The Doritos economy
Posted: Monday, December 04, 2006 10:47 AM by Will Femia
I love the Doritos-on-the-beach story. Aside from making a funny dovetail with the show Lost, I can just imagine a guy on the beach feeling a little hungry and thinking about maybe heading up to the snack stand for a bag of... wha?? (Great photos too.)
In other Doritos news, the delis in my neighborhood have been carrying the new flavor "Buffalo & Ranch." I didn't find the flavor to be very distinct from the others. However, this weekend I tried a new limited edition flavor "Sweet Spicy Chili" or something like that. That's a keeper. What? You don't try new Doritos flavors as they come out? I used to be able to name them all. That'd be a good contest if I could find a definite list somewhere. Looking at their site, they list a few I've never seen in New York, like Taco Doritos. They probably do regional flavors too (Like Doritos Latinos in Scotland and the "kick in the crotch" bags in Japan.) This whole thing is just begging for a Flickr photo pool. Maybe later I'll go back to the deli to get a picture of the chili flavor. Now I'm wishing I'd been taking pictures all along. When was the last time you saw the old red and white bag? Update: OK, out of curiosity I took a peek, and yes, there does appear to be a Doritos economy. One more: I see Doritos is offering ten grand for a homemade commercial. I wonder if anyone has footage of the Doritos on the beach. (Oops, as someone points out in comments, "David Dixon, an Avon attorney and amateur videographer, wasted no time in taking video footage to make a 30-second commercial.") OK, seriously, last one: All of this Dorito talk had me thinking about Doritos as an American culinary contribution, which had me thinking of cooking with Doritos (like some kind of Top Chef challenge) which made me realize that I do know of one Dorito recipe, the Dorito Burrito.
Speaking of Flickr pools, you have until the 11th to submit an entry in NPR's "Make a Menorah, Create an Ornament" contest.
CNET's James Kim and his family are apparently still missing. Such a strange story, though I guess that's the nature of all missing person stories.
It's the protocol stupid! Here's more on that confusing news about BitTorrent striking a deal with movie companies. It makes the movie companies look pretty stupid, but not in a way that isn't believable.
"The freebord is a skateboard that rides like a snowboard. It has the same edging ability and this makes any hill ridable."
The Coming Era of Magical Physics - I generally try to avoid stories about "what could be" in science. Some folks like to get excited by the implications of studies that are only in planning like, "If the funding comes through and the tests are successful, we could be looking at the most amazing, civilization-changing invention ever." That said, here's an exciting article about technology that hasn't been invented with pretty weak proof that it's going to be invented.
77 Ways to Learn Faster, Deeper, and Better - What a great list. Especially good if you're feeling in a rut and looking for new ideas for how to break out.
Scott Adams likes Bill Gates for president. Adams often argues in favor of smart people, but I have to wonder what would convince Gates to be president. I'm having trouble coming up with something he could do as president that he can't do on his own without all the added grief.
"Let me remind my readers that the "Juba the Baghdad sniper" does not exist--at least, not in the heroic sense that the jihadi crowd has painted him as. He's a myth. A piece of fictional propaganda produced by terrorists. A heroic superman for the al Qaeda supporters of the world." I never even heard of Juba and I thought I was paying pretty close attention.
Here's a good one for regular Clicked readers. Can you see the message? (P.S. Does anyone else suffer memory leak problems when they have that many Firefox tabs open?)
Sixth Grader Tasered At Middle School or... Taser used to save 11-year-old girl from attack. While it does feel like taser use is getting out of hand, if I was the parent of the girl being attacked, I probably wouldn't have any trouble supporting the electrocution of her attacker.
Did you hear about the guy who said that if his blog entry made it to the front page of Digg he'd quit his job? Apparently he actually went through with it, but it did blow up in his face a little.
The Photojojo Holiday Gift Guide - What to Buy and Why in 2006
There are now three parts in the "Social lending the next Web 2.0 phenomenon" series. Social lending is like citizen journalism, only for banking. For the casual Web surfer, it's interesting to see people make their pitch for money. I wonder how often people get burned doing this. It looks like most of the participants invest such a small amount that the risk isn't too huge.
Here's one for sports fans, though the real attraction is the hysteria of the commentators. NOTE: NY Giants fans may find this strikes too close to home. (Be sure to watch the whole thing through.)
"Create a nation anywhere in the world and decide how you will rule your people by choosing a government type, a national religion, ethnicity, tax rate, currency type, and more in this new geo-political, nation, and government simulator."
Life Goggles: Online video sharing quality comparison
Biblical Studies Carnival XII
How to synch your X-mas lights to music - There's no real trick revealed here. You still have to manually program the lights with the music.
"Virtual communities are as important as their real-world counterparts, many members of online communities believe."
"Explicit sex in films and books used to be shocking but there are signs of a new liberalism gaining ground." (Totally SFW) This article made me think of the comment someone left about Pantiless Britney only being a big deal in the context of puritanical modern America. (By the way, remember that item about the hunt for 2006's word of the year? "Pantiless" isn't actually a word, but looking at the search terms people are using to look for the Britney photos, I'd say it's on its way.)
Wow, this fake Seinfeld episode is really well done. It mixed old episodes and clips from recent news. NOTE: You'll recall that those clips from recent news involve Kramer shouting out the N-word. Non-NOTE: I seem to remember from my youth that National Lampoon Magazine had naked ladies in it, but I don't see any on the Web site.
