From his wonderful victory speech, here’s Barack Obama on the strength of America:

“Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.”

For a little balance on the last eight years, here’s Barack Obama on the worst of political times:

“When Democrats rush up to me at events and insist that we live in the worst of political times, that a creeping fascism is closing its grip around our throats, I may mention the internment of Japanese Americans under FDR, the Alien and Sedition Acts under John Adams, or a hundred years of lynching under several dozen administrations as having been possibly worse, and suggest that we all take a deep breath.”

And just because I liked it, here’s Andrew Sullivan on Fundamentalism:

“For me, fundamentalism is not just a distortion of faith but a negation of it. Faith, in my view, should not be blind. It should have the widest eyes imaginable. Nothing that is true should stand in the way of faith, unless one has already conceded that one is believing in a lie. And so science is not to be feared but embraced. And historical scholarship is to be plumbed not ignored. And debate is to be welcomed, not policed. It is only through this process of doubt and questioning that real faith emerges.”

Over the weekend, my friend and former roommate Raman posted a great bit about the targeted Obama ad he saw when watching McCain’s SNL clip on Hulu. Smart advertising, right? Here’s another interesting example I came across tonight on the Washington Post website:

Out of sheer curiosity (as an internet marketer myself), I had to click through to see the landing page. Go ahead, click through and come back. Did you notice the great headline? “ALL POLITICS ASIDE…this outfit gets our vote.”

I don’t keep up with Michelle Obama’s television appearances, but I do know she’s incredibly popular. The ad implies that she wore a J.Crew outfit during an appearance on The Tonight Show, so there are probably countless women out there who’d love to copy her look. And the call to action plays right along: “Buy it now, before it sells out.”

The only problem? Google AdWords are a little harder to target than display advertising on Hulu… A guy reading an article about Karl Rove’s prediction of an Obama landslide isn’t exactly who they’re looking for. Regardless, it’s timely and clever. Well played, J.Crew.

To twist a line we often use on Chattarati, this post is not satire.

First, this was not an easy choice. There are numerous policy areas where I part ways with Senator Obama, as there are with Senator McCain. Rather than hashing through all those disagreements like some sort of legal disclaimer, I’ll jump in to the reasons why I chose to vote for Obama.

Continue reading →

In case you missed it, the photo above is from a New York Times article about the differing business models of Twitter and Yammer.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Twitter and I use it every day. And if pressed, I’d probably be willing to pay a small subscription in order to keep using it. However, the caption absolutely cracked me up: “Mr. Williams is chief executive of Twitter, which has no revenue.” As a true fan, here’s hoping they find a revenue model before all the cash from Jeff Bezos runs out…

I’m slowly reacclimating myself to the so-called real world after an amazing weekend on Prince Edward Island. My journey to the unconference known as Zap Your PRAM took me through Atlanta, Toronto, Halifax and Charlottetown before I settled in at the charming Dalvay-by-the-Sea Hotel. By now, the weekend has been summarized, memorialized and philosophized across the zaposphere, but here are a few of my broad impressions.

Food
There’s something deep about sharing meals with friends, and our hosts (of silverorange and reinvented fame) were well-attuned to this fact. We had two hours allotted for lunch and another two for dinner, allowing us to linger and enjoy great conversations long after the delicious, artfully-presented meals had been devoured.

Focus
…or the lack thereof. This is one of Zap’s biggest strengths, that it was not merely a “tech” or “design” event. It was simply–and broadly–about interesting people talking to one another. Stephen DesRoches has a comprehensive recap, but to say my mind was expanded would be an understatement. In a truly head-spinning moment, I spoke on a “design matters” panel alongside Paul Kim (Mozilla), Peter Sikking (openUsability), Jes Sherborne (ZS Associates) and Matthew Domurat (Dow Jones). I have a feeling the near-overdose levels of intelligence and insight I encountered at Zap will be working their way through my brain for some time.

Friends
What I think (hope?) will last longer than the interesting tales are the new friendships which began over this long weekend. While I didn’t get a chance to talk with everyone, I made an effort to step outside my painfully shy nature and get to know as many of the amazingly cool people as possible. And what’s been interesting in the last couple days is that rather than rushing to connect on LinkedIn, we’ve been busy finding each other on Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm. Scotch tastings (Ian, you rock!) and fireside chats over live music have a way of encouraging that, I suppose.

One More Thing
A couple of choice quotes related to my standing as the southernmost attendee and the associated cultural assumptions:

• Dan James: “So, I’ve had a few people ask me this — since you’re from the south, are you a Republican? We’re hoping to have a token Republican.”
• Alan McLeod: “The sound of your voice makes me hungry for barbeque.”
• Keith Burgoyne: “Okay, I have to know — Sarah Palin, hot or not?”

Y’all are welcome down south anytime, y’hear?

Given the season, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about politics and this weekend at Zap Your PRAM (more on that later) also brought a surprising number of political discussions. The train of thought continued on my travels home as I tried to finish N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope. As he talks about the role the resurrection should have in our thoughts about our work here on earth, he mentions two specific issues: the cancellation of third world debts and ecological responsibility.

Now, if you know me fairly well, you know I have a general libertarian slant. This is partly rooted in my belief that man is fallen and therefore prone to selfishness and lust for power. A question occurred to me as I read Wright’s discussion of these issues, though: Why do I trust the “free market” (i.e. individuals and, largely, corporations) to protect or steward the environment more than I do the government? That is sort of the implicit statement I’m making by leaning libertarian, right? Of course, ultimately the answer is that I should trust neither one, but practically speaking, what difference does it make to choose one over against the other? This, then, broadens the question to other arenas as well…

I have more questions than answers tonight about politics.

In related blogging, check out Brett McCracken on “Green Christianity”

I spent all of last week in San Jose for the annual Search Engine Strategies conference. I learned a lot, met some very cool people, visited San Francisco and Carmel and even played Rock Band for the first time. (Photos coming to Flickr soon, I promise. Besides, don’t you follow me on Twitter?) And just as with my trip to New York in April, I came back to Chattanooga with a lot of ideas (and questions) about life and work.

I’ve been putting a lot of time and energy into my hyperlocal Chattanooga blog, Chattarati. Last week excluded, I typically spend a couple hours each night looking for story ideas, writing or pondering tactics to help spread the word beyond our (wonderful and loyal) audience of the “connected” crowd. I’ve also got a few other web/social media project ideas swirling around, and every new web site sparks another idea. My book list– which includes everything from Surprised by Hope to Made to Stick to How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone to The 4-Hour Work Week –grows longer by the day. And tonight, for the second time in recent weeks, I had to declare RSS bankruptcy and just mark everything as “read.”

At this point, I believe I’m suffering from “inspiration overload.” Anyone researching a cure for that?

If you read today’s Times Free Press article about Google Street View and decided to look me up, thanks!

Most of my blogging is done at Chattarati, a Chattanooga-centric news and opinion blog.

My older daughter Bailey found this tonight, probably on our evening walk around the neighborhood. She’s 4, and I’m frequently surprised by what can fascinate her or grab her attention. Tonight, this is what did and she gave it to me with strict instructions to keep it.

One day, long after it is inevitably lost, at least I can show her this blog post about her special gift.

This was the quote on my Starbucks cup today:

By the time executives get married, take on a mortgage, raise kids, cope with the crabgrass, climb the corporate ladder, do their best to manage career pressures, build their net worth and get into their 40s, they’ve lost touch with what they believe in and care about most deeply. -Allan Cox, CEO coach and author

I refuse to believe that it has to be this way, that you can’t have it all and be true to yourself. Then again, I’m not interested in most people’s definition of having it all. Do I want a satisfying career? Yes, but my goal is not to reach the top of the corporate ladder. I want to build my own ladder, chart my own course, and enjoy the journey with my family by my side.