Whither Twitter?

For my readers who may be unaware, another phase of Internet-centered communications advances is upon us. As my good friend Jack Latona might say, they just aren’t widely distributed… yet. I’m urging those who don’t usually tune-in to the latest and greatest until after folks on the cutting edge stop bleeding to get familiar - now - with the ideas behind the terms “Web 2.0” and “Social Media.”

With that in mind, today I’m going to introduce you to Twitter. It is definitely within the realms of both of the aforementioned new-fangled terms. And it is something that I instinctively know will be some sort of “next big thing.” That’s the oddest truth about Twitter: nearly everyone who uses it for a while finds it indispensable but we can’t describe it well. Most users believe that Twitter (or something very much like it) will become as much a part of our daily lives as email, but we still can’t tell you precisely why that will be the case.

Even explaining what Twitter is presents challenges. OK, it’s a means of “microblogging,” as if that helps. Rather than bore you with technical jargon, I’ll point you to this because it’s a good start:

But that’s all the video is: A good start. By the way, the video is by the good folks at Common Craft. I’ll have to do a post about that great company later; they’re really embedded in the Web 2.0 wave. (Continued)

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Absolut-ly Lame

There’s a serious kerfuffle in the Absolut brand thanks to a really bad marketing decision. It all centers on this advertisement:

These days, there is a substantial segment of America, perhaps a significant majority, for whom such imagery will be a cause for offense. This is now an official “crisis” and the mode of communication coming from the company should reflect that. Heck, Americans make up 40% of the market for their product. The folks at Absolut needed to take some serious steps to alleviate this situation. First, they needed to apologize profusely. Then they needed to find ways to make amends. There simply is no way to make this pig in a poke any more palatable. In this instance, with so much at stake, the only defense is surrender.

Instead, Absolut’s in-house shill machine went on the defensive. (Continued)

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Left Brain, Right Brain Inside Out

The video below is stunning. Thank you, Jill Bolte Taylor!

I cannot recall the last time… if there ever was a last time… I gained so much insight or experienced such an incredible multiplicity of revelation from witnessing a single presentation. I may have attended a sermon or two that came close to having its impact, but I doubt that any experience has ever educed from deep within so much insight about the human condition.

The following video will take up about 18 minutes of your life. It may change the way you look at the rest of it.

I’ve heard and read much about left-brain vs. right-brain thinking processes and how they may relate to individual learning processes. Jill’s talk made me realize far more clearly how human communication is a primarily left-brain affair. It now appears to me that, in fact, the human condition results from how much clarity people might find behind the veil brought down upon reality by left-brain noise. Jill makes it clear, at least for me, that people must get to know their right-brains a whole lot better; perhaps I can help some people do this. (Continued)

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“Religion of Peace” my derrière

Ignoring human nature can be fatal.

Let me preface this entry with a story:

For 10 months in 2003 & 2004, I was deputy communications director for the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. The Department has a fantastic group of researchers and data analysts who can predict current and future behavior based on past behavior with incredible accuracy. I learned a lot from them. Statistics are cold, rational informers when it comes to predicting human behavior; and, the more statistics there are in a sample, the more accurate they become as predictors. I’ve used the same sorts of processes to determine voter behavior for more than 20 years.

Yesterday I found a woman’s purse in my back yard. It had been stolen the day before from a house down the block. Today, I’m 99.9999% positive that we’ve either got a delinquent juvenile offender, or perhaps a couple offenders, whose family has recently moved into to our neighborhood. In the past week, there has been a rash of car break-ins, all following the same pattern: 1) targeting unlocked cars; 2) taking items that can be used to enable the criminal to commit other crimes; 3) haphazard disposal of evidence. Had the offender(s) just dropped that purse in one of the garbage bins that sit beside almost every home here, that purse would be in the landfill right now.

Before last week, this subdivision had been virtually crime-free for the year and a half we’ve lived here. In handing over the purse to the sheriff’s deputy, I remarked that he should look into any new residents, particularly new renters who have brought with them a child or children with existing juvenile crime records. The deputy informed me that he’d already ordered a report of this exact information: “to me, it looks like juveniles…and probably ones who are not new to this sort of behavior,” he said. “And they probably live here now.”

How charming. But I know he’s right.

I have little doubt that he’ll soon identify the culprit(s). He probably will not have evidence necessary to arrest them; once these predictable youth get a visit from law enforcement, they’ll just do their deeds the next subdivision over. But they will not change their basic behavior. The only thing I know for certain is that, statistically, by the time these youth are in their 30’s, they’ll be less likely to commit crimes and by the time they’re 40, they’ll probably be done with most forms of illegal activity. That’s they way it works. It’s their nature. And it isn’t going to change.

I consider it reasonable that I’m upset that there are juvenile delinquents in my neighborhood. I consider it reasonable to take precautions I had not previously taken, such as making sure that our car doors are locked before going to bed and that nothing tempting is visible through the windows. Both statistics and common sense indicate that my taking these actions will probably keep me from becoming a victim.

Statistically, it’s not a “religion of peace”

It is my understanding of the basic statistical patterns within human nature that make me so incensed that Political Correctness and fear stop us from taking steps that would end the idiotic Muslim outrage we’re seeing around the world today. This time, because the Pope quoted some 13th century discussion, “the Muslim street” is responding in its usual, predictable, violent and barbaric manner. We Westerners are fools for putting up with it.

We consistently fail to come to terms with the fact that Islam is what it is, just as juvenile delinquency is what it is.

For those who think that we’re going to just get past this war on “Islamofascism” (or whatever the PC police are allowing us to call it these days) by being “tolerant,” I’ve got a message for you. Step back, shut your yaps and let someone who still possesses functioning testicles take the lead before you get us all killed. (Continued)

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Study: God would be an atheist (”correlation does not equal causation” drivel)

“Drawing on a wide range of studies to cross-match faith â�� measured by belief in God and acceptance of evolution â�� with homicide and sexual behavior, Paul found that secular societies have lower rates of violence and teenage pregnancy than societies where many people profess belief in God.”

read more | digg story

This article subtitled “Religion fosters bad behavior” by Martin Foreman about a “study” on the topic of religion as a cause of crime is incredibly flawed. Let’s examine the opinion piece while keeping in mind that the study it references is predicated on the acknowledgement of an antithetical point. (Continued)

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