Impressive Obama victory speech.  I’m definitely looking forward to his general election victory speech on 11/4.

Given the fact that voter registration is up dramatically, I assume the first presidential debate will draw some decent ratings. Once Obama owns and confuses (in a good way) mccain within the first 60 or so minutes of the debate – like he did tonight – I assume ratings for subsequent debates will slightly decrease.

Can mccain concede the presidency before November 4th so he doesn’t have to endure sharing the stage with a man that understands what’s actually going on in the world?

Regardless, I can’t wait to see Obama work mccain during each and every debate. Burchie, we’ll definitely be watching everyone of these debates so I can point, laugh, drink, point again, and laugh a lot harder.

In all seriousness, my thoughts are with the mccain family as I hope he lives until/through the debates as they’re still a few months away and 71 years old is 71 years old. No, this isn’t ageism – the facts are the facts and the clock is ticking.

A Bcc:List Original “Classic”…

April 23, 2008

“Wow – I would “hate” to live in any city that has good public transportation as things are going to get pretty flipping crammed (if that’s possible) once gas goes to $5.50 a gallon.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/WhyOilCouldHit180DollarsABarrel.aspx

The idiot of the United States has been real progressive about forcing our consumption down, right? And, at least $20 a barrel is because the chaos in the middle east (speculation) caused by his current war and continual treat of war against Iran. These two things, along with the fact that our dollar is literally worthless now because we are in so much debt, makes $180 a barrel oil seem like a dream. What happened to all those 4 more years chants in 2004?”

Later that week…

“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24316855

Wow – another article…this one says oil will go to $200 a barrel. At least this one mentions the major reason…

“Many analysts believe the weakness of the dollar is a bigger factor than supply and demand because the soft dollar draws investors worried about inflation into commodities such as oil and gold.

It also makes commodities less expensive for buyers operating in other currencies. Many investors see the dollar only heading lower if the Federal Reserve keeps cutting interest rates, which most analysts still expect it to do next week.”

Articles like this and the one sent earlier always come out 6-12 months before the prices mentioned are hit. A year ago everyone said $120 a barrel could be coming and nobody believed it. Believe it ($180-$200 a barrel), son.

$5.50 – $6.00 a gallon for gas coming soon to a city near you and mccain doesn’t think there’s an inflation issue? mccain (and clinton) wants taxes on gas decreased though those taxes are paying for roads, our mounting national debt, etc? That doesn’t make much sense, right?”

UPDATE:

The Wall Street Journal (blog) mentions the fall of suburban home prices on May 12, 2008. CNN (tv) had a news story today about the fall of suburban home prices but an expected rise in city home prices due to the surge in oil prices. I can’t find the link but I assume it will hit Google News tomorrow.

Regardless, home prices aren’t rising anywhere for at least 2-? more years. That said, hopefully you live in a city with mass transportation because $200 a barrel oil could be knocking on the door.

http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9952955-2.html

Per the link above, coming from a VERY close and reliable source (cough, cough) that worked at Citysearch, the sales reps quota’s were set by the amount of monthly billing their new client’s agreed to. So, if a monthly quota was $3,000, the sales rep was looking to close 10 new clients at $300 a month advertising budget.

It wasn’t guaranteed the client was going to be charged $300 (the above example), but, they agreed to be billed up to that amount based on the number of their clicks. Each click cost a certain amount based on the category. Once the $300 monthly advertising budget was hit, the advertisement didn’t receive as much exposure throughout Citysearch, other search engines, syndication sites, etc. More on this later. Hence, the higher your budget as a client, the more exposure you should get on the “internets.”

While the client was only charged if someone clicked on their ad, there were various different networks the client’s ad could be put on. Furthermore, as mentioned above, sales reps quota’s were set on how much new business monthly billing they closed. However, the rep was only paid a percentage of whatever amount of that was actually billed to the client.

So, if the client agreed to be billed $1,500 a month but only got $456 worth of clicks delivered, the sales rep’s monthly quota ($3,000) was closer to being hit but the sales rep was only paid a percentage of the $456 worth of billable clicks. Makes sense…

The very moment the client starts advertising with Citysearch, their advertisement is first displayed solely on Citysearch. Over the next few weeks, it’s broadcasted on related Google/Yahoo/MSN/Ask.com as SEM banner ads. Lastly, the SEM advertising could be broadcast out to other pertinent Citysearch syndication sites like Local.com.

Example: Someone searches “sushi” on Citysearch, Google, or Local.com. If the sushi restaurant’s Citysearch ad is brand new, the restaurant will show up as a featured/paid sponsor only on Citysearch. Over the next few weeks, if someone searches “sushi” on any of the aforementioned type of partner sites, the ad will be fully live and that sushi restaurant client should see some increased traffic.

I’m normally down with lawyers, but, the lawsuit by Kabateck Brown Kellner is a fcking joke. The new ambulance chaser is a click fraud chaser. It’s worth noting, the “click fraud” link was the first published article I read regarding click fraud – BusinessWeek 2006…they’re always ahead of the times. Anyways, with the above sales rep quota and ad posting process explanation, Citysearch should have no issue handling this mockery of a class action lawsuit.

But, Kabateck Brown Kellner has already gone after – and somehow won – class action lawsuits against Google, Yahoo, and Google Ad Words (pending). I wonder who’s next, Yelp? Seems infinite, eh?

KBK – Die.

Since the process of producing normal store bought eggs is fcking disgusting, Organic and Free Range eggs are a household “requirement.” But, I wasn’t aware of this…

British TV at its best.

For some reason – our wedding was more than 6 months ago – TheKnot.com (doesn’t deserve a link) is still our home page on Firefox. This hasn’t really annoyed me until this week when I actually looked at some of the content on their main page.

Click here or on the image below to see a full size screenshot with a few of my cunning comments. If the image looks blurry once the page loads, left click on it once and it will become more clear.

Bottom Line: TheKnot.com is ridiculous, however, it’s seemingly the only source for brides-to-be. It sort of has the Evite syndrome – it’s sucks major a$$ but there’s nothing else out there to use.

Can’t Google (quickly) create some business unit to analyze all sites that people use often but hate and make it all better via Google Labs? Please!

Not the Future (link):

The Future or Some Equivalent (link):

The residential turbine (mind you, propeller free) can currently produce only 25% of a household’s monthly energy needs. Bla, bla, bla.

See above “or some equivalent” comment within the link. Such equivalent as the soon to be outdated 42 foot residential propeller turbines requiring local zoning allowances, utility interconnection agreement, etc. but powering your entire house while allowing you to sell excess power back to the utility company. Technology, desire, and demand invent/create/improve a lot of things rapidly.

Regardless, I look forward to being part of this residential wind power energy future which includes T. Boone Pickens’ (oil tycoon hedging via wind power that “he” can charge people monthly) and GE’s commercial wind turbine graveyard. More ideally soon!

Uncle Bill, thank you for the inspiration.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/28/mccain-bush-appear-together-for-a-minute/

A $3 million event? Umm, exactly who of the 28% of Americans that support Bush gave money? Regardless, I assume Obama makes that within the next day or two and won’t have to pose for an unfortunate photo op with the idiot of the United States.

http://www.wallstreetfighter.com/2007/07/20-things-that-are-true-but-nobody.html

While undoubtedly a great list, I can “only” fully admit to the following:

#1, #3, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #12, #13, #14, #15, #17

(bold font = dead on)

I “highly” disagree with the following:

#11- now that I’m starting to interview people – aren’t I the 2nd coolest person in the world – so long as the candidate has some knowledge of our market/intentions, interview preparation, drive, defined goals, etc. it doesn’t matter how they look. suit and shower recommended?

#16 – it’s not a fraternity shirt – god, spare me – but, they’re (plural) circa 1997-2002, fcking disgusting, and as comfortable as you can get. now, I just need to find a new hiding spot before they’re found, discarded, and grossly retrieved – again.

#18 – it’s like the saying “guns don’t kill people…people kill people” – albeit, certain types of guns/gun owners obviously shouldn’t exist. nra, what? regardless, while a “normal” motorcycle accident is freak and/or fate, people doing dumb things get hurt on motorcycles.

#19 – if I was into dudes, Beckham is sooo 2000-2006. man, the hair and glasses are not you. though rather well, you kick a ball around whenever you aren’t injured. wake up. and, what is wrong with your wife? she’s weird (not in a cool way) and that’s coming from somebody that enjoys Gerry.

#20 – after wicked and the producers, I will never see another musical no matter how good it’s supposed to be.

Thoughts?

Assuming my emails over the last few months weren’t automatically deleted without being opened, the “Bcc: List” has seen these two clips. But, I figured they’d be worth revisiting again since it’s good to laugh really hard every once in awhile. That is, if your employer isn’t weird by blocking YouTube. WTF is the “corporate world” coming to?

The following is easily one of the funniest videos vs. number of views that I’ve seen in a long, long time. You may want to do yourself a favor and throw on a set of headphones or have the volume turned down a little bit. Though, the clip is probably safe enough for work if it’s on YouTube, right? Ha!

The following is a copy of a montage of “that’s what she said” clips from The Office that hit Digg awhile ago. As you probably know, once something hits Digg, the views on YouTube go completely out of control. Of course, the network realizes the spike of traffic and the original montage of clips was jerked off (that’s what she said!) by NBC…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/05/26/cnsoros126.xml

There’s no doubting George Soros is a genius – especially a when it comes to currency speculation/selling short the pound on Black Wednesday. But, as I’ve mentioned in previous “Bcc: List” emails, I disagree with the general assessment that the gross increase in price of oil is more based on speculation (definitely an issue worth noting) than the value of the dollar and/or inflation. Why are so many people like investors (outside of Trump), politicians (outside of crazy Ron Paul), etc. scared to use the “i” word?

Furthermore, supply vs. demand “shortfalls” and/or China hoarding oil for the Olympics is a “cover” for the fact we keep dumping money into Iraq that we don’t have while cutting interest rates resulting in the value of the dollar tanking and oil prices subsequently skyrocketing.

It’s worth noting, the interest rate cuts appear to be over and the aforementioned recession requires two back to back quarters with declining GDP growth. While there was growth in Q1 – this could be eventually adjusted to negative growth – Q2 will be stronger than anticipated with positive growth since hopefully the bank write downs (note: link from 2007) have already taken enough of their toll. So, Soros’ mentioned US recession would have to be Q3 and Q4. Nostradamus, anyone? Naw. Stick with just being a Billionaire.

P.S. I’m normally not all that “bitter” towards billionaire investors – reference Icahn post – because they’re unbelievable talents and are where they are because of such ability to scout out risk vs. reward. But, everyone makes misjudgments like Warren Buffett insisting there’s money in newsprint (Berkshire Hathaway owns the Washington Post and Buffalo News) while finally undermining newsprint because newspapers don’t know how to make money anymore – cough, cough…it’s not through ineffective website advertising or an overpaid sales team of 45-60 year olds blaming a recession or insisting newsprint advertising just needs to be “tweaked.”

Classic Marvin Gaye National Anthem at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game. Gavin, thanks for sending.

Special shout out to Abita Brewing Company Amber courtesy of (near) New Orleans, Louisiana. Burchie, thank you for the recommendation.

And, don’t forget the staples – Three Floyd’s Brewery Pride & Joy and Gumballhead courtesy of Munster, Indiana. Chicago Beer Club, thank your for the recommendation.

A non-link half shout out to Heineken Light bottles (not as annoying/bad as the commercials make it seem to be) and Miller Lite cans (classy as usual).

Whoa – 4 am and I’m blogging about beers on a post I probably wouldn’t have sent out to the “Bcc: List.” Booyah.