Beware the Ides of Marketing

Today is the first official day of SHJ's sponsorship of "Byciclemark's Audio Communique". For those of you unfamiliar with Bicyclemark, he is a self-described "Portuguese-American, radical, activist-blogger, podjournalist and citizen reporter, living in Amsterdam." His podcasts generally discuss under-reported stories, along with his own personal experiences, in a style that is not too dissimilar from "This American Life" on NPR.

His most recent podcast is about his experience running into a Serbian friend shortly after the death of Milosevic. (mp3)

You should hear, after the brief introduction, one of three rotating spots Mark created for the show. Our plan is to create enough random spots so that people don't become completely bored with them and tune them out.

Please take the time to download the podcast, listen to the spot and let me know what you think. Do the spots create the right impression of SHJ? Do you think Bicylcemark's Audio Communique"' is a good fit with SHJ?

Website News

Ok, so by this point, my new and improved website is long overdue. Long story short - the guy I hired to design and build the site was good with the designing, not so good with the building.

Consequently, I've decided to take matters into my own hands. I have gone about learning as much web design as I can so that I can build my next website. As my saintly departed mother used to say, "Teach a man to phish, and everyone will hate you." But, I digress.

Kyle and I are working on a new design. Here is a rough idea of how the home/splash page might look:

This is picture shows a 800 X 600 site. Given that 94% of my visitors have monitors with 1024 X 768 resolution, or better, we're planning to change the size to 1024 X 768 to give ourselves a little more real estate to work with.

Please feel free to give feedback.

Ah, Red Snapper...

A Scene from "UHF"
[On the game show, "Wheel of Fish", Phyllis Weaver has just spun the wheel and landed on a red snapper]

Kuni: Ahhh, a red snapper. Mmmmm, very tasty. Okay, Weaver, listen carefully. You can hold on to your red snapper... [Hiro-San emerges, carrying a table with a box] ...or you can go for what's in the box that Hiro-San is bringing down the aisle right now! What's it gonna be?
[Phyllis Weaver decides between the Red Snapper and the box. The audience points to the box]
Phyllis Weaver: I'll take the box. The box! [the audience applauded]
Kuni: You took the box? Let's see what's in the box! [Hiro-san opens the box, and the audience gasps in silence]
Kuni: Nothing! Absolutely nothing! STUPID! You're so STU-PIIIIIIIIIIID!

Great scene, great movie. However, it turns out that Phyllis Weaver might have made a good choice. Let me explain...

Now, I'm not up on all the envionmental stuff I could be. I'm not following closely what Congress and the Supreme Court are doing to our skies and waterways (It's not good, by the way.) I've never chained myself to a tree or hugged a badger. But, I do try to pitch in where I can. I recycle, I try not to litter, etc. I just like to do my small part to help Captain Planet.

Well, a while back, I went to the Shedd Aquarium and they were handing out litte wallet cards that show you which seafood are ok to eat. The determining factor is generally how the fish are caught. Some are over fished. Others are caught in environmental un-friendly ways. Long-story short - red snapper is on the avoid list.

Check out the list. Do your part.

Disclaimer: Kendra, no, this does not apply to you.

Best Choices: These are you best seafood choices! These fish are abundant, well managed and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.

Proceed With Caution: These are a good choices, but there are some concerns with the way they are caught or farmed. They are, however, better choices than the items in the avoid column.

Avoid: Avoid these products, at leas for now. These fish come from sources that are overfished or caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment.

Best Choices Proceed With Caution Avoid Catfish (farmed) Caviar (farmed) Clams (farmed) Crab: Dungeness Crab: Snow (Canada) Crab: Stone Halibut: Pacific Lobster: Spiny/Rock (US, Australia) Mussles (farmed) Oysters (farmed) Salmon (wild-caught Alaskan) Salamon (canned) Sardines Shrimp/Prawns (trap-caught) Striped Bass (farmed) Sturgeon (farmed) Tilapia (US farmed) Trout: Rainbow (farmed) Tuna: Albacore (troll/pole-caught) Tuna: Bigeye (troll/pole-caught) Tuna: Yellowfin (troll/poll-caught) Clams (wild-caught) Cod: Pacific Crab: Blue Crab: Imitation/Surimi Crab: King (Alaskan) Crab: Snow (US) Flouner: Summer/Fluke Lobster: American/Maine Mahimahi/Dolphinfish/Dorado Oysters (wild-caught) Pollock Scallops: Bay Scallops: Sea Shrimp (US farmed or US wild-caught) Soles (Pacific) Squid Swordfish (US) Tuna: Albacore (longline-caught) Tuna: Bigeye (longline-caught) Tuna: Yellowfin (longline-caught) Tuna (canned) Caviar (wild-caught) Chilean Sea Bass/Tootfish Cid: Atlantic/Icelandic Crab: King (imported) Flounders: (Atlantic) except Summer Flounder Groupers Halibut: Atlantic Monkfish Orange Roughy Rockfish/ Rock Cod (Pacific) Salmon (farmed/Atlantic) Sharks Shrimp (imported) Snapper: Red Soles (Atlantic) Sturgeon (wild-caught) Swordfish (imported) Tuna: Bluefin

So, How'd I Do?

If you'll remember, I made some goals for the month of February. Well, I am proud to say that I was perfect. That's right, a perfect 0 for 7.

You would think, based purely on that statistic, that I did nothing last month. Not true. I installed hardwood floors in my condo; painted my kitchen, living room, dining room, foyer and office; bought a new puppy; and learned a whole bunch about Photoshop, Dreamweaver and JavaScript.

Clearly, the problem was that I set the wrong goals. Therefore, without further ado, my March goals:

• Go to SXSW and drink at least 6 beers;


• Watch at least 2 movies and 10 hours of TV;


• Play with the puppy;


• Make some t-shirts;


• Sell some t-shirts; and


• Take a break

I'll update you on my progress, of course.