More amazing photos...

... that I didn't take.

http://www.noupe.com/inspiration/nature-scenic-photos-30-angry-soft-masterpieces.html

New Dutch Music

You may be wondering about the radio silence from D.E. in regards to new music selections. Quite honestly, my StinkPad is on its death bed, and cannot handle, on most days, iTunes and the internet at the same time. Makes it kinda hard to sample new songs when the old laptop refuses to type sometimes.

Anyway, here are a few long overdue fun songs to get your mood over the sour economy.

Flobots - No Handlebars. 'Cause I can ride my bike with no handlebars. Enuff said.

Benji Hughes - Tee Shirt. From the man who brought you "Let's Duet" from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story comes some more serious tunes. Not that serious though.

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive. Just because.

DIY Seinfeld Moments

Image by Zesmerelda via FlickrThe DIY ("do it yourself") movement has empowered many consumers to build their own additions. fix their own plumbing, and pimp their own rides. A little known subset of the DIY movement is what I call "DIY Seinfeld Moments." Read on for this free, exclusive tutorial.

Bill of Materials:
Kindly midwest girlfriend - Check
Active/aggressive east coast boyfriend - Check (that's me)
Pizza joint hopping with busy suburban uber-moms - Check
Uber toddlers, wearing Crocks (Crox?) - Check

Instructions:
Sit down to enjoy pizza on a nice Friday eveneing with your lovely girlfriend. Locate seat near busy aisle of traffic. Initiate consumption.

As the uber-mom (with uber-toddler on hip) walks past your table, notice how the uber-mom stops at your table to ensure her flock of other uber-toddlers are following. When uber-mom pivots, see how uber-toddler's Crock foot lands in the middle of your pizza. (read that again).

As uber-toddler Crock, now covered in mozzarella and tomato sauce leaves pizza, promptly inform uber-mom about said pizza crockprint.

Raise volume of voice to uber-mom to get her attention as she tries to leave scene. Casually ignore kindly midwest girlfriend giving you "stare of death."

Upon uber-mom's return, decribe said crockprint. Describe again, then again until understood.

Kindly refuse answer to uber-mom's question of , "What do you want me to do?" and wish her a pleasant evening.

Avoid sleeping on the couch by accepting kindly midwestern girlfriend's barbs of inappropriateness.

Rinse and repeat.

Thank You, Gmail

Image via CrunchBaseI get the feeling that Google is really looking after me nowadays. First, they create a Gmail feature which attempts to thwart drunk emailing. (Nice.) Next, they add an intelligent calendar feature that allows you to simply describe the event, date, and time in order to get it on your calendar. I repeat - describe.

For a guy who is frequently in trouble for forgetting commitments to his girlfriend, thank you. You have significantly reduced the reason for stupid relationship fights in my life - with both innovations.

Irony

Image via WikipediaDoes anyone consider the irony of the current financial crisis? Specifically, how free market, anti-regulation geniuses (i.e. Greenspan) could accidentally engineer a crisis that may push the US to become a much more socialist state.

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• Bush: 'Recommit To Free Markets'
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• Greenspan: My Faith In Banks A "Mistake"

My Favorite Campaign Ad

The race between Al Franken and Norm Coleman for US Senate (MN) has been one of the most widely followed in the country. It's actually proved for some interesting political theater, and you can't change the channel without seeing a campaign ad. This one is my fave...

File Under Bad Idea

Image via WikipediaSomeone had the bright idea to combine the convenience of a Roomba with the sharp spinning blades of a lawnmower. This sounds like a recipe for missing digits and/or pets.



Link source: Endgadget

Unexpected Rap Battle

This commercial is great for many reasons, including the fact that it's hilarious.

Update: Yellow Pages / Getting Greener

Image by GDStinx via FlickrUPDATE: I posted back in June about the abhorrent stacks of yellow pages distributed to my apartment building.

Turns out that I was not alone in my ire for this blatant misuse of trees. One non-profit is finally taking some steps to clean up the industry's act.

Thanks to Siegs for sending on this link -

http://www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org/ - which allows you to opt out of receiving these relics of the paper age.

Like my post in June, I'm sure this will irk the PR guy who buzzed me about the continuing relevance of this relic of the paper age.

-----------------------------------

My foyer was littered this weekend with stacks upon stacks of phonebooks. In today's internet led world, few people need these relics of information. (E.g. My grandmother.) I don't see why people who do genuinely need these books can't simply opt in (or vice versa). I think many of us would prefer that to the paper and fuel wasted by this dying advertising model.

It only takes a few meatheads...

Image via Wikipedia... to tarnish a reputation. Looks like Dean Jain will have some work to do about this. Can you imagine sitting in the OLC reviewing a party gone bad? Urgh. Makes me sick.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1239841,CST-NWS-field24.article

Billy Beane, Newt Gingrich, and John Kerry walk into a bar...

No, really... Then they wrote an article about evidence based medicine.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24beane.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Reblog: Innovating Through Recession

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeSo, Orn beat me to the punch in highlighting a new article by one of my favorite Kellogg profs, Andrew Razeghi. He's a great professor, both the type of person who is both extremely intelligent in his many areas of expertise - growth, strategy, creativity and innovation - and an all around solid guy who is happy to hear new ideas.

Here's Andrew's latest article, specifically on how to innovate during a recessionary environment. If you're running a business, Andrew's piece should be a good guidepost for these tough times. I would also recommend John Quelch's piece on marketing during a recession.

Multiplication

I've been ecstatic to hear that Beth Stevens, John Hamilton, and Todd Melby have joined the ranks of the blogging community. Glad to see some very smart and interesting people share their thoughts on a really wide variety of topics.

Congrats to former college roomy Chris Goldberg for his first appearances on Huffington Post. Chris and I only attended the same college for one year, but he had a knack for good movie taste, good music taste, and very strong political opinions. He's a really funny guy and it shows in his writing. Of course, I'm a sucker for a good Spinal Tap reference any time.

Communal Branding

Image via WikipediaExcellent article I stumbled upon in Adweek about companies using online community-focused business practices (Zappos, Threadless, Yelp).

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3i5e732e045deaaba3f3762d92cf386637?pn=1

Amazing Nasa Photos

Image via Wikipediahttp://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

The site is VERY low tech, but the photos of the day are amazing.

The Red Sox are NOT the new Yankees...

The new Yankees are the old Yankees in terms of spending, though not in terms of winning.

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/salaries

(That post is for you Siegs!)

Presidential Economics

Unsurprising results, given that McCain has stated he doesn't understand economics as well as he should, and the economic brain trust and Chicago School familiarity among Obama and his camp.

If only I had some more free time...

... I'd read each of these books.