Smitty, he of Smitty’s Notes, has a video up on Youtube that shows Winston-Salem ain’t as dull as many people think. Wassup Smitty!
Wassup Smitty
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Disingenuous About Men
There’s an agency here in Winston-Salem called Frank About Women and they specialize in, yep, marketing to women. I’m thinking that when I launch my agency it should be called "Disingenuous About Men" because, well, isn’t it obvious? Here’s a couple of blurbs from the Frank About Women home page:
We are skilled at transforming cultural knowledge into gender-savvy marketing programs.
We are immersed in the beliefs, behaviors and evolving expectations of women.
I think my blurbs would read:
We know what men want, but then who doesn’t?
We have stock photos of lots of nubile women. What do you want us to put them on?
I’m gonna be rich!
And Here I Am Wasting My Time on Shells
Who doesn’t enjoy a nice stroll on the beach, enjoying the breeze, listening to the sound of the surf and perhaps finding some cute little shells? That’s pretty much what you do on a beach right? Not in Bluefields, Nicaragua. There you walk the beach in search of snow:
Bluefields is a creation of the gods of geography. Located halfway
between the cocaine labs of Colombia and the 300 million noses of the
United States, Bluefields is ground zero for cocaine transportation.
Nicaraguan waters are near Colombian territorial limits, making the
area extremely popular with cocaine smugglers using very small, very
fast fishing boats…When the Americans get close, the traffickers toss the cocaine
overboard, both to eliminate evidence and lighten their load in an
escape attempt."They throw most of it off," says a Lt Commander
in the US Coastguard. "I have been on four interdictions and we have
confiscated about 6000 pounds [2720kg] of cocaine, and I’d say equal
that much was dumped into the ocean."Those bales of cocaine
float, and the currents bring them west right into the chain of
islands, beaches and cays which make up the huge lagoons that surround
Bluefields on Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast."There are no jobs here, unemployment is 85 per cent," says Moises Arana, who was mayor of Bluefields from 2001 to 2005.
Only in (Central) America.
Found via Boing Boing.
Knight Topline Services…Hey, I Know Her!
Reading the Winston-Salem Journal’s business section this morning I came across this article about Knight Topline Services which included these paragraphs:
The Winston-Salem
heating and air-conditioning company’s bright-orange trucks and vans,
for example, were painted that way to stick out among all the white
heating and cooling vehicles owned by its competitors in the market.Stacey Musco, the
company’s vice president of marketing and promotions, came up with the
idea to add knights on horses emerging in black and white on the
vehicles, along with the company slogan: “Let our knights slay your
energy dragons!”
Stacey (Motsinger) Musco is my cousin and this is one more piece of evidence in support of my claim to the title as the family’s biggest slacker.
links for 2008-02-13
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Interesting post about the coming need we will each have for a “digital curator”. “Much the same, the digital realm too needs curators. Information overload makes it difficult to separate junk from art. It requires a certain finesse and expertise – a fin
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Seth Godin writes about the implications of Google Forms. Good stuff.
Where do you live?
Google Docs now allows you to set up forms that automatically save results in a Google Docs spreadsheet. In other words you can brew your own surveys now with an interface that’s incredibly easy to use. I’ve decided to test it out by asking you to participate in a one question survey. The question: Where do you live?
Thanks for your help. I’ll share the results in a future post.
links for 2008-02-12
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Local news isn’t about geo-tagging.
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From the post: Around two-thirds of taxpayers take only the standard deduction and do not itemize. Frequently, all of their income is solely from wages from one employer and interest income from one bank…The Simple Return would have the IRS take the inf
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Ceramic smoker. Might be the answer to my woes; I simply don’t have the patience for a traditional charcoal contraption.
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Network economy explained by Kevin Kelly. Very interesting look at how to deal with an economy based on freely available info.
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Independent news site in Watertown NY that is apparently kicking the you-know-what out of the local paper.
Foxxy Moves in Congress
On January 29 Rep. Foxx, NC-5, introduced the Federal Tax Withholding Act of 2008, otherwise known as "H.R. 5175 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the withholding of income and social security taxes." Hmmm, and interesting proposal from my Representative. As a small business person I’m thinking "su-weet", but what does this mean? Since I haven’t seen diddly squat about it in the local press I’m going to check ye old webosphere. Basically I found a short item on Wilkes News and this letter from National Taxpayers Union and that’s about it. There are two reasons that pop to mind why this hasn’t garnered a great deal of interest in these parts:
- It’s very new legislation.
- It doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of getting out of the Ways & Means Committee.
This got me wondering what else my Representative has been up to. Here’s the most recent bills she’s sponsored:
- H.Res.929
Commending the Appalachian State University Mountaineers for winning
the 2007 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football
Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) title. - H.Res.769 Congratulating the government and people of Turkey as they celebrate Republic Day, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 248: Robo Calls Off Phones (Robo COP) Act To direct the Federal Trade Commission to revise the regulations
regarding the Do-not-call registry to prohibit politically-oriented
recorded message telephone calls to telephone numbers listed on that
registry.
Below is a sampling of her most recent voting activity (January 08) and doesn’t include things like resolutions to congratulate LSU on their national championship in football. BTW, according to GovTrack Rep. Foxx has only missed 8 of 2,440 votes since she’s been in Congress. You may not agree with her politics, and believe me I often don’t, she’s showing up to do her job. Kudos to her for that. Also, according to the GovTrack Ideometer, which is that image you see to the left, she’s about as far right as you can get on the political spectrum:
- Voted ‘Aye’ on H.R.5140 Recovery Rebates and Economic Stimulus for the American People Act of 2008 On Agreeing to the Senate Amendment: H R 5140 Recovery Rebates and
Economic Stimulus for the American People Act of 2008 - Voted ‘Nay’ on H.R.4137 College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 On Passage: H R 4137 To amend and extend the Higher Education Act of 1965, and for other purposes
- Voted ‘Nay’ on H.R.4848 To extend for one year parity in the application of certain limits to mental health benefits, and for other purposes. On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended: H R 4848 To extend
for one year parity in the application of certain limits to mental
health benefits, and for other purposes. - Voted ‘Nay’ on H.R.3963 SCHIP Extension bill Passage, Objections of the President Not Withstanding: H R 3963
Children’s Health Insurance Program Extension and Improvement - Voted ‘Nay’ on H.R.3524 HOPE VI Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2007 On Passage: H R 3524 HOPE VI Improvement and Reauthorization Act
- Voted ‘Aye’ on H.R.4986 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass: H R 4986 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008
- Voted ‘Nay’ on H.R.2768 Supplemental Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2007 On Passage: H R 2768 S-MINER Act
- Voted ‘Aye’ on H.Res.921 Military Reservist and Veteran Small Business Reauthorization and Opportunity Act of 2008 On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree: H RES 921 Providing for the
concurrence by the House in the Senate amendment to H.R. 4253, with an
amendment - Voted ‘Nay’ on H.Res.918
Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 2768) to establish
improved mandatory standards to protect miners during emergencies, and
for other purposes. On Ordering the Previous Question: H RES
918 Providing for consideration of H.R. 2768, to establish improved
mandatory standards to protect miners during emergencies, and for other
purposes
Yep, I’ve gotta say that I’m not going to often agree with my Representative, but I am glad to see she has one of the best records on the Hill for actually showing up to work. Obviously since Rep. Foxx has been elected twice to Congress since I’ve lived here I’m in the minority in terms of political leanings so until that changes I’m going to have to take what I can get, and if that’s someone who I disagree with but fulfills her commitment to her constituents then so be it.
That said come November I’m voting for a fellow named Roy Carter. He may be a Democrat but he’s closer to that area on the Ideometer that I reside that’s part blue and part red.
Simply Yummy Coffee with Esbee
Celeste and I had coffee with Esbee this morning at SimplYummy off of Reynolda. Celeste found Esbee as beguiling as I did and we managed not to get kicked out of the joint, what with all our fun had at the expense of various institutions-that-shall-remain-anonymous. Made for a great morning.
links for 2008-02-08
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Dick Cheney – Scarface mashup. Funny but NSFW or kids.
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Oh crap. Dana’s another one of the smart people I read who’s bearish about our immediate economic future. Packing the mattress I am.
Befuddled 