Does McCain look better when shit's really heading south?

An Observation:

Motivequest, an online discussion measurement (among other things) company put together this site: http://brandadvocacy08.com/main.html
It basically tallies the volume and sentiment of online discussion regarding Obama and McCain in horizontal discussion forums (and not, political discussion boards where people of one ilk or another gather). 

While I'm sure it has its flaws (e.g. it doesn't account for the fact more young people are online, that young people tend to sway Obama, or the electoral college, etc.), it's makers seem to think that they'll be able to predict the outcome of the election based on their numbers. One has even promised to shave his head if he's wrong.

Interestingly, Obama had the advantage since the site launched end of August -  until today when the stock market tanked.

Perhaps too early to tell, but looks like people look to 'experience' when it gets REALLY scary. Wonder if the score will sway Obama if/when the market improves. 

 

Stay tuned. 

Drop the top, and Forty Grand.

Is this the next craze in Crossovers?

Nissan Murano - WITH A DROP TOP!?! (Limited Edition for about $40K)

http://www.drugasmuga.com/?com=news&sb=view&id=4428&menu=21 

Reminds me of the Audi Cross Cabriolet - only it's a piece of crap. 



Who the f**k cares? Me, only because I hope this garbage doesn't become an object of desire for new car buyers. What a piece of crap for luxury car prices. 

The ol' bait n' switch is new again.

Seems to be a trend in 2008 advertising: 

First, Pizza Hut: Pizza Hut Ad

Then, Carl's Jr: Carl's Jr. Ad
Now, the latest: Window's Vista: Mojave Experiement

Real people. Real reactions. Testimonial driven. Reminds me of early advertising. Think: superglue or the ape throwing the suitcase around the cage. 

The first one was clever-ish. Then Carl's straight up BIT Pizza Hut. Finally, in a real pinch of desperation, Windows - who's campaign was sadly transparent to the fact that Window's Vista is a flop and they're trying to recoup investment. Almost as bad a Ford's "Drive One" tagline. 

Just something I was seeing.  

Litigious People Suck.

From The Week magazine 5/23 - Sometimes I just can't believe my eyes:

"A woman is suing the city of Norwalk, Conn., claiming that her son stepped in dog excrement during a visit to its aquarium. Kelly DeBrocky says she was "just really skeeved" by the incident, and is seeking $54 to cover the cost of shoes for her 1-year-old son."

WTF. Seriously, hose them off like the rest of us. 

And shame on people who don't pick up their dog poop. 

What do counterfeiters, smelly jeans and water all have in common?

Ever wonder what life would be like with a crystal ball? Do you dream of peering into the future and seeing what the world would be like? Well, wish no more. Every year, the World Futurists Society complies the top ten most through-provoking forecasts from The Futurists magazine (www.wfs.org/futurist.htm). 

1. Increases in technology and globalization will create one billion millionaires by 2025.
2. Fashion will go wired, as clothing and technology meld. Look for items like aroma emitting clothes and shoes that analyze your movements.
3. The threat of another cold war (with China, Russia…or both) could replace terrorism as the chief foreign affairs concern of the U.S.
4. Advances in optical scanning over the next five years will raise the threat of counterfeiting, pushing the world further towards a “cash-less” society.
5. The earth is on the verge of a significant extinction event. The twenty-first century could witness a biodiversity collapse 100 to 1,000 times greater than any previous extinction since the dawn of humanity.
6. Water will be to this century what oil was to the twentieth century.
7. Global population in 2050 will be larger than expected – due to healthier, longer-living people and less than expected decline in fertility among developing countries.
8. Global warming and rising population along Africa’s coasts will increase the number of Africans imperiled by floods seventy-fold by 2080.
9. Rising global demand may create an “Arctic commodities rush” for minerals, oil, natural gas, timber and fresh water.
10. More financial, health and even political decisions will be made b non-human entities (A.I., software programs, robots)

These and dozens more can be found in the full Outlook 2008 report available for $5 on the WFS website. That’s cheaper than Miss Cleo.

By The Numbers

Using a tool called Yahoo! Buzz Index, I was poking around on what keywords Americans are searching on Yahoo!. The tool basically indexes the volume of keyword searches on Yahoo! (the Buzz) as well as increases/decreases in volume over the last 24 hours. Lastly, it ranks the popularity of the words among all of the words people are searching on Yahoo! (Note: this isn’t a real index based on 100, so take it with a grain of salt. It’s more the relative Buzz score that a keyword is enjoying at a moment in time). Let’s proceed:

So, what about the term ‘Barack Obama’:

As of 2/5/08, he ranked 67th and has seen a steady increase in search over the last few weeks (incidentally, he saw a large drop post Super Tuesday, not surprising).

Now, ‘Hillary Clinton’:

She ranks 56. Not bad. Likewise, has seen steady increases during the Primaries.

Just in case these numbers don’t mean much to you, let’s have a look at ‘Britney Spears’:

Coming in at #41, it’s pretty depressing that she’s more searched than two of our major democratic candidates. Incidentally, Paris Hilton’s score was in the 500’s when she went to jail back in June of 2007 - shoot me.

Also noteworthy, the words ‘myspace’ and ‘google’ are consistently the two most searched words on Yahoo!

I don’t know about you, but that’s embarrassing. Think about it. Why in the world would someone search the word ‘google’ on Yahoo!? Likewise for ‘myspace,’ Can’t you just type it into the URL bar? I digress.

You can also search what other words people searching in addition to key words. When we look at Obama, it’s mostly around some of his religious beliefs and people trying to get to know him a little more:



Now, what about Mrs. Clinton:

In case you don’t see what I’m seeing – when it comes to this lil' nutcracker, the American population is most concerned with hot nude photos, bathing suits, and her being a lesbian. HA!

I’ll save the commentary, but in the end, I’m not so sure the American people are ready for a female president. What do you think?