tsuredzuregusa

Still Alive, Sometimes Even Kicking

2008-09-16T15:43:00.004-04:00

I managed to hack back into this blog today despite not having used it since Google merged Blogger with Google Accounts. Whew.I'm here (after a year and a half) for three reasons:To say hello! to anyone who hasn't culled Tsuredzuregusa out of your blogrolls or feedreaders.To post an article on the trickle down effect of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy (since I've always used this site as an

Lehman Bankruptcy Trickle Down

2008-09-16T15:34:00.004-04:00

The news about the demise of Lehman Brothers reminds me of watching the telecom meltdown of 2001, from my ring-side seat as a recruiter in the Dallas Telecom Corridor. On Monday, shocked Lehman Brothers staff were told to "move on": The mantra of Lehman Brothers was to pay its staff in stock – some 30 per cent of the bank’s equity was held by employees and many bonuses were paid in shares. Now

A Christmas Invite for Richmond Bloggers

2006-12-20T14:06:00.000-05:00

I'm copying below the email I just received from The Green Lemon, a delightful tea shop that is one of our favourite places in Richmond. Our standard Saturday treat is to drop by, visit with the staff, and sip one of their tea selections while we savour a lavender scone with either lavender icing, rose jelly, or devonshire cream. The Japanese Garden Tea that they developed especially for Maymont

Vancouver faces winter crisis

2006-12-01T11:42:00.000-05:00

Day 2 - Vancouver Blizzard 2006 - Revenge of the CommutersVancouver (Reuters)Chilled Vancouver commuters faced their second day of winter hell today, as an additional ¼ centimetre of the peculiar white stuff fell, bringing the lower mainland to its knees and causing millions of dollars worth of damage to the marijuana crops. Scientists suspect that the substance is some form of frozen water

Senator-Elect Jim Webb (D-VA) Recount

2006-11-08T12:07:00.000-05:00

The Republicans stole Florida in 2000 by packing courthouses, city halls, and the Secretary of State's office (and all surrounding areas) with tens of thousands of volunteers. We cannot let them steal Virginia using the same tactics. Senator-Elect Jim Webb beat George Allen, and that will not change, as long as we roll up our sleeves and make a difference. What can you do?1. Keep the money coming

How do Recounts Work in Virginia?

2006-11-08T00:39:00.000-05:00

1. There's a strong likelihood Virginia's Webb v Allen senate race will qualify for a recount.2. VA has no automatic recounts. Only losing candidate can ask for a recount, and only if margin is 1% or less of votes cast for those two candidates.If margin is .5% or less, OR, and/or if candidate who requests recount wins, the counties and cities involved in the recount pay the costs.Otherwise,

Tank-up Tuesday

2006-11-07T12:35:00.000-05:00

After the gradual descent in gas prices in recent (i.e., pre-election) weeks, what are the chances are that prices will escalate on Wednesday?We save money every election year by making sure our gas tank is full before the polls close.Let's have a show of hands: who else is tanking up today?

How to make robocalls go away

2006-11-03T13:55:00.000-05:00

In response to my article on why robocalls are a necessary evil, several readers made the comment that, campaign realities be damned, they hate robocalls and they’ll withhold their votes to make a point about it.* Even Seth Godin weighed in against robocalls this week [*I hope to find time to write about the consequences of, and alternatives to, making a protest non-vote (short version: you’

Maverick Prescription for Political Success

2006-10-06T23:07:00.000-04:00

Bill Taylor, co-founder of Fast Company, and Fast Company senior editor Polly LaBarre just published a ChangeThis article that describes the changing state of business leadership and asserts that the only companies and leaders that matter are those with the guts to be distinctive and disruptive. Their advice applies just as equally to politics -- and presents a strong prescription for the

Yo, Richmond and Virginia bloggers

2006-09-29T17:16:00.000-04:00

How many of you are aware that we have two regional blog carnivals here in Virginia?The Virginia Blog Carnival is non-partisan blog carnival open to any Virginia Blogger. Kat, who runs the show, is looking for submission for this week's carnival, and, hosts for upcoming editions.Click here to submit your post to the Virginia Blog Carnival.Click here to contact Kat about hosting the

Formula for Torture

2006-09-27T23:58:00.000-04:00

The Stanford Prison Experiment+ The Milgram Experiment= Abu Ghraib etc. The Stanford Prison Experiment: a landmark 1971 psychological study of the human response to captivity, in particular, to the real world circumstances of prison life, conducted by a team of researchers led by Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University. Volunteers played the roles of guard and prisoner, and lived in a mock

The Business of Cheating

2006-09-22T12:52:00.000-04:00

The Toronto Star reports that MBA students are likelier to cheat. According to the study “Academic Dishonesty in Graduate Business Programs: The Prevalence, Causes, and Proposed Actions:”"56 per cent of graduate business students admitted to cheating in the last year, compared with 47 per cent of non-business students." The study, which included 5,000 MBA students from 11 graduate business

Lies, Damned Lies, and the Mess in Iraq

2006-09-11T18:09:00.000-04:00

America defeated itself in Iraq by believing its own spin. Telling the truth is the only way back out.

Exceed yourself

2006-09-11T12:52:00.000-04:00

Today, as I post for the third time a list of "three things to do today" I originally wrote on September 11, 2004, I have finally understood what the article is about: exceeding yourself.So much advice about "appropriate" observances for today boil down to: be small. close ranks. disconnect from larger things. never forget -- to fear and hate. be the least that you can be.Instead, I'd like to

Princess Diana Moments

2006-09-11T10:03:00.001-04:00

In this incredibly antagonistic and hostile interview on A Current Affair, Karl Stefanovic pillories Germaine Greer for her public sentiments about television personality and animal wrangler Steve Irwin's recent accidental death. The clip illustrates the costs of holding a position outside an "official" narrative -- particularly official hagiographies:At the close of the interview, Greer asks, "

How are Republicans tastefully observing Sept 11?

2006-09-08T21:15:00.000-04:00

Fortunately, on the fifth aniversay of the 9/11 attacks, there's so much more to look forward to than justDisney-sponsored hardcore rightwing propaganda,blaming Bill Clinton for George Bush's screw-ups,and the much-anticipated, popular-demand reprise of Bush's spectacular 2001 spoken-word performance of My Pet Goat.South Carolina Republican candidate Karen Floyd wanted to do something more

Permission-based political marketing with Pheeder

2006-09-02T18:43:00.000-04:00

Oliver at MobileCrunch has published a great write-up entitled One Call Reaches All with Pheeder -- a company that lets you run public, opt-in lists to receive broadcast phone messages (or alternatively, your own private lists). The service is free. My first reaction? -- drop your campaign robocall spam, and replace it with tailored, opt-in GOTV reminder calls through Pheeder. (My second

Pre-paid phone cards

2006-08-08T14:50:00.000-04:00

A dear friend who going into hospital soon to deliver her second child (and trying for a VBAC -- keep your fingers crossed for her!) was asking me about pre-paid phone cards:I am thinking I need to get [a pre-paid phone card] for when I am in the hospital and need to call people to tell them I had the baby. I can make local calls from there but not long distance ones. (...) You are not allowed

American Food Holidays

2006-08-07T11:56:00.000-04:00

Apparently, today falls on National Raspberries in Cream Day, at the end of National Apple Week, during the National Month of Catfish, Peaches, and "Brownies at Brunch"......at least, according to this list of American Food Holidays.Methinks that after all the food industry lobbyists and marketers got this long list of "food days" set up, they were hungry for a holiday themselves.Today's

Driving Bush

2006-07-31T20:26:00.000-04:00

You've always suspected it, and now the Germans have confessed... Also, don't miss the classic companion piece, which sets the Bush to music.

sound and fury signifying what exactly

2006-07-23T00:26:00.000-04:00

The Curse of Comic Sans , an article by Jessica Helfand this week in the fabulous Design Oberserver blog, decries the mass culture ubiquity of the typeface Comic Sans.Now, I can't pretend to by a font snob, although I certainly work with people who are typeface professionals -- but the joy of the article lies in reading an expert writing with passion -- and snobbery!Better yet, the article

The Future of Book Publishing, Part 3

2006-07-19T14:43:00.002-04:00

Part 3 of my discussion with business guru David Maister about the future of book publishing, which orginally appeared as a comment on David's blog. Part 1 of may be found here and Part 2 here. And yes, I have written Part 3 all by myself. [Full disclosure: David Maister is a client of my employer, stresslimitdesign.] David Maister's post Writers and Peformers is right on the money—but I’m

The Future of Book Publishing, Part 2

2006-07-19T14:43:00.001-04:00

Part 2 of my discussion with business guru David Maister about the future of book publishing, reproduced with his permission. Part 1 of this exchange may be found here. [Full disclosure: David Maister is a client of my employer, stresslimitdesign.]The following article by David Maister, entitled Writers and Performers, originally appeared on his blog on July 18, 2006. Shaula Evans, part of my

The Future of Book Publishing, Part 1

2006-07-19T14:43:00.000-04:00

Business guru David Maister and I have been involved in an extended discussion about the merits of book publishing, promotions, and Long Tail Economics over on his blog, Passion, People and Principles. With his permission, I am reproducing that exchange here in a series of posts, and I look forward to your responses. [Full disclosure: David Maister is a client of my employer, stresslimitdesign.]

The real Canadian national anthem

2006-07-01T21:17:00.000-04:00

I have spent a fair amount of my adult life as an expat, and if you count my years in Quebec, even more as a language-minority. Hence I tend to bill myself as a "professional foreigner," because after all this practice, I'm getting fairly good at it.Inspired by the Canadian national anthem playing in the background of the e-card I received from the Ditzy Democrats, I want to share the story with

Happy Canada Day

2006-07-01T15:18:00.000-04:00

C'est tout, really. Just thinking of all y'all back home.UpdateI hope I am not remiss in sharing this lovely Canada Day e-card I received today from two of my favourite bloggers. (No guarantees how long it will stay online, so click over there now!)Yes, Hallmark is truly all over EVERY holiday.

Feed your blog, feed a friend

2006-06-04T14:47:00.000-04:00

Lauren of Feministe writes:Lauren here dropping in for a request. Long time no see. I’m struggling to pay bills at this time and would like to take on a few design projects for Wordpress-based blogs. Unfortunately, during a very rare moment this week which was not at all common nor a regular occurrence nor redundant, I accidentally deleted all the mail in my email account including several

Republican-lite Rides (Yet) Again?

2006-06-02T20:47:00.000-04:00

Alice Marshall made a great catch and pointed out yesterday that a lot of Jim Webb's endorsements come from the DLC crowd.I admit I am unnerved by this. I had hoped that the stench of the John Kerry loss in 2004 might put the DLC/DINO crowd's illusion of credibility to rest definitively.Rhetorical question #1: why are Democrats afraid to stand up and be Democrats?From the perspective of

The Living Room Test

2006-06-02T20:35:00.000-04:00

Via Communication Nation I just read about Robert Scoble's standard for blog comments:"If it would be inappropriate for my living room, I delete it. My bar is higher for anonymous comments."Click over to Communication Nation for a truly charming graphical rendition.

Virginia Senate Race Poll

2006-05-31T15:41:00.000-04:00

Remember to show up and cast an informed vote in the Tuesday, June 13 primary.Harris Miller www.Miller2006.com James Webb www.WebbforSenate.comUpdateThank you to everyone who has voted in the poll already.In addition to casting your vote, I would be very interested to hear your (mature) comments on why you're supporting any given candidate.

New Blog Feature - MagikWidget

2006-05-31T15:24:00.000-04:00

I'm testing out MagikWidgets today, a new blog plug-in that generates polls and ratings, with a the promise of more widgets to come.The Magic Widget public beta launched today. MagikWidget gets a thorough and positive review from John Unger of Typepad Hacks and Guy Kawaski has some nice things to say about MagikWidget, too.My initial impressions are:the template code is very easy to

Which Classic Female Literary Character Are You?

2006-05-28T10:09:00.000-04:00

I don't expect anyone to be surprised... Which Classic Female Literary Character Are you? You're Elizabeth Bennett of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen!>Go take the quiz yourself.Via Bitch Ph.D.

holy whips of +5 healing! it's 10 Commandments mashup madness!

2006-05-26T01:35:00.000-04:00

We are pleased to offer a double movie mashup special for your entertainment today.#1 Ten Things I Hate About CommandmentsIt's Cecil B. DeMille meets the teen-formula-flick in this sassy 10 Commandments remix with special guest appearances by Samuel L. Jackson and Sinead O'Connor.And if that wasn't enough, we also have...#2 The low-tech mashup play-at-home editionIf you've always wanted to make

good news I've been dying to share

2006-05-25T15:39:00.000-04:00

The news: I have a FABULOUS new job, as Director of Social Media, for a spectacular boutique web design firm.You're probably connecting the dots yourself......but the reason I didn't mention it here before was, this blog has looked like an unmade bed for so long that I really didn't want a link between this mess and the very lovely company and clients I'm working with.So what prompted this post

and now for a little housecleaning

2006-05-25T15:21:00.000-04:00

I do eventually tire of the dog's breakfast around here. I've been talking about cleaning it up for what...about 18 months now? We'll here you go.I seem to have lost trackbacks in the process (did anyone ever use them?) and I'll work on getting them restored shortly.Why this uncharacteristic spurr to action, you ask? Well, I've got some good news to share, and it was just too too good to tell

From community pillars to community pillagers

2006-05-25T13:23:00.000-04:00

Malcolm Gladwell has an excellent post today about CEO Pay then and now:After reading the article in the New York Times yesterday on the hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation given over the past few years to the CEO of Home Depot, I ran across this: in 1949, the highest paid CEO in America was Charlie Wilson of General Motors, who earned $586,100 in salary, bonus and stock. That's

To speak or not to speak

2006-05-22T18:37:00.000-04:00

A "scheduler" on a political campaign is the person who handles the candidate's public schedule, including accepting or declining invitations, giving the candidate transportation directions to the event, or assigning the event to a surrogate.On big campaigns, such as statewide or congressional elections, scheduling is a full-time position -- in fact, on large campaigns, there may be a scheduling

Good News for the Mae West Brigade

2006-05-19T00:29:00.000-04:00

The eternally-fabulous BitchPhd has a great discussion up about bra and swimsuit makers for girls with serious curves.I have to confess...in the course of my corsetted life I've gone from too-small to fit, to too-large to fit, so this list is a goldmine as far as I'm concerned.(Women's clothing trivia: did you know that almost all women's clothes, in North America at least, are built to fit a

What's Stephen Colbert really like?

2006-05-18T23:59:00.000-04:00

Yes, that Stephen Colbert.It turns out that Fact-esque (who else?) was in the audience for a live taping of the Colbert Report today(!)...and details the full Colbert experience with typical Fact-esque aplomb.(I know that my fellow Virginia bloggers Melissa and Kristen Monstrosity will be green with envy. Yo, Ditzy Democrats! -- Go check it out!)Plus, today's Colbert Report is already online.

Palimpsests for everyone!

2006-05-18T12:53:00.000-04:00

"Palimpsest" is Dictionary.com's word of the day for today: palimpsest \PAL-imp-sest\, noun: 1. A manuscript, usually of papyrus or parchment, on which more than one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible.2. An object or place whose older layers or aspects are apparent beneath its surface. The manuscript is a

Whitehouse Debuts New Political Outreach Tool

2006-05-18T10:06:00.000-04:00

The "highly branded" message system is alleged to have been designed by the president himself.New Bush Mail SystemNote that every message is customized with a picture of the President.Conspiracy theorists are going bananas about this one.

Frappr on Smack

2006-05-18T09:57:00.000-04:00

I kid you not. Check out XPlanet, the new promo for the X-men movie.I have total and utter blog envy.

Scenes from a Geek Marriage

2006-05-01T11:26:00.000-04:00

I have been thinking that I ought to start a series of posts entitled "Scenes from a Geek Marriage," for the benefit of those of you who don't have the pleasure of being married to a geek. Because if you're not, I don't think you could ever imagine what our house is like.Last night, we were in bed talking about data analysis--our pillow talk often sounds like a chat between Joel Spolsky and Suw

blog feature beta testers wanted

2006-04-28T15:30:00.000-04:00

I am testing out a number of blog add-ons, and I would really love your feedback on them. They are all free features (naturally, since I am cheap) that you can hack onto Blogger.I'll be testing several new blog hacks over the next week or so. If you see anything you'd like to add to your own blog, just leave a comment here if you need a hand in setting them up on your own blog, or you want to

To hell with geniuses

2006-04-28T14:15:00.000-04:00

We don't need no stinkin' geniuses.What we need are T-shaped people.

EB Browning ain't got nothing on Rahm Emanuel

2006-04-27T17:43:00.000-04:00

White House Shake-Up

2006-04-19T13:05:00.000-04:00

Click on the picture for larger version

Vive le Sit In!

2006-04-18T14:29:00.000-04:00

One of the most common reactions I have heard to this year's news stories about students in France striking for labour rights has been, "Why aren't there more activists on American university campuses? Why are we being shown-up by the French? What happened to our willingness to fight for equality?"Well in Virginia at least, students are starting to protest again.This weekend night, 17 students

Write like an Egyptian

2006-04-18T13:58:00.000-04:00

translate your name into Egyptian heiroglyphics

Still kicking, even more than usual

2006-04-18T13:49:00.000-04:00

I know we've established a pattern here where if I'm not around the blog, it is easy to assume I'm at death's door.I'm not! I'm actually doing very well, so well that I'm really busy and fighting to find time to post. This is certainly a nice change.My original contracting gig has evolved rapidly from part-time work for one client to full-time-plus for multiple clients -- and I love the work

Your chance to tell state parties what to do!

2006-04-11T13:08:00.000-04:00

Grassroots Democrats (a 527, for those of you who speak FEC fluently) is working with a group of state parties to improve the effectiveness of their websites. They would love to hear your thoughts/opinions on how to make state party sites more powerful political tools.This link will take you to a short, generic survey asking about website features:http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=

They must have known we're getting a new bike...

2006-04-09T07:47:00.000-04:00

Your Theme Song is Born to Be Wild by Steppenwolf"I like smoke and lightningHeavy metal thunderRacin' with the windAnd the feelin' that I'm under"A total independent spirit, you can't be held down or fenced in.You crave the feeling of wind on your face... and totally freedom.What's Your Theme Song?

Snazzy Laptop Bags FYI

2006-04-08T04:31:00.000-04:00

I seem to recall reading over the past month or so several different women bloggers mentioning at random that they wished they could find more stylish bags for their laptops.And then today, I stumble across Coquette, which happens to have a post on a new line of tech bags by ACME Made.Can I remember who those women bloggers were? Maybe Miss Rogue from HorsePigCow? Maybe...a lot of other women?

Heads up, Viginia: Mudcat's blogging

2006-04-08T02:00:00.000-04:00

Dave "Mudcat" Saunders is now a guest contributor at Taegan Goddard's Political Wire. You can read Mudcat's first post here.This should get interesting...

BBC Music Cube

2006-04-08T00:56:00.000-04:00

Doing some research on viral marketing and advergames today, I came across......the BBC Music Cube.The idea is that you build your own "music dna," which generates code for your own Music Cube. You can then add the cube code to your blog or website, and click on it, to access music broadcasts from the BBC radio website (if you are set up with RealPlayer).My verdict after playing with it briefly

BOP's Stirling Newberry on Mark Warner

2006-04-04T00:55:00.000-04:00

Heads up to my fellow Virginia political bloggers that Stirling Newberry of Blogging of the President has a post up assessing his first-hand impressions of Mark Warner (after, I believe, a recent appearance by Warner in Boston).Stirling presents a very mixed review of Warner, with some strong positives as well as some questions, doubts, and negatives.The most interesting part of Stirling's

My Veg Fu is Very Powerful

2006-04-02T14:13:00.000-04:00

As my husband pointed out, these guys are copying my wire work techniques....and one day I, too, want to visit Linolium Province.LinksMore on Kung Fu Kitchen.Jeffu TV

What I really miss about 1978

2006-04-02T14:02:00.000-04:00

It starts slow...hang in there until there are three people on the screen at once.Will pop culture ever be this great again? I think it's gonna be a long, long time.Via Fouroboros.UpdatedI've had this on repeat ALL day. My marriage may lie in the balance. But...it's Shatner. I did the same thing when Suw Charman put up a clip of Shatner's cover of Pulp's Common People, too.

Saving Big Pharma, Randomly

2006-04-02T13:45:00.000-04:00

Via Niall Cook's Positive Impact, I discovered the Random Di$ease Generator, designed to help you "create your own disease, disorder, or syndrome" to help pharmaceutical companies come up with new ideas for diseases and drugs they can market.All I can say is, a cure for "Schizoid Tom Cruise Insanity Disorder" would be worth absolutely any price.Of course, disease-mongering by the Pharmaceutical

The Blog-somniac Dillema

2006-04-02T13:40:00.000-04:00

Dear Readers,I realize that I have been somewhat neglectful lately. Of course, on a positive note, the delay between my posts has shortened from months down to just days, so I'd like to think I'm closing the gap. But here's the thing: I am working from home, as a contractor, on some marvelously exciting projects. So when my brain kicks into gear, I work! (This used to be when I would blog.)

Political Wiki Roundup

2006-03-30T15:30:00.000-05:00

Giovanni Rodriquez of Eastwikkers is running a series on 33 Wikis, highlighting best practices in wiki-based collaboration.He's already covered two great progressive political wikis, the Flu Wiki and Source Watch (formerly the Disinfopedia). Dkosopedia is already on his radar, too.Giovanni has asked me for examples of other good uses of wikis in politics, so I'm passing on the question to you:

Use their truth against them

2006-03-30T15:00:00.000-05:00

I realize Hugh Hewitt's remarks setting himself up as "brave war journalist" for sitting in the Empire State Building are offensive, fatuous, and self-serving, but look at them from another angle: when you further collapse his words, you see he is saying that in a major American city, he feels in just as much danger as if he were in an open war zone in a foreign country in the full throes of

More Multiblogging

2006-03-28T20:56:00.000-05:00

I added the link without any real fanfare to the subscription box a while back, but now that things are "official" I justed to share the good news that I have been invited to join The Agonist as a regular contributor.I have a great respect for Sean-Paul Kelly, the site founder, and the tremendous team he has built at the Agonist. I am absolutely delighted to be writing there.The Agonist has an

Domestic Repression alive and well--and documented

2006-03-27T03:43:00.000-05:00

I expect that when Americans read the William Arkin column "Early Warning" in the Washington Post calling out members of the 902nd Military Intelligence Group to stand up and blow the whistle on military efforts to spy on domestic anti-war, anti-military and environmental organizations, the reactions of too many people will be (willful) disbelief fueled by the pervasive American cultural

Disability Awarness Blogging

2006-03-24T02:46:00.000-05:00

My Virginia blogging colleage "A Nut" is holding Disability Awareness Week over at her blog Welcome to the Nuthouse. A Nut works in "a non-profit whose main purpose is to train the up and coming medical professionals how to take leadership and advocacy positions for children with disabilities" and she's sharing her professional insights in some great posts so far on People-First Language and The

Pew / Internet reports: Internet main news source for many broadband users

2006-03-24T01:56:00.000-05:00

According to a new report released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, "By the end of 2005, 50 million Americans got news online on a typical day, a sizable increase since 2002." Read the full report for yourself here. I want to read the report thoroughly and report back but here are some quick initial thoughts:- Among all respondants, 23% used Internet as a primary news source. That

76 66 43 43 40 37 32 28 14 10 8 5 3

2006-03-22T02:10:00.000-05:00

These are the ages of the 13 family members executed by American soldiers on Nov. 19 in Iraq.From the AP Report on the miltary investigation of the massacre:Ali, 76, whose left leg was amputated years ago because of diabetes, died after being shot in the stomach and chest. His wife, Khamisa, 66, was shot in the back. Ali's son, Jahid, 43, was hit in the head and chest. Son Walid, 37, was burned

my pioneer life

2006-03-19T23:13:00.000-05:00

I;m just stopping by while the bath runs in the next room because I feel compelled to share that I have not one but two kettles boling in the kitchen. Why? Because our hot water tank has decided we don't need much hot water, for reasons of its own, and if I want to have a bath in hot water, I need to heat it myself. Fortunately, the apartment plumbing has not decided yet that we need to haul said

casting call for the new politics

2006-03-19T22:17:00.000-05:00

Giovanni Rodriguez of Eastwikkers has a two part series called "New PR Jobs for the Post-Blogging Economy" (Part I here; Part II here) that discusses new roles for PR professionals in "the blog age." Lately I've been writing about to what extent voters can be and should be considered customers. In a similar vein, I find it useful to consider many political jobs (that either do exist or should

An Invitation to Progressive Democratic Candidates in New Orleans

2006-03-18T01:54:00.000-05:00

Dear Progressive Democratic Candidates: You've got a logistic nightmare on your hands right now with your displaced voters. FEMA is withholding voters' contact information, so you don't know who your voters are, where they are, or how to contact them. Your voters are a spread out all over the country, and you're trying to operate a campaign on a presidential scale, with a city council budget.

Calling All Bloggers for NOLA

2006-03-18T01:19:00.000-05:00

Thousands of voters in the upcoming New Orleans municipal elections face disenfranchisement. Big money interests and Republican challenger candidates stand to gain, and Democratic incumbents, African Americans, and low income voters stand to lose. Individual candidates face huge logistic challenges in reaching out to New Orleans voters who are scattered all over the country. In other words, there

What kind of writer are you?

2006-03-17T20:26:00.000-05:00

You Should Be a Film Writer You don't just create compelling stories, you see them as clearly as a movie in your mind. You have a knack for details and dialogue. You can really make a character come to life. Chances are, you enjoy creating all types of stories. The joy is in the storytelling. And nothing would please you more than millions of people seeing your

Email this! - I dare you

2006-03-15T17:25:00.000-05:00

This week my various email conversations with different friends all spontaneously came around to the same subject: how disgusted we are at the national Democrats' lemming-like desire to emulate the Vichy government of Nazi-occupied France (hence the term "Vichycrats"), in their absolute inability to oppose anything, stand up for anything, or do anything other than appease, enable, and support the

Desert Island Blogging

2006-03-15T15:37:00.000-05:00

Mike Sansone asked an interesting question on his blog Conversations last week: If you were stranded on a desert island (with a lap top and wifi), which 5 blogs would you take? I didn't have a quick answer myself, so I'm thinking about the question. And, I'm passing it on to you. [Note, this is not a suck-up exercise, so please don't include Tsuredzuregusa on your list. I'm interested to know

Proud to be a statistic

2006-03-15T11:52:00.000-05:00

One in eight male teleworkers and one in 14 female teleworkers say they do their jobs in the nude. Imagine the results if they had surveyed bloggers... Powered by Qumana

Undocument This!

2006-03-13T04:02:00.000-05:00

Latino Pundit has a truly brilliant post up for the "framing files" on undocumented taxpayers: There are revealing contributions of undocumented-essential workers to the U.S. economy. When the Social Security Administration collects payroll taxes for someone for whom a valid Social Security number cannot be found, these earnings go into a “suspense file.” Since 1937, this file has collected $265

Questions on Catholic politics of peace, 1965 to present

2006-03-13T02:03:00.000-05:00

I confess, I have something of a history for affinities to mad monks. So it is no surprise that I am so taken with Thomas Merton, now that I am reading him at long last, after many years of saying to myself, "I really ought to read Merton one of these days." In an email back and forth with a writer-friend this weekend, we were both talking about "how we cope" with the emotional assault of

Where to Stay in Charlotte, NC?

2006-03-12T21:22:00.000-05:00

The huz and I are talking about taking a long weekend to go see Great Big Sea play Charlotte, North Carolina in April. If you don't know Great Big Sea, you're missing out. I first heard them live in a small club in Kelowna, BC around 1996. A friend I met on a production of The Wiz lived in a house full of expat Nova Scotians, and they'd all spent their college years listening to GBS play local

sounds like a set prop from a Stanley Kubrik film...

2006-03-11T16:05:00.000-05:00

Which Color Are You? "Your color is BLACK, mysterious and successful. Black symbolizes power and achievement. You are strong of character and able to attain your goals undauntedly. Your ambition and polished style exude a sophistication and grace that are unparalleled. These qualities are impressive to all, and intimidating to some." I'm not sure what to think about that. And I don't know that it

Tasting at the RSS Buffet

2006-03-10T15:49:00.000-05:00

The time has come, the Walrus said, to read of many things. In other words, the volume of my daily reads is escalating out of control and it is time for me, at long last, to start using an RSS reader. I read a good review on Endo by Kula, the people who make the Ecto blog editor--but the initial release of Endo is only versioned for Mac, plus it costs money. And, in a world of excellent open

Personal Branding

2006-03-10T04:30:00.000-05:00

Rajesh Setty had an interesting post up on his blog Beyond Code this week discussing 12 reasons why you might not be focusing on personal branding. Rajesh is a major proponent of personal branding, especially for people in high tech industries. Rajesh's post got me thinking about how one of the challenges campaign teams face is creating an organizational brand around a candidate who has never

Eureka! Branding and Politics

2006-03-07T11:13:00.000-05:00

Blink author Malcolm Gladwell defines heuristics as "mental shortcuts that have the effect of helping us better navigate the world." Better yet, the word heuristic is derived from the Greek work Eureka.Decision Science Blog is devoted to heuristic, and last month Dan Goldstein published a fabulous post about the effect of brand recognition on how we buy.The super short version of an already short

The Great Qumana Experiment

2006-03-07T10:19:00.000-05:00

Ever in quest of bigger and better (and cheaper) blog tools, I am trying my hand at the Great Qumana Experiment. I should preface this by saying that I have temporarily abandoned the Great Performancing Experiment. Performancing's blog editor, although free, just doesn't ring my bell. It certainly fills in some feature gaps in Blogger, but I found their interface to be really awkward. My next

infernal algebra

2006-03-07T01:01:00.000-05:00

So, is 2/3 the fraction of the beast?I'm just wondering.

A Force More Imminent

2006-03-02T18:48:00.000-05:00

I wrote last month about how excited I was to learn that the new Force More Poweful Game was launching and shipping soon.Well, my copy came today. Wahoo!Guess what I'm doing this evening...I'll report back as soon as I can tear myself away. :)

Just in by Email

2006-03-02T01:10:00.000-05:00

...courtesy of my lovely hacker mom on her new iMac:Bush impersonator Roasting Jeff FoxworthyIf you don't laugh out loud, I'll be surprised.

Geek Love

2006-03-01T23:28:00.000-05:00

"I'm making up a movement system for people surrounded by zombies."--what my husband just told me over the top of his monitorAnd now you know why I am so happy in my marriage.

American Taliban Town

2006-03-01T22:22:00.000-05:00

Via Chuck at Just a Bump in the Beltway, we learn that Domino's Pizza founder and multi-millionaire Thomas S. Monaghan is funding a private town in Florida.You got that. A private town.It's going to be called Ave Maria.And it's going to be based on (Monaghan's concept of) strict Catholic principles. In fact, Monaghan calls the town's construction "God's will."By "strict Catholic principles,"

Hats off to Melanie Mattson

2006-03-01T22:14:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Melanie Mattson of Just a Bump in the Beltway.Not only is Melanie one of the GREAT women political bloggers in Virginia, but the FluWiki is also her brainchild. (If you want to know *anything* about birdflu, the FluWiki should be your first stop.Her flu work has put her in the news this week, on CNN and, to her underwhelm-ment, on Fox.Melanie, if you're reading this...I know

My kingdom for a (non-controversial) calendar

2006-03-01T15:02:00.000-05:00

I need to show a business acquaintance an example of a blog that uses a (hot-linked) calendar as a way to navigate blog posts.Do you know what I mean? The calendar that goes in the sidebar of a blog. Any day with postings is hotlinked. You can click on the date number and the blog will pull up postins from that date.Only...most of the blogs I read are, shall we say, flamingly progressive...and

More Blog Tools: BlogBeat

2006-02-28T01:53:00.000-05:00

I have just installed BlogBeat's traffic measurement system here, for their 30 day free trial.It sounds like it takes a few days worth of data to create any meaningful information...I'll report back once I see what it can do.Take a look at this Techcrunch article for a thorough explanation on Blogbeat.Anyone using it? Anyone opted for to pay for the service?

Literacy through Same Language Subtitles

2006-02-27T23:36:00.000-05:00

Mahashunyam has an amazing article on Bubblegeneration about PlanetRead's Same Language Subtitling project to increase literacy.The project, which just won a Google Grant, teaches literacy to adults by showing movies with same language subtitles--so they can read and listen at the same time.GoogleBlog has more details on PlanetRead and the GoogleGrant they won.Possibly the most amazing part: "

Blogging Live With Performancing

2006-02-27T13:39:00.000-05:00

Don't you love running experiements in a live production environment?I am composing this post with the href="https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=1730 Blog Editor extension for Firefox.I have noticed recently that I want access to a number of blogging tools and features that Blogger doesn't offer, but I also don't want to change blog platforms at this time. So, I've been looking

Squeet vs Feedblitz

2006-02-25T13:56:00.000-05:00

Feedburner is partnered with Squeet and Feedblitz to let readers receive to your blog update notifications by email.I haven't worked with either one, before. At a cursory glance, their offerings don't seem to be distinctly different. (Yes, I know, I need to take a closer look.)Does anyone use either of them. Do you have any feedback on them?Thanks for any light you can shed!

Brace Yerself, Effie

2006-02-25T13:46:00.000-05:00

I am, at long last, getting around to some long belated tech upgrades here. (Yes, a template change is in the works as well.)As we yochi-yochi* through these changes, I really, really, really appreciate your feedback. If you find any bugs, I'll try to be as responsive as possible, within my own troubleshooting capabilities. And if are happy with a change, please let me know!Today, I've added a

Captain, there's a message coming in from the blogosphere.

2006-02-24T19:57:00.000-05:00

A little gift for everyone who enjoyed the Superhero Personality Quiz:Which Star Trek character are you?I am UhuraYou are a good communicator with a pleasant soft-spoken voice. Also a talented singer.Click here to take the "Which Star Trek character are you?" quiz...Hmm...I think the gender-biased questions skewed me as Uhura on this one, because I definitely sing and wear mini-skirts. Without

Distruptive Technology Alert

2006-02-23T13:49:00.000-05:00

Via Jim Calloway's Practice Tips (yes, you'd be surprised at the range of blogs I read in a day), I've just learned that Google has released the Google Page Creator, a design-your-own-webpage tool.Google says:"No technical knowledge required. Build high-quality web pages without having to learn HTML or use complex software...Your web pages will live on your own site at http://

I've been Kawasakied

2006-02-21T18:17:00.000-05:00

Guy Kawaski lamented today on his blog Let the Good Times Roll in a post on naming companies that one of his big disappointments in life is that his name "has too many syllables to become a verb."Mr. Kawaski, I beg to differ. For I have just been Kawasakied.To kawasaki:1. To be generous with web links.Also, to be kawasakied:2. To be indundated with traffic from a generous, high-traffic

Caché: What's Hidden is the Ending

2006-02-21T15:52:00.000-05:00

We had a good, quiet long weekend here, with a lot of French films: Jeux Interdits (Forbidden Games) and Le Sang des Betes (Blood of the Beasts) on DVD, and Caché (Hidden), with Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil, last night at the Westhampton Theatre.(Pardon the ambiguous syntax: let me clarify that they were in the movie, not watching it with us. Although I'd really love to hang out and

Barometer Girl says...

2006-02-21T15:42:00.000-05:00

Thanks to all of these east coast snow storms and weather shifts, my blood pressure is ridiculously low.The result is that, while I am absolutely fine, I feel a bit like an overcooked noodle. (If you threw me against the wall, would I stick? Who can say....) I am more inclined to curl up in bed with a cup of tea and finish my Thomas Merton book than try to write inspired prose--or blog posts,