Rubbermaid, the corporate spine of the town I grew up in, is closing its headquarters and factory there. In 1993 and 1994, Rubbermaid was named America’s most admired company by Fortune. Here’s Rubbermaid’s history.

The jobs will be moved to cheaper production facilities “abroad,” so some will see Rubbermaid’s demise as evidence for more trade barriers. But here’s an interesting argument blaming Walmart, which dominates retailing enough to dictate what manufactures can peddle. Brands mean little when Walmart dominates the sales channel. An important lesson for publishers who deal with Google.

A new test for Presidential candidates. (Skol Ken Layne.)

Pandagon is annoyed that Andrew Sullivan is once again asking for donations.

I do think it is funny that while Democrat blogs like Atrios, Talkingpointsmemo, DailyKos, Pandagon, Talkleft, OliverWillis and many others have embraced the good capitalist practice of peddling ads, Republican Sullivan sticks so loyally to the tactics pioneered by PBS. Listen in:

If you read the blog regularly, we’re asking for the same amount as a good cup of coffee a month. If you think this site is worth that, and you want to keep it afloat, please help. All the details are here. Without you, this new experiment in online journalism is impossible to finance. With you, it can go from strength to strength. So please don’t delay.

The only thing missing is the soundtrack of phones ringing in the background and the frequent reprise “our phone volunteers are waiting for your call.”

A year ago when he was fund-driving, Sullivan wrote “we’re working hard for ad dollars, but the landscape is still bleak.” I responded then: “Sullivan won’t begin to find a steady commercial audience until buying ads on his blog is as easy, transparent, affordable and automated as blogging itself.” A year later, he’s still doing things the hard way.

Cool image zoom.

Jeff Jarvis reports this startling research about the correlation between online buzz and music sales: “Walter Bender of MIT and Dan Gruhl, graduate now at IBM, said they independently did research on buzz on music online and they each found that online buzz presaged retail sales — up and down — by two weeks. We are influencers influencing buyers.”

Hello
You’re fired
Be ready for holiday fun
Hot Deals For You LaserGun Only $6.96. Was $19.96!!!!!!
Fwd: Purchase Prescription Medication Here Withou
Send Me Deals Bloating? Gas? Irregularity? Good News…
Avalanche Gifts the gift of money
Closout – Special Omaha Steaks-Save up to 50% & get 3 Free Gifts
Orlando Bishop No More Pill+s, add 3+ inches

(Spam subject lines, in the order captured by my filter.)

Doug Arellanes reports on a Czech Christmas tradition.

I played Pacman last night for the first time in 20 years. I haven’t gotten any better. After some shyness, my daughter played too and said, “I can see why you think that’s cool.” Then we watched “Cat in the Hat.” Great movie. Yes, Jeff, it’s safe for kids who believe in Santa. 🙂

This morning, we continued our family’s recent spate of church shopping. (Had visited University Presbyterian twice, but were put off by its triumphalist smugness… although my son liked the white columns.) Today, we went to the , recommended by some laid-back friends. The church has a worthy [url=http://www.mindspring.com/~c3h/C3HUUA_History/c3huua_history.html]history. Unconventional service, but you (ok, I) gotta love two middle-aged men rendering Joni Mitchell’s “River” as a Christmas song.

I also enjoyed the sermon, which pivoted on the point that the gospels have been translated twice — from Aramaic to Greek to English — and that lots of meanings have been lost and found in those translations. Read a couple of versions of a translated work and see there’s a lot of room for creativity in even a single round of translation.

To experiment a little, I ran the Lord’s Prayer through Babelfish translator from English to Spanish and back. Here’s the English outcome:

Our father, who the sky art sanctified is known kingdom, thy thy comes, thy will be done, in the Earth because he is in sky. East Dénos perdónenos day our daily bread and our infractions, as we pardoned to which violate against us. And condúzcanos not in the temptation, but entregúenos of badly. For thine it is the kingdom, and the energy, and the glory, for always and always. Love

My son doesn’t like the Community Church’s modernist architecture. Yes, the lack of windows is pretty idiotic, and could be easily fixed with a sledgehammer. (Sadly, I’m almost comforted by the concrete: I grew up spending Sunday mornings inside a sinfully ugly, windowless concrete chapel completed in 1971.)

To remind you why River is a great Christmas song, here’s the opening verse:

It’s coming on christmas
They’re cutting down trees
They’re putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on…

Finally, I’m eager to know what Josh Marshall has up his sleave to report about “the never-truly-busted-open OpEd Payola scandal.”

PS Shannon Okey suggests everyone contribute to the knitbloggers’ “give farm animals to a poor village” drive.

Jeff Jarvis praises Dan Okrent, NYTimes’ new “public editor,” for hanging his biases out for all to see. Jarvis says: “Now that got me to wondering why every journalist shouldn’t have a public paragraph such as that. I was raised in this business in the belief that we never said such things; we wouldn’t reveal our votes or parties or belief or grudges because that would be bias; that wouldn’t be objectivity. But not revealing them is a lie of omission.” He adds: “In this new, transparent world, it is better to be transparent. I’ve been learning that even now, even here on this blog, where I’ve found it better to reveal more and let you judge what you think of what I think.”

I also think transparency is good for the business of journalism. Readers connect better with honest, three-dimensional journalists, aka human beings.

And advertisers can pick their audiences more easily. In the interest of transparency, I should mention that our company has a patent pending based on exactly this concept.

Dave Winer considers the agenda of CEO confab Davos:

“‘Will Mainstream Media Co-opt Blogs and the Internet?’ Giggle. They asked the question backwards. ‘Have blogs and the Internet already replaced Mainstream Media?’ For many, the answer is yes. Seems like the WEF is trying to tell their membership (large corps) what they want to hear. It’s up to you to not co-opt those cute little blogs. Heheh.”

My favorite publisher and blogger Jeff Jarvis nominates himself to speak. I second that nomination and nominate Josh Marshall and –why not? — myself. Marshall is an independent journalist using his blog to break news and make money. I’m helping advertisers bypass traditional media and connect with blog audiences — media’s most influential. Who else should go?

A couple of years ago, we paid $9 for a Gram Parsons double CD: GP and Grievous Angel. We’ve listened to it on and off. This morning again. Incredible: A song for you, Hearts on fire, $1000 wedding. His bio. The “$1000 wedding” song is weird, mysterious and gorgeous. “And he swore the fiercest beasts could all be put to sleep the same silly way, and wear the flowers for the girl, she only knew she loved the world, and why ain’t there one lonely, only one sad note to play, supposed to be a funeral, it’s been a bad bad day.” How does Parsons’ singing make this word-wreck so soul-grabbing? Call me a sap, but I darn near cry every time I hear it.