Monday, October 25, 2004

Triad BizJournal: Greensboro economic development orgs to merge. "Three independent entities -- the Greensboro chamber, the Greensboro Economic Development Partnership and Action Greensboro -- are poised to merge into one group with a new executive at the helm of all three." That exec will be Dennis Barry, according to the report -- a man who knows how to get things done. 2:15:50 PM    comment []

Michael Dougherty is a CEO with a weblog. "I'm a blog neophyte," says the head of Greensboro-based Kindermusik International, but he seems to have figured it out pretty fast. Dougherty uses his weblog to communicate with his direct-sales force for a business unit called Do-Re-Me & You, which sells musical instruments. There are about 1,000 of these people across the country. "In a good year I might see 150 of them," says the Greensboro-based Dougherty. "That is chronic source of frustration. I wanted to create a personal connection to me." Most of these representatives are women, and musicians. "The business side strikes them as cold," says Dougherty. "I want to say, I’m a real person, too." But he wasn't prepared for the impact the blog would have on him, or how far it would take him along that path. His blog has evolved since he started it this fall, he says. "It's more personal. This is counterintuitive, but I can say things there that I would not feel comfortable writing in an email. It's public, but it feels private. This is bizarre, and ironic, but I’m comfortable baring my soul on the web. It’s cathartic." The responses to his posts "have blown me away," he says. "They are not topical, or content-based, not about the discount from three days ago, but more like 'I’m grateful to have you tell me more about you.'" Dougherty learned about blogging at a seminar with Seth Godin. DRMY was his reason to launch a blog of his own. Now he's planning another one to reach thousands more Kindermusik associates. "It's turning me into a better leader," he says. "I'm trying to improve customer loyalty and stickiness, and it helps when they find I’m trustworthy and real. The blog is the medium that works." 2:12:10 PM    comment []

Sad news about the Hendrick Motorsports folks killed in a plane crash on the way to Martinsville. Among the dead was Jeff Turner, with whom I worked last summer on an article about the Hendrick team's use of technology. The place I visited was a happy, proud, close-knit shop. What a terrible blow for them all. 1:42:09 PM    comment []

Headline for the stolen-explosives story: Bush steps in al Qaqaa. 1:36:29 PM    comment []

DrFrankLives has a pithy post on North Carolina Supreme Court races. This is blog journalism that is as good or better on this subject than anything you will see in a major NC newspaper. 11:08:10 AM    comment []

Josh Marshall has lots of good stuff on the missing high explosives in Iraq. Start here and scroll up. 11:01:12 AM    comment []

Ooops -- forgot to guard the explosives! Wonder where the bad guys in Iraq get their bombs? We failed to secure the ammo dump. NYT: "nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, make missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons - are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations. The huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no man's land, still picked over by looters as recently as Sunday. United Nations weapons inspectors had monitored the explosives for many years, but White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished sometime after the American-led invasion last year." 8:06:20 AM    comment []

Eve-olution, a new play by Hillary Illick and my bud Jennifer Krier, gets a pretty good review in this morning's NYT. Great line from the Jenny-based character: ""I love my kids so much more than I planned." 8:02:03 AM    comment []

With yesterday's Guilford County elections non-scandal behind us, let's turn to tomorrow's genuine problem: the lack of a paper trail for our electronic voting machines. When I wrote about this in the N&R last year, elections director George Gilbert said he thought paper receipts weren't needed...I disagreed then, and still do. Certainly there are reasons for local officials to be nervous about using printers and paper, starting with the cost of all that paper, which the Feds don't help with even as they mandate electronic machines. But working without a net is dangerous, and our no-backup voting systems could be headed for a fall. 7:44:10 AM    comment []

Des Moines Register (via Dave Winer): "Yes, Kerry is liberal. But what's to fear from a liberal president? That he would run big deficits? That he would increase federal spending? That he would expand the power of the federal government over individuals' lives? Nothing Kerry could do could top what President Bush has already done in those realms." 7:32:41 AM    comment []

And while I'm endorsing old friends...Robby Hassell would have been a good judge when we were kids. So you can imagine how effective he is now. 7:25:12 AM    comment []

The N&R endorses Pricey Harrison for the NC House. I claim no objectivity here -- Pricey is an old friend -- but I do know she is a smart, tough, and motivated person who would represent Greensboro well in Raleigh. 7:23:11 AM    comment []