When Chuck Norris is who you find to help fundraise for you, you should know your campaign is screwed. I'm talking to you Huckabee.

'Mike Huckabee is Chuck Norris approved'

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Fresh off endorsing Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee last month, actor Chuck Norris has penned a fundraising e-mail Tuesday on behalf of the Arkansas Republican, and he's making several demands.

Full Story

Although, I heard Chuck Norris's tears could cure cancer. Unfortunately, Chuck Norris never cries; he only kills. Full Story

Media Ownership

From Reuters and Yahoo News:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday proposed that the agency relax its ban on the cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in the 20 biggest U.S. cities.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said the "relatively minor" rule change would help bolster the newspaper industry by allowing owners in the top markets to buy a TV or radio station.

Relatively minor...Of course it is relatively minor that is the only way changes are made. But just because it is relatively minor doesn't mean it is not terrible.

Full Reuters Story

Google making its own social network...

TechChurch is reporting that Google is launching its own social network that will cut across all its "applications". Very Interesting.

Pointer from LostRemote.com

Very good interactive storytelling.

The Council of Foreign Relations has a very interesting piece of interactive storytelling about the Darfur crisis. Well worth checking out.

Pointer from Glenn.

367 Speech o' the Day

Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety (PRPSA)

Good Stuff

Radar has a quiz up called, "Fox News Anchor or Porn Star?" Seriously, how great...I went 7/10. Take it and see how you do.

Pointer from LostRemote.com

Obama in Columbus

So yeah it a crappy picture, but what can you do it was with my phone. I would have taken my actual camera, but I didn't think I was going to go to the event until minutes before it started.

So here's my thoughts about the speech. It was a good speech, an inspiring speech, but it was nearly the same speech we have been hear for the last 3 years.

"A politics of hope not fear" has been a mainstay in the Obama campaign and I can understand that. It is a great rhetorical tool. It is powerful, dichotomous, and plays off one of the main attributes of the Bush presidency, fear and national security. Another main part of the Obama campaign is his outsider status. This is another great rhetorical tool which separates him from Hillary, McCain, and a number of other major candidates.

But again I already knew these things. This style of rhetoric has been with Obama since he really enter the national scene. In his first major speech, his keynote at the 2004 DNC, he said hope no less than 13 times. In his announcement speech in Springfield, he used hope and change nine different times. This is his rhetorical style and it is a good strategy, but it is time he shows that he is a presidential candidate and not just a rhetorical strategy.

We need to hear specifics in the form of major policy initiatives in the couple months. We are 67 days from the tentatively scheduled Iowa caucuses and he needs to start proving that he is actually a different style of politician. He needs to start saying how he is going to accomplish what he says he is going to accomplish. He also needs to activate and empower the grassroots in a meaningful way.

Obama has a more powerful social network than Dean could have ever dreamed of. Here is some ideas:

-policy discussions on the website and by the way I mean actual discussions not just Obama listening, but Obama listening to his supporters and discussing the finer points of the policies...American politics is not simple and cannot be solved with a 12-second soundbyte, so you have these discussions...you get to focus group your ideas and they get a feeling of agency..."I helped shape Obama's policy on blah, blah"
-meet with more of the grassroots groups...stop doing the contest to have dinner with Obama...it shouldn't be a prize to meet you...it should be your goal to meet everyone of your volunteers and donors...
-systematically organize the grassroots groups more...seriously you have hundreds of thousands of supporters across the country you need to get them feeling like they are part of the campaign

Anyway, these are just ideas. Ideas the Obama camp is never going to read and are more than likely going to go unheeded by every major candidate in the 2008 election. But I think they are right for certain candidates and could be used to strengthen and empower the electorate.

Also I was quoted in the Dayton Daily News.

Self Esteem Graphic

367 Speech o' the Day

367 Speech o' the Day

367 Speech o' the Day

Candidate Calculator

Examples for Comm 367 - September 24th

Frederik Samuel blog

Week One Down

So I have gotten through my first week of being a doctoral student. Only 4 years left. Anyway, I think my classes should be interesting and I should have the opportunity to work on some research that I find very interesting and other research that should expand my view of communication. I very much believe OSU was the right decision.

College

Started college. But I stumbled across some interesting news this morning. First, LostRemote is on fire today with a number of interesting stories. Here are some:

-Reuters tests facial recognition video search - Creepy
-MySpace to roll out self-serve advertising system - Amazing
-Google launches PowerPoint clone - Badass, but still not 100% there

Also some funny news. Apparently, Coach Tressel jumped in excitement during last weeks OSU v. Washington game. As far as I know he showed less emotion when his wife gave birth. Full Dispatch Story

Examples for Comm 367 - September 19th

Definition we'll be working off of:
Persuasion involves symbolic communication between two or more people with intent to change, reinforce, or shape attitudes beliefs, and/or behaviors of the receiver.

Starbucks Cups Aren't Recyclable

So apparently the plastic coating on the cup, which prevent the cup from leaking, cause the cup to not be recyclable. I really need to buy a travel coffee mug and not lose it the first day I use it.

Full Dispatch Story

Summer's Nearly Over

On April 4th, I successfully defended my Master's thesis. On April 9th, I turned in the final copy of my thesis to the graduate school at Ball State University. Since then I really haven't done much. Well starting Wednesday that all changes.

It has been an amazing and relaxing summer. I have been able to spend time in New York, Chicago, Washington D.C. and a few other places and I have been able to spend that time with some very good friends and my wonderful girlfriend. Although, this has been a great summer I am very excited to get back to school and get back to a more consistent schedule.

This quarter, yes quarter, I will be taking three courses and teaching one. The course I will be taking are part of the School of Communications core curriculum and will cover comm theory, research methods, and stats. Then I will be teaching one section of persuasion in the undergrad comm program. I should be fairly busy this quarter getting adjusted to the seemingly more rigorous OSU program.

Beyond my coursework, I will be working on a couple of pieces of research and working on other side projects. I will keep everyone abreast of my research and other things as they happen.

My feedback on the iPhone

My iPhone doesn't connect to the OSU wireless network, because OSU only supports 802.1x. The iPhone doesn't current support that. I know they are probably not going to even read my letter, but I must say it made me feel a little better. Also, University of Texas has a link right on their wireless page to go the the Apple feedback section and complain, which is cool. If you feel like complaining about this problem, please go here. Anyways, this is my letter to Steve submitted through the Apple feedback section:

Hey Steve,

I assume Steve Jobs reads everyone of these e-mails. Anyway, I just bought the iPhone and love the hell out of it. I think when it comes to interface design there is no single company better than Apple. My suggestion is that you add 802.1x wireless connectivity and here's why. I am a PhD candidate at The Ohio State University and one of my good friends is a PhD candidate at UT-Austin. These 2 schools represent over 100,000 students and 20,000 faculty and staff. Most of these people are in your target demo and none of us can use our iPhones on the campus wireless networks because of the lack of 802.1x support. IF OSU and UT are the same, there must be a number of other colleges using this style of connectivity, which could really anger users in your target market.

I googled real quick and these schools (2006 enrollment) also use 802.1x:

University of Florida (50,785)
University of Minnesota is in the process of switching to 802.1x (50,402)
Syracuse University (19,802)

Just an idea.

Thanks,

Nick Geidner

Apple appeases early adopters

"...we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store."

Full Press Release

Ron Paul iPhone Page

So I was cruising through the iPhone Application List and found that Ron Paul has an iPhone configured page. How crazy is that? Good work Ron Paul.