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24 Feb 2010 21:29

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Biz: Why is Toyota not called “Toyoda,” like its namesake?

  • ten the number of brush strokes to write “Toyoda” in Japanese
  • eight the number of brush strokes to write “Toyota” in comparison
  • Why does this matter? Well, the number ten in Japanese resembles the plus sign, which apparently was seen as a bad omen due to the fact it also resembles crossroads. Also, “Toyota” sounds better than “Toyoda,” according to the company, which seems reasonable to us, kinda. Akio Toyoda feels shame on his company. 🙁 source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Feb 2010 23:25

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Politics: Murray Hill Incorporated: Finally, a candidate we can believe in

  • Yeah, this is pretty cheeky. But Murray Hill, Inc. is really running for Congress in the Maryland 8th District. They even have the kind of press release that should be studied by people who write press releases. “We want to get in on the ground floor of the democracy market before the whole store is bought by China,” they write. We hope they win so the Supreme Court is forced to reconsider its decision about giving corporations the same rights as people. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

23 Oct 2009 11:11

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Biz, Tech: Microsoft’s earnings numbers: FAIL, but not MASSIVE FAIL

  • -14% decline in Microsoft’s year-on-year profits this quarter
  • -17% decline in net income; both are better than expected source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Mar 2009 20:29

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Biz, U.S.: GM’s head guy, Rick Wagoner, is apparently gonna step down.

  • Why now? GM wants help General Motors’ top man is leaving now in part because the White House made strong hints that they wanted new leadership if the automaker wanted more bailout money. Wagoner has been with the company for over three decades and has been CEO for almost a decade. There’s no word yet as to who the new CEO’s going to be, but we’ll probably learn more later this week.
  • A cruddy legacy Wagoner has led GM through some of the more questionable periods of the company’s history – between the fumbled response to Japanese carmakers, the legacy payments to union employees, the over-leaning on SUV’s to save the company’s fortunes and the utter lack of creativity in the company’s vehicles, it’s kind of tough to say what was the one thing that made GM fall so far. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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