Todd Lyden

I come back to voting every election year, mainly because I am so thoroughly disappointed in the outcomes of our two-party system. And make no mistake, it is the party system that fails us. I talked about "how not to get out the vote"  - "vote even if you are disgusted?" UGH I've always liked this article about shaming "non-voting." I completely agree with the author:  "No one should have to justify exercising a right; rights, by definition, justify themselves. Nevertheless, for many people, not voting is an entirely rational choice: The cost of learning about the candidates and the issues often outweighs the benefit to be had from casting a ballot whose odds of making a significant difference in the outcome are infinitesimal." And for those that argue that you have a "civic duty to vote," please lay off the doody. I like what this guy has to say about the idea. Just because someone has the right to bear firearms does n...

As a former political science student and teacher, one thing that has ALWAYS bothered me about the electoral system in the United States: why does the public PAY for party primaries? I can understand the states being responsible for running their general elections to provide opportunity for their citizens to choose mayors, governors and all the way up to president, but for the life of me- why does the public pay for party primaries? FROM: http://www.coolinfographics.com/blog/2016/8/3/very-few-americans-nominated-trump-and-clinton.html Look at that graphic above. You can see how it works here:  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/01/us/elections/nine-percent-of-america-selected-trump-and-clinton.html?_r=0 Only 9% of the American public selected either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump via the party primary process! So, 9 out of ten of us are paying for the privilege of the remaining less than ten percent to have a chance to participate in what are private organiza...

While back, I wrote a post on Father's day about being a father and how being a parent is a job. I wistfully look back as I look forward to another school year quickly approaching and the evidence of my "work" is becoming less and less my handiwork. Our youngest has just moved on to middle school. Josh has moved into high school and the oldest has graduated from high school and about "start" her life. We've had a tacit arrangement with the kids. We do NOT want boomerang kids coming back to haunt us. So they have always been told, they are staying with us until they are REALLY ready to go out and that includes the joke that college has become. Sadly, despite the fact that I have spent a good chunk of my career working in higher education, I know that it is a folly to think that sending a child off to college is preparing them for much other than to have a lifetime of loans. Thankfully, Amanda has gotten the message. She has a plan to go to local c...

I find it hard to believe how often I see small businesses and more importantly people who would work for small business who have no problem stealing from others. Entrepreneur Magazine is a great resource for start ups and businesses looking to get some quick tidbits of info and knowledge. They have a pretty standard Terms of Service for their publication you can find here:  http://www.entrepreneur.com/page/225367 I've seen local and now not-so-local "consultants" pushing their material as if it was their own. It's hard to believe we haven't gotten past the days when cut-n-paste enabled plagiarism wasn't eliminated, but I guess with so much out there, it is hard for a publisher to protect themselves. But then again, maybe you ought not to do business with someone too self-involved to give credit to another or just too lazy? Either way, take a look at the work of who you are working with to make sure they are not essentially thieves. If they can do i...

I hate when something I like is discontinued. The TV Show Firefly. The Volcano burrito at Taco Bell. Now, the "Linkedin Resume Builder." It used to be that you could go to resume.linkedinlabs.com and login into your Linkedin account and then have a really nice tool to tweak your resume. I've not had to do this for myself in some time. I have however for clients and while there are come interesting alternatives that might allow you to import your Linkedin Profile. None are particularly good as the original for editing and making a presentable resume. I'd dare say the experiment has illustrated that there is a market for Linkedin to CHARGE for this service. "Sure, we provide you with a GREAT looking online resume, but you will pay to make it functional IRL." Don't be surprised if you see a paid for version of this service soon. Highly frustrating and sad that people have not caught on to it as even this article from last month was still touti...

I've already given my two cents about the latest Star Wars missive. You can listen here. I wanted to talk about two things that really stood out for me about this latest addition to the Star Wars universe. 1. This is just a remake. Yes. So what? JJ Abrams and company had a TALL order when Disney laid this one on them. First, the last Star Wars property had REALLY burned the fans of the original trilogy. Even a fan of the prequels has to admit that most criticism of the prequels is legit for the most part. Second, this was a "sequel" to a movie that is nearly 40 years old. Wow, that'll make you feel old. For those like me who remember seeing the original Star Wars in 1977, that's like a legit sequel to "Wizard of Oz" that came out that year. Can you imagine the lambasting that anyone taking THAT on would have to deal with? Most of our kids and all of China have never seen the original movies- it is about to open this Saturday! While us old folk...

If you have a service or retail business with a brick and mortar location, you KNOW (or should know) the value of making sure your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) are all over the map in the online listing services. Yelp, Yahoo, Google, Bing, Merchant Circle, YP.com... the list is growing on a daily basis. Powerhouse Facebook is now entering the ring with  www.facebook.com/services . Why this actual might mean something is that it is a lot easier to garner reviews and comments that boost this rating via your friends, family, etc than it is to deal with Yelpers, etc. If nothing else, this is a good reminder that you should take control of your listing on Facebook (and all the other services) while you can. If you need a little help in this regard, let me know!