Archive for March, 2006

The Onion Stays Ahead Of The Curve

Tuesday, March 28th, 2006

From politics to marketing trends the Onion consistently stays ahead of the curve in reporting news that hasn’t even happened yet.

In Febuary 2004 they published “Fuck Everything, We’re Doing Five Blades,” a rant supposedly from Gillette CEO James M. Kilts. In September 2005 Gillette announce the Fusion Razor, which has 5 blades and a freakin moustache trimmer. Has anyone tried it? I’m interested to know what it feels like

Of course, you will remember The Onion’s reporting of the build-up to the Iraq war, which essentially spelled out point by point all reasons why it was a bad idea to invade Iraq.

Also relating to nuclear proliferation, back as 1999 there was the headline “World’s Nuclear Arsenal ‘Pretty Much’ Accounted For.” The best quote from this article has to be “You’d really be surprised how little’s actually missing.”

Forget The Times and The Journal. I should be reading the Onion.

Are the stars out tonight?

Monday, March 6th, 2006

New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni notes that, though flawed, the star system may be with us for a while.

(see: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=20).

I say yes to stars as long as they are well-defined. Some baseline is necessary to *quickly* search amongst the good.

Meal decisions are often made by groups in trying circumstances and must be made quickly (else with 5 or more people anarchy ensues).

In these instances, having around a good baseline is essential. Stars or any benchmark should have some formal attribute, however. Does 1 star mean I will enjoy the food, but it is served on an inelegant counter by a ham-fisted waiter? Does it mean I will pay $120 for subpar food in a gorgeous setting?

Stars are a bit like those famously inept wall street stock ratings. What does it mean, as Citigroup CFO Sallie Krawcheck once observed, if a stock is rated overweight in an underweight sector?