Word of mouth marketing

Came across a free PDF for The Word of Mouth Manual Volume II via Guy Kawasaki's interview with the author, and it's just brilliant.

"the recommendation of a friend, family member, acquaintance—or even a stranger—is a primary driver of most purchase decisions"

As I read that I remembered going into the beer fridge of a bottle shop on the weekend to pick up a case of James Squire amber ale. I'd tried a six-pack the weekend before and loved it enough to happily invest the $50 in a case this time around.

I was with my son actually, and as we went in there was another father and son about the same age browsing the selection. Maybe he noticed me beeline the amber ale, but for whatever reason he said he'd been thinking about trying it and asked me what it is like, what other beer you might compare it to.

As we left with our purchase I looked back to see him proceeding to the counter with a six pack himself. My guess is that if his tastes are anything like mine he'll be back for a case next weekend too.

Believers as a percentage of global population 2002

From http://www.rayfowler.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/map_world_religions.gif

19.8% - Muslims
17.4% - Roman Catholics
15.5% - Other Christians, Protestants, Orthodox Christians
14.9% - Agnostics, Atheists
13.3% - Hindus
13.0% - Other...
5.9% - Buddhists
0.2% - Jews

Six years ago, nearly one third of the world's population weren't sure, believed something else, or believed in the non-existance of any divine entities.

Tibetan Buddhism stresses the importance of empathy and compassion regardless of religious belief.

There's hope for us yet. For as long as we can maintain separation of church and state anyway.

iTunes - I want to love you, but you make it so hard!

Here I am listening to Groove Salad when a song comes on, Universal Traveller, that I remember wanting to add to my playlist. Legally. No, seriously.

So I hit up the iTunes store, find the album, and click buy. Reset my password (again), and verify PayPal as my payment method. Go back to iTunes, hit the buy button again, and am rewarded with this:



It says:

"This recipient requires that you have a valid funding source from the United States in order to complete this transaction."

WTF? They're a French band! Seriously, I'm so tired of trying to buy media legally and having it thrown back in my face, just to hear the recording industry crying about file sharing eating into their business.

Money created from debit - oil prices continue to soar

Just saw an article about Spanish hauliers on fuel strike where it says:

"The Spanish government says it is preparing a package of measures to assist the transport sector.

These measures include emergency loans, more flexible contracts and cash payments to older lorry drivers who are willing to retire."

The fractional reserve banking system just found more fuel for the fire:

In short, there are two types of money in a fractional-reserve banking system:

1. central bank money (physical currency such as coins and paper money)


2. commercial bank money (money created through loans) - sometimes referred to as checkbook money

Expect prices to get higher

Aussie taxi drivers

Some quotes I found interesting from a recent Triple J TV interview with some local taxi drivers:

"The worst passengers are people affected by alcohol. Like this clown here getting out of a cab in the middle of the road. I mean, he wouldn't do that nine to five. I'd much rather carry a junkie. People on drugs don't want any trouble. They just want to sit down, shut up, and get where they're going. They don't want to end up in the police station."

"I've had people shooting up in the car, that's a bit scary. I worry if they're going to drop off the perch. I just tried to make light of it pretty much, make a joke out of it and say "you watch yourself there". They're just trying to do their thing as I'm trying to do mine. As long as we don't come to grief over it, it's all good."