CNN : Hand The Keys To Jon Stewart

by | Aug 31, 2024 | Political Blogs | 0 comments

The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart is America’s most trusted news anchor and if CNN wants to stay alive, they should put the Emmy winner in charge of their network for a month or so.

Sure, Stewart is comedian but unlike Fox New’s Glenn Beck at least he’s a successful comedian. And in addition to the fact that CNN’s ratings are a joke, there are solid reasons for giving the comic some sort of guest editor status at the Cable News Network. Stewart is in the line of American comedians like Will Rogers, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin and Bill Hicks who used humor to speak truth to power.

In fact, Stewart’s already spoken that truth to CNN, six years ago. Here’s what Stewart said to the hosts of Crossfire about their show and their network in 2004.

“It’s not so much that it’s bad but it’s hurting America. Stop hurting America. Right now you’re helping the politicians and the corporations. You’re not too rough on them. You arere part of their strategy. You are partisan hacks. I’m here to confront you because we need help from the media and you’re hurting us.”

Read the whole thing at the Huffington Post

What You Can Learn From Trader Joe

by | Aug 29, 2024 | Essentials Project, Food, Interesting, Success | 1 comment

Lauren and I LOVE Trader Joe’s — a chain of small grocery stores that are in 25 states plus D.C. If you’ve shopped at TJ’s, chances are good you love themm too.

So I found this article from the Fortune really interesting. Some of it relates to my Essentials Project, too.

One example — Trader Joe is twice as profitable as Whole Foods Market per square foot and their secret isn’t more but less selection.

With the greater turnover on a smaller number of items, Trader Joe’s can buy large quantities and secure deep discounts. And it makes the whole business — from stocking shelves to checking out customers — much simpler.

Swapping selection for value turns out not to be much of a tradeoff. Customers may think they want variety, but in reality too many options can lead to shopping paralysis. “People are worried they’ll regret the choice they made,” says Barry Schwartz, a Swarthmore professor and author of TheParadox of Choice. “People don’t want to feel they made a mistake.” Studies have found that buyers enjoy purchases more if they know the pool of options isn’t quite so large. Trader Joe’s organic creamy unsalted peanut butter will be more satisfying if there are only nine other peanut butters a shopper might have purchased instead of 39. Having a wide selection may help get customers in the store, but it won’t increase the chances they’ll buy.