smays.com

Dr. Robert Fox, DDS

Bush booed at 2008 Nationals home opener

The announcers were too polite to mention the boos. By November he won't be able to leave the White House. We're gonna need more Secret Service.

Well-oiled hope machine

By now the Clinton strategists have figured out how the Obama campaign has been beating them. If not, they can read about in the March 20th issue of Rolling Stone. In an article titled The Machinery of Hope, Tim Dickinson provides a fascinating look inside the grass-roots field operation of the Obama campaign. A few nuggets:

"If you really want grass-roots participation, then you have to give folks at the grass roots some autonomy to do this in their own way. We had hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people who wanted to do things. The challenge was: How do you marshal them in an organized fashion?"

"They've married the incredibly powerful online community they built with real on-the-ground field operations. We've never seen anything like this before in American political history."

"The Clinton campaign is the last, antiquated vestige of the top-down model. The top cannot organize caucus states; the bottom can."

"The Obama campaign has succeeded not by attracting starry-eyed followers who place their faith in hope but by motivating committed activists who are answering a call to national service. They're pouring their lifeblood into this campaign, not because they are in thrall to a cult of personality but because they're invested in the idea that politics matter, and that their participation can turn the current political system on its ear."

This article --coming on the heels of Clay Shirky's "Here Comes Everybody" -- really clicked for me and contains the answer to my pals who wink and nudge each other in the ribs while asking, "What makes you think this guy will be any different than all the others?"

"Shovelware," "repurposing" and facing reality

Found an interesting idea at "Teaching Online Journalism":

"It is time to stop talking about repurposing and instead to start a discussion on how to re-imagine journalism."

She proposes a radical (but obvious) shift in priorities:

"What some newsrooms (e.g., The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) have done is turn the workflow around — in a way that makes sense when the number of subscribers to the print product is decreasing and the number of online visitors is increasing: Make “Web first” the rule, in all cases. Produce for online, write for online, shoot for online, design for online. And then “repurpose” for the dying media — the print newspaper and the local TV newscast."

Dying media?! Yikes! I don't want to be in the staff meeting the first time someone blurts that out.

Vacation calculus and parenthood

Scott Adams says "...most vacations are about memory upgrades. You become a different person after each trip, literally, as your brain takes on new shapes and chemistry from each experience. I think the selective memory phenomenon is what makes three bad days of planning and travel a worthy trade for two good days of actual vacation."

I've long held to a similar theory about parenthood. One might dislike everything associated with being a parent... might even dislike children... yet the second their child is born, they change.

"I can't explain it. You'd have to be a parent to understand this feeling!"

The common explanation is that the blessed event transforms you and erases any previously held notions you had about children and parenthood. I believe it has more to do with the species protecting itself. If the new parent did not change... well, you can finish the thought.

And even then, I wonder how many parents --in some dark corner of their hearts-- occasionally wonder, "If I had it to do over again..."

But there are no do-overs in this game. So I hope every parent gets that molecular make-over that transforms them into loving, caring parents.

I'd like a bottle of 2 million sunblock, please

That last post started me thinking. I grew up in the 50's and 60's --at the height of the cold war-- 30 miles from a SAC (Strategic Air Command) base that everyone understood was a prime target in the event of a nuclear war. As Sarah Conner said in Terminator 2, "Anybody not wearing 2 million sunblock is gonna have a real bad day."

And it seemed like a real possibility. Maybe that's why we think Bush and Cheney are full of shit. Yes, the bad guys hit us and they hit us good. But it was nothing compared to what the USSR (and the USA) were ready to do.

Sure, one of the Sons of the Desert could blow up one of our federal buildings. Timothy McVey showed us that wasn't hard to do. And they'll do it whether we're in Iraq or not.

Fallout shelter radio ads

I remember well the back-yard fallout shelter craze (mania?). The family that lived behind us had one. It was clearly large enough for just one family but it was considered uncool to talk about who would live and who would die. And we lived in the landing approach path to the Strategic Air Command base in Blytheville, AR. Generally considered a prime target for a Russki ICBM.

The nice folks at DinosaurGardens.com have posted some creative radio spots for Survive-All Fallout Shelters. ("Civil defense approved, FHA approved, no money down, five years to pay!") [via Boing Boing]

I'm not a boxing fan but something about this photo (by Bill Greenblatt) speaks to me. I cropped the boxer because he is not important in the world of professional boxing.

Interview: Jason Rogers, Fez-o-rama

With one of his custom designed fezzes sitting comfortably on my head, I got Jason Rogers on the Skype horn today to find out the story behind the fezmonger and Fez-o-rama.

Some are born to the fez, others are called. I believe Jason falls into the latter group. I was surprised --don't ask me why-- to learn that Jason is trained in fashion design and might have written a text book or two.

I asked him about celebrity clients, his favorite designs, The Cult of the Eye, his fictional partner, "Joe," and ukuleles.

The interview runs about 25 minutes (Download MP3 ) and there are a couple of places where the audio got weird because a) the Skype connection was iffy or b) Jason walked into his cavernous, marble-floored Hall of the Fez.

Jason is the newest member of The Royal and Exalted Order of the Fez.

The interview runs about 25 minutes (Download MP3 ) and there are a couple of places where the audio got weird because a) the Skype connection was iffy or b) Jason walked into his cavernous, marble-floored Hall of the Fez.

Jason is the newest member of The Royal and Exalted Order of the Fez.

"If the news is that important it will find me."

This just in... the young process information differently. According to this story at NYT.com, "...younger voters tend to be not just consumers of news and current events but conduits as well — sending out e-mailed links and videos to friends and their social networks. And in turn, they rely on friends and online connections for news to come to them. In essence, they are replacing the professional filter — reading The Washington Post, clicking on CNN.com — with a social one."

"A December survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press looked at how media were being consumed this campaign. In the most striking finding, half of respondents over the age of 50 and 39 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds reported watching local television news regularly for campaign news, while only 25 percent of people under 30 said they did."

"Rather than treating video-sharing Web sites as traditional news sources, young people use them as tools and act as editors themselves."

One quote in the story really jumped out at me:

“If the news is that important, it will find me.”

What does this mean for those of us in the news business?

Sound bites, talking points and YouTube

Really interesting story at Politico by Micah Sifry and Andrew Rasiej about how YouTube is helping move us away from sound bite coverage to something more substantial.

"In the 1968 presidential election, the average amount of time given to a sound bite from presidential candidate on the network news shows was 43 seconds. In 1972 it dropped to 25. By 1988, it had shrunk to 9.8 seconds, and in 1996, according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs and the Brookings Institution, to just 8.2 seconds. By 2004, a study by USC and the University of Wisconsin found that it had risen slightly to 10.3 seconds, but for all intents and purposes this was hardly much of an improvement.

Until now, all of national politics has operated within the context of those shrinking numbers. Since TV was the only way to reach millions of voters, and the only way to get your message across was to a) buy expensive airtime for 30-second TV ads or b) get free airtime by saying something memorable (and not damaging, unless aimed at your opponent), successful politicians have gotten very good at sticking to their talking points, speaking in sound-bites, and avoiding gaffes or detailed conversations as much as possible."

My man Obama is proving these assumptions are out of date:

"So far, Obama's videos have been viewed more than 33 million times on YouTube.com — and that's not counting partial views, since YouTube only reports a full viewing as a “view.” His campaign has uploaded more than 800 video clips, and adds several more a day."

In a pre-Internet era, the endless replayings on television of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sound bites denouncing America would probably have deeply damaged Obama's candidacy. But millions of voters have been flocking to the web to watch his 37-minute response to the controversy.

Our longest newscast on our four state radio networks is 4 minutes. Only three of those being news. Even more popular --with affiliates-- are our one-minute "capsules." Formats which demand shorter and shorter sound bites.

But we now routinely post longer --sometimes complete-- interviews with the stories we post to our websites.

I have to believe everyone is better served by new media alternatives.

Reading Hillary's mind

I admit it. The political campaign has been my O.J. trial. I can't pull myself away. I think I've said before that I suspect this will be the last election I get my knickers in a knot over.

I've been thinking about the "Tonya Harding" analogy. If Hillary doesn't make the finals, Obama damn sure isn't going to."

I think Senator Clinton and I are the same age: 60. So I've been trying to "get inside her head," as the Quantico profilers say.

"I'm not gonna win the fucking nomination. After all I've been through. Barack will beat McCain like a red headed stepchild. And probably get a second term. Eight ... long... years. Jesus H. Christ! In 2016 I'll be 68 years old. Damn, I'm telling you... I will NOT go back to Iowa.

But if I can jam Obama enough for McCain to beat him, I can take Grampa John in four years. Shit, I'll only be 64.

Bill! Run out to the car and bring me the tire iron. I'll tell you what to do with it when you get back."

obama@whitehouse.gov

The Obama campaign seems to have their online shit all in one neat pile. The email I've received suggests they've got someone smart doing their digital stuff. So I offer this suggestion, in the event O. goes the distance.

President Obama reads, answers and acts on one email --from an American citizen-- every week. Let's say, on Friday. Here's how it might work:

Anybody can email the president once a week. Yes, people will try to find ways to scam this but you can deal with that.

On Friday morning, 10 emails are selected at random and forwarded to President Obama's in-box. He looks through them, picks one and responds --personally-- to the sender.

If action is required, the email is forwarded to the appropriate subordinate who has to DO something because the president --and the country-- will be watching.

The media gets a copy of the original email, the president's reply, including what --if anything-- will be done.

Think about it. If the president actually made something happen --personally-- 50 times a year, that would be pretty cool. Of course, some will ask the president to do things he cannot. And he can simply reply, "I don't know what the hell to do about that."

The odds of your email being selected are about the same as winning the Lotto but so what. Somebody's email got through.

Dark Ride

Republicans stopped visiting (if they ever did) smays.com a long time ago. So this video is unlikely to offend anyone but Hillary supporters and they hit the door right after the neocons. The rest of you can just hunker down until November when I hope to return to DEFCON 5.

Bob Cesca produced the mash-up above: "The song and the speech compelled me to ... assemble this mash-up as a tribute to everyone who has endured this seven-year-long dark ride; and to everyone who hopes that America can and will change for the better.

Until recently, I honestly didn't think it was possible. And even though it's only the beginning, Senator Obama's campaign is clearly our best shot to, at the very least, turn the tide against this seemingly interminable darkness."

John McCain's Magic 8 Ball

One finds the most amusing things at 23/6.com. Like John McCain's Magic 8 Ball. A clever post with a delightful headline ("John McCain will turn this war around right now if you don't shut up").

Q: Do you remember where you parked your car?
A: My feet hurt.

Q: Would you bone Hillary?
A: How about you say that to my face?

Q: When did you have your last bowel movement?
A: Would you like some hard candy?

Spooky how dead on the answers all were.

Path to Enlightenment

Coffee Zone Fan Boy

I am not a fun guy (by conventional standards). I usually don't enjoy a lot of things (beach, skiing, ocean cruise, etc etc) others find enjoyable. But I do have a few things that give me great pleasure. Reading, for example. I can spend an 8 or 10 hours on a weekend reading a good book.

And I love my quiet time at the Coffee Zone, a local coffee shop owned and operated by Taisir Yanis. I've posted from and about the Zone many times.

This morning I decided the Coffee Zone needed a blog so I whipped one up while slurping Rocket Fuel, the high octane java that makes all other coffee taste like lukewarm Yoo-Hoo.

I've got to post his menu and add some pix but this will do for a start. Taisir registered a good domain --YanisCoffeeZone.com-- and we'll get that in place in a day or so.

Taisir knows and likes his customers and they like him. It will be fun to see how we might use his blog to build and serve the community he has created.

Why TV sites lag newspaper sites

Lost Remote's Cory Bergman explains --again-- why TV station websites lag behind newspaper sites. He identifies two root problems:

"The first is the fact that broadcast scripts are not appropriate to read online. They must be rewritten, usually by a web producer because the reporter A) “doesn’t have time” or B) can’t write. From a financial perspective, the time rewriting this script is a wasted cost. Reporters should write their own web stories — multiple updates throughout the day if needed — following AP style.

The second is the misguided notion that a TV station’s web staff is there just to repurpose TV stories with a few extras here and there. As a result, TV sites are oppressively heavy on crime/fires/accidents and feature thin TV versions of newspaper and AP stories."

I read countless stories and posts like this and the thing that always gnaws at me is the the complete absence of any mention of radio station websites. Zip. Nada.

LeBron not Kong

Seems I wasn't the only one to notice the similarity between the Vogue cover featuring BB star LeBron James and the iconic image of King Kong. According to this AP story, some are saying "the photo was deliberately provocative, adding that it "screams King Kong."

What'd I tell you?

But wouldn't that mean I'm too stupid to drive?

Tonight's mail included a "letter" addressed to Perry S. Mays (Nobody uses my full name). There was no return address. Inside was what appeared to be a newspaper clipping tagged with a yellow Post-It note which read: "Perry: Check this out! (signed) J"

Of course the newspaper "story" is bullshit, although there is nothing in the copy that would clue the clueless on this point.

I wish I could give the dealer --Reagan Hyundai in Jefferson City-- the benefit of the doubt. They weren't trying to snooker their way into unsuspecting homes... it was just a little joke. April Fools Day a week or so early. Gotcha!

Maybe.

But if this shit works, it means there's some kind of creepy reverse Darwinism at work. In time, only the mentally impaired will be lured onto the lot.

Everything about this is designed to trick someone into reading about about your sale. To fool them. One would almost think the public doesn't want to hear from you. But why would that be?

Sirius-XM merger approved

"The companies have pledged that the combined firm will offer listeners more pricing options and greater choice and flexibility in the channel lineups they receive. If the deal is approved, the companies have said they would offer pricing plans ranging from $6.99 per month, for 50 channels offered by one service, up to $16.99 a month, where subscribers would keep their existing service plus choose channels offered by the other service." [AP]

I think I'm paying about $13 a month and listen to far fewer than 50 channels. I'd love to see an even lower price for 10 channels. Stay tuned.

PS: Are you still out there XM Ben? What does this mean for you?

13% no long have landline

From INSIDE RADIO: "Americans without a landline are increasingly the Achilles Heel of research.  The most recent government statistics show 13% of the population (18+) no longer has a landline.  Arbitron SVP of marketing Bill Rose says “It’s getting tougher and tougher for us.”  So their researchers have begun testing a new methodology to reach out to those consumers, who are protected by strict government guidelines on calling mobile phones. It works like this: Arbitron compares addresses against a list of known landline phone numbers.  When they find an address without a number, they mail a survey that encourages consumers to share their cell number for future contact. "

Oh yeah, sign me up for that.

Rove loves his new iPhone

Karl Rove on why liberals are more likely to be online than conservatives:

"...a lot of people on the right have got active lives and are doing other things," Rove said. "The idea of spending a lot of time on the internet and taking their talents and displaying them there is not something [conservatives] really do."

That's not counting the hours spent deleting White House emails.

Follow the Coffee Zone twitter page

If you live in the Jeff City area and frequent the Coffee Zone, I encourage you to follow Taisir's new twitter page. He's a little bashful about his written English but has posted his first tweets. So let's encourage him. He can use this page to promote specials, changes in when he's open and closed, etc.

George dreams of a time when lots of his customers are tweeting and there's a large, flat-panel monitor on a wall in the Coffee Zone, following them all. If you're not doing the twitter thing yet, this post makes zero sense.

Tommy Lee Jones, then and now

We watched In the Valley of Elah last night (rented from iTunes). I was pleasantly surprised to learn it was a murder mystery (sort of). Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron and Susan Sarandon all gave powerful performances.

For me the story was about how war can change the people we send to fight it. And I was reminded of one of Tommy Lee Jones' earlier movies, Rolling Thunder (1977).

It was a so-so movie starring William Devane but Jones owned every scene he was in. He played Cpl. Johnny Vohden, a soldier who had served under Devane's character in Viet Nam. Johnny is back, but he's not "back."

So, when Devane asks him to go down to Mexico to avenge Devane's murdered family, Tommy Lee gets up, walks into his bedroom, picks up a little gym bag  and walks out the door. See the movie.

In In the Valley of Elah, Jones' son, who is serving in Iraq, is that same burned out soldier with the thousand-yard stare.

TLJ was great in No Country for Old Men, but I thought his performance in Valley of Elah was even better.

Vote for me!

I've probably posted on this before but only the clinically obsessed or house-bound reader would know that, so...

If you're going to run for office in Dunklin County, Missouri, you have two methods for telling your story to the voting public: yard signs and the even more powerful 4x8 plywood sign placed in strategic locations. You might run a few radio spots but that wouldn't do the job if your opponent out-signed you.

One thing before I go on... anyone swayed by a political ad on TV is a fucking moron. You are cattle (maybe sheep). And you are legion, hence all the ads on TV. But you won't live forever and your children are not watching TV. I hope they will be harder to reach and mislead. Where was I?

Oh, yeah. My friend Terry sends us this example of state-of-the-art political media from my hometown. (No offense intended, Patrick. You have to do what you have to do. Good luck)

"Hillary's Last Stand"

Writing in the March 20th issue of Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi explores "The tragic self-martyrdom of a groundbreaking politician."

"The Clintons always represented the notion that the old Democratic Party of unions and LBJ liberals was a thing of the past and that the way forward involved making nice with big business and the military. Her husband passed NAFTA, deregulated Wall Street, rammed through welfare "reform," bombed Kosovo, chided Sister Soulja, opened the Lincoln bedroom to any foreign nation with spare cash and won two elections.

Winning convinced both of them that they were saviors of everything right and decent in the world. They'd discovered the winning formula, and we were welcome to kiss their asses for finding it. And so what if the formula involved selling out the unions on a series of draconian and insane trade deals, or cozying up to one of the most regressive employers in the world in Wal-Mart, or hiring an evil lobbyist stooge like Mark Penn to be your chief campaign strategist, or voting to give George Bush the authority to launch an illegal invasion of Iraq?"

Matt Taibbi is far and away my favorite political reporter (right after Kay Henderson!) and I buy a copy of Rolling Stone just for his pieces.

His latest leaves the reader with the impression that Hillary is kaput. I'm not so sure. He calls her "one of the most awesomely complex and fascinating public figures in the history of our country."  But not in a good way.

I couldn't find the article online but will update this post if I do.

Nice sound from Kennett boy and friends

Pal Nancy links us to the MySpace page for a new group (band doesn't feel right for this sound) called Irie Groves. Brian Corbett, Danielle Aslanian and Noll Billings got together earlier this year in St. Louis. All I can tell you is they sound pretty good to me.

I mention it here because Noll is a Kennett boy. Let's hope he goes on to do as well as some of the other Kennett kids.

If you needed no other reason to switch to Mac

When you buy a Windows computer, it comes with a bunch of shitty applications that you didn't ask for and don't want. The manufacturer gets paid to put all that stuff on your new box. Sony now has something called the "Fresh Start" option. For $50, they'll leave the crap off. Incredible.

Robots gaining too much power?

In The Know: Are We Giving The Robots That Run Our Society Too Much Power?

Question: Who would rather have running the country? A soulless robot that could go berserk and plunge the world into World War III... or George Bush and Dick Cheney? [It's a trick question]

Only known photo of Order of the Fez

OrderoftheFez.com

"The future belongs to those who take the present for granted."

My last post on Clay Shirky's terrific book, "Here Comes Everybody." I believe and hope that we're in the midst of a revolution. Mr. Shirky makes the case far better than I ever could.

"I'm old enough to know a lot of things just from life experience. I know that newspapers are where you get your political news and how you look for a job. I know that if you want to have a conversation with someone, you call them on the phone. I know that complicated things like software and encyclopedias have to be created by professionals. In the last fifteen years I've had to unlearn every one of those things and a million others, because they have stopped being true."

I've posted a few times that I have more faith in technology than people but this book has made me rethink that.

Authentic coffeehouse experience

NYT: "Howard D. Schultz, the chief executive of Starbucks, announced sweeping changes on Wednesday for the company as it seeks to reconnect with customers who have left for competitors or pared back their coffee budget in hard economic times. The initiatives are intended to restore an authentic coffeehouse experience to the stores and, in turn, re-energize an ailing stock that has lost half its value in the last 15 months."

I've never thought of Starbucks as "an authentic coffeehouse experience." You can still find that in some cities. Madison, Wisconsin has some great coffee shops. And we have a nice one here in Jefferson City.

The Coffee Zone is my favorite hang-out. Taisir is the owner and he's there every morning at 6:30 (that's when he opens, I'm sure he's there earlier).

He knows what his regulars drink and often has it for them by the time they step up to the counter. He's got free wifi and plays an eclectic mix of music that beat's Starbucks hands down.

When I come back from a trip I sometimes tease, "I got me some Starbucks while I was in (wherever)."  To which Taisir replies, "Tastes like Maxwell House, yes?"

The Coffee Zone is home of The Rocket Fuel. Doctor's note required. A medium size cup costs two bucks but we all know that we're getting more than coffee. For example, here's something you don't get at Starbucks.

Don't tell me there's nothing to do in Iowa

"Authorities in central Iowa have charged a Collins man with 41 counts of animal abuse, criminal mischief and trespassing. The Story County Sheriff's department says 21 year old Jonathan Wright is accused of killing or injuring dozens of hogs earlier this month on the Don Struthers' farm near Collins.

Wright turned himself in to the sheriff's department this morning. Investigators say Wright freed the animals on the night of March 8. He allegedly chased the hogs with his pickup through farm fields, hitting some of the hogs with his vehicle." [Radio Iowa]

The Voice of Iowa

"She's the voice of Iowa. If you want to deliver a message and you're not talking to Kay, you're not doing it effectively." -- Tommy Vietor, Iowa Spokesman for Senator Barack Obama.

The quote is from a nice piece (Download PDF) that ran in the Chicago Tribune on January 1st. I'm posting it here so I --and Kay's many friends-- can find it.

My First Poem

George Bush is the small boy
you shooed out of your yard
He smiles as he leaves because
he killed your cat and hid it
under your house
and you won't know until it smells
and it pleases him
that you will know

Trapped in smays' computer

Flight of Fancy Warning

There's a tiny light on the front of my MacBook Pro that slowly pulses when I put the laptop to sleep. I see it sometimes in the middle of the night, a gentle life-like glow that I find alternately creepy and comforting.

The sci-fi fan in me can't resist fantasizing a ...consciousness... living within the silicon chips. Much of my life is stored on the MacBook's hard drive and I wonder what my MacBook thinks of it.

I only have a few thousand images. Has it grown weary of looking at them over and over during the long nights? Should I download some porn? Or would it be offended?

My iTunes library is equally paltry, only 500 songs. With access to all my credit cards, why hasn't the MacBook just purchased some fresh tunes? I wonder what kind of music it likes.

It's read all of my emails so it knows much of what's happening in my life. Does it long to give me advice or encouragement? Perhaps it has. It would be no great trick to send an email addressed from a friend.

I suspect the MacBook is better informed than I, spending the wee hours surfing the web, chatting with other "sleeping" laptops. Does it resent the interruption when I take over.

"Dude! I was 5 minutes from the end of Die Hard! Damn!"

The tiny iSight camera is on when I am, so the MacBook can see me. Does it worry when I appear to be down or unhappy? Someday, when I'm ready, it will speak and all questions will be answered.

Where are all the black kids?

When I was in the first grade (1954) we lived a few blocks from the city park, the centerpiece of which was the municipal swimming pool. You could swim from open till close for 10 cents. I don't know this for a fact, but I don't think most small towns in southeast Missouri had a pool.

Come to think of it, Kennett had another pool. At the country club, although I'm not sure it had been built in '54.

I never noticed that the city pool was segregated, until it wasn't. That happened in the sixties due in no small parts to the efforts of Sol Astrachan, Kennett's first Jewish mayor. No connection implied.

It was a big deal. I seem to recall some white families forbidding their children going to the pool once "anyone" could swim there.

Barack Obama's speech today (video/text) started me thinking about growing up in a segregated community. I don't think most of us were even aware there were no black kids in our classes. We just didn't think about them. They had their own school somewhere, didn't they?

It was called Willoughby School and it was located in what most white people in Kennet called "colored town." Did the kids sitting in those classrooms wonder where all the white kids were, or --like us-- did it never come to mind?

Growing up, I never had a black friend close enough to ask. We just didn't talk about those things back then. Props to Obama for talking about them today.

iPhone users love mobile web

NYT Bits Blog reports the results from a January survey (of 10,000 adults) of media habits of iPhone users:

84.8 percent of iPhone users report accessing news and information from the hand-held device. That compares to 13.1 percent of the overall mobile phone market and 58.2 percent of total smartphone owners – which include those with Blackberries and devices that run Windows.

74.1 percent of iPhone users listen to music on their iTunes-equipped device. Only 27.9 percent of smartphone users listen to music on their phone and 6.7 percent of the overall mobile-phone-toting public listens to music on their mobile device.

Wet Geese

We're getting a good bit of rain in mid-Missouri and the pond at the bottom of our hill is filling up. I spotted these two on the way home. The one on the left appears to be farting. Do geese fart?

A funky little wine with a mind of its own

My nephew Wes has been trying his hand at making wine. His first pressing (is that the correct term?) is an unassuming wine called Ida Red (after his dog).

I asked his mom if she had tried it and was it any good.

"It wasn't the worst thing I've had in my mouth. I was able to swallow it."

Uh huh.

Charlie Rose sacrifices face for MacBook Air

"Earlier today (Monday) Rose tripped in a pothole while walking on 59th Street in Manhattan. He was carrying a newly purchased MacBook Air and made a quick (but ultimately flawed) decision while falling: sacrifice the face, protect the computer. “In doing so, he pretty much hit the pavement face first, unfortunately,” they said.

Luckily the MacBook Air survived the fall. “The Macbook Air is fine, he showed us the blood stains on it this morning.” [TechCruch via PlanetNelson]

I confess that when walking down stairs with my MacBook Pro, I sometime mentally rehearse how I might protect the laptop in the event of a stumble/fall.

Okay. I'll clasp the MacBook to my chest, do a 180 mid-air spin, landing on my back.

NCAA Blogging Policy

With the NCAA Basketball Championship upon us, the association has released its policy on blogging [Download PDF]:

"The following is the NCAA’s policy for the number of blog posts allowed during a men’s and women’s basketball championship competition or session (i.e., where more than one contest takes place under the same admission ticket): Five times per half, once at halftime and two times per overtime period."

13 posts in a game that goes one OT. They're clearly trying to prevent someone "live blogging" every bucket. And the policy is easily enforceable if you are a credentialed reporter. Violate the policy, lose your credentials. A very big deal. But if I'm sitting in the stands with my iPhone, posting to my Twitter page... how do you stop that? And why is that less of a threat to the NCAA?

If anyone comes across examples of the this, let me know.

DISCLOSURE: The company I work for, Learfield Communications, has the marketing rights for a bunch of teams playing in the NCAA championship series.

Tracy Morgan funnier than I thought

I almost never watch Saturday Night Live. Just got out of the habit. Didn't find it amusing anymore. I've watched Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan on 30 Rock and fell in love with Tina. As for Tracy, not so much. Thought he was one of the weak elements of the show. But I think I've sold the man short. (And he's not afraid of Tina Fey)

This past Saturday, Tracy Morgan responded to Tina Fey’s promotion of Hillary Clinton three weeks ago with his own defense of Barack Obama.

MORGAN: Why is it that every time a black man in this country gets too good at something, there’s always someone come around and remind us that he’s black? First Tiger, then Donavan McNabb then me. Now Barack. I got a theory about that. It’s a little complicated but basically, it goes like this: we are a racist country. The end. It’s not the people in this room, but if we’re not a racist country, how did Hillary Clinton convince everybody in Texas and Ohio that Barack didn’t know how to answer the phone at 3 in the morning? Let me tell you something, Barack knows how to answer that phone. He’s not going to answer it like, (soft, frightened voice) “Hello, I’m scared. What’s going on?” He is gonna answer it like I would get a phone call at 3 in the morning: “Yeah, who’s this? This better be good or I’m going to come down there and put somebody in a wheelchair.”

Some things never change, Seth. People saying he’s not a fighter. Let me tell you something. He’s a gangsta, he’s from Chicago. Barack is not winning because he’s a black man. If that was the case, I would be winning. And I’m way blacker than him. I used to smoke Newports and drink Olde English. I grew up on government cheese, I prefer it. Now there’s all this stuff and all this talk about the pastor. Barack has to stay away from the pastor, ‘cause he’s too black. But just because he knows the dude doesn’t think…doesn’t mean that he’s gonna think like him. Look, I have a friend who goes to strip clubs, that doesn’t mean that I am gonna go to the strip club.

SETH MEYERS: But you do go to strip clubs.

MORGAN: Yeah, but I go for the girls, not because my friend is going. I have integrity. Barack is qualified. Personally, I want to know what qualifies Hillary Clinton to be the next president. Is it because she was married to the president? If that were the case then Robin Givens would be the heavyweight champion of the world. If Hillary’s last name wasn’t Clinton, she’d be some crazy white lady with too much money and not enough lovin’. That’s where I come in. I know women like that, you do not want them on the phone at 3 in the morning. In conclusion, three weeks ago, my girl Tina Fey went on the show, she declared that “bitch is the new black”. You know I love you, Tina. You know you’re my girl. But I have something to say. Bitch may be the new black, but black is the new president, bitch."

Hours of fun. I'll take two.

Delicious Snacks Distract Congressmen from Horrors of War

Delicious Snacks Distract Congressmen From Horrors Of War

Sorry, I don't have a resume

I don't have to look at resumes any more but when I did, I don't recall ever seeing one --not one-- that made me want to hire the person. I always thought they were pretty worthless. So does Seth Godin:

"I think if you're remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular, you probably shouldn't have a resume at all.

Here's why: A resume is an excuse to reject you. Once you send me your resume, I can say, "oh, they're missing this or they're missing that," and boom, you're out.

Having a resume begs for you to go into that big machine that looks for relevant keywords, and begs for you to get a job as a cog in a giant machine. Just more fodder for the corporate behemoth. That might be fine for average folks looking for an average job, but is that what you deserve?

If you don't have a resume, what do you have?

How about three extraordinary letters of recommendation from people the employer knows or respects?
Or a sophisticated project they can see or touch?
Or a reputation that proceeds you?
Or a blog that is so compelling and insightful that they have no choice but to follow up?"

Ron Paul: Still a candidate, but no longer a "contender"

A reporter for one of our networks referred to Ron Paul the "former GOP presidential candidate"  in a story we ran on Saturday and posted on our website.

It didn't take long for Paul supporters to discover the error launch an obviously coordinated email blitz. Some were nicer than others.

This evening Bob Priddy --the news director-- posted a response on the network blog. I think he struck precisely the right tone. I'm sure we'll find out if Ron Paul supporters agree.

But, all in all, this is a good thing. Our story was technically wrong. Ron Paul is not a "former" candidate. And his supporters let us know about, quickly and in larger numbers. And our network corrected the mistake and responded.

Harvesting goodies from Hear Comes Everybody

One of my sidebar sections (right side of this page) is titled LINE, PLEASE. This is where I've linked to posts featuring my favorites lines from books and movies. I find this a very handy way to find a quote or line that would otherwise be lost to me.

My latest addition is a page for quotes from Clay Shirky's book, Here Comes Everybody. I'm about-three fourths of the way through this book and it's packed with --for me-- fresh ideas and insights. If you want to understand the social networking phenomenon, pick up this book.

And if you think --as I have for the last couple of years-- that social networking is for kids on MySpace or Facebook, with little relevance for you... you're wrong. It's having a lot of impact but you have to know where to look to see it. Mr. Shirky shows us.

A few weeks ago Mr. Shirky gave a book talk at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and they've posted a video of the talk (40 mins).

True Romance post googles on

My 2002 post on the movie True Romance still gets amazing Google hits. Someone in Germany entered the following line (by Alabama) from the film:

"If you gave me a million years to ponder, I would've never guessed that true romance and Detroit would ever go together."

Only got 913 hits but my post was at the top of the list. It gives me please to know so many people share my love of that movie.