More like it

As I told anyone who listened, last January's Amendment 1 was a bass-ackward idea that didn't go far enough in cutting taxes while blowing the opportunity to force spending caps. Well, the TBRC's back with a better version: cutting 25% off our property taxes to the tune of $8B in the state's budget. That's a number large enough to force budgetary cutbacks throughout the state's budget. It's about damn time.

-Shawn

Hot

It's hot down here. Not just 'my, it's a nice day' hot but 'holy crap! will it EVER get below 60 degrees for more than 30 seconds?' Don't get me wrong, Florida is a great place to live and work. My daughter can play outside year-round. My wife and I can go for evening walks. I threw out our old ice-scrapers (and if you don't know what they are, you're lucky). And we never have to shovel snow. But some days...

One thing about most of the USA--change is constant. If you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes and the sun will come back. But Mid-Southern Florida's different. It's sunny. Every day. It's warm and sunny. Every day. There's no break ever. Imagine listening to your favorite playlist. Now imagine if you could only listen to that playlist until the end of time. That's what it's like living in Florida. Beautiful, but monotonous.

Of course, down here the alternative to monotonous is a hurricane. So it could be worse.

-Shawn

The Internet and Elections

From personal experience, I can tell you that this post will be an unpopular one. The internet is only good for 2 things when dealing with political elections.

1. Raising funds. As had been amply demonstrated by any number of local, state and national campaigns, people will donate money in staggeringly large quantities to campaigns that are packaged properly. Never forget this.

2. Leaking information. It's an old adage that if you want something leaked, start a rumor denying it. There's no better place for rumor-mongering than the on-line world, and no better way to dish the dirt on your opponents than through on-line connections.

And that's it. I have yet to see internet activity, forums, chat rooms, postings, vmobs, conferences or even good-old-fashioned web sites sway votes. For all the sound and fury roaring from the under-30 on-line crowd, it has yet to convert into real-world votes.

But that will change in time.

(more later)
-Shawn

What's forgotten can't be remembered

And along those lines, I've just rediscovered Caro's The Power Broker. What a sad, uplifting, horrifying ,etc. story. And it doesn't even come close to how ugly it can get in the real political world.

Enjoy the rest of your night and I'll be back tomorrow with some longer posts about economic gardening, networking and the value of time.


-Shawn

Ad Information - Sales Ratios

Fro those looking for current ad ratio information broken down by the top 200 most active industries, here's a link from Chris Gibbons (EG):

http://adage.com/datacenter/article?article_id=106575

Happy mining!

-Shawn

Politics

Politics. The art of perception and achieving the possible. At the end of the day, 99% politics is marketing. Be it a politician selling the public on why he or she should capture their allegiance (And vote) or be it a business convincing a governing body to support their efforts. On a personal level, a politician needs a few distinct characteristics:
1. Socially dominant. The ability to walk into a room and dominate the space.
2. Quick wit. The best pol's can banter and barter with the best of them.
3. Body language. The ability to read a room's emotional state and reach accordingly.
4. Empathy. Everyone likes to be listened to and made to feel like they matter--the best pol's can do that to anyone at any level.
5. Thick skin. You win some and you lose some. The best pol's can ignore the slings of defeat (or the press or opponents) and move forward. Short lived politicians can't.



Have a great Tuesday--

-Shawn

In like a Lamb, out like a Lion

Change is the one constant. No matter where you are in life, no matter what job you have, no matter how big or small your family is, no matter what you like to do, CHANGE is inevitable. (Yes, Leonard, that one's for you.)

I just learned that a business that has been in the family for three generations was finally sold. Actually, I just learned that the business was placed on the market and sold--bit of a surprise there, even if we've all been waiting for it to finally happen. The one remaining business, the one remaining commercial tie to small, dilapidated hometown is at last gone. It would be easy to get maudlin about the memories, the work, the hours spent, the familiar sounds and smells, the people and the equipment, everything that has now moved on. But life moves on. Finally, my family is out from under the back-breaking, never-ending all-consuming beast that was The Business (my father wisely decided to go his own route 40 years ago and we've been thankful for that ever since). But it's a piece of life that's ended, a constant that's gone. Will there be others to replace it? Sure. Is it a piece of my history, my childhood that's gone. Sure.

But change is inevitable.

I had a conversation with a meth-addict last week. (He was doing community service at a political rally where I was working.) He knew he was in trouble. He knew that he wasn't likely to make it through rehab. He'd lost his children, his jobs, his homes and he knew that he probably didn't have much left of a future. He didn't even have much left from his past. But rambling through the winding turns in his brain, he spit out one bit of 'wisdom:' no matter where he was, no matter that he wasn't ever going to see his family again, no-one, nothing could take away his memories. (OK, heavy drug use will kills those pretty quickly, but I got his point.) Basically, shut up, get back to work, and know that you can always close your eyes and remember the happy times of the past.

Now get back to work, slackers!


CYA-
Shawn