Darren D. Johnson

Barack Obama at the 2008 DNC

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:39:00 -0500

One of the greatest speeches of all time. A speech all Americans should watch:

McCain no get interweb

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:37:00 -0500

Another big reason to be wary of McCain. The guy can't even use a computer without assistance. That dramatic gap in understanding will have a direct impact on the effectiveness of government and economy across the board. It will also prevent the government from encouraging big technological breakthroughs in the next decade. What rock has he been living under for the last 10 years?

http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/07/john-mccain-no-technology-policy.html

Daily Show: West Virginia...

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:31:00 -0500

Colbert Imitates O'Reilly's Meltdown

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:45:00 -0500

The Real Bill O' Reilly...

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:22:00 -0500

He's such an arrogant asshole.

The Empire Strikes Barack

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:13:00 -0500

How Five Presidential Candidates Would Handle a Looming Zombie Threat

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:51:00 -0500

Thus far, the presidential candidates (and one ex-candidate) haven’t been particularly forthcoming with their platforms on the whole zombie issue. So what are we discerning voters to do?

Here’s an idea: how about we directly equate the candidates’ quoted positions on Iran to their unspoken positions on the zombie threat.

I mean, that’s a fair and scientific approach to getting some real insights on this critical issue, right? Yeah. Totally.

BARACK OBAMA

"I have said consistently that we should have direct talks with zombies without preconditions but not without preparation,” Obama said. “Any time we initiate talks … it is going to proceed in a step-by-step fashion with lower-level diplomats meeting and maybe … discussions of noncontroversial topics, which over time lead to more substantial discussions.”

Barry, I do appreciate and respect your way with words. But zombies aren’t exactly the “talking” type. They skip right to the “step” that involves rending human flesh with their teeth. And, believe me, their palates are colorblind. (I suppose they’re quite egalitarian that way.)

May Yahweh have mercy on my soul for quoting a Toby Keith song, but you need a little less talk and a lot more action, B.

Source: Great White Shark

Read the full article - it's hilarious

Top Political Websites Roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:32:00 -0500

In case you're interested, here are all of the cool websites I've found as I've gotten involved in politics this last year:

Politico: http://www.politico.com/

Barack Obama: http://www.barackobama.com/

Daily Kos: http://dailykos.com/

RealClearPolitics: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/

Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/politics/

Drudge Report: http://www.drudgereport.com/

Slate: http://slate.com/blogs/blogs/trailhead/default.aspx

The Page (Time): http://thepage.time.com/

CNN/Politics: http://edition.cnn.com/POLITICS/

MSNBC/Politics: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032553/

NY Times (The Caucus): http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/

Wonkette (Satire): http://wonkette.com/

Digg/Politics: http://digg.com/2008_us_elections

The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/

Enjoy!

Obama Crushes Hillary Clinton in South Carolina

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 21:15:00 -0600

Here is the full text of another phenomenal speech by Barack Obama:

"Over two weeks ago, we saw the people of Iowa proclaim that our time for change has come. But there were those who doubted this country’s desire for something new – who said Iowa was a fluke not to be repeated again.

Well, tonight, the cynics who believed that what began in the snows of Iowa was just an illusion were told a different story by the good people of South Carolina.

After four great contests in every corner of this country, we have the most votes, the most delegates, and the most diverse coalition of Americans we’ve seen in a long, long time.

They are young and old; rich and poor. They are black and white; Latino and Asian. They are Democrats from Des Moines and Independents from Concord; Republicans from rural Nevada and young people across this country who’ve never had a reason to participate until now. And in nine days, nearly half the nation will have the chance to join us in saying that we are tired of business-as-usual in Washington, we are hungry for change, and we are ready to believe again.

But if there’s anything we’ve been reminded of since Iowa, it’s that the kind of change we seek will not come easy. Partly because we have fine candidates in the field – fierce competitors, worthy of respect. And as contentious as this campaign may get, we have to remember that this is a contest for the Democratic nomination, and that all of us share an abiding desire to end the disastrous policies of the current administration.

But there are real differences between the candidates. We are looking for more than just a change of party in the White House. We’re looking to fundamentally change the status quo in Washington – a status quo that extends beyond any particular party. And right now, that status quo is fighting back with everything it’s got; with the same old tactics that divide and distract us from solving the problems people face, whether those problems are health care they can’t afford or a mortgage they cannot pay.

So this will not be easy. Make no mistake about what we’re up against.

We are up against the belief that it’s ok for lobbyists to dominate our government – that they are just part of the system in Washington. But we know that the undue influence of lobbyists is part of the problem, and this election is our chance to say that we’re not going to let them stand in our way anymore.

We are up against the conventional thinking that says your ability to lead as President comes from longevity in Washington or proximity to the White House. But we know that real leadership is about candor, and judgment, and the ability to rally Americans from all walks of life around a common purpose – a higher purpose.

We are up against decades of bitter partisanship that cause politicians to demonize their opponents instead of coming together to make college affordable or energy cleaner; it’s the kind of partisanship where you’re not even allowed to say that a Republican had an idea – even if it’s one you never agreed with. That kind of politics is bad for our party, it’s bad for our country, and this is our chance to end it once and for all.

We are up against the idea that it’s acceptable to say anything and do anything to win an election. We know that this is exactly what’s wrong with our politics; this is why people don’t believe what their leaders say anymore; this is why they tune out. And this election is our chance to give the American people a reason to believe again.

And what we’ve seen in these last weeks is that we’re also up against forces that are not the fault of any one campaign, but feed the habits that prevent us from being who we want to be as a nation. It’s the politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon. A politics that tells us that we have to think, act, and even vote within the confines of the categories that supposedly define us. The assumption that young people are apathetic. The assumption that Republicans won’t cross over. The assumption that the wealthy care nothing for the poor, and that the poor don’t vote. The assumption that African-Americans can’t support the white candidate; whites can’t support the African-American candidate; blacks and Latinos can’t come together.

But we are here tonight to say that this is not the America we believe in. I did not travel around this state over the last year and see a white South Carolina or a black South Carolina. I saw South Carolina. I saw crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children. I saw shuttered mills and homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from all walks of life, and men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. I saw what America is, and I believe in what this country can be.

That is the country I see. That is the country you see. But now it is up to us to help the entire nation embrace this vision. Because in the end, we are not just up against the ingrained and destructive habits of Washington, we are also struggling against our own doubts, our own fears, and our own cynicism. The change we seek has always required great struggle and sacrifice. And so this is a battle in our own hearts and minds about what kind of country we want and how hard we’re willing to work for it.

So let me remind you tonight that change will not be easy. That change will take time. There will be setbacks, and false starts, and sometimes we will make mistakes. But as hard as it may seem, we cannot lose hope. Because there are people all across this country who are counting us; who can’t afford another four years without health care or good schools or decent wages because our leaders couldn’t come together and get it done.

Theirs are the stories and voices we carry on from South Carolina.

The mother who can’t get Medicaid to cover all the needs of her sick child – she needs us to pass a health care plan that cuts costs and makes health care available and affordable for every single American.

The teacher who works another shift at Dunkin Donuts after school just to make ends meet – she needs us to reform our education system so that she gets better pay, and more support, and her students get the resources they need to achieve their dreams.

The Maytag worker who is now competing with his own teenager for a $7-an-hour job at Wal-Mart because the factory he gave his life to shut its doors – he needs us to stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship our jobs overseas and start putting them in the pockets of working Americans who deserve it. And struggling homeowners. And seniors who should retire with dignity and respect.

The woman who told me that she hasn’t been able to breathe since the day her nephew left for Iraq, or the soldier who doesn’t know his child because he’s on his third or fourth tour of duty – they need us to come together and put an end to a war that should’ve never been authorized and never been waged.

The choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It’s not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white.

It’s about the past versus the future.

It’s about whether we settle for the same divisions and distractions and drama that passes for politics today, or whether we reach for a politics of common sense, and innovation – a shared sacrifice and shared prosperity.

There are those who will continue to tell us we cannot do this. That we cannot have what we long for. That we are peddling false hopes.

But here’s what I know. I know that when people say we can’t overcome all the big money and influence in Washington, I think of the elderly woman who sent me a contribution the other day – an envelope that had a money order for $3.01 along with a verse of scripture tucked inside. So don’t tell us change isn’t possible.

When I hear the cynical talk that blacks and whites and Latinos can’t join together and work together, I’m reminded of the Latino brothers and sisters I organized with, and stood with, and fought with side by side for jobs and justice on the streets of Chicago. So don’t tell us change can’t happen.

When I hear that we’ll never overcome the racial divide in our politics, I think about that Republican woman who used to work for Strom Thurmond, who’s now devoted to educating inner-city children and who went out onto the streets of South Carolina and knocked on doors for this campaign. Don’t tell me we can’t change.

Yes we can change.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can seize our future.

And as we leave this state with a new wind at our backs, and take this journey across the country we love with the message we’ve carried from the plains of Iowa to the hills of New Hampshire; from the Nevada desert to the South Carolina coast; the same message we had when we were up and when we were down – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope; and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people in three simple words:

Yes. We. Can.

Obama Victory Speech in Iowa

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:55:00 -0600

Congratulations to Barack Obama on winning the Iowa caucuses tonight! This victory speech was one of the most powerful speeches I think I've ever heard:

The American Prospect's Ezra Klein writes:

"Obama's finest speeches do not excite... They elevate. They enmesh you in a grander moment, as if history has stopped flowing passively by, and, just for an instant, contracted around you, made you aware of its presence, and your role in it."

Google Interviews Barack Obama

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:35:00 -0600

Why Obama Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 20:57:00 -0500

"The most persuasive case for Obama has less to do with him than with the moment he is meeting. The moment has been a long time coming, and it is the result of a confluence of events, from one traumatizing war in Southeast Asia to another in the most fractious country in the Middle East. The legacy is a cultural climate that stultifies our politics and corrupts our discourse.

Obama’s candidacy in this sense is a potentially transformational one. Unlike any of the other candidates, he could take America—finally—past the debilitating, self-perpetuating family quarrel of the Baby Boom generation that has long engulfed all of us. So much has happened in America in the past seven years, let alone the past 40, that we can be forgiven for focusing on the present and the immediate future. But it is only when you take several large steps back into the long past that the full logic of an Obama presidency stares directly—and uncomfortably—at you.

At its best, the Obama candidacy is about ending a war—not so much the war in Iraq, which now has a momentum that will propel the occupation into the next decade—but the war within America that has prevailed since Vietnam and that shows dangerous signs of intensifying, a nonviolent civil war that has crippled America at the very time the world needs it most. It is a war about war—and about culture and about religion and about race. And in that war, Obama—and Obama alone—offers the possibility of a truce.

Excerpt:

"There are few areas where this Democratic fear is more intense than religion. The crude exploitation of sectarian loyalty and religious zeal by Bush and Rove succeeded in deepening the culture war, to Republican advantage. Again, this played into the divide of the Boomer years—between God-fearing Americans and the peacenik atheist hippies of lore. The Democrats have responded by pretending to a public religiosity that still seems strained. Listening to Hillary Clinton detail her prayer life in public, as she did last spring to a packed house at George Washington University, was at once poignant and repellent. Poignant because her faith may well be genuine; repellent because its Methodist genuineness demands that she not profess it so tackily. But she did. The polls told her to.

Obama, in contrast, opened his soul up in public long before any focus group demanded it. His first book, Dreams From My Father, is a candid, haunting, and supple piece of writing. It was not concocted to solve a political problem (his second, hackneyed book, The Audacity of Hope, filled that niche). It was a genuine display of internal doubt and conflict and sadness. And it reveals Obama as someone whose “complex fate,” to use Ralph Ellison’s term, is to be both believer and doubter, in a world where such complexity is as beleaguered as it is necessary.

This struggle to embrace modernity without abandoning faith falls on one of the fault lines in the modern world. It is arguably the critical fault line, the tectonic rift that is advancing the bloody borders of Islam and the increasingly sectarian boundaries of American politics. As humankind abandons the secular totalitarianisms of the last century and grapples with breakneck technological and scientific discoveries, the appeal of absolutist faith is powerful in both developing and developed countries. It is the latest in a long line of rebukes to liberal modernity—but this rebuke has the deepest roots, the widest appeal, and the attraction that all total solutions to the human predicament proffer. From the doctrinal absolutism of Pope Benedict’s Vatican to the revival of fundamentalist Protestantism in the U.S. and Asia to the attraction for many Muslims of the most extreme and antimodern forms of Islam, the same phenomenon has spread to every culture and place.

You cannot confront the complex challenges of domestic or foreign policy today unless you understand this gulf and its seriousness. You cannot lead the United States without having a foot in both the religious and secular camps. This, surely, is where Bush has failed most profoundly. By aligning himself with the most extreme and basic of religious orientations, he has lost many moderate believers and alienated the secular and agnostic in the West. If you cannot bring the agnostics along in a campaign against religious terrorism, you have a problem."

By Andrew Sullivan in The Atlantic

Read the Full Article Here

ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:48:00 -0500

As many of you may know, I am a big proponent of any efforts to reduce global poverty throughout my lifetime. There is a large base of international support now (checkout one.org) for a movement to dramatically reduce world poverty over the next 5-10 years and completely end extreme world poverty by 2025. Yes, it is doable.

To give you some context, the population of the world is roughly 6 Billion people. Among those, there are three general categories that people fall into:

1. Extreme Poverty (1.1 Billion) - Live on less than $1/day
2. Moderate Poverty (1.6 Billion) - Live on $1-$2/day
3. Relative Poverty (only in developed countries)

Most of the energy around this issue is devoted to assisting those that live in extreme poverty, the poorest of the poor.

"Extreme poverty means that households cannot meet basic needs for survival. They are chronically hungry, unable to access health care, lack the amenities of safe drinking water and sanitation, cannot afford education for some or all of their children, and perhaps lack rudimentary shelter - a roof to keep the rain out of the hut, a chimney to remove the smoke from the cook stove - and basic articles of clothing, such as shoes.

Unlike moderate and relative poverty, extreme poverty occurs only in developing countries. Moderate poverty generally refers to conditions of life in which basic needs are met, but just barely.

Relative poverty is generally construed as a household income below a given proportion of average national income. The relative poor in high-income countries lack access to cultural goods, entertainment, recreation, and to quality health care, education, and other perquisites for upward social mobility."

-Jeffrey Sachs, "The End of Poverty"

I think it's a pretty amazing time in the history of the world. Never before has the world been in such a position to positively influence the lives of so many people. Only within that last 10 years have the breakthroughs in technology (the kind that make this blog post possible) and the momentum of globalization brought this issue to the forefront of the social conscience.

The ONE campaign has developed a powerful 2008 presidential platform with five achievable goals that can make a huge difference in this movement.

Five Achievable Goals in the Fight Against Extreme Poverty

1. Save 15,000 lives a day by fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, three of the world’s most devastating diseases.

Explanation: There are approximately 5.5 million deaths a year from all three diseases (almost 2.9 million from HIV/AIDS, 1.6 million from TB and 1+ million from malaria), according to the latest available data from UNAIDS, the WHO and the Roll Back Malaria Partnership.

2. Prevent 5.4 million young children from dying each year from poverty-related illnesses and 400,000 women from dying in childbirth each year.

Explanation: An estimated 9.8 million children under the age of five die annually, almost entirely of preventable causes. If the world invests in the internationally agreed upon goal, to reduce by two-thirds under-five mortality rates, the number of child deaths will fall to 4.4 million annually by 2015, resulting in some 5.4 million lives saved. There are currently 500,000 maternal deaths a year; a reduction by two-thirds of these deaths, which
is the internationally agreed upon goal, would result in roughly 400,000 lives saved a year by 2015.

3. Provide free access to a quality primary education for 77 million out-of-school children, with a special emphasis on girls.

Explanation: The estimate for the current number of children out of school is taken from the UNESCO Global Monitoring Report 2007.

4. Improve the living conditions of vulnerable populations by, for example, providing access to clean water for 450 million people and to basic sanitation for more than 700 million people.

Explanation: In 2005, an estimated 1.1 billion people were living without access to clean water and an estimated 2.6 billion people were living without access to improved sanitation. If the world meets the MDGs by 2015, these numbers will drop to 580 million people and 1.8 billion people respectively. If this goal is met, some 450 million additional people will receive access to clean water between 2007 and 2015. Over 700 million additional people will receive access to basic sanitation during the same period.

5. Reduce by half the number of people in the world who suffer from hunger, resulting in 300 million fewer people going hungry each year.

Explanation: The UN Millennium Project has estimated that in 2005 more than 824 million people were undernourished. If the world meets the MDGs by 2015, this number will drop to 520 million people in 2015, resulting in 304 million fewer people living in hunger than did in 2005.

"Unlike many issues in the 2008 presidential campaign that deeply divide Republicans and Democrats, ONE Vote '08 brings both sides together. The 2008 presidential election provides a not-to-be-missed opportunity to raise awareness about global poverty and its impact on America's global reputation and future security. Through the 2008 campaign, we have a chance to shape our foreign policy for years to come.

ONE Vote '08 has developed a presidential platform of achievable solutions that – if championed by the next U.S. president – could have a profound impact on the poorest people in the world. The platform is built on the foundation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed to in 2000 by the United States and 188 other nations to achieve poverty reduction and sustainable development by 2015."

This bi-partisan movement is bigger than any one candidate or party, and I encourage everyone to download the platform and read through it (it only takes a minute).

On the ONE.org website you can find a lot of different ways to get involved and actually make a difference. I know that most people feel overwhelmed by this type of thing, but once you take ownership of the idea that a ton of people working together CAN make a difference, it's quite empowering.

Also, I have heard quite a few of my friends and others make this very irritating and narrow-minded comment on the topic of world poverty:

"Poverty has always existed and always will exist. It says it in the bible." (Deuteronomy 15:11, Matthew 26:11)

I would argue that this statement is taken out of context when used as an excuse to deny our moral responsibility to help those in need. It may help you sleep at night to excuse these issues from your consciousness, but using a religious argument to dismiss the issue of extreme poverty in the world seems very ironic to me. The fact is that we DO have the ability to dramatically improve worldwide poverty rates and as benefactors of being born into such an advantageous situation in the United States, we have the moral and ethical responsibility to help those in need. There is no excuse to dismiss this historical opportunity.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to make this already-long post a little longer by plugging another awesome organization that is making it easy for everyday people to make a difference: Kiva.org. Kiva allows everyday people to make micro-loans (usually $25-$50) to entrepreneurs in poverty. These entrepreneurs then use the money to start a business (such as buying a cow to milk and then selling the milk to their local village). The entrepreneurs are then responsible to pay back the loan with their profits, just like a normal business.

This powerful concept is making it possible for people all over the world to lift themselves out of poverty the American way: by working their asses off to make it happen. Most people just need a little money and a little hope to gain a foothold on the first rung of the economic ladder, and with Kiva you can give them a fighting chance to succeed. (*Note - Kiva was just featured on Oprah, so their site is doing it's best to keep up with the huge traffic jam...)

And how to end this post but with my favorite quote (which seems quite apropos for this post):

"Predicting rain doesn't count. Building arks does." - Warren Buffett

Anyone Know How to Buy a Dog?

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:24:00 -0500

I'm trying to find out the best way to go about buying a dog, and after 2 days of searching all over the internet, I've decided that all of the dog-finding websites out there pretty much suck. The breeder listings are horrible as well. If anyone's looking for a business idea, someone needs to do a serious aggregation play in the pet-finding space...it's almost worse than vacation rentals.

Anybody out there know the best way to find a good, healthy puppy? K and I have narrowed it down to the following four dog types:

Chocolate Lab
English Mastiff
Saint Bernard
Greater Swiss Mountain Dog

I can't find a good listing service of breeders, or a good site that has individual owners with pups. I have stayed away from traditional pet stores after reading about how most of them get their pets from "puppy mills", and how that's a bad thing and all. I'm by no means an animal rights nut, but if I can get a dog from a good breeder I would really prefer it.

Also, if anyone has a recommendation on any of these types of dogs...we're having a hard time choosing between them.

Zonder - The Long Tail of the Travel Industry

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Mon, 07 May 2007 22:38:00 -0500

So I recently left my previous position at Control4 and took a new position as the Director of Product Marketing at a travel company called Zonder. It was a hard decision for me to make, given that Control4 is growing faster, in terms of adoption, than Tivo did when it was first introduced to the market. Control4 is a great company and I look forward to watching from the sidelines as they continue to revolutionize the home automation market.

Zonder is a vacation home rental company that enables people to search for vacation rentals all over the world and book them online or over the phone, just like a hotel. Vacation rentals include homes, condos, cabins, villas, huts on the beach, etc. There are a few major reasons why so many people are choosing vacation rentals over hotels when they travel:

Comfort - with a vacation rental you get an entire home to yourself, with all of the amenities of a home. This includes laundry, dishwashers, separate bedrooms, living rooms, etc. They also take you out of the crammed, overcrowded hotel experience and give you a place to call home (usually on the beach or away from the crowd in many cases) while you're on vacation.
Home Base - have you ever traveled with a group and had multiple hotel rooms? Then it's always a hassle to get everyone together because there's no central meeting place? With a vacation home, you have a centralized place for everyone to stay, but still have separate bedrooms, etc. for everyone to have their alone time.
Cost - basically, you can rent a vacation home through Zonder for the price of a standard hotel room. That means you can get an entire house, privacy, seclusion, amenities and all for the same price as that standard hotel room with two beds, plastic sheets and paper thin walls that guarantee you can hear your neighbors at all times.

There are a few competitors in the space, but the majority of them amount to nothing more than a classifieds listing service. Zonder is the first company that allows people to find a property and book it online or over the phone in real time. Other companies simply give you the name and number of the property owner and hope everything goes well. This means you have to write a check or transfer funds to some random property owner and hope that (1) he or she is honest, (2) the property really exists and (3) that nothing goes wrong, since you have no intermediary to help you out. At Zonder, we take care of all of that for you. We're like your personal concierge service for vacation rentals.

There are over 13 million vacation rental properties in the world, and less than 1% of them are listed anywhere online. It's an exciting opportunity for us to aggregate these listings and provide a service for customers to make it as easy as possible to find and book vacation rentals.

Another one of the exciting things about Zonder to me is that it is a perfect case of an emerging Long Tail market. I've been a fan of Chris Anderson's since I read his book a few months ago, and it has completely changed the way that I look at aggregation and niche markets.

In the travel industry, the market is dominated by traditional hotels (including time shares, etc.). Property management companies and owners have been renting out vacation rentals all over the world for the last decade, but until now have had no efficient way to market them to compete with traditional hotels. On the flipside, consumers interested in staying in a vacation rental (basically everyone that learns about them) instead of a typical hotel have had no efficient, easy way to find and book these properties.

I'll write more about how we're providing the best "filter" (as Chris Anderson might call us) that the vacation rentals market has ever seen. I have a lot of great things planned for Zonder as we continue to grow. If you haven't checked out the website yet, I'd encourage you to check it out at www.zonder.com.

If you have any feedback on how we can make the site better or improve your experience booking a property, please feel free to email me at djohnson@zonder.com.

Who cares about Joshua Bell?

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 14:10:00 -0500

I ran across a great story today in the Washington Post.

Here's a roundup:

Joshua Bell, most famous violinist in the world shows up at metro station in Washington D.C.
Brings his $3.5 million Stradivarius violin with him (handcrafted in 1713 by Antonio Stradivari himself).
Plays some of the most beautiful music ever composed for 45 minutes.
Is ignored by over 1,000 people the entire time.
Makes $32.00.

Here are some of my favorite parts from the article:

"At a music hall, I'll get upset if someone coughs or if someone's cellphone goes off. But here, my expectations quickly diminished. I started to appreciate any acknowledgment, even a slight glance up. I was oddly grateful when someone threw in a dollar instead of change." This is from a man whose talents can command $1,000 a minute."

"THERE ARE SIX MOMENTS IN THE VIDEO THAT (JOSHUA) BELL FINDS PARTICULARLY PAINFUL TO RELIVE: "The awkward times," he calls them. It's what happens right after each piece ends: nothing. The music stops. The same people who hadn't noticed him playing don't notice that he has finished. No applause, no acknowledgment. So Bell just saws out a small, nervous chord -- the embarrassed musician's equivalent of, "Er, okay, moving right along . . ." -- and begins the next piece."

There are a ton of conclusions you could make from this story (business, philosophical, musical, sociological, etc.). I see a lot of parallels between his performance here and traditional marketing in particular. I also think it's sad that as a society we largely ignore some of the finer things in life.

The full story has a very good analysis and is very well done by writer Gene Weingarten at the Washington Post.

Full Story

Michelle Obama: Empowering Women

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 00:17:00 -0500

I've been equally impressed with Michelle Obama, who today gave a speech on empowering women and giving them the resources they need to succeed in a world that expects more and more from them every day. I liked her point about how we like to talk a lot about "family values" as a country, but in reality our actions don't do anything to show that we mean it. She also makes a lot of great points about all of the different pressures that women feel today (which are, realistically, at least 10X the pressure that men feel).

Link

Bloggers: Register to Vote and Spread the Word!

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 01:32:00 -0500

I'm calling on all bloggers to post the GoVote.org link on their blogs to get ALL bloggers registered to vote.

No matter what your political affiliation, you have no reason not to be registered to vote. Let's use this upcoming election to mobilize the online community to really make a difference at the voting booths, not just talk a lot of BS online and then wait passively as others determine the political future of this country.

They make it easy to put the link on your blog or website:

Get GoVote.org Graphics Now!

To register to vote using this service, you basically fill out a little online form and they fill out your state's voter registration form for you and prepare a .pdf that you print out and mail in. It automatically populates all the fields and the mailing address for your local voter registration office. You just print, stamp and send.

Update: You can also visit Rock the Vote to register if you prefer that instead.

Barack Obama for President!

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 21:20:00 -0500

Big news today for my #1 pick for president for 2008. He dropped this bombshell on the world today and has everyone scrambling to figure out what to do next. It's not surprising to me at all. Anyone that's gone to his website, researched him and watched his speeches would tell you that Barack is different. Better. Fresh. Honest. Inspiring.

Here are a few more numbers I found interesting:

Obama received donations from more than 100,000 donors, far surpassing any other candidate, including Clinton (50,000), McCain (45,000), Edwards (40,000) or Romney (32,000)
90 percent of Obama's donations were small donations of $100 or less

That means that Obama now has 100,000 people that he can go back to throughout the next 18 months to raise more money and support him. That is huge. And very indicative of the type of president I think he'd be. Inclusive. Collaborative. Pragmatic.

One last point: I think the ISSUES are overrated.

I think that they are important, but they are definitely overrated. What this country needs is not one position or another on this topic or that (except the war...;). What this country needs is inspiration. What this country is hungry for is change. For hope. For an opportunity to take back the reputation we had once upon a time as the last great hope on earth. For an opportunity to have a president that actually listens to the people they claim to represent. Here's the point:

Barack Obama is a real leader!

Can you remember the last time that a political leader actually inspired you in some way? Me neither. You can talk all day long about the issues that they support or don't support, but at the end of the day I'd choose leadership, charisma, integrity and inspiration over any of them. That's how you create change. That's how you make the world a better place. That's what we need to bring this country back together.

It's time to come together as a country and regain a sense of pride in our national identity. I think we're all tired of being a little bit ashamed to be an American lately. We need to re-examine our national values and what's important to us. And we need to have a real dialog about how to create a sustainable system in the global village that we all live in.

Personally, I think Barack is the man for the job.

Mitt Romney: "Iraq is Win!"

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:26:00 -0500

Great post on why a lot of Utahns (including me) are NOT supporting Mitt Romney for president:

Excerpt:

Why is Mitt Romney such a Warmonger?

Here's one that baffles me:

Willard Mitt Romney.

The guy is bright, confident, and by all accounts he's a faithful Latter Day Saint. He's got this great sense of humor, a beautiful and charming wife, five successful boys and perfectly coiffed hair. The guy looks like he is already President. The kind of President America needs.

I wanted to vote for him. I heard how as a fiscally-conservative-genius-leader-superman he turned around both the ailing 2002 Olympics and the Massachusetts state budget. I heard how as a 'compassionate conservative' leader he had made Massachusetts the first state with universal health care. I started thinking he was like some kind of zionistic ("and there was no poor among them" LINK) wunderkind. I started thinking that he was, perhaps, the kind of Mormon every Mormon should be.

And yet he's not just soft on peace, he's the warhawk's hawk. He wants everyone to know he REALLY supports our military action in Iraq. He doesn't just support our troops (most good people would) but everything military we are doing there – regardless of consequence. And he wants to do more of it.

Read the full post here

I Love the Microsoft Zune. So will you, eventually.

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 19:16:00 -0500

I love the Zune MP3 player. It's been fascinating to me to read the incredibly negative reaction that the majority of the online press has had to the release of the Zune since inception. And quite funny.

Most of the negativity comes not from an objective feature comparison of the Zune with the iPod, but is an emotional reaction to a device that has garnered so much love and devotion. Kudos to Apple for creating a base of loyal customers who are so afraid that the iPod trend is coming to an end that they become emotionally unstable when a new product that competes even enters the market.

It's actually quite crazy to me, because iPods aren't that great. The UI is simply a text-based tree file structure. How innovative! Add the most inflexible, protective, difficult to use online music store ever created, and I'm at a loss for how the iPod has become such an icon. In fairness, the iPod design is brilliant and has been a bullseye from the beginning. I actually love the fact that they have made design one of the top priorities for every CE company in the world (if they're smart).

However, this is how I see the iPod in the MP3 player market:

Yes, that is the original Nokia cellphone that EVERYONE in the world had about 10 years ago.

Just like the iPod, it was:

The phone that EVERYONE bought when the cell phone market took off. If you don't know at least one person that owned that phone, you must not have been alive in the late 90's. In my house, we affectionately refer to it as the "ghetto cruiser".
Simple, text-based menu. The menu and feature set wasn't advanced or anything revolutionary, but it WORKED for the majority of people and it worked well.
The design was beautiful at the time. It was hip and cool and to the early adopters of cell phones, it was the phone to have. If you had any other phone, you might as well bury your head in the sand in shame.
So popular that it stopped being cool to have one. People want to be different. Unique.

Yes, Apple has sold millions and millions of iPods, but anyone that has any level of respect for what history consistently teaches us will realize that this will not last, and their market dominance is nothing more than a fashion trend.

Enter the Zune.

First of all, the Zune is here to stay. Microsoft's strategy with the Zune is the exact same is it was with the Xbox (and look how that turned out when 6 years later they are dominating the video game market). At the time, Playstation was loved and revered by everyone, including yours truly. Just like the iPod is now. And the same thing happened in 2001 when the Xbox launched - all the haters that were afraid that the cheese might be moving came out with their attacks and criticisms, some accurate, some not.

Xbox "Strawman" (2001)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Xbox 360 - Market Leader (2007)

Zune "Strawman" (2007)------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Zune...360? (2010)

And Microsoft just pushed through it and moved on. And listened. And gained marketshare and loyalty. And here we are in 2007 and Microsoft is loved by the gaming community and the Playstation is in the gutter, trying to find it's cocky, proud head that's been rolling down the hill since the launch of the PS3.

Here is Microsoft's 5 stage program for taking over a market:

Enter market with trial product that will compete with status quo. (Xbox - video game market, Zune - mp3 player market)
Spend 2-3 years learning all the ins and outs of that market. Listen to customers. Listen to haters. Setup partnerships. Gain traction from early adopters willing to try something new.
Launch second wave attack with killer product.
Spend a few of their $40BB in the bank on out-marketing everyone else.
Takeover market and then laugh respectfully at fallen competitors.

I won't do a feature by feature comparison of the Zune to iPod (there's already been enough of that elsewhere), but I will throw my hat in the rink and say that the Zune, for my purposes, is much better than any of the existing iPods. The bigger screen for movies alone makes it worth it. The graphical menu structure is a godsend to people that hate having to scroll all the way to the top of a tree-structured menu to browse their content quickly. And the Zune Marketplace is MUCH easier to use than the stupid Mac-like iTunes music store. Although I hate both companies equally for their support of DRM (a different issue altogether).

The other thing that I will say about the Zune is that philosophically, Apple's protectionist, small-minded mentality will always lose in the long run. You can already see a TON of websites & 3rd party plugins for the Zune to extend the functionality of the platform and develop the ecosystem as a whole.

That is something that Apple will just never learn. They are brilliant in many, many ways, but they'll never learn how to play well with others, which will always leave them hiding in the corner in their own world. You can't build an ecosystem and a platform hiding in the corner.The abundance mentality will always win. Look at how it's impacting social networks, etc. I think Microsoft's "Welcome to the Social" strategy is brilliant, though the song-sharing functionality is pretty lame at this point.

All in all, it's an awesome thing to watch how this will all play out. And of course, the more competition, the better products for all of us.

Invisible Shield

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 16:55:00 -0500

So I discovered Invisible Shield a few weeks ago and have now applied it to my Zune, Treo 680 and Casio Exilim camera. The stuff is honestly amazing. You get a custom piece for every part of your device and it protects it better than anything I've ever seen. I can now take a key to any of my devices (a hobby of mine) and not worry about any scratches or damage.

Check it out at http://www.shieldzone.com/.

Barack Obama Kicks Ass

noreply@blogger.com (Darren D. Johnson) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 00:42:00 -0600

So obviously I'm a Barack Obama fan. That's not to say that I'm necessarily voting for him (the election is still a ways off), but I have to say how impressed I am with him thus far. He is the first politician (I'm not big on politics in general) that I actually LIKE and who I could get behind and support. He strikes just the right tone for what I think this country needs right now. No matter what your stance is on the issues of the day, I'd recommend at least giving him a look.

More info: http://www.barackobama.com/