Web surfers see only what they want

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Certainly no surprise to anyone that designs or (in my case) maintains websites. A few specifics from recent study by Jakob Nielsen’s Nielsen Norman Group:

  • Individuals read Web pages in an “F” pattern. They’re more inclined to read longer sentences at the top of a page and less and less as they scroll down. That makes the first two words of a sentence very important.
  • Surfers connect well with images of people looking directly at them. It helps if the person in the photo is attractive, but not too good-looking. Photos of people who are clearly professional models are a turnoff.
  • People respond to pictures that provide useful information, not just decoration.

And my favorite: When there is less on a page, users read more.

Mac Lust

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Do people still get what we once called “new car fever?” A completely irrational, irresistable desire to buy a new car? I buy a new Toyota every 10 or 15 years, so I don’t suffer from this particular affliction. I am, however, suffering from Mac lust. I want one of the new MacBook Pros. I have a couple of computers at work; a year-old Dell here at home; a perfectly good ThinkPad. I do not need another computer. But I want one. I have never used a Mac. Don’t look forward to having to learn a new operating system or move back and forth between Mac and PC.

I want a Mac because they are cool. And all the cool kids have them. They are sexy. There is no logic or reason at work here. This is happening in the lizard part of my brain. I’ve thought about sneaking over to St. Louis to the Apple store and putting my hands on one of the new MacBooks. But that’s like saying I’ll just lie down on the bed next to the super-model, but we won’t “do anything.” If I walk in that store, I’ll walk out $2,500 poorer. So I’m holding on. Like a junkie trying to survive the shakes and chills and maybe in the morning I won’t want that fix.

Harvey Tettlebaum intro for Karl Rove

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It’s hard to imagine Karl Rove fears any man, but we now learn it was once Jefferson City attorney Harvey Tettlebaum. Harvey is president of the Republican National Lawyers Association and was given the honor of introducing Rove when he spoke to the National Press Club (?) last week.

Disclosure: Harvey is the senior partner in the Jefferson City office of Husch & Eppenberger, and has been Barb’s mentor and “rabbi” since she became an attorney.

Who gave you your first cigarette?

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As I drove back from lunch today, it seemed every other driver was smoking. Doing that little ash-flick thing out the open windows on a warm spring day. I found my self wondering how they all got started. Did they just decide one day to go to the convenience story and buy a pack of smokes? Or did someone give them that first cigarette? That seems more likely. A friend, maybe?

Maybe your brother or sister gave you your first cigarette? Perhaps your wife or boyfriend. I’d like to think no parent ever gave a child their first Lucky Strike, but who knows.

Here’s my point: What would it be like to watch a loved one dying of cancer and know that you introduced them to the joy of smoking? How could you live with that?

“Hey, he’s an adult. He can make his own decisions. I didn’t make him light up.”

“Come on, she wanted to try it. If she hadn’t gotten it from me, she would have gotten it somewhere else.”

So here’s my question for all my smoking friends: Did you ever give someone their first butt? Are you sure?

Learfield Blog

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Last month we set up a blog for company news (new hires, expansion, etc.). An experiment as much as anything. And our CEO said he might post from time to time. His latest deals with doing the right thing. At one level it’s shop talk but he’s basically saying that in the early days of our company we did something that wasn’t in the best interest of our customers (affiliates and advertisers). He uses the example to illustrate a core value of our company. Do the right thing, even if it costs you some money.

In previous posts, I’ve expressed some doubts about whether corporations can blog. It’s just hard to find someone with the courage to speak with the honesty and openess that characterizes blogs. Okay, it’s a little easier to say what you think if you own the company. But I believe this post says a lot about our company and the people leading it.

You could take all of our brochures and news releases and stack them to the ceiling…and they don’t say as much about who we are and what we believe as Clyde’s simple blog post. Our employees can read that. Our business partners can read it. Our customers can read it. The world can read it. And they will “hear” the honesty and sincerety in Clyde’s words. This is corporate blogging at its best.

Cardinals giving away free XM Radios

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The St. Louis Cardinals plan to offer 50,000 fans a free radio that can pick up the broadcasts via XM Radio – which carries all major league games via satellite transmission. The catch is that to get the radio, a six-month subscription for the service must be purchased – and that sells for about $13 a month. The move is being made to try to appease those who have lost access to the broadcasts because of the club’s move from KMOX (1120 AM) to KTRS (550 AM) as its flagship station. KTRS’ signal has a much smaller reach at night, when most of the games are played, than does KMOX. [STL Today via XM Ben]

Local ink for LHP

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Our little town has a new magazine (JC Metro), and they were nice enough to do a little story about The Living Healthy Podcast. The governor’s wife beat us out for the cover by agreeing to be photographed wearing a suit made of aluminum foil. I’d give the new rag a little link love but it doesn’t appear they have a website.

Speaking of LHP… two more shows in the can: Poison Ivy and Ticks goes up on April 8th and Toenail Health on the 15th (would I kid you?).

Bootheel Tornado

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Thanks (once again) to Charles Jolliff for the local 411 on the tornadoe(s) that hit the Bootheel (and western Tennessee). Some really good images on the blog of a local TV weather guy. Not sure who took the photo above (Stephens Gin off Hwy 412). It was sent to me by several people.

I’m a little fuzzy on this but I think these pix were taken by Charles, who provided the following descriptions:

One of the images is from the theatre downtown (Kennett), looking southward down Slicer street. It’s a very dark shot. Tornado was on the ground behind the neighborhood that is beside McDaniel funeral home. One of my moms neighbors (she has house in that neighborhood) told me they watched the tornado on the ground for a long time. It actually was just north of Scobeyville down old 25 highway and then headed east crossing Johnson Island road before hitting Braggadocia (1 woman dead there) then hitting Deering, then Caruthersville before crossing the river into Dyer county Tennessee.

The neighbor of my moms told me that it was two tornados that were dancing back and forth that they saw, till it combined and got bigger. Marmaduke, Arkansas got hit hard. Over half the homes destroyed or badly damaged, according to news reports. I drove through (Highway 49 was closed till noon today to clear the road of debris) late this evening but could not stop, traffic was incredible. I suppose a lot of folks were sight-seeing or looky-looing. I had the camera and just guessed on the shots in my album link. All taken from a rolling/driving truck by a guy not looking.

While all this was going on in this area, another violent storm hit Wynne Ar, and destroyed several homes including 3 that belonged to some of my racing friends. Totalled their race cars as well. All in all, everyone in Kennett is very lucky, if this thing had come up a mile and a half, it would have gone thru this little town like the proverbial hot knife thru butter.

This brings back vivid memories of crouching in a dark, dank “storm cellar,” just like the one in Wizard of Oz.