Tuesday, June 26, 2007

TED and Frito Lay

I have to recommend this DVD that I watched last night. The only problem is that I think the only way to see it at this point is to be a member of Netflix. I would actually say that you can join Netflix for 2 weeks free (it used to be a month!), if only just to rent this movie... It's a documentary called "The Future we will create -- Inside the world of TED".
I think I may have blogged about TED before, but I'll recap it quickly... It's a conference of "rich people" (well mostly rich people). People like Al Gore, The founders of Google, scientists, entertainers, etc... All of these people gather for 4 days in Monterey California to discuss "the world". They are shown demos of new technology, new ideas using old technology, etc... The idea is that these are the people who "should" be able to make things happen... BIG things happen, in order to make our world a better place. The DVD is about the 2006 TED conference. It is really great to see that people are talking about making the world a better place. It's also cool to see some new gadgets. My only criticism is that it seems to be a class based "rich white people" for the most part. I'd LOVE to see this idea spread to us "common folk". It got me to thinking, which would have more of an impact to change the world, a group of select rich people, or a mass of lower income people. I wonder.
Still it's a great uplifting dvd. You can learn more about TED here. They have a website for the movie but it's lame.
Oh and two of the ideas that really struck me... The idea of designers and architects designing small, renewable, green, living spaces (aka homes) for the majority of the poor people in the world. Also the one woman who said that the number one killer of small children (under the age of 5 I think) is not dirty water, not malaria, but from dirty fuel used in cooking. Such as coal, or other flamable materials used in a small home. She said that corncobs turned into charcoal briquettes are a much cleaner source of fuel.
I would like to buy this dvd, but I don't even think it's for sale - strange.

Totally unrelated...
Yesterday I stopped into my local "clubstore" called BJ's. I've been trying to cut back on my snacking at night, and have been enjoying sunflower seeds as a semi-healthy alternative to chips and such. Well last night I had a weak moment and picked up a "family-size" bag of crunchy Cheetos. I saw a sticker that said "2 bags for $5" but since it was a HUGE bag to begin with, I didn't want the extra cheetos. I get up to the register to pay for my stuff, and the cashier says "these are for sale, 2 for $5" - I said, "yes I know, I only want one bag"
She kinda smiled and said "no, I can only sell you 2 bags for the 2 for $5"
I said "What? really?" I thought she may have been joking with me.
But sure enough, that was the deal. So I could either walk back across the acres of club store to get a second bag, and wait in line all over again, or simply not buy them. I chose not to buy them. On my way out the door, I thought 'clearly, the cashier misunderstood the promotion' and the manager would be able to straighten her out. I asked the manager, and she simply smiled and repeated the same line. She said it was a promotion that Frito Lay came up with and there was nothing she could do about it. I STILL can't believe what I'm hearing.
Today, I called Frito Lay... at first, the nice woman on the phone denied the promotion, and said that didn't make sense. I said, "I know, but the manager said it was Frito Lay's policy"... She said, "can I put you on hold while I check into this?" I said sure... She came back on and almost apologetically said "yes, that is an agreement that we came to with bulk stores".
Well, I simply said, ok, I guess you guys lost a sale, which sort of defeats the purpose of a promotion... she just agreed with me.
So maybe I'm a little thick for needing 3 different people explain it to me, but I STILL can't believe what I'm hearing :)
And man do I want some Cheeto's right now. Oh well.

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