In this week’s Sunday Times Magazine, Andrew Goldman has a smart interviewwith Jimmy Lai, the Chinese clothing retailer-cum-media mogul behind those insane (and insanely popular) animations of scandalous news stories. Lai’s explanation for what he does is honest and simple and blunt and a little depressing. An excerpt:
“You own magazines and newspapers in Hong Kong and Taiwan and have been called the Rupert Murdoch of Asia — and yet you’re best known here for your company’s very enjoyable and weird animated re-enactments of news events. The one you did for Tiger Woods’s Thanksgiving-weekend car accident got more than five million YouTube views. Why did you get into animation?
I started the animations because print media was going into a sunset business environment. It’s obvious that we have arrived at an era of images. I thought that if I could speed up the production of animation, I could make a big business out of recreating the amazing images of the news, because what we get on TV is always the last bit of image. What happened before that image is always missing.
You mean that all we ever see is the wreckage after the plane crash, not the crash itself?
Exactly. We don’t see the pilot flying the plane drunk and what happened in the cabin. If somebody jumped off a roof, we only see the body even though we know that eight months ago, the guy might have gone to Macau, lost a lot of money in a casino, was chased by a loan shark, so he got depressed and decided to jump off a roof.
So you envision these animations as a substitute for reading news?
Exactly. If I hold an image in front of you, you can right away assimilate a story that may take me 20 minutes to explain or take you 10 minutes to read.”
I’ve yet to see better etiquette from a gun-wielding, TV-shooting American. He’s like Miss Manners with an ammo belt. Some folks raise their kids right.
Ray Bradbury interviewed by Mike Wallace on the night of the first moon landing. He was ebullient, of course, but probably somewhat more restrained than Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein.
Oriana Fallaci was one of the people who overreacted after the tragedy of 9/11, seeming to believe that the West was at war with Islam rather than terrorism. But she was pretty spot-on in her assessment of Muammar el-Qaddafi when coversing with that shock jock Charlie Rose in 2003.
"I will give you a paypal where you can send some funds."
Dont go out greedy with the Rapture! (NY)
Please help out a struggling dude with no money. If you think you are chosen and on your way out please donate me your savings account or anything you can give.
Email me back on here and I will give you a paypal where you can send some funds.
Go out doing the right thing by helping someone in need.
"One bloated creature whom it would be libel on the sex to designate a woman,..."
In the August 27, 1849 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the paper’s incredibly progressive editors dealt with the problem of vagrancy with their usual sensitivity:
“Our city is infested with scores of disgusting vagrants of both sexes, who are constantly annoying the inhabitants of Brooklyn by applications for charity. One bloated creature whom it would be libel on the sex to designate a woman, as she is in a constant state of beastly intoxication, is the habit of gaining access to houses by means of entry doors, and if her requests for relief are not comlied with, she vomits forth a torrent of filthy and disgusting abuse that to say the least of it, is perfectly horrifying.
If it within the limits of possibility, we would suggest to our city authorities the propriety of some of our police officers receiving their instructions to use their best means to rid the community of this horde of beggars to whom it is sinful to give alms, for they are, for the greater portion, drunkards or thieves, or both, as can be proved.
The loathsome creature we above alluded to was questioned (by the mistress of a house in Atlantic street, who happened to come down earlier than usual) as to why she came begging at so early an hour. She answered that the girls, when the mistress was not in the way, were pretty good natured, more so than they dared to be when the mistress was in the way. The lady asked her what she had in her apron. The lady opened it, and among a variety of food was a whole fowl and a whole loaf; and yet this creature was going from house to house, soliciting food for herself and her six starving children.
We earnestly recommend that the remedy be entrusted to some efficient officers. It is obvious that if beggars such as are described, were not permitted to infest private dwellings, as they now do, servants could be neither wasteful, nor dishonest with the property of their employers.”
A passage from “Thinking in the Rain,” Susan Orlean’s 2007 New Yorker profile of Steve Hollinger, a sculptor of found and often unusual materials:
“One day last year, Hollinger walked around his neighborhood carrying another one of his surprises. The neighborhood is Fort Point Channel, a cluster of decommissioned factory buildings in downtown Boston which now house hundreds of artists, so it is commonplace to see residents kitted out in attire not sold at Talbots, carrying objects that appear extraterrestrial. Even so, Hollinger attracted attention. He had spent the previous month mostly locked in his apartment, furiously teaching himself the principles of aerodynamics, the physics of hydrology, and the basics of how to operate a Singer sewing machine, and he was at last testing what he had been working on — a reimagined, reinvented umbrella, with gutters and airfoils and the elegant drift of a bird’s wing. ‘I knew I was on to something,’ he says now. ‘I was hardly outside for five minutes before someone stopped me and said, ‘Where can I get one of those?’
Hollinger is not, per se, an umbrella man; he is a sculptor who makes assemblages out of found materials. They are often kinetic and frequently reference other media: a solar-powered flip-book movie of Hollinger doing a war dance, which you view through a prism in a large cement block, or perhaps a series of photo emulsions peeled off Polaroids showing trees being immolated in a nuclear test in the nineteen-sixties, or twenty-five atom-shaped spheres made of photo-sensitive tape, suspended between sheets of plate glass and a frame of barn wood. His sculpture has been displayed widely and is well respected, but it is his work as an inventor that pays most of his bills. He grew up in suburban Connecticut, but both his parents are artists, and bohemian enough to have found his unusual interests — breaking thermometers in order to add to his collection of mercury, for instance — the sign of a lively mind. He went on to study computer programming at SUNY Albany. When he graduated, in 1984, he worked first at Telex, a computer company in North Carolina, and then at Wang Laboratories, in Massachusetts, developing imaging-technology software. In 1989, he decided to become an inventor.”
Excellent new post by Robin Hanson on the Overcoming Bias site explaining why autopsies are conducted so rarely as opposed to a few decades ago. Problems can’t be fixed if they’re disappeared, and our squeamishness on the topic probably allows hospitals to get away with the practice. An excerpt:
“What if the airline industry lobbied to end the practice of routinely investigating the cause of each airline crash? After all, if there is no investigation, it will be hard to show an airline was at fault. You might imagine there’d be a public outcry. But in 1970 the US medical profession did essentially the same thing, and few complained:
Today, hospitals perform autopsies on only about 5 percent of patients who die, down from roughly 50 percent in the 1960s. … Autopsies play a critical role in helping to advance understanding of the progress of a disease and the effectiveness of various treatments. At the same time, they may identify medical conditions that clinicians and high-tech imaging miss or misdiagnose. …
In 1998 the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that autopsy results showed that clinicians misdiagnosed the cause of death up to 40 percent of the time. … Until 1970, hospitals had to autopsy at least 20 percent of their patients in order to remain accredited. Once that requirement was dropped, autopsy rates began to fall, due to lack of direct funding, fear of litigation and increasing reliance on technology as a diagnostic tool, among other reasons. … Today, about 40 percent of hospitals don’t perform autopsies at all.” (ThanksMarginal Revolution.)
Even if you’re someone who doesn’t care at all about puppetry (like me, for instance), this TED Talk by Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones of the South AfricanHandspring Puppet Companyis pretty impressive.
Rosie famously riveted on the home front during World War II, but the fighting of World War I had likewise necessitated American women being recruited to replace men in the workforce. In this classic 1918 photo by Underwood & Underwood, young women operate the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel’s Stock Exchange Board, reading tickers and manually adjusting numbers. The Waldorf had several years earlier shown a progressive attitude toward women when it reportedly became the first upscale NYC hotel to allow women to stay in its rooms without an escort. Two years after this photo was taken, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, and U.S. women had won the vote.
WANTED: Your Spare PENNIES in your Home! – (Brooklyn)
Hi, do you have an old pickle jar, a plastic cup, or whatever of semi-filled pennies that you thought about saving but you really don’t see the saving going anywhere with them? If you want to keep your pennies, KEEP them by all means, the are YOUR pennies, you EARNED them. But if you have Pennies just sitting there and you really don’t see any use for them other than collecting dust, I’d love to have them!
Right now I have about a water jug filled of pennies, I’m trying to get more, and more and more of these pennies and see what the heck happens! I’m weird, smart, thrifty, cheap, whatever, I just want to continue collecting as many pennies as I can.
Please email me and let me know when I come come pick up some pennies and about how many pennies (Half a glass full, a wine bottle full, half a pickle jar full) — whatever!)
Am I a special person? No. Am I in need? I think we all are right now, more so than others? No I am not. Will I spend these pennies on charity? I don’t know what I will do with them to be honest.
So please, email me, curse me out! Call me a bum, or be nice and offer me the pennies sitting in that bottle on your china cabinet that you will never do anything with anytime soon! Thanks!
“Christopher Tenney, aged 35, of No. 70 South Washington Square, New York, has been sick for several days with cholera morbus, and was also troubled with the gout. This morning he took a large dose of gout medicine in a mistake, and soon afterward died. Coroner Flanagan has been called to investigate the case.”
Creative destruction is an essential part of economic regeneration, as paradigms shift, structures change and tools develop. Fresh ideas challenge the accepted order, and emerging industries replace established ones. Simply put, it’s out with the old and in with the new. We’re experiencing it now as the information economy and digital communications ascend, disappearing other industries. But even if this process is best (and even necessary) for long-term solvency, what about those left behind in the shuffle, those dots on the graph who are made with red ink?
This situation, of course, is nothing new. Albert and David Maysles made this prickly transition period the crux of their breakthrough 1968 documentary, Salesman, which put a sad and human face on those who were moving as fast as they could while still being left behind. In vérité style, the filmmakers follow a crew of Massachusetts-based door-to-door bible salesmen who try to push handsomely illustrated books on working-class people who are struggling to feed the kids and pay the mortgage. By the late ’60s, itinerant peddling had reached obsolescence as enclosed malls became popular, people grew reluctant to open their doors for strangers and cars were so ubiquitous that no one needed the “store” to come to them. Additionally, religion and traditional values were losing their grip on the collective will of the people, so these sellers were up against it.
There are funny moments in cheap motels and in the modest, often shabby, homes they visit, but as one of the salesman, middle-aged Paul “The Badger” Brennan, struggles to keep his job and quell his frustrations, the movie develops into an American tragedy. Right before his eyes (and ours), Brennan’s way of life runs out of time before he does. As the regional managers berate the crew into producing bible sales that seem to grow scarcer by the day, the men have to fool themselves into not losing their religion. But Brennan, a wizened chain-smoker, can no longer manage the ruse. “If a guy’s not a success he’s got nothing to blame but hisself!” barks one of the bosses. But sometimes problems are more complex than that and the sweep of history wider.•
When this interview was taped in 1997, it probably wasn’t apparent to too many people–even Jon Stewart himself?–that the younger comic would inherit the mantle of outraged, clear-eyed American conscience from George Carlin. Such different people who arrived at the same destination.
Excellent post on the NeuroTribes blog by Steve Silberman about John Elder Robison, an author and auto mechanic with Asperger syndrome. An excerpt:
“John Elder Robison would stand out in a crowd even if he didn’t have Asperger syndrome. A gruff, powerfully built, tirelessly curious, blue-eyed bear of a man, he hurtles down a San Diego sidewalk toward a promising Mexican restaurant like an unstoppable force of nature. ‘What’s keepin’ you stragglers?’ he calls back to the shorter-legged ambulators dawdling in his wake.
As they catch up, Robison utters his all-purpose sound of approval — ‘Woof!’ — which he utters often, being a man in his middle years who is finally at peace with himself after a difficult coming-of-age. For the acclaimed author of the 2007 New York Times bestseller Look Me in the Eye, a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder in mid-life was liberating, giving a name to the nagging feeling that he was somehow different from nearly everyone around him.”
The greatOpen Culturepoints out that the much-loved 1963-1988 nature TV program, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, has aYoutube channelwith some great footage. Hosted by zoologists Marlin Perkins and Jim Fowler, the show raised environmental awareness and made it perfectly clear that the ecosystem was not something to be tampered with. And in years before cable and the Internet, this program, along withWide World of Sports, introduced Cold War-era Americans to far-flung corners of the world they were supposed to ignore or fear.
Watch the “Land of Quaking Earth” episode, which features a reel-to-reel tape player and a monkey in a yellow suit slapping the crap out of an owl:
A wild tale about the normally mild-mannered Perkins from theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation site: “Of course, asking the difficult question can be hazardous to a host’s health. In 1982, the fifth estate investigated whether the many nature documentaries interfered with nature for dramatic purposes. Bob McKeown reported how a Disney documentary showing the phenomenon of lemmings plunging to their death over cliffs had in fact been the same film footage spliced together to give the appearance of mass suicide. When McKeown interviewed zoologist Marlin Perkins, host of Wild Kingdom about truth and fiction on wildlife programmes, he clearly hit a raw nerve. The octogenarian Perkins firmly asked for the camera to be turned off, then punched a shocked McKeown in the face.”
The Awl, that fascinating stream of information and ideas, has a particularly wonderful article-length post in “Wikipedia and the Death of the Expert,” which was written by Maria Bustillos. It was just a few short years ago that Jimmy Wales’ brainchild was being openly mocked. People were too focused on what Wikipedia wasn’t (a flawless source), ignoring what it was (an excellent starting point for a curious mind, one of the great triumphs of crowdsourcing and an apotheosis of amateurism). But the laughter has stopped. Wikipedia hasn’t contributed to the decline of civilization but to the storehouse of knowledge, widening it with a lack of disdain toward so-called “low culture.” The original idea for Wikipedia didn’t come from crowdsourcing, but it would still be an empty room without the crowd that occupied it.
The opening of Bustillos’ Awl post:
“It’s high time people stopped kvetching about Wikipedia, which has long been the best encyclopedia available in English, and started figuring out what it portends instead. For one thing, Wikipedia is forcing us to confront the paradox inherent in the idea of learners as ‘doers, not recipients.’ If learners are indeed doers and not recipients, from whom are they learning? From one another, it appears; same as it ever was.
It’s been over five years sincethe landmark study in Naturethat showed ‘few differences in accuracy’ between Wikipedia and theEncyclopedia Britannica. Though the honchos at Britannica threw a big hissy at the surprising results of that study,Nature stood by its methods and results,and a number of subsequent studieshave confirmed its findings; so far as general accuracy of content is concerned, Wikipedia is comparable to conventionally compiled encyclopedias, including Britannica.”
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Jimmy Wales describes the birth of Wikipedia at TED in 2005:
The conclusion of Stacy Schiff’s 2006 New Yorker article, “Know It All,” which realized that the Wiki mob was winning but wasn’t sure if the victory was Pyrrhic: “In the nineteen-sixties, William F. Buckley, Jr., said that he would sooner ‘live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than in a society governed by the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University.’ On Wikipedia, he might finally have his wish. How was his page? Essentially on target, he said. All the same, Buckley added, he would prefer that those anonymous two thousand souls govern, and leave the encyclopedia writing to the experts.
Over breakfast in early May, I asked Cauz for an analogy with which to compare Britannica and Wikipedia. ‘Wikipedia is to Britannica as ‘American Idol’ is to the Juilliard School,’ he e-mailed me the next day. A few days later, Wales also chose a musical metaphor. ‘Wikipedia is to Britannica as rock and roll is to easy listening,’ he suggested. “It may not be as smooth, but it scares the parents and is a lot smarter in the end.’ He is right to emphasize the fright factor over accuracy. As was the Encyclopédie, Wikipedia is a combination of manifesto and reference work. Peer review, the mainstream media, and government agencies have landed us in a ditch. Not only are we impatient with the authorities but we are in a mood to talk back. Wikipedia offers endless opportunities for self-expression. It is the love child of reading groups and chat rooms, a second home for anyone who has written an Amazon review. This is not the first time that encyclopedia-makers have snatched control from an élite, or cast a harsh light on certitude. Jimmy Wales may or may not be the new Henry Ford, yet he has sent us tooling down the interstate, with but a squint back at the railroad. We’re on the open road now, without conductors and timetables. We’re free to chart our own course, also free to get gloriously, recklessly lost. Your truth or mine?”
I am a PG screenplay writer with a delightful story waiting to be displayed on the silver screen. I put a product on Ebay, a photo for sale at 99 cents each. If I can sell enough of them, or if a person with means comes along first with some ‘doe-ray-me”, we can make a great show!!
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“With Basic Instinct…it took 13 days, literally, from the time I started writing to the time it sold.”
In 1997, William Gibson expounds with scary accuracy about the fast, cheap and out-of-control nature of that developing non-hierarchical mass medium known as the World Wide Web.
"About a week ago a glove fight, in which blood was spilled, was pulled off in front of the church."
In 1902, Brooklyn churches were hot spots for urchins who wanted to gamble and engage in blood-soaked fisticuffs. A story about such behavior was published in the March 31, 1902 Brooklyn Daily Eagle. An excerpt:
“Barney Ritter, 15 years old, of 157 Jefferson avenue, and his brother, Israel, 11 years old, were charged in the Gates avenue court this morning with gambling craps in front of the Church of the Reconciliation, Nostrand and Jefferson avenues, yesterday afternoon, as the members of the congregation were proceeding into the church to attend the Easter services.
The pastor of the church, the Rev. W. Russell Collins, a few days ago complained about the boys who congregate in front of the church and play ball and in other ways cause annoyance to the residents on Sundays as well as week days. About a week ago a glove fight, in which blood was spilled, was pulled off in front of the church. Policeman McGann was instructed to look out for the boys yesterday, and captured Ritter and his brother engaged in ‘throwing the bones.’ The boys, who pleaded guilty, were severely lectured and warned by the magistrate, who permitted them to go free.”
Footage of the Stepper 3D humanoid robot perambulating at Tsinghua University. The bot is being developed to participate in an annual soccer tournament called RoboCup, which will be held this year in Istanbul in July. From Singularity Hub: “I love the idea behind RoboCup: using the game of soccer to develop robotics and promote science and technology. The robots operate autonomously during play, utilizing programs that determine how they will find the ball, control the ball, and score a goal. RoboCup’s ultimate mission is to generate robots that can beat humans at a soccer match by the year 2050.”
"California has absorbed some eight million people since 1950." (Image by Matthew Field.)
In the 1965 Pageant magazine article, “The 450-Square-Mile Parking Lot,” Hunter S. Thompson (who hadn’t yet begun using the middle initial) looked up at the sunny Los Angeles sky and saw it falling, with the county becoming overcrowded and choked with exhaust. In retrospect, of course, it all seems quaint. The opening:
“If you count yourself in that legion who’ve been ‘thinking’ for years about moving to California–and especially to the Los Angeles area in Southern California–you’d better get your plans into high gear pretty soon, or forget it. Because the Golden State is getting crowded. So many people have gone there seeking the ‘good life’ that every year it gets harder and harder to find.
California has absorbed some eight million people since 1950, and even state officials have admitted that the population boom is becoming a very mixed blessing, especially as concerns schools, highways, welfare, and recreational facilities–all fields in which California ranks ahead of most other states. Yet the soaring population continues to outstrip all efforts to accommodate it. Sacramento, San Diego, and the San Francisco Bay area are growing like mushrooms, but the hub of the boom is and always has been Los Angeles, the king city of what is now the nation’s most populous state.” (Thanks to The Electric Typewriter.)
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Starkly different views of 1965 L.A.: The Farmers Market and the Watts Riots.
