Wade on Birmingham

Archive for October, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Sunday, October 31st, 2010

Have fun with the tricks and/or treats!

to be someone else

Sunday, October 31st, 2010

Slip on the guise of
a better persona to
explore your psyche.

• • •

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devils in disguise

Saturday, October 30th, 2010

These days, evil ones
parade naked in the streets
to blind, cheering crowds.

• • •

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Vote 2010: Can Facebook predict the outcome of Alabama races?

Friday, October 29th, 2010

Video: Karen Hughes talks about social media
in modern campaigns

Facebook is the king of social media outlets, but can it predict elections?

Wade on Birmingham - Vote 2010Karen Hughes serves as Global Vice Chair of Burson-Marsteller, a public relations firm, but before that, she was an undersecretary in the State Department and campaign manager for George W. Bush’s Texas gubernatorial run. At BlogWorld 2010, her keynote mentioned an interesting study.

Looking at 10 Senate and 10 House races, the number of Facebook Likes on the candidates’ pages correlated with the primary results. Many candidates with more Likes than their opponents won their races.

Using that assumption, we looked at the races for Congress, for state office and for Jefferson County, tallying Facebook Likes for candidates to predict winners. (In several instances, a candidate used his profile page, making it an apples-to-oranges comparison of Likes vs. Friends.)

We’ll see how accurate these predictions are next week.

Election Day is Tuesday.

• • •

Update Nov. 2: ABC 33/40 interviewed me for Monday’s 6 p.m. newscast.

• • •

Update Nov. 9: With nine of 13 races predicted correctly, the Facebook election predictor debuted with a 69.2 percent rate of accuracy.

• • •

Key:

  • D = Democrat | I = Incumbent | R = Republican
  • * – Facebook profile page | ** – Facebook group page
  • If a candidate had both a Facebook campaign page and profile page, the Likes from the former were used.
  • red = leading in Facebook Likes

Check out the actual election results.

• • •

More Vote 2010 coverage.

chat affair

Friday, October 29th, 2010

Hi. What’s up? Nothing,
u? Same. K. Dinner? Maybe.
Lemme know. Later.

• • •

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to kill a mockingbird 2010

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

Boo Radley scurries
between McMansions scouting
for diversity.

• • •

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Vote 2010: Sample ballots for Jefferson, Shelby County general election

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

With Election Day on Tuesday, voters across Alabama will have the opportunity to select a new governor, a U.S. Senator and many local officials. Be ready with these sample ballots for Jefferson and Shelby counties.

Wade on Birmingham - Vote 2010(The Jefferson County sample ballot includes 164 versions, one for every combination of districts.)

Ballots can be printed, downloaded or viewed in full-screen mode.

Look for more coverage throughout, including all the results after polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

• • •

Sample ballots for all 67 counties.

• • •

Jefferson County ballot

Shelby County ballot

• • •

More Vote 2010 coverage.

the 33

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Even in the dark
bowels of the earth, hope lives
for the survivors.

• • •

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Vote 2010: Wait, still time for one more gubernatorial debate tonight. Sigh.

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Rejoice! Or repent. Republican Robert Bentley and Democrat Ron Sparks will have one final, final debate tonight.

Wade on Birmingham - Vote 2010The Alabama gubernatorial candidates will clash at 7 at Athens State University. It’s airing in Huntsville on WHNT channel 19.2, and will live-stream on AL.com.

Check out clips from the Oct. 19 debate at Auburn University. (See the entire debate.)

Video: Campaign and ethics reform

Video: Jobs

Video: Public school funding

• • •

Who will win the debate, Bentley or Sparks? And who will win next Tuesday? Tell us in the comments below.

• • •

More Vote 2010 coverage.

Airing tonight: “The Spill” from PBS’ “Frontline”

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Video: Preview of “The Spill,” “Frontline”

Some of you may recall way back in the spring of this year, a teensy weensy little petroleum spill somewhere out to sea.

It started with an oil drilling platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico killing 11 workers and blossoming into the worst U.S. environmental disaster ever. Portions of the Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida coastlines suffered natural and economic damage.

Relive those heady days of early 2010 tonight when “Frontline” presents “The Spill,” a look inside the seemingly reckless practices of BP, the platform’s owner.

BP chief executive officer Robert Dudley said Monday, “I do not believe that BP is an unsafe company. There will be some documentaries run, I think tomorrow night in the U.S., that paints that picture of the company.”

The report airs at 9 tonight on Alabama Public Television, repeating at 1 a.m. Sunday. It will also be available for viewing online.

Caution: Watching this news documentary may cause vomiting, but don’t worry, BP will clean that up, too.

Video: “The Spill” investigates BP’s history of lax inspections
and equipment upgrades and maintenance.

smf

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

In times of madness,
shake your tiny fists of rage
at an uncouth world.

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the ancient book of numbers

Monday, October 25th, 2010

Yellow pages filled
with obscure methods to reach
people on the stay.

• • •

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rivalries

Sunday, October 24th, 2010

Friends come and go, but
bitter rivalries endure
for generations.

• • •

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the next destination

Saturday, October 23rd, 2010

Riding on the bus
listening to the motor
strain for one more mile.

• • •

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talk therapy

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

The voices within
have come to a decision:
sausage, extra cheese.

• • •

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