October 2004
Commentary by blog and social media consultant Josh Hallett on the use of blogs for public relations, media, marketing, communication & branding and from time-to-time the unsolicited opinion.
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A number of blogs have pointed to Doug Bowman's presentation on Pushing Your Limits (and other secrets of designing with CSS) from the Web Essentials 2004 conference. If you are a web developer using CSS it's a great read. If you are a web developer that does not use CSS, then you better get with the program.
Doug works for Stopdesign and Adaptive Path. Some recent work includes the Wired redesign and the new look for Blogger.
I have been in the web development industry for almost nine years now, a few years ago I had become somewhat burned out on the process. Seeing the promise of CSS has re-energized me. Where is CSS going? Check out this presentation on IA and CSS by Christina Wodtke and Nate Koechley.
Today was the first day of advance sales for Cypress Gardens Adventure Park annual passes. I swung by with the family to pick up a few. Demand was high! At one point the line was estimated to be almost 2 hours long.
Alyson Gernert, Public Relations Manager, said new park owner Kent Buescher was excited about the turnout. Alyson added that advance sales of the Annual Passes, priced at $64.95, would continue on Monday thru Friday from 10 am till 5 pm at the Gardens.
Winter Haven Area Chamber of Commerce executive director Bob Gernert estimated that over 5000 people had come by 12:30 pm. Advance sales started at 10 am this morning. Gernert noted that the chamber had sold 550 passes from Wednesday thru Friday at the chamber, so he knew demand would be high.
Soft opening of the new Cypress Gardens will take place on November 19. The grand reopening will take place on December 9.
I have posted some other pictures from this afternoon.
Seth Godin's latest post What happens when it's all on tape discusses how a person's behavior would be different if they were being video taped. Of course most people would act a bit differently.
The basis for this is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. If you Google it you'll get a number of links. Most of which show the actual formula and get a bit technical. In laymans terms it means that "Any interaction between an observer and the observed changes both. The more an observer probes, the more difficult it is for him to obtain INFORMATION about the initial STATE of what he observers and the more are his observations contaminated by his own efforts"
All that physics in college is paying off!
I have become a big fan of the show Lost on ABC. Beside's the Apprentice and Rescue Me, it's the only television I make an effort to watch.
So what's the secret to Lost? E! has an article proposing some theories about what's going on.
My favorite is the first theory. It's all in their head, otherwise known as heightened conciousness. Ever read An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce? You'll get the picture.
In the split second before death, the all-powerful mind will distort your perception of reality to delay the inevitable.
Update: My most recent Lost thoughts
Seth Godin has a great entry about how a web-based process leads to an unrealistic end.
This is what usually happens when programmers have too much control over the workflow and content of any web-based process.
I have dealt with enough programmers on projects to know that, as Seth says, "They don't service my area. Their solution? I should move, then try again." makes sense to the programmer. Sounds absurd, but unfortunately it's true.
WriteLife blogs some more on the subject. His premise, "be a customer first" Read the rest he has some good advice.
I have always had mixed feelings about requiring registration to view free content on web sites. Adrian Holovaty blogs a recent interview he gave with BusinessWeek about the topic. He's not in favor.
The issue just came up again for me this week. While reading CNNSI on Monday I noticed a small item about Ron Zook being fired from the University of Florida. The article was small and mentioned a source at the Gainesville Sun. So I headed over to the Gaineville Sun. Of course it was front page news, I clicked on the link, sorry you need to register. No thanks, I'll just wait another five minutes and read some more at CNNSI.com.
So the Gainesville Sun denied their advertisers some impressions and I probably won't be going back there any time soon.
Here is the original BusinessWeek article. And a blog entry from Matt Haughley on the subject.
As metioned earlier the high school system in the Virginia Beach, VA area had banned LiveStrong bands in cross-country meets, then reversed that decision.
Well the ban is back. Make up your mind folks.
Part two of Lance's interview with CyclingNews.com is up. part two is longer than part one.
Christina Wodtke has a blog entry about journalists using Yahoo Maps to scoop the competition. An old mentor always said to me, "Technology will never replace people, but people who use technology will replace those who do not."
When I speak to public relations groups about blogging many ask why they would start and what the potential pro/cons are.
Many PR practioners are obviously scared about letting the rank and file speak directly with the public without any sort of filter. How about the CEO? Seth Godin has an entry about the CEO blog.
Here is an intersting look at how US Senators outperform the market on a consistent basis.
After all what's the point on being on the 'inside' if you can't use the information?
CyclingNews.com has a long interview with Lance. Part I is up now, Part II should be online in a few days.
That is my official title for this upcoming election. A VIS is just below the Precinct Clerk at each location. I will deal with any issue a voter has and make sure they get to vote, either at the precinct I work at, or send them to the correct precinct. If there is any dispute with their right to vote, i.e. no form of any ID or a few other circumstances we will issue them a provisional ballot. All these are returned to the Supervisor of Elections (SOE) for review at the end of the day.
Continue reading "Voter Information Specialist" »
During the past few days while working at the Great Floridian I stayed at a local homestay in Clermont. The homestay usually has quite a few athletes staying while training in the area. This most recent stay had a few celebrities. Kris Gemmell and his girlfriend Anja Dittmer. Kris is ranked number 5 in the world and has won the last two ITU World Cup races and Anja is ranked number 1 in the world and has won two ITU races this year.
Here is a recent photo of Kris winning in Gamagori. Here is the podium shot, Anja is to the left of Kris.
I've been a fan of Joy Division since the late 80's, so this video of a topographic translation of the music video "Shadowplay" is cool.
I will be working as an official poll worker for the Polk County Supervisor of Elections this general election. Specifically, I'll be at precinct 409. I'll post details of the training and the actual election day in the coming week and a half.
I worked at the Great Floridian Triathlon this past weekend. It was a 20 hour day. As I have metioned before, I handle the ChampionChip timing systems.
Being at the finish line from 8 pm till 1:30 am is quite an inspiring thing. The last finishers came across well after 2:00 am. One great story is this guy, Christopher Meurer. Chris completed 5 iron-distance events in the past 6 weeks. The Great Floridian was his last event. I first met him two weeks ago when I timed ChesapeakeMan Ultra Distance Triathlon. Here is a photo of Chris at ChesapeakeMan.
One of the great things about both events was that Jerry MacNeil was announcing. Jerry is one of the best triathlon announcers in the business.
Some photos are posted here.
If you did not watch till the very end of the Fox coverage of the ALCS last night you may have missed the Nike: Just Do It commercial that ran in honor of the Red Sox. If you did miss it, head over to Nike and watch it.
Nike has always made some great timely commericals.
Bonus Link: Nike's Lance Can Commercial
An old friend, Max Strang, had his house featured on HGTV's Homes Across America last night.
Max calls the style of his home, "Tropical Industrial". He's always had a very clean design style. Perhaps the union of form and function? So if you are looking for a great architect, check him out.
Bonus Link: Check out one of Max's projects from college, it's a look at USONIA, Frank Lloyd Wright's vision for the American landscape.
Whenever I speak to a group and show them how wiki's work many are somewhat shocked that such an open-content system can work. Red Herring has an article about the 'Wiki wars' brewing over presidential politics.
It's an interesting read. And if you've never seen a wiki, head over to Wikipedia.
Traffic to the blog has been high the past few weeks. The number one request? This post about the LiveStrong Chopper built by the Orange County Chopper guys.
If you do a search on Google for LiveStrong Chopper my site is the first link that comes up.
I've search around quite a bit and the only photos I can find of the bike are on The Paceline, the official fan site of Lance and the USPS cycling team. You will need to sign up to see the pictures, but it is free.
Remember if you need to get some LiveStrong bands, buy them from the source.
Here is a quick round-up of recent articles about the LiveStrong Bands. If you spot any others, post them in the comments.
Continue reading "LiveStrong Article Round-Up" »
I first read this story on VeloNews (Scroll down halfway). ESPN also picked it up. You can view all the articles on the subject here.
"More than two dozen high school track athletes were disqualified from an Oct. 6 event in Virginia Beach, Va., after an administrator ruled Lance Armstrong's popular "LiveStrong" wristbands amounted to jewelry, banned under district rules."
Further research turned up this article which says the school district has reversed the decision because, because "adequate prior notice had not been given to the participants."
Or perhaps, as the article notes, "A flood of e-mails protesting the decision followed a story Saturday in The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk detailing the Beach District's action."
Close to home, a Florida Today article says they will be banned at Florida cross country meets, but that the athletes will be warned well in advance.
I had planned on attending the AIFIA Future of IA, A Retreat last week. Then things like paying a deductible for a new roof from the hurricanes, and other emergency repairs before the next storm hit came up. The funds weren't there. Then I read this. Aarrgghhh!
Airliners.net has some new pictures of the Airbus A-380.
Can't wait to see it in person.
Update: Here's an excellent shot in the new livery!
The new category I created 'Ask the Passenger' is an homage of sorts to Patrick Smith's column on Salon, Ask the Pilot. I have enjoyed reading his weekly Q&A for a few years now and snapped up his book when it first came out.
His most recent column talks about USA Today's new column 'Ask the Captain.' I am not linking to the USA Today column since it's a rip-off of Patrick's work, and his column is better :-)
I travel quite a bit so I will post some tid-bits here and there under this category.
Flew on Ted this past weekend Orlando to Dulles. In fact it was on this plane. Each time the flight attendant would speak they would accidently say United instead of Ted. I talked to one of the crew and she said they switch between carriers and it does get confusing. Looks like even our plane had an identity crisis. The Airbus A-320 Reg-N473UA used to fly in United livery.
So you think that Bush and Kerry repeated themselves quite a bit in last week's debate? I found this site that highlights phrases and gives you a total for each candidate. Examples:
"Hard Work" - Bush 11, Kerry 0
"Mixed Messages" - Bush 5, Kerry 3
"Wrong war, wrong time, wrong place" - Bush 7, Kerry 0
Let's stick to those talking points gentleman.
Received my shipment of LiveStrong Bands today. I guess I should place another order now (rather than wait till I run out) to avoid another dry spell.
