or Pecha Kucha Night is a presentation format in which (mostly creative) work can be easily and informally shown. It was originally devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein-Dytham Architecture (KDa) in Tokyo in 2003 as a place for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. The format has spread virally to many cities across the world. The name derives from a Japanese term for the sound of conversation ("chit-chat"). The idea behind Pecha Kucha is to keep presentations concise, the interest level up and to have many presenters sharing their ideas within the course of one night. Therefore the 20x20 Pecha Kucha format was created: each presenter is allowed a slideshow of 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each. This results in a total presentation time of 6 minutes 40 seconds on a stage before the next presenter is up.
I have to say that I tried the format once and overshot by 30 mins. Ouch. Practice practice practice. But yeah, everyone was asking questions so it wasn't really fair.3.Xmas shopping
If Clotaire Rapaille says that going shopping is our cultural equivalent of connecting back with our world, I have to say that the mall madness I witnessed today is the cultural equivalent of a rugby game. Such a sea of people "connecting" with xmas gift guilt I have the pleasure of witnessing only once a year. Thank god. I don't think I have the stomach nor the patience behind the wheel to go for another round. People : go shop online, better yet, don't spend all that money and spend some real time with someone you havent spoken to in a while.
4.15% commision on paid search ads
Good post on Yannick Manuri's Blog. The age old topic that some people are out there to screw you. What do you really expect? This is an industry of people selling stuff to people selling stuff to people. Markups, albeit obscene are part of the DNA of the fauna. 25% comm on ad buys is obscene. There is no way to rationalize anymore on paid search.
5.The Hon. Denis Coderre, P.C., M.P. on FB (Facebook)
I must say that marketers dont have the stronghold on Facebook marketing anyore. Enter the political players! None other than Liberal Superstar Denis Coderre in the FB universe!
6.Jackson 5 makes another blip on the Search radar
See Google trends activity
The actual search phrase "Jackson 5" is 75th out of the top 100 search queries for December 8th 2007. Just thought you'd like to know.
7.MBA's
Is it really worth it? I ran accros this article on a MBA competition.
Is it just another way of writing on a piece of paper: I AM BETTER THAN YOU ACCORDING TO THIS SCHOOL? Then again, I might be wrong. I have met people with amazing minds with the notorious MBA suffixes (poor form if you ask me). But I would argue that they were just as brilliant before entering the sausage grinder. Cause and effect still tbd.
8.Great quote by founder of Patagonia
I'VE BEEN A BUSINESSMAN for almost 50 years. It's as difficult for me to say those words as it is for someone to admit to being an alcoholic or a lawyer.I've never respected the profession. It's business that has to take the majority of the blame for being the enemy of nature, for destroying native cultures, for taking from the poor and giving to the rich, and for poisoning the earth with the effluent from its factories. Yet business can produce food, cure disease, control population, employ people, and generally enrich our lives. And it can do these good things and make a profit without losing its soul.
9.Leekspin.com
Why?Because it's there.
Read all about it on Wikipedia.
10.Darwin award of the day:
Yahoo-Adobe partnership to put contextual ads in PDF documents.
Yawn, come on guys. Seriously....
