Pepsi pops Coke, Synagro’s poo-poo choo-choo, and other news oddities

by Daysha Taylor, October 16th, 2007, 1:52 pm

Scratching my head over the topic of my next, and sadly last, post for all the Bizmology lovers out there — yes, I heart you too! — I am compelled to identify that special story of the week that will stir the imagination of the reader and suck some sarcasm through the Cat5 cables for the comments section. Google is in talks with Random House to digitize its book collection? Interesting, but we all know that book searches are inevitable. The subprime mortgage collapse is killing companies like Nomura Holdings? Ugh. It’s too early in the morning for the word subprime. As interesting as Universal Music’s beef with iTunes is, I can’t help but to get a chuckle over these small oddities:

• It’s only been about 3 months since Coke and Pepsi publicized their ability to work together to foil a plot involving the sale of trade secrets. I guess employees didn’t jump on board the peace train. While stocking the shelves at a Western Pennsylvania Wal-Mart, bickering between Coke and Pepsi deliverymen escalated into an outright brawl in the parking lot. Pepsi gave Coke three pops to the face, resulting in a broken nose and a black eye for Coke. If it were up to me, I would have Coke CEO Neville Isdell challenge Pepsi CEO Eric Foss to a rematch. Getting ESPN on board for the broadcasting rights would be an added bonus. Who can I call to get this started?
• Residents of Limestone County, Alabama are giving Synagro Technologies some stink over the company’s New York poo poo, choo choo activities. The Texas company manages a plant that converts human waste from the Big Apple into fertilizer for Alabama farm land. Alabama folks “can’t stomach the stench.” As crappy as this is (pun intended), this story has made me realize just how happy I am with my career path.
• A Japanese bureaucrat was reprimanded for getting a little too Wiki with it. According to the agriculture ministry, the gentleman contributed more than 260 edits to the Wikipedia entry for the popular Japanese show Gundam, a cartoon about toy robots. The ministry has since issued a new order prohibiting employees from doing Wiki while they work. Ministry official Tsutomu Shimomura stated, “The agricultural ministry is not in charge of Gundam.” I still can’t figure out why he needed to clarify that point.