Archive for October, 2007

Seth Godin has been writing about polls and surveys recently, and he’s got me thinking. I shot these questions to him in an e-mail, but I’m going to post them here for your pondering pleasure:

1. Since all American citizens are not required to vote, are our elections really that much different from web polling (where the passionate have a disproportionate turnout)?
2. Along those lines, would you say it’s good for elections to be decided by the more passionate (ie. the apathetic would make the results unreliable), or bad (ie., fewer voters means a decreased likelihood that the “right” candidate is elected to represent the people)?
3. If you think this aspect of the electoral process is bad, then do you have ideas to improve the system?
4. If, however, you think it’s good, then why are “gimmicky polls” not to be trusted?

I’ll share my own thoughts later, but I’d like to hear what you think, too.

Popularity: 6% [?]

I was combing through Google Reader, trying to catch up on my blog reading–I fell behind over vacation–and I found Tim Challies has an excellent interview with Darren Rowse up on his blog now:

My critique of Christian blogging is actually similar to my critique of much of what I see happening with the Church today - an overemphasis upon gathering together as believers - at the expense of ‘going into the world to make disciples’.

I came to a point where I saw incredible opportunity in blogging to ‘go’. People are gathering around the web through blogs to learn, build relationships, have dialogue, share their lives, talk about every aspect of their existence - but the majority of Christian bloggers that I knew at the time (including myself) were gathering together in our ‘Holy Huddles’ to do ‘Christian Things’.

I made a decision to spend more time focussing upon going and participating in what I saw happening outside of the ‘Christian Blogosphere’.

I subscribed to Rowse’s ProBlogger months ago, and I think his tips and articles are superb. It’s nice to see him getting more exposure in the Godblogosphere; or should I say it’s nice to see them finally catch on to what he’s doing.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Your left-hemisphere dominance implies that your learning style is organized and structured, detail oriented and logical. Your visual preference, though, has you seeking stimulation and multiple data. Such an outlook can overwhelm structure and logic and create an almost continuous state of uncertainty and agitation. You may well suffer a feeling of continually trying to “catch up” with yourself.

…you can “size up” situations and take in information rapidly. However, you must then subject that data to being classified and organized which causes you to “lose touch” with the immediacy of the problem.

Finally, someone understands me! You know, one of the reasons I don’t write more is because, just like this snippet of my brain usage profile indicates, I will rapidly take in a bunch of information, but when I go to organize it and classify it (this usually happens when I begin formulating a blog post), I grow agitated and uncertain–like the part of my brain that’s thinking is light-years beyond the part of my brain that’s typing, and it’s too late to catch up.

I’ve considered rambling into a cassette recorder and then transcribing and editing, but that seems like an awful lot of work. I dunno; I guess now that I’ve mentioned it here I’ll have to do it.

And hey, set aside a few minutes to take the test and see how your own brain works. It’s fun! Well, okay, it got a bit tedious toward the end. But it’s fun reading the results.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Yup, that’s my name on the board. Just made my first-ever political contribution. Certainly wouldn’t give my money to any of the other candidates!

Popularity: 8% [?]

I know I haven’t posted much (at all) since our OBX vacation. I’ve got a few more design/development projects in the works (which, quite frankly, are taking far longer than I had anticipated) and Nicole & I are looking at homes in the York area. In other words, busy, busy, busy!

I’ve got a few ideas planned for near-future posts, and I’m always tinkering with the blog’s design. It’s a bad habit, actually; I’m never content with how it looks, so I spend all my time polishing the layout instead of writing. Meanwhile, my wife’s favorite blog post here continues to garner a disproportionate amount of my blog’s traffic. Perhaps I should listen to my wife more often…

Popularity: 8% [?]