Two Things I Don’t Discuss Here

Religion and abortion.  I hesitate to even bring either of them up.  There’s not much anyone can say to change anyone else’s mind about either, and I’d rather just avoid those topics altogether.

Knowing that I’m not trying to persuade anyone to believe anything, please enjoy this excerpt based purely on its cleverness.  You can argue with LissaKay at her place if you’d like, or you can argue in the comments here, but I won’t be piping in with an opinion:

I then went on to propose that if women wanted to have abortion as a birth control option, then men should too. If a couple gets pregnant unexpectedly, if the man doesn’t want the burden or inconvenience of raising a child, or even just being financially responsible for it for 18 years or more, then he should be able to force the woman to have an abortion. Equal rights and all, you know. Her reply to that was so very predictable … if a man doesn’t want to be making babies, he shouldn’t be sleeping around. 

Right. Exactly. Neither should a woman. With equal rights comes equal responsibility, and it goes both ways. 

Email, Blogging, and Twitter Explained

SVD is documenting his forays into these mediums (where else) on his blog. All of these things mean so many different things to different people. Here’s how I like to describe them…

When I send you an email, it’s the equivalent of me inviting you over to the house for a cup of coffee. We’re sitting at the kitchen table having a conversation. This has a few implications. For instance, “thanks” is not acceptable for an email in its entirety. I wouldn’t invite you over to my house to say “Thanks” and then slam the door in your face would I? Don’t be surprised, however, if I come banging on your door to borrow an egg or some milk though. These are the emails where I ask stupid questions.

When I write something on my blog and people comment, it’s the equivalent of me standing out in my yard and talking to whatever neighbors happen to drop by to talk. I’m lazy, so I’m probably sitting in a chair instead of standing, but you get the idea. Anyone is free to drop by and discuss, even if they don’t live in my ‘hood. This has implications too. For instance, driving by and yelling “F You!” or walking up and trying to sell me Viagra means you’re going to be ignored. Also, my “yard” isn’t as nice or visited by as many passers by as some. See, my yard isn’t near an interstate–it’s more like a gravel road–so there usually aren’t as many people stopping by. On some days, I just sit out there whittling and taking naps all by myself. Other days I just stay inside and nap.  If you stop by, it helps to bring beer.

And Twitter? Twitter is like all of us are piled into a bunch of eighteen wheelers and talking on CBs with antennas so big that the whole world can tune in. Anytime something important happens, it will hit Twitter as fast as news of a Smoky seen setting up a speed trap. Anyone with their ears on will definitely know about it.

Wait, I have a better description for Twitter…

Twitter is like ham radio for people who can get a date.

Great News Story–You Forgot Something

Silence pointed out a story in the Tennessean this morning about political bloggers in Tennessee. Newscoma points out something too.

Not a bad story but it amazes me that they didn’t link the bloggers they were talking about.

Come on ‘Coma…what part of “they don’t get it yet” don’t you understand?  Giving credit where it is due, the KNS is great about pointing out local bloggers when they mention them, and they have been for a long time.

I think that’s a pretty good strategy. Use your assets to become the center of the blogging community, and try not to alienate it.

Straight Outta Knoxville

Thanks to the guys at Knoxify and Rootclip, I’m wearing a shirt today…my new Rootclip T-shirt that I won via Knoxify’s giveaway.

Eastcoast? Westcoast? Nope. This is all about Ebenezer and Westland–aka The Westland Ghetto. Entry to Knoxify’s contest was open to anyone discussing their ‘hood in the comments, so I figured I’d represent my block here.

And here’s a better look at the high quality T-shirt. Thanks again for helping save on my clothing budget, and check out Knoxify and Rootclip if you get a chance…both are examples of high quality interneting.

Twitter “Buys” Summize

The official addition of search–real time search–is definitely going to take Twitter to the next level and offer up monetization possibilities, but at what cost?  I don’t expect Twitter to go on commercial free forever, but is summize going to take the spammy stuff we’re already seeing there to the next level too?  And how exactly does a purchase like this work?

The one thing that remains a mystery is the acquisition price. Twitter hasn’t raised a huge amount of money and Summize had almost a million dollars in funds raised itself. What percentage of its coffers did Twitter just spend on all the Summize technology and five employees? It’s probable that Summize investors saw their investments in Summize turn into favorable investments in Twitter, rather than a pile of cash. When one startup buys another one, though, one always has to wonder. It’s usually a sign of desperation on the part of the acquired company – but that’s not likely the case here.

Confirmed: Twitter Has Acquired Summize – ReadWriteWeb.

WordPress 2.6 Nice

WordPress 2.6 has been released, and there are some really nice features in this version.  The biggest new feature to me is the revision history, which allows you to compare every revision of a post and also gives you the option to revert back to previous versions.   Other really cool features are a live word count, ability to reorder images in a gallery you’ve uploaded, captions for images, and a “Press This” button for your browser that let’s you post right out of an article you’re reading.  Does that mean I have no excuse for the light blogging I’ve been doing lately?  Now I have to pop in a post from EVERYTHING I find interesting?  We shall see.

On the admin side, plugin management has been changed to make things much easier (multiple activation is now enabled) and theme preview is now available without installing a plugin.  I’m sure I’ll write a post later complaining about all of the things that are broken, but I’m pretty happy with this update so far.  These features make WordPress even better for use as a full fledged CMS.

MSM Strategy

AP vs Bloggers, Couch-gate, and _____ coming soon to an outraged corner of the blogosphere some time next week.

If a marketer were smart, she’d use this surefire formula to duplicate these incidents.  It’s really a simple process, and it creates buzz and a ton of web traffic.

  1. Announce or release something that is sure to piss off bloggers.
  2. Wait for the eventual meltdown to occur in the blogosphere.  You won’t have to wait long–people falling all over themselves to talk about you.
  3. Clarify what you originally announced or released just as the buzz starts to die down, reviving the discussion.  Make sure everyone knows it was all just a misunderstanding.

Excuse me while I plot a way to generate traffic for myself instead of someone else.

Carnival of Local Political Gaffes #1

Welcome to the June 16, 2008 edition of carnival of local political gaffes. This is the first edition of the carnival, and there wasn’t much notice for submission, so contributions were light overall, but there is plenty of great stuff here, at least if you live in Tennessee.

Christian Grantham presents:

Mt. Pleasant Commissioner charged in brawl at City Hall–“Now calm down, Bobby! Calm down.”

Another drunk Tennessee politician puts lives in danger–“If you’re under federal investigation for perscription fraud, don’t show up drunk down to the FedEx hootin’ and a hollering over a lost package of pharmacueticals.”

Rep. Rob Briley threatens and blames the media–“He clearly hasn’t even gotten past the first step in his 12 steps out of the drunken hell he’s inflicted on the rest of us.”

TN House Majority Leader Gary Odom to get hitched–“He’s older than her parents, and she’s younger than his children, but at least the 56 year old House Majority Leader waited for the Capitol Hill intern and beauty queen to turn 24 before marrying her.”

SVD presents Arnett pays overdue taxes : posted at Hayes Hickman–“Is being the CLERK really that difficult…Before you run for the office that collects taxes…make sure yours are paid.”

So next week should be a little more extensive with submissions outside of TN as well. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of local political gaffes. To submit an article just click here. Submissions are due by Sunday.

Something Has to Be Done

This along with countless other things that never seem to end here in good ol’ East Tennessee make it really hard to keep up with all the idiotic things local politicians do. I could do what I normally do (complain or nothing), but I’ve decided instead to do something fun with it.

I’m starting the Carnival of Local Political Gaffes. You can submit an article for the carnival here.

Probably the biggest factor that keeps local politicians from being more than just local are the idiotic messes they get themselves into. The Carnival of Local Political Gaffes aims to shed light on these small timers and give them the credit they deserve.

There’s enough going on locally to make this Carnival fairly extensive. I can’t wait to find out what is going on in the rest of the country. Submissions are due by 6 pm on Sundays. If you’re interested in hosting the Carnival, contact me.

You Can’t Say That On…Anywhere

So I haven’t posted for a couple of days because I’ve been in the land of damn-these-people-drive-like-maniacs, aka the ATL.

I’m also way behind on reading, but I just came across a post that is really disturbing. Apparently, it’s now considered bad form to use the phrase “life insurance policy” and “Barack Obama” in the same sentence–not because of what it says, but because someone may read it the wrong way. It reminds me of that fateful day when the word “niggardly” was stricken from the English language because people who didn’t know what it meant (I didn’t at the time) were too lazy to look it up.

It’s so much easier to just get offended first and ask questions later, no?