Solar Powered Everything?
 |
| The Next Green AND Solar Building? |
Hubby Finds Ring In Landfill ... My Hero!
Let's recap:
- Woman hands husband $10K wedding ring to put in a jewellery box while she takes a shower.
- Husband subsequently throws away the $10K ring with an old razor he was discarding at the time of being asked to put up the $10K ring.
- Husband discovers mistake after all trash has been collected.
- Husband opts to tell wife the truth in lieu of securing a fake passport and moving to another country.
- Husband, at the behest of his grieving, sobbing, and 5-month pregnant wife goes to the landfill to set out on an impossible task of find the ring.
- Husband miraculously finds the ring amidst the waste and debris.
Now, I don't know how to assign brownie points here, and I can well imagine that losing the ring in the first place was a major deduction. Instead of opting for the obvious option ... cashing out a 401K and replacing it ... he went after it! As the husband stated:
"Nastiness you wouldn't believe, it was absolutely disgusting. It stunk beyond belief. The smell was God-awful. Everything unsanitary you could think of crossed my path at least a couple times. I took an extraordinarily long shower and toothbrushes were used"And, whether you believe that he actually did go into the landfill and find the proverbial "needle in a haystack" or indeed opted to sell a kidney to raise the money to replace it, that is worth something in my book! And, let's not forget the level of fault on the wife! I mean, what woman in her right mind would entrust a man with a $10K piece of hardware with absolutely ZERO technology associated with it? She might as well have given him a piece of coal. Ruling on the field ... off-setting penalties.
I don't know why this story struck me as touching ... funny ... odd. I guess it's the "moral" at the end of the story.
"Perseverance"Really? Perseverance? That's your answer? I can think of a heap of better story morals, such as:
- Any piece of jewellery with a value equal to or greater than $10K should be surgically attached to the body.
- Do not take off a $10K wedding ring, even for a shower ... or, simply, do not shower.
- Do not buy a $10K ring, and instead invest the money in long term mutual funds that will mature at an average rate of 8%, providing enough money to buy a $10K ring and a new car for your 10 year anniversary. Yes, this is why my wife hates discussing rings with me!
More Autos, Less Dealerships!
Conversely, the car industry has increasingly impressed me with their witty, fun and palatable campaigns. Of course, US commercials are more satirical and dry, while foreign commercials continue to be provocative and racy, but both continue to really spice it up. If only auto manufacturers turned out cars as well as they turn out advertisements!
Brand Channel Brand Bites is a great place to see good adverts, and one car commercial recently caught my eye and reminded me of this dichotomy. For your enjoyment, I thought I would include it below as well as two other campaigns I love! Have a great weekend!
Typical car dealership commercial:
Fiat's new commercial uses that time tested adage that ... "sex sells" (I only wish I knew what she was saying!):
The "Sienna Family" (Toyota) is a fun, FAMILY campaign that, well, really resonates with me these days:
I love the Focus Doug (Ford) campaign as well ... you just can't help but smile:
Music Google-ution!
Based on the breakdown in Venture Beat, here are some of the things you can look forward to with your Google Music account:
- New and Unique Artists: As opposed to iTunes, which is very selective with who they add to their library of music, Google intends to allow anyone with rights to their own music (which is anyone with a guitar and Garage Band) to sell their musical musings through the Android music market for a nominal fee ($25). This will not only give artists an opportunity to sell their music and earn a living, but it will expand the number of songs available for people like me who enjoy hearing new and innovative sounds! Of course, the downside is that every schmuck who believes they have talent (and I include myself in this group) will now be posting songs to Google Music. Ugh ... it's bad enough I have to listen to myself in the shower. There is, however, a potential solution to this (sigh of relief), which brings up point number two ...
- Music Googling: Obviously, with such an immense collection of music, it will be difficult to find the diamonds from the dingleberries. Google, however, will be able to link your preferences and those of your close friends through your interaction with Google+, allowing both you and those with similar tastes to share your music likes, purchases and listens. As well, the more you "G+" in and around the web, the more big brother, er I mean Google understands your preferences (I wonder how my G+ to David Hasselhoff will affect my preferences?). As well, a new feature will allow your Google+ network to listen to any new music you purchase, one time ... and you the same. That is pretty cool.
- Licensing: Google wasn't able to secure a license with Warner Brothers, but the platform on which Google is built will inevitably give Google Music listeners a means around this. As the service grows and the number of listeners swell, so will their leverage with the music companies. Regardless, I would expect Google to start Google Records sometime soon with the immense amount of new artists they will accumulate in their library. I also expect a great number of B-Side songs!
Google Music is not without it's limitations. Apparently, you can ONLY (emphasis here) download 20,000 music tunes. Wow, really? That's it? Only 69 straight days of music ... how can anyone survive on that? I am also told that iTunes allows 25,000 downloads, so hey, advantage ... iTunes? Regardless, as 4G goes to 5G and beyond, and broadband becomes more prominent around the country, I question whether we will ever need to download anything again? All of our music will be kept in the "cloud", so eventually we'll all just be listening to music on a hard drive in some far off land ... more than likely, on a Google Earth satellite.
Regardless, it all seems too much to choose from, so until all the dust settles, I'll just stick with my Pandora. I love you Pandora (*sigh*).
UPDATE: Hopefully, Google Music can avoid this:
UPDATE: Hopefully, Google Music can avoid this:
Occupy American Culture!
The original purpose of the movement was to give voice to the discontent among individuals of "main street" toward the negligent behavior of the few financial institutions responsible for leading our country into a catastrophic failure of our financial and economic framework, and the subsequent bailout of these few financial institutions with tax payer money, and the subsequent subsequent failure of these few bailed-out financial institutions to work toward repairing the financial and economic framework they were responsible for destroying. Indeed, this all sounds like a very worthy cause to speak up about. Hurrumph! Hurrumph!
But the message has been lost completely, although the irony of the fading significance has not.
Slowly, the movement became an indictment of not just a few financial institutions, but all of them. Then, it became an indictment of corporations, then of ALL businesses, large and small. As more and more "99%"'s joined the movement, the weight of the argument turned to income disparity and "fairness of the system". This new purpose seemed to gather steam, but unfortunately, instead of focusing the energy on the very few individuals and institutions responsible for the meltdown, it turned to a mob-mentality toward ALL corporations. Protesters began to focus their angst toward ALL businesses, disrupting businesses, small and large, in an effort to thwart "The Man", even if "The Man" is a small restaurant owner. Really??
I understand and I get it ... not all protesters $hit on the steps of small community banks or vandalized grocery stores, but this is no excuse in my mind. Just as a few financial institutions have given a bad name to so many others, the Occupy Wall Street purpose, and a valid one at that, has been soiled by the actions of a few ... and in this case, many more than just a few. When you consider they are closing down the ports in an effort to drive home their message, this says it's time to rethink that message.
The movement is losing support, and even after two months, it has yet to provide a path to a better America. It's time to stop harassing small businesses, the economic backbone of this country, and refocus this energy toward a cause that will help move this country forward. I, for one, would be an advocate of a "Retaking American Culture" movement! Do we really need shows that encourage us to work toward the "one big payoff", instead of instilling the hard-working values that this country was built on? Not everyone can win the lottery (cha-ching), find an original copy of the US Constitution at a garage sale (cha-ching), compete on American Idol (cha-ching), become a multimillion dollar basketball star (cha-ching cha-ching), marry a multimillion dollar basketball star (cha-ching), be injured on the job or slip in the parking lot of a big corporation (CHA-CHING!). Instead, we need to understand that if we work hard, even if that means more than 8 hours per day from time to time or doing things we don't exactly want to do, we can achieve the American dream. Of course, there is much, MUCH more that goes into success, but needless to say, this still remains the only country where the opportunity for hard working individuals is still the greatest. This is what our American Culture should be about ... not creating public sector jobs for cleaning $hit off stairs or re-landscaping parks-turned-to-camp-grounds. Let's get real ... and let's get to work!
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Colbert Super PAC - Stephen Colbert Occupies Occupy Wall Street Pt. 1 | ||||
| ||||