Contrary Valley

Bid on Pictures at Habitat for Humanity Auction!

At the HP Charity Auction here....when you see the pictures, just click on the one you want to bid on. You are bidding for a one-of-a-kind, autographed picture plus an HP portable printer.

Support Habitat...they do great things!

(Via Susan Getgood's Marketing Roadmaps.)

What Do Women Want?

Lyle Lachmuth points us to an intriguing study (sponsored by Canada's Harlequin Romance!) to determine what women (and men) look for in an ideal mate....Brits, Spaniards, Americans, et al.  Hmmmm...verrrry interesting...

How to Know When You've Really Made It

You will know you've really made it when your bestseller inspires a parody...as Malcolm Gladwell's Blink has with the new "Blank: The Power of Not Actually Thinking At All."  The author is Noah Tall, noted in the Amazon Editorial Review as being

...a longtime subscriber to The New Yorker and other magazines that people leave on their coffee tables when they want to look smart. He has also been a member of NAMES, the dyslexic branch of MENSA, since 1598. He is the author of the highly acclaimed national bestseller The Tippling Point, which has yet to be published.

Whether you love Gladwell's writing or hate it, his influence on pop culture is undeniable. I sure hope he has a thick skin. 

(Thanks to Gareth Kay at Brand New for finding this and to Jennifer Goff at Brains on Fire for the Brand New link.)

In Honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day

My Hero, a website devoted to HEROES of every kind. 

Fix Your Site's Broken Windows

If you've read "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell, or "Broken Windows Broken Business" by Michael Levine, you've heard about the "broken windows" theory of social behavior. John Moore of Brand Autopsy riffs on both in a recent post (and saves readers' time by summarizing the latter book in about one paragraph.) Moore cites Gladwell's book about this theory:

Broken Windows was the brainchild of the criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling. Wilson and Kelling argued that crime is the inevitable result of disorder. If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from the building to the street on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes.

According to Moore, "Levine's premise is that a broken window in business happens when someone isn't paying attention to details" and that "broken windows are telltale signs to customers that a business doesn't care, that it is poorly managed, and or it has become 

Are Women Smarter?

"Let us put men and women together, see which one is smarter,
Some say men, but I say no, women got the men like a puppet show." (Lyrics by Norman Span, covered by The Grateful Dead.)

True or not? Are women bloggers smarter, better, kinder, gentler?  Nosing around the blogosphere (and common sense) tells me that generalizing about men versus women bloggers isn't so helpful. Except maybe in one respect.  I haven't yet come across a nasty, personal attack penned by a woman.  There really is a way to express your opinion without crushing the other person, without resorting to ad hominem attacks.

RSS Smackdown

I do appreciate Seth Godin's giving us amateurs another lesson in how to do RSS feeds. His instructions are pretty damn clear.  But I have to admit, the whole process is still a little daunting.  I do have a few feeds coming through on my Yahoo homepage, but I once tried to use, feedburner I think it was, and it was not very user friendly to me.  I don't have a technical background but I learn real fast.  I'm sure with more time and patience I will have it down cold.  But I know that a lot of people are just not going to put the effort into it. It is an effort.  For instance my Dad. He is a retired advertising entrepreneur with a lot of expertise in things like fly casting and fine wines.  How cool would it be if he and Hugh McCleod could have a conversation?  Or my friend Christine who moved here from Cameroon. She knows computers but I think it would be really hard to explain how to do RSS feeds.

So I issue a challenge to all you expert communicators/technophiles/change agents:  find a way to make this RSS technology accessible to a more diverse demographic.  Imagine the conversations we could have. 

Another Blog Hook

Clamblogger cites a recent post by Darren Rowse about essential "hooks" to draw readers to your blog.  One of the 7 hooks is thought leading content, another is personality of the blogger.  I'm going to add another hook that doesn't necessarily fall into any of these thoughtful categories: Change Agent.

Why I Read the National Enquirer

If you follow popular culture as do (I subscribe to the National Enquirer afer all) you will be interested in an article in today's New York Times about celebrity publicists.  Seems that their jobs are becoming much more difficult these (the article talks about Tom Cruise's summer of love and Russell Crowe's legal troubles.)   

Feeling the Fear and Doing it Anyway

My very first post on my very first blog. Title sums it up.  Have been reading blogs and reading blogs for months now (I guess you'd call that lurking?) and have been at various times inspired, overwhelmed, scared and fascinated.  Where I finally ended up is supremely optimistic and excited about bloggings' potential to help more people have a good life.  I have to overcome my inclinations to introversion and worry (will I have anything to say?  what if I get nasty comments? will I lose my beloved privacy?) because I do believe that by doing this I might help someone on their journey.  How? By being a connector of good people to other good people. 

So if you haven't met these good people yet, let me introduce you:  Michael Pollock is a wonderful coach and blogging guru who has some big ideas for helping solopreneurs.  I am very excited and grateful to be a part of his team. 

I think the folks at Brains on Fire have my very favorite blog in the universe.  These folks will reaffirm your faith in humanity in case you were doubting.  Check out especially their Courageous President Robbin Phillips' posting on apologizing.  Now that takes Courage.  If I had any kind of budget for marketing I would hire these folks at any price.  And do consider joining their Curiousity Team. 

Well that's all for today. Good day.