Stephen Colbert appeared on "Meet the Press," with Tim Russert Sunday to talk about his recent announcement that he is running for president (only in South Carolina so far). Stephen assured the incredulous Russert that he was very serious about his candidacy, and that this was not "a dream you will wake up from."
Barb’s pop –Dr. Paul C. Miltenberger– is one of eleven residents (and former residents) that will be inducted into the Hall of Honor at the county library.
To have been considered for induction, individuals "must have distinguished themselves within their occupation, trade, or field of endeavor, through intellectual, creative, humanitarian and professional accomplishments."
Great opportunity to visit with some old friends and spend quality time with family. Took a drive around the old home town but didn’t take any pix. Just too much plywood.
Barb and I headed down to Kennett this weekend. I honestly can’t remember the last time I was there. We used to joke, "Nobody goes to Kennett… you have to be born there." I’m looking forward to seeing old friends.
I’m a little fuzzy on the details, but I think the Dunklin County Library is dedicating a room to some of Kennett’s former citizens, including Barb’s father, Dr. Paul Miltenberger. So the family heading home to show the colors. Won’t be much blogging this weekend.
Dave Winer weighs in on the relationship between subscriber numbers (to your blog or website) and actual readership, and why he’s more interested in “the small picture”:
“Ultimately what matters to me is not how many people subscribe to my feed, rather how much of a connection I can make with the people I want to connect with. I’m satisfied that the people I care about read my site.
I’m a blogger not a broadcaster. Blogging isn’t about mass markets, it’s about the small picture. My small picture (and for you, yours). I’m trying to draw a picture, create a frame of reference that’s personal, not corporate. I’m a zig to corporate media’s zag. I am a blogger. I am personal.”
I was a broadcaster for a dozen years. My father for 30+. The company I work for was once all about broadcasting (now less so). It’s a little… unsettling, to realize that I’m no longer a broadcaster.
You know, the 20-somethings that drop out of school, move back in with their folks and refuse to let good work habits get in the way of their lives?
“There used to be four common life phases: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. Now, there are at least six: childhood, adolescence, odyssey, adulthood, active retirement and old age. Of the new ones, the least understood is odyssey, the decade of wandering that frequently occurs between adolescence and adulthood.
During this decade, 20-somethings go to school and take breaks from school. They live with friends and they live at home. They fall in and out of love. They try one career and then try another.”
Why is this, you wonder? NYT columnist David Brooks takes pretty good run at explaining what makes them tick (so slowly). You might have to create a free account to login and read the full piece but it’s an interesting read. [via Grow Learfield]
A week ago I mentioned that I was selling my Thinkpad (IBM laptop) on eBay. Actually, my pal Henry was kind enough to list it on his eBay account. He told me not to expect much for a 3 year old laptop, so we were all surprised when the high bid topped out at $809! Too good to be true? Yes, it was.
This morning eBay posted a notice that said the transaction was null and void. Not sure why. I didn’t read it closely and Henry says he’s never seen that happen before.
Henry (a deacon in the First Church of eBay) wanted to re-list the laptop but I’ve decided to go a different direction.
After listing the computer on eBay, I discovered that a few people at work were interested in buying it (if the price were right). So, I’ve decided to hold a "silent auction." I’m going to post a photo and specs on the bulletin board at work and invite anyone that’s interested to submit a sealed bid. On Friday, I’ll open the bids and the computer goes to the highest bidder. Done.
“Most industries innovate from both ends:
They wait for ‘proof’ that this new idea is going to work, or at least won’t prove fatal. (It’s the impulse to wait that made them mediocre in the first place, of course). So, in every industry, the middle waits. And watches. And then, once they realize they can survive the switch (or once they’re persuaded that their current model is truly fading away), they jump in. The irony, of course, is that by jumping in last, they’re condemning themselves to more mediocrity.”
“Consumer-generated content is by far a more trusted form of advertising worldwide than search engine ads, banner ads, or text ads, according to Nielsen, and is trusted almost as much as physical word-of-mouth. 66 percent of North Americans trust consumer-generated media, such as blogs. Only higher trust ranking was ‘other consumer recommendations,’ which earned 78 percent of respondents’ trust.” [WebProNews via LexBlog]
Recent example: George’s review of the new Sony HRD-CX7 digital video camera. I happen to know that George knows a LOT about cameras, hardware and software. If he likes this camera enough to buy and recommend it, that’s all I need to know.
TechCrunch wonders if Google’s radio ad network –Google Audio– is in trouble:
“Google is offering $2,000 to any advertiser who spends $1,000 on a Google Audio ad campaign. The $2,000 comes in the form of a credit on future ad campaigns, but part of it still comes out of Google’s pocket since it needs to pay the radio stations who will run the ads. It amounts to a “buy one, get two free” offer and is good through the end of the year.
If (Google) truly has a better way of buying and selling radio ads, advertisers and radio stations will quickly figure that out on their own. It is not a good sign when Google has to resort to paying customers to try out a new product.”
Update 10/15/07: This from a reader (who prefers to remain anonymous) who works at a radio station that runs Google Audio ads:
“This week we ran on average 18 :60’s a day for Google. They just fill in avails that are on our schedule, so many of them are in the evening between 6p-11p. Some hours may have a Google Ad in each stop set.
I don’t see the checks but I’ve heard they range from $500-$2,000 a month. We do have the ability to block out any hours or programming we don’t want their stuff in.
To me it would just seem to be up to the station owner/company is the money worth tying up the time with these filler type ads. I’ve yet to hear an ad I thought specifically targets to our region or even state… and no real big name company’s like Ford, GM, McDonald’s, JC Penney, Target or anything.”