Over vacation, Sophie stumbled on this long WPost magazine article about Joshua Bell’s adventure as a panhandler in the DC metro station. There are three great videos embedded in the article.

Some bloggers are riled by Huffpos copy/paste “journalism.” (Thank you Amy!)

“Because in the time when companies can plant jobs whereever there’s an internet connection, and two thirds of all new jobs require a higher education, or advanced training, if we want to out-compete the world tomorrow, we’re going to have to out-educate today.”

Wow, bad, bad, bad.

Ian Schafer pansPizza Hut’s new viral video:

Lets see…anger mom & pop pizza places (yes, in this economy), and bring in the mass-produced bastardization of their bread and butter to rub in their face. Yeah. That makes me feel better about Pizza Hut. It’s one thing to call out your competition if they are another chain. It’s another to insult small businesses.

My advice? Next time, stop trying to make a ‘viral’ with the goal of getting views, and instead, focus on creating content that actually builds your brand — or at least makes it look good.

This one is made for the Suxorz at SXSW 09. Posting now to the Suxorz Facebook group.

…was to forget a few code words?

Let’s pause this morning to wallow in the irony of the juxtaposition of articles on the front page of Saturday’s New York Times (I’m going to miss her!) excoriating Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich for attempting to trade the Obama Senatorial seat for campaign contributions versus an article about how much campaign cash New York Senator Chuck Schumer raises from the businesses he helps to regulate.

The next day, Mr. Schumer appeared at a breakfast fund-raiser in Midtown Manhattan for Senate Democrats. Addressing Henry R. Kravis, the buyout billionaire, and about 20 other finance industry executives, he warned that a bailout would be a hard sell on Capitol Hill. Then he offered some reassurance: The businessmen could count on the Democrats to help steer the nation through the financial turmoil.

“We are not going to be a bunch of crazy, anti-business liberals,” one executive said, summarizing Mr. Schumer’s remarks. “We are going to be effective, moderate advocates for sound economic policies, good responsible stewards you can trust.”

The message clearly resonated. The next week, executives at firms represented at the breakfast sent in more than $135,000 in campaign donations.

The article went on to detail the millions that Schumer has raised from Wall Street and included a useful table of Schumer’s influence on regulation relating to Wall Street. Schumer sure looks “bought” by security industry interests.

Blagojevich’s chief mistake was to articulate the quid pro quo to urgently and loudly, rather than letting politics take its natural course.

Arguably, Schumer’s campaign-cash-smudged vision has cost the American people far more than any Senate seat Blogojevich wanted to peddle.

“He is serving the parochial interest of a very small group of financial people, bankers, investment bankers, fund managers, private equity firms, rather than serving the general public,” said John C. Bogle, the founder and former chairman of the Vanguard Group, the giant mutual fund house. “It has hurt the American investor first and the average American taxpayer.”

Has anyone considered taping Schumer’s phone? I guess we don’t need to bother, when it’s on the front page of the New York Times.

Though I love the experience of paging through a thick newspaper, the concept is clearly on in trouble. The WSJ reports:

Detroit’s major dailies are considering ending home delivery on most days of the week, as they battle a sharp falloff in advertising revenue. More newspapers are contemplating similar moves as the erosion of advertising and rising costs of print and delivery have brought publishers to their knees.

How long before some kid says “Daddy, why did they call it news if they took the time to put it on paper?”

I saw this video on logging into my gmail account.

At first glance, this seems just to be another example of the good old-fashion uber-casual geeky fun Googlers like to have with their own tools. “Just sharin’ somethin’ cool with the community, ya know.”

But watch again and you see agency values slathered on thick… the music, the pulse, the final screen’s typing and canned message.

It’s a bad sign when GOOG no longer trusts itself to be naturally appealing.

Initial unemployment claims, the best leading indicator we’ve got:

In the week ending Dec. 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 573,000, an increase of 58,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 515,000. The 4-week moving average was 540,500, an increase of 14,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 526,250.

Expect to hear things like “teetering on the edge of a depression” from hysterical commentators later today.

Though this seems counter-intuitive in a deflationary period, I think one of these days gold is going to pop to $1500 an ounce… maybe even $10k.

Investors are desperately seeking something, anything that holds its value from month to month.

Currencies crumble. Companies collapse. Oil oscillates. Real estate rots. Banks rupture.

Desperate for a safe haven for their savings, investors bought $32 billion in T-bills yesterday at a 0% interest rate.

Gold could become a refuge for panicking investors.

But gold has no real use, you say.

Well, what practical use is a $10 bill for anything other than kindling a fire?

Currency has value because everyone believes it has value and agrees to use it as a token of exchange. If or when that perceived value erodes, there’s going to be a mad scramble into some new token of value.

Gold has been a traditional proxy for economic value for 1000s of years. Why? It’s uniform and portable. It’s not so scarce that it can’t be used — in a sliver — to buy a loaf of bread. Yet it’s relatively finite and can’t be printed by governments desperately trying to buy off angry voters.

If you don’t think the next stable haven is gold, please write me and tell me what you think is a safe harbor for economic value.

Shotgun shells? Bottled water? Penicillin? It sure isn’t Picassos or Porsches or penthouses.