Wowsers...

This is building markets and promoting the free flow of money and services.


Task Rabbit

It’s a job service. You post a job, like “Bring popcicles and medicine to my sick friend” and a price you are willing to pay. Then someone (who has had a background check) does the job. It’s brilliant for both sides. You can make money being a “runner”. You can pay someone else to do something while you do something else. Anything that promotes the free flow of money between the ambitious and hardworking is a good thing in my book.



http://www.taskrabbit.com/



Thanks Drewby

For Rich...

After several years of selling rifles and ammunition at only one-third of its stores in the U.S., Walmart has decided to introduce the products back to store shelves in nearly half of its 3,600+ stores.

"We made a business decision to sell them in certain stores because we have realized the appeal was perhaps broader than we thought," a Walmart rep tells the Wall Street Journal. "But we are committed to doing it responsibly as possible, as always, in compliance with all applicable local, state and federal laws."

The Journal reports that most of the Walmarts where rifles are being reintroduced are in rural markets, some of these stores are in more urbanized areas like Spokane, WA, and Albuquerque.

The move comes as the nation's largest retailer attempts to recover from seven straight quarters of declining sales. Walmart has already announced that it is cutting back on the amount of floor space dedicated to electronics in an attempt to get back to selling products like hunting and fishing gear, low-cost clothing, and fabric.

MUST HAVE ! ! ! ! ! ! !

For Jessica...



ur long national nightmare is over. Dan McKeague, a sales manager from Minneapolis, received a personal phone call from Aflac CEO Dan Amos informing him that he had been chosen from a pool of over 12,500 hopefuls to replace the terminated Gilbert Gottfried.

Hhappy 74th birthday to George Takei...

Hahahahahahahaa...

Trump...

This morning I read a news item saying that some folks at NBC think Trump might be pretending to run for president to boost ratings. The story noted that ratings for his TV show are up 20% lately. I laughed out loud because sometimes I forget that at least half the country doesn't realize he's just screwing with the media.

The magnificent part of this whole thing is that he's putting no effort whatsoever into concealing his prank. That's what I love about the guy. He knows that no level of clownery in a field of clowns will single him out as the one clown that doesn't really mean it.

Take Trump's recent empathy with the birthers. That's the most brilliant part of his plan. It's a dead giveaway that he's just screwing with the media, and it has the added benefit of concentrating most of their attention on that one trivial issue. He doesn't even need to study up on the other issues. While Romney is writing position papers, Trump is golfing.

If you are not a student of practical jokes, you might not know they have a specific formula. A proper practical joke is more than a surprise or a lie. The magic part of the prank formula involves leaving enormous clues that are obvious to everyone but the target of the prank.

He's a graduate of the Wharton School, which means his intelligence is in the genius range. He's a world-renowned businessman with attention to details. He's also famous for a trademark form of self-parody that has boosted his brand for decades. There isn't the slightest chance that this man hasn't looked at the birther evidence. He knows the President of the United States is American. That's the hiding in plain sight part of this prank. It isn't the least bit credible that Trump thinks the birther issue is real.

Some of you are thinking he's gone too far with the joke. Or maybe he went too far when he said we should take Iraq's oil by force as payment for a war they didn't ask for. This is not a man who thinks he might someday debate serious politicians in a public forum. This is a man who is winking at the camera and daring you to see the obvious.

Normally I wouldn't call out a prankster while the prank is in play. But this is a special case because the people who think he's serious have made up their minds. In order for them to accept that this is a prank, they'd have to accept that they can't tell the difference between a real candidate and one who is yanking their chains. Brains are not wired for that sort of 180 turn. In the history of humankind, no one has ever said, "I thought I was a brilliant observer of politics but this new information proves that my brain is the size of a tiny mouse turd." Trump's prank literally can't be exposed by anyone but him.

Trump is smart enough to never admit that his presidential aspirations are no more than marketing. To admit the trick would damage his brand. But he has no need to ever expose the prank. Trump, the magnificent bastard, has figured out a way to have his cake and eat it too. The people who are in on the joke find it entertaining. The people who will never know it's a joke have raised their opinion of him so much that he's the leading Republican presidential contender. And his TV ratings are up, so from a marketing standpoint it's working.

Granted, many people are turned off by Trump's pomposity. He knows that. But he also knows that success doesn't come from bland acceptance by the entire world. It comes from the ability to inspire the few. He's nailing that part. I just spent my morning writing about him.

The other genius part of his marketing is that he knows people are influenced by repetition more than reason. The attention he gets for his alleged presidential ambitions allow him to tell you over and over again that all things Trump are amazing. That part of the plan is working too.

Wink.



Shut the front door and hand me a bib and some wet wipes to wipe the flavored dust from my trembling mouth! Word on the street is Taco Bell is taking a logical, tasty step in testing out nacho-flavored Doritos as shells.

A video has been making the rounds on the interwebs showing what appears to be a customer testing out the aforementioned marriage of snacky crunch and fast food guilty pleasure, dubbed "Doritos Tacos Locos," all the way back in July 2010. How are we just now finding out about this?

The new fake-cheesy crunchy iteration of fast food taco is said to be popping up in various locations like Wichita, Kansas and Toledo, Ohio. Get your ears to the ground, readers! Have you seen and sampled this elusive wonder? And when, pray tell, will the Cool Ranch version arrive?

For Domo...

Happy Yuri's Day!!!

On April 12th, 1961, 50 years ago today, Yuri Gagarin {wiki} became the first human to go into space. Today is also the premiere of a full-length movie First Orbit. In a unique collaboration with the European Space Agency, and the Expedition 26/27 crew of the International Space Station, we have created a new film of what Gagarin first witnessed fifty years ago.


By matching the orbital path of the Space Station, as closely as possible, to that of Gagarin’s Vostok 1 spaceship and filming the same vistas of the Earth through the new giant cupola window, astronaut Paolo Nespoli, and documentary film maker Christopher Riley, have captured a new digital high definition view of the Earth below, half a century after Gagarin first witnessed it.


Weaving these new views together with historic, recordings of Gagarin from the time, (subtitled in Englsih) and an original score by composer Philip Sheppard, we have created a spellbinding film to share with people around the world on this historic anniversary.

THIS IS AWESOME ! ! !



I can sooo see Noah and Aria joining the Dark side.