Pie Chart Humor

Pretty much self-explanatory:

Earthquake!

At 5:35 am a 5.4 magnitude earthquake woke us up out of bed, the bed shook like a vibrating bed would. The doors were rattling, felt like it lasted about 1 min though I was woken up so maybe more? It was amazing! It just kept going! I was able to wake up from it, wake Meghan up and we still felt it for a long while.

Maybe the most awesome part was with the iPhone I was able to get on the US Geological Survey site immediately and confirm that it was an earthquake - all without getting out of bed. I guessed it was going to be a 4.5 (there was no doubt in my mind it was an earthquake) so when I pulled the page up I laughed when I saw the maps! (below)







Earthquake Details
Magnitude 5.4
Date-Time Friday, April 18, 2008 at 09:36:56 UTC
Friday, April 18, 2008 at 04:36:56 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 38.520°N, 87.873°W
Depth 5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program
Region ILLINOIS
Distances 12 km (7 miles) E (90°) from West Salem, IL
13 km (8 miles) NE (53°) from Bone Gap, IL
14 km (9 miles) W (266°) from Allendale, IL
36 km (22 miles) WSW (241°) from Vincennes, IN
67 km (41 miles) NNW (335°) from Evansville, IN
206 km (128 miles) E (93°) from St. Louis, MO

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 4.1 km (2.5 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters NST=135, Nph=135, Dmin=31 km, Rmss=1.61 sec, Gp= 32°,
M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=8
Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)


Event ID us2008qza6

Stork Commercial

My NEW favorite commercial. Just saw it for the first time this weekend:

Lessons in Advertising

When you know your target, you can put together a great commercial. Here's a new one from Pontiac that compares it to the BMW 5 series. HA HA, right? Wrong! It's funny because the arguments here are valid, but the 5 series is going after a totally different consumer than the Pontiac G8. The 5 series is for the boomer with some cash, looking for a luxury automobile. The G8 is obviously going much younger and for someone who wants more of a sporty car. That's also why the G8 didn't go up against the 3 series, because that is all about sport and much faster.

I should put together a commercial about how much better Tom's Orange Juice is for you than Coke, but then you'd see that they are for different targets (and different beverage times although I do drink coke in the morning).

Well enough blabbing - I'm too tired to make my point - so watch the commercial and see for yourself. "My sports car is faster than your luxury automobile!" - By Pontiac. I also love how they make fun of the stereotypical 5 series driver because... well... they aren't talking to those people, in fact they aren't going after them at all. Which is how you know the comparison may be apples to oranges. But that doesn't mean it's not effective advertising!

More Cat Action!

Our cats are getting bigger and bigger every day! However today they started acting a bit strange. They are very active at night and started going through our garbage. Here's an updated picture:



OK - that's a joke, they aren't racoons, but the breeder said that they will grow to be 25 lbs. Each.

Here they are in action!

Manny & Brady with the Bird Toy


Shelby spoils the fun:


Shelby and Manny try to "work things out":