If sum(candidate+event)=Hypocrisy, vote for someone else

Today, the AP is running a story which can be found at http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IN_CLINTON_SCHOOL_INOL-?SITE=INKEN
&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
about a school in South Bend that shunned a request by Hillary Clinton to hold a campaign event at the school.  Now at first blush, one might ask, given the great experience of this type of event for its students, why would a school not want to take part.  That has been the basic reaction by many associated with the school.

My first reaction was why not hold it.  The reasoning was that it didn't benefit enough students (which had me scratching my head) and therefore didn't warrant the level of disturbance that the visit would cause at the school.  I read a little further and found out the reason for why so few students would benefit for the event.  Only those of voting age were expected to be allowed to attend. 

This blows by mind.  Sure, opening up campaign events to people that could actually vote for you, while self serving does make a certain amount of sense.  But, when you start using a public facility like a school for your event, those considerations need to go out the window.  The media will be carrying your message to the masses.  But the candidate has the opportunity to make an impression upon a very important group of individuals.  A normal candidate would do exactly what Hillary had planned to do, exclude the non-voters (in a high school this would be just about all except for a handful of seniors).  Missing out on a great opportunity to prove that the candidate is about more than just a showing to garner more votes.

Unfortunately Clinton took the campaign trail and in doing so showed what kind of hypocrisy her campaign represents.

Politics as usual???

Obama or Clinton, McCain or ??? those seem to be the big questions these days. None of them as an individual stand for everything that I would want in a candidate and when I weigh the various factors I come up with ties. Looks like this election still has a way to go in being settled in my mind and that thought is starting to bother me too.

As much as I hate politics, I really was looking forward to this year's elections locally and nationally. Even though it began WAY TO EARLY, I thought the presidential races got off to a good start. There were interesting debates and signs that the candidates were going to be more interactive with the public. But, as the races progressed, the candidates seem to be slipping back into the mode of doing what they have always done, and to me this is not a good thing.

Why do we need over-the-top campaign rhetoric? Why do we need so much mudslinging that a pair of hipwaders need to be handed out to the public like gas masks to soldiers? The debates got off to such a good start, I had high hopes that the candidates were actually going to follow through on the claims that this was simply a friendly competition between individuals with different views of how best to serve the interests of the American public.

Somewhere along the line, the cordial and friendly rivalry has been trumped by the desire to win. This desire to win has brough back the viciousness that has punctuated campaigns in previous year. Maybe I'm just older and paying more attention, but it seems like it has been ratcheted up a notch this time around. If thats the case where will rhetoric inflation get us in 4, 8, even 20 years? How is this serving the interests of the American people today? How does the hatemongering influence people to come out and vote. Maybe I should vote for the person who slings the least mud, but is that trading short term issues for long term issues?

Video ads, are they worth it

About two weeks ago, we posted our first video ad (in an ad position, not as pre-roll). I knew going into this process that we were going to raise some hackles. I also knew that we were going to have to edit it's settings on the fly as we try to figure out just how much of a "good" thing is too much.

We started out with continuously looping video/audio - this didn't last long before the complaints started rolling in as I was sure they would. Phase two was keeping the loop, but limiting the total number of times that the ad appeared per user per visit. Not much better, so we returned to the oringial frequency but killed the loop. I have a feeling I'm still going to have to either cut the frequency or limit the positions that it appears in.

Video ads by nature are a disruptive/intrusive ad medium. They are intended to garner attention through the use of audio and video. But they also can create an unhappy experience for the user. Not only is that bad for the website, it's bad for the advertiser in the long run.

I think that video ads can be useful in small doses. Originally we set up the run for 3 months. I think that will be too long. We will need to change it out before then. We also need to make sure that more ads are in rotation in the position.

Whats up with the weather

It's quite possible that I can't think of another year with more confusing weather. Here I am in Northeastern Indiana (not that far from the great white north) in early February and we had one of the loudest Thunderstorms that I have heard in many years last night. Washed away all the snow and is currently making a lake out of my back yard. It was in the low 50's today. It wouldn't be so odd normally, but this is the second warm snap this er, winter so far.

Did we skip right over winter and have me gone right on to April... do not pass go, do not collect $200...

A whole new Jedi

Every since I got my first set, I have loved legos. The Star War's movies have also been some of my favorite movies. So, when Lego and Star Wars got together, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Then came the video games and quite frankly, they rocked.

The Complete Edition, while I do feel a smidge of guilt over having bought something is composed primarily of two games I already own, is great. Last Fall, before it came out, my son was watching me play one of the original Lego Star Wars games and asked if he could play too. The games are pretty simple and wouldn't you know it, with a little practice he started to get pretty good at it (for a 4 year old - or so I thought).

Anyway, we had to get the new one when it came out and Ryan has been playing it much more than I. Ryan has it about 87% complete. Now, for those of you not familier with the game, I'm not making this number up, it isn't a random guess pulled out of my butt. There is a little counter in the game that says how much of you have completed. Apparantly the Force is strong in our family - must have jumped a generation :)

Lets get this thing started... again!

You'd think that with the job title "Online Director" I'd be sure to be one of those "bloggers". Well, actually I have had 2 blogs. Nuked em all because whenever I've been online I've never bothered to keep them updated. Well hopefully the third time will be a charm.