Sunday, June 12, 2011
Hiking among the Vikings! Yes, it's even more beautiful in person.
Near Vikingsholm Castle. Tour is worth the money, too, if you read all
the extra guides. Only $8!
Friday, June 3, 2011
To cool not to share with the entire world: keyboard on a shoe
Jesus may have walked on water (or not, I mean come on now!), but we
walk on keys! Way cooler than water.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Gilt Groupe spams Chromebook customers with Jetsetter emails
So, as any tech-obsessed geek would, I decided to check out the link, which required my email address in order to view. I at first attempted to skirt around giving my email address, but found that indeed, I could not view the offer. So, I gave in. I gave them my email... and wouldn't you know it, not a day later, I've got some message in my Inbox from a company called Jetsetter.
I get a lot of misdirected emails--people signing up for things and using the wrong email, people sending email to friends and family (those are always interesting) ... so much so that I have a "canned response" in gmail which is a one-click wonder that says:
Hi,You emailed [my email address] but I'm not the person you're looking for. Just thought you'd like to know.Mike
So of course, I thought this was another one of those deals and so I proceeded to reset this person's password and see if I could track down any personal information about this user and inform him of his error. As it turns out, that user was me. Only I never signed up for Jetsetter.
While on the Jetsetter website, I noticed a tab at the top that said "Gilt."
"No way," I thought. So I clicked it and sure enough it took me back to Gilt, where I put two and two together: Jetsetter was a part of Gilt. Messages on Google Groups confirm this, and people are pissed.
So far, I've only received a couple emails from Gilt and Jetsetter, but whoever at Google decided to go with Gilt should be held to the fire for this one--totally irresponsible, especially since they've been able to sell their G1 in their own store. Why not the Chromebook, too? Did they not know that this would happen? Did Gilt simply drop the ball? What the hell happened here?
Readers: Did you get spammed? How many times? How does this affect your trust in Google, and how does this affect your trust in Gilt--that is, if you ever trusted them in the first place?
Friday, April 22, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Spider catching an insect
Very cool system. The spider builds the web, waits, captures the
insect, and resets its position while it waits for the next meal.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Community Kitty knows something isn't right...
... She has been at our doorstep in her basket every time I have come
and gone since Friday.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
DEAL ALERT: Chipotle: Buy 1 Get 1 Free! Thru 3/4/2011
Click this link, watch a 1-minute video, and get your coupon code.
Not affiliated with Deals Plus in any way -- this is just a spankin deal!
On whether to buy or lease a vehicle...
From The Millionaire Next Door: People often ask us, "Should I lease?" our answer is always the same: More than 80 percent of millionaires purchase their vehicles. If and
when more than 50% begin leasing, we will change our recommendation. --The Millionaire Next Door, pg. 115.
when more than 50% begin leasing, we will change our recommendation. --The Millionaire Next Door, pg. 115.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Make Sure The Price Is Right
Man, the guys and gals at Netted are fining great stuff and this one's no exception!
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Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Your health is important; and so are our sales.
Every now and then, I stumble across articles from Dr. Joseph Mercola, D.O. He's an Osteopathic Physician who has combined his medical expertise with his passion for technology (and apparently marketing) to create mercola.com, a site containing articles on health topics, most of which push products that he sells. Talk about a conflict of interest.
For the critical thinker, his goals are clear: write health articles of interest to a wide variety of people, add in a little (okay, many) scare tactics to hype you up, and then offer the relief of a cool-down by way of the myriad products he sells that cure problems you didn't know you had.
I like to do public service things every now and then, so here is my public service attempt for the day. Note: I am not in the medical field. I'm just your average Joe, a concerned citizen. Only my name's Mike.
I took an email "newsletter" of his--that he sends three times weekly--and analyzed it. What I found was that 90+ percent of the newsletter was just advertisements, basically, that led to products he sells. They masquerade as health articles, but they're really just well crafted, long-winded ads with half-truths, non sequiturs, with a sprinkle of value.
The other 10% of the content? A cartoon about doctors and patients, which is actually kind of funny, except when you realize it's just there as a filler because there are too many ads and not enough quality content.
Articles abound of reasons to question Dr. Mercola, including this one from Joseph Albietz, M.D., a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado, Denver, and The Children's Hospital, where he spends time in the pediatric intensive care unit.
Then there was the order by the FDA for Dr. Mercola to stop claiming that his products prevented and fought cancer (seriously).
Most of his articles invoke fear tactics, such as this one, where it only took two comments before someone said "I'm scared."
"My god it's scares me to think I have been drinking Diet Coke for over 25 years and I am a full-blown addict. I can't stop . . . Anway, I would advise to never try or get used to it because it is impossible to quit! I hate Coke corp."
But you liked them for 25 years up until today?
And then there's the less scientific Google Suggest, which after you type in the query [ Joseph Mercola ] comes up with the following suggestions:
- [ Joseph Mercola quack ]
- [ Joseph Mercola quackwatch ]
- [ Joseph Mercola md ]
- [ Joseph Mercola d.o ] <---interesting that he's actually an Osteopathic Physician, and not a Medical Doctor (MD), though the two are very similar in many regards.
I guess the moral of the story here is that it's important to exercise your critical thinking skills; this guy purports to be a medical expert, but he's really more of a marketing expert in my eyes. He knows his target audience, he knows how to scare them into submission, and has mastered the art of relating medical products to every day issues (for example: see the 60 Minutes video in his newsletter; he links this to Pfizer, a drug company, which is his competition as he is a 'natural medicine' guy.)
By the way, this isn't to say that I don't believe in the benefits of vitamins, minerals, and other natural ways of taking care of your body. I do believe in them. What I take exception to is this man's attack on everything that doesn't relate to his cause. Let me give you a perfect example of how I use both in my life: I recently injured my while moving my mom into her new place. The injury was muscular, and I needed an anti-inflammatory to lessen the swelling and pain (i.e., to treat the SYMPTOM) so that I could (a) get through my day without concentrating on the pain, and (b) start working on back strengthening exercises (i.e., a natural healing method to treat the ROOT CAUSE.)
See how there's room for both? Dr. Mercola seems to disagree, based on everything of his that I have read.
Click on the image for the full analysis. WARNING: You may be SHOCKED at what you find! ;)
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