Ideapad

Gee, I haven't done this in a while.

I'm onto something interesting following Alice, the new ecommerce website that enables CPG companies to sell quasi-direct to consumer. On aiaio, I dissect whether the alice.com business model is really new, and next week I'll be critiquing the site's shopping experience.

On Timely Demise: Crabtree & Evelyn's bankruptcy and a handful of old and local stores this week. And, with a sigh, a href="http://twitter.com/timelydemise/status/2443089981">Joe Jr.'s Restaurant in the Village.

Select recent oh-so-important tweets:

• + They may *seem* just like other bread products, but pretzel rods are decidedly not breakfast food.
• + Cyclists: can I dangle a bag of Chinese food delivery off my rear-tire rack and bike home without losing my dinner?
• +I have an undying and boundless love for mom-and-pop hardware stores.
• +I STILL LOVE MY PAPER TACO TRUCK it's on top of my cubicle ready to serve paper tacos to paper college students
• + Reviewing headphones. Having a blast.
• + "Madoff has been sentenced to 150 years, although he hinted that he could turn it into 350 for you with almost no risk." http://cli.gs/j20tm

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Exploring my career options, originally uploaded by netwert.

Tonight I biked home with Chinese delivery. (It ultimately fit in my bike bag, not on the handlebars like the pros do it.) Photo by the inimitable Anna Perez.

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• The Newsweekly’s Last Stand - The Atlantic (July/August 2009)
  Great analysis of The Economist and why it's doing so well. Interestingly, while I was design director of Economist.com for three and a half years, it was the print edition that I became addicted to, and I remain a paid subscriber to this day.
  (tags: news media)

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• Michael Jackson, 50, Is Dead - ArtsBeat Blog - NYTimes.com
  "NBC, which had scheduled a one-hour tribute to Farrah Fawcett tonight at 10 p.m., has now expanded that special to two hours, beginning at 9 p.m., to cover the deaths of both Ms. Fawcett and Mr. Jackson."
  (tags: news)

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• rc3.org — Notes on Say Everything
  Oh my do I agree with you, Rafe. "I feel like I didn’t make the contributions I could have back in the olden days. I was there to bear witness but didn’t take advantage of the opportunities to make a bigger impact. Fortunately it’s not as though I’m out of chances."
  (tags: web blogs to-do)

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• best of craigslist: Actor needed for emotional role – One day high pay
  "Please inform me of any prior experience in this kind of situation."
  (tags: humor sad)
• Flip Flop Fly Ball
  Baseball infographics = nerdy bliss
  (tags: baseball design interesting)
• Villaraigosa Not Running For Governor | The Awl
  Great edit
  (tags: news blogs humor)
• unfiltered: well, glad i put off signing up...
  "Clear Lanes Are No Longer Available. At 11:00 p.m. PST on June 22, 2009, Clear will cease operations. Clear’s parent company, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. has been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations."
  (tags: travel business)

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• Mind Your BlackBerry or Mind Your Manners - NYTimes.com
  So much I could say
  (tags: phones etiquette society)

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• Everything I Know I Learned From Dungeons & Dragons | TheTorchOnline.com
  I suspect that if it didn't have such a negative social stigma, I'd still be playing (and learning from, and enjoying) D&D
  (tags: games society)

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• Buying Money With Your Credit Card to Earn Miles
  This is a riot: the U.S. Mint is selling dollar coins at face value with free shipping, which the bonus-program wonks figured out is a great way to earn frequent flier miles. Order the coins with a mileage-program credit card, get them delivered to your door, then dump them in the bank and pay off the credit card bill. The website allows orders of up to $5,000, which is a nice bundle of bonus points essentially for free. Well, free plus figuring out how to shlep five thousand dollar coins to the bank. (The FlyerTalk thread where this originates dates to last summer but is new to me and still viable.)
  (tags: money humor)

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As mentioned on the business end of things, I'm in Boston at the Internet Retailer Conference & Expo, culminating in my presenting at the conference Wednesday afternoon. It's great to be back in town--with the exception of a six-hour business meeting in January, I haven't spent any time in Beantown in nearly a decade. We took advantage tonight, eating at a local restaurant in the North End, and I have plans to see at least one old friend before I leave town.

Massachusetts always strikes a great note with me. The history, the architecture, the weather: everything is the way I like it. A lifetime of summer visits to Cape Ann (and, more recently, Martha's Vineyard) has certainly influenced me. And even though I'm a Yankee fan in the Red Sox's backyard, it just feels good to be here.

Posted by David Wertheimer at 10:25 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I am at http://www.facebook.com/davidwertheimer now. Wow.

(George got to Werty ahead of me. We seem to share the space--I have it on Twitter and del.icio.us and Metafilter, he has it on Flickr and Digg. Neither of us know who the YouTube Werty is, though.)

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• Exclusive: The Future of Facebook Usernames - Anil Dash
  Yup
  (tags: web humor)
• Will Higher Education Be the Next Bubble to Burst? - Chronicle.com
  "over the past 25 years, average college tuition and fees have risen by 440 percent — more than four times the rate of inflation"
  (tags: education)

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• Figures of Speech - Teach a Kid to Argue
  Interesting (and dangerous!)
  (tags: parenting)

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• Attention, ‘pawsengers’: Pet-friendly airline on runway
  This is kind of ridiculous, but also a little bit awesome
  (tags: dogs travel clever)
• To friend or not to friend? - aiaio - the Alexander Interactive blog
  Great observations by Alex on social networking and how unclear the waters can be. When is it really appropriate to friend someone?
  (tags: business society socialnetworking)

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• After 101 years, why GM failed | The Best Article Every day
  Great, great concise summary of today's big news
  (tags: news business)

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