Cutting Up the Founder’s Pie

Here is a neat way of working out what each of the founders should get when starting up a company although how it works when no one is 'commited' (Bacon & egg story) I'm not sure. Interesting to know how this fits in with Philips Equity fingerprint ideaCutting Up the Founder’s Pie

Boing Boing: Sledgehammer keyboard

Just for Nick or Tim a great use for that redundant sledge hammer - get typing. Would be brilliant at the fair - see who can type The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog Boing Boing: Sledgehammer keyboard

Blogging Handbooks - From newbies onwards

Two really excellent books on what is involved with blogging, both free, and very readable.
Seth Godwin's is really good (a 26page pdf download for the paper junkies). Interestingly he has given up publishing 'real' books due to the inordinate time delays from writing to it getting on the shelves.

Also a great book (slightly more technical) from Reporters without borders called Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents which is slightly more technical but still very good. This is the organisation that Julien Payne works for. Julien is appearing on Radio5 live this Sunday at 10.30 with Suw Charman, Saira Khan and myself!

1-in-10 Consumers Read Blogs

Article on the growth of blogging RSS feeds and social software (yep - all the stuff I'm interested in) I like this quote "Technology has given consumers an option to tune businesses out, and tune each other in, said Forrester research director Chris Charron in a statement. On the flip side, technology has given businesses an opportunity to gain greater customer insights at a lower cost." So it really is a win win situation

Journalists and Blogging

An interesting article that shows reading blogs is more popular with journalists than the public "Interestingly it is the journalists—not their readers—that are turning to blogs in record numbers. While the Euro RSCG Magnet study shows that more than half (51%) of journalists use Weblogs regularly—with 28% relying on them for day-to-day reporting, a recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project Survey showed that just 11% of the U.S. population reads blogs". I like this " the majority of journalists are using blogs to do their work, despite the fact that only 1% believe blogs are credible" I guess before they read blogs their stories were simply made up!

Article discovered by www.Fark.com from http://pocketplanetradio.typepad.com/pocket_planet_radio/2005/09/53_journalists_.html

Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies

A first look at the rate of religiosity in a country and its crime rate, those bible thumpers are not going to like this at all.
"the United States is the only prosperous first world nation to retain rates of religiosity otherwise limited to the second and third worlds" and "the U.S. is the only prosperous democracy that retains high homicide rates,"
Also "A few hundred years ago rates of homicide were astronomical in Christian Europe and the American colonies. In all secular developing democracies a centuries long-term trend has seen homicide rates drop to historical lows"
And on the sex front "The two main curable STDs have been nearly eliminated in strongly secular Scandinavia" wheras in USA "rates of adolescent gonorrhea infection remain six to three hundred times higher"
First saw article mentioned here http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1798944,00.html

Grocery Retailers in North America Information at Business.com

Hereis a great list for anyone trying to guess which US based retailer Tesco might be thinking of buying. A quick look reveals that they are ina bit of a mess, Albertsons have put them selfs up for sale and Winn-dixie are in chapter 11. Bit hard to believe that Tesco want to join the fray.

Dignified Final ride

Whilst returning in a taxi from the Radio5 blogging event last night (Blimey: £21 from Fulham to Kings Cross!)
The taxi driver and I couldnt resist a smile at this:-

Its a motorcycle sidecar made into a hearst operated by Motorcycle Funerals A cool idea for a niche market (The motorcycle registration had the letters RUT in it).

I notice from the official UK statistics site that 693 motorcyclists were killed in road accidents in 2003 out of 3508 total road related deaths. So I guess they could be busy.

Pub head & shoulder massage's by Urban Chill

Whilst at the Radio5 blogging event last night at the The Sofa So Bar,515 Fulham Road, London,SW6 1HD. Tammie and her friend offered to do 5minute back rubs and head massages. A very neat idea and well executed except for a couple of niggles.
a) They dont have a price - you pay what you feel like. I personally hate that. The going rate for these sort of massages seems to be about £1 per minute or in the USA $1 per minute. Better to say its a fiver.
b) Their website is the most annoying flash creation ever so if you want their details Urban Chill back rub people can be found at 0800 731 6129 not sure what regions they cover etc etc (Yep it should be on the website or their blog!) but I was in Fulham London


:// urban chill //: the five minute head & shoulder massage company.

Drapers Fashion Summit 2005

An interesting fashion show "Winning in a World of Change" with not a mention of the blog word anywhere. Compare and contrast with this fashion conference in Paris which is devoted to Fashion and blogging. another example of the French fashion industry showing the way...

http://www.gapingvoid.com/MT-2.65-full-lib/mt-tb.cgi/1314

Tesco maybe after Albertson's in the USA?

Interesting story here and here (Registration may be required) that moots Tesco as a possible bidder for Albertson's in the USA. Albertsons are the number 2 food retailer in the USA who are having a hard time against Walmart.
This is interesting especially after all the recent UK PR about Asda (Walmart) bleating about Tesco's dominance in the UK.

Tesco's market capitalization is about £25.6b Albertson apparently could fetch £11b. Walmart still dwarfs them with a market cap. of over £100b.

Personally I think its sheer lunancy if Tesco do this. Has any UK company succeeded in the USA? However, it could be good news for Sainsbury etc in the UK since Tesco's senior management would be well stretched to handle a Albertsons take over.

Maybe worth a punt to buy some Albertsons shares - they are at quite a low currently.