My buddy Jan sent some gems from Business 2.0 magazine's '101 Dumbest Moments in Business 2005...'

Enjoy -


44. In July, Burger King launches an ad campaign for its new Chicken Fries featuring a faux heavy-metal band called CoqRoq. Coqroq.com initially features photos of female fans captioned "Groupies love the Coq." After the captions are removed, Burger King spokeswoman Edna Johnson tells Advertising Age that they were written and assigned randomly by computer software that has since been disabled.

36. The winner of the American Airlines "We Know Why You Fly" contest, which
promised to award 24 round-trip tickets to the traveler who submitted the
best video about his airborne experiences, turns down the grand prize. Why?
Because American fails to cover the winner's federal, state, and local
income taxes, which amount to about $19,000, or $800 per ticket.

50. In December, job recruiter J-Com's IPO in Tokyo goes awry when a trader
for Mizuho Securities types in an order to sell 610,000 shares at 1 yen
(less than a penny) per share instead of the intended 1 share at 610,000 yen
(about $5,000). Though the order is for 41 times the number of outstanding
shares, the Tokyo Stock Exchange insists that the order be processed as
entered. Mizuho loses at least 27 billion yen ($225 million) on the typo, an
amount nearly equal to its entire profit for the prior fiscal year.

47. Developers in Chatham, England, announce plans for Dickens World, a $100 million theme park based on the life and times of Charles Dickens.

56. A Qantas Airways baggage handler is suspended after he's caught opening
a passenger's luggage, discovering a camel costume, donning the head, and
driving around the tarmac on a baggage cart at Sydney Airport. The incident
is reported by the costume's owner, who spies the culprit through the window
of the terminal.

61. Florida-based Goosebumps Products, a maker of gel-filled shoe inserts,
sues supplier Bell Chem Corp., claiming that, by delivering the wrong
chemical, it had caused bubbles to form in the insoles that emit "a
flatulence-like noise" with each step. Goosebumps is forced to dispose of at
least 35,000 pairs and soon goes out of business.

63. The Iowa Pork Producers Association announces that it may retire a
contest used to promote its product -- due to the lack of interest among
young Iowa women in being designated "Pork Queen."

64. Blaming a mailing-list vendor for providing bad information, JPMorgan
Chase apologizes for sending a form letter about its credit card services to
an Arab American man in California addressed to "Palestinian Bomber."

72. Prior to their home opener against the Pistons, as Detroit's starting
lineup is being introduced, the NBA's Sacramento Kings flash images from the
Motor City on the scoreboard: abandoned buildings, burned-out cars, piles of
rubble, etc. Three days later, the Kings' owners take out a full-page ad in
the Detroit Free Press acknowledging "the incredibly positive impact the
Motor City has made over the course of our country's history."

73. The proprietors of the Erotic City strip club in Boise, Idaho, attempt
to circumvent a local law banning nudity except for performances of "serious
artistic merit" by distributing sketch pads and pencils to customers for
twice-weekly G-string-free "art" nights.

87. On the heels of a popular documentary about the Queen rock anthem
"Bohemian Rhapsody," BBC television decides its next subject will be the Bob
Marley classic "No Woman, No Cry." An e-mail is duly dispatched to the Bob
Marley Foundation, requesting an interview with the reggae star, since the
documentary "would only work with some participation from Bob Marley
himself." The e-mail also says producers would like for Marley to spend "one
or two days with us" at his convenience: "Our schedule is flexible." Marley
is less flexible. He died in 1981.

93. With the help of Latin pop sensation Thalia Sodi, Hershey introduces
Cajeta Elegancita, a new candy bar for the Hispanic market. In Mexico,
"cajeta" can be used to mean "nougat." Elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking
world, however, it's slang for female anatomy. Just suffice it to say that
the literal translation of the Spanish word cajeta is "little box."

98. A few weeks after eZiba.com sends out its winter catalog, the call
center's pin-drop silence begins to worry execs. As it turns out, a bug in a
program designed to identify the best prospects on eZiba's mailing list led
to the catalog instead being sent to those deemed least likely to respond.
"Sadly, our probability estimates were correct," says eZiba founder Dick
Sabot

101. In September, as the result of a typo in a spreadsheet, Electronic Arts
issues an update to Madden NFL 06 that reduces 6-foot-3, 305-pound New York
Jets lineman Michael King to a height of 7 inches. The next day, EA fixes
the bug -- to a chorus of complaints from customers who enjoyed watching the
shin-high blocker get steamrollered by full-size players

Check out this 8 year old kid playing most of Eddie Van Halen's 'Eruption' solo.

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Can't not help think of George Carlin's rants on why aliens don't think we're ready for a house call and higher awareness when I read about the eBay crap regarding that poor British whale who got lost.

Someone pass the cheese in a spray can, and get me my sneakers with lights in them. I need to fuel up before picking up the latest happenin's on Britney and Federfuck from the checkout aisle mag rack.


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If you like invigorating swing/big band jazz, and heard of Buddy Rich the famous drummer (but never got to hear why he was so great), pick up this live album. One of his bandmembers was recording their shows on stage and put this out recently. And what's cool is that most of the performances are from gigs in Detroit back in the 70s. (One tune is from Dexter, MI of all places!)

It's fiery, hungry, and Buddy's playing his ass off. The band is killer as well, with soloists just tearing the roof off. (Buddy nicknamed this band his 'Killer Force' Band.) The album is a great example of how he drove a band. If you do your history, when the Bonham's, Moon's, Peart's, and Copeland's were growing up, Buddy Rich was their Drum Hero. And you'll hear many of the same 'isms' in their playing that came from Buddy. Especially Bonham kicking the daylights out of his bass drum.

Kneel before The Prez'.

General Zod for President.
Check out his campaign site.

Mine!

I'm calling it right now so I can prove it later.

I say when Britney finally dumps that douchebag Kevin Federline, the media's nickname for him will be "Fed Ex."

There.

Search Results

Though actor's may hate being typecast for one popular role they happened to be in, with the internet search technology of today, do you think being typecast will utlimately help the careers of many actors? I mean, really, if someone can GoogleImage search on 'Dean Wormer' from Animal House and get a funny pic of John Vernon, doesn't that just help cement John's place in film history even more? Which is what actors want in the first place, right? Yes, they want to be known for ALL their roles, but can it be argued that being typecast nowadays really just guarantees stronger and more abundant search results?

And isn't 'search results' the seemingly most important thing anyone can possible hope to triumph with in technology these days? If people (i.e. consumers/customers) can't easily find what they're looking for, you're web presence "sucks", right? People get paid to help companies develop a stronger web presense so surfers can find a company's site better. Hear any of the Network Solutions radio ads with former 007 Pierce Brosnan helping a fly fisherman (and a really bad voice-over impression of one I might add) help sell his lures? If someone can easily find a pic of a famous character, the one-click jump to learning so much more about the actor is easier than ever before. Which allows for potential deeper understanding of that actor's work. Which can help with more work.

In other words, a casting director with a laptop can quickly find out if the dumb jock from American Pie (who she thinks looks right for a serious role) has actually done any serious roles too.

Kinda fun to think on that at time when more information is already available to more people than at any other time in human history, the demand for assistance in helping people find what they're looking for is still a growing race. I guess all the centuries of poetry and philosophy on how people always search and yearn for understanding is just proving itself again. But with digital 1's and 0's.

I guess it won't stop till we finally invent the Star Trek Holodeck that also taps into your brainwaves so you see and interact with a 3-D holographic display of your own subconcious. Walk around in your mind, your memories and experience suddenly a museum tour with really good robots acting out how things happened.

And any question that comes to you regarding, say, why you pick your nose, or date unhealthy people will suddenly appear to you like you're watching a stage play of your own childhood. Seeing yourself as a toddler dip your finger in grape jam and then up your nose making the connection that "inside of my nose = candy." Or you see every instance of your household growing up and how your parents interacted with each other which became your default template of understanding 'what Men and Women do around each other'.

Its all about 'search results'.


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I'm finally watching the fantastic new Battlesar Galactica series on Sci-Fi channel. When the pilot came out 2 years ago, I ranted and raved to friends how awesome it was. Then the series got greenlight, the show's 2.5 seasons in and I just this week started watching the series. Ironically, friends who were a little doubtful of the show based on the pilot are now BG junkies with 2 seasons up on me. But pal Star Wars Mike got me the BG season 1 dvd's for Christmas and Joy and I are playing catchup. Man is it good stuff. Best/most tasteful sci-fi special effects I've seen in a long time. Sweet writing.

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Did Pat Boone take over the world?

If you google image search on homey or homeboy, all you get is pics of boring white people and babies. A few actually are trying to strike a pimp/homey "wassup?" pose.

What the hell's going on? Can't a guy find a decent rapper stereotype picture on the web anymore?