I know online gambling has a really bad rap on this side of the pond, but there were extremely smart and interesting people there who (I believe) have the common sense to look past that stereotype and judge each online gambling site on its individual merits.
One of the people I got to meet (and interview on video) was Chris Collins, the Director of Enterprise Business Systems at Second Life. Another one was Victor Palmer, the founder and President of CentSports.
Victor’s baby is actually one of the more innovative products I’ve seen in a while. It’s a web 2.0 take on an online sportsbook, complete with social functionality. Users can maintain friend lists, bet against each other, and publicly taunt one another for the bad bets they make.
Where it really differs, though, is that you cannot bet with your own money. Rather, they give you 10 cents when you register, and when you build it up to $20 or more, you get to cash out. It’s also this free money give-away that allows CentSports to get around the UIGEA which makes it pretty much impossible for an online gambling site to operate in the US.
I stumbled across this while Googling for “markets are not communities” (Twitter plea for help here). The only hit was for this page at Invertigo.org. They seem to be some kind of screenprinting co-op with leftist leanings, but I’m a capitalist with a job, so I don’t have time to look more into what they’re all about at the moment — and probably never will because I’m all about finding ways to make the economy we have work rather than finding ways in which it falls short (and then advocate throwing the baby out with the bath water).
I digress… The point is that this image reminds me of how Coca Cola has online reputation management problem — which, I guess, is a reminder of how all those tree-hugging pinkos are pretty adept at effectively leveraging social media and viral marketing. But hey, they are, after all, socialist.
It’s wierd posting this clip, but only because of personal baggage that shouldn’t influence my thoughts on music, so I’m not going to let it. It’s music video from Nomadic Massive, a Montreal-based hip-hop group. It feels like positive vibe hip-hop, which I’m getting into these days (check the last.fm widget in the sidebar) because I’m straight up sick of money, cash, and hoes. Anyway, you can check me out on last.fm, but watch this video first.
This is a clip that Jay Smooth produced after George Carlin died. When I heard the news about George it hit me hard. I had to leave my desk, take an elevator 22 stories down to the street where, and call my old man.
It was my old man who introduced me to George. He played me Occupation Foole when I was about 10 or 12. The potty mouth had my juvenile mind in stitches, but I knew there was a glimmer of genius to the man’s perspective on life.
I heard the news about George from a marketing blog. I was ashamed to be so out of the real world loop that I’d hear about the death of an American legend and personal hero from a marketing blog.
Worse was the realization that someone who I looked up to for what they did would look down on me for what I did. Just watch this clip that the marketing blog posted.
Here’s a track from Atmosphere, a white-boy hip-hopper from Minneapolis (I think). It’s called Shoulda Known, is off an album called When Life Gives You Lemons, Paint That Shit Gold on RhymeSayers Records, and pretty much vibes with how I’m feeling this morning.
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