“In America today, there are almost as many people making their living as bloggers as there are lawyers. Already more Americans are making their primary income from posting their opinions than Americans working as computer programmers, firefighters or even bartenders.”
“Pros who work for companies are typically paid $45,000 to $90,000 a year for their blogging. One percent make over $200,000. And they report long hours — 50 to 60 hours a week.”
Recently unearthed (bad) photo of me astride the majestic beast. (1981)
From a post here at smays.com in March, 2008:
“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.”
And the following from the New York Times in April, 2009:
“Tens of thousands of letters, e-mail messages and faxes arrive at the White House every day. A few hundred are culled and end up each weekday afternoon on a round wooden table in the office of Mike Kelleher, the director of the White House Office of Correspondence. He chooses 10 letters, which are slipped into a purple folder and put in the daily briefing book that is delivered to President Obama at the White House residence. Designed to offer a sampling of what Americans are thinking, the letters are read by the president, and he sometimes answers them by hand, in black ink on azure paper.”
If you can find an earlier reference to “my” idea, leave it in the comments. I’m just looking for my props.
My friend Wendy came through with some NYC street video for my green screen hijinx. I’ve been sitting on it for a week or two, desperate to come up with something imaginative to do with it. I did not. But I will.
“Real creative urges, those we are meant to express, don’t go away. If ignored, they bother us, affect our health, fester and eventually turn us into the living dead.”
— from Pamela Slim’s piece in NYT
“Society needs the comfort of our favorite songs. We need the real-time connection to our community (however we define “community”). We need to know what to wear today and whether or not school is canceled. We need to stay up to date or to revel in our past. We need to be outraged and informed and soothed and amused. We need to be told what to do in a crisis. We need to know what’s on sale and where. And we need these things wherever we are – at home, at work, in the car, and on our hip. As an industry, radio needs to recognize that its social currency is in what it provides, not in the manner it provides it.”
— Mark Ramsey
“I am terribly tired of broadcasters ranting about how many folks listen to the radio. I get it. Everybody listens to the radio. That’s not the issue. The issue is why – or if – that matters to your clients. The issue is how that usage translates directly into ROI.”
— Mark Ramsey
Clarence Lee Sherrill and Crista Meyer sell concrete lawn ornaments. Their business is called Concrete Castings and they’re located on I-55 just north of Cape Girardeau, MO. I have a strange fascination with “yard art” and decided to scratch the itch on a recent trip down south.
Clarence and Crista work in a small, cluttered room heated by a big wood stove and covered in cement dust. Gazing in a large window was a magnificent peacock. I didn’t see Miss C, the camel that’s usually in a pen out front, and Clarence explained she was “visiting her boyfriend” but would return in a few days. Gotta be tough to breed camels in this country.
On a technical note, I shot the video with the Casio Exilim FC100, but the battery went dead on me. So I recorded a few minutes of audio on the iPhone and dropped in some stills. You’ll notice the change in audio quality.
Regular readers know that Barb and I are from the same small town in southern Missouri as Sheryl Crow. A small Brush with Near Greatness. On a recent road trip I came up with five questions I'd ask Ms. Crow, if I had the opportunity. In the off chance her publicist or agent (or daddy) finds their way to this post…
Hugh MacLeod is a blogger who draws cartoons on business cards. And/or you can have cards made that feature one of his cartoons. Mine came in today. I can’t tell you how much more fun these are to give out than the official Learfield card.