Month: September 2008

VCU Would Like To Let You Know That You Should Avoid Main Street If You’re Driving Drunk Friday Night

In an attempt to halt drunk driving between the 900 and 1000 blocks of Main Street, VCU Police will be establishing a sobriety checkpoint from 11 p.m. Friday to 3 a.m. Saturday morning.  Drunk drivers are advised to use Broad Street instead.  Media and other official folks wanting to watch cops bust drunk people should contact the VCU Police who will let you know where to get the best seats.

K Street Blogging

TheHill.com: The Benefits Of Blogging.

The increasing influence of the blogosphere has become unavoidable — even here on K Street. 

While “blogger” was a label once reserved for guys who typed away in their basements wearing pajamas, now everyone from celebrities and athletes to CEOs and heads of nonprofits have started to blog. Even members of Congress have gotten into the act — not only do they maintain personal blogs, they are Twittering from the House floor to engage with their constituents.

What does this mean for K Street lobbyists?

The Sweet Spot of the Long Tail

Kevin Kelly: 1,000 True Fans

Here’s how the math works. You need to meet two criteria. First, you have to create enough each year that you can earn, on average, $100 profit from each true fan. That is easier to do in some arts and businesses than others, but it is a good creative challenge in every area because it is always easier and better to give your existing customers more, than it is to find new fans.

Second, you must have a direct relationship with your fans. That is, they must pay you directly. You get to keep all of their support, unlike the small percent of their fees you might get from a music label, publisher, studio, retailer, or other intermediate. If you keep the full $100 of each true fan, then you need only 1,000 of them to earn $100,000 per year. That’s a living for most folks.

A thousand customers is a whole lot more feasible to aim for than a million fans. Millions of paying fans is not a realistic goal to shoot for, especially when you are starting out. But a thousand fans is doable. You might even be able to remember a thousand names. If you added one new true fan per day, it’d only take a few years to gain a thousand.

State Of The Blogosphere 2008

Technorati has released its State Of The Blogosphere 2008 report.  Interesting to see is the map of US bloggers:

[[Dead Image]]

TechCrunch also talks about Technorati’s numbers, in the report and not:

Technorati has indexed a total of 133 million blogs since 2002. In terms of how many are active, 7.5 million blogs have added a new post during the last four months, and 1.5 million have been updated during the last week.

J’s Notes: One in 1.5 Million!

Bailouts, Paper Money And Inflation

Earlier today I wrote about the bailout at Bearing Drift but forgot to mention one point that the news has reminded me of: in order for the government to fund this bailout it’s going to have to make money.  When the government makes money out of thin air, all money loses value.  Thus inflation.  Thus a record jump in oil prices.  Thus Main Street suffers.

16 Random Truths

Having been tagged by multiple people, I figure I should do this.

Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a note with 16 random truths (shortcomings, facts, habits or goals) about you. At the end choose some 16 folk, and tag them.

Try to include the person that tagged you so they can come back and see your answers.

1. I can’t snap my fingers with my right hand.

2. I have never officially broken a bone in my body.

3. I get grumpy when I’m tired.

4. I have a great fear of death.

5. I can fly an airplane.

6. Being a packrat, I collect just about everything.

7. I have a princess cat named Pantera.

8. My likes and sense of humor can sometimes be pretty childish. I like to think that this is endearing.

9. Ten years ago I expected so much more of myself by now.

10. When I was six I wanted to be a mailman when I grew up.

11. Italian food makes me happy. Chinese food makes me happy. Food makes me happy.

12. As much as technology fascinates me I sometimes feel the need to turn it off for a day and get away. Inevitably those days are the ones when people really need to find me via technology or hammer me for being away.

13. I can draw a mean stickman.

14. I have written a novel. It is not published.

15. I was a History major, specifically focused on Chinese history.

16. I need to keep in better touch with my friends.

Barack Obama Is Aware Of Lipstick And Its Use On Sows

So in case you missed it, there’s been a big to do lately about Barack Obama’s use of the phrase “you can put lipstick on a pig and it’s still a pig” when referring to the policies of John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Now, did Obama mean for this to be about Palin, using code words to speak negatively of her without coming right out and saying it (see “uppity“)?  The Obama campaign and many Democrats have been using the term “lipstick” when speaking of Palin over the weekend and days leading up to Obama’s utterance.

Or is Barack Obama a victim of spin?  Certainly possible.  It’s easy to take something someone says, something fairly innocent, and turn it into an insult and feign disgust with much success (George Allen and Macaca come to mind, though certainly under different circumstances).

Or are we seeing a problem in regional dialects meaning different things to different people (again, see “uppity“)??

Ask around.  Talk to folks from all over.  Particularly in the northwest or northeast, areas that aren’t too familiar with the rural and its slang.  See if they’ve heard the phrase before.  If you get results like mine you’ll find they’d never heard the phrase before.  You’ll find they immediately associate the phrase with the woman involved in the context, even if she wasn’t named.  Even if the origin of the phrase had nothing to do with women.

The dangers and joy of the English language.

UPDATE: Straight from the horse’s mouth (and, no, I am not literally trying to call Obama a “horse”):

“This is sort of silly season in politics, not that there’s a non-silly season, but it gets sillier,” Obama said. “And it’s a common expression in at least Illinois. I don’t know about New York City. I don’t know what you put lipstick on here.”

Barack Obama Is Aware Of Failed Mortgage Companies And Appreciates Their Contributions

When Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac open up their wallets, they don’t just give change to CHANGE (har, har, I kill me):

Top Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008
1. Dodd, Christopher (D-CT) $133,900
2. Kerry, John (D-MA) $111,000
3. Obama, Barack (D-IL) $105,849
4. Clinton, Hillary (D-NY) $75.550