Blogs
Grant, Google and ad-placement
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 11/02/2005 - 09:23I wonder if Grant McCracken is whistling past the graveyard as he writes about Google versus Madison Avenue: no contest here.
I must admit, I don’t know a lot about advertising and I started reading Grant’s blog as part of my work on the DeStefano Gubernatorial campaign in Connecticut. Grant is in Connecticut and I try to read as many Connecticut based blogs as possible.
Grant writes, “Google doesn't know anything about advertising…Of course, this does not mean that Google won't stride into the advertising business and make an ass of itself.” While I’m not a big fan of Google Adsense, somehow I don’t think Grant’s scenario is all that likely. Google has done a great job of attracting very bright people and if they venture further into the advertising world, I expect they will do the same there.
Metablognition
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 10/31/2005 - 09:48Over at Metablognition, Christopher notes that he is now #1 on Google list for "Metablognition", but he wonders who is at the top of the list for the most hated people of Connecticut. Anyone care to show him how google bombing works?
Frappr
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 10/27/2005 - 17:04(Originally posted on the DeStefano Blog)
Okay. Now for something a little more light hearted, or perhaps light headed:
There is a new website called Frappr which uses Google Maps to display information about people in a group. Anyone can set up a Frappr map, so I set up http://www.frappr.com/destefanoforct.
Please stop by and add your name to our map of supporters.
Supreme Court Nominees
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 10/27/2005 - 12:18Well, the news is out that Harriet Miers has cut and run from the Supreme Court nomination. Friends are telling me that this is simply clearing the way for a nomination of Karl Rove, but I don't believe it.
Meanwhile, I should point out that I am not withdrawing my supreme court nomination
Twenty times I’ve tried to tell you...
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 10/24/2005 - 10:35This blog has ALS. My techie friends may rush to Google to find out what the latest Web 2.0 TLA is. However, ALS isn’t a three-letter acronym for some new Web 2.0 protocol. It doesn’t fit in the same category as RSS, XML, RPC, API, IBM, ETC.
No, ALS is Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, aka Lou Gehrig’s disease. It is a progressive neuromuscular disease that weakens and eventually destroys motor neurons. For my more medically oriented friends, do not worry about me. I do not physically have ALS. Instead, it is this blog that has ALS.
Those who have been reading my political blog entries connectedness is an important issue for me. “We are all in this together.”
John Donne wrote, “If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
So, why am I writing about ALS this morning? Last night, Kim and I went to hear Lowen and Navarro at Acoustic Celebration in Ridgefield. We first heard them at Falcon Ridge.
At Falcon Ridge, Eric Lowen was walking with a cane. We didn’t think much about it. However, up in Ridgefield, he was using a walker. It turns out that he has ALS. He joked about the moment of the concert that would have the most drama in it was as he was helped up the two steps to get to his seat on the stage.
Acoustic Celebration takes place in St. Stephen’s Episcopal church. Kim and I were sitting in the front row. We were about twelve feet from Lowen and Navarro as they sang. As they started, it struck me that they are a good example about what blogs are really about.
We can spend our time talking about political blogs, marketing blogs, A-lists and long tails, but that isn’t really what blogs are about. Blogs are a place where we can have raw, real connections between people. Blogs are where we sit twelve feet from the performer and have a personal connection with them. Throughout the concert there were times you could hear people singing along in the audience. Between songs they talk with the audience and did a lot of requests.
At the end, everyone came up to the front and gathered around close as they sang, “We belong”. That is what good blogging is about. That is what good music is about. It is what good politics is about. “We belong to the thunder… We belong together…”
So, this blog has ALS, along with Eric. We belong together. Please check out the ALS organization. This blog has the longing of a military wife as her husband serves in Iraq. It has the long ordeal of a guy going through complications of heart surgery. It has the stories of people who help others, like a teacher in New Haven, or people that went to help with Katrina relief efforts.
We belong to the thunder, we belong to the sound of the words we've both fallen under... We belong, we belong, we belong together
