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Monthly Archives: April 2013
“There is no news industry”
“If the public can speak directly to one another in large groups and with high visibility, then the self-definition of a journalist as a privileged translator takes a big hit. If you think of yourself as a member of the only class allowed to find and explain information, you find yourself in a very uncomfortable position.“
“The easiest way to get people in institutions to do interesting new things is for that institution to go bankrupt and for those people to change jobs.”
“Anything in the news business that can be commodified will be commodified. The people who cling to the idea that humans are required to rewrite wire service copy are spending money that no longer needs to be spent.”
From an interview with Clay Shirky by The Europlean Magazine
Readings of newspapers from Northwest Missouri
Hanging out with Dave. And Dave.
This is the first Google Hangout I’ve actually enjoyed. Previous efforts were about learning the tools (I still need to work on that). This was a chance to shoot the shit with a couple of guys I find interesting and funny. I picked the radio topic just to get us started.
Had no idea it would run 45 minutes but that’s okay because we don’t expect anyone to actually watch this. David Brazeal left a perfectly good job to follow his passion. Dave Morris has been self-employed for years.
The Missouri State Penitentiary
“The Missouri State Penitentiary, also known as “The Walls”, was a prison in Jefferson City, Missouri that operated from 1836-2004. Prior to closing, it was the oldest operating penal facility west of the Mississippi River. It served as the State of Missouri’s primary maximum security institution. The current Jefferson City Correctional Center was opened on September 15, 2004, replacing the Missouri State Penitentiary.” — Wikipedia
My first tour of the old prison was prior to 2004 so the inmates were still there. A very different place than the empty cells and halls we toured in 2008 (photos).
Mark Schreiber — our guide in ’08 — was once a corrections office and, at one time, Associate Superintendent at the penitentiary. He’s also and avid historian and the co-author of Somewhere In Time: 170 Years of Missouri Corrections (out of print I’m afraid).
I regret I didn’t record the full tour because it was fascinating. As you will see from the excerpts above.
“Zero TV” households
That’s what Nielson calls folks who “fall outside the traditional definition of a TV home. There are 5 million of these residences in the U.S., up from 2 million in 2007. […] The number of people signing up for traditional TV service has slowed to a standstill in the U.S.”
And then there are the “cord-nevers.” Young people who move out on their own and never set up a landline phone connection or a TV subscription.
Virtual reality environments for the elderly
Is anyone creating virtual reality games/environments for the elderly? I’m not a gamer but each time I happen on some video a new game, I’m stunned by how good the graphics have gotten. I assume all other aspects are improving as well.
Today I can outside and romp and play with the other kids but someday that might not be the case. And I might be in an assisted living facility or whatever they have in the far, distant future for people who can’t care for themselves.
Could a clever person create a custom virtual environment for me. I have thousands of photos, hundreds of videos and many thousands of blog posts and tweets and such. A person could know a lot about my past and interests and use that data to create something amazing.
Instead of playing grab-ass with Mrs. Henson down in the day room, I could jack in to Steve World. Hell, in 20 years, the hardware and software will know things about my cognitive state and compensate where needed.
There’s a pond at the bottom of the hill on which we live. On nice days I enjoy sitting at the edge and watching the geese. I’ll bet you that could be created with amazing accuracy. Even “get up and take a walk” around the pond (after I can no long walk anywhere). I’ll hear the geese and the wind in the trees and maybe smell the grass.
This might sound sad and creepy to some, it does to me a little. But aske me again in 20 years.
Tradition
Been thinking about tradition. Probably because of all the buzz and chatter on the topic of marriage equality. The phrase “traditional marriage” keeps coming up and I realized I wasn’t sure of the definition of “tradition,” so I looked it up.
A tradition is “a belief or behavior passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past.”
A belief or behavior. Belief/believe are words we use all the time. Again, my mini-amnesia: what is a “belief?” Well, it’s “the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.”
See, here’s the thing for me. I just don’t think “belief” is a real thing. Real in the sense the chair I’m sitting in is real (let’s skip the quantum particles thing for now). My belief change all the time. I get new information, what I believe changes. I have an experience, what I believe is affected.
I believed — with all my heart and soul — the world was flat… well, fuck me! Turns out it isn’t and never was. What I believed was wrong. Was always wrong. You get the idea. A belief is just a state of mind. Yikes! I believe that’s a snake at my feet. Uh, no, it’s a piece of rope. Let’s move on.
“…passed down within a group or society.” Because my grandpa believes in Big Foot, my pa believes in Big Foot, and now I believe in Big Foot.” I can’t think of a worse reason to believe something. If something is important, shouldn’t I be able to see and experience it first-hand and decide for myself what I think about it (at that moment in time)?
I’m way off topic. Anybody remember what I was talking about? Oh yeah, tradition.
We have had a tradition in the United States that marriage was between a man and a woman. Except for that time and those places where it could be one man and lots of women. It was once traditional for a man to beat his wife if she disobeyed him. And on and on and on.
The question that got me thinking about this is: Why is it acceptable for a man to propose marriage but not okay for a woman to ask a man (yes, I know that sometimes happens)? Well, it’s “traditional.”
I’ve been trying to come up with some traditions that are important to me. Some practice I couldn’t or wouldn’t change. And I’m drawing a blank.
Prairie Garden Trust hike
Henry and Lorna invited me out for lunch yesterday, followed by a walk up to The Point and along Hiller Creek (Hiller’s Creek?). Things are just about to get spring-tacular so we’ll have to do this again in a couple of weeks.
Now the story can be told
