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December 18 | Comments (0)

The internet is full of sites that don't get the credit they deserve. They faithfully do their jobs and ask for nothing in return. Unsung hero #1 is Seat61.

Maybe you don't like flying. Or perhaps you just prefer classic travel by train or ship, where a journey is something to enjoy not endure... This website will tell you how to travel comfortably by train or ship for many journeys where you might think that air was now the only option.

In researching many of my travels (most recently our impending trip to China) Mark Smith's Seat61 has been invaluable. Full of hints,prices, tips and links that makes travelling by train that much easier when you're somewhere unfamiliar. Before you travel anywhere by train, check it out.

December 14 | Comments (0)

On June 15, 1957, a new gold and white 1957 Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe was buried in a time capsule in downtown Tulsa, OK. The time capsule was part of Golden Jubilee Week: Tulsa‘s celebration of Oklahoma‘s semi-centennial. The car is buried under the sidewalk in front of the Tulsa County Courthouse, approximately 100 feet north of the intersection of Sixth Street and Denver Avenue.

In Hinton, Alberta, Canada, behind 141 Reimer Drive, next to a large rock is buried the time capsule of the Folkmann brothers. The time capsule included such glorious items as a McDonalds chicken McNuggets box and various other plastic toys. I'd love to go back someday and dig it up.

December 14 | Comments (0)

I've been away for the past 2 days in NY on business. What a fantastic city. I wish I knew it better than I do. The quick turn around has completely screwed up my internal clock.


December 11 | Comments (0)

Everyday we get another press release about another product being absorbed into the Yahoo machine. Del.icio.us was bought yesterday, Flickr before that and probably many smaller properties I don't have a clue about. Not too mention bloggers such as Tom Coates (former BBC) etc. It's amazing how the hiring of real talent affects a business, Yahoo has been launching product like crazy lately and i've mentioned i'm impressed before. I wish the agency world (that I live in) would learn a thing or two about hiring like this. Hire smart people, they'll make your business better. Give them room to grow and they'll make you the best. Yahoo! has got this.

See you in a few. Off to NY.

December 9 | Comments (0)

Yahoo Answers was launched this morning. This is a very interesting service, as they've taken a community driven approach rather than the paid expert approach that a number of other similar services offer. The answers to questions are rated and then the community picks the best answer. Genius. As mentioned at Techcrunch, they need to figure out how to incorporate tagging. The navigational structure they have at the moment will break eventually.

I'm constantly impressed with the products that are coming out of Yahoo at the moment. They "get it".

December 8 | Comments (0)

You'd have to get it at KBBC. Note the sarcasm. Is there no level too low for Jordan and Peter Andre, and I'd have to ask who would be motivated to buy something that they were endorsing?

I can just imagine the conversation at KBBC head office.

- Alright guys, we need a hook. How about a celebrity?
- How much can we afford?
- ££££
- Linda Barker, too expensive. Lawrence, too expensive. I've got it! Jordan and Peter!

Focus on good product, skip the cheesy celebrity.

December 7 | Comments (1)


I have just had the worst customer experience of my life. I ordered a new PC from Mesh Computers and arranged for it to be delivered on Friday evening. Expecting that they would show up after 6 I arrived home a few minutes before only to find that they had already been there and left a card in the door. The card said that they were there at 6pm and clearly they were not! So, all I had to do is wait for my delivery on Monday as they told me it would arrive the next business day. Monday passed, Tuesday passed and still nothing.

After repeated calls to the depot and many hours on hold, the less than friendly lady let me know that they had attempted delivery in the morning on Tuesday but I wasn't there. (I asked her what happend to Monday, and didn't get a satisfactory response.) Since I had paid for evening delivery, I wrongly assumed that they would deliver... in the evening. Today, I've had to travel to their depot, pick it up and pay for a taxi to take me home. All in all i'm out £60, really pissed off with Amtrak, but at least I have my new PC.

Why is it that delivery companies only want to deliver during normal office hours? Don't they realise that everyone else has to work as well. A evening only delivery company would probably make a killing.

I reserve the word hate for a select few. Amtrak I hate you, may your collective genitals be infested with the fleas of 10000 camels.

December 3 | Comments (0)

As anyone close to me knows i'm a lover of maps, and therefore I'll have to remind everyone that Christmas is coming.

The greatest and finest atlas ever published." -Koeman I, Bl 56 The finest and most comprehensive baroque atlas was Joan Blaeu’s exceptional Atlas Maior, completed in 1665. The original 11-volume Latin edition, containing 596 maps, put Blaeu ahead of his staunch competitor, mapmaker Johannes Janssonius, whose rivalry inspired Blaeu to produce a grandiose edition of the largest and most complete atlas to date. Covering Arctica, Europe, Africa, Asia, and America, Blaeu’s Atlas Maior was a remarkable achievement and remains to this day one of history’s finest examples of mapmaking. This reprint is made from the National Library of Vienna’s complete, colored, gold-heightened copy, thus assuring the best possible detail and quality.

This is the coffee table book to rival all. Atlas Maior is available at Amazon for only $200. (The Morning News lists this and many other gifts to splurge on this Christmas.)

December 1 | Comments (1)

Interesting idea for a product tie in. I can imagine that many more game titles will be looking for real world branding posibilities in the next few years.

Today Square Enix unveiled their first major Final Fantasy food tie in simply named "Potion." The drink supposedly makes you relaxed like herb tea and tastes mystical. It contains nutritional supplements so that the company can claim that the drinker might recover real life hit points.

It's set to go on sale in March 2006 to coincide with the release of Final Fantasy XII.

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I am a Planning Director at Critical Mass in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. At the moment I'm focusing on the luxury market. I also work on Forkd with my friends at Isotoma.

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