E-Media Tidbits points us to an article in the May 2008 Scientific American, by Jennifer Wapner (Blogging: It’s Good for You):
“Blogging may make us feel better because it acts as a substitute or placebo for real satisfaction. Or, according to one neuroscientist cited by Wapner, our limbic (primitive) brain may have an innate need to communicate — akin to our drives for food or sex. Thus, as we blog, our bodies may release the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine.”
I feel better already.
I’ve posted frequently about my friend Chuck, who –with his wife Cindy and a SWAT team of free-lance bloggers– have built a thriving business providing blogging, podcasting and related services to a growing list of clients.
"Cindy and I have been going over calendars and we just realized that we have 23 events scheduled to blog in the next 3 months. Yeeow. Just the hotel reservations, credentialing, registering, airline reservations, etc. are a task. We’ve also got 5 website projects underway just to add to the fun."
Can you make money blogging? For most, the answer is "not likely." For the few, the proud, the Marines… yes. Booyah!
Mark Ramsey points to a survey of marketing professionals that shows growing pressure on accountability:
“86% of marketers say pressure has increased on them to account for results; no one said that the pressure has decreased. Moreover, 68% of organizations are measuring the quantifiable contribution of marketing to the bottom line.
Message to radio: You’re no longer in the advertising business. You’re in the results business. So which are you selling, advertising or results?”
So writes Leonard Pitts, a columnist for the Miami Herald who’s trying to understand why Barack Obama lost so decisively in West Virginia (and later in Kentucky). If there’s a victim here, it’s not Senator Obama.
“The white poor have been victims of a con job going back at least as far as the Civil War, when poor white men were used as cannon fodder for the right of rich white men — I repeat: rich white men — to keep slaves. They were told they fought for state’s rights.
From then till now, the white poor have often been the front line of white supremacy. You think people with college degrees and six-figure salaries are out there marching around under pointy white hoods, burning crosses? Hardly.
My point is that race has often been used as a means of distracting and diverting the white poor. They had little in life, nor any realistic expectation of having more.
But the one thing they did have — or so the con went — was whiteness itself. Which meant they had someone to be better than. Someone to look down upon.”
Hearing this idea so clearly expressed reminded me of some of my favorite films that incorporated this theme: To Kill A Mockingbird, In the Heat of the Night, Monster’s Ball, Mississippi Burning.
It will be interesting to see how the GOP works this lever between now and November.
A Google search led Mike Spooner (he goes by Michael these day) to this blog. I grew up with Mike, er, Michael, in Kennett, Missouri. He moved to Flint, Michigan, in 1964, did “some” college before getting drafted in 1969. Not a good year to get drafted. Following service he attended art college in Los Angeles and stayed for 28 years. From Michael’s bio:
“Michael Spooner has worked in the animation industry for twenty-five years with such notable studios as Walt Disney, Warner Brothers and DreamWorks. Michael’s professional career in art began in 1976, when he was invited to join the faculty at Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, after graduating with distinction. He taught for twelve years, simultaneously working as a freelance illustrator for clients that included the Public Broadcasting System, Zondervan Publishing House, Masda Motors, the National Football League, NBC Television, Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox.”
This sounds like a Brush with Near Greatness to me and I’ve asked Michael for an interview. Stay tuned.
He got lost for a couple of hours in our Flickr photostream and shares some photos from his stash. A couple of his Cub Scout pack; one of the KHS swim team; and one of the KHS junior high track team.
The swim team photo brought back fond memories of Diane West (far left). We dated a few times. She was 16 –and could drive– and I was still 15. She lived at the municipal swimming pool and exuded the intoxicating fragrance of chlorine.
It’s nice to hear from Mike and see a few long, lost photos from my youth.
Yes, I am aware of how many video cameras I own. No, I do not need another one. I purchased a Flip video camera ($150.00) because I was so intrigued with the idea of a small, inexpensive camera designed to do just one thing.
They even did away with the USB cable and SD cards. You plug the Flip right into the USB port with a little… flip-out USB connector.
The one I got records an hour of video. I think the $100 model does 30 min. Check the website for specs.
Does the Flip take better video than my little Casio. Probably not. Is it as handy as a pocket on a shirt. Yes, indeedy, and it’s less than half the price.
I’m not sure what I’ll do with mine. I just wanted to see if this device is a cool as I’ve been hearing and reading. I think it might be. Toss it in your beach bag or your purse and go. Hit the red button and you’re recording. Makes the Sony Camcorder seem like a big old pain in the ass to lug around.
Uses two AA batteries and works with Mac or PC.
Warning: You’ll hear me talking baby talk to our Golden Retrievers. Runs 90 sec.
Friend and photog Bill Greenblatt is kind enough to share a few of the photos he took of Sheryl Crow this week at an event in Kennett, MO (her hometown and mine). Bill and Sheryl are pals which helps him get nice a close for the great shots he always provides.
SC fan and smays.com pen pall, Ann, points out how happy and relaxed Ms. Crow appears in these latest photos. Hey, she’s just a former twirler from KHS.
“We make money because we blog not from our blog. We earn because we learn from sharing our experiences with others, not because we let advertisers hitch a ride on our writing for a fee. No one pays attention to the ads, so it doesn’t matter if you include them or not.”
— Dave Winer quoting Doc Searls
The old Ely & Walker shirt factory, just off the downtown square in Kennett, Missouri, has been converted to nice new apartments and today was the ribbon cutting. On hand for the dedication was Kennett’s favorite daughter, Sheryl Crow. And smays.com’s Kennett Bureau Chief, Charles Jolliff was there as well and shares his photos.
“I missed the money shot, going to the top of the roof and looking down while the ribbon cutting was going on… but, I can only be in one place at one time for the moment.” [Note to self: send Charles latest draft of Bilocation and You. And You.]
Charles says he didn’t spot anyone that looked like Ms. Crow’s new Friend, so he moved in for this quick shot. Well done, CJ.
Seth Godin writes of a new standard for meetings and conferences:
“Here’s what someone expects if they come to see you on an in-person sales call: that you’ll be prepared, focused, enthusiastic and willing to engage honestly about the next steps. If you can’t do that, don’t have the meeting.
If you’re a knowledge worker, your boss shouldn’t make you come to the (expensive) office every day unless there’s something there that makes it worth your trip. She needs to provide you with resources or interactions or energy you can’t find at home or at Starbucks. And if she does invite you in, don’t bother showing up if you’re just going to sit quietly.”
There’s little doubt I could do what I do from home (or the Coffee Zone) but gosh, I’d miss interacting with co-workers. I could get some of that over the net but I do like breathing the same air.