Quick Roundup 467

How to Work a Crowd

Over at Lifehacker is an interesting and mercifully short video about the above topic.

One point speaker Alexis Bauer keeps making is the value of familiarity in such situations, and she describes a way to begin building familiarity in a crowd where it does not yet exist.

Based on some experience I had at a recent networking event, I think she's got a point. (I had not seen this video yet.) My time was very productively spent in part because some people who were there recognized me -- thanks to my Texas accent -- from a previous such event and came over and started talking to me.

Next time, I think I'll try for even more of this "friend" effect as Bauer calls it by "seeding" the crowd. In the meantime, I remain amused and pleasantly surprised that something I considered a liability in the Northeast may sometimes be an advantage.

He'll get the memo, but will he get the memo?

I don't know, but Michael Steele will soon have a note from his boss waiting in his mailbox.

Republicans have outspent Democrats for almost half a century; they dealt the killing blow to the gold standard, imposed price controls, meddled ceaselessly with the monetary system, and expanded the welfare state. It is primarily Republicans who have ushered religion into government affairs and legislation. Republicans are behind compulsory health insurance, corporate bailouts, TARP, funding of religious groups, and the prescription drug bill. Republicans have prosecuted a weak and sacrificial war, putting our fathers and sons in harm's way not to crush an enemy but to hand out food. With Republicans like this, who needs Democrats?

I heard recently that regular mail gets more attention than email. I certainly hope that's true.

All Net

I enjoyed Joseph Kellard's recent tribute to Michael Jordan.

Sports fans know all too well the anti-individualist bromide: "There's no 'I' in 'team.'" Well, Jordan challenged such so-called wisdom. During his speech, he told a story about one of his coaches. "I could never please Tex ... I can remember a game ... we were down five or 10 points, and I go off for about 25 points and we come back and win the game. And we're walking off the floor and Tex looked at me and said, 'You know, there's no 'I' in 'team.' I said, 'Tex, there's no 'I' in 'team,' but there's 'I' in 'win.'"

Read the whole thing, especially if you've read some of the coverage of Jordan's recent Hall of Fame induction ceremony and, as I did, felt disappointment at the anti-individualist, anti-hero slant.

Principles

I am glad to see that Amit Ghate once again appears at Pajamas Media. This time, he argues that Americans must re-embrace individual rights as the guiding principle of government:

Contrary to today's pundits, we don’t have to resign ourselves to more of the same in politics. With the principle of individual rights to guide us, bold solutions to our problems are possible. Indeed, with it as their guide, the Founders overcame enormous obstacles to create the greatest nation in history. We can too. All it takes is to recommit to the principle.

I like his appeal to the reader's rational self-interest. You can go on all day saying that freedom is necessary for man's life and fail to change anyone's mind. Instead of doing that, this piece comes as close as a short op-ed can get to showing how you might come to realize that and that it is true.

Very nice work.

-- CAV