whizdumb

It's the little (dead) things that count

There is something mildly depressing about being at a friend's house and seeing a plant like this languishing in the corner.  Which is why I want to give props to Home Depot's kick ass policy of accepting returns on dead plants up to a year after purchase.  I can basically kill anything in a pot within 2 months.  Don't ask me why I keep trying, it's probably some kind of pride thing.  And hey, every now and then something lives.  But mostly I bring back my pathetic potted failures and, as long as I've saved the receipt and the bar code, they accept the poor thing without question.  That's service.

TED Talks

The TED conference has been around since 1984, bringing top minds in technology, entertainment and design to a single forum in Monterey, CA.  What really went on was left to the few hundred who had the connections and cash to attend.  But this year BMW has made parts of it available, yet another web-video-content-innovation by the automobile company.  This video is a fantastic example of taking a very complex set of facts over time (in this case, longevity, infant mortality and family size) and bringing it to life in a compelling and exciting data story.  I can't wait to dive into the others.  It may have been just a matter of time before TED hooked up with a BMW-type sponsor (or for that matter that BMW found another frontier of in-demand content to align with). But the fact that they're making some of the content of the conference available on video for free is a pleasant surprise.

I smell a winner

I won't spoil this one if you haven't seen it, but this is a nice piece of film out of the UK that goes where no brand has gone before and champions that which has been taboo. Plus its just plain fun to spot as many of the euphemisms / metaphors as you can. If you're falling short just chalk it up to cultural differences.

Tired of being admired

When a person yawns it is usually not a photo-op.  But when a celebrity yawns... gotcha!  These photos are as funny as they are profound.  Some of these folks look like dragons about to seize on a newborn snack, while others seem positively sedated.  Are they tired of fame?  Recovering from all-night hedonism?  Stretching their jaws for that new role?  Howling in some sort of secret code to the aliens above?