Brian Gongol
(2006.01.25)
The Lawyer's Coloring Book
(2006.01.25)
Pew Study: College Students Read Better Than Their Parents, But 20% Can't Do Basic Math
(2006.01.25)
New TSA Guidelines from The Onion
Heartily endorsed: "Shoot to kill" orders for seat-kickers
(2006.01.25)
January 23, 2006 Carnival of the Capitalists
Some of the best: The hidden costs of meetings, the risk of war due to changing how oil is bought and sold, the false dichotomy between "bloggers" and everyone else, how today's taxes would stifle Ben Franklin despite his industrious nature, how to stagger credit reports to maximize the chances of catching errors and fraud, and how universities are becoming less productive just as the rest of the economy becomes more so.
(2006.01.25)
VW Bus Actually Gets Air
(2006.01.25)
WB, UPN Merging to Form CW Network
So instead of doing the smart thing and at least salvaging the brand equity of one of the networks (WB is probably the stronger one), they're going to nuke both and try to start all over. Have none of these people ever read a book on brand management before? Incidentally, cw.com is already taken by Cable and Wireless, thecw.com and cwtv.com are both owned by cybersquatters, and cwnetwork.com is owned by General Electric (parent company of NBC). By 2006, one would think these people would be smart enough to make sure they own the logical domain name before they announce the name of a network.
(2006.01.25)
What's Privacy Worth?
Good question: It can certainly be quantified, but the actual measurement is tricky. One sign Americans do value it as a good is that T-Mobile is fighting a group of companies that have been selling mobile-phone data. Doubtful T-Mobile really cares about their users' privacy from a philosophical standpoint; they fight abuses like this because their customers demand it.
(2006.01.25)
Disney Buys Pixar
What they risk forgetting is that great animation is an incomplete solution. What really matters is great storytelling, and Disney's done a generally lousy job (with some exceptions) of telling great stories in the last decade or so. Few people could name any great, enduring storylines to come out of Disney in the last two decades.