Green not green

Who ya gonna call?

What's top-of-mind for your target? How can you make their lives easier? Indian cellular company Aircel hung a raft on one of their billboards just before monsoon season bearing the headline "In case of emergency, cut rope." When the rains came and the roads flooded, people did just that, and ferried stranded travelers to safety. The result was a ton of media attention and, no doubt, a ton of Indians who will contract with Aircel. The company's erecting more dinghy boards in other cities, just in case. (source: Springwise, 8/5/09)

Georgia Power says, Woof
Yeah, I know, cute dog videos...but these are clever, and informative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldSJNZ3o2Ls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNYyyr2K7uc&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhLsAvsBkbs&feature=related

Don't worry, be happy
According to the Happy Planet Index, a scientific study that takes things like health, life expectancy, life satisfaction, and sustainable relationship with the environment into account, the top 10 happiest places in the world are:
1) Costa Rica
2) Dominican Republic
3) Jamaica
4) Guatemala
5) Vietnam
6) Colombia
7) Cuba
8) El Salvador
9) Brazil
10) Honduras
Another study from the Organization of Economic Development put Denmark, Finland, and Netherlands at the top. Nobody ranks us very high. (source: Christian Science Monitor, 8/3/09)

How he-he did it
Patent no. 5,255,452, issued to Michael Jackson in 1993. The heel of the shoe slides onto a hitch that can be stuck through the stage letting the wearer lean forward beyond his center of gravity. Lean back, slide off, and boogie. (source: POP Design, July/August 2009)

Moo vs. ‘fu
The average American eats 200 lbs of meat a year. That's about ½ a pound a day. Just shy 3% of us are vegetarians. (source: CDC/Harris Interactive)

Is your laptop feeling unfulfilled?
Most of the time your home computer's just hanging out, lonely and unloved. But it could be doing something great. Volunteer its unused processor power to assist in research on AIDS, climate change, or combating malaria in Africa. It's an old idea, but Intel's created a simple new way to share it and do it. Go to www.facebook.com/progressthruprocessors , pick a project, and poof, you're a hero. (source: Marketing Daily, 8/5/09)

Thursday. The Hague. Paid official New Years day visits.
Who says dead men can't tweet? John Quincy Adams just started this week, but already has over 6K followers. It seems the 6th president was waaaay ahead of his time. His 69-volume journal, written over 51 years of his life, is filled with one-line accounts of his daily doings-just perfect for Twitter, or at least so thought the teenager who read them and suggested the feed to the Massachusetts Historical Society. http://twitter.com/jqadams_mhs

Things you can get from vending machines
Flat shoes (at dance clubs), prescription drugs, cell phone chargers, electrical adaptors, pot (in CA of course), umbrellas, eggs, panties, novels, bicycle parts, iPods, beer, soccer balls, socks, video games, gold bullion, Krugerrands, live bait, pet products (from food to Frisbees), sushi, sneakers, and swim trunks. (source: Wired, Springwise, various blogs)

The NY State lotto jackpot is now...
When I grow up, I want to live here. (source: Johnston Architects, somewhere near Seattle)

Don't mess with Cookie Mom
When C.V. Harquail, cookie organizer for her daughter's Girl Scout troop, tasted Walmart's new cookie varieties at the recent BlogHer conference, she was certain something was rotten in Bentonville. On her blog, she accuses the mega-retailer of copying Girl Scout flavors to undercut the girls by offering what had been, until now, exclusive flavors all year long. GSA didn't have much to say about the matter. (source: Ad Age, 8/3/09)

Lite Brite Jordan
Is it in you? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6VhYFLlObk

Club Cradle-to-Grave
Need a casket? Costco's got ‘em. They'll even ship overnight. Beat that, BJ's. (source: Costco.com)

TARP tracker
Keep an eye on your investments http://projects.nytimes.com/creditcrisis/recipients/table

How much do you love Leia?
Here's your chance to prove it. A crowd-sourced project to recreate 472 15-second scenes using stop-motion animation. Tackle up to 3. They'll all get stitched together to make "Star Wars: A New Hope" (the first movie which was really the fourth movie). Claim your segments today at http://www.starwarsuncut.com/ . Action figures not included.

How did the Vikings manage?
According to the ADA, redheads are more sensitive to pain. Often local pain blockers, like Novocaine, don't work on them, and they need considerably more general anesthesia than heads of other colors. The genes that influence their pigment also control pain receptors. (source: NY Times, 8/6/09)

Jelly submarine
What looks like its eyes are really its nostrils. Its eyes are the green orbs swiveling inside its clear forehead. The barreleye lives far under the surface of the ocean, so having a transparent skull helps it capture flakes of fellow fish and other potential food floating down. (source: National Geographic, August 2009)

Not naming names 1
Another case of a good sustainability idea gone bad. My bank is offering to pay its customers 10 cents every time we make a cashless payment. Good. Pay us a little something to accept e-statements instead of mailed ones. Also good. Make the whole thing official by mailing us a new ATM/debit card made of recycled plastic with a special green logo to replace the perfectly good plastic cards we already have. Splat. Well, thanks for the dimes.

Not naming names 2
A local newspaper is now delivered in a green-colored plastic bag that says it's recyclable and celebrates the company's eco-friendliness. Sounds great, but wait. The bag's a "blue box" no-go. It's #7 plastic that isn't accepted by the county or city recycling program. Some #7s are compostable, but the bag doesn't mention if it is. All this means that recyclable (somewhere) or not, it's still going in the trash here.

Cutting out the middle man
In the land of central control, Pepsi isn't sponsoring pop stars, it's creating them. PepsiCo China has launched its own music label enabling it to groom, produce, and ultimately control its recording artists. The company's hosting an Idol-style TV series to let the viewing public choose who gets signed, and who gets to promote Pepsi. There's also a website, social network, yaddah yaddah. (source: Business Week, 8/6/09)