5 Blogs Before Lunch

Queen Victoria's Bloomers Sold for $9K

OK, this is so off topic I don't know how to justify this post, other than to say "I just had to share:"

Apparently, a pair Queen Victoria's bloomers were purchased at auction for $9,000.

An article by the AP quotes auctioneer Charles Hanson as saying that Queen Victoria's underpants belonged to "a very big lady of quite small stature with a very wide girth." She was said to be 5 feet tall and had bloomers with a 50-inch waist.

The handmade drawers include the monogram "VR" for Victoria Regina. AP says they are open-crotch style (if you were interested), with separate legs joined by a drawstring at the waist, a popular style in the late Victorian era.

Photography.Book.Now Competition Deadline Approaching

Time is running out to enter the photographic book competition sponsored by our good friends over at Blurb.

So, if you're thinking of submitting an entry for the Photography.Book.Now competition, the time is now!

Entries are due by midnight on Monday, July 14th.

Don’t miss your chance for fame and glory — and a shot at the $25,000 Grand Prize. Details

Happy Independence Day to Everyone

Service Down, But Not Out

It has been one of those days. I woke this morning to find that Charter Internet was down, and I had no access. Then, I learned that Twitter has been offline for hours, and finally, word that Amazon.com was closed (involuntarily) for at least an hour. Advertising Age estimates that cost the retailer at least $1.8 Million.

More posts to come once I recover from my lack of connectivity. (big grin).

Texting Your Way To Love

From time to time I share something that is truly off topic. If I could spin this any other way, I'd say to use this video from current.tv as creative inspiration, or perhaps a socio-analysis of Gen Y. But however I present it, I hope you enjoy this digression:

Collaborating for Change: The Open Architecture Network

For those of you out there who'll happen to be in San Francisco this evening, my good friend Kevin "Dutch" O'Malley is is putting on what appears to be a good program at the Commonwealth Club. Email him if you'd like to attend (kevin@techtalkstudio.com).

Panel: Collaborating for Change
A diverse group of engineers, designers and activists are raising living standards worldwide

Collaborating for Change: The Open Architecture Network

Maria Giudice, CEO and Founder, Hot Studio; Co-author, Web Design Essentials
Scott Mattoon, Chief Architect, Western U.S. Region, Sun Microsystems
Amy Novogratz, Director, TED Prize
Kate Stohr, Co-founder, Architecture for Humanity; Editor, Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises

How can well-designed Web access to open-source architectural plans support sustainable development, help communities rebuild after disaster, and create safer and more innovative structures with partners around the world? Learn how a diverse team of engineers, designers and social activists worked together to create a collaborative design community to help raise living standards around the globe - and allowed a worldwide team to respond to the immediate needs of disaster victims, including the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the recent fires in Southern California.

MLF: Business & Leadership
Location: Club Office
Time: 5:30 p.m. reception, 6 p.m. program
Cost: $8 members, $15 non-members, $7 students (with valid ID)
Program Organizer: Kevin O'Malley

Keeping Up With The Sins

As a marketer, I feel it is wise to keep abreast of the most deadly sins--exactly how is God's law being violated in today's world?

Apparently, the Catholic Church says lust, gluttony and greed aren't the only big time sins out there. The Vatican has just listed pollution, drug use and genetic manipulation among the sins being committed in the modern world.

"If yesterday sin had a rather individualistic dimension, today it has a weight, a resonance, that's especially social, rather than individual," Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, whose office deals with matters of conscience and grants absolution.

Let's hope marketing stays out of the Vatican's list of social sins.

Source: The higher authorities at the Associated Press

Sir Edmund Hillary has died

Sir Edmund Hillary, the man who conquered Mount Everest and considered to be one of the 20th century's
greatest adventurers, has died, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark announced Friday. He was 88. Source: The New York Times

From The New Yorker: David Sedaris' Journey Into Night

As many of us head out of town for the holidays, may I suggest a quick read from David Sedaris to lighten the affect of travel delays. Sedaris is one of my favorite humorists and this article in The New Yorker is quite entertaining. Happy travels to all, and to all a good flight.

From The New Yorker:

There are only two classes on the airline I normally take between France and the United States—coach and something they call Business Elite. The first time I sat there, I was flown to America and back for a book tour. “Really,” I kept insisting, “there’s no need.” I found the whole “first-to-board” business a little embarrassing, but then they brought me a bowl of hot nuts and I began to soften. Pampering takes some getting used to. A flight attendant addresses me as “Mr. Sedaris,” and I feel sorry that she’s forced to memorize my name rather than, say, her granddaughter’s cell-phone number. On this particular airline, though, they do it in such a way that it seems perfectly natural, or at least it does after a time.

Image source: The New Yorker

December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy

"December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of American was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."

These were the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the day after Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

While it seems that this date has been somewhat eclipsed by the more recent September 11, 2001, 5 Blogs would like to commemorate and remind us of this history-changing, life-altering, world-affecting event.

You can hear audio of Roosevelt's address at History Matters