Category: Random

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.

Google Power Readers Let’s You See What Important People You Don’t Usually Follow Think You Should Read

Google Power Readers is an interesting tool from Google Reader that takes shared items from campaigns and selected journalists and puts them all in one site so you can see what these “power readers” are interested in.  I can’t help but think that this service is already delivered by the blogs of some of these folks or other outlets that do mass linking (Drudge Report and the like).  Still, worth a perusal from folks who enjoy getting a dose of politics.

Trani Stepping Down Next Year

VCU’s President Eugine Trani has announced he will be resigning effective July 1, 2009:

He had previously planned to step down in 2010, but will now leave the post July 1, 2009, and become a professor at the university.

VCU officials have not confirmed his plans, but he has scheduled an 11 a.m. news conference today to make a major announcement

His earlier-than-planned resignation as president comes as his administration is under fire for its handling of the Rodney Monroe degree scandal. Monroe, Richmond’s former police chief, was awarded an undergraduate degree from VCU last year after earning just six credit hours at the university, despite VCU’s required 30 credit hours.

Trani, 68, has been recuperating from a quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery he had last month.

VCU Rector Thomas G. Rosenthal said today that Trani had made the decision to retire early over the weekend. He said the announcement has nothing to do with recent controversies that have roiled VCU — “Zip, zero, zilch.”

“This was his decision,” Rosenthal said. “It is 100 percent health related.”

Trani has done a number of great things for VCU during his tenure. It’ll be interesting how much of his vision out lasts him.

Read Trani’s letter after the break.

Continue reading “Trani Stepping Down Next Year”

It Might Not Be The Dream Team, But…

Team USA beat China 101-70 in a good start to its Olympic games.  USA had some difficulty with three pointers, but that didn’t really seem to matter in the end.  Catchy line from SI’s online coverage:

China has more than a billion people, but there’s not an elite point guard among them. If they ever find one, the Chinese might begin to close the oceanic gap between them and the Americans.