Rafat Ali, Mr. Paid Content, proposed to bid for Primedia’s Kagan Research–why not, right? Hey. maybe he could spread it out over a couple of credit cards.

Someone on the local community email list I belong to just sent out a note warning neighborhood newbies that trick-or-treating crowds are high around here–her estimates ran from 250 to 800 callers, depending what block you live on. So last night I bought 6 bags of candy–that’s about 300 pieces. I f these predictions are… Continue Reading

NY Daily News today reports that NYC controller William Thompson wants to scrap the city’s deal, made by new Chief Marketing Office Joe Perello to make Snapple exclusive non-carbonated beverage of choice for schools in the New York City Department of Education, as well as all non-school city buyildings. Thompson says that a fair bidding… Continue Reading

Thinking While Typing’s got a nice post about children’s book illustrator Ezra Jack Keats and how seeing an original illo up close influenced his decision to work with rare books and ephemera. I have been a Ezra Jack Keats fan for a long time–the guy’s illustrations have this amazingly hip, textured quality, really original, and… Continue Reading

Friendster’s got $ 58MM in cash from VCs. Feedster has hired Scott Rafer as its new CEO. Meg Hourihan’s Lafayette Prioject has a new name, Kinja. Andrew Grumet is working with Dave Winer. Yahoo Platinum broadband service is getting canned–what does this mean for Jim Moloshok?

We’ve been in our Naglee Park (San Jose) house now for 8 weeks or so, and I’ve somehow almost entirely stopped watching TV, even though we’re getting HBO, Food Network, and all sorts of cable goodness. What happened? 1) During our move, I got out of the habit of watching TV, and never really got… Continue Reading

The latest list from Roger Cadenhead of blogs of folks following or experiencing the Southern California fire. (Via Scripting News)

New York Times: The classic brief account of the conditions that have set Southern California on fire comes from Joan Didion. In 1966 she described a region “devastated by the hot dry Santa Ana wind that comes down through the passes at 100 miles an hour and whines through the eucalyptus windbreaks and works on… Continue Reading

Forbes third annual list of the highest-grossing dead celebs is out now: The Top Ten 1. Elvis 2. Charles Schulz 3. J.R.R. Tolkien 4. John Lennon 5. George Harrison 6. Dr. Seuss 7. Dale Earnhardt 8. Tupac Shakur 9. Bob Marley 10. Marilyn Monroe (Via trademark blog)

Peterme’s report on a student Michael Winnick’s preso on new product/new business development: 1. Accept change 2. Reduce barriers to actual users 3. Get everybody together 4. Prototype in low fidelity 5. Embody research, don’t report it 6. Make decisions explicitly 7. Validate embodied concept If you are involved in developing a new product, as… Continue Reading