Clay Shirky: The Collapse of Complex Business Models There are two essential bits of background here. The first is that most TV is made by for-profit companies, and there are two ways to generate a profit: raise revenues above expenses, or cut expenses below revenues. The other is that, for many media business, that second […]
Category Archives: farce
Complain about the government, but it could always be worse…
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Kafka’s Castle is collapsing | openDemocracy The saying «We have been put on earth to make Kafka come true» has been well known since Soviet times. We have been so steeped in absurdity since childhood that we haven’t even learnt to distinguish any of the rules that regulate it. We are on the other side […]
Lies, damned lies and statistics
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
We’re so good at medical studies that most of them are wrong The problem is that our statistical tools for evaluating the probability of error haven’t kept pace with our own successes, in the form of our ability to obtain massive data sets and perform multiple tests on them. Even given a low tolerance for […]
As if.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Saudis Seek Payments for Any Drop in Oil Revenues “It is like the tobacco industry asking for compensation for lost revenues as a part of a settlement to address the health risks of smoking,” said Jake Schmidt, the international climate policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The worst of this racket is that […]
Inside the Apocalyptic Soviet Doomsday Machine
Friday, October 2, 2009
The point of the system, he explains, was to guarantee an automatic Soviet response to an American nuclear strike. Even if the US crippled the USSR with a surprise attack, the Soviets could still hit back. It wouldn’t matter if the US blew up the Kremlin, took out the defense ministry, severed the communications network, […]
Newspapers
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Berke Breathed interview […] How different is the situation with newspaper strips today? Did the changes in the size of panels play a role in your recent decision to abandon newspaper strips? Will newspaper comics (and newspapers) survive? Have you ever thought about doing an online comic strip? This is a sad topic but I’m […]
Now, see, Dominion? Not that big a deal.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Plastic takes thousands of years to decompose — but 16-year-old science fair contestant Daniel Burd made it happen in just three months.
For only the second time
Sunday, June 14, 2009
since i’ve been blogging, i’m not going to dignify the source by linking to it. Jillian Harris, Vancouver’s most famous singleton, says she wants an honest man — one who will tell her if she’s got a booger in her nose. She’s hoping to find him on reality television. … i mean, really.
i know i sure bought more magazines before getting on the interwebs…
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Welcome, Wired. We call this land “Internet” | Boing Boing Gadgets Since then, Wired.com’s grown to 11 million monthly visitors: its blogs are among the best in their fields and its tech news reportage is among the finest, online or off […]. The sheer size of that readership speaks volumes: the Times says the magazine […]
Today’s fun fact
Monday, May 11, 2009
Robert Augustus Chesebrough, January 9, 1837 – September 8, 1938) was a chemist and the inventor of petroleum jelly, trade-named Vaseline. […] Chesebrough lived to be 101 years old and was such a believer in Vaseline that he claimed to have eaten a spoonful of it every day.
