Comments on: It Was the Dumbest of Times

It Was the Dumbest of Times

fenriq — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 19:09:21 -0800

Remember this gem? "Women should be all dressed in white, like all other domestic appliances." Personal favorites are #36 and #40 but there's plenty more to enjoy. And the smartest company of 2005.
An update from long ago.

By: QIbHom

QIbHom — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 19:58:28 -0800

"Groupies love the coq." Nice to see that business hasn't changed since I ran screaming back to the public sector.

By: hopeless romantique

hopeless romantique — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 19:59:51 -0800

73. Oxymoron alert: Erotic City/Boise. The proprietors of the Erotic City strip club in Boise, Idaho, attempt to circumvent a local law banning nudity except for performances of "serious artistic merit" by distributing sketch pads and pencils to customers for twice-weekly G-string-free "art" nights. Local police raid the club, issuing misdemeanor citations.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 20:03:46 -0800

Oooh, misdemeanor citations. Oh noes.

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 20:12:03 -0800

A fun read, thanks for posting.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 20:46:52 -0800

In no particular order, since #50 is about as bad as it gets.

By: Relay

Relay — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 21:25:14 -0800

Bernie Ecclstone is a creep. Always has been, always will be.

By: Jawn

Jawn — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 00:01:42 -0800

Number 14 has me confused: "What do I have to do to get Audioslave on WKSS this week?!!? Whatever you can dream up, I can make it happen." -- E-mail from an employee of Sony BMG's Epic label to a Hartford, Conn., radio station. In July the company pays a $10 million fine as part of a settlement in which it agrees to stop indirectly paying radio stations to play songs by its artists. Why exactly does this warrant a fine? I understand about the airwaves being public and all, but the stations themselves are private entities, no? So why can't they accept compensation for playing a certain labels artists? And why is it a radio station is getting fined $10 million for "indirectly paying radio stations to play songs by its artists" when lobbyists can indirectly pay congressmen to pass laws in favor of their clients?

By: dangerousdan

dangerousdan — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 00:03:27 -0800

Good to see that at least one of the urban legends about bad translation is true. 93. No joke here. Just suffice it to say that the literal translation of the Spanish word cajeta is "little box." With the help of Latin pop sensation Thalia Sodi, Hershey introduces Cajeta Elegancita, a new candy bar for the Hispanic market. Though the wrapper features a picture of Sodi, apparently she neglects to fill her Yanqui partners in on a subtlety of Spanish: In Mexico, "cajeta" can be used to mean "nougat." Elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world, however, it's slang for female anatomy.

By: deadcowdan

deadcowdan — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 05:45:28 -0800

For no good reason, this one cracked me up: A Qantas Airways baggage handler is suspended after he's caught opening a passenger's luggage, discovering a camel costume, donning the head, and driving around the tarmac on a baggage cart at Sydney Airport. The incident is reported by the costume's owner, who spies the culprit through the window of the terminal.

By: you just lost the game

you just lost the game — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 06:47:46 -0800

Great link, thanks. I love reading stuff like this.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 07:29:00 -0800

So why can't they accept compensation for playing a certain labels artists? They can, they just have to disclose it — which they didn't. The law is 47 U.S.C. § 317.

By: Blubble

Blubble — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 08:12:20 -0800

It's nice to see that the joint I smoked on the way to work only dropped my functional IQ four points.

By: like_neon

like_neon — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 08:29:24 -0800

I like that they didn't pick a winner for the "Innovation" category: Innovation is like a New Year's resolution: easy to talk about but hard to pull off. We define it as a product or business model that's truly new and genuinely successful. That's why last year was a letdown. Apple? Its growth had much to do with incremental tweaks to existing products. Ditto for Del.icio.us, Flickr, and MySpace, which are built around decade-old ideas about social networking. Let's hope for better pickings next year. Totally agree.

By: fochsenhirt

fochsenhirt — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 08:44:04 -0800

Bernie Ecclestone is insane: He told Autosport racing magazine in 2000 that women could not compete in Formula One, but if one did, “she would have to be a woman who was blowing away the boys. ... What I would really like to see happen is to find the right girl, perhaps a black girl with super looks, preferably Jewish or Muslim, who speaks Spanish.” Sounds like a particularly bizarre personal ad.

By: rhymer

rhymer — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 09:08:45 -0800

As a metaphor for the real estate bubble no.1's pretty frickin' lame. The market may be overheated but there's nothing outstandingly dumb about converting an interesting old building into apartments. In fact, I'd have thought it should be held up as an example of business doing something vaguely worthwhile - especially when you consider the alternative.

By: gene_machine

gene_machine — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 09:28:55 -0800

I love number 1, as we currently also live in a converted asylum in Devon, UK. Curiously, they're rather quiet about the development's past, although a little digging soon turns up some reasonably interesting information about its past.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 09:57:58 -0800

Jawn writes "And why is it a radio station is getting fined $10 million for 'indirectly paying radio stations to play songs by its artists' when lobbyists can indirectly pay congressmen to pass laws in favor of their clients?" There is more enforced integrity in radio than congress?

By: vito90

vito90 — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 16:09:12 -0800

Excellent post and read, thanks fenriq