Instapaper

Instapaper.com is pretty cool if you're like me and always seem to stumble upon something intriguing when you have zero time to sit and explore it. It's extremely simple to create an account, and once you do, just add the bookmark and any time you find something you'd like to look at later, just click the button. It's the same idea as bookmarking itself, only it categorizes your read-later stuff so it's all in one place and doesn't get lost among your five thousand other relevant searches. Bookmark overload was, at one time, a huge problem of mine. I'm much better about it now, and Instapaper helps even more.

It's all about organization.

Uncrate

Okay, so I'm admittedly and unjustifiably addicted: Uncrate.com.

Thank you, Dave.

XM / Sirius - my extremely sarcastic opinion.

I've been reading for quite a while and I still don't understand the overwhelming hypothesis that XM Satellite Radio's recently approved (today) merger with Sirius will actually benefit existing and future customers. The Department of Justice says it "may" not hurt them; just about everyone else with the credentials to publish an article that Google can find is in the optimistic boat.
I do understand that there will most likely be more channels available, but what are the odds that this merger will create a monopoly that actually plays fair? Yup, slim to none. There are probably enough long-time customers out there who don't even know what a radio commercial sounds like anymore that will opt in to a higher rate for a few additional stations, allowing XM to slowly up the ante and eventually become the definition of a monopoly that the crumbling American economy needs.
Kudos to the Department of Justice. That 5 billion dollar price tag has good intentions written all over it.

where do you get your info?

The following facts were bullet-pointed on a 6am Denver local news broadcast today:

- The US dollar reached a record low

- Crude oil hit a record high

- More job cuts than any point in the past 5 years

- All-time high number of foreclosures

It should be said that I have no personal issues with the dissemination of relevant information, however, the process leaves me overwhelmingly curious: In the pursuit of knowledge, have we created a reality completely lacking in realism? Agenda-setting is very much a part of society, but what if we could remove this ‘x’ factor and get a look at the perception we create for ourselves? I can’t decide if these circumstances would be terrifying or blissful.

Features like the aforementioned fact list do inform us, but it would be interesting to know the extent to which they influence us, as well. Being hit with four consecutive screens, all featuring claims on the disastrous nature of our economy is not something I turn away from and thoughtlessly continue on with my day. Although the state of the American economy has little to no bearing on my own personal financial situation, it still leaves me with the feeling that I need to be saving more in my personal accounts. If I feel this way, then certainly there are others that were similarly affected. So, if Americans aren’t spending money, and therefore the economy is suffering, and we’re being warned about it in a way that makes us want to save more [that is, to spend even less], then the economy will continue in its downward spiral; when does it end?

In the summer of 2006 there was a ‘shark scare’ phenomenon that led to the closing of many beaches in the US as well as Australia. The scare was even made into a CBS movie, Spring Break: Shark Attack. The shark sightings were on the news more often than not. It was later noted that the origin of the season-long scare was a single shark attack, reported on a local news broadcast and picked-up nationally due to a lack of filler; this led to additional stories on “sightings” – not attacks – and ultimately to the closing of beaches and cancelation of vacations. The report later surfaced that the actual number of shark attacks in 2006 was down from previous years. How’s that for agenda-setting?

The influence of the news on our every day is inevitable; for this reason, I think I’ll take a shot at being mildly proactive and bring a magazine to the gym rather than stare at the 20 plasmas during popular newscast hours.

 

 

 

 

who are you?

If you ask a child what he or she “wants to be” when they grow up, what is the nature of the response you’re seeking? Most of us would find “firefighter” or “doctor” to be perfectly acceptable. Why?

Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, very accurately described in his aforementioned best seller this cultural dynamic: “...it reflects something I was long a part of: job descriptions as self descriptions.”

Why is society accepting of the fact that we implement at a very, very influential age that you as a person can be identified by means of a professional title? I can’t recall ever hearing a child respond, “a mother” or “a best friend” or even “a Christian” – most likely because one never did.

The saddest part of all is that, in America, professional success is overwhelmingly considered directly proportionate to level of income; transitively speaking, this means that a person is ultimately defined by a bank account balance. Some of the best people I know would easily slip through the cracks of this standard, and for that reason I wholly reject it.

On a side note, I'd pay to someday see a You Tube video of a Ferriss offspring, prompted by the question, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" respond with, "a drug dealer."

McDonald's celebrates the Leap Year [which is tomorrow]

There are few more effective ways to create a fan base for your product than actual sampling; this is assuming that said product is worthy of a fan base at all, and that you aren't inadvertently creating a gossip pool of disgust. McDonald's is capitalizing on the upcoming holiday [the leap year - anyone notice it's tomorrow?] and celebrating via free food giveaways. Although this isn't the fast food chain's first attempt at free food, I find the sample choice rather intriguing: the McSkillet Burrito.

Pic:McDonald's

I've admittedly never tried the burrito, and honestly have no desire to do so, but the sampling effort comes at a strange time -- who celebrates a Leap Year, and why not choose a Monday/Tuesday combo, when more people are still recovering from the weekend and are likely rushed for nourishment on the way to work? Additionally, the aforementioned burrito, I think, seems fairly on par with a new breakfast menu option offered at Wendy's: the Grande Burrito.
None of the articles I came across mentioned the timing of the McDonald's marketing effort in relation to its competition, but the similarly-priced items are both newer options [within a year], and the giveaway is a genius strategy to win loyalty in the breakfast category while the race is still intense [Wendy's only recently began serving breakfast].
Not only is the customer loyalty on the table, but McDonald's has made out of a giveaway a chance to be overwhelmingly profitable in the meantime. Darren Tristano, Executive VP of Technomic, noted that, since the event comes with a 'purchase of a medium or large drink' price tag [$1.33 if that drink is a coffee] and the food cost for the specific item is somewhere near $.75, the higher-margin nature of beverage profits can ultimately mean a largely profitable day, or two. So, to all the Starbucks drinkers: tomorrow choose McDonald's instead, and you'll take care of your morning caffeine fix as well as your caloric needs, all for $.50 less than your daily venti, by indulging in a greasy integration of high-fat foods and sub-par coffee.

perhaps i should become a better listener.

The other day I met a very average woman. She was kind and talkative, and other than the scar on her neck, I don't know that I would be able to accurately pick her out of a crowd of 20 people.
Obviously, you don't typically make note of someone like this until they surprise you, which is precisely my point: until I welcomed her conversation, I would never have imagined the fantastically tragic stories that this seemingly dull woman could vividly recall. It makes me wonder what else I could know if I only I took a little more time to listen.
In very few words, this petite, graceful woman, Ana (which was not her birth name), found herself in need of thyroid surgery at the age of 20. Having been born in Vietnam where she still lived at this point, she wasn't too shocked to hear that she would be going under the knife sans anesthesia and oxygen, due to the shortage in the hospital. Not only could she feel each cut, but her own mother was given the task of bracing her head against the table, warned that any sudden movement would risk severing a main artery. Once she was out of surgery, she shared a large hospital bed with 9 others, one of which was dying of cancer and whose daily treatment was the doctor coming in to attempt "pushing hard enough on it that it would break into pieces."
Ana clearly made it through surgery, but, when the nurse later violently ripped the gauze from inside her neck, which separated the internal and external stitches, she caused internal bleeding that led to near-suffocation and a need to re-open the wound, again without anesthesia, drain the blood from her lung, and repair the incision. The only reason Ana is alive to tell this story is because her brother searched her small village until he found the doctor, who then reluctantly came to her aid.
I feel like helping her to become a spokesperson for a medical malpractice insurance advocacy group: there are entirely too many people in this country who take for granted the efforts of doctors that have done their best to save lives and limbs. In their ignorance and hasty lawsuits, we surely lose some of the passion that drives the men and women whose desire to help has led them to practice medicine.