"Swift-Boated by bin Laden" … Communications at the White House

The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman doesn’t write too much about communications.

Yet a recent column caught my eye.

It was entitled "Swift-Boated by bin Laden". In it, Friedman asks:  "How could an administration that was so good at Swift-boating its
political opponents at home (I’ve called them "elites" in this blog before) be so inept at Swift-boating its
geopolitical opponents abroad?"   

Friedman’s column is for paying TimesSelect customers .. though it’s all over the web for free.  Here’s one place. It’s worth a read. Friedman, in part, faults the Bush admin simply for lack of trying. I see this lack of trying with corporate communicators as well. It’s seldom a good idea.

Give Walt Morton Money

Transferring money to Walt Morton is a good thing. I can say that with authority.  Walt is a valuable member of the Rassak creative team—and as such we have paid Walt for his extreme creative genius. And it’s paid off for our customers.
Now you too have the chance to pay Walt Morton money — and perhaps it will be as rewarding an experience for you as it was for us.  You can give Walt Morton money by clicking here. Enjoy. Carefully.

Italian New Media Blog "Politica Duo Punto Zero" (i.e. 2.0) Tags Rassak

Politica Duo Punto Zero covers new media’s impact on the political process. It’s written by Emiliano Germani, Luca Gaudiano, and Andrea Altininier.  Their posting about our work is here: go.

German Blogger Writes Up Rassak’s Work … Or Does He?

Reiner Fakeman is a fake blogger. "His" Grow or Go blog is an experiment in how ones’ reputation can grow/spread online. It’s actually an experiment being run by the German weekly trade pub WirtschaftsWoche. From the blog description: "Mein Name ist Reiner Fakeman. Ich bin ein reiner Fakeman, eine fiktive Person, ein Online-Experiment der WirtschaftsWoche
zum Thema Googlability und Reputation im Internet. Es wŠre schšn, wenn
Sie meinen Namen und meine Geschichte verbreiten, darŸber reden oder
schreiben. Denn darum geht es: Zu sehen, wie sich das auf mich und
meinen Ruf im Netz auswirkt…" Anyway… Fakeman wrote about our own fake guy today. You can read it here.

The Mystery of the Backwards Bus Stop

IÕll skip the part about this whole story possibly not being worth sharing.

This blog is called Get Closer and it’s all about getting closer to the people who matter most to your business. Anyway, right down the street from the Rassak offices in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood is a bus stop that, well, could use a little help getting closer.

Here’s what I mean. Visual A shows a normal bus stop. Note how its open to the street. Waiters-for-buses keep nice and dry and out of the wind and when the bus arrives they simply step out of the shelter and onto the bus. Perfect.

VISUAL A

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Visual B shows one of the mysterious backwards bus stops near our offices.

VISUAL B

Being a frequent and humble/proud rider of San Francisco’s "Muni" buses, I’ve seen enough bus stops to know that backwards ones are a rare exception. I’ve also seen enough fellow Muni-riders to know that in the state many of them are in, that’s a good thing.

See Visual C. Many riders might sit all day never knowing their bus has come—-many times over.

VISUAL C

Visual D demonstrates how that those who see their bus might never know how to get through the glass to the bus.

VISUAL D

Why? Do you have any idea why? Please give me your theory by leaving a comment.

It could all be a set up by Totally Hidden Video.

It could be that the dudes who were hired to put  up the shelters were given all the pieces, instructions, and a drawing or even a photo of how the finished structure should look They followed the directions perfectly but the instructions didn’t say anything about which way to point the shelter.  I can relate and have sympathy having assembled my share of IKEA products.

I want more ideas. Oh, and this isnÕt a contest to see who can turn in the wackiest story about how someone was struck by lighting or how some movers left a giant mirror leaning on the building in front of the stop or any other complex chain of quirky events that led to this mistake. No. I really want to know why the HELL these things got set up backwards!

Come to think of it, wacky chains of events are also welcome.  DonÕt let me take this too seriously.