Cincinnati.com: Chad Ochocinco, Cheryl Burke polish tango for ‘Dancing With the Stars’ during visit
Check the link for a video of their Argentine Tango rehearsal.
Chad and Cheryl are practicing at Step-N-Out Dance Studio in Covington. I’ve been there, it’s a nice place to dance. I also heard that Chad and Cheryl showed up at Havana Martini on Wednesday night!
Kind of stumbled across Earth Day celebrations over the weekend at Sawyer Point. Here are some photos that I took with my iPhone.
Maybe I’ve just never noticed, but I didn’t know that flowers will bloom on the trunk of a tree.
Here is a child’s first experience at kayaking.
Mascots lining up for a parade. Not exactly sure what the deal is with the cockroach and the flags.
A giant tank of all sorts of fish that can be found in the Ohio River.
It’s the Toyota recycling mascot. Strangely enough, I ended up carrying a paper cup much of the time because I couldn’t find a place to recycle it.
Serpentine Wall from the Purple People Bridge
Saw this billboard in Cincinnati on Kellogg Avenue on my way out to Lunken Field. It’s a Shepard Fairey image that he designed for FeedingAmerica.org
ESPN.com: Statement: Accuser ‘dragged’ to room
At this time it is unclear to what happened after this point due to the complainant’s recollection being foggy from her intoxication level. However, she did write a statement of what she thought happened.”
In part, the woman’s statement read: “I met Ben Rotheseburgehergh [sic] at Velvet [Elvis, a local bar]. He went to the Brick because he was [unreadable] to not be bombarded by fans. He then met us at the Brick and called me ‘a tease.’ Eventually we saw him at the Capital City & saw him there.”
Friends don’t let friends drink and write statements…
I tried putting “Rotheseburgehergh” on a Steelers jersey at NFLshop.com, but it’s six letters too long and it’s doubtful that the NFLshop would allow one to be made. So, I decided to mock one up for fun.
Interestingly, the correct spelling of Roethlisberger is also too many letters for the custom jersey website.
UPDATE: TheSmokingGun.com is all over this with the actual written statements. Here’s how she wrote “Rotheseburgehergh”
Looks like Team Leno is assembling.
PBS.org: HATE MAIL FROM THIRD GRADERS via Kottke.org
These are pretty funny letters regarding the downgrading of Pluto from planet to dwarf planet.
I recently received a coupon in March from Duke Energy for a box of six free 13 watt compact fluorescent bulbs redeemable at Walmart. Duke Energy is promoting it as a way to save money and to reduce electrical demand.
Duke-Energy.com: Take a Simple Step to Save Energy and Money
If every Duke Energy OH customer receiving this offer installs six CFLs, our customers will save the amount of energy needed to serve 14,800 homes.
Unfortunately, these bulbs are nowhere to be found. I’ve driven to two different Walmarts and they’re both out of stock of this specific pack with no substitutions allowed. While I was there, I saw two others carrying coupons looking for the bulbs too. I checked with my parents and they’ve been to two other Walmarts in the suburbs and they’re out of stock too.
So, how exactly are we saving energy with Duke Energy customers driving around trying to find these energy saving light bulbs? It seems like Walmart and Duke Energy should have been better coordinated with Walmart to have ample stock of these bulbs.
I checked on the Duke Energy site and there’s a FAQ and one of the questions is:
Q. What do I do if Walmart is out of bulbs?
A. Increased inventory levels and additional reserve stock will be available to participating Walmart stores. If your store is temporarily out of stock, check back within one to three days when inventory has been replenished.
Just drive back to Walmart and check for bulbs in one to three days!
Time.com: Why You’ll See Tons of “New and Improved” Products Soon
Call it the recession lesson. The downturn caused many newly thrifty consumers to detour into the world of cheap toilet paper, store brand shampoos, and other generic necessities. And you know what these consumers discovered? The cheaper stuff isn’t half-bad. Often, the cheaper stuff clearly gives more bang for the buck. So why would consumers ever go back to paying significantly more money for something that does basically the same job?
…
Because they’re having trouble competing in straight-up face-offs with generic products, the manufacturers are rolling out new items–or rather, “new and improved” items.
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P&G, the world’s biggest ad spender, plans a 20% increase in
“consumer impressions,” or instances when consumers see its ads, during
the fiscal year ending June 30. The Cincinnati-based maker of Pampers
diapers, Crest toothpaste and Pantene shampoo says it will introduce 30%
more “significant” innovations in products this year.
It will be interesting to see what P&G thinks these “significant” innovations are. Unless there’s true noticeable improvement, I don’t think that some minor changes, a new label, and an advertising campaign is really going to win back customers. The recession has cut pretty deeply and the old way of doing things might not work this time.
Related article:
Time.com: Making P&G New and Improved (2008 interview with Former CEO A.G. Lafley
NYTimes.com: News Sites Rethink Anonymous Online Comments
“Anonymity is just the way things are done. It’s an accepted part of the Internet, but there’s no question that people hide behind anonymity to make vile or controversial comments,” said Arianna Huffington, a founder of The Huffington Post. “I feel that this is almost like an education process. As the rules of the road are changing and the Internet is growing up, the trend is away from anonymity.”
I used to cringe at the callers that I’d hear on talk radio shows, but comment sections have gone way beyond that. Most of the comment sections of news websites have become a cesspool of ignorance and hate.
I think that banning anonymous comments help, but until you truly make public the identity of the commenter, you’re still going to end up with mostly garbage.
