Lost Dog now found

Update: Beau returned home on his own. Yes, he is now grounded. He's got some nicks and scratches but is otherwise hale and hearty. Thanks so much to everyone who helped with the search, and if you see a wandering dog don't assume it is an unwanted stray - someone may be looking for that dog very urgently and losing sleep over their disappearance.

Beauregard (with help from a ghostwriter) is a blogger on Indypaws too and we are grateful for the help from the Indypaws community in finding Beauregard. Beau has been reported missing to the Humane Society of Indianapolis, the Hamilton County Humane Society, the Carmel police department, 24PetWatch (they track his microchip number and any reports of it being scanned), Petfinder.com, Fidofinder.com and Craigslist. There are flyers posted in the neighborhood, along the main street, and at the kids' school. If you can think of any other suggestions please post in the comments. Wishing Beau a safe and speedy return is much appreciated also.

reBlog from EvaLyford: Biznology Blog by Mike Moran

I found this fascinating quote today:

It sounds like Telkom SA just missed a big opportunity to partner with Unlimited IT and address a systemic issue that plagues them both. It is time to step up your game. Let's imagine for a moment an alternate universe, where Telkom SA's response looks like this...Eva Lyford, Biznology Blog by Mike Moran, Sep 2009

read the rest of the article, Opportunity Costs in Social Media, at Biznology.

Image via Wikipedia

 

 

The Elms Great American Midrange is a genuine 100% listenable album

I was delighted to listen to "The Great American Midrange" yesterday and realize not once had I been compelled to skip a track or two - how long has it been since *you* had an album worth listening to straight through? The songs are each carefully constructed, passionate, and easy to get immersed into. There's a lot of variety from track to track and even within a song, while not sacrificing a coherent narrative. A Midwesterner like me hears the themes of local life as I know it and that authenticity is moving.

The lyrics are poetic and clever. The songs range from the powerful ("Thunderhead" and "Strut"), the race-worthy "Back to Indiana" and the soul baring "The Little Ways." The coming-of-age story behind "Unless God Appears First," addresses regret and repentance in the tradition of the blues but with a modern, neo-apathetic twist. An untitled bonus track is a sweet and savory ending to the album.

reBlog from EvaLyford: Biznology Blog by Mike Moran

Image via Wikipedia

I have a new blog post up regarding an endorsement of a book as a good case study for social marketing:

Stephen Fry might not be well-known in the US, but he's almost a national treasure in England. He's a rarity, in that he is both a celebrity and an intellectual. Fry's entertaining QI show and wide-ranging intellectual interests have devoted followings. He is a Man Who Knows Of What He Speaks when it comes to an intellectual's fare. So an endorsement, however flip, has the weight of authority behind it.EvaLyford, Biznology Blog by Mike Moran, Sep 2009

You should read the whole article.

How to dry a shirt in the microwave in 5 minutes in less than 10 steps

when it is that special shirt which you promised would be clean for school photo day but isn't.

This one is for all the working moms.

Your mileage may vary, no warranty implied, not recommended for anyone ever, and no I'm not liable if you follow instructions posted on the internet what kind of crazy person are you? You probably diagnose yourself based on the Mayo Clinic site so I suppose you know what you're doing.

1. Start with one wet, clean, fire-resistant shirt with no metal fashion or plastic elements. Do not try this with a dirty shirt or your whole kitchen will stink like a dirty, abandoned shirt found in the corner of a Greyhound bus station. Wring the shirt out to within an inch of its life.
2. Put the shirt in a covered bowl, so that if it catches on fire, you only have to replace a bowl, a cover, and a shirt, and not an entire microwave. Who says I can't plan ahead?
3. Stop now and attempt to renegotiate with the child. Surely you can find another shirt in the closet? Can stop at the store and get one? Can skip the photo day? If no, proceed with caution.
4. Microwave the shirt for 10 seconds on 50% power.
5. Remove with potholders, it will be hot. Seriously hot. Waft the shirt around until it cools.
6. The rigorousness of your wafting will be the greatest contribution you can make to shortened drying time. So work those triceps.
7. Is it mostly dry? If not, repeat steps 3, 4 and 5. Continued dampness of the shirt may allow for additional persuasion per step 3 with any but the most stubborn client consenting.
8. Once the shirt is mostly dry, put it on the client and explain that body heat will complete the drying cycle. Provide a sweater to augment the body heat drying cycle.

Prepare yourself mentally to get back school photos of the kid in the sweater because it slipped his mind to take off the sweater and be photographed in the special shirt.

reBlog from EvaLyford: Biznology Blog by Mike Moran

There's plenty of products out there that looked like dross until the community was found for them and the context provided. Who here was using a computer in the 1980s? Screen savers were trivial oddities then. By end of the decade they became personal expressions of humor, or even astute ways to guard a personal investment from dreaded Burn In, and something people shelled out cash for even though it was by definition unproductive and repetitive software. The community of home users was where screen savers went wild. Context was provided through comparison to the dreadful CRTs we abused our eyes with at work; we much preferred flying toasters to green pictures drawn with letters and numbers.EvaLyford, Biznology Blog by Mike Moran, Sep 2009

You should read the whole article.

reBlog from Biznology Blog by Mike Moran

From an article of mine published at Biznology yesterday:

Example the first: United Breaks Guitars is a rant from one musician, Dave Carroll, who dearly loves his Taylor guitar. I couldn't hope to relate the story in as entertaining a manner as he does, so watch the video to get the summary of what happened. This video has had 5,342,399 views today. That's 5 million. Five million. How much would United have to spend to reach that many people and engage them for 4:36 minutes a piece? Out of curiosity, and because in some reptilian part of my brain there lives a direct marketer, I tried to figure out what conversion rate Dave Carroll had achieved with this. I added up all the blog posts, Google hits, YouTube comments and ratings, and determined that 12% of those who viewed the video responded in some way. Any direct marketer with that kind of response rate would squeal like a little girl. At least I would, in a scaly reptilian way.Eva Lyford, Biznology Blog by Mike Moran, Sep 2009

You should read the whole article.