Driving today with my three-year-old son in the car seat we passed a group of small children riding bicycles. First thing out of his mouth? "Daddy, those children need helmets"

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When travelling I use my Blackberry to browse the web in a text-only mode. Text-only allows me to read traditional web pages such as cnn.com without worrying about download times. One side effect is that I see all the ALT tags used for images. With my ‘text-colored’ glasses on I see things a bit differently, and sometimes notice some strange quirks.

Continue reading "Effective Use of the ALT Tag" »

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The 2004 Tour of Hope kicks off tomorrow. Chris Brewer of The Paceline and LanceArmstrong.com will be keeping a journal of the trip. Check it out.

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The latest 'grand idea' from Richard Branson and his Virgin empire is to start up a commercial space flight company. Virgin Galactic is a technology licensing deal with Mojave Aerospace Ventures - the US company behind SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipOne is tabbed to be the most likely winner of the X Prize.

Continue reading "Branson's Latest Idea and His Legacy" »

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A recent Business Journal article, No Joke: Daily Show Viewers Follow Presidential Race, discusses the impact of the Daily Show on news/politics.

Viewers of late-night comedy programs, especially The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on the cable channel Comedy Central, are more likely to know the issue positions and backgrounds of presidential candidates than people who do not watch late-night comedy, the University of Pennsylvania’s National Annenberg Election Survey shows.

Bonus Item: Time Magazine: 10 Questions with John Stewart

Continue reading "Fake News, More Informative" »

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Ever see somebody or a situation and wonder what the backstory is? Perhaps something like Robert Altman's Short Cuts or Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia where a series of strangers' lives intersect at various points.

I am in Atlanta for the weekend and was driving to Buckhead earlier today. Just as I pass Oglethorpe University on Peachtree Industrial, I see somebody waiting at the bus stop. It was an older handicapped gentleman in a high-tech wheelchair and he was carrying two large birdcages. Each cage had a large bird in it. Couldn't tell what type of birds though.

So there he was waiting for the bus. I thought of Short Cuts and Magnolia. I wondered what his morning was like, and how he ended up with two large birds waiting to get on a bus, and where he was going.

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Checked the AMEX bill online yesterday and I have been charged for my most recent LiveStrong band order, but it looks like it has not shipped yet. I know theLAF store has been overwhelmed with orders and had to convert to a new server. I wish they would follow the standard practice of most e-commerce sites, and not charge you till your order ships.

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I am trying to assume that Tyler Hamilton is innocent of the recent doping charges. The only scenario I can come up with is that the two recent tests have picked up an abnormality in his blood system that has always been present. It has been discussed that starting with the Olympics a new, more comprehensive test has been used by the WADA. Since this new test has not been employed before, this abnormality has never been picked up before. I am hoping they come back and say, Tyler has XX disease which is a rare form of XX, although harmless, it does casue a positive for transfusions in testing. Kinda like the poppy seed bagel showing up as opium. Or cocaine in South American chocolate (ala Simoni).

The comprehensive WADA test has also been speculated to have been a contributing factor in the adsence of some top US athletes in sports such as basketball and baseball. Two U.S. born athletes representing Greece in baseball tested positive for steroids. Of course baseball has it’s own laughable drug policy, but that’s another story.

It’s really an unfortunate situation, even if Tyler is cleared, there will always be that doubt.

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Victor Lombardi originally wrote about this article on how investment in design pays off. The primary case study is a bank in Oregon that hired a design firm, rather than the traditional business consulting group to handle their growth. With the focus on the design, more specifically user/customer-centered design, the bank has been quite successful.

Continue reading "When Looks Count: Publix" »

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After working on a project for a few hours this afternoon, I took a break and jumped over to NYTimes.com to see what was going on in the world. I was obviously shocked to see Tyler Hamilton as the front page story with photo.

The article says it all.

In this day in age you don't know who is telling the truth, but if you can't trust Tyler who can you trust? I certainly hope he is cleared of any wrong doing.

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With my recent talk about blogs and their influence on the media and public relations, the Rathergate scandal could not have come at a better time. Sites like Instapundit have done a great job of following the downward spiral of CBS News.

Over at Mouse Planet they have an interesting article about how 60 Minutes looked for a story about safety and Disneyland. From the article: This reporter didn't seem to be investigating anything. It was as if she'd already written the program in her head and was casting actors to play The Informants.

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6803 http://www.texas-hold-em-i.com play texas hold em online here.

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I have compiled a list of links and resources for a presentation I did for the Florida Public Relations Association. The topic: Blogs: Their Evolving Impact on Media and Public Relations.

If you have any comments or questions I encourage you to post them below.

Continue reading "FPRA Presentation Resources" »

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When looking at the Toyota Prius web page to get a link for this entry, I noticed something on the Toyota Model Selector page. One of the options for sorting their cars is "Sort by Miles per Gallon." Obviously Toyota is drawing attention the the fuel economy of thier cars. Honda, another champion of fuel efficiency, does not have a similar option on their Car Models page.

It's probably not surprising that Ford or Chevrolet don't offer the same option.

I guess the opposite of this would be Ferrari having a "Sort by Top Speed" option.

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Do you think that if I bought one of these new Navistar CXT trucks and a Toyota Prius that my Environmental Karma would balance out?

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I will be speaking this upcoming Thursday (Sept 16, 2004) at the Dick Pope/Polk County FPRA luncheon. With a limited amount of time to speak, I will be condensing part of my seminar I gave in May. I'll focus more on blogs and their influence on media and public relations.

Of course just in time comes this little battle: CBS/Dan Rather v Bloggers

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What does is say when I look forward to reading Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback and Gregg Easterbrook's Tuesday Morning Quaterback more than watching the actual games?

I guess with the trend towards the fast-paced ESPN-style highlights on TV, reading a good column balances things out.

For the record I prefer Peter King to Gregg Easterbrook. I often find myselft skipping over sections of Gregg's column.

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Sports Illustrated's Tim Layden has an article online: Armstrong's yellow wrist bands have become cultural phenomenon.

The article discusses the popularity of the bands at the Olympics. He also provides some insight to the financials. The LAF pays $0.23 per band for manufacturing and shipping, so $0.77 per unit is donated.

He also mentions the poplarity of the bands on Ebay. Remember folks, don't buy your LiveStrong Bands from Ebay. Buy them from the LAF, that way your $1 goes to the source.

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I would say that the LiveStrong Bands have definitely benefited from Nike’s know-how of materials, specifically rubber compounds. You would figure that Nike would know something about creating rubber compounds that can last.

Continue reading "LiveStrong Bands Benefit from Nike Materials Know-How" »

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I usually don't write about politics, but this is more pop-culture reference than politcal.

It's been a week since Zell Miller's speech at the RNC, he's very...well... passionate. For those not up to speed, Zell is a Georgia Democratic Senator that spoke at the Republican convention.

Many have compared him to a televangelist. New York Rep. Charles Rangel said, "When I heard Zell going on about how he once was lost and now is found, I thought I heard the strains of Jimmy Swaggart. I thought I might get him to touch my hurt knee to heal it. But he's such a mean bastard, I was afraid he'd just hurt the other knee."

Then of course there was his 'duel' with Chris Matthews later that night. Comparisons to Aaron Burr followed that appearance.

I think I have a better comparison. I can't remember the exact movie(s), but the same type of character has appeared a number of times.

Continue reading "I've Seen Zell Miller's Character Before" »

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The Ledger recently ran this graphic showing the paths of the two recent hurricances, Charley and Frances, and how they cross approx. 10 miles from my house.

Update (12:36PM): The Ledger has a reporter working on a story about the exact location of the X.

The blue dot on the map represents the intersection of the two storms. The red dot almost on top of the 'Winter Haven' title is my house.

Seeing this intersection, which the National Weather Service could probably pinpoint down to a few meters, I thought of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Perhaps people from around Florida and the country will be drawn to this spot.

Continue reading "Close Encounters of the X Kind" »

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This morning the LiveStrong Band product pictures at the LAF Store have changed from 'Backordered' to 'Ships in 3-4 Weeks'.

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The New York Times has an article about healing design. Specifically designing hospitals so they enhance the healing process, rather than looking like drab socialist edifices.

The idea is obvious: Build inviting, soothing hospitals, graced with soft lighting, inspiring views, single rooms, curved corridors, relaxing gardens and lots of art, and patients will heal quicker, nurses will remain loyal to their employers and doctors will perform better.

The article goes on to state: Their research shows, for example, that patients who can see trees instead of cars from their windows recover more quickly, and that single rooms help stave off infection and draw more visits from friends and family members.

So have you ever worked anywhere you loved? hated? from an environmental standpoint?

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This time it's Frances....except it's taking much longer. No power once again. Ivan is on the way, maybe living in Florida is over-rated.

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One the Tonight Show with Jay Leno the other night Lance stated that they had sold 12 million LiveStrong bands, and that 5 million more were on the way. It seems that just as the last batch sold out the general population clued in on things.

Now more than ever, when I go out people ask me, "is that one of those bands" and "how can I get one"

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