Tastebud Politics

Ok, so I work in Marketing. Specifically, online marketing. I know (or like to think I know) all about the latest viral marketing trend: brands tying to provide interesting stuff out in the market to engage in this "Web 2.0" world. Since I'm looking at this stuff all day, I tend to have a very critical eye towards most online viral marketing, and see way more examples of bad content than good.

Then I saw this. Forget my marketing know-how. Forget the fact that its trying to get me to buy tacos. It's neat!

Enter Tastebudpolitics.com, a site created by Qdoba to engage its customers in a more engaging and interesting online experience. The best part of this site isn't the factual mini-polling of how each state is voting. No, it's the breakdown of which Mexican favorite at Qdoba lends itself towards a particular candidate. Just last week, Tacos were clearly the food of choice at the McCain camp, and now this week Obama has taken over the entire Mexican food category.



It's neat. Click around and you might find something interesting, but as with most viral marketing, it's mostly useless but entertaining.

The Warning

Who knew water bottles could be so dangerous?! I recently saw this report on how different plastics can contaminate the water held inside. If you don't have time to watch the video, here is the cliff note version:

1. Look for the Triangle Recycling Number


2. Anything with the numbers 3, 6, or 7 should NEVER be used to hold water.

3. Anything with number 1 is safe for only one use

The bad guy: Bisphenol A . Seems like more research is needed, but overall they do know that this chemical causes increased risk of birth defects, miscarriage and prostate cancer. Since the water bottles leach this substance into the water, they believe your bottles may not be safe.

After seeing and reading this, I've had to toss my Nalgene. Not sure what I'm going to do now. Find a stainless steel or glass water bottle?

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

Something of a more personal note: Brett Favre has retired. I recall days when he was not the QB of the Green Bay Packers. I remember the days of bad football and loathing "Da Bears". Back when Jackie was the only guy who could score and mullets were still cool. But the time has come. Time for my 16 year old little sister to know that Quarterbacks do not stay with a team forever.

Brett will be addressing the media on Thursday. Keep up to date at your online home of the green bay packers


A little side note, I find it awesome that there are so many Packers fans that there warrants a Fan Fest

Coffee & TV

I'm probably the only person on the face of the planet that never watches tv. And when I say never, I really mean nothing but football. However, if you're like 99.9% of the US population, you probably watch something on television. So, time to get mathematical on yo' ass.

Figure that 99% of the population watches tv, then drill down into the 70% that use the internet, you can probably guess that maybe 30% know about torrents. Of those, maybe 20% actively use them. So, for you 20%, here is my gift to you.

Ted , for Mac
No, not going to guess how many of the 20% use macs. Lifehacker (great site to bookmark) featured this really sweet software which will automatically go out and seek the shows that you watch on a regular basis. Goodbye VCR, hello Ted.

Seek Up

Need to test drive your music? Did your friend recommend a band to you, but you loathe MySpace and really don't like the idea of downloading or purchasing before you listen? Frustrated with the 20 second preview clips on Amazon that only give you the most popular song parts?

Now you have SeeqPod. This new player does a nifty search of music online and allows you to stream, and even create playlists of songs.

What I like most is the ability to send a playlist of songs and artists to my friends. What I like least is the ability to grab an entire album at once, or download to my computer.