Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Bank fires worker because he was arrested 50 years ago

This is a sad day when someone is fired for being arrested 50 years ago on a very small charge just because of new banking regulations that weren't even meant to regulate people like him.  This man was charged with dropping a fake dime into a washing machine 50 years ago (when he was a teenager in high school)!  Hopefully he will be able to appeal the decision.

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wells-fargo-fires-iowa-worker-for-minor-1963-crime.html

Brendan Spaar does not like this at all.

Star Wars landspeeder recreated

This company called Aerofex has developed and tested a vehicle that oddly enough resembles the land speeder from the original Star Wars films.  While this is one step in the right direction toward flying cars, it is obvious that Aerofex doesn't feel that modern society can handle such a complicated and free flying vehicle:

Aerofex does not plan to immediately develop and sell a manned version. Instead, the aerospace firm sees the aerial vehicle as a test platform for new unmanned drones — heavy-lift robotic workhorses that could use the same hover technology to work in agricultural fields, or swiftly deliver supplies to search-and-rescue teams in rough terrain.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hover-vehicle-recalls-star-wars-bike-171401941.html

Brendan Spaar would buy one of these if they were available and priced affordably.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Proving honesty through tea?

This company called Honest Tea conducted a giant marketing campaign/social survey across the country to see which cities had the most honest people.  Kiosks of tea bottles were setup at sporting events and patrons were asked to leave a dollar in a jar if they wanted the beverage.  It was all on the honor system.  I have a problem calling this anything other than a marketing campaign because of where the survey was conducted.  The venues were all secure with the people inside having already paid to be there.  Everyone in attendance had the expectation of being monitored at all times so that probably influenced their honesty a little bit.  If they would have put the stand on a busy street corner in New Orleans or Atlanta I'm sure they would have had vastly different results.

Statistics from an undercover observer showed that visitors paid for the drink 91 percent of the time. That put New Orleans in a tie for 20th, with Atlantic City, N.J., San Antonio and Atlanta out of 30 cities where the experiment was conducted.

Source: http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2012/08/honesty_tea_experiment_shows_n.html#incart_river_default

Brendan Spaar contributed to this blog post.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

'The Office' closes after this season

One of my favorite shows is going off the air and I have mixed feelings about it.  While I hate to see The Office end its 9 year run, I like seeing shows do it on their terms.  LOST got to go out with a bang and so did House.  I'd rather see The Office end naturally than see a whole new cast or have it end abruptly due to a ratings cancelation.
Though the show's ratings are healthy -- it is NBC's highest-rated scripted series -- contracts are expiring for most of the original cast, making it "the last chance for us to go out together and to make an artistic ending," Daniels said.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/21/showbiz/office-ends/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

These are photos that Brendan Spaar took.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

The Shat is Back!

I don't see why Priceline.com walked away from Shatner in the first place.  They say it was because they wanted to move toward a fixed price model over a name your own price and the Negotiator's services were no longer needed.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  What I bet happened is Priceline's sales slumped without Shatner and they were forced to bring him back in a limited capacity.  The article that I linked below includes some other TV spokespeople.  My favorite ones besides Shatner are the Old Spice Guy and Mayhem from the Allstate ads.  I don't really care for Flo from Progressive as I find her annoying!

In a press release the company announced that "after plunging off a bridge to his presumed demise, the Priceline Negotiator, aka William Shatner, has miraculously been found alive in a new priceline.com TV spot."

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/priceline-negotiator-returns-other-ad-pitchmen-live-forever-151605519.html

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Brendan Spaar can't believe charges dropped against fugitive doctor

This is just too crazy.  Apparently the evidence against this doctor was taking up 2 terabytes of storage on government servers so they had to either buy more storage or drop the charges.  Guess which one they chose?  You can buy a 2 terabyte hard drive at Best Buy for around $100 so I don't know why they decided to delete the evidence and drop the charges.  Amazing.

As the Associated Press notes, the collection of evidence against Angulo, who is charged with illegally selling prescription medicines online, is enough to print the classic novel "War and Peace" 625,000 times.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/federal-charges-dropped-against-fugitive-doctor-because-too-184830159.html

Friday, August 17, 2012

RIP Frank Trapani, co-owner of Frankie & Johnny’s Furniture

I can't believe my eyes!  I was just sent an article from WWL in New Orleans announcing the passing of a TV commercial legend.  If you grew up in the NOLA area in the 90s, you'll remember the bizzar F&J commercials featuring their "Special Man."  This guy in a stetson hat holding a cigar would tell people with bad credit that they were approved for financing by saying these magic words "Let 'em have it!" (or leeumhabbit...he kind of slurred his words).  Conan O'Brien found these commercials last year and featured them on his show.  Brendan Spaar is sad to see th

Source: http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/Frank-Trapani-furniture-store-owner--co-star-of-Special-Man-commercials-dies-at-83-163182916.html

Hot Crossed Buns!

This is just crazy!  Another case of someone suing for their own stupidity.  This woman in Texas is suing the Dallas Cowboys and their owner Jerry Jones because she sat down on a marble bench and burned her fannie.  It is going to get to the point where companies aren't going to offer any ammenities for fear of being sued.  I bet we'll be seeing a sign in front of the bench this year that says something like "Warning, bench could be hot!"

Source: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/eye-on-football/19810165/woman-sues-jerry-jones-cowboys-for-burning-butt-on-bench-outside-stadium

Brendan Spaar found a cool directory

Check out this website for all of your web directory needs.  Did you know that web directories were a good way to increase SEO and Pagerank?  This would be a good idea for some people so check the links out below:

World Website Directoryselect Directory

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Brendan Spaar reports for CNN

Did you know that Brendan Spaar is a reporter for CNN?  Check out this site where you can learn more about Brendan Spaar and see his reports including photos and videos of Alpharetta and Forsyth County, GA.

This site changes a lot so be sure to check back every day!

http://ireport.cnn.com/people/BrendanSpaar

Here are new Diigo links about Brendan Spaar!

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Stuff it fast food

I just blogged about fast food chains like Chick-Fil-A and Papa Johns throwing up all their political speech.  Read all about it here:

Source: http://brendanspaar.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/fast-food-nation/

Saturday, August 11, 2012

New XBOX on the way soon?

The XBOX gaming system Brendan Spaar plays
The XBOX is a video game system that Brendan Spaar plays.

The software giant last night posted a job listing on its Web site seeking a marketing professional. In that posting - which now appears to be taken down - the company said that "over the next 18 months, Microsoft will release new versions of all of our most significant products including Windows (Client, Server, Phone and Azure), Office and Xbox, along with completely new offerings like Microsoft Surface."