• Create a movie trailer starring … your Facebook friends http://tcrn.ch/dwmfen #
• Obama instructs staff to stop checking ID’s at the Whitehouse door http://bit.ly/dg95Zg After all, it’s supposed to be the people’s house. #
• Apple is the new religion, and the Pope is scared http://bit.ly/blsYvm For Apple users, it’s a matter of Faith #
• Anybody have any idea what’s up with FourSquare today? Haven’t been able to check in all day! #
• 90 days in jail seems a little extreme for barfing on an off-duty police officer. http://troms.me/30d #weird #news #
• Taxpayers need protection from reckless government http://bit.ly/c29m1G #
• Glee Does the Time Warp: Who Plays Which Role? http://bit.ly/ddTn6f #
  

The Braying Jackass used to be a regular feature on this blog, but I haven’t seen any quotes dumb enough lately. Fortunately, Al Franken is in the Senate now and he should offer plenty of dumb quotes.

“How long do you think it will take before the FOXNews web loads 5 times faster than the DailyKos?” ~Al Franken speaking about the need for a Net Neutrality Law.

All I can say is, “What an Idiot!” Does Stuart Smalley understand there are many different things that affect how fast a web site loads. There’s the size of the pipe the server is using. There’s the speed of the server. There’s the web server software, the DB backend. There are 100 different things that can cause a web site to load slowly.

Al, I wish you would stick to doing intentional comedy instead of the unintentional joke you’ve become on the U.S. Senate floor.

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• “@ScottBourne: US Based Photographers Traveling Abroad, Beware The Duty http://bit.ly/clAc46 ” #
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• @photojunkie I’ve given up waiting for the iPhone to come to Verizon. Bought an LG Ally (Droid) instead. in reply to photojunkie #
• @thetopstory_ Obama can’t do anything to help our local schools. Change comes from within, starting with students, teachers and parents. in reply to thetopstory_ #
• What’ wrong with this picture? http://twitpic.com/29r01j #
• “@cc_chapman: Step Away From The Camera: http://nyti.ms/clHK4f If you own a camera, you should read this” #
• Has the environmental damage of the oil spill been exaggerated? http://troms.me/30b #

• “@ConserValidity: Why Obama’s Sales Pitch Isn’t Selling http://bit.ly/c6teF5 #Obama is taking his teleprompter on the road again!” #FAIL #
• Amazon Now Taps Into Facebook For Social Product Recommendations http://troms.me/307 #
• “@darthvader Just won Top Chef: Coruscant with this killer dish http://bit.ly/c0hUqc ” #
• “@ScottWGraves More “Blame Bush!” planned fall campaigns http://bit.ly/croBfb Sounds like they hired team of 8-year olds as consultants” #
• @ChrisMatthewsHB tagline should be “Pretending to work, bringing you biased news and only my opinion.” #
• @cc_chapman Remember when hard drives used to be expensive? I just bought a 1 TB drive for under $60! in reply to cc_chapman #
• Only makes sense if people are also fined for farding or eating while driving… http://bit.ly/aAq6Vm #
• How to walk through crowds http://bit.ly/c5Kihv
  Sounds simple, but sometimes it’s not #
• @StevenErtelt I think you’re the one misleading your readers in this case. Rape victims should definitely have access to this drug. in reply to StevenErtelt #
• @thetopstory_ http://twitpic.com/29gpye – Who was driving the Geek Squad car? Best Buy got some free advertising. in reply to thetopstory_ #
• “@nprpolitics Obama Makes Economic Sales Pitch; No One’s Buying http://n.pr/bx33CT Where are the jobs?” #
• “@Gawker: There Are Seven Keymasters Who Can Restart the Internet http://gawker.com/5598201/ ” #
• Kolb is the future of this team. No looking back to the McNabb years. http://bit.ly/dAj4Hq #
• Huge thunderstorm moving through the area right now. Guess we can blame all this rain on Al Gore and global warming? #
• “@mcall: Job loss in Pa. is Rendell’s fault, Gubernatorial candidate says incumbent’s tax and spend policies… http://ow.ly/18kJxG ” #
• “@LivingSocial: Coffee Capitals: 20 Cities That Drink the Most Caffeine http://ow.ly/2i31K ” #

I’m sure all of you have seen Box Tops for Education on the packages of some of your favorite products in the Grocery store. We want you to clip those, save them and bring them to class. You will help us earn money for our school. There is a lot more you can do to help us earn money from Box Tops for Education.

We also want to urge you to sign up on their website. It’s easy and free! Support your school with Box Tops online, and you can:

• See complete earning details for your school
• Earn cash for your school when you shop online
• Print valuable coupons for Box Tops products

Take just a few minutes to sign up now. AJ Whittenberg is listed in zip code 29601 on the Box Tops website.

• What “curated computing” can and can’t do http://bit.ly/aNsh8C #
• Why no public love for Obama’s many “accomplishments” http://bit.ly/cWamnD #Obama #FAIL #
• You have to read the customer reviews for the Uranium ore for sale on Amazon.com! http://troms.me/305 #
• Ed Rendell Compares ‘The View‘ to ‘Jerry Springer’ http://troms.me/306 #
• Fair use legalized, says EFF http://bit.ly/95FuDd #
• Why fair use is essential for the future http://bit.ly/bRdaWM #
• Pulse is alive and kicking on Android http://tcrn.ch/ajXe1l #
• How will Apple respond to DMCA revision? http://tcrn.ch/btEKWU #
• Gulf oil vanishing, EPA seeks injunction against Mother Nature http://bit.ly/ceT4u1 #
• Student told she must deny Christ to earn her counseling degree. http://bit.ly/bRZ4dJ #
• Where I work the reward for a job well done is … more work! #
• Jailbreaking may be legal, but Apple say it still voids your warranty http://tcrn.ch/9759Di #

• “@Gawker: The Government Just Liberated Your iPhone http://gawker.com/5596601/ ” #
• “When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man.” ~Stanley Kubrick #fb #
• “@pennlive: Opinion: Unemployment benefits more tempting than work http://bit.ly/clYXJM ” #
• The Alvin Greene freak show by @jmartpolitico http://politi.co/brCft5 #
• “@wattsupwiththat: New peer reviewed paper refutes claims blizzards of last winter being driven by global warming http://wp.me/p7y4l-5S1 ” #
• Professor returns from vacation to find his office was covered in … http://bit.ly/coYbOC #
• Kitty in the Rain http://twitpic.com/28zf3k #
• “@MichaelTurk: It amazes me that @TimKarr and @FreePress are apparently unaware the 1st Amendment protects us from government, not Comcast.” #

• “@ConserValidity: UN threatens Second and First Amendments http://bit.ly/bL7qsx ” #
• “@ConserValidity: No faith in universities http://bit.ly/9WiX92 ” #
• “@ConserValidity: Emergence of unintended consequences http://bit.ly/czKmxX Obamacare destruction has begun” #
• @ConserValidity Obama knows exactly what he’s doing. He wants to destroy private health insurance and force everyone into gov’t run plans in reply to ConserValidity #
• “@michellemalkin: It’s not just the ‘wealthy’ who will pay for Team Obama’s tax-mania – http://is.gd/dGYAE ” #
• Just added the LG Ally to my have list on @gdgt! http://gdg.to/abpujt #
• Wrote a review of the LG Ally, read it here: http://gdg.to/9zjNNE #

One of these days I’m going to have to play a game of “anything you can do, I can do better” with one of my co-workers who has an iPhone 4. I think this Android phone could be an iPhone killer! The only reason it won’t be is at least a dozen other Android phones out there also trying to kill the iPhone.

Verizon has done a very smart thing pricing this phone at $49.99 to get out the word. I considered the Android X, but that phone won’t fit in my shirt pocket. The Ally has a minimal form factor and a slide out keyboard for an ideal size.

I’m composing this entire review on the keyboard of my phone.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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• “You will make a name for yourself in the field of entertainment.” ~Chinese fortune #

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• I subscribed to ImprovEverywhere‘s channel on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/user/ImprovEverywhere?feature=autoshare #
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Gary Kaskowitz, marketing professor and author of Brand it like Barack! explains

Bethlehem, PA—Less than two years ago, Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. Now, even many of his most ardent supporters seem to be regretting this decision. It appears that the Gulf Oil Crisis could become Obama’s Katrina, notes Dr. Gary Kaskowitz, marketing professor at Moravian College (Pa.), and author of the new book, Brand It Like Barack!: How Barack Obama sold himself to America and what you can learn from this.

“Buyer’s remorse is a marketing term that basically means, maybe I shouldn’t have bought that,” says Kaskowitz. “Barack Obama sold himself to the American public by incredibly effective emotional marketing techniques. However, when the reality of what we buy doesn’t compare to the vision we have when buying it, your natural inclination is to ask for a refund.” President Obama’s reactions to the Gulf Oil Crisis have many people shaking their heads about what exactly he is doing. When Obama announced his candidacy, he had no national experience to speak of, yet he was able to win the Democratic nomination as well as the general election based in large part on emotional marketing techniques. These techniques included:

1. The use of classic story structure in shaping his message
2. The power of truly understanding the motives and aspirations of his core audience
3. The ability to sell himself as a central character in his audience’s personal story
4. An incredibly effective use of internet technology

According to Kaskowitz, author of “Brand It Like Barack! How Barack Obama sold himself to America and what you can learn from this”, the problem with using very powerful and emotional marketing techniques to beat your competition is that you had better deliver on it. “If not, your audience will surely turn on you like a pack of hungry dogs on a t-bone steak!”

Brand It Like Barack!, (Dog Ear Publishing, 2010) outlines the steps that Barack Obama and his campaign successfully followed to win the presidency. While there has been and will be debate on the politics of Barack Obama, few could argue about the stunning success of his presidential campaign.  Strategically using available assets combined with contextual cues allowed him to understand the needs of his market (the voters) while creating a persona that inspired and motivated his followers to not only vote for him, but to aggressively market him themselves.  Inspiring fierce loyalty from his audience, Obama successfully  spread his message at internet speed to overwhelm his competition, winning his party’s presidential nomination and ultimately the general election.

Gary Kaskowitz, M.B.A., Ph.D., is an associate professor of management at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa. (My alma mater.) His research and teaching focus is on marketing principles, both classic and modern. He has created and taught courses on branding and salesmanship. Prior to teaching at Moravian, he taught at the University of Maryland and was a senior manager of Market Research at Verizon. In his earlier life, Kaskowitz was a sales engineer for Motorola. He has also worked as a marketing consultant for both large and small organizations with an emphasis on understanding human motivation. Always fascinated by why people make the purchase choices they make, he has spent the last several years studying the use of story structure and internet technology in creating and spreading a brand message.

Moravian College is a private, coeducational, selective liberal arts college in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Tracing its founding to 1742, it is recognized as America’s sixth-oldest college.

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