PSoTD

Apparently today's playbook is to try to push Borders into carrying some publication that is reprinting the controversial Danish cartoons of Muhammad on inside pages. Okay, okay, waste your bandwidth if you must, but please, quit crying about the freedom of expression - Borders is a store, their job is to do what it takes to increase sales and reduce costs, and that's what they're doing. Borders has given Free Inquiry magazine more promotion than they probably get in a year with this action, so more good than harm has come to them as well.

When profit intersects with produce, the result: the Campari tomato.

Look for specialized catsup and tomato sauces promoting Campari tomatoes in your grocery future.

BTW, I did not realize that the average American consumes 19.2 pounds of fresh tomatoes per year. I'm sure I bring that number down - don't really care for tomatoes.

That's the name of this new recipe book by bloggers. It goes for $15, and most importantly, it is a fundraiser with proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders.

I even have a recipe in there - well, it's not really mine, but I recommended it.

Please consider purchasing it - it's a good cause and you should get some good eating out of it!

It should be illegal to send any marketing piece that doesn't indicate the name of the business involved. ILLEGAL.

Yet, here I sit with 7 junk faxes from the past few days, and only one has the company name listed. The rest give toll-free numbers to either fax a stupid inquiry or followup for further information.

Gutless businesses.

Big surprise. The bill Congress is moving - H.R. 3997? It pre-exempts any state laws mandating breach disclosures to consumers. And it doesn't require data brokers and other companies to notify consumers upon a breach of security concerning financial data. Companies can decide whether or not to inform consumers.

Is there any issue in which this Congress will refuse to sell out Americans?

From Statesman.com:

For the past few years, a German company called Biopat has been selling naming rights to newly discovered species. (Scientists who discover the species donate the rights, and the money goes to conservation groups.) Husbands have named flowers after their wives as a romantic gift, although most species named are insects. Ellen DeGeneres tried to win an auction last year to name a new monkey species after herself but was outbid by the big-spending Las Vegas casino Golden Palace.

Are there no pure motives anymore? Is everything corrupted eventually by money?

You drive around the east coast anywhere, you're going to see of these stuck on a car...

And I guess they're cool, sorta, promoting a place (and a fun place) where people vacation at... I'm assuming most folks that paste one of these to their cars has been to Outer Banks, North Carolina, and maybe goes there at least semi-regularly.

And it's brilliant for the Outer Banks Tourism Board, all these cars driving up and down the East Coast, promoting their destination.

But it makes me wonder - why don't people do the same thing for their own neighborhood? If people like their neighborhood, and want to promote something that they can actually benefit from by increasing the desireability of something they own, why don't Homeowner Associations create cool logos and bumperstickers to promote their neighborhood? Older neighborhoods suffer in value because they don't have anyone really focused on promoting the area as desireable. Brand new housing developments have that completely over older areas, since building developers and the managing real estate company are very motivated to build an image that will move a mass of housing.

A little, cool sticker is such a small thing to do, yet could go a long way in promoting a neighborhood within a geographic area. And it could help further build neighborhood pride at the same time? So why don't we see it?

By the way, if you notice an increase in your spam faxes, you can thank the National Federation of Independent Business:

NFIB worked to pass a new law, recently signed by President Bush that allows small-business owners, membership organizations and non-profits to fax consumers with whom they have established a business relationship, provided they allow customers to request to opt-out of future solicited advertisements. NFIB will continue to monitor this issue as it proceeds through the rulemaking process.

You know who gets a lot of junk faxes? Small businesses. You know who has to pay for the paper and ink used because they received junk faxes? Small businesses.

The crux of this issue is the definition of "established a business relationship". I suspect that NFIB will work to make it as large and undefined as possible.

NFIB's viewpoint of the Bush budget:

Secretary of Treasury John Snow emphasized the value of small businesses to the American economy in his Feb. 15 testimony before the House Committee on Ways and Means regarding the president’s fiscal year 2007 budget.

From NewYorkBusiness.com

Bush budget would gut small business programs

President George W. Bush’s budget proposal would cut deeply into the pockets of New York small businesses by eliminating or trimming 27 programs, according to Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez.

Seventy-five percent of government-sponsored small business programs were cut in the president’s budget request, said Ms. Velázquez, who represents Brooklyn and is the most senior Democrat on the House Small Business Committee.

I run a small business. There's no way in hell I would ever waste business money on a membership in the National Federation of Independent Business. And I certainly wouldn't pay them any money to advance their pet causes, because many of them are contrary to the interests of small business.

If so, are you wearing clothes?

No kidding. I like the clothes my wife buys from Victoria's Secrets - well, I like the way she looks in them - but it seems like we get a catalog a day.