April 2011
85 posts
March 2011
33 posts
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“We all want to be rock stars. We just don’t want to be a landlord to a...”
– Sports radio show host Jim Rome
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Joseph Nye and the Future of Power
I spent last night at the RAND Corp. in Santa Monica, hearing from foreign policy expert Joseph Nye about “The Future of Power,” the name of his latest book. Nye, who formerly held senior roles with the departments of Defense and State and was dean at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, is the man who coined the term, “soft power,” and then wrote a book about it.
...
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“Desperation is a stinky perfume”
– source unknown….
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“In the case of the Kinect, there was also an element of history involved. Wiens...”
– The History of the Teardown: The Need to See Our Gear Undressed | Popular Science (via switchedblog)
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What Larry King Would Joke About
I titled this little blog experiment What Larry King Would Do, a reference to the retired radio and TV star’s scattershot, semaphore-like column that he wrote for USA Today that seemed to be all over the place. If Larry King was writing a blog, this blog, he’d talk about all these different subjects that interest him, but don’t necessarily have much to do with each other....
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The Essential Truthiness of Bruce Chatwin and...
A terrific essay, putatively just a review of writer Bruce Chatwin’s annotated letters (by Christopher Benfey, in the March 3 New Republic), closes with a singular couple of paragraphs. The essay is actually a far-more-discursive review of much of Chatwin’s life and work, and focuses strongly on Chatwin’s restlessness and rampant willingness to “embroider” the...
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Phew, THAT'S a relief...
The Daily reports that the Tokyo Electric Power Co. made a mistake when it reported high radiation levels in water from damaged Fukushima Daichi Plant No. 2. Originally, the readings said that water there had radiation levels 10 million times safe levels. On retesting, however, Tokyo Electric found that radiation levels were a mere 100,000 times safe levels. Wow, I feel MUCH better.
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Why the brand-spanking-new app Color matters, by... →
My prescient and over-talented friend Rob Tercek passed along this link to a smart take from writer John Battelle about Color, the hugely hyped new social photo site that’s launching this week with a mammoth $41 million in upfront funding. It’s a VERY interesting concept from a veteran team, and I agree with Battelle that the notion has a chance to be extremely compelling. We’ll...
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New song from Big Pauper →
Was sent this from Big Pauper’s PR people. It’s a link to a song from his upcoming album. Here’s more info:
Big Pauper has had a busy twenty six years on earth. Formerly performing under the name Panzah Zandahz, Portland’s Big Pauper is an acclaimed producer, deejay and visual artist with a penchant for forgotten media and discarded technologies. His ten year stint...
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Dating-site fatigue....
So, are people getting tired of the online dating grind, just as I’m finally single and need to worry about this stuff? So it would appear from a couple of stories spotted in the zeitgeist today.
First, we have the Wall Street Journal talking about ditching the whole online thing and going for real-life dating opportunities, even suggesting some ways to put theory into action and, you know,...
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“My idea of interviews is that it doesn’t matter what the person is saying,...”
– Filmmaker, photographer and artist Gus Van Sant on his interviewing technique, while being interviewed in Juxtapoz magazine, March 2011 issue
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Why Women Rule The Internet →
A post by a (female) Kleiner Perkins partner says women are the dominant voice in key parts of the Internet, particularly in shopping sites and social media, where they account for a vast proportion of posts, revenue and engagement. It might behoove online sites, especially those oriented in these directions, to examine how to fine-tune their messaging for a female audience.
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“The Great Ejection”
– What my son advised me is the name for the mass removal of Oliver Cromwell’s followers from the Church of England in 1662. He and I couldn’t help but flash on a vision of James Bond ejection seats in churches across England sending Puritans flying.
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Lovely, slightly haunting post about life in...
Hello My Lovely Family and Friends, First I want to thank you so very much for your concern for me. I am very touched. I also wish to apologize for a generic message to you all. But it seems the best way at the moment to get my message to you. Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even more...
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ANN COULTER: Don't Believe The Experts, Radiation... →
Thankfully, she only shares her medical advice with a select audience of discriminating people who can sniff out a media-government conspiracy when they smell one…
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Dan Patterson: SXSW 2011: The Quick and Dirty... →
Terrific, if slightly jaded, rundown of South By Southwest Interactive conference highlights and lowlights, plus some tips for newcomers to avoid being crunched so badly when they decide to join the party next year. Despite the influx of mainstreamers, Patterson says SXSWI remains the definitive event for digital media/social media types.
danpatterson:
SXSW Interactive 2011 Takeaway This is a...
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I Nice Kind Positive, too, looking for my half
Sometimes, the spam gets lost in translation, like this:
” I nice kind positive girl. I am almost happy. But I were happy complete when i’ll meet my Half. I’m marketer, and working much. My photos http://IveObscuredThisOnPurpose.com But have numerous hobbies and it were interesting together always. The man of my dream - tolerant by character. If I go up to you then write to...
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New York Times Agrees To Apple Terms For Paywall... →
Good news for Apple, and an interesting decision for the NY Times, which offloads the cost but also all the control over subscribers through iTunes. I still believe the Apple approach is a no-brainer for small publications without the sophisticated back-office operation to run subscriptions and leverage subscriber information for lots of ancillary products. It’s less clear-cut a proposition...
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“Twimmolation”: Destroying one’s career or reputation with a...”
– From a consultant quoted on NPR story about comedians trying to figure out when it’s time to make jokes about whatever horrific thing is happening in the world these days. Paula Poundstone sensibly opined that she has nothing funny to say about Japan. Gilbert should have listened to her. He...
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Staying out of the pool
A few months ago, I signed up for an interesting site called “How About We…” When I say signed up, I gave them my basic information, but didn’t bother to do any more, like pay money. The site is a dating site. I was newly back in the dating world. It was a nice premise: propose some things you’d like to do, and other folks would signal whether that particular concept...
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'The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood':... →
A useful review of James Gleick’s book the week he came to Los Angeles to talk about information theory and its implications for all that we do.
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NYT Digital Subscription Wall Finally Goes Up
Well, they finally did it. After months of talk and speculation, the New York Times has finally erected a paywall (again) in front of their content online. In an email announcement from the publisher, the company outlined the new terms of Internet engagement for the publication (see full text below). Interestingly, it’s a substantially liberal policy, with lots of ways to see lots of content...
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Spin's 17 free song downloads for April
I subscribe to Spin magazine’s digital newsletter, and love that they give away a lot of tracks from bands I find interesting. Every month, they offer 15 to 20 tracks at the start of the “month” and then offer other batches like the 33 songs they just sent out through their Facebook page, tied to South By Southwest. The April monthly offering just hit my email box. Here’s a...
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The NFL's Inevitable Decline?
I may be way off but why does this year feel like it may have been the apogee of NFL popularity. Last season saw a Super Bowl with the biggest audience ever, and even a televised draft that attracted tens of millions of viewers. It is far and away the most popular sport in the country. But I can’t wonder if an unstoppable, inevitable and probably well deserved decline is just ahead, thanks...
tumblrbot asked: WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO VISIT ON YOUR PLANET?
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On the rise of information theory
I heard author James Gleick speak last night at the Petersen Automotive Museum, a part of the excellent Zocalo Public Square lecture series (read their coverage of last night here) that so blesses Los Angeles.
I’ve been reading Gleick’s work for a long time, particularly his biography of Richard Feynman, “Genius,” and his look at the rise of chaos theory as one of the...
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“History is the story of information becoming aware of itself.”
– Author James Gleick, speaking about his book “The Information”
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Tournaments and trouble
I’m amused by the conversations as we lead into the NCAA tournament about how college basketball is nearly broken by all the top talent who come into the game for just a year before moving on to the NBA. It’s left the sport with little chance to create bankable stars who can feed fan interest for a few years at a time.
Another issue lost in all this, I think, is that the NCAA...
Bad movie unwinding
I can’t help watching the horrible mess in Japan and feeling like it’s somehow the prologue to the latest Godzilla movie out of Japan, not a metastasizing series of real-world disasters likely to hobble that country for years to come.
But there it is. The string of woe is all connected and yet, feels like dramatic piling on too excessive to be considered credible. Earthquake, tsunami,...
