The Stalwart

The 'Wart Vs. Mahalo

Isn't the alt-search engine Mahalo supposed to be some kind of professional SEO play? Like, isn't that the site's entire point? Anyway, how are they supposed to beat Google if they can't be The 'Wart on something like this:

The History Of 100m Dash Records

Cool chart, via Wikipedia, showing the history of world records in the 100 meter dash. Click the link for the actual times.

New Wal-Mart Logo To Piss Off The Longhorns?

This is going to go over great at my alma matter, University of Texas at Austin. Evidently, Wal-Mart is getting set to announce a new logo that will rely heavily on the color burnt orange.  I'm not sure how I feel yet.

Dippin' Dots: Are They Really The Ice Cream Of The Future?

I'm a big fan of those Food Network shows where they show how various foods are made. This afternoon, they had a segment on Dippin' Dots, those round, novelty ice cream balls. They're pretty foul looking, and I've never tried them, but still, they seem to have found a market niche, so good for them. A couple things about them though:

1) They're really the first mass-market molecular gastronomy food item, aren't they? Well, maybe mass market is a bit generous, but they're more popular than anything Wiley Dufresne has ever made, like deep-fried mayonnaise. Oh, and they're definitely molecular gastronomy because they use  liquid nitrogen. 'Nuff said.

2) The eponymous company behind Dippin' Dots says they're the ice cream of the future, but that's looking pretty unlikely. Maybe it's cause they're too proprietary about it. They try to keep some of the process secret, and I suspect that even if another company reverse engineered the Dippin' Dot, they'd probably sue. They need to open source it to have any hope for the future. Rather than seeing themselves as a Dippin' Dot vendor, they need to be a platform+services play, enabling others to build off the Dippin' Dot. Like Sun and Java. Until they open it up, it's bound to be a niche cold sweet offering, without much of a future.

What Will Wall-E Do This Weekend?

Since I don't have kids, I obviously won't be seeing Wall-E this weekend. And to those adults who are going by themselves: it's a cartoon. Still, there's a lot on the line. Nikki Finke's friendly box-office gurus see a $70 million weekend in the offing. MSNBC was saying the same thing this morning, so that's the consensus. But what's the whisper number? $80 million?

Other Wall St. analysts are all seeing good things for the movie, though they kinda sound subjective: "(The movie) substantially exceeded our expectations." Um?

Meanwhile, on the social media scene, Wall-E seems to have way more blog-borne buzz than its obvious equivalents, so that may be a good sign. Though maybe not, see: Snakes on a Plane.

So, let's set the Vegas line at $70 million. Over/under and by how much?

Uma Thurman Marrying A Hedge Fund Dude

Uma Thurman is engaged to Arpad Busson, a hedge fund guy, says Bloomberg. Good for them, but um, isn't this so 2007? I mean, a hedge manager, at this point? Really?

Of course, Uma Thurman's dating habits have always represented important moments in the business cycle.

Free* Flights: Just Pay For Gas

Other folks with more experience in the world of airline miles, rewards points and free flying may be able to speak to this better. But it seems that $140 oil has diminished the value of free trips for frequent flyers. Per Gary Leff, it seems that United is now charging a $25 per-flight surchage on domestic rewards flights. Anyone experienced this yet on United or another airline?

A Celebrity-Run Airline

Of course it's a European reality TV show. They love that stuff there, don't they? From the Guardian:

ITV2 is to launch its own celebrity-run airline for a reality show that will see 12 famous faces take on roles such as cabin crew and complaints handlers while real passengers pay to fly to destinations including Ibiza.

The eight-part series, which is being likened to a celebrity version of the ITV docusoap Airline, will see a plane chartered from an established airline and rebranded CelebAir, the name of the ITV2 series. CelebAir will have its own ticketing website and backroom operation.

It'd be cooler if the celebrities were in more mission-critical roles, like manning air traffic control, scheduling and stuff like that. It'd be great if they brought that show here, but it might hit too close to home.

Lunch With Warren Buffett: Some Serious Food Inflation Here

Yikes. This year's charity lunch with Warren Buffett went for $2.11 million. It just so happened, I was already compiling some past data on this, though before 2003, the web is failing me. Still, you can figure out what's going on here: food inflation is nearing Zimabwe levels.

Yet Another Hierarchical Organization Overhaul

Yet Another Hierarchical Organization Overhaul*

That is all.

*(Inspired by a comment on this post)