General
36,000 Americans die every year from the flu
I was watching a press conference this morning by the CDC (Center for Disease Control & Prevention), and they were going over statistics from the Swine Flu pandemic. They stated there’s been 1 confirmed death here in the U.S. as a result of the Swine Flu. To put that number in context, they said on average, 36,000 people die from the flu every year in the United Sates alone. I found that number shocking.
Career Evolution in Advertising
I couldn’t agree more. I learned a long time ago the higher up you go in any organization, the less technically-savvy the people become. I love how the Executive Creative Director only knows how to do email. (That’s the Microsoft Entourage (Mac) icon for all you PC people)
There’s actually another lesson i learned many years ago that directly relates to this… the higher up you go in any organization, the crappier their computers become.
I remember several years ago I was working for a company that was doing a big pitch to Amazon.com. The person behind the project was convinced that the Amazon Executives we would be dealing with were very “sophisticated” people, who would have all the latest equipment, and well-versed in how to use it. He decided that our web component should be built at 1024×768, which at the time was considered high resolution. After we sent everything off, we got a call from an Amazon VP who was having trouble viewing the site. It turned out he was using a 640×480 16bit display. Of course, he had no idea that’s what he was using. We had to guide him though checking his monitor resolution over the phone.
I remember another time where we sent a CD-based presentation to the owner of a medium-large size company. When we got him on the phone he said he hadn’t looked at the CD because he didn’t know how to put it into his computer. His secretary normally took care of “computer stuff”, and she was on vacation.
Lessons learned. :)
Larger image | via Swissmiss
Upgraded to Wordpress 2.7.1
I upgraded the site to Wordpress 2.7.1 tonight. Everything seems to be working fine, but let me know if you come across anything that appears broken.
The OfficePOD
The OfficePOD is an interesting concept for adding office space to your home. I like the idea, but I think I would find it a little claustrophobic. I do like their website though.
via Unplggd
Feedburner Accounts Moving to Google
I run the RSS feed for One Digital Life through Feedburner. Google bought Feedburner a while back (2007, I think), but the change of hands never really required me to do anything. I’ve heard rumblings for a little while now that Google was going to require people to migrate their feeds into a Google account, but I hadn’t really checked into it until now.
I tried to login to my Feedburner account tonight, and I can’t. I’m being prompted to migrate my account to Google. I’ve read some mixed reports on how smoothly this goes, and I may or may not need to change my feed address.
I’ll probable migrate the feeds tomorrow, so if the feed stops working, just come by the site and grab the new address.
if you use Feedburner too, you may want to try to login to your account.
Where is Our Money Going?
If you haven’t already heard, we’ve passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The chart above shows where the money will be going. Hopefully it really will help.
As the money gets distributed, you can keep track of things over at Recovery.gov.
President Barack Obama Takes Ofice
Image Credit: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Today was the day. George W. Bush officially moved out, and Barack Obama moved in. Everything seemed just a little brighter today. I have much higher hopes for the future.
President Obama’s official portrait was released the other day. There was a lot of fuss made about the fact that it’s the first presidential portrait taken with a digital camera (Canon 5D Mark II). Personally, I think it’s a little uninspired. I much prefer the image above by Alex Brandon. Whenever I look at it I think to myself… there is no spoon.
Drop some food in that barrel
Photo Credit: Manchester Library
The unfortunate reality is people go hungry all year round, and we should all be doing more to help those less fortunate than ourselves. But, this time of year we simply have no excuse, as it’s especially easy to give food to local food banks and shelters.
During the holidays most major grocery stores usually have food drive barrels located near the checkout lines. I urge everyone to pick up some extra items while you shop to drop in the barrel. If you can only afford a few cans of soup, that’s OK. If you can afford more, set yourself a budget and keep dropping stuff in your cart until you reach that budget.
Not sure what to get? I’ll list a few items from my list below, but generally you want to make sure to get food that is non-parishable (no fresh fruit, meat, or anything that needs refrigeration, etc…) and is not in a glass container. It’s also a good idea to continually ask yourself, would I want to eat this?
Items from my list:
- Canned Fruit
- Canned Vegetables
- Soup
- Tuna (in water – NOT that crappy oily stuff)
- Peanut Butter (plastic jar)
- Rice
- Stuffing
- Gravy (can or powder mix)
- Biscuit / muffin mix
- Cooking Oil
- Spaghetti / Sauce (plastic jar)
- Pancake Mix
- Cereal / Oatmeal
- Granola Bars
- Cookies / Crackers
- Brownies / Cookie mix
- Coffee
- Juice (plastic bottles or those little juice boxes)
Are Trade Shows really dead?
While reading various stories and comments tonight on the news that Apple won’t be participating at Macworld Expo after 2009, I noticed one sentiment that kept popping up on website after website. The idea that trade shows are an archaic, 20th century, form of marketing that are either dead, or dying. I’ve never heard this before, is this really true?
I actually have both a personal and professional interest in this. On a personal level, I enjoy going to trade shows. They’re a great way to get some face-to-face time with the companies that make the products I use, or am interested in using. I think it’s time well spent, by both sides.
On a professional level, I create trade show materials for some of my clients. Everything from Video attract loops, to booth graphics, to handouts. It’s not a huge part of my business, but it definitely contributes to my income.
Other than current problems due to the general state of the economy, I haven’t heard anything specific about trade shows dying as a format. And, I’m curious if this sentiment is directed specifically at computer-related trade shows, or do people think trade shows of all types are on their way out.
Anyone care to comment on this?
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