Sir Links-A-Lot (February 5, 2009)

Image by Dunechaser via Flickr

Lot's of good stuff lately so I thought a Sir Links-A-Lot column would be a good idea.

Great story from Colby Buzzell called "For Soldiers Like Me..." from his time in the military. Colby writes so casually with a strong undercurrent of emotion. It's funny and thought provoking at the same time.


"One soldier in my platoon who’d already been in the military for a couple of years brought two cartons of cigarettes to JRTC, and the guy didn’t even smoke. Claimed he’d never smoked a cigarette in his life. But he knew that after a few days out in the field, once soldiers started running out of smokes, they’d pay anything for them, and when that happened, he’d open up shop (his rucksack) and sell them to his nic-fitting colleagues for $40 a pack."

Seth Godin has a thought provoking article on Marketing's role in the product development process. It's a good article, and I think everyone should read him everyday, I'm that big of a fan. However, my big reason for linking to it is the Mad Men clip he highlighted. One of the single best Mad Men moment in its two seasons. Behold, The Carousel.



Great article on the economy's impact on the Healthcare sector titled the "Long View: How the Financial..." Greg Krantz passed it along. It's dense, but very good.

Finally, interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on mortgage modifications. The gist of the article is that restructuring mortgages is actually bad for the borrower. Let the banks foreclose and the borrower can declare bankruptcy, move on with their life and start saving money again. It's a provocative argument.