Setting Fire to the Past

Sam Harrelson on January 29, 2013

Despicable:

Ancient Manuscripts In Timbuktu Reduced To Ashes : The Two-Way : NPR: “‘These priceless manuscripts are my identity, they’re my history. They are documents about Islam, history, geography, botany, poetry. They are close to my heart and they belong to the whole world,’ the mayor said.”

Fundamentalists in Mali aren’t the first or the last to commit such atrocities, of course. Europeans have a long history of setting fire to their respective pasts as do Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Persians, Seleucids, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Sumerians before them.

We set fire to the past when we speak of “the Founding Fathers” or “Biblical veracity” everyday.

Still… “The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” as Faulkner reminds us.

“I Didn’t Know There Was Another Type of Phone”

Sam Harrelson on January 26, 2013

photo

My five year old daughter saw my Galaxy S3 on the kitchen table this afternoon and asked:

“Daddy, what is that?”

“It’s a mobile, why?”

“It’s not an iPhone?”

“Nope, here’s my iPhone.”

“Oh, I thought all phones were iPhones.”

I keep forgetting that she was born in the same year the first iPhone was announced and then released.

Start Your Own School with a WordPress Plugin

Sam Harrelson on January 21, 2013

Really exciting to see this type of thing develop (especially from the fine folks at WooThemes using the venerable WordPress platform):

Sensei from WooThemes: “Google is working on an online course solution. Same story with Khan Academy, Coursera, Udacity, and … you? If you run a website that uses WordPress, you can now easily (relatively) build your very own online school.”

via edudemic

We’re in for a major sea change that has to be scary not just to independent education outlets but also colleges and universities that “get it” when it comes to what’s around the corner.

That’s why Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT etc are working so hard to secure their footholds in this brave new world of education and learning. Sadly, k-12 independent schools aren’t seeing the light just yet.

Microsites and SEO

Sam Harrelson on January 21, 2013

Microsites can still be powerful additions to your business’ web presence.

However, they can also cause you some serious headaches down the road if implemented incorrectly in 2013 (Google is an evolving beast).

Rand’s video from 2009 still rings true:

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday – The Microsite Mistake from SEOmoz on Vimeo.

Additionally, go read his description of “subfolders” vs “subdomains” for more info on the topic.

We’ve done a great deal of work with clients on microsites over the years and are always astounded when people within the SEO industry confuse the subject to the point of actually hurting a client’s optimization. Always do your homework and always make sure to ask lots of questions about implementations and long-term strategies.

Remembering Danny Goodman: Four Years Is Too Long

Sam Harrelson on January 13, 2013

I miss you everyday, Prof Goodman.

Victory is sweet, even deep in the cheap seats…

Sam Harrelson: Oh Captain, My Captain: Prof Dan Goodman

Here’s how he described me four years ago just before his death:

“Fun guy, smart guy, obsessed with techno gadgets, a little overbearing in Trivial Pursuit, good taste in music (early REM), bad taste in music (early Glen Campbell), reads too many blogs, writes too many blogs, dresses snappy, beautiful family, loves history, hates theology, and likely running from his true calling to be an evangelist.”

He still haunts me daily with that description.

Thank you, Danny.