Archive for the ‘Nerd Stuff’ Category
Live Blogging – Tweeting – U-Streaming (I hope) The SOTU With A Twist Of Lime
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010So, I’ll be live blogging over at Right Wing News and here at my blog. I’ll try embedding the code for the U-stream too. This is new to me. We’ll see how it goes.
Also, if we can make it work, Tab Hale will be doing a simulcast and for sure live blogging on Right Wing News. She’s a braver soul, so if we make this video stuff work, it will be her win, most likely.
Hawkins will be live Tweeting for ABC news, I think.
There will be a whole lot of new media going on tonight…but mostly drinking while doing new media.
No, Governor Perry Did Not Nearly Shoot Me
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010That’s a great story to make up, though. Have to give this intrepid blogger (word is that he/she/it is an operative from inside the Kay Bailey Hutchison campaign) credit for creativity. Here’s what anonymous blogger Come And Take It Blog said:
At seven seconds in, you can clearly see Rick point a loaded gun away from the range and in the direction of a woman he is supposed to be teaching to shoot! The muzzle can’t be more than a few inches from her face…she even flinches back a little.
So, I went to the gun range on Friday, January 22, 2010 at Red’s Range in Austin. Governor Perry hosted about 20 bloggers (most of whom had never seen a gun before and were as newbie as me–pretty funny actually).
The Governor showed a couple of us how to shoot. Here’s the video:
First, as is obvious, the Governor did not point the gun at me. Second, I did not flinch from him moving the gun around.
However, I did flinch with all the guns going off all around me, but got used to it.
Bonus: If you watch the tape again, you’ll hear Andrew Breitbart in the background. He looked like he was having a great time. All us city-slicker bloggers in ear muffs and armed must have been humorous for a guy used to Texas and guns like Rick Perry.
Wrap-Up: Governor Rick Perry’s Blogger Summit In Austin, Texas–UPDATED With Pictures
Monday, January 25th, 2010Texas Governor Rick Perry hosted a blogger meet-up in Austin, Texas this last weekend.
Friday night, twenty of us met up at the gun range with the Governor. He showed fellow bloggers Kathleen McKinley and Robbie Cooper and me how to shoot his laser-guided, tiny Ruger LCP .380. It was a nice, light little gun, but the loooooong trigger was irritating. Roger Simon has a humorous piece about his gun trepidation that’s worth reading.
Robbie also shared his .45 with me and I got to shoot a clip from his gun. I am left-eye dominant and right hand socialized, which means that I should be left handed (and in some sports I am). This makes me a not-so-great shot. Turns out that Robbie has the same problem and he helped me correct for that. He was very helpful. (A marine would be, don’t you think?)
Kathleen brought her .22 and I shot from that gun, too. Lighter, with less kick. Nice gun. I’m looking for something to carry in my purse. I liked the power of the .45, the size of the Ruger. It’s clear that I haven’t found my favorite gun yet.
It had been years since I’d shot. It is so much fun. I will be doing that again.
The gun range owner told me that Governor Perry frequents the establishment regularly with most people not realizing the Governor is right there. He likes shooting and is a natural sportsman. I believe it. It was obvious he was having a good time. He arrived a little late to the range, but didn’t seem to want to leave.
Following the gun range, there was a reception at a local bar on 6th street in Austin. 6th Street is, for those who don’t know, the “strip” of Austin. There’s lots of bars and music joints. University of Texas is right there. Lots of youthful energy and fun in the neighborhood.
The conference itself was held at the AT&T Conference center. (Conference planners everywhere, take note. This is the best facility I’ve been in, in years.) The room was stadium-style, classroom seating with WiFi and pop-up plugs for electricity. Very nice. Do you know how many conferences are ill-equipped to serve bloggers and news people? When it’s a struggle to get power and internet access, frustration ensues. People like to work easily.
Will Franklin, Governor Perry’s New Media Coordinator, deserves credit for creating a tech-savvy environment for the bloggers. Will hosted the event and introduced the panel moderators. Pictures from Governor Perry’s photographer here.
Panel One: Turning Ideas Into Action moderated by Ryan Gravatt and hosted by Jim Eustace and Patrick Ruffini. Most of us know Patrick from his blogging and his work on campaigns. He talked about amplifying messages. Jim Eustace I had never met or heard before. He encouraged blogging activists to get better about analyzing their metrics, etc. Some people might have been snoozing about this topic, but I was eating it up. Bloggers fall into two categories–idea people who use tech and tech people who put forth ideas. I’m the former–an admitted “techtard” and their advice was excellent. I wanted them to keep talking. The talk ended much too soon.
Panel Two: Keeping Conservative Momentum moderated by Ben Domenech and hosted by Matt Lewis and Me. Ben I hadn’t met before–seen his name everywhere, linked his work, etc. What a great guy…and his voice, wow! Turns out that he has a podcast over at Breitbart, too. Anyway, Ben was the best moderator I have ever seen in action. Lucky me! He moderated my panel. Basically Matt and I talked about transforming the Tea Party energy and anger into action. It’s happening. We also talked about the genesis of some of the current messaging problems in the GOP. We also talked about the D.C. culture and how it’s difficult to adhere to conservative values for politicians, thinkers and writers alike. It’s a constant fight.
Panel Three: Growing Influence moderated by Brad Jackson and hosted by Roger Simon and Andrew Breitbart. Roger Simon and Andrew Breitbart agreed about one thing: making money in this business is hard. Ad revenue is down among all media, including new media. Breitbart made many provocative statements. To sum up: He wants to destroy the Mainstream Media. After hearing him recount the media’s treatment of Linda Trip regarding Bill Clinton, I want them destroyed, too. He said,”The media turned a predator (Clinton) into a victim and destroyed a common citizen, Linda Tripp.” Indeed.
There was a break, we were provided boxed lunches (pesto chicken was my choice, if you must know) and went back in to the conference where Governor Perry gave a short spiel about the success of Texas and why he’s hoping to be re-elected. “It’s simple,” he said. And outlined his four pillars of good governance: Low taxes, reasonable regulations, constrained lawsuit environment (torte laws), and an educated workforce. The Governor just rejected Federal education money because he didn’t want the strings attached. He did the same with the Stimulus bill. Turns out to be a wise decision.
Governor Perry introduced Andrew again. Andrew doesn’t do prepared speeches, he said. Well, he gave a good one nonetheless. Link to Breitbart interview at event here.
The operative word was “Courage”. He talked about the courage to take risks in this business. He related how in Hollywood, there is a bubble, that it’s very social and people outside of the accepted belief system are ostracized. At one party he was surrounded by 40 Obama supporters who were yelling at him while his wife cried to the side.
Andrew shared the story of liberals who took risks to expose their own and how they received death threats. He spoke of shepherding the ACORN story because of how the media destroys those who oppose liberal ideology. He painted a stark picture. The speech was rousing.
It seemed fitting that the home of the Alamo was the home for a rallying call to bloggers and activists to fight and fight with courage.
The Conference was one of the best for meeting fellow citizen journalists, activists, and campaign operators. The panels were informative. The speeches inspired.
Ben Domenech on Twitter says that he “hope other candidates do these kind of low pressure outreach activities.” Indeed.
For those interested in hearing Governor Perry speak in Houston, he’ll be stumping with Sarah Palin here on February 7, 2010. Tickets at the link.
Also, I have video of this whole shindig, but still need to cut and edit it. Will attempt to upload this to YouTube. Wish me luck!
Note: All pictures courtesy Rick Perry’s official photographer.
Time’s Top 25 Blogs
Monday, December 28th, 2009Proves they know squat about blogs. And they’re partisan in the extreme.
One conservative blog: The Bleat by James Lileks.
Maybe I’ve Had It Wrong All Along: I Shoulda Been A Guy Blogger
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009Is a woman an “Uncle Tom” if she writes under a male pseudonym? What if she gets paid more and seemingly more respect by doing so?
Also, would a woman write differently if she “wrote like a man”. If I didn’t have the cultural pressures, would I write differently? More forceful, more tough, maybe?
Here’s what prompted this post:
A blogger for Copyblogger, who wrote under the name “James Chartrand,” outed herself as a female, explaining that she chose a male name to earn more money and get more respect in her career.
Years ago The Blogger Formerly Known As James Chartrand (who declined to identify her real name) hit a plateau in her career. She couldn’t command a higher rate. She lost gigs she should have gotten. Things were looking grim. So she distanced herself from her existing company by choosing a pen name: “I picked a name that sounded to me like it might convey a good business image. Like it might command respect.”
She chose a male pen name. Ha, more like penis name!
Choosing a male pen name seemed to fix everything for James Chartrand. She put food on the table for her kids and get a mortgage for her house near her mom.
This blogger, a woman, came to this conclusion:
Honestly, there is something rather Uncle Tom-y about Chartrand hiding behind the opposite gender. By assuming the identity of a male writer, she skirted the discrimination against women entirely while doing nothing to change womens’ lot. She just left the glass ceiling standing there, rather than shattering it.
Sure, “passing” was Chartrand’s choice, and as Charlotte York would say, she chose her choice. But it showed no solidarity for other women at all. There’s plenty of female writers out there who confront the marginalization of women head on, pointing out how with factual data how they’ve been shortchanged, asking for raises, taking their brilliant work elsewhere if their bosses refuse to budge. But “James Chartrand” took the easy way out.
Eh. I don’t know. If I wanted to make a lot of money, I’d “sell out” and be a mommy blogger and talk about my kid’s poop or the fact that I forgot part of my kid’s homework or that my jeans are tight or whatever else was personally ailing me at the moment. As far as I can tell, being snarky, female and into fashion, celebrities or some other (what I consider) trivialities can net a gal big bucks.
Or, I could sell out and go anonymous male and people would give me more respect and more money.
Maybe.
Comparing iPhones To Lefty Socialists
Monday, November 2nd, 2009I must be a paradox: I’m a free-market capitalist and I love the iPhone. From Weissthaupt at Townhall:
Essentially the iPhone is safe from the Droid because most iPhone users are liberals. They are people who WANT a Mommy and Daddy watching over them. iPhone developers must navigate a Byzantine approval process that is so bad, that some even stoop to using Microsoft’s .NET to get things done. Apple tests and approves every application offered on the iPhone to make sure they all play nice together. This of course ensures the phone will deliver the beautiful and slick user experience Apple has decided its users will have. The iPhone is a good example of the “one-size-fits all” top-down mentality of liberals. If you want a different experience from what your masters thinks you SHOULD have and SHOULD want, you are just SOL. The lowercase “i” in iPhone doesn’t occur by accident. The individual just isn’t as important, and the “Phone” takes precedence. Many iPhone and Mac users come near to worshipping Apple and their products, going so far as to genuflect when they turn on a Apple device, ensure they face San Jose 3 times a day to give thanks for their iLife and to pray for the saving of the pagans who do not yet have one.
In contrast, Verizon’s Droid in Particular, and the Android OS in general are created for a different set of users who are interested in an I-Phone rather than a iPhone. They are interested in a “MY LIFE”, rather than an iLife. Open Development is a form of freedom that comes with its own attendant problems: some applications might conflict, the interface will be bit rough around the edges, and you have to look out for and solve these difficulties yourself. I-Phone users will sit down and write applications that fit them, break the new ground they want to explore , and they don’t need nor want a Master approving what they can and can’t do.
Wait just a minute.
There is a fallacy that people who are for free markets don’t want some sort of order. The mistake that the Microsoft and Android makers of the world, and for that matter, some libertarian types make, is that most people would prefer an unordered environment to a hyper-ordered environment.
That is simply not true. People want freedom within order.
The economy cannot flow when anarchy abounds. Exhibit “A”: Detroit. Or any war-zone for that matter. Too often, my PC was a war zone. It crashed. It spluttered. It had freedom to customize. But all I wanted it to do was stay stable so I could do my poopy word processing and multi-media stuff.
Apple, and now the iPhone met that desire while also giving flexibility. It’s not that someone cannot innovate on the iPhone, it’s that they must do so within the laws of the land. So, sadly for some, no porn Apps. Well, the Android will have them. The Android will also have all the weird bugs and viruses that come from this unprotected, aka “open,” platform. Like the PC, it will end up a war zone.
Will there be more innovation? Time will tell.
The lesson the conservatives and libertarians should take from the iPhone is that people want a user-friendly experience with enough flexibility to make it their own. That is, they don’t want to be inhibited by chaos. They also don’t want to be inhibited by over-regulation.
If people believe that Apple is getting too tyrannical, they’ll stop buying the iPhone. They’ll buy the Droid and Apple will have to respond and become more flexible or go out of business.
The iPhone metaphor failed from the beginning.
Twitter: Rethinking Follow Friday & Using Twitter Lists
Friday, October 30th, 2009I do believe Twitter’s Follow Friday tradition needs to be re-vamped to be relevant. Here’s the problem: People are creating too many tweets filled with “cool” people and clogging everyone’s streams with chum. That is, people have ceased paying attention to the vast numbers of the Follow Friday Tweets so they’re ceasing to be helpful.
In addition, with Twitter’s new “List” feature, people can just follow those who get listed and find that person’s favorites. I have lots of them for different reasons. And in my use of Twitter, while I follow many big name Twitterers I disregard lots of them because they are overrated and not very helpful, really.
What’s the solution? Continue Follow Friday, but everyone could choose one obscure awesome person that other people might not know. Tell people why this person is important to follow–give a personal endorsement. If a person can’t do that, if he just has too many people, create a list.
Productivity & Social Media
Monday, October 26th, 2009Another stupid study about wasted work time and spilling company secrets from the Telegraph:
More than half of office workers use sites like Twitter and Facebook for personal use during the working day, and admit wasting an average of 40 minutes a week each.
One in three of the 1,460 office workers surveyed also said they had seen sensitive company information posted on social networking sites, leading to fears about how workers use the internet.
Philip Wicks, consultant at Morse, the IT services and technology company who commissioned the survey, said the true cost to the economy could be substantially higher than the £1.38bn estimate.
Oh bah. Twitter and Facebook are social. Like the coffee station at work is social. Like the water cooler is social. Like the printer is social. They are gathering places for where people already talk. And everyone talks at work.
The concern with social media isn’t the time, it’s the ability to spread a message. Where office conversations can be like the game Telephone–one message to one person, one by one, and by the end, it’s distorted–social media can multiply a message exponentially. I tell my 10,000 “friends” on Twitter and they tell thousands more of their friends.
Even with this, though, there is a feedback loop. Often, when a message is spread via Social Media, a link goes with the “gossip”. A person who lies, distorts and spreads disinformation can achieve social pariah status pretty quickly. [Exception: Andrew Sullivan] Not so, in an office. The office gossip can be annoying, but most people deal with him or her because the information can be useful and powerful. And even still, these dynamics play out online and offline.
People are people. Work gets mental interruptions almost all of the time. That people take a few minutes for Twitter or Facebook is just another version of the same. Listen, the day that social media loving workers take as much time as those who take smoking breaks, there can be a conversation. In the meantime, bashing social media is just the latest way for bosses to obsess about their worker production.
P.S. There’s a recession. Most people are working very hard to keep their job. The bigger concern these days, I’m guessing, is burnout, not lost productivity. If anything, there isn’t enough play and too much work at work.
H/T TechCrunch
Why There Are Fewer Women Bloggers
Monday, October 26th, 2009At Western CPAC there were a row of blogging men with two notable exceptions: Rachel Alexander of Intellectual Conservative and me. Proportionally in political blogging and in blogging generally, there just aren’t as many women bloggers. David Griner of The Social Path asks why:
If you spend any time looking at social media demographics, there’s one stat you see over and over: women dominate the space. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter — all are more popular with women than men.
So it was a bit jarring this week to see that 67% of bloggers are male, according to the newest installment of the Technorati State of the Blogosphere report.
Admittedly, this isn’t a new stat. In least year’s report, Technorati’s survey put the male blogger ratio at 66%. But compared to the other mainstream social media activities, it seems bizarrely guy-heavy.
In the post, he asks women bloggers he knows for their answers. Here’s my answer:
The Internet still feels like the Wild West. There are some safe homesteads–social media, for example. Consider: On Facebook, a woman can decide who she wants to connect with and who she wants to keep out. On Twitter, a woman who feels wrongly attacked can block the attacker. (Meghan McCain, the mad blocker, comes to mind. She takes even mild criticism as a block-worthy offense.)
When it comes the arena of ideas, the women who blog are not typical women. Over and over, the women who blog are tougher. Like the shotgun wielding Western expansionists of yore, women bloggers take shots and can shoot back.
Women bloggers are often sexualized and insulted. One famous incident with Kathy Sierra involved photoshop and personal information. Kathy quit, something I urged her not to do. She is now, though, on Twitter and I believe she blogs anonymously to spare herself the insulting misery. Michelle Malkin, Amanda Carpenter, and just about every conservative woman blogger, including me, has endured horrible personal, violent and sexual insults–very often from “enlightened” male liberal commenters and bloggers.
Most women simply do not want to put up with this garbage. They feel threatened and they worry about their safety and the safety of their children. Michelle Malkin had to actually move after her personal information was plastered on the web. She is a mother. She has children. There are nutjobs out there and in this business, there is a very real risk to personal safety. It’s something guys just don’t have to deal with as much.
In addition, women often don’t like the intellectual jousting. Part of it is gender wiring. Men see verbal sparring as a testosterone-fueled challenge. Women see degraded communication and hostility. When they put an idea out there, it seems aggressive when someone rips the point of view to shreds. And, it is aggressive.
It might not be politically correct to say so, but women and men have gender generalities that make certain behavior more typical–including online behavior. I’m not sure what will change this. And I don’t know if these gender trends would be good to change. For example, if men become more cooperative and women become more dominant, the playing field may be evened in discourse but some of the particularities inherent in gender would be lost. Is that a good thing? That’s a bigger question and not the one being asked here, but I think it’s a worthwhile one to consider.
The women who do blog tend to stick out. Here’s the thing, when I was at Western CPAC with the guys, I didn’t feel out of place or less worthy. They didn’t treat me disrespectfully or condescend. I was a peer in all respects. The thing is, I like the rough and tumble world of political blogging–even if I do get harassed and abused rhetorically from time to time. Goes with the territory. If you can’t take the heat and all that…. Most women have enough heat in the rest of their lives, they figure they don’t need to invite by putting ideas out there via a blog.
Standards of Decorum: Real World & Internet Version
Wednesday, October 14th, 200987% of Houstonians polled say that politicians should be held to a higher standard when it comes to rhetorical decorum. Turns out that Rahm Emmanuel has a potty-mouth and Joe Biden routinely says “f*ck”.
And then there is the internet. I have passed along “adult” language tweets. When I write on Twitter, I assume a more adult audience. That is, while I don’t want to be foul, sometimes language can be…flowery. That has lost me followers here and there who are averse to a little salt. One expressed shock and said that I wasn’t kid-friendly. Why are kids following my Twitter stream? Personally, I don’t think kids should watch the nightly news. It gives such a false and skewed perspective on the world…no bad words necessary.
This is what one blogger at Suburban Oblivion said about a chiding mom:
I received a message on a social media site recently asking that I tone down the language on my blog. Seems she feels what I write is not fit for young eyes.
Hey please watch the profanity i have young kids in my family that are on facebook and are on my page and i dislike being chewed out by there mothers and fathers for profanity on my page.
thanks for understanding, B
First I started to laugh. I have NEVER claimed what I write is child-friendly. Given the number of times a day I use the word ‘fuck’ on Twitter alone, I think it’s pretty clear I will never hit less than an ‘R’ rating. My humor is for adults, not children, clearly.
Then she follows with this:
As a parent, it is your job to keep your children from reading adult content on the internet.
As a parent, it is your job to not visit sites containing said adult content if you cannot keep those children from hanging over your shoulder and reading.
As a writer, it is not my job to censor myself so you don’t have to do your job (see above).
Seriously people..grow the fuck up and parent your kids, and quit expecting everyone on the internet to change their way of doing things just so you don’t have to.
So, I’m wondering. Is there two different standards? I’m pretty much the same in the real world as I am online. Every once in a while I’ll say ass or shit at home and get a scolding from my kids. Same thing happens online.
And while everyone is kvetching about naughty words, I think it’s important to have some perspective. This is an example of real nasty language. Bad words might be offensive to some, but what should really bother people is disgusting lies, obfuscation, and purposeful disseminating of disinformation.
