Bullfighting Ends in Catalonia, Spain

Bullfighting has come to an end in northeastern Spain. Fans in the region of Catalonia saw their last fights on September 25. The actual ban comes into effect on the first of January, 2012, but Sunday’s fighting was the last of the season. Over 20,000 spectators packed Barcelona's Monumental arena to see this age-old spectacle performed in the city for the last time. Spain’s top matadors performed at the historic event, which sold out at record speed. One matador, Julian Lopez, told the AP news agency: “This is such a beautiful arena, with a lot of tradition both for bullfighters and this national celebration.” Despite this, bullfighting at the arena has been on the decline, with smaller and smaller crowds each year.

Catalonia decided to ban bullfighting last year after 180,000 people signed a petition against it. They argued the corrida* was barbaric. Opponents of the ban believe they have a chance of getting it overturned next year. Bull breeder, Moeses Fraele said: "I think the politicians will think twice about the ban and bullfighting will live on. And thank God because Catalonia has plenty of serious bullfighting fans.” He added that, “in a democratic country, fans should be able to go to a bullfight." Catalonia is the first mainland region in Spain to ban bullfighting. The age-old sport has been part of Spanish life for centuries. It has been held at La Maestranza arena in Seville since 1765. There are dozens of bullrings across the country.

* Spanish for 'bullfighting'.

-breakingnewsenglish.com

Making Customers Hate You Makes Google Love You

Most businesses aim to please. They put customers first and do whatever it takes to make them happy.

Some companies have found that being unethical and treating customers like garbage is actually better for business.  At the very least, it ups their Google ranking. One company, DecorMyEyes, is downright scary to customers.  When one user tried to cancel her order, she received a scathing email. According to the New York Times, DecorMyEyes wrote her: "Listen, b*tch, I know your address..”

Other customers had similar experiences and reported them on review sites.

"Terrible service and a rip off. They must have blind primates doing the work!" says another.


Those are just two of the nicer reviews. While most business owners would be horrified, the DecorMyEyes founder, Stanley Borker, is thrilled.  Here's why:


"“Hello, My name is Stanley with DecorMyEyes.com," the founder writes to all the negative commenters on an open forum.  "I just wanted to let you guys know that the more replies you people post, the more business and the more hits and sales I get. My goal is NEGATIVE advertisement.”

Negative actions should have negative consequences, but this founder is laughing all the way to the bank thanks to high Google rankings. But surely the world's most powerful search engine, Google, could separate scams like DecorMyEyes from genuine businesses.


Apparently not until last week when the issue came to light.  Since then, Google has solved the issue:

"We were horrified to read about Ms. Rodriguez’s dreadful experience. Even though our initial analysis pointed to this being an edge case and not a widespread problem in our search results, we immediately convened a team that looked carefully at the issue. That team developed an initial algorithmic solution, implemented it, and the solution is already live. I am here to tell you that being bad is, and hopefully will always be, bad for business in Google’s search results."

Borker's strategy is unethical yet slightly brilliant. He tricked the most powerful company in the world.  It is a shock and awe strategy that Google, until recently, wasn't stopping. 

Although effective, abusing customers isn't a strategy that's likely to catch on. 

source: http://www.businessinsider.com/making-customers-hate-you-makes-google-love-you-2010-12#ixzz1ZF4IH28a

My Fix: Howard Schultz

Why the Starbucks CEO is withholding his money to fix our broken politics.

 

MY FIX: I’ve recently persuaded more than 100 top executives to sign a two-part pledge. First, they’ll make no political donations until there’s a courageous, long-term, bipartisan debt and financial-security plan that addresses both entitlements and revenues; second, they’ll commit to continue making investments that accelerate job growth.

Why would I turn to activism? Because, like so many Americans, I’m outraged. Four billion dollars was spent during the 2008 election cycle, and an estimated $5.5 billion will be spent for 2012. Meanwhile, people are out of work, the economy continues to flounder, and nothing’s getting done in Washington. This is no longer a crisis of leadership. It’s an emergency. The lack of cooperation and irresponsibility among elected officials today, as they have put partisan agendas before the people’s agenda, is stunning and outrageous. Just think about what all that campaign money could do for the education system, for the social services that our politicians are poised to cut. Just think about how petty bickering in the halls of Congress has degraded the brand reputation of America around the world. This might be the leadership we have come to expect, but it’s not what we deserve.

That was the message of my letter—and it’s touched a nerve. I’ve heard from thousands of Americans I’ve never met, expressing support and gratitude. Like-minded business leaders have committed to doing what we can to ignite job creation, regardless of what’s taking place in Washington. At the very least, we can work to inspire confidence to counteract the damage our ostensible leaders are doing inside the Beltway. In other words, we need to unleash an upward spiral of confidence that reverses the cycle of fear and uncertainty currently plaguing our country.

 -from http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek