The City Of Stupidity

Often referred to as the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia should now be called the City of Stupidity. At least, that’s what I think. I couldn’t come up with a better name.



Apparently, the city of Philadelphia is so cash-strapped that they are demanding bloggers pay for a $300 “business privilege license”. Their reasoning being that anyone who has ads or tries to make money blogging makes the site a for-profit venture and therefore requires a business license.

Huh? Do they really think this would work? Dumb, just dumb. Regardless of the fact that I’m a blogger, how would the city enforce this? How could they prove your blog existed in Philly? Your blog could be hosted in New York for all they know.

Instead of going after bloggers, who often operate their sites at a loss when you include hosting fees, etc., they should be focusing on finding other ways to pay for financial woes. Stupid.

How The Other Half Lives

I had a very unique experience this summer: I got to see how the other half lives. And when I mean other half I mean the University of Maryland College Park. I had an internship in D.C. this summer but I lived in College Park because it was cheaper. Coming from Duke, it was definitely a different college culture, and not simply because they consider themselves our rivals in basketball.

Sure, there were some similarities between the kids I met at UMD and those I knew from Duke, but some of the differences were striking. I ended up living in essentially a frat house and made friends with some of the kids who lived there. What I noticed was that these kids were generally less well off and not as ambitious. And I say this with caution  because I met quite a few kids there who were well off and ambitious.

But when you go to a big public school like UMD or a community college there a lot of kids who aren’t. Some of the people I met during my stint in College Park were older than I. After introductions I would ask what year they were going into. And their response would be, “Well I graduated but I still have to take two classes.”

Huh? How did you graduate but still have to complete two classes? Isn’t that called not graduating?

Whatever, I took it as a statistical anomaly. But as I met more people I realized that there were quite a few kids like that.

My experience this summer, combined with this graphic below made me realize just how fortunate I am to attend a school as prestigious as Duke University. I often take for granted that college is not something that everyone can afford and that there are often significant obstacles in the path of those who aspire to do so, especially minorities.

But more importantly, what this shows is that the once vaunted U.S. education system needs a significant overhaul. It would be a different matter altogether if we started low and were making progress. But we were once at the top in education, and now we are rapidly falling behind.

Source: Huffington Post

Oh Those 20-Somethings

20-Somethings. Ever so optimistic.

This past week the NY Times released an articled titled “What Is It About 20-Somethings?” that resonated a lot with me. I actually found myself nodding my head and chuckling as I read through it like, “yup, that’s me”. This quote from the article pretty much sums it up,

“The 20s are a black box, and there is a lot of churning in there.  One-third of people in their 20s move to a new residence every year.  Forty percent move back home with their parents at least once.  They go through an average of seven jobs in their 20s, more job changes than in any other stretch.  Two-thirds spend at least some time living with a romantic partner without being married.  And marriage occurs later than ever.  The median age at first marriage in the early 1970s, when the baby boomers were young, was 21 for women and 23 for men; by 2009 it had climbed to 26 for women and 28 for men, five years in a little more than a generation.”

Although I’m not ready for the marriage part, I can tell you that I do have a lot of “churning” going on. Maybe it’s just me but I sometimes feel like I’m the most restless person I know. I think I’ve changed my career aspirations at least ten times. This summer I thought that I had figured out what I wanted to do, but then I realized the plenitude of career possibilities at my fingers still undiscovered; I can’t even begin to name nor pursue them all.

At first I thought I wanted to be a lobbyist, possibly a politician. So I packed my bags and traveled down to Washington, DC, an unpaid internship in hand, and my dad super-pissed off because he had to pay for all my shit. Whatever. A chance to work in DC, who would pass that up? The only city I had ever lived in was Durham and NYC was too familiar for me, even though I live on Long Island. I wanted to do something different.

So I got down there and started working. After doing some networking and research my eyes soon opened to other career possibilities. I learned about the field of Public Affairs, and in turn that lead me to Public Relations.

After some more networking, I became convinced that a career in public relations was the right one for me. It suited me perfectly. PR requires creativity, excellent writing and interpersonal skills; traits that I possess. So I begin voraciously consuming everything related to PR on the internet; blogs, newsletters, etc; stuffing my brain with information like a Thanksgiving turkey.

But I found out that the more research I did about PR, the more advertising and marketing kept popping up. When I looked up career descriptions for PR, advertising and marketing were often included because of their similarities,  with both PR and advertising being subsets of marketing. Although I learned that each field had its own distinct purpose, I recognized that many of the same skills and qualities were applicable.

This sums up the differences succinctly.

Advertising especially fascinated me. I love commercials, even the bad ones. I love being able to probe and analyze them, to see what they did right, or what they did wrong and how I would portray it.  Of course, having seen Mad Men a few times didn’t hurt either.

More networking and research followed, and I began learning about agency structure and job descriptions. OK account executive, that sounds like something I could do. And I settled on that for a while, until I realized that I wanted to do something more creative. Copy writing perhaps? Yes, that sounds awesome. Getting paid well to write content for ads sounded like a dream come true.

After more research, I realized that in order to be competitive for these jobs, I would have to build my personal brand and online presence. A simple solution came in the form of blogging. I had been thinking of starting a blog for a while, but had never gotten around to it, and then seemed like as good a time as ever.

Once I started blogging however, it  became the crack addition I couldn’t kick. It consumed me for a while and still does. Initially, I would write about ten posts a day. I would constantly Google, Bing and Yahoo! my name to see when my blog would show up in search results. I checked the stats on my blog like a fantasy football owner checked NFL box scores – “C’mon ‘New Music Post 8/10/10’, only ten views today! Aw you gotta be kidding me!”

As I continued my downward spiral into the abyss of blogging, it became a gateway drug into other types of social media. And that’s when I discovered the use of Twitter, and now I can’t stop using that either. Oh, also, I started two more blogs (My iWriter and The Social Media Hot Wire), and am adding social networks at a breakneck pace. So is it social media that I want to pursue? Maybe today, but that very well might change tomorrow.

So, as I begin my senior year, I still have no idea exactly what I want to do after college. Should I be worried? Probably. Am I? Nope. Like most other 20-somethings, I have abundant confidence that things will turn out for the best and I’ll find a job after college doing something that I enjoy. And if not, I’ll just keep moving and searching until I find one.

Are you a 20-something? What is your story so far?

10 Once Great Companies

tahamaki

The Consumerist has compiled a list of once great companies that have fallen on hard times. The only company I would argue with is Microsoft. See for yourself:

There was a time when many of us got our videos at Blockbuster after shopping for a Sony Discman at Sears, all while talking on our Motorola phone. All of these companies have had their glory days, but now they’re on the U.S. News & World Report’s list of 10 Companies That Have Lost Their Edge.

Here’s a summary of their list, in alphabetical order:

Blockbuster Video: “Blockbuster’s conventional retail outlets seem hopelessly outdated… It’s now chasing its industry instead of leading it.”

Dell: “When the Internet arrived, Dell took off and competitors got whiplash trying to keep up with its skyrocketing sales. But a decade later, Dell faltered as mobile devices began to displace PCs… Dell has countered with mini-laptops, smartphones, and other trendy products, but it’s now following the pack.”

Eastman Kodak: “For nearly a century, no company commercialized the camera as successfully as Kodak… But Kodak’s storied run began to end with the advent of digital photography… Its stock price is now about 96 percent below the peak it hit in 1997.”

Microsoft: “It helped give the PC mass-market appeal, and still dominates much of the software industry. But Microsoft has also fumbled or passed up many great ideas that others capitalized on, like Web TV, E-books, smartphones, and the tablet PC… And sure enough, the market is shifting away from the PCs that Microsoft’s software is designed for.”

Motorola: “Motorola dominated [the mobile phone] business as recently as 2003, when it introduced the trendy Razr, the biggest-selling mobile phone ever at the time. But Motorola failed to focus on smartphones that can handle E-mail and other data, and rapidly lost share to newcomers like Research in Motion, Apple, LG, and Samsung.”

Sears: “In earlier days, Sears put catalogs on the map… and introduced sturdy, affordable brands like Craftsman and Kenmore. But later in life, Sears stood flat-footed as competitors like Wal-Mart, Target, and Amazon chewed up its turf.”

Sony: “Not long ago, the Walkman was as ubiquitous as the iPod is today, and Sony dominated the market for TVs, cameras, video recorders, and many other consumer electronics. But as Sony became a huge conglomerate with film and music divisions, it lost leadership in many of its core product lines… As a result, faster-moving competitors like LG, Samsung, Vizio, Apple… have outpaced this old-school innovator.”

Sun Microsystems: “Its Java programming language, introduced in the mid 90s, became an industry standard just as the Internet arrived, helping make Sun an industry giant by the late 1990s. But the dot-com bust wiped out many of its customers and changed the way companies meet their technology needs.”

Toys R Us: “As it went national, Toys “R” Us drove many competitors out of business and gobbled up others. Then the tables turned, with the once-mighty toy giant suddenly bested by discounters like Wal-Mart and Target, online sites like Amazon, and smaller merchants with better quality and service.”

Yahoo: “Yahoo’s snub of a $45 billion buyout offer from Microsoft in 2008 now looks like a huge gaffe, since Yahoo’s market value has fallen to a scant $19 billion or so.”

What do you think of this list? Do you disagree with its assessment of any of these companies? Which others belong on the list?v

“I See No Evil”

With Verizon’s plan to stream TV shows through the iPad! Although that whole net neutrality issue, well that’s a whole different matter. This is also the reason why companies like Google and Verizon will get what they want; because they offer services that customers just can’t do without.

Verizon hopes to provide this service free of charge to Verizion Fios subscribers, allowing iPad users to access shows anywhere in their home, all via touchscreen. Now that sounds like a great service.

Verizon isn’t the only service provider who’s thinking of offering such services. Cablevision is looking into developing a similar app, and Comcast already allows subscribers to view TV shows online.

The app will likely be released next year, because Verizon wants to offer a “full suite of programming.” The service will also be available on other tablets as well.

Facebook Places All The Rage

I’m still new to social media as a whole, and location based services like Gowalla and Foursquare still confuse the shit out of me. Heck, I’m still learning how to use Twitter! Although I must say that there is something novel in letting your peers know where you are. Well, based off the popularity that Gowalla, and especially Foursquare are enjoying, Facebook has decided to get in the location based game as well. Here are some screenshots of the new service via TechCrunch:

TechCrunch.com

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TechCrunch.com

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TechCrunch.com

Gmail Gets A Much Needed Boost

Millions of Gmail rejoiced this week as Google added some desperately needed features to its much vaunted Gmail email client. Now, instead of accessing Google Docs and Sites as separate applications, users will be able to search and access them from the Gmail home screen. More importantly however, Google has just released Multiple Sign-In. Yup you read that here. If you’re like me, and you have multiple Gmail accounts, you know how much of a bitch it is to have to log in and log out to use your Gmail accounts. Thank you Google.

“Obamabill”

I saw some pretty interesting stuff on AdFreak yesterday. For example, Obama on the front of a $1 bill. While this might never happen with the President’s low approval rating, it’s still interesting that someone would consider making one. The bills were designed by San Franciso design firm Dowling Duncan. In denominations of $1 to $100, the bill seeks to highlight America’s unique heritage. For example, Obama would be on the $1 bill, with him being the first African American President. Here are some of the designs. Definitely a unique way of looking at our nation’s currency.

America’s Ongoing Popularity Contest

I published a post last week about the greatest brands in American history. Well Business Week has just released another “popularity” type article that is much more broad.

It covers things like favorite brand of cereal; Honey Nut Cheerios, to favorite travel destination; France, to favorite sneaker; Nike Air Force Ones. It’s a pretty interesting article you guys should check it out.

You Build Your Mosque, I’ll Build My Gay Bar

I wouldn’t expect anything other than ignorance from the folks over at Fox News. The latest episode involves host Greg Gutfeld, who had this response to the plans for a Ground Zero Mosque: to build a gay bar right next to it.

“As an American, I believe they have every right to build the mosque – after all, if they buy the land and they follow the law – who can stop them?” he wrote. “Which is, why, in the spirit of outreach, I’ve decided to do the same thing.”

“As you know, the Muslim faith doesn’t look kindly upon homosexuality, which is why I’m building this bar. It is an effort to break down barriers and reduce deadly homophobia in the Islamic world,”

Now listen, I have no problem with the “idea” of building a gay bar at Ground Zero. I believe it’d be a great thing for promoting tolerance and acceptance towards the LGBT community. But Gutfeld is doing it for all the wrong reasons. Coming from Fox News, I have to seriously question his dedication to the cause of the gay community. I wonder if he was put on the spot, would he support gay marriage? I hope so.

Gutfeld is just doing this as retaliation for what he sees as an affront to conservative America. So instead of supporting a gay bar because it’s the “right thing to do”; he’s doing it for his own self interest.