September 23, 2012

There were 5 posts published on September 23, 2012 (this is page 1 of 1).

Romney Is Losing His Social Media Mojo – OhMyGov News


Mitt Romney’s Facebook growth has slowed considerably, coincidentally right after Facebook began cracking down on fake “likes.”

While Romney’s done plenty in public to scare away voters, I can’t help but wonder if Facebook’s new policies may have stopped the campaign from padding its numbers.

Romney’s trouble with the social network has nothing to do with President Obama’s commanding overall lead in total number of Facebook “Likes.”

Rather, it has everything to do with the fact that in August, plenty of people were liking Mitt Romney on Facebook, yet in September that growth has suddenly — and significantly — slowed.

via Romney Is Losing His Social Media Mojo – OhMyGov News.

Rethinking Sleep – NYTimes.com

Here’s an interesting look at the power of naps, i.e. breaking up the so-called usual 8-hour sleep cycle.

I’m a big believer in new sleep patterns. I think we’re doing it wrong by sleeping for long chunks. Without a spouse who’s willing to share my sleep habits, however, I’m not likely to change much!

Rather than helping us to get more rest, the tyranny of the eight-hour block reinforces a narrow conception of sleep and how we should approach it. Some of the time we spend tossing and turning may even result from misconceptions about sleep and our bodily needs: in fact neither our bodies nor our brains are built for the roughly one-third of our lives that we spend in bed.

via Rethinking Sleep – NYTimes.com.

The future of driving: Seeing the back of the car | The Economist

Here’s a good look at “peak car,” the point where growth in automobiles … uh, stalls.

Looks like research confirms my hunch that the Internet is to blame.

A University of Michigan survey of 15 countries found that in areas where a lot of young people use the internet, fewer than normal have driving licences. A global survey of teen attitudes by TNS, a consultancy, found that young people increasingly view cars as appliances not aspirations, and say that social media give them the access to their world that would once have been associated with cars. KCR, a research firm, has found that in America far more 18- to 34-year-olds than any other age group say socialising online is a substitute for some car trips.

via The future of driving: Seeing the back of the car | The Economist.

Col. Bob Ley

Col. Bob Ley, US Army retired


I just mentioned my former boss Bob Ley in my last post, so I want Google searching for him. I turned up this obituary of Col. Ley from last year. I’m sad to hear of his passing.

I worked part-time for Col. Ley in the hardware department of Hechinger store in Sterling, VA. His influence on me went far beyond what the part-time nature of my job suggested.

He was an outstanding mentor and I’m undoubtedly a better person because of him.

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Time for Gen. Tata to fall on his sword

Some friends and I were recently discussing the Wake school bus fiasco. Some thought that through his resignation, Don Haydon, Wake’s long-time operations and facilities manager, might be accepting responsibility for the debacle. And he is. It has been his job for 12 years to get the buses where they need to go. I wondered, though: how could a seasoned administrator with over a decade of experience foul things up so badly?

Then I recalled the military bureaucracy I once served in and got an idea of what most likely happened. Haydon was almost certainly given an impossible task to move more kids with fewer buses. I can imagine that his boss wasn’t too keen to hear that a train wreck was imminent and Haydon had no choice but to step down.
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