Peter Kittle's List: Social Media

• Members are understandably reluctant to become shills.

  • Yeah. But I've re-tweeted stuff before in the hopes of, for instance, winning a new MacBook. And that's an obvious way to become a shill. Maybe so obvious that it doesn't bother me too much.
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• • This article is a little frightening to me. But I see it so much at home now. Seth, when his homework is done, goes on the computer to play games, or watch a Strongbad email; or is on his DS or the PS2 playing a game. Even when he goes to bed, he has his iPod on and listens to music. And he's 12. What'll it be like when he gets a phone?
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• usually pronounced LOLL-kat, with the "lol" not being an initialism;
• cat macro, since the images are a type of image macro
• The caption is intentionally written with deviations from standard English spelling and syntax,^[4] featuring "strangely-conjugated verbs, but a tendency to converge to a new set of rules in spelling and grammar."^[4][5][6] The text parodies the grammar-poor patois stereotypically attributed to Internet slang. Frequently, lolcat captions take the form of phrasal templates.^[6] Some phrases have a known source, usually a well-known Internet meme, such as All your base are belong to us or Do not want,^[7] while others don't. There are parallels between the language used in lolcats and baby talk, which some owners of cats often use when talking to them.^[8]

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• Adam Savage talks about his fascination with the dodo bird, and how it led him on a strange and surprising double quest. It's an entertaining adventure through the mind of a creative obsessive.
• It's very nice to see someone so enthusiastic and open to the world talk about how their mind works, especially when it chimes with how I personally work and think. I feel that the real message of this talk isn't about the objects but how an idea can grow and develop just by being left in your head (and a hard drive) until conditions change in a way that makes different aspects those thoughts and ideas bloom into productive tangents

• As Christopher stated, I am not asking for laws against creativity, but laws against pollution do exist, and are being revised to include other toxic substances... DDT wasn't banned because the government disapproves of increased food production, it was banned (in the US, at least) because of the harm it does...
   
   >How many cars are there and how much paint, oil, rubber, do they use?
   
   This has been addressed in other forums, and is irrelevant to the talk...
   
   >I certainly doubt Adam Savage has convinced 6 billion people to create their own Maltese
   >Falcon using 70 layers of paint
   
   Come on, you can't possibly think that's what I was implying? I meant that everyone acts without thinking about global consequences...I doubt that Adam ever gave any thought to how he could make a less toxic maltese falcon, and a half dozen people now defend his thoughtlessness in this forum....
   
   It is a strong testament to the notion that a bad idea passionately argued will find a committed following...

   
   
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    d woz (0)

     

     
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    Jul 12 2009: I like this post a lot. It is a wonderful example of how people carry their own context with them when they travel. Our friend Darren has selected his context, and it's something to do with human-caused environmental degradation. That is his lens...everything is seen through that lens.
     
     That's an extremely useful concept to understand..."Art" (capital "A" art) is a kind of message, a communication. there are two aspects that are important...the objective aspect (artist intent, the reality of the art) and the subjective aspect (what the "consumer" of art perceives).
     
     This is the true value of art...it can act to illuminate your world (resonate within your own context) and it can also act as a portal into a different world (bring an outside message in).

• I found this talk to be thoroughly self indulgent. I only wonder how things would be if all this obsessive talent was directed into making our world a bit better by actually teaming up to solve actual problems. I have seen several TED talks and this was the first one that left me numb. What WAS the point? Where is the IDEA worth spreading? I admire Adam Savage's ingenuity and determination and I have enjoyed his television program but the above thought nags me - how things would be if all this obsessive talent was directed into making our world a bit better by actually teaming up to solve actual problems.
   
   Please Mr. Savage, rethink of your priorities and help leave a better world to your children by putting your impressive talent, resourcefulness and obsessive determination in solving socially important problems.

   
   
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    LaRae Meadows (+2)

     

     
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    May 25 2009: It's ok to just have fun Manolis. Remember what the E in TED is for? Making science fun, making art and science relate to each other, showing persistance, etc is good for children - and adults.

     
   
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    Justin Riley (-1)

     

     
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    May 25 2009: well while i do understand your point manolis, i felt like the point of the talk was for everyone to nurture their creative problem solving. What should he have done? just give up, what would have been the point in THAT? instead he used his brain and creatively solved his problem he had, now THAT is something to pass on to the children who will go on to be our leaders when we are old and aging, and if this can open even one of their minds to the wonder and excitement of solving a problem, be it a social problem or wanting a scale model of the maltese falcon...i believe that in itself was the point. As always though you are more then welcome to your opinion :) i say this to you though, perhaps it is you that needs to rethink your priorities.

     
   
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    Paul Malone (+3)

     

     
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    Jun 7 2009: You're calling a guy 'self-indulgent' because he has a hobby? Why should Adam spend every waking hour making the world a better place? Because he's on TV?
     
     If I follow your own reasoning, isn't it true that your comment is self-indulgent because you spent the time and effort complaining about a video on the internet when you could have used that time to solve 'actual problems'?
     
     I watched the same video you did and came away entertained with a few ideas and inspiration for my own artwork. Which begs the question, is all artwork 'self-indulgent' because it doesn't solve 'socially important problems'?
     
     I hate to say it, but you just sound like someone who is desperately trying to sound intellectual and be noticed.

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• I actually went into a bank the other day. Even though it was I that was physically entering their space, I felt so intruded upon! As soon as I stepped in, everybody there was instantly able to read my gender, height, weight, hair color, eye color, even my shoe size! It was so invasive. They could make assumptions about my socioeconomic status, age, and other really important, PRIVATE information. It was mortifying knowing that I would then have to trust them with the quantitative raw data about how much I'm worth. I was tempted to just cash the check and run screaming.
   
   And it only got worse. I opened my mouth to speak and I can only imagine that they could tell where I was from the second I asked for a pen. I remember dreading wearing a dress, for the skin on my legs and arms was showing. It wouldn't be necessary to check any boxes about my ethnicity or background (and I felt the wave of relief when I looked around and saw that there were none). But they knew my face. From multiple angles. The way it moved and all of the little details that I had no control over. It was worse than a thousand pictures. I longed for a 2-dimensional pixel disguise.
   
   I remember as I left, it occurred to me that not only could I not protect myself from all the prying eyes on my very being, but my things...my very clothing and accessories...were leaking the cherished details about my life I've tried so hard to protect. Brand names as identity markers. Beads of sweat pushing through the very fibers of my meticulously selected day's cloaking. I wrung my unringed hands and tried to inconspicuously shuffle to a mass transit station, hiding my face status, so nobody would know how I really felt inside.
   
   When I got home, I wept. For all of those who were making large purchases. I prayed they got home safely. And for those with children...I cried for them too, knowing how every moment in public was one where they would be exposed to a harsh, prying world.
   
   I spent the rest of the evening, rocking back and forth in a chair, comforted by a warm blue glow.
• I was kind of an insufferable teenager, in a lot of ways. Myself now and myself then would not get along very well, at all. Not just in terms of maturity -- I'm a different sort of person than I was then. The stuff I felt passionate about back then is either unimportant to me now, or downright distasteful, or both.
   
   I'm glad that only a dozen or so people that I still care about have much knowledge of the kind of person that I was back then. And that those people can't easily have their memories refreshed by reading my writings and watching video of me from that era.
• Another, more baffling angle is the "oh noes, Google is making public things ... public" bit. Like the woman who said she felt threatened because personally identifying information in her public shared items was now being read, by the public. Likewise shii's resume. Er, hello, this is Google. Their whole game is to burrow into the darkest, remotest corners of the internet and expose what's there.
   
   If you make things public on the internet, Google's going to find out about them, and it's going to tell other people about them. This isn't some startling revelation. Nor is the idea that security by obscurity is bunk.

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