The only thing that consoles us for our miseries is diversion, and yet it is the greatest of our miseries. - Pascal Met the creator of this video at a Media Ecology conference a few years ago. The idea comes from the book Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman. Read it.

Worth a read. “To be honest, so much of the rhetoric around the use of social media in Egypt and Tunisia makes me want to scream — folks act like these American tools just dropped from the sky like humanitarian food rations, set to save the people from their (American-supported, natch) dictators.” http://jilliancyork.com/2011/01/27/how-are-protestors-in-egypt-using-social-media/

A few highlights from my current read, Edward T. Hall‘s Beyond Culture (Chapter 4 – Hidden Culture) “…language is not…a system for transferring thoughts or meaning from one brain to another, but a system for organizing information and for releasing thoughts and responses in other organisms.” (pg 57) (my emphasis) “Two things get in the [...]

As I watched my Twitter feed flutter this past weekend with amazing update after amazing update of the Personal Democracy Forum, my former adviser and mentor was there giving what apparently turned out to be a standing-ovation-worthy preso on YouTube Culture and Politics of Authenticity.  The fact that he brought the house down with his [...]