Comments for FREE ADVICE

Comment on Foreplay by computerphysicslab

computerphysicslab — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:20:46 +0000

I could enjoy Hyakutake. Have a look at this photo:

http://computerphysicslab.wordpress.com/1996/03/29/hyakutake-c1996-b2/

Regards!

Comment on Victoria’s Secret’s Secret by Shorty

Shorty — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:12:40 +0000

Im hungry

Comment on The Waltons by Shorty

Shorty — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:33:41 +0000

Too lazy too read. I will read it when I have time. Love the blog judeo.

Comment on The Waltons by skip

skip — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:15:55 +0000

HEY Jude!

I’m an admitted “free advice” junkie…
keep it coming

skippy

Comment on The Waltons by Jude

Jude — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:07:07 +0000

Thanks again, Joachim. The place I’ve gotten to is that what’s important is the competition among consumers. Brands that help consumers compete get exactly the respect you have noticed. I agree also that the creative means are the key. My objective is to simplify strategy so completely that all obstacles between the hand with the money and the hand with the crayon are removed–including the obstacles inside the brains that control the two hands.

Comment on The Waltons by Joachim

Joachim — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:54:21 +0000

Love that piece and where you are going with it! Your sentence “Wal-Mart helps its consumers belong, and they love the brand for it.” goes right into how I once defined what ‘brand’ actually means on a pure anthropological level:

“Brand” is the articulated respect people show towards the originator of products they desire to own, use, or share. Respect is earned by either force, size, achievement, manners or love. To show respect towards another is a deeply human trait, as is the search for leaders. These traits have to be unlocked by creative means for a brand to succeed.

Hence Walmart has done a massive service to our society by giving the poor a ‘home’, literally and spiritually. No wonder their stocks are still good…

Comment on Taking Up Space by Jude

Jude — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:25:41 +0000

Wow, thanks for all that. Many happy memories of Milano you conjured up there! I have a section about smoking in the book but you made me realize something that I had not thought about before.

Smoking is a classic Strong display. When they started putting death warnings on cigarettes, that actually made the display stronger. It wasn’t until smokers started being stigmatized as addicts that the power of the display diminished, because addiction is regarded as a weakness. Before that it was just a habit.

Thanks again for taking the time to push the envelope! Jude Hammerle

Comment on Taking Up Space by Joachim Oster

Joachim Oster — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:48:38 +0000

… and had actually LOST weight! But others wrote already much about it. The next, more sociological component is the sublime and has less to do with food than with the transformation of our societal structures. Food becomes available everywhere and the ‘not-eating’ is a rare state of mind or moment in time. Food stands for ‘consumption’ and our system doesn’t work when nothing is consumed. ‘Growth” is needed for our U.S. society to prevail. “Sustainability’ towards one’s weight is a rare concept for most; more a sign of having given up to lose weight. Since the dawn of time, the human civilization was always in pursuit of food, so we can’t shut that drive off easily and it is deeply embedded in our genes. And it won’t adapt to a natural avoidance of Twinkies in a few million years. It has to be a conscious, educated effort to avoid them. Evolution tries to weed out the weak ones and the ones who are different. In the same way racists try to get the other races out of their perceived superior society, the ones who can fight their urges to eat (or digest the daily crap we serve as food faster) try to separate from the fat ones (bad genes, insulin resistance, character weakness, whatever reason). Discrimination laws take care of transgressions.
Yet another even more interesting aspect, is that by eating, one can avoid making decisions. Again, in the Stone Age we had to CONSTANTLY think about getting food. And about not being eaten. Decisions and plans had to be made to prevail. Decision making skills is a sign of being intelligent and able to survive longer. Having mastered the food supply, we should be able to move faster to other things, right? Not so! Those who are fat always are more worried than the rest of us of where from to get more food, faster. In an early human society their genes were important for the group. Nowadays they are more likely to destroy themselves. The focus of a U.S. society would be to unleash their worries towards problem solvings of a grander nature: Test if people who tend to be obese have higher problem solving skills under stress. I think you may find surprising results! And as a side note, stop serving food during meetings. Only afterwards. And then preferably italian food flown in freshly from Milan. Gotta eat something now – these blogs make me hungry. Now what should I eat…? decisions, decisions…

Comment on Taking Up Space by Joachim Oster

Joachim Oster — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:22:53 +0000

You are right; I think there are other dimensions to Americas obesity issues than what meets the eye and the stats. One is the striking similarity to the cigarette industry and how as a society we only reacted when the costs to the system (cancer rate) outweighed the benefits (tax income, employment). Now you also pointed out of how much friggin’ money is being made right now with all the weight loss industry – very interesting! The other dimension is of course the lack of movement, sports and over processed food ingredients. Remember, we came back from truly amazing mediterranean food ‘orgies’ in MIlan…

Comment on Adulteration by Jude

Jude — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:38:05 +0000

I’m glad the girl finally came to bed (the gun bit scared me), I knew it was a dog, and I would say the same about my first grade teacher, Miss Claire McGaffigan.

Jude Hammerle