Today, we're making good on our new shoe subsidy program. We're paying warehouse workers up to $40 for any eligible shoes they've bought in the last 30 days and until 9/18/2009.

A lot of other industrial companies and safety minded firms are using similar programs to incentivize safety or to provide a nice perk to folks who are putting a lot of wear and tear on their shoes. Healthy feet are productive feet! We're not the first ones to try this program out, in fact, you could say we're following in the foot steps of other shoe subsidy programs (har har).

For a great place to pick up your shoes, try: http://www.zappos.com 

They sport free shipping, free returns, and excellent customer service. 

Not to mention they are run by one of my favorite business people - Tony Hseih

And, now for my obligatory goofy image that is sort of related to the post :)  
It's a picture of Shoe Money, of course!

We're now publishing all of our newsletters for each of our websites.

Here you can find a record of our coupons, advertisements, specials, and more.

http://www.seriousshops.com/mailers/

Disentanglement puzzles, aka disentanglements, are the brain teaser puzzles that usually require the removal / extrication of a ring or long oval piece (known as a shuttle). These puzzles will often employ chains or ropes for complexity and/or aestetics. These types of puzzles have a long, long history dating back at least hundreds of years.

In general, these puzzles, at first glance, will appear to be unsolvable without force. However, upon closer inspection there are "weaknesses" to be discovered in the design. There are design weaknesses of many kinds, but some of the more common can be described as "loose" joints, "suspicious" gaps, or "pull-overs". The more difficult disentanglement puzzles could require the exploitation of more than one of these weaknesses in concert to reach the solution. In fact, some of the more challenging disentanglement puzzles even use recursive procedures to arrive at the solution (like Patience Puzzle, a super classic, http://www.seriouspuzzles.com/patiencepuzzle.html)

ex. of the "Pull-Over" weakness
http://www.seriouspuzzles.com/conestogas.html

ex. of the "Loose" joint weakness
http://www.seriouspuzzles.com/iron.html

ex. of the "Suspicious" gap weakness
http://www.seriouspuzzles.com/ring.html

IMHO, the best disentanglement puzzles are the intersection of visual simplicity and obscurity of weakness. They may not be considered the most challenging puzzles. They look strong, sturdy, and simple. Their weakness is difficult to describe, uncommon, and hard to "see". Here are some of my favorites:

And of course, who can forget the Classic Horseshoe Puzzle...For sale at http://www.seriouspuzzles.com/luchorshoes.html

This puzzle still mesmerizes me. It uses a slip and twist motion only made possible by the links between the horseshoe. With the ring nearly in stand still while the horseshoes twist and slip between it, the horseshoes are suddenly side by side and the ring ready to slip off!

SPOILER Alert -- solution for Lucky Horseshoes here:
For a slow mo video, check this out.

Kelly and I entered into a contest back in April to see who could reach 1k twitter followers. I'm currently getting smoked.

But that can change! Help me out, follow me at http://twitter.com/seriousshops

Check this blog post later, and these includes should update on their own. To get a better view check out: http://twittercounter.com/compare/SeriousShops/Kblogger/month

** I think these counters above run about 1 day behind too, not sure though.

After years of buying hummus at the store, I thought I'd see if I could make it cheaper and fresher. Well, it didn't turn out to be much cheaper, but it was super tasty and fun to make. Plus, when you make it yourself, it doesn't seem like such a limited resource, so now I can load up my chips as much I want, because I can just make a new batch. 

This recipe makes about 20oz of Mild Organic Jalapeno Hummus for about $4 - $5

Ingredients:

Preparation:

Now, try it on vegetables, chips, pita bread, or by the spoonful (its that good!)

At SeriousShops.com we pledge to deliver superior customer service support that includes responsive, courteous, knowledgeable, and friendly representatives matched with fair and lenient return policies. We promise to deliver expedient domestic and international shipping options at competitive prices. And, it is our primary objective to quickly and accurately fulfill our customer’s orders, in most cases, on the same day they are ordered. We will strive to differentiate ourselves markedly from the typical service provided by other online retailers and wholesalers. We will deliver all this, as well as a fresh and wide variety of intriguing products, all for aggressively competitive low prices!

Everything we are tasked with is an opportunity to differentiate ourselves. A great packing job impresses a customer immensely. A positive, helpful, and responsive attitude shocks a customer who is used to bureaucracy and long wait-times. A package shipped 15 minutes after its ordered floors a customer who is used to multi-day response times. Vendors are excited and willing to do business or make exceptions, when they’re paid promptly, or even early. Vendors who are treated with the utmost respect and within a timely manner, thus turning the vendor-customer relationship on it’s head, don’t forget that and are more willing to extend terms or make other concessions. Excited customers, pleased vendors, and impressed co-workers are a real world currency. That currency is the capital needed to grow a business to new heights. And more than growth and material prosperity, its what generates a genuine love of service, a passion for whatever it is that you’re working on, and a love of life. That currency breeds a positivity that is heartfelt thus deepening an internal sense of urgency and purpose. Its a great cycle to be in and all one has to do is kick start it…