XIAM007

Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World

Friday 30 July 2010

Is Your Detergent Stalking You? - has a GPS device that allows it to track shoppers and follow them to their front doors -

Is Your Detergent Stalking You? - has a GPS device that allows it to track shoppers and follow them to their front doors - 





Unilever's Omo detergent is adding an unusual ingredient to its two-pound detergent box in Brazil: a GPS device that allows its promotions agency Bullet to track shoppers and follow them to their front doors.


Starting next week, consumers who buy one of the GPS-implanted detergent boxes will be surprised at home, given a pocket video camera as a prize and invited to bring their families to enjoy a day of Unilever-sponsored outdoor fun. The promotion, called Try Something New With Omo, is in keeping with the brand's international "Dirt is Good" positioning that encourages parents to let their kids have a good time even if they get dirty.
Omo accounts for half of Brazil's detergent sales and is already found in 80% of homes there, so Unilever's goal is more to draw attention to a new stain-fighting version of Omo and get it talked about rather than looking for a big increase in sales.
That made the idea of doing a promotion where the prize finds the consumer, rather than the consumer having to look for the prize -- and maybe not bothering -- appealing.
Fernando Figueiredo, Bullet's president, said the GPS device is activated when a shopper removes the detergent carton from the supermarket shelf. Fifty Omo boxes implanted with GPS devices have been scattered around Brazil, and Mr. Figueiredo has teams in 35 Brazilian cities ready to leap into action when a box is activated. The nearest team can reach the shopper's home "within hours or days," and if they're really close by, "they may get to your house as soon as you do," he said.
Once there, the teams have portable equipment that lets them go floor by floor in apartment buildings until they find the correct unit, he said.
Of course, Brazil has a high crime rate, and not everyone is going to open the door to strangers who claim to have been sent by her detergent brand to offer a free video camera. Bullet has thought of that. If the team tracks a consumer to her home but she won't let them in, they can remotely activate a buzzer in the detergent box so that it starts beeping. And if the team takes too long to arrive, and the consumer has already opened the box to see if she's a winner or just do laundry, she'll find, along with the GPS device and less detergent than expected, a note explaining the promotion and a phone number to call.
"Anything can happen," Mr. Figueiredo said. "We have to be innovative, but we don't know what reaction to expect from consumers."
In a big web component, the site experimentealgonovo.com.br (Portuguese for "try something new") goes live in August, and will include a map showing roughly where the winners live, pictures of each winner and footage of the Bullet-Omo teams hunting down the GPS-enabled detergent boxes, knocking on doors and surprising consumers.
"It costs more than a traditional promotion and is riskier because it's never been done before, but it's worth it," Mr. Figueiredo said. The technology aspect of the promotion costs less than $1 million, out of Omo's overall marketing budget of about $23 million.
"We believe in using new technology for promotional marketing," Mr. Figueiredo said.
Plus Bullet just likes figuring out how to ingeniously embed stuff in products. Two summers ago, sales of Unilever's Fruttare Popsicles soared when Bullet disguised 10,000 iPod Shuffles as popsicles and popped them in freezer cases. The agency's creatives had noticed while reading their iPod instruction manuals that an iPod can operate at temperatures below freezing. They immediately began freezing their own devices as a test, then constructed a fake ice-cream bar case that mimicked the popsicle but fit an iPod, and a wildly successful summer ice cream promotion was born.

Saturday 24 July 2010

The head of China’s biggest credit rating agency has said America is Insolvent and that U.S. credit ratings are a Joke -

The head of China’s biggest credit rating agency has said America is Insolvent and that U.S. credit ratings are a Joke -




America's biggest creditor - China - has called our bluff.
As the Financial Times notes, the head of China's biggest credit rating agency has said America is insolvent and that U.S. credit ratings are a joke:
The head of China’s largest credit rating agency has slammed his western counterparts for causing the global financial crisis and said that as the world’s largest creditor nation China should have a bigger say in how governments and their debt are rated.

“The western rating agencies are politicised and highly ideological and they do not adhere to objective standards,” Guan Jianzhong, chairman of Dagong Global Credit Rating, told the Financial Times in an interview.

***

He specifically criticised the practice of “rating shopping” by companies who offer their business to the agency that provides the most favourable rating.

In the aftermath of the financial crisis “rating shopping” has been one of the key complaints from western regulators , who have heavily criticised the big three agencies for handing top ratings to mortgage-linked securities that turned toxic when the US housing market collapsed in 2007.

“The financial crisis was caused because rating agencies didn’t properly disclose risk and this brought the entire US financial system to the verge of collapse, causing huge damage to the US and its strategic interests,” Mr Guan said.

Recently, the rating agencies have been criticised for being too slow to downgrade some of the heavily indebted peripheral eurozone economies, most notably Spain, which still holds triple A ratings from Moody’s.

There is also a view among many investors that the agencies would shy away from withdrawing triple A ratings to countries such as the US and UK because of the political pressure that would bear down on them in the event of such actions.

Last week, privately-owned Dagong published its own sovereign credit ranking in what it said was a first for a non-western credit rating agency.

The results were very different from those published by Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch, with China ranking higher than the United States, Britain, Japan, France and most other major economies, reflecting Dagong’s belief that China is more politically and economically stable than all of these countries.

Mr Guan said his company’s methodology has been developed over the last five years and reflects a more objective assessment of a government’s fiscal position, ability to govern, economic power, foreign reserves, debt burden and ability to create future wealth.

The US is insolvent and faces bankruptcy as a pure debtor nation but the rating agencies still give it high rankings ,” Mr Guan said.

***

A wildly enthusiastic editorial published by Xinhua , China’s official state newswire, lauded Dagong’s report as a significant step toward breaking the monopoly of western rating agencies of which it said China has long been a “victim”.

“Compared with the US’ conquest of the world by means of force, Moody’s has controlled the world through its dominance in credit ratings,” the editorial said...
China is right. U.S. credit ratings have been less than worthless. And - in the real world - America should have been downgraded to junk. See thisthisthisthisthis,thisthisthis and this.
China is not shy about reminding the U.S. who's got the biggest pockets. As the Financial Times quotes Mr. Guan:
“China is the biggest creditor nation in the world and with the rise and national rejuvenation of China we should have our say in how the credit risks of states are judged.”
Read more -  http://www.georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2010/07/china-calls-our-bluff-us-is-insolvent.html

Thursday 15 July 2010

China’s ‘Twitters’ targeted by internet police - to step up monitoring and purge sites of politically “sensitive” words -

China’s ‘Twitters’ targeted by internet police - to step up monitoring and purge sites of politically “sensitive” words -








Chinese micro-blogging sites have become the latest target of Beijing’s internet police, which have ordered companies providing Twitter-like services to step up monitoring and purge sites of politically “sensitive” words and expressions.
In the last week, most of the largest and most popular micro-blogging websites in China have been shut down for “maintenance” or have switched to “beta” or “testing” versions.


These backup websites are being used while the companies “strengthen their self-censorship systems” and remove all politically sensitive content under orders from Chinese internet authorities, according to employees at some of those companies.
The micro-blogging site run by the popular Chinese portal Netease was unavailable on Wednesday , replaced with a notice saying the site had been “under maintenance” since 7pm on Tuesday.
The Twitter-like service provided by leading internet portal Sohu was also closedfor “maintenance” over the entire weekend but reopened on Monday morning.
Other companies that have switched to “beta” or “testing” versions of their micro-blogging sites include Sina, which claims to have 20m registered micro-bloggers, as well as Tencent, QQ and even the micro-blog site of the People’s Daily website, the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party.
Popular US micro-blog and social networking sites including Twitter, Facebook and Youtube have all been banned in China since last year but domestic imitators have been allowed to flourish, provided they observe the government’s stringent self-censorship requirements.

Tuesday 13 July 2010

China's leading credit rating agency has stripped America, Britain, Germany and France of their AAA ratings -

China's leading credit rating agency has stripped America, Britain, Germany and France of their AAA ratings -




Dagong Global Credit Rating Co used its first foray into sovereign debt to paint a revolutionary picture of creditworthiness around the world, giving much greater weight to "wealth creating capacity" and foreign reserves than Fitch, Standard & Poor's, or Moody's.
The US falls to AA, while Britain and France slither down to AA-. Belgium, Spain, Italy are ranked at A- along with Malaysia.




Meanwhile, China rises to AA+ with Germany, the Netherlands and Canada, reflecting its €2.4 trillion (£2 trillion) reserves and a blistering growth rate of 8pc to 10pc a year.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, chief of the International Monetary Fund, agreed on Monday that the rising East is a transforming global force. "Asia's time has come," he said.
The IMF expects Asia to grow by 7.7pc in 2010, vastly outpacing the eurozone at 1pc and the US at 3.3pc. Emerging nations hold 75pc of the world's $8.4 trillion (£5.6 trillion) of reserves.
Dagong rates Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, and Singapore at AAA, along with the commodity twins Australia and New Zealand.
Chinese president Hu Jintao said in April that the world needs "an objective, fair, and reasonable standard" for rating sovereign debt. Dagong appears to have stepped into the role, saying its objective was to assess countries using methods that would "not be affected by ideology".
"The reason for the global financial crisis and debt crisis in Europe is that the current international credit rating system does not correctly reveal the debtor's repayment ability," said Guan Jianzhong, Dagong's chairman.
The agency, known in China for rating companies, said its goal is to "correct the defects" of the existing system and offer a counter-weight to Western agencies.
Dagong appears to base growth potential on past performance but this can be misleading, especially in states enjoying technology catch-up. Japan was a high-flyer in 1970s and 1980s before stalling when the Nikkei bubble burst. It has been trapped in near perma-slump ever since.
China may start to face some of Japan's demographic problems by the middle of this decade when the working age population peaks.
The Western rating agencies put a high value on a long-established rule of law and government institutions that have proved resilient over many decades, or even centuries. China's political system may appear strong – as did the Soviet Union's – but only time will tell whether its foundations are brittle. The violent upheavals of the Cultural Revolution are still a very fresh memory.

Sunday 11 July 2010

Car full of people dressed as Zombies crashed near Portland on Friday, causing initial confusion by witnesses -

Car full of people dressed as Zombies crashed near Portland on Friday, causing initial confusion by witnesses -



 A car full of people dressed as zombies crashed on Interstate 84 near downtown Portland on Friday, causing initial confusion by people who witnessed the crash.
Portland Police said the car was swerving in the eastbound lanes of the freeway just east of the Lloyd District just after 9:30 p.m. when it rolled over and crashed onto its top.
Emergency crews took five victims from the crash to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police said that in their investigation they learned that the people inside the car were dressed as zombie costumes and they were headed to a party at the time of the crash.
Sgt. Greg Stewart said people who witnessed the crash initially thought the victims' injuries were much more serious, because of the zombie costumes.
"We're glad that everyone is alive, despite being 'undead'," Sgt. Stewart said, referring to the costumes.
While everyone in the car was taken to the hospital, Stewart said crews are investigating the possibility that more people were in the car at the time of the crash but fled the scene on foot.
The crash halted traffic in the eastbound lanes for about an hour, reducing travel to just one lane.  All eastbound lanes were opened at around 11 p.m.

Saturday 10 July 2010

Greenspan Says Economy May Be Undergoing a `Pause' - AND - he can’t rule out the possibility of a double-dip recession -

Greenspan Says Economy May Be Undergoing a `Pause' - AND - he can’t rule out the possibility of a double-dip recession -




Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the U.S. economy may be undergoing what he called a “pause,” and that he can’t rule out the possibility of a so- called double-dip recession.
“Of course, there’s a possibility,” Greenspan said in an interview on CNBC today. “The trouble is there’s always a possibility in both directions.”
Greenspan, who ran the central bank from 1987 to 2006, said “it’s more than likely” that a “pause” is occurring in the world’s largest economy. Inventory accumulation “has stopped” and production “has flattened out,” the 84-year-old former central banker said.
Companies added 83,000 workers to their payrolls in June, less than forecast by economists, the Labor Department report said last week. The report capped a month of data on housing and manufacturing that point to a slowdown in the economy.
Stocks rose today, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index its first-three day rally since April, after the Labor Department reported that claims for unemployment benefits fell last week more than forecast and the International Monetary Fund raised its estimate for global growth in 2010.
“Stock market behavior over the last several days” has been “encouraging,” Greenspan said after S&P 500 index rose 0.9 percent to 1,070.25 at 4 p.m. in New York, its highest close since June 28. “Banks are scared, but, then again, so are businesses.’
He added that there are “still huge imbalances in the flow of funds,” and that China’s currency remains “undervalued.” After he spoke, the U.S. Treasury Department released a report to Congress saying the yuan “remains undervalued,” while stopping short of branding the country a currency manipulator.

Friday 9 July 2010

Pet bathrooms open at D.C. area airports - your pet can make a pit stop too before getting on the plane with you -

Pet bathrooms open at D.C. area airports - your pet can make a pit stop too before getting on the plane with you - 



dog bathroom airport
Dulles and Reagan National Airports have opened "pet relief areas" to let dogs go to the bathroom before they fly. (Photo courtesy of MWAA.)


 Now your pet can make a pit stop too before getting on the plane with you at two D.C. area airports.
Dulles and Reagan National Airports have opened "pet relief areas" to give dogs a place to go to the bathroom at the airport.
The pet areas were created because of federal rules requiring "service animal relief areas" for service animals that accompany passengers on trips, but the areas are also open for families traveling with pets.
Each fenced-in dog bathroom at Dulles has a fake fire hydrant, artificial grass, and bags so the owners can clean up after their pups. There are three pet areas outside the main terminal and two inside the concourses. The indoor locations have ventilation and flushing systems to keep everything clean.
Reagan National has all four of its pets areas outside on natural grass before you get through security.
Click for the full list of pet areas atReagan National Airport and Dulles Airport then look under the "Airport Services" tab.


Read more - http://www.wtop.com/?nid=596&sid=1999184

Flights diverted, delayed as UFO detected hovering -

Flights diverted, delayed as UFO detected hovering -



A photo taken by a resident in Hangzhou shows an unidentified flying object hovering over Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, late Wednesday, July 7, 2010. [Photo/Metro Express]

An unidentified flying object (UFO) disrupted air traffic over Zhejiang's provincial capital Hangzhou late on Wednesday, the municipal government said on Thursday.

Xiaoshan Airport was closed after the UFO was detected at around 9 pm, and some flights were rerouted to airports in the cities of Ningbo and Wuxi , said an airport spokesman, who declined to be named.

The airport had resumed operations, and more details will be released after an investigation, he said.

A source with knowledge of the matter, however, told China Daily on Thursday that authorities had learned what the UFO was after an investigation.

But it was not the proper time to publicly disclose the information because there was a military connection, he said, adding that an official explanation is expected to be given on Friday.

Inbound flights were diverted to the nearby airports in Zhejiang province's Ningbo and Jiangsu province's Wuxi. Outbound flights were delayed for three to four hours.

A staff member at the airport's information desk said the airport had "no idea" how many flights were affected by the closure.

At around 11 pm on Wednesday, a netizen wrote three entries announcing the airport's closure in

his microblog at Sina.com, but they were all soon deleted.

He posted an apology at midnight, saying the news had not been confirmed and asking those who had republished his earlier entries to delete them.


Read more - http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90782/90872/7058628.html

Venezuela nabs 2 for trying to 'Twitter' a run on banks - face 11 years in jail for disrupt normal banking practices -

Venezuela nabs 2 for trying to 'Twitter' a run on banks -  face 11 years in jail for disrupt normal banking practices - 





Police said that two people were under arrest for allegedly trying to destabilizeVenezuela's banking sector by putting out rumors on Twitter.
The suspects, a man and a woman, could face up to 11 years in jail under the terms of a 2001 law punishing the dissemination of false information or the use of any other fraudulent means to disrupt normal banking practices.
The couple in custody "were using the social networking site Twitter to disseminate false rumors with the purpose of destabilizing the national banking system... and trigger a run on banks," said scientific and technical police chiefWilmer Flores, on Thursday.
Police seized from the suspects a cellular phone that included "the first message" sent on Twitter, as well as two external hard drives and other portable memory devices. However, police did not divulge the exact content of the tweets.
Venezuelan banks have been on tenterhooks since leftist President Hugo Chavez's administration began intervening in the sector, with more than a dozen small- and mid-sized banks having been either expropriated or shut down since November 2009.
The latest government takeover earlier this month involved Banco Federal, the country's eighth largest bank. Chavez blamed the bank directors, who so far have eluded  arrest, of "leading a bank irresponsibly into a position of bankruptcy."  


Read more - http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.33301463485e4f92aa4016bf384c8b71.d1&show_article=1

Wednesday 7 July 2010

Beaver statue yanked as suggestive - meant to portray a praying woman's hands - looks like female genitalia -

Beaver statue yanked as suggestive - meant to portray a praying woman's hands - looks like female genitalia - 





A scene painted on a beaver statue struck some observers as female genitalia, prompting its removal from a public art walk in Bemidji, Minn., an organizer said.
Deborah Davis of Blackduck says her piece of art, one of nine fiberglass beaver sculptures painted by area artists, was meant to portray a praying woman's hands, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Sunday.
But about 20 people who sized it up as they took in downtown Bemidji's Sculpture Walk called city officials to say they saw something entirely different when they looked at the beaver's belly. And so the offending statue disappeared from the public space Thursday by order of City Manager John Chattin.
Al Belleveau, president of the Bemidji Sculpture Walk, said he transported the sculpture to his yard until the City Council rules on its future Tuesday.
But removing the beaver stirred emotions in others who are upset the sculpture was removed. Davis told the Tribune Sunday a group of people had gathered at the spot where her statue had stood carrying signs that read "Censored" and some of the other beaver artists covered up their own works in solidarity with her.
"My intent was to paint Mother Nature, Mother Earth," said Davis, a former kindergarten teacher. "I didn't understand that some people saw genitalia. ... I understand people see different things in art, and they need to be free to do that. ... My intent was to paint a praying woman."

Tuesday 6 July 2010

First Cougar Convention in Toronto this Friday - There’s not enough cougars to go around - one in Chicago drew 400 Men -

First Cougar Convention in Toronto this Friday - There’s not enough cougars to go around - one in Chicago drew 400 Men - 


click to zoom





Dating older women has become so popular it has created a shortage, according to the organizer of the first Cougar Convention in Toronto this Friday.
Rich Gosse, who bills himself as America’s foremost authority on finding a romantic partner, claims Demi Moore and Madonna have made dating older women so socially acceptable that men who were once afraid to be caught dead with older woman are now flocking to them.
“There’s not enough cougars to go around,” says Gosse, who has held cougar events across North American and Australia. The most recent one in Chicago drew 400 men and women.
“In the olden days when we would do these cougar parties, we always got too many women, we couldn’t find any guys who were willing to come and date older women,” says Gosse. “They were too embarrassed to admit they were dating a woman as old as their mothers. That all changed. Now, there’s actually a greater demand among the cubs for the cougars.”
Actors Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore got the ball rolling with their May-December relationship, but Gosse believes it was baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez who made it even more socially acceptable, when it was reported in 2008 that he was in a relationship with Madonna that ended both their marriages. There is a 17-year age difference between them.
“If Alex Rodriguez, the $250 million-dollar man who can have any woman in the world he wants is dating a 50- year old woman, Madonna, there’s gotta be something to these cougars. He’s the one who made it socially acceptable to date an older woman and even brag to your buddies about it,” says Gosse.
Despite heroic attempts to normalize the term, including a poorly received television series starring Courtney Cox, the word still seems to invite ridicule. A recent Air New Zealand spoof of cougars depicted them as voracious, orange-faced desperados, lunging at young men.
In fact, older women say the opposite is true. Younger men pursue older women.
“Not that I’m looking for a relationship, but if I were, I would pick an older, more established man, the tall, silver-hair look. But the younger guys seem to be attracted to me for some reason and they seem to find me,” says Mary Taylor, a single network marketing professional and the author of Bedroom Games.
She plans to attend Friday’s event at Sixty-9 Bathurst Nightclub. The only rule for women is they must be over 35 and legally single. The “cubs” are expected to vote on the woman they want to be crowned Miss Cougar Canada.
“It’s the first one I’ve ever gone to. I don’t really know what to expect. I’m just looking forward to having a really fun night.”
Married and divorced twice, Taylor has had two relationships with younger men, which have ended by mutual agreement. Although they were fun, eventually the age difference did have an impact.
“A lot of them are not as secure financially, so they can’t really do as much as I like to do, travel and take the time off. I’m self-employed, I’m used to doing things I like to do when I want to do them. A lot of younger guys are tied to jobs.”
Gosse says while some of the cubs are looking for relationships, others aren’t, and the first question an older woman should ask is whether a younger man is interested in settling down and having kids. If the woman is too old or has already done that, she has to be prepared when the younger man decides he wants a family.
“You have to protect yourself from getting your heart broken. Otherwise you have to be aware that he is going to leave you and marry someone else and have babies.”

Sunday 4 July 2010

Man charged after extracting tooth while driving - mounted string and waited for a bump to yank it out.

Man charged after extracting tooth while driving - mounted string and waited for a bump to yank it out.






A man trying to pull his tooth out while driving has been charged.
Provincial police say around 11:30 a.m. on June 30, an officer responded to a complaint of a tractor trailer allegedly driving “all over the road” on Highway 402 in Warwick, Ont.
The officer pulled the vehicle over and discovered the man was trying to yank out his tooth while driving.
Police say the driver allegedly rigged a string around the affected tooth, mounted the string to a fixed point on the roof of the cab and waited for a bump to yank it out.
Police say the bloody tooth and string lay next to the man when he was pulled over.
A 58-year-old man has been charged with careless driving.

Thursday 1 July 2010

Abercrombie shuts New York store due to bedbugs - Maggots force plane back to gate in Atlanta -????? -

Abercrombie shuts New York store due to bedbugs - Maggots force plane back to gate in Atlanta -????? - 






Teen apparel chain Abercrombie & Fitch Co has closed its Hollister store in New York City due to bedbug infestation.
The store, in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood, was closed on Wednesday, the company said. It said it was in the process of removing the bedbugs and hoped to reopen the store soon.
Abercrombie & Fitch spokesman Eric Cerny had no comment on how the store closing could affect sales and profits.
&
US Airways says maggots falling from an overhead bin from a container of spoiled meat forced a plane to return to the gate in Atlanta.US Airways spokesman Todd Lehmacher says a passenger brought the container onto the plane and passengers noticed the maggots on Monday on the flight bound for North Carolina.
The plane returned to the gate and passengers got off so crews could clean the overhead bin.
Lehmacher says the flight then continued on to Charlotte, where the plane was taken out of service and fumigated out of an "abundance of caution."