Hudson River View from Stockport Landing
A favorite breakfast spot Local historians claim that Henry Hudson stopped here while looking for China. Not likely he mistook Stockport for his destination. But he might have had breakfast here too. The railroad tracks in the foreground belong to Amtrak’s Hudson River line, mentioned in Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind.” Just out […]
We may not pay attention to the data in front of us, but they do
Data Driven Marketing Are we making our choices and decisions based on our own objective, rational, informed analysis of each situation? Most of the time, probably not. Here are links to a couple of interesting Ad Age articles that show what some marketers are paying attention to. A case for responsive web design In this […]
The Yankees’ Shortstop Pipeline
Baseball Prospects: WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE YANKS MINOR LEAGUE SHORTSTOPS (EOD 7/27/2014) NOTE: For an August 9th update to this post, check out the Professor’s Baseball Blog at “Prospect Huggers Unite” Name (age) L G BA BB/SO OBP OPS Carmine Angelini (25) AAA 54 .256 5/33 .275 .610 Ali Castillo (25) AA 87 .217 21/35 […]
The Paradox of Political Humor
Q: Is political humor always anti-establishment? A: Only if it’s funny. Humor tends to be diminishing. When it diminishes others, it reflects poorly on the character of those who deliver it—unless they are professional comedians. And even then, it can be received poorly. Whether political or not, humor directed at people who are weak look […]
The Politics of HPV Vaccination Advocacy
Who would YOU listen to? A study of the influence of spokesperson expertise My paper, “The politics of HPV vaccination advocacy: Effects of source expertise on the effectiveness of a pro-vaccine message,” was recently accepted for publication in the 71st Annual New York State Communication Association Conference Proceedings. The conference was held in Ellenville, NY, […]
Reverse Psychology?
Yes, apparently you can actually get people to do something (or maybe NOT do something) by encouraging them to do the opposite. There is a growing body of research that shows people can be discouraged from doing things they find pleasurable by paying them to do those things. Theorists believe it demonstrates one of the […]
Calling all racists
So you think we live an a Post-Racist Society? Well, what was your gut reaction to the title of this post? I’m a fan of Cognitive Friction. It happens when you take two sets of facts or ideas or ways of looking at the world and you rub them together. For instance, many people think we […]
Lost on the information superhighway?
Writing for the web is not like writing for an ad Your objective is not to intrude on people’s lives and attract the attention of people who are busy doing something else. In web writing, your audience is actually busy looking for you. Here’s a little driving analogy. Suppose you are driving (without a GPS […]
So you want to be a writer?
Have you ever dreamed about the freelance writer’s romantic, adventurous, carefree existence? Me, too. But like in that movie, Nightmare on Elm Street, be careful what you dream. It might just come true. Now before we get into all that Freudian stuff, let me get a few things answered for you right away. There are people […]