BRAINSTORMING GETS
BANNED IN IRELAND!
But how about a nice, refreshing, "Thought Shower" instead?
The Observer reports officials in Belfast have added "brainstorming" to their list of banned words, for fear it will prove perjorative to people with epilepsy, brain tumors, or other mental maladies.
The only proper response?
A limerick, of course!
Suffering from insurmountable boredom,
The Irish go ban the word "Brainstormin'"
Flush with their new power
They stare at walls by the hour
With no ideas, their brains just go dormant
New Quantum Model
Says Impossible
to Alter Time Stream
Have these guys never watched an episode of Quantum Leap? And what about all those Back To The Future movies? Even Bill and Ted seem to have a more excellent grasp of how bogus it would be to mess with the time/space continuum.
I dunno -- I think these scientists ought to go back in time and revise their theories. Of course, If I'm wrong I can always travel to the past and tell myself not to write this post.
...or can I?
Lies, Damn Lies,
and Marketing Liars I've really enjoyed reading Seth Godin's new book "All Marketers Are Liars" and his take on the marketing lies that help build brands and sell products -- but what about the lies companies and industries tell themselves in order to 'duck and cover' (Talk about a lie! Duck-and-cover is going to save you from an atomic bomb?? Did anyone really believe this?) from serious competition and inevitable change? The current 'lie they tell themselves' that is driving me up the wall is terrestrial radio's self-deluding fantasy fable that satellite radio and podcasting is some passing fad that will not affect the way they program or do business. Their fal-back position seems to be -- 'people are saying radio is dead, but we'll be around for a long time.' Well, DUH. Of course you'll be 'around' the question is what sort of shape will you be in? AM radio survived FM, Hollywood's summer blockbusters have survived video and DVD -- but to what extent? You could buy an hour of time on some AM radio stations for the cost of a dinner out, and the biggest movie of the summer is being used to illustrate the dropping trend of movie attendance. Sure, AM radio is still alive, people still go to movies -- but the way they do business (and the money they make doing it) has changed forever. The sooner they stop lying to themselves, the sooner they can get to work on developing the new stories that will encourage consumers to buy-in to more modern 'marketing lies.' Want to help bring radio back from the dead?
I need your vote!
The Y-Files : Episode 1
As in, "Y" didn't I think of that...
Here's one of those smack-your-forehead-it-seems-so-obvious ideas.
From KonoPizza in Italy (naturally!) the pizza slice meets the ice cream cone -- and creates the latest fast food craze.
The cones are filled with your choice of pizza toppings and cooked for 3-minutes in a special oven. There are currently five restaurants in Italy, and the company is looking for franchisees.
How long before a microwave version of these make it to the freezer section of your local grocery store?
What if you apply the cone to other foods?
If it works for pizza-pies, why not banana cream pies? Subs and burgers? Omelets?
Pimping Prospects for Fun & Profit
I think Jigsaw.com sounds slimey.
Maybe I just don't "get it" -- Does anyone else think it's slimey?
I enjoy making personal introductions between those I feel may benefit from a networking relationship. I'm the first guy to help put bright people together so they can work on cool projects. That being said, don't you think Jigsaw.com's pratice of paying you to post your Rolodex contacts steps a bit over the line? I mean, you don't get to choose who you introduce. What if some swampland-selling-psychopath goes after a contact you sold?
Jigsaw isn't like LinkedIn, where the individual gets to post their OWN information and decide the level of outside contact they desire. This is someone selling your contact info, just like any other spammer or junk mail company.
Hey, if you're gonna do it -- why not go BIG?
The possibilities are endless -- here are few ideas for line extensions at Jigsaw.com:
1. Put your ACT archive up on eBay.
2. Create a vending machine that dispenses collected business cards like candy bars.
3. Sell database downloads from your Palm Pilot.
4. Auction the extension number of the guy down the hall from your office.
Not to mention all the possibilities for the social sector:
How about selling the phone number of that cute girl you met at the bar last night? Imagine the money you could make posting ALL your old girlfriends' phone numbers on eBay!
Jigsaw.com makes me reconsider an idea I had several years ago about protecting your identity, contact information, email address, etc. I think people should be granted trademark protection for their personal data, allowing them to press charges for infringement by any group that uses it without their permission.
If you trademarked your personal data (in theory) you could prosecute junk mailers, telephone solicitors, email spammers, etc. for using that information without your authorization. I have no idea if it would actually WORK or not, but it certainly sounded interesting at the time. Perhaps I should ask I.P attorney Stephen Nipper over at InventBlog.
Of course, there may be some benefit to selling valuable contact information to Jigsaw.com -- I hear if you reach a certain number of contact submissions you get your very own Jigsaw.com crushed velvet Pimp-Daddy hat in your choice of scarlet, purple, or leopard skin print.
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