MiniVAN and canvassing

I did a little canvassing today on behalf of Obama. When I was handed the usual walk lists for the work, I remarked that the campaign has a smartphone app for this kind of thing, called MiniVAN. In a few minutes, the canvassers had downloaded their walk lists to their phones and were ready to canvass. I was amazed at how much more efficient this app made canvassing.
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Chief Dolan retiring

The first time I met retiring Chief Harry Dolan was the night of December 4th, 2007. The 32nd Raleigh City Council had just been sworn in at Memorial Auditorium and a young Travis and I were there. After the short ceremony, we both wandered through the hall only to come across a police officer as friendly as he was tall. Dolan warmly introduced himself to me and to Travis, kneeling down to talk to my son at his level.

Those two minutes told me all I needed to know about Raleigh’s new police chief: Dolan was going to engage the public, and kids mean a lot to him.
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Neighborhood Exchange and horse show

I woke up early this morning to attend the 9th annual Raleigh Neighborhood Exchange, where I was a speaker. My topic was “How to Build Healthy Neighborhoods” and, unlike last year, I was flying solo for this presentation. Going in, I had little to no idea what I would be speaking about but I think I managed to weave my insights together in a coherent manner.

After giving the presentation twice, I attended the keynote speech that Chief Harry Dolan gave, where once again he provided me with the title of a leadership book I should read. It was nice to say hello to him again and to meet so many interesting fellow citizens.

After the Exchange was over, I met the family at home again where we all relaxed a bit at home. I left with the kids for a trip to Habitat’s ReUse store to buy any outdoor ceiling fans they might have had. It was two minutes before they closed but we still managed to bring one home.
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Does Romney have a better Facebook strategy than Obama?

Inside Facebook points to Romney’s Facebook ad campaign as the reason Romney’s page has gained so many likes. Left unexplored by Inside Facebook are the widespread reports that many of Romney’s Facebook page fans were put there without their permission. It’s one thing if Romney wants to build a social following by earning fans, it’s another when he cheats by hacking others’ Facebook accounts.

Republican candidate Mitt Romney is leading President Barack Obama in Facebook engagement and new Likes, in part because of a strong social ad campaign that takes advantage of the latest opportunities on Facebook.

via Does Romney have a better Facebook strategy than Obama?.

Why Rahm Emanuel and The New York Times are wrong about teacher evaluation – The Washington Post

The Washington Post deconstructs why standardized testingis bad for education.

I’ve often wondered why politicians have felt the need to meddle with education when few or none of them are education experts.

The Times can say that using standardized test scores to evaluate teachers is a sensible policy and Obama can say it and Education Secretary Arne Duncan can say it and Emanuel can say it and so can Bill Gates (who has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to develop it) and governors and mayor from both parties, and heck, anybody can go ahead and shout it out as loud as they can.

It doesn’t make it true.

via Why Rahm Emanuel and The New York Times are wrong about teacher evaluation – The Answer Sheet – The Washington Post.