December 31, 2008 – 9:51 pm
by Abelardo de la Peña Jr. WHAT’S HAPPENING The faltering U.S. financial picture is of great interest to Latinos in the 2008 presidential season. In Phoenix, immigration, crime and education are motivating Latino voters. House minority whip Steve Gallardo, however, sees Latinos primarily voting for who is best prepared to deal with the economy (AZCentral.com [...]
December 31, 2008 – 4:08 pm
by Hans Eisenbeis WHAT’S HAPPENING Religious Americans have put the economic crisis at the top of their prayers. In October 2008, the Christian devotional magazine Guideposts surveyed 2,500 readers. It asked them “What are you praying for these days?” The most common answer was “financial relief” followed distantly by “the United States and our leaders.” And [...]
December 31, 2008 – 2:05 pm
by Stefania Revelli WHAT’S HAPPENING This may be taking the dog days of summer a bit too literally. Pouncing off pet-sharing programs like Flexpetz, the hospitality industry is offering guests a rather unique amenity: pet leasing. At select Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, guests can “rent” dogs for several hours. At Quebec City, Boston and Vancouver locations, dogs [...]
December 30, 2008 – 6:57 pm
by Tory Davis WHAT’S HAPPENING An unusual new cookbook, likely the first of its kind, has been published online: The Testicle Cookbook, Cooking With Balls. This offal masterpiece comes to us via an Eastern European, ball loving chef named Ljubomir R. Erovic, in both English and Serbian versions replete with video instruction on how to [...]
By Iconoculture
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Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage
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Tagged Best of 2008, Competitive eating, Consumer trends, Cooking With Balls, Eating testicles, Iconoculture, Iconowatch, Online books, Organ meat cooking, Prairie oysters, The Testicle Cookbook
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December 30, 2008 – 3:11 pm
by Josh Kimball Crank up the “Auld Lang Syne.” It’s the end of a long year, and while each annual trashing of the calendar holds its own special meaning, this page change is especially big. At Iconoculture we watch the trends — large and small — that shape consumer culture. And this year’s shifts were [...]
December 30, 2008 – 10:34 am
by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING Online outfit aggregator Polyvore has been helping fashionistas compose their closets with its mood board tools; now the site is taking the same concept to help DIY decorators design their digs. The Interior Design section lets consumers collect home goods pics from around the web. They can save the images [...]
December 30, 2008 – 5:27 am
by Hillary Smith WHAT’S HAPPENING Think coed floors and bathrooms spell awkward moments in college? Try coed dorm rooms. A growing number of schools are adopting less stringent policies around cohabitation on-campus. Liberal colleges like Hampshire, Wesleyan and Oberlin have offered coed rooms for a few years now. But students at universities from New York to Stanford [...]
December 29, 2008 – 7:20 pm
by Abelardo de la Peña Jr. WHAT’S HAPPENING Arranged marriages, fairly widespread among families from India, Pakistan and China, are raising interest in the U.S. Arranged marriages can vary, depending on the family’s culture. For some, it means being matched long-distance with someone from their parents’ hometown and meeting in person before the wedding (TimesArgus.com [...]
December 29, 2008 – 2:15 pm
by Derek Reveron WHAT’S HAPPENING More African American mothers breastfeed their babies, giving them nutrients that improve health and fight diseases. 65% percent of African American women now breastfeed their babies, up from 36% in 1994, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (ClarksvilleOnline.com 9.5.08). However, only 20% of black mothers follow the [...]
December 29, 2008 – 10:05 am
by Grace Jidoun WHAT’S HAPPENING Mothers and Menus helps new moms stay healthy and avoid the junk-food trap. With a little bundle of joy to take care of, the last thing a new mom wants to think about is meal planning. This Manhattan-based meal delivery service sources from farmers’ markets to provide dishes made with organic, [...]
By Iconoculture
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Posted in Consumer Trend, Food/Beverage, Moms
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Tagged Best of 2008, Consumer trends, Iconoculture, Iconowatch, Meal delivery, Meal planning, Mothers and Menus, New moms, Nutrition
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December 23, 2008 – 5:07 pm
by Hans Eisenbeis This week, I got into an argument with a colleague at a local publication. He said, “There’s no way you can tell me that thrift is cool, like some kind of trend or something. Consumers are just in shock at what’s happened to the economy.” So the argument went: frugality chic vs. [...]
By Iconoculture
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Posted in Consumer Trend, Money/Spending
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Tagged Consumer spending, Consumer trends, Econoculture, Economic downturn, Iconoculture, Iconowatch, Savvy spending, Slate, Slump spending, The Great Recession Toolkit, The New Thrift
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December 23, 2008 – 11:55 am
by Hans Eisenbesis WHAT’S HAPPENING One business that’s taken off like a rocket in this recession is credit counseling. The National Foundation of Credit Counseling says that calls to credit counselors are up 30% this year, and the month of October saw a 70% spike over last year (Blogs.WSJ.com/wallet 11.21.08). The NFCC, representing the nation’s [...]
December 22, 2008 – 10:27 am
Download our weekly economic podcast with Chris Keating, Derek Stubbs and Hans Eisenbeis here: Hedging Your Bets: Bottoms Up Week 11 27 min., 47 sec.
By Iconoculture
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Posted in Consumer Trend, Economic meltdown, Economy, Podcasts
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Tagged Bottoms Up podcast, Chris Keating, Consumer investing, Consumer trends, Derek Stubbs, Hans Eisenbeis, Iconoculture, Iconowatch
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December 22, 2008 – 5:39 am
by Cree McCree WHAT’S HAPPENING Finding a reliable babysitter can be tough. Sitter Soirees in Portland, Oregon, streamline the process with “speed-dating” sessions that bring parents and sitters together at informal gatherings held in family-friendly boutiques. Soiree founder Jen Fererro recruits potential sitters from local colleges and employment websites. The dozen or so who make [...]
December 19, 2008 – 2:55 pm
by Charlotte Beal Today, a word about my shopping strategies, and how they inform my dinner decisions. I toggle between Trader Joe’s and Ralphs (a typical supermarket in Southern California) with a ratio of about 2 to 1 – two weeks straight at Trader Joe’s because I like the adventurous spirit and the quality at [...]
