The National Geographic Society has an "interactive map of over 5,200 U.S. Civil War battlefields and historic
sites. Get detailed descriptions of 384 major battlefields, and view
the 25 sites most in danger of being lost."
See it here.
A while back when I was the director of marketing for a small publishing company I had a boss who liked to say, "All people are motivated by two things: fear and greed. To sell them something you either scare the s*** out of them or entice them with the keys to the kingdom." This caused me some momentary consternation as I was young and still had a dash of idealism, but time has proven him more right than wrong.
Of course my boss had taken too limited a view. Most people’s third primary motivation is sex, although some academics confuse this motivation with man’s need to reproduce. That, of course, is foolishness. Our motivation for sex must be much more complex than simple reproduction, for if it were not there would be no way to explain the birth of so many fundamentalists. However, I digress.
What caused me to think that my former boss was missing a third of the motivational trifecta, was this "Old Marketing vs. New Marketing" list from the blog "Creating Passionate Users":
Take a look at the item about half way down (you can click on the picture to see a larger version), the one that says "Old Way: Ads that imply you’ll get laid if you drink/use this product and New Way: Develop and support a socially-oriented online community and/or local user groups where people might get laid for real." Exactly.
There’s a reason why the oldest profession is so old, and that’s because it addresses all three of man’s most fundamental motivations. Desire for sex, fear of not having sex and an incessant and greedy quest for ever more sex. In fact the oldest profession addresses man’s motivations so well that it has survived for millenia on word-of-mouth alone. Ooh, bad pun…sorry.
Lest you think that I’m speaking only of men when I say "man’s" motivation, then I will remind you that one of the great cultural phenomena of the past several years was "Sex and the City" which was all about four women who were constantly having sex, were worried about having sex (or something related to sex like their sagging body parts), or wanting to have more sex (or sex partners).
What this means for us marketers is that we need to find a way to address all three core motivations. Some products like sandpaper don’t readily lend themselves to fear/greed/sex marketing hooks, but I’m certain that given enough time and creativity we could come up with some. It would probably have something to do with splinters.
Riverside is back and blogging with her two best posts yet. Both posts evolve from experiences she’s had while working at a bookstore, and both are about people she’s met. I particularly liked Violence Revealed, but Blink is a close second and both are more than worth the time.
Want to know how it’s going in Iraq? All you have to do is read the inspector general’s 114 page report here (PDF).
Via Blog on the Run.
It’s been a while since I’ve paid homage to the first blog I ever heard of, Fark.com. Here are my favorites of today’s Fark headlines:
Okay I found this piece via Blog on the Run. Basically the author claims that he found a piece of hardware that logs keystrokes on his brand new laptop (there are pictures of the item included in the piece). The hardware is set up so that it can keep a log of his keystrokes in a flash memory chip then send the log file to someone as soon as he connects to the internet, all without his knowledge.
So the guy contacts the police (installing this kind of hardware without the users knowledge is illegal) and they refer him to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS tells him to submit a FOIA request which it then denies, so the guy freaks. He infers that all new computers are being manufactured with the new hardware at the behest of the government, which is definitely a stretch. But who’s to say whether or not something like this is happening?
To be honest, what concerns me more is the amount of snooping the government could do with just some decent software. I mean there’s a reason they call some software "spyware" and if a scumbag spammer in Florida can infiltrate the average internet surfer’s computer so easily imagine what the NSA could do.
Oh my god, I’m becoming a conspiracy theorist!
America’s favorite crack-smoking mayor is back in the legal limelight. Marion Barry, former mayor and current city council member of Washington, D.C., has been charged with failure to file his income tax returns. It’s a misdemeanor charge that could bring 1 1/2 years in jail.
Conviction won’t mean Barry loses his job as a city council member since by law he would only lose it if he gets felony jail time. Even better, at the end of his current term in 2008 Barry will be qualify for pension benefits and a lifetime income. So that’s what happens when you help run a city into the ground for over 30 years. Sheesh.
Over at Dave Hoggard’s blog there’s an interesting post about disciplining students in public schools. Even more interesting is the discussion going on in his comments section.
Disciplining students is a sticky situation for teachers and administrators these days, and the lack of discipline in many students’ homes doesn’t help matters. But one comment to Dave’s post had the following statement that I think highlights another problem in schools:
Yes, discipline begins in the home, and there way too little of it
these days. And yes, the issue is complex. And I did not chime in to
advocate corporal punishment, though it sure worked in my 7th grade gym
class. But as former public school teacher for five years I can attest
that David�s basic point is spot on. The system is totally rigged
against the teachers, and as such there is almost no hope for
discipline, except in those classes that happen to have the exceptional
teachers who just plain inspire it. (Emphasis mine).
I agree with the writer that in many ways the system is rigged against teachers, but I also think it is rigged against students. How sad is it that only exceptional teachers inspire their students? Shouldn’t it be a core skill? And unfortunately the same students that cause problems for the teachers cause just as many problems for the other students, if not more. The "good" kids are being robbed of their teachers’ attention and of the opportunity to learn and be taught.
Celeste and I have been fortunate that our kids have not had any spectacularly bad teachers, but they have had some very average teachers that did little to inspire them. On the other hand they’ve also had the fortune of having a few very energetic and inspired teachers and in those classes they have blossomed in a way we could hardly imagine.
Oh and in case you’re wondering about our view towards school discipline, our kids would much rather not find out what would happen if we ever got a call from the principal. Let’s just say that they would have a far greater appreciation for the right to pursue life, liberty and happiness.
Since I have a job and don’t have time right now to do the research I’d like to, I had this fantasy today about stories I’d assign reporters at the Winston-Salem Journal if I was their editor. Here’s my short list:
I figure that could keep them busy for a while. I just wish I had the time to do it myself.
Need I say more?
