There is a giveaway this week on eShop Owner! Up for grabs is this collection of baby items. It includes:

8 oz tube of Aveeno Lavender & Vanilla Calming Lotion 1 Playtex Drop-Ins Nurser with 5 refill liners 1 Razbaby pacifier 2 Bars Johnson Buddies soap 2 Huggies Baby Wipes (travel size, 16 wipes per container) 2 Huggies Natural Care disposable washcloths

To enter, just leave your answer to this question:

What kinds of baby products do you buy online, and on what websites?

A random winner will be chosen on Friday, September 12. Good luck!

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Two reasons why this excuse doesn’t ring true.  (1)Oprah has interviewed Democratic presidential nominee Barak Obama twice. (2) Even with all her billions, Oprah is still concerned about ratings.  I’m just guessing here, but having Sarah Palin on her show would be a huge ratings boost right now. Or, just maybe, a high rating and lots of media exposure for Gov. Palin isn’t what Oprah wants.

She’s the boss, and she doesn’t have to interview anyone she doesn’t want to interview.  But… just don’t tell us it’s because you don’t think you want to get involved in “politics.”

What do you think?  Should Oprah interview Sarah Palin? (Respond to my poll or comment.)

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He may not share all he does with us here at Slacker Manager, but that’s mostly because we don’t ask Dr. Z enough questions. :)

Recently Sybil Stershic interviewed David about employee engagement, and asked him some very tough questions:

Go read the full employee engagement interview and learn a bit more from David.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out David’s employee engagement network, filled with 467 smart folks, dedicated to helping folks understand and improve employee engagement.

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The Numerati, a new book by Stephen Baker of Business Week, is about data mining mathematicians.

The publisher (Houghton Miffin) is doing a behavioural advertising campaign for the book with Platform-A, a division of AOL.  So, the idea is that we’re using the tools and methods of the Numerati to promote the book. [source]

The idea that you can be advertised to, using the information gathered as you wander about the interweb, fascinates me. I’ve requested a review copy of the Numerati because I want to find out what this is all about, and at this point, I’m off to find out more about Platform-A.

This might actually be a turn in the way advertising has traditionally worked. Stay tuned…

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The first is Google Trends, which shows what people are searching for (I believe it’s massaged slightly and is minus the sex stuff at least). Today, it seems to be showing lots of people I’ve never heard of who seem to be NFL players, plus things like Grandparents day, that Hallmark holiday created to get you to buy more cards celebrate your grandparents.

The other is Twitter search, which gives trending topics of what people are talking about. This is a different behaviour, it’s not about seeking information but about connecting with others and sharing your opinion. NFL is up there, but political terms are far more prevalent.

As a brand, you can decide your advertising to drive either, or both, behaviours. Do you want people to search for information about you, as part of the consideration process, or do you want them to be talking about you because of something you have done?

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Twittering Teddy: A Farewell Tribute from My Home 2.0 DIY on Vimeo.

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So far, the site is split into seven categories:

I checked it out for my area, and there weren’t any listings. I live in a fairly small area, so I wasn’t surprised that it hadn’t taken off yet. I don’t see this getting as big as Craigslist, but hopefully it will take flight. There are a lot of good ideas here!

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Treasury spokeswoman, Brookly McLaughlin’s response to the news: “We are not going to comment on rumors.”

The feds waited until Sunday morning to announce that alas, the rumors are true: the government is taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The CEOs of both companies have been replaced and the companies will be managed by the newly created Federal Housing Finance Agency. 

I’ll be up early to watch the pre-market trading on these two…tumultuous times lie ahead.

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Clicking around, I also found their About Page, which actually points you towards Wikipedia, the first time I’ve seen a major brand pushing you towards that site and their page on it. Although not sure how effective it is.

The rest of the story will be written by you. We want you to be a part of who we are. So help write everything about us on the Beck’s Wikipedia page - from the past and the present to the future. They could be facts, milestones, accolades or any other fodder we don’t even know of. Unlike any other beer, you get to choose what defines us because we choose to be different.

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Ok, this is so old news, but I think freelancers looking to start a portfolio site based on Wordpress will like MassivePress. Working with this theme takes a bit more work, since you have to upload a seperate image file to act as a thumbnail, but the result is well worth it. On the main page, your work will be laid out as easy-to-digest snippets, with the thumbnail begging the visitor to click-through and find out the pertinent details.

Also, it’s easy to do a little tweaking of the site’s visuals to suit your needs. Download the MassivePress Wordpress theme here.

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Write well and often, Two newsletters: Abundant Freelance Writing - a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings. Writing With Vision - for those who want to get a book written.

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But in Canada, residents view the U.S. housing market as one great investment.

You can read about Canada’s love affair with our housing market here, in a story in the Wall Street Journal. But, to sum it up, the Canadian dollar is strong and U.S. homes are cheaper than they’ve been in years. This combines to make U.S. housing a strong investment for Canadian buyers.

In fact, U.S. residential real estate is a great investment for scads of foreign buyers. I live in the Chicago area, and the city has long been a lure to foreign buyers. Some are looking for second homes, others just an investment property. It’s the same in most major U.S. markets.

So next time you hear about how bad the U.S. housing market is, remember this: Not everyone agrees.

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Darn. I’m in the middle of the umpteenth pass on chapter three and it’s pretty awful. Or at least it was until I just took out some 400 words! The 400 words weren’t all that bad, but they were terribly redundant. I don’t think I double copied anything; no, I’m sure I didn’t. The passage was just too different than the rest to be one of those errors. It looks like I simply didn’t pay enough attention to what I had already written when I created this one.

What struck me was her willingness to slice off a large chunk of what’s practically her own creativity. But she knows what’s more important than freely indulging her own creative sense. The reason why the 400 words had to go was, of course, a need to keep the message of the book pithy yet comprehensive.

We all know to use only what we need for the project. Writers who can express more with less are good, while designers who can convey with fewer elements are good. The point is that Anne is displaying some creative maturity, because she knows its all about fulfilling the requirements of a project. Even for personal projects, what works is sometimes incompatible with what we want to do. Always go for the latter, even if you have to “kill your babies”, as Debra says.

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If you’ve found buttercups growing in the weeds, you’ve seen such things. The natural world is filled with juxtapositions. Things in new places stand out.

The butterfly fits with grace, blending into its natural habitat.

We value a butterfly differently when it stands out.

The least expected often gets the most attention. Differences interrupt static patterns.

Nature finds it’s own path. We look for differences.

What turns standing out into outstanding?

–ME “Liz” Strauss images: sxc.hu

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To quote myself from last spring, “Anon Y Mous is probably the wisest, most prolific and longest-lived writer in history.”

So, without more ado, here are more three more quotes from his incredible collection.

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects the wind; the realist adjusts the sails” (Guess which is the perfect description of me:)

“Praise works with only three types of people; men, women, and children” (Not to mention cats, dogs and most other living things.)

“Real leaders are ordinary people with extraordinary determination” (It’s in the MAP, not the position.)

What can you add from the Anon collection?

Your comments—priceless

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Image credit: stroinski   CC license

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They are simply going to the airport everyday, asking questions, taking photos, gathering statistics and then turning that into an ad for the next day, where it can be found in the paper, the digital displays, the website and probably other places as well.

In the Metro, the morning free paper:

In a digital display at a Tube Station:

After all the bad press after the opening of the new terminal at Heathrow, they could have gone with a big branded message, all about how great the BA brand is and moved the communication away from T5, but instead they focused on reality, what is really happening in what will become the prime home for the airline.

It’s not all gone smoothly, with some misleading claims being made, apparently by mistake but if you take a look at some of the forums, they do seem to be reporting that things are generally pretty good. There’s a lot of postive comments, in complete contrast to the posts in the first few weeks of opening.

Back to the ad campaign, the whole thing is pretty impressive given the timelines they are working against to produce the elements and get them approved. Pushing everything out in that time, it’s so easy to make mistakes. I do think, however, that the proof of the campaign will be when they have a terrible day - what will they say then?

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I was intrigued when I heard Sarah Palin’s speech at the RNC that she put the jet (belonging to the state government of Alaska) on eBay. My ears always perk up when I hear eBay in the news, and let’s face it, Sarah Palin is big news right now.

I have done some digging and learned that the jet did not sell on eBay, although she listed it there 3 times. The item had bids, but the reserve was not met so the sale did not take place.

The jet, a 1984 Westwind II was eventually sold the through an aircraft broker. The final selling price was 2.1 million.

[Image Source:Flickr]

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I love that it’s super fast. Amazingly speedy. Starts up like a fiend. Love it.

I love the start page and the fact that there are screenshots of my most recently visited pages.

The dragging of tabs is pretty damn cool, even though the first time I inadvertently did it, I was completely freaked out. What the HELL did I just do?? Once I figured it out, I thought it was pretty damn cool. 

What I don’t like? the fact that when you close the window, you close all the tabs. Without warning. That’s an issue, and I think Google needs to work that out.

The thing is, that’s really the only thing that I don’t like. So far at least. I’ve been using Chrome as my primary browser, and so far, I’m sorta in love.  (screenshot of my browser window, courtesy me)

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 I’m just not sure there’s a ton of controversy in Social Media, public relations & the intersection of business. Makes the part about being weird enough to qualify for “good” kinda difficult sometimes.

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