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28 Mar 2010 12:27

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Politics: Anti-Fred Phelps people: This guy created your template

  • When the Westboro Baptist Church comes to town, follow this template. A few weeks ago, University of Illinois-Chicago student Jason Connell decided to take on the homophobic Kansas church diplomatically. Across the street from a WBC protest, he set up a spot to donate money to organizations the church opposes in the church’s name. The effect? It completely neuters their power. Clever. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Dec 2009 20:54

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World: Hungry for attention: Meet the cleverest bastard in India’s history

K. Chandrasekhar Rao starved himself for nearly two weeks in an attempt to get his region, Telangana, recognized as a separate Indian state. It worked. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Dec 2009 10:31

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Culture: Dave Eggers latest work of staggering genius? A newspaper

  • We don’t pretend to have the solutions. We’re just asking a few questions. We admit how little we know, but we’re trying to luxuriate in print and maybe remind people of everything it can do.
  • Bestselling novelist and McSweeney’s founder Dave Eggers • On his latest gambit, the San Francisco Panorama, a 300-page newspaper he’s selling for $16. He had a little help from his friends – over 150 freelancers worked on the project, which is just as much a testament to the newspaper form as it is amazing art project which might get people excited about newspapers – and journalism in general – again. We know we are. Now where to we buy one of these? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

01 Dec 2009 21:52

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Tech: Fair and Square: Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey simplifies buying stuff

square1201

  • OK, this is pretty cool. Jack Dorsey, one of the guys behind Twitter, has another startup which promises to revolutionize the process of credit/debit transactions. It’s a tiny square. It requires an audio jack. That’s it. Like Twitter, it’s dead simple. Unlike Twitter, it’s not a super-esoteric concept at the outset, begging people to figure out why it’s necessary. It just makes sense. Kudos. Could someone give us a reason to use this? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Nov 2009 22:29

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Tech: Dear Wolfram Alpha: Working with Bing is actually smart

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  • Wolfram Alpha is a smart idea that has been neutered by bad decision-making – charging an embarrassingly-high price for their iPhone app, treating copyright like something they can control. Well, now they have something to grasp onto: Bing. While their searches aren’t all that useful by themselves (too insular), combined with a decent general-purpose search engine, it starts to feel like a killer app. This specific execution is why people got excited about the product at launch. Not the $50 iPhone app.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Aug 2009 23:12

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Biz: GAH! KNOB CREEK IS OUT OF BOOZE! But they don’t seem to mind.

Knob Creek failure
  • Well, that’s one way to build a brand. Knob Creek’s bourbon has apparently been so successful of late that they’re literally out. Rather than use PR to spin this or do damage control, their advertising embraces it. If you ask us, that’s genius.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

03 Jun 2009 20:47

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Tech: Digg ads? Well, you may Digg this. Or you may not Digg this.

Digg’s new advertising model is kind of brilliant. If you Digg an ad, it goes up in the queue and the cost-per-click goes down. Whoa. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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