Indiana: Home of the world’s tallest women

And some people say that Indiana is a boring place to live.

I had no idea that Shelbyville, Indiana, was the home of the world’s tallest woman. Or I guess I should say was the home of the world’s tallest woman because she just died.

Isn’t that just how life is? You learn that where you live is much more interesting than you thought, just after it becomes less interesting.

I wonder if the world’s former second tallest woman (now the first tallest) was glad to hear the news.

Adventures of an Engaged Consumer: Why Patagonia Rocks

An inquiry I directed to Patagonia’s customer service via their online form:

I’m about to place an order from your sale, but would like to know where
the items I’ll be purchasing are from. Could you tell me where the
following items were made:

1. Fezzman shirt
2. Go-fer Tee
3. Men’s all-wear cargo shorts

Thanks,

Kelsey

Less than an hour later their response:

Hi Kelsey,

The M’S FEZZMAN SHIRT, M’S GO-FER SHIRT, and M’S ALL-WEAR CARGO SHORTS are made in Thailand. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Have a great day!

Kelly
Patagonia.com Customer Service

After learning that they were made in Thailand, I visited their Footprint Chronicles feature and viewed a video of the factory they came from.

As an engaged consumer, that’s a company I can support.

Dave Barry at the Olympics

Michael Phelps is impressive, sure, but, in my eyes, the most talented American in China is Dave Barry.

Apparently, he’s picked his column back up for the summer Olympics.

For you my very special friend, a sample of his most recent performance:

If you’re the kind of person who enjoys shopping and lying, you would love the Beijing Silk Market.

He goes on to talk about what happens if you show any interest in the products the vendors at the Silk Market are selling:

If you respond by displaying any interest at all — and by ”displaying any interest,” I mean ”not walking briskly away” — the salesperson will thrust a merchandise item into your hands and make the following points:

1. The item is totally legitimate. If it’s supposed to be a Prada purse, it’s a real Prada purse. If it’s a painting of the Mona Lisa, it’s the original Mona Lisa, by Leonardo Da Vinci, and not some cheap knockoff Mona Lisa such as the other vendors will try to sell you.

2. You are getting a very special price. Even though the salesperson has known you at this point for less than 15 seconds, she has taken a powerful liking to you, so she has decided to give you a price so ridiculously low, so totally crazy, that she will lose money on the deal and be forced to leave the vendor business and become a homeless person who must survive by selling personal bodily organs. That is how much she likes you.

It just doesn’t get any better than that. Stop what you are doing right now and go read the rest of his columns from China.

With thanks to my dog and cat…

My mom wanted me to thank my childhood dog Sammy, a dog that has survived coon dog paralysis and whose tail never stops wagging, in my acknowledgments.

Annie wanted me to thank Oreo, the cat who own me, hogs my chair, and sprawls out across my notes.

I thanked neither.

After reading an article titled “With Thanks to My Cat” in London’s Guardian, I’m glad I chose to reserve my thanks for two-legged creatures. I found the article while Googling for tips on writing acknowledgments. The article features many of the clichés included in acknowledgements in quotes, including “my cat,” “incomparable editor,” “ceaseless attention,” “tireless encouragement,” etc.

I tried to avoid many of them, but at least one “without whom this book would not have been possible” snuck through. Darn gratitude, anyhow.

The article briefly addresses dedications with this frightening mix up:

The publisher of one of CP Snow’s novels scribbled on the proofs when sending them back to the printer the rather exotic name (let us call her Samantha) of the printer who was to deal with them. And she, being absent on holiday, could not prevent “For Samantha” appearing on the dedication page - to the alarm of Snow’s wife, Pamela Hansford Johnson.

If this happened to my book, and it ended up being dedicated to Samantha, Sheila, Tyra, Oprah, or whomever, I’d be in it deep. Annie would beat me. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.

Congratulations to John Scalzi

I first started reading the works and blog of writer John Scalzi after reading about him in the local paper. He lives in a small town next to the small town which is next to my small town.

“Really,” I thought, “a science fiction writer in Darke County?”

Scalzi is much more than a science fiction writer. He’s written about poverty in America, visiting a creationism museum in Kentucky, and he, perhaps most famously, has taped bacon to a cat.

This weekend he won a Hugo award. This validates all the time I’ve spent reading his blog and all of his books. Go me.

I haven’t won any award since my Best Mental Attitude Kung Fu award in 2001, so I have to vicariously live through the awards of others. Especially since, as everyone knows, that Best Mental Attitude awards are usually given to the people who sucks so bad at something that everyone is amazed they don’t give up.

(I’ve also won Best Mental Attitude in Golf, which I’ve since finally got a clue and have given up.)

Anyhow, way to go John Scalzi and way to go me for reading almost everything he has written. If you aren’t reading John Scalzi, you should be.

Guy in closet producing new Favre jerseys

Favre’s trade to the Jets means that his new jersey is selling like crazy. Watch this video below. In it you’ll see some guy producing the jerseys in what appears to be his mother’s walk-in-closet.

The Olympics

Why I’m excited –

The US Men’s Basketball team, “The Redeem Team,” is going to put the USA back where it belongs in international basketball competition.

My mom is close friends with the owner of DeVeau’s School of Gymnastics in Indianapolis, the home gym of Samantha Peszek. I’m not too manly to admit that I watch the women’s gymnastics. This year I’ll be watching a little more closely and following her progress on the school’s blog.

Why I’m nervous –

If the U.S. Men’s Basketball team ,“The Redeem Team,” loses, it will solidify our position of mediocrity in international basketball competition.

As of today, my book is pretty much set in stone. About 1/5th of the book takes place in China. I’m worried that over the next 10-days something will develop that dates what I’ve written. Never have so many foreign journalists been poking around, and it’s hard to say what they might turn out. For instance, if we discovered that half of China’s population were robots and my book doesn’t mention that, I might look a bit foolish. Nobody cares if a robot works twice as many hours as the government allows.

If you’re looking for a few good blogs written by westerners in China I’ve got some good ones.

China Hope Live

Here’s a sample of a 25-year old man from Tianjin in his own words:

Right now I care a lot about the Wenchuan, Sichuan great earthquake issue. …This is an extremely difficult and especially big affair. Everyone is paying close attention to the circumstances of the earthquake disaster area’s common people… Whoever has money sends money, whoever has strength sends strength, whoever has things sends things. This shows the united spirit of the Chinese people. ‘When one place has trouble, all places provide help’ (???????? / y? f?ng y?u nàn, b?f?ng zh?yuán).

China holding the Olympics utilizes a lot of manpower and financial and physical resources. The Olympics doesn’t assist China’s common people very much. It mainly expresses China’s place in the world, by showing that China can run this Olympics well. The Chinese people are extremely concerned with this matter, however, heaven isn’t helping out (????? / ti?n g?ng bù zuò m?i). Since the earthquake a lot of Chinese people have lost confidence regarding the Olympics. But I feel we ought to transform our sorrow into strength, and strive as much as possible to manage this Olympics well.

Blonde in Beijing

Jodi is from my hometown and she has some interesting insights about being a new mom in China and the conditions the Olympics will be taking place in.

…the air was as polluted as ever. And it was scorching hot at seven in the morning! I sure do feel for the Olympic athletes.

Mr T. says, “Get some nuts”

A recent Snickers commercial has been banned because critics are claiming that it’s anti-homosexual.

Anti-gay? I don’t think so.

Anti-speedwalker? Yes.

Pro-funny? Definitely.

Decide for youself:

Inferring that all speed walkers are gay is like saying all guys that where excessive amounts of gold chains around their necks and earrings are gay. And even though Mr. T. is probably about 70, I pity the fool that questions his sexuality.

And in a somewhat related issue, here’s a drawing of Mr. T kissing Chuck Norris.

Activist to Bono: Retire!

A fella from Chicago is demanding that Bono retire:

“Bono’s philanthropy efforts are self-righteous, ineffective, & counter-productive;… The grassroots leaders of the global fight against AIDS didn’t ask for Bono to be their frontman. Its time for Bono to step down. We’ll all pledge donations to the Global Fund, but no pledges are collected until Bono retires from public life.”

So far this campaign has raised $1,002, which is nearly equal to the amount of money Bono raises scratching his butt. Although, the money will not actually be donated unless Bono does retire. Go ahead and donate a Gazillion-bazillion dollars because chances are you’ll never have to pay.

The main target of the campaign is not Bono, it’s the RED campaign. Bono is the angle to get people talking about it. I for one don’t want Bono to retire. Sure he’s got a big ego, but he’s got an even bigger fan base that he educates about poverty whether they like it or not. Plus, who doesn’t love U2?

It is almost always annoying when celebrities confuse their worldwide fame for being a worldwide expert. I’ve read that even the other members of U2 get fed up with Bono’s rants. But in my eyes, talking about poverty and AIDS is better than not. You gotta respect when someone tries to use their fame to do good. An argument can be made that his intentions are self-serving, but in that regard are there any true acts of charity?

I’ve planned from the beginning to donate a portion of my earnings from “Where am I Wearing? to organizations that work with garment workers, but I have thought better of it. I don’t want to be accused of using this as a marketing angle to sell more books. But even if I did include such a note, what’s wrong with that? Isn’t that a win-win for both charity and author?

I will be donating, but I won’t be shouting it from the rooftops. Unless you consider this post shouting and this blog a rooftop and, in that case, feel free to criticize my charity. I can take it.

As for the RED campaign, it probably does need to be looked at if, in fact, they have spent $40 million more on marketing than it raised from selling RED products. But what is the value of raising awareness? Maybe the message funded by the $40 million discrepancy has reached 40 million people who are now more aware about AIDS in Africa or poverty in general. What’s that worth?

Read the RED manifesto: , browse their products, or if you think it’s all a bunch of hooey donate to the “Bono Retire” fund.

Decide for yourself.

On a different note, The Point is pretty cool site. You should check it out.

Can Creative Capitalism Save the World?

Bill Gates thinks so.

Gates in the pages of Time magazine:

As I see it, there are two great forces of human nature: self-interest and caring for others. Capitalism harnesses self-interest in a helpful and sustainable way but only on behalf of those who can pay. Government aid and philanthropy channel our caring for those who can’t pay. And the world will make lasting progress on the big inequities that remain — problems like AIDS, poverty and education — only if governments and nonprofits do their part by giving more aid and more effective aid. But the improvements will happen faster and last longer if we can channel market forces, including innovation that’s tailored to the needs of the poorest, to complement what governments and nonprofits do. We need a system that draws in innovators and businesses in a far better way than we do today.

Naturally, if companies are going to get more involved, they need to earn some kind of return. This is the heart of creative capitalism. It’s not just about doing more corporate philanthropy or asking companies to be more virtuous. It’s about giving them a real incentive to apply their expertise in new ways, making it possible to earn a return while serving the people who have been left out.

A great place to turn for discussions about Creative Capitalism is THIS BLOG. The contributors list is basically a who’s who of authorities on economics and globalization. The posts and discussions from the blog are going to be anthologized in a book by Simon and Schuster in the fall of 2008.

In the most recent post Stephen Landsburg criticizes Gates’s example of fair trade as a form of creative capitalism:

Never mind the fact that “fair trade” seems to be a euphemism for the enforcement of monopsony power (enriching some producers by pricing others out of the marketplace); this isn’t the place to get into that debate. But this much is directly to the point: Lots of people feel a moral obligation to help poor people in general. No sane person feels a moral obligation to help poor coffee farmers in particular. So the “creative capitalism” solution serves a non-existent goal—and this was one of the best two examples the authors could come up with! (KT: the other was the (Red) program)

In fact, the whole fair trade thing is an excellent illustration of creative capitalism gone insane. You can pay an inflated price for your coffee and put a farmer out of work, or you can buy ordinary coffee, contribute to CARE, and feed a starving child. Please oh please don’t trick people into thinking the former is a good deed.

The questions at hand:

1. Is it better for a consumer to NOT pay a premium for products produced under ethical conditions and to take the money they saved and donate it to charity?

2. Is it better for a business to maximize their profits by whatever means possible and then use the maximized profits to do good?

My thoughts:

Bill Gates talking about how capitalism can cure inequities is kind of like the United States, which wasn’t hindered by environmental regulations during its own industrial expansion, telling developing nations to stop polluting. Bill gates got where he did with cutthroat capitalism, not creative capitalism and the Unites States got where it did by burning unclean fossil fuels.

Gates is more of an example of earning boatloads of cash via cutthroat capitalism and then taking all of his money and trying to change the world. And few would argue that there are any individual philanthropists doing more than Gates to help the world’s poor at this time.

Companies doing “good” would be great, but I think that’s shooting a bit high. I would settle for companies “doing no harm” – to the environment and its employees. A company that donates money to a good cause, but has its products manufactured by workers treated unfairly – unpaid overtime, working off the clock, underpaid, overworked, abused, etc – or does unnecessary harm to the environment, more than negates whatever good their philanthropy does.

Before a company tries to do right in the world, they should do right in their own house.

That said, I think marketing fair trade products is a perfectly legitimate niche. There are people that want to buy products made ethically, and they should have the option.

I find the debate very interesting, and hope to check out the Creative Capitalism blog regularly. I’ve added it to my Blogroll on the right.