World Grain Stock at a 35 Year Low
The price of food is on the rise. As a story and charts from the Wall Street Journal show, rice (prices up a whopping 134 percent), wheat, corn, and soy are all above a 60 percent increase over the last 52 weeks.
Cargill, a large international provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and services, saw a Chevron-like return in their last quarter with $1.03B in revenue. When I read the CEO’s comments in the WSJ, I couldn’t help but ask myself if large corporate farms control supply driving prices to their favor. While he says that they’re “doing an exceptional job,” my thought is this is an answer to shareholders, not the rest of the world who require the commodities Cargill, ADM, and others provide.
Cargill’s chairman and CEO, Greg Page, said earlier this month [April 2008] that “the dimensions of change in global agriculture are striking” and that the Minneapolis company is doing “an exceptional job measuring and assessing price risk.” He said world grain stocks are at their lowest level in 35 years.
(emphasis added)
Need Entrepreneurial Activity in Alternative Fuels
I’m amazed at how far behind we are in coming to a solution of our own energy crisis. As Americans, we are the most energy sucking people on the planet–far outpacing any other group.
“According to the Department of Energy’s most recent data on greenhouse gas emissions, in 2006 the U.S. emitted 5.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, or just under 20 tons per capita.”
WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120934459094348617.html
While we probably think of our cars first, a real issue is our homes. The “always on” appliances and devices that are taking power even when we “don’t” use them.
“You can forget refrigerators, microwaves, clothes dryers and flat screen TVs. Even a house tricked out with all the latest high-efficiency EnergyStar appliances and compact fluorescent lights won’t come close. The same daunting energy math applies to the industrial, commercial and transportation sectors as well. The clear implication is that we shall have to replace virtually the entire fossil fuel electricity infrastructure over the next four decades with CO2-free sources – a multitrillion dollar proposition, if it can be done at all.”
WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120934459094348617.html
Are cars are truly a big issue. But the proposed targets for 2050 are going to take huge changes.
“Right now our cars and trucks consume about 180 billion gallons of motor fuel. To meet the 2050 target, we shall have to limit consumption of gasoline to about 31 billion gallons, unless a genuine carbon-neutral liquid fuel can be produced. (Ethanol isn’t it.) To show how unrealistic this is, if the entire nation drove nothing but Toyota Priuses in 2050, we’d still overshoot the transportation emissions target by 40%.”
WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120934459094348617.html
I’ve really got to take a deep look into what is happening in the entrepreneurial community to see if there is an opportunity for a marketing person.
Congratulations to my Friends at SCPR
One year anniversary party. Congratulations to Cheryl and the entire team.
Twitter vs. Blogging
I’ve been sucked into the black hole of Twitter. Because Twitter is so convenient and easy to communicate on, I’ve slacked here. I’ll be back to blogging.
Twitter is still interesting to me, but there is so much self promotion and people trying to figure out how to use the medium that it’s getting tiring. I do like keeping touch on people and their efforts. Personally, I need to use the medium to get more information back rather than shouting out.
Recent Videos and Marketing Power
I’m really happy that the video I produced for Footnote.com’s launch of the Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial has been well received. Footnote used the video to attract attention with “old media” newspaper and television companies. It was cool to see my video I created being used inside a news piece on MSNBC.
Guest on CouchCast
I joined Robert Merrill, Thom Allen, and Michael Reinbold to talk about the forming of Rocky Mountain Voices, social media, and the future of marketing via social mediums. I even go out on a limb and talk about how marketing agencies will rise to the occasion and excel at social media.
Thanks for including me on the CouchCast.
Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes
It would appear that the pollsters must have made it clear that the American people want change. This little video highlights just how committed the 2008 Presidential Candidates are to change [...sigh]. Of course I expect the change McCain would initiate is more troops in the Middle East and more military spending. Hillary…big shake ups — or is it a shake down.
Amazing Musician — Ukelele Picker Jake Shimabukuro
Tonight I was in my nightly ritual watching Conan O’Brien (you can watch Feb 19th show here). The guest musician was Jake Shimabukuro, a Japanese-America from Hawaii. Shimabukuro played one of my favorite George Harrison / White Album songs, While My Guitar Gently Weeps on his ukelele–yep, you are reading it correct.
Conan was blow away. I was blown away. Luckily we have iTunes today where I simply paid my $0.99 and added this great track to my music collection. Visit Shimabukuro’s destination on iTunes and take a listen to the sample. Better yet, just buy it.
Mac Owners are Snobs…so says Mindset Media
Well, I’m guilty to a few claims published in report from Mindset Media. TheStreet created a video based on the report. Some of the activities / attitudes associated with Mac users are listed below. Not sure that I’m all, but certainly some are spot on. Watch and see if you agree.
- to be perfectionists [well, maybe]
- to use notebooks [since 1994ish]
- to use teeth whitening products [okay]
- to pay for downloaded music [I got better after AllofMP3 shut down]
- to go to Starbucks [for meetings and hanging]
- care about “green” products and the environment [yes for me]
- to own a hybrid car [Amy's getting a Toyota Prius and we're not excited about $3.50 a gallon in an SUV that gets only 13-18 miles per gallon. It's economics for me and a desire to keep money in the USA vs. send it to the Middle East.]
73% Watch Video Online
Nielson Online research showed “73% of active Web users watched online video in December.”
Other findings:
- Women twice as likely to watch network television programming online (example: watch ABC over YouTube)
- Men 18-34 are twice as likely to watch user-generated content
- Watchers of one network online tend to be loyal to that network (hum, I wonder if this has anything to do with the quality of programming offered by technology by companies like Utah-based Move Networks)
Article likely requires a subscription and can be found at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120293498930866159.html.
Automattic’s Matt Mullenweg on Funding and Futures
I was able to meet Matt Mullenweg, the founder of Automattic and the person behind, WordPress, the same software you are using right now on House of Baldwin.com. Matt is a great guy. He has a lot going for him. And at 24, he has a lot ahead of him. It’s always fun to share a moment with young entrepreneurs that are changing the way we interact and communicate
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“It’s been a busy few weeks,” Matt Mullenweg said with a grin in response to the question about Automattic’s recent $29M funding round. Interestingly enough, this funding trails the initial investment of $1M that wasn’t fully expended.
Mullenweg talks with Brad Baldwin while visiting Park City, Utah (shhh…remember Matt you promised not to tell anyone about how great it is here) about their development team, projects, the open source community and revenue models at Automattic. Mullenweg shares some of the features and enhancements that will appear in WordPress 2.5 to be released in March 2008.
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