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Barack Obama is a master at grabbing and keeping his audience's attention, which is the number one goal of any public speaker. How does he do it? Here are five key lessons from Obama's rhetorical playbook.

The era of the all-powerful search engine is waning. In its place, the power of the publisher and the content provider is rising again, just like it did in the early 19th century — only the players will be very different. Back when “Web 2.0″ was still a shiny new moniker, search engines had unequaled power. [...]

Hang onto this essential checklist, so you’ll know what to do when the time comes.

If there's an Alabama game on TV, you can find Chicago Tide fans gathered at the Houndstooth Saloon. (Special)It is autumn in Chicago. White caps dot Lake Michigan, stalwart leaves cling stubbornly to skeletal trees, and, every Saturday, scores of the University of Alabama's expatriate fans converge on Wrigleyville.
 
  Traveling by car, cab or "el" train, they journey to a small bar called the Houndstooth Saloon, a block south of famed Wrigley Field. In Chicago, the Houndstooth is to the Crimson Tide what the Southside's Superdawg is to hotdogs and Gino's East is to deep dish pizza.
 
  "Finding a good bar to watch the games was our first order of business," explained Marc Brafman, the Chicago Area University of Alabama Alumni Association's current president and a 1999 graduate.
 
  According to Brafman, when the Houndstooth's current owner acquired the bar three years ago, he surmised that the neighborhood would welcome an establishment with a Southern accent. He also sensed that a bar named the Houndstooth would be a natural draw to Crimson Tide fans, although its logo featured its signature hat atop a basset hound and not a Bear.
 
  "Now we have something like 150 dues-paying members," Brafman continued. "It's everyone from local parents whose kids go to Alabama to recent graduates who are up here living in the big city for a couple of years."
 
  For the Nov. 7 game against LSU, the crowds arrived early at the Houndstooth. Well before kickoff, the saloon was standing-room only. Women perched on an open window ledge fronting Clark Street while their dates lined up four-deep in front of the bar. Laurel Stepp, the social chair of the alumni association and a 1998 UA graduate, sat by the bar's front door.
 
  "Do you want to buy a raffle ticket? Win a Nick Saban-autographed football," Stepp said. Ticket sales supported the association's MS Walk team and its efforts to endow an Alabama scholarship for local Tuscaloosa-bound students.
 
  An LSU touchdown pass interrupted Stepp, sparking curses from the crowd. Javier Arenas salved their disappointment, however, with an electric kickoff return across each of the saloon's fourteen flat-screen TVs.
 
  In response, the bar exploded in cheers. The shouts startled a passerby on Clark Street wearing a Cubs jacket. He looked inside at bar's two hundred-plus patrons, fists punching upward toward the crimson-colored tin ceiling tiles, and muttered "Geez," in an impressed tone.
  Across the room, Peter Ralston joined in the cheers. But such was not always the case for him.
 
 "I lost a bet," Ralston, a Clemson graduate, said, laughing. "Rebecca and I met at Alabama while I was in MBA school. She was a nursing student, and an Alabama fan." Beside him, Rebecca, his wife of a year, nodded in agreement.
 
  "During our engagement, we found out that Alabama and Clemson were going to play to open the 2008 season," he continued, "and the game also happened to be scheduled on our wedding day. We bet that whomever's team won the game, we would raise our children as fans of that school. I felt pretty good as Clemson was ranked in the preseason Top 10."
 
  "Well, now when Rebecca and I have children we will be raising little Tide fans," Ralston concluded with a rueful grin. "Roll Tide."
 
  Meanwhile, the draft beer continued to flow freely behind the bar, distributed by waitresses sporting Alabama T-shirts.
 
  As the first half ended, a knot of friends broke into an enthusiastic rendition of Kenny Chesney's "Out Last Night."
 
  "We went out last night, like we swore we wouldn't do," they wailed. "Drank too much beer last night; a lot more than we wanted to."
  Other voices rose from around the bar in reply.
 
  "There were girls from Argentina and Arkansas, Maine, Alabama and Arkansas. All mixed together and having a ball."
  About this time, Will Byington, a 2000 graduate, arrived.
 
  "You can walk from Wrigley Field down to here and there are plenty of sports bars," Byington reflected. "I mean, you can find Iowa  fans in a half dozen bars up and down the street. But this is the only bar where every single TV is going to turned onto just one game -  the Alabama game - and it's slam-packed with all the Alabama fans."
 
  Angled against the bar, a man in a dark shirt echoed Byington's sentiment.
 
  "Actually, I'm an LSU fan," he confessed quietly, allowing himself a guilty smile as LSU sacked McElroy for a safety. "But look - this is what SEC football's about. You can't beat it."
 
  His smile disappeared a few moments later as Alabama retaliated with a field goal and, on its next possession, a Julio Jones reception and 73-yard touchdown run. As the bar responded raucously, a fire engine from Chicago's Engine Company No. 78 pulled up on Clark Street. Catching a fireman's eye, a young woman in a houndstooth scarf pumped her right arm up and down. With a grin, the fireman sounded the engine's horn, eliciting more cheers from the saloon.
 
  As subsequent LSU drives sputtered and the game's final seconds wound down, the crowd chanted "Hey Tigers, hey Tigers, we just beat the hell out of you," much to the amusement of a passing Chicago Transit Authority bus' passengers.
 
  "I work at two other bars," the bouncer mused. "But you just don't see something like this in many places. Must be an Alabama thing."

Food and drink, especially fresh seaford, are the focus of fall festivals along the Gulf Coast. (Special)

 

Get our scoop on the Gulf Shores National Shrimp Festival

 

Jason O’Brien knows the beach.

  The Alabaster Web site developer, his wife, Melissa, and their 10-year-old daughter, Hannah, head South as much as they can, staying most often at his in-laws condominium in Panama City..

  “We’ve gone several times this summer,” he says. “We try to go about once a month from April to October.”

  And he’s come to enjoy the coast in the cooler months.

  “It’s a lot quieter,” O’Brien says. “We like it a lot. There are not as many people.”

  The O’Briens are not alone. 

  In the summer, the draw may be the warm waters of the Gulf or the condo swimming pool. 

  In the fall, the beach is still there, and walks aren’t out of the question, but there are different activities that get folks in the car and headed toward the Gulf Coast.

  There are many events to be enjoyed on the coast during fall and winter months, from concerts at the Wharf in Orange Beach to any number of arts and crafts festivals from Mississippi to Florida. Here, we’ve chosen to focus on food, finding 14 events between now and the end of the year where coastal cuisine is at the top of the menu.
 
FLORIDA

Destin Seafood Festival (Friday through Oct. 4). One of the Southeast Tourism Society’s Top 20 Events in the Southeast, the festival features national and local music (Survivor and Joan Jett are headliners), children’s activities and, of course, seafood. Takes place at HarborWalk Village on the Destin Harbor. $15 for all three days, or $5 each for Friday and Sunday, $10 for Saturday. www.destin-fwb.com.

Oktoberfest (Friday and Saturday, Grace Avenue downtown). Downtown Panama City Beach becomes a German-style village during this free event that offers music, carnival rides, food-eating contests and local beers. www.panamacity.org.

Blue Jeans & BBQ in Milton (Saturday, Hayes Ranch at 5097 Berryhill Road). A food festival and bull riding competition, with arts and crafts and kids’ activities. Tickets $10 in advance, $15 at the door.