If you’ve been off-planet for the last few months you may have missed the news: Jon & Kate have split, and in the process migrated from the relative banality of the TV listings over to the hyper-banality of the tabloids. I’m still not sure what the future holds for the popular “reality” show, but whatever it is, Gosselin family 2.0
Read morePart 2 of a series; Previously: What Bell Labs and French Intellectuals Can Tell Us About Cronkite and Couric The Signal-to-Noise Journey of American Media The 20th Century represented a Golden Age of Institutional Journalism. The Yellow Journalism wars of the late 19th Century gave way to a more responsible mode of reporting built on ethical and professional codes that
Read morePart one of a two-part series. From Cronkite to Couric: the Kingdom of Signal is swallowed by the Empire of Noise The recent death of Walter Cronkite spurred the predictable outpouring of tributes, each reverencing in its own way a man who was the face and voice of journalism in America for a generation or more. The irony of all
Read moreWent to Lucille’s this morning for brunch. (Best biscuits and gravy in .. the … world, by the way.) And guess who was sitting at the next table?
Read moreEarlier today I got a call from the University of Colorado, where I earned by doctorate. It was one of those periodic fund-raising calls that probably every alum gets, and the young woman on the other end of the line was incredibly polite and winning. She asked a few questions about how I was doing, what I was doing, had
Read moreQuick, point your twitterers to @owillis right now. Oliver Willis has apparently had enough of Harry Reid’s cluelessness and is just going nuts on him. This is the most fun anybody has had at the expense of a public official since the Iraqi Information Minister.
Read moreThis came to me just now in an e-mail exchange with our friend John Harvin. So, tell me – am I onto something? Has this already been said? In any public communication system where access is generally open, noise tends to expand at an exponential rate while the expansion of signal is merely additive. Of course, it’s hard to imagine
Read moreIf you’re a doctor, it might be a bit unseemly to run a funeral home next door. If you’re a teacher, there might be some ethical concerns with peddling crack to your kids during recess. And if you’re a pharmacy… Once they were drug stores. Then they became pharmacies. And now? These days they’re in the business of business. The
Read moreLet’s begin with a brief Q&A with America. Q: Let’s say you’re sick with a potentially deadly disease. Who do you want for a doctor? A: The smartest, most experienced and highly qualified expert in the field. Q: You’re looking to invest your life savings. Who do you trust to handle your money? A: The brightest, most agile financial mind
Read moreThere’s been a lot of controversy in King James Land this week. Apparently Xavier’s Jordan Crawford dunked on LeBron in a pickup game. Nike officials confiscated the two videos of the dunk. Depending on your perspective, LeBron is being a punk-ass little bitch or Nike was fully justified in its actions. Please. Where was all the hoopla last month when
Read moreYesterday over at Future Majority, Kevin Bondelli responded to Jack Hough’s New York Post column “Don’t Get That College Degree!” Bondelli’s take led with one of the more terrifying titles I’ve seen lately: “Has College Become a Bad Investment?” Yow. When you dig the hole so deep that you can even use that kind of question as a rhetorical device,
Read moreY’all can blame our friend fikshun for passing along this tasteless bit of hackery.
Read moreWe took a little drive this morning through some of the more scenic portions of Gunnison County, Colorado. For reference purposes, Gunnison County is significantly larger than the state of Delaware, and since it’s extremely mountainous (the city of Gunnison, which sits in the valley, is at an altitude of 7,700+ feet), there are a lot of scenic spots in
Read moreHopefully that title will make sense by the end of this article. For the change management and organizational behavior fans in the audience (as well as those who simply need some insight into improving how their teams work), Peter Bregman has some thoughts over at HarvardBusiness.org on “A Good Way to Change a Corporate Culture.” He recalls a conversation with
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