Video Ga Ga

Anybody else get tweaked by the MSM news site tendency to post stories only in video? I can't tell you how many times I've seen what looks like an interesting story on CNN's home page and didn't click on it because I preferred to read about it, or because I didn't feel like muting my laptop speakers here in the office, plugging in a pair of headphones, etc. A lot of advertisers want the web to turn into TV, and I don't know too many MSM publishers who have video assets that are in desperate need of 30-second spots to underwrite them. Nope. Pretty much anyone in the MSM who has compelling video has some sort of video sponsor running pre-rolls.

The more sponsored video the MSM puts out there, the more content will be steered toward video. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as expectations don't shift regarding the medium's active nature. The Web is not TV.

Blink Better Be Good

Chase sent me a new debit card last week, which I activated today. I was a bit tweaked, because my old debit card was a Mastercard and didn't expire until 2009. The new Visa card has a new number, which will necessitate changing my card info at a few websites and calling to change at least two recurring monthly bills. Oh, well. Anyway, this card supposedly has Blink in it, which is evidently some sort of method for buying stuff without swiping the card. I can't imagine who might be so lazy that they consider having to swipe their debit card some sort of chore. I guess we'll see how convenient it can be.

But for right now, I'm updating my billing information with a few online services. I think it's kind of a chafe that Chase would force me to update my debit card with a different type so soon, and with so much time left before the existing card expires.

Save The Date

This is a joke, folks.

So Lauren and I visited her church this weekend and set a date for the wedding - April 20, 2007. On our way out of the parish offices, it hit me. We've just set our wedding date for 4/20. For those of you who aren't up to date with your drug culture references, 4/20 is a big day for pot smokers. Check out the link for more information.

Makes me wonder if we should serve Cool Ranch Doritos at the reception...

The Rule That Guides Us All

I was looking online for a thread that discusses what is often referred to in this country as The Golden Rule, and how that teaching of fundamental respect for human beings is common to most social systems. I found this Wikipedia entry: Ethic of Reciprocity. My ethics professor in college summed up The Golden Rule as "Treat people as ends in and of themselves, never as mere means." I think that turn of phrase sums up "do unto others" quite elegantly.

I was looking for this in order to be able to express a fundamental principle that is generally missing in marketing today. I always knew that the Golden Rule shows up pretty much everywhere in philosophy, sociology and religion, but I've not looked at how it is expressed in each of those contexts in quite a long time. The Wikipedia entry I linked to does a nice job of that.