Alex Pooley's Blog

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Perth Ruby On Rails Oceania meet, on Thursday 18 September, Fibber McGees, Leederville, 5pm(ish) until whenever! The official announcement is on the RoRO website.

My office is just over the road at 220 Carr Place, Leederville in case ya’ll want to drop by a bit early and say hi to myself and the rest of the twotwenty web development gang.

Marketing always fascinates me. I think it’s the melding of business, psychology, and hackery, that mystifies and amazes. Every so often I come across a strange marketing campaign. Kind of like those TV adverts that force you to turn to the person sitting next to you and say, “Someone got paid for coming up with that”.

On the right is a marketing campaign that gave me a giggle. The Mortein “energy ball” is actually just a ball bearing in the can, so when you shake the can it sounds like a can of spray paint. It’s incredible how far marketing can take a lowly can of bug spray. I wonder if their sales actually improved because of this…

My wife and I sponsor a child in Mongolia. Every now and then we receive letters, photos, and other types of updates which I always find particularly interesting. I thought I would share the most recent update I received today in case you have ever wondered what’s involved in sponsoring a child. Also, you may be interested to learn that the total sponsorship money ($10 or so a week) is split between the sponsored child and the child’s community.

You can find out more about sponsoring a child with world vision at the world vision website. World vision is a “Christian humanitarian organisation” which does irk me a little - what does religious affiliation have to do with helping people?

It seems you can’t volunteer to help unless you’re “a committed Christian excited at the prospect of using the unique gifts and talents God has given you to help children and families in need”.

wtf.