President's Address 03/07/09 Health Jobs Plan Care

The president reminds us again that this is a special moment in history to take note of, that it won't be easy, but we will arise to our former glories. All I say is ... define glory.

Yes, this is a moment of challenge for our country. But we've experienced great trials before. And with every test, each generation has found the capacity to not only endure, but to prosper -- to discover great opportunity in the midst of great crisis. That is what we can and must do today. And I am absolutely confident that is what we will do. I'm confident that at this defining moment, we will prove ourselves worthy of the sacrifice of those who came before us, and the promise of those who will come after.

Web vs Print

Content is King!

(from my class discussion boards today)
But there is some considerable differences from online content and print content writing. Online readers scan first, then drill down on the information they either were looking for in the first place, or have found interesting. What I have learned about the difference between print copy and online copy goes something like this:

1. Use Headlines: web readers scan and skim until they find the headline, caption or summary that matches what they were looking for in the first place.
2. Use Lists : Breaking down concepts into short lists, capture the scanner and gets the information into the brain quickly before they click away.
3. Top Load your paragraphs: Get to the point right at the beginning of the paragraph and fill in the details toward the end of the paragraph. In other words, start with the conclusion.
4. Don't make them scroll too much: Web readers are not going to read 12 paragraphs sitting on a single web page; break it up into two or three pages. Many online news sites do this.
5. Keep those paragraphs short: Again, reading online is a sprint not a marathon. Readers are not going to stick around for long developing paragraphs, there's too many forces at work. It's slower to read online, and causes more eye fatigue, etc. "War and Peace" will not be read online, but maybe a one paragraph executive summary of the epic will be.

links:

The godfather of usability
Copyblogger
Web Writing vs Print Writing

Happy Square Root Day ... and a pirate joke

A pirate walks into a bar. The first thing everyone notices is that he has a large ship's wheel attached to his crotch. The whole bar sits in stunned silence. Finally the bartender asks, "What's the story on that ship's wheel?" The pirate responds, "ARRR! It's drivin' me nuts!"

stolen from friend Rob: Jalpuna

226 March 2nd ... chubby still

As the graph shows ... not much progress is being made. Honestly, I'm not even trying anyway. But I heard once, anything valuable is worth tracking. So I think my health is valuable ... so I will track it.

Meanwhile, look at the cool picture I took today:

New Change : American Budget

This week, the President reassured us that the change he promised, that got him elected will go forward, even if he has to fight the entire way. He's taking a scalpel to the budget and slicing away at the cancer of special interest spending and redirecting the money back into the American wallet or into the programs that work, and the agenda that the people voted him into office to tackle.
All I can say is ... "Huzzah ... and good luck"