And this won’t surprise my friends – she tells them better than me!
“Why did the chicken cross the playground?
To get to the other slide!”
“Why is six afraid of seven?
Because seven ate nine!”
“Whats black and white and red all over?
The newspaper!”
Her timing is great.
Her knock knock jokes need some work, she lets you ask “who’s there” but answers the whole thing with someone’s name and a smile and laugh. Then again – that’s just awesome.
Clay Shirky: Help, the Price of Information Has Fallen, and It Can’t Get Up
The interesting thing about this piece, written way back in 1995, is that it leaves wide open the concept of information.
Just what is information? People instinctively grasp for “facts” as their definition. But in computing, we think otherwise. Can music be described as information – sure can. Opinions? Yep. Visual arts? Certainly. Video. Yes, even video. Anything that can be described in ones and zeroes can be thought of as information that can be transmitted and shared on a network.
Well, what about advertising? Yes, that too.
Jeneane Sussum: The Value of Words: These. People. Are. Lying. To. You. And. Themselves.
There is a paradox at work here. As the cost of generating and transmitting information decreases, more of it becomes available, thus increasing the need for better filters.
Advertising, Newspapers, and Libraries were the premier filters of the pre-Internet age.
So were the ‘big 3’ TV stations, radio conglomerates, record companies, book stores and magazine stands for that matter.
Search engines, blogs, social networks, and smart aggregators are those of the now.
How the practices of the old evolve in the infrastructure of the new, how new disciplines arise to meet the needs of today and tomorrow, will determine how informed, or how uninformed, we will be as a society.
Other interesting links for today:
P’unk Avenue Window: What should a modern library be?
reddit: Young Deer hit by google map VAN. Caught on street view.
keithhopper.com: A Brief History of Hyperlocal News
Fanboy.com:
Social Media “Experts” are the Cancer of Twitter (and Must Be Stopped)
MediaPost: Yelp Reviews Spawn At Least Five Lawsuits
Epicenter: eMusic Says Data Supports Long Tail Theory
Epicenter: Want Proof OpenID Can Succeed? Just Scroll Down
ComputerWorld: What the Web knows about you
Psychology Today: The Art of Now: Six Steps to Living in the Moment
ScientificAmerican: The Serious Need for Play
defmacro: Taming Perfectionism
NYTimes Book Review: Reality Intrudes on an Undercover Mental Patient
Cognitive Daily: Would we still obey? The first replication of Milgram’s work in over 30 years
The Frontal Cortex :Kandel on Psychotherapy
NewScientist: Our world may be a giant hologram
Wired: Clive Thompson on How More Info Leads to Less Knowledge
slacktivist: Some folks’ world – predatory rent increases in trailer parks.
Daniel Rubin: Daniel Rubin: The bailouts passed him by
Aaron Swartz’s Raw Thought: How Depressions Work
NYTimes: Welfare Aid Isn’t Growing as Economy Drops Off
Suburban Guerrilla: Welfare Rolls Are Not Going Up. Why?
Yahoo!: Folding dealers shock car buyers with unpaid liens
NYTimes: Caring for the Caregivers
The Big Picture: Reinhart & Rogoff: Expect a prolonged slump
Dave Rogers: Market for Destruction: We are not consumers, we are the consumed.
YouTube: The Axis of Awesome 4 Chords:
YouTube: One Five Six Four (The Ultimate Medley):
YouTube: Son House – Preachin’ the Blues
YouTube: Son House – Levee Camp Blues
YouTube: Blind Willie McTell – “Boll Weevil”
IMEEM: Muddy Watters – I Be’s Troubled
YouTube: Billie Holiday – Strange Fruit
YouTube: Ma Rainey – Booze And Blues
YouTube: Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon – Will the Circle Be Unbroken
YouTube: Bessie Smith – You Gotta Gimmie Some
YouTube: Precious Lord Take My Hand, covered by Rain Boy!
YouTube: Go Tell It On A Mountain, covered by Peter , Paul & Mary
YouTube: Son House – Death Letter
Jon Stewart challenges Lawrence Lindsey and asks Lindsey about the viability of Stewart’s own plan – giving the bailout money to the people of the United States to pay of their debts, which in turn, brings liquidity back to the banks.
CNN Money Summit: Your questions answered “Why can’t we split the money among taxpayers?” – the answer is dismissive – that we would simply save the money and not spend it.
In what universe does that occur? Not America. It would get spent one way or another – and very, very quick.
Thanks to dangerousmeta for the common sense.
While something approaching libertarianism (letting the free market rule without reasoned oversight) got us into this – it just maybe something approaching libertarianism that gets us out.
As John Stewart and Garret say, “Give us the cash, let it trickle up.”
Philadelphia Inquirer: Camden’s Tent City homeless keep up hope:
… The homeless say that this year’s census will show their numbers are swelling. Tent City is a microcosm of the homeless, with recovering addicts, jobless veterans and the mentally ill – ages 22 to 74 – all represented, Banks said.
In each tent, amid piles of donated blankets and cans of ethanol used for heat, there is a tale of heartbreak.
…Tent City is also known as Veterans Camp, for the several Vietnam War vets who live there, or J-Camp, for Banks’ native Jamaica. In the summer, Banks said, as many as 60 people stay there.
Some of those interviewed yesterday have been at Tent City for only a few months, and most don’t plan to stay.
“I still have dreams,” Floyd said. “I still have things I want to do. I want to be a father, a family man. I don’t plan to stay here all my life. I told [my daughters] I’d make it.”
Speaking under a steady, freezing rain, Floyd declared: “It can’t stay rainy every day.”
Oh yeah. Here it goes. via Boing Boing.