“Billboard in Oklahoma says parking meter invented there. Reason #200 why I hate Oklahoma.”
This recent tweet from one of my former Dallas colleagues caught my eye. Having lived in Dallas for the past 10 years, I’d heard my fair share of Okie jokes, but this tweet really made me stop and think about my own home state pride. It’s something I never considered I had in my first 23 years of living in Oklahoma. I wasn’t ashamed of my home state; it was honestly just something I never thought about—until last year.
My wife and I were sitting outside Eskimo Joe’s during a trip back home for an Oklahoma State football game, and we decided right then and there that we wanted to be back in our home state. We noticed that we missed the little things we took for granted while living in Oklahoma, from the pace and quality of life to an overall appreciation for how Oklahomans treat each other. A five-year plan became a five-month plan, and in November we were officially Oklahoma residents again. What we didn’t truly realize was the dramatic changes and progress that both Oklahoma City and Tulsa had undergone during our 10-year absence.
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It was the battle of Nike versus Michigan State University fans using the social media powerhouse, Facebook, as their megaphone. At stake was whether MSU would replace its 30-year-old Spartan logo with a redesigned Nike creation.
MSU alums, students and fans became aware that the university planned to change the current logo when a new version was uncovered in January on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site. MSU’s athletics department soon found itself facing angry fans that were fiercely loyal to its current logo.
Fans created a Facebook page, “The Old Spartan Logo.” Within a few weeks, more than 63,000 people had joined. To put that number in perspective, The Oprah Magazine page has less than 7,500 fans. Even beloved basketball coach Tom Izzo became involved when he publicly berated fans opposed to the change, “For all of you out there complaining, shame on you.” (That included yours truly, a 2003 alumnus.)
In the end, the fans on Facebook won. Athletics Director Mark Hollis announced Feb. 5 that MSU’s current logo will not change. Nike will still design new uniforms, bringing all MSU athletic teams into a unified look, but the logo will stay untouched.
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If you ever rode on a subway in America before Apple’s iPod debuted in October 2001, then you remember that people were listening to Sony Walkmans or (gasp!) nothing at all. Go to any bus station or train station today, and a huge percentage of riders will have the little white Apple ear buds protruding from their ears. The iPod is a very popular gadget for the top socioeconomic classes. Studies show penetration still has a way to go with lower groups, but we haven’t heard anyone at Apple complaining.
Now, think about today. If you travel to any airport, ride public transportation or have spent the night at a hotel before, then you have seen printed newspapers in use. Today marks a major change for printed news as we know it.
Apple introduces their Tablet to the world today, aka the Kindle Killer (much to Amazon’s dismay), at an exclusive event in San Francisco. We’ll know more as reviews come in, but book publishers have been scrambling in recent weeks to make sure their electronic books are available, and I’m sure newspaper publishers will be next in line to sign up. Finally, journalism has a tool that could make paid content the new normal.
Whether you live in Tulsa, Oklahoma or Timbuktu, the Tablet is being billed as the electronic tool that will change how consumers receive their news, interact with social media channels and change how we all read books.
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Drivers of Ford Motor Co. models will soon be able to hear what friends are Tweeting thanks to new technology, the automaker announced last week. The announcement quickly sparked a debate about whether it would improve driver safety or distract us even more.
Ford’s public relations team positioned the announcement as a way to enhance safety, because drivers will no longer have to take their eyes off the road to check their cell phones. In partnership with Microsoft, using technology called Sync, automobiles will read Tweets aloud through the vehicle’s speakers.
Here’s how it will work. New models of the Ford Edge and Ford Focus released later this year will be the first of the company’s lineup to have this new technology. (The autos will also be armed with Pandora Internet radio, which will allow drivers to create their own customized radio stations.). The Edge and Focus will take a drivers’ mobile devices and Sync (hence the name) information into their systems. Drivers will then use voice commands to tell the models when they want to hear Tweets.
Here’s a nice spot for a friendly disclaimer. I come from a Ford family – we buy them, we’ve worked for them and I was born in Dearborn, Ford’s world headquarters city in Michigan.
All of that aside, I still think it is a brilliant move for the company.
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Journal Record – June 17, 2009
The question posed to Maj. Gen. Mark Graham was innocent enough.
You see, a group of us was eating breakfast with Graham, U.S. Army commanding general of Division West, at Fort Carson, Colo., recently as part of the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference (JCOC) hosted by the secretary of defense. Graham is a high-achieving career Army man who has been stationed around the world, including three stints at Fort Sill in Lawton. His daughter graduated from the University of Oklahoma last month. He received his MBA from Oklahoma City University and considers Oklahoma his adopted home – as much of a home as a general in the U.S. Army can have.
I had met Graham only about 20 minutes earlier when he loaded onto our bus at the gates of the base. The tall, sharp-looking and fit general has a full head of gray hair, but doesn’t look a day over 50. His self-effacing humor was evident immediately when he commented on enlisting in the U.S. Army 31 years ago and, in an offhand manner, said he was thinking about making a career of it. I immediately liked this guy. Forget the Hollywood image of generals barking orders, dropping privates to do 20 push-ups or giving tirades to flunkies over the ETA.
This guy was a legit leader. You could feel it.
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“Get off my bus NOW! Move, move, move,” shrieked Drill Sgt. Garcia from the gallows of his lungs to our unsuspecting group of civilians who were left (intentionally) unattended on a bus at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) awaiting our next briefing. As the sergeant violently and loudly entered, chatter and laughter came to an abrupt halt and our group of successful civilians participating in the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference (JCOC) class 77 snapped to attention. The air of authority a United State Marine Corp drill sergeant commands is unmistakable.
Within seconds, I found myself in the peculiar spot of experiencing the first two minutes of basic training boot camp as an enlisted man, one of 21,000 just this year, in the United States Marine Corp.
“You will not look at me. You will look straight ahead. Click your heels together. SIR, YES, SIR. Say it soldier! LOUDER!”
Sir, YES, sir, I replied in my best Forrest Gump voice.
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