Perfect for your next retro gaming party – and just $US7.99 (joystick not included).
Month: March 2009
Band aid solution: Bacon
Make your gaping flesh wounds look edible and desirable for just $3.99.
Lost in Translation
The “Where the bloody hell are you?” campaign went down like a lead balloon. So tourism boffins in Spain will be a little worried after this little slip up. From the Spanish Prime Minister. When announcing a new campaign.
“”There is a big increase in the number of Spanish tourists heading to Russia, the number is at 500,000, we have therefore decided to sign an agreement to stimulate, to favour, to f—,” he said, pausing briefly before ending the sentence with “to support this tourism”.”
Apparently the Spanish words for “to support” sounds very similar to the alternative he used.
Urban Camouflage
With trees being cleared all over the place to create warehouse sized shops it’s getting tougher than ever to find the right camouflage.
This guy is an expert. There are a few different examples on his site.
The best book to read is…
I inadvertently deleted my link post from yesterday’s google reading – I reposted it, but it didn’t pull in everything I’d highlighted. Of particular interest was the account from a non-practicing Jew of his year of reading through the Bible (only the OT). He blogged the experience. And he’s written a book.
And engaged in an interesting discussion with some people here. It’s worth reading. Especially when he answers the following question/statement from an angry atheist:
“Washington, D.C.: Wow, I find your assertion that everyone should read the Bible as smacking of so much relativism, I can’t believe it. I have read the beginning of the Bible and I found it so silly and laughable that I stopped. I’d really rather the chatters and your readers get caught up on history, science, literature, etc. instead of a book of fables. Would you also push for the teaching of satanic texts? I’m so tired of people acting so high and mighty about their religious preferences. Write an article on the truly important texts that people have never read (Plato, Aristotle, Copernicus, da Vinci, etc.) and I’ll take you seriously.
David Plotz: This seems to me a peculiar criticism. You live in a society that is shaped in every possible way by the Bible. The language you use, the laws you obey (and disobey), the founding principles of your nation, the disputes about abortion, homosexuality, adultery—these and so much else in your world are rooted in the Bible. You don’t have to read it for its truth value. You should read it to understand how your world got the way it is, the way you would read the constitution or Shakespeare.”
Corporate honesty
I pushed pretty hard to change my title from the impressive sounding (but utterly meaningless) “Corporate Communications Executive” to “Spin Doctor”. I failed.
It would be nice for the corporate world to be more honest about the work it does at times – these folders would help. They’re $US8.49 – a worthy price to confess the total crapness of the nature of your current projects.
Found via Foolish Gadgets – who continue to live up to their name.
Likaholix
I’m enjoying playing with Likaholix, this new Web 2.0 platform that basically lets you list everything you like. It’s in early, early beta stage but is accepting signups I think. If it’s not I have 10 invites to give away. Try to be the first to claim your things. It’s a combination of bookmarks and listing music, movies and books you enjoy. In fact you can list any thing (that is noun – regardless of how abstract). Provided it has a website.
I guess that will bring kudos when the plaform takes off. Which it might – someone left Google to start it.
Why blog
Simone often says the link is the ultimate blog love language. And I like her blog. I especially like commenting specifically when she’s tried to be vague about a situation I’m familiar with. This particular post questions why people blog. I put my answer there.
It went something like this:
“I blog for a few reasons – to track and log my thoughts, because I think the internet is full of crazy things that need documenting, and because I want space for my rants.
Oh, and sometimes it’s because I think I actually have something useful to say – often that’s either about PR or coffee.
My blog has an incredibly broad scope though – sometimes I think I should narrow it and have different blogs for different topics.”
So commenters – why do you blog? And if you don’t why don’t you? Do you think my scope isn’t clearly defined enough? I do have 16 categories.
Election Scorecard: LNP’s Debt Attack ads
Debt should not be a campaign issue in a recession. The fact Queensland has a big debt is a problem – but the future Queensland Government needs to be building infrastructure to create jobs.
So campaigning on the fact that you’re not going to do anything to address rising unemployment is ridiculous.
This raises a question for me – what happens when a state can’t pay off its debt – it’s not like infrastructure assets can be repossessed. And you’d think with all these countries racking up trillions of dollars in debt it’s all a bit moot.
Anyway, the ad makes some good points about Labor’s pointless debt – borrowing without finishing jobs (Traveston Dam) and spending money on projects that don’t work (Desal plant in the south east).
Springborg has been shaping the debt narrative for some time. His favourite line is that we’re paying $10 million a day in interest as a state. As a campaign issue debt is a winner. But politically it shouldn’t be. Particularly in a recession.
It worked a treat in the Townsville City Council elections because for some reason people are comfortable with personal debt in order to invest in infrastructure (housing) but not government debt.
The ads also look nice. Black again. They get points because it will work, lose points for political content, and lose some points for style – it’s an attack ad.
Grade – B-
Election Scorecard: Craig Wallace’s Townsville ad
Labor MP for Thuringowa (and Minister for just about everything) Craig Wallace has a 17% margin. He’s in one of the safest seats in the state. He barely even needs to advertise.
So why jump the shark and be filmed holding a puppy?
His ad is positive though. It talks about “delivering” for North Queensland and highlights projects “he has delivered”.
Grade: B
Election Scorecard: Labor’s attack ads
The Labor Party is telling us we can’t trust Springborg because a couple of months ago he said the current economic climate was not like the Great Depression. That it was different.
The ad runs a bunch of clips from world leaders (Obama, Rudd, and Brown) telling us what a crisis this is, and comparing the situation with the Great Depression.
So, was Springborg wrong for saying it’s not? No.
Here’s the thing. A lot of the problems we’re currently facing are caused by a crisis of confidence. Obama’s address to congress last week was optimistic. Politicians should be talking up the economy. We all know what happened when Wayne Swan said the inflation genie was out of the bottle.
It’s perfectly reasonable for a politician to be optimistic, or positive. Particularly when they’re in opposition. That’s their job.
The other thing is – the representatives featured in the ad are all from the left – the same side as Labor. The fact that Springborg disagrees with these people should be expected – and possibly applauded.
Labor at a state level hasn’t really learned the power of a positive campaign – and the cost of a negative campaign – even after Obama’s victory, and Rudd’s, the electorate is sick of smear campaigns. We want to know what you offer – not what the other guys do.
The ads look nice though. Black is the new black for election advertising.
Grade: D+
Election Scorecard: Springborg’s radio address
Queensland politicians are on the hustings. The election is 17 days away. Media outlets are beaming at the economic stimulus provided by campaign ads. Except the ABC. They don’t get revenue – they do get content though. Each party gets the occassional spot where they can address the electorate.
Today was Springborg’s turn. I like Springborg. He seems like a typically laconic country bloke. I met him at a function last week. He shook my hand.
His address today was poor. It sounded like he was reading an essay. And it contained a couple of logical fallacies.
Particularly when talking about education. After going on about how Labor had borrowed money and lumped future generations with debt he proceeded to say:
“The LNP will spend money on schools. On reducing class sizes – giving your child the opportunity to be top of the class.”
This statement patently ignores that the only way some children are going to be top of the class is if it’s a class of one. And I’m not sure home schooling is an LNP policy.
Grade: C-
Awesome skillz
“You know, like nunchuku skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills… Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.”
Not since Napoleon Dynamite waxed lyrical about the virtues of the nunchuck have the ancient ninja weapon been so cool. Ok, I guess when Bruce Lee played ping pong with them they were cool too:
But butane lighter/flashlight combo cool? No way. These were so cool they’re now discontinued. Out of spiteful awesomeness.
Good Mark
Mark’s comment here is worth reading. It is pretty long. He hasn’t commented for a while. Welcome back to commenting Mark.
Actually, I’ve enjoyed a few of these environment discussions – thanks all of you for commenting.
I will post my next thoughts tomorrow.
March 4, 2009