January 2012
6 posts
For Fun: Florida Primary Predictions
PREDICTION:
ROMNEY 44 GINGRICH 30 PAUL 13 SANTORUM 12
EXPLAINER:
ROMNEY 44
Romney emerges from Florida bruised nationally but arguably stronger within his party. The Gingrich scare, which is by no means over, has drawn establishment tongues and money to his side. Though neither Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio could afford to endorse Romney in their home states, their overall approval was...
For Fun: South Carolina Primary Predictions
PREDICTION:
GINGRICH 37 ROMNEY 34 SANTORUM 14 PAUL 14 CAIN 1
EXPLAINER:
GINGRICH 37
Newt has momentum. At one point in December, he was carrying the state by over 10 points in a significantly more fractured field. Though he plummeted after a brutal Iowa effort, the propensity of conditional votes is there.
Obviously the resurfacing allegations from his ex-wife (adultery,...
"Defining" Public Relations
It appears that the PR field is attempting to get out in front of a crisis of its own.
A friend recently directed me to the website of the Public Relations Society of America, who have undertaken an initiative to develop contemporary language to describe their field. They have branded their project Public Relations Defined.
The group has just released three proposed definitions, and asked for...
The Internet as Civic Right
In a neat op-ed, Vint Cerf argues that we can’t rationalize internet access as a human right.
On that I think I agree with him. The designation of human rights should be reserved for core tenets that permit basic health, basic safety, and basic agency.
My agreement ends, however, with Mr. Cerf’s implication that internet access should also not be considered a civic right. My...
For Fun: Iowa Caucus Predictions
Sometimes the internet delivers, like when you are looking for an image of an elephant made of corn.
Alas, the big day is here! The fabled Iowa caucuses meet today in what constitutes the first delegate-designator of the Republican presidential nomination process. I will let Google explain the goofy (and, yes, often perplexing) caucus tradition in Iowa and other states. Results are likely...
2011: The Birth of e-Populism
If you run in circles anything like mine, you may have noticed that you spent a surprising amount of time discussing the concept of openness in 2011.
Perhaps it was in the context of participation in a theorized open government, the incremental mainstreaming of open coding practices on mobile devices, or the protection of the Internet as an open, globally governed asset.
Many noted how...
December 2011
2 posts
On Herman Cain
Herman Cain’s audacity is remarkable.
Last month, speaking broadly of Occupy-type rhetoric, he railed that “if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself.”
Now, standing on his head to paint a credible allegation of sustained infidelity as transactional aid to a (secret) friend, this: “I’m a softy, and I feel sorry for people when they get in deep financial trouble, especially...
November 2011
22 posts
Android Surpasses 50% Smartphone Market Share
New data reported by MobileSyrup sees Google’s Android OS reaching a 52.5% share of the smartphone market in 3Q11. This doubles that same share only a year ago.
Only about 1.5% of the difference came at the expense of iOS products. Taking into account Apple being between releases during this period, the slight drop should be seen as a fairly strong showing.
Most of Android’s...
The Concordian digs my story "Black Clouds" in... →
hansonfinger:
The Concordian really liked my story “Black Clouds” in Soliloquies 15.1!
The fiction section features stories by Frankie Barnet, Forest Orser, Madeleine Lee, Jeremy Hanson-Finger, Alex Manley and Russell Helms. The selection is all good. Mostowski was right; this is a publication of quality. However, the standout piece was most definitely “Black Clouds” by Jeremy Hanson-Finger....
“A blogger for a financial website called Infectious Greed found in 2009 that the...”
– -A passage from a really, really fascinating read. by Justin Wolfe
http://www.theawl.com/2011/11/the-tetris-effect
Please Revise: Quit it with the handicap switches
Let it be declared that assessing the likelihood of the presence of a handicap switch, locating the handicap switch, pressing the handicap switch, backing away diagonally, waiting for it to engage, and squeezing through the door milliseconds after theorizing clearance requires more time and effort than just opening the door in the first place. Stop this.
Flow, Amazon, and the Currency of Authority →
A9.com, a holding of Amazon.com, Inc. recently announced a new UPC-leveraging iOS app that uses an augmented reality interface to provide users with meta-data on a specific product in their physical presence (reviews, product specs, etc).
Interestingly, however, it seems that the potential niche of the application isn’t based on Amazon attempting to undersell the B&M retailer within...
Arguing for the Arts
Toronto mayor Rob Ford went from famous to infamous last week after global news outlets picked up reports of a profane outburst he directed at emergency services representatives following an early-morning housecall from Canadian comedy mainstay Mary Walsh.
International coverage was largely limited to snarky filler-blurbs on back pages and closing segments, highlighting the awkwardness of the...
[Par]take this lollipop
The information superhighway is lined with crowded shoulders of personal data.
The explosion of social networks, platform transferability, and avenues for self-publishing over the past decade has contributed to the creation of new, largely publicly-accessible streams of online information about you, your friends, your interests, and your activities. Add the dense caches of automated meta-data...
#Occupy__________
The developing #Occupy movement bubbling in major cities across North America and around the world has proven to be, if nothing else, a fascinating avenue for reflection. From the varied levels of success of different regional protests, to dynamics of outside appropriation and astroturfing, to the uneasy tone of most media coverage, most any discussion of the movement can branch into a seemingly...
Consoling Ontario's New Democrats
Much has been made of the purported impact of celebrated federal NDP leader Jack Layton’s death on the upcoming Ontario provincial election. After all, the past six weeks have been marked by widespread media discussion of core New Democratic values not seen since Ed Broadbent’s return to politics in 2004. Unlike 2004, however, these discussions have been diffused (perhaps...
Update: The National Post Apologizes
I think the Post surprised many with their decision to release what could only be described as a candid and reasonable apology to those offended by the ad they unfolded to on Wednesday morning. Editors said that they would not print the advertisement again, review their ad screening processes, and give their cut from the spot to a GLBT group.
I don’t think anyone would question the validity of...
Shorter...
This morning’s printing of a controversial advertisement in the National Post piqued an interesting curiosity. What is the state of spending protest (read “boycott protest”) in the online economy?
Frankly, I plan to continue to read the Post (I would self-identify as a regular online reader) despite being pretty turned off by their decision to print the spot. I thought it showed poor editorial...
Ontario Leaders' Debate Musings
The notes strategists slipped to their leaders minutes before yesterday’s debate:
Andrea Horwath
• You’re a woman. Use it. Mentioning a conversation you had in a female changeroom makes half of the electorate feel like they belong to a special club and the other half feel oddly titillated.
• Play up northern base. The seats are a lock, but pandering makes it seem more like you care about...
Coined: The Photo-oops
Ah, the photo-op.
An increasingly visual world has cemented it as a central pillar of political campaigns and entertainment culture (is there a difference?). But just as a perfectly choreographed photo-op can efficiently capture a desirable narrative (then-candidate Obama draining a triple to the delight of a gym-full of troops comes to mind), a botched photo-op can be disastrous.
For fans of...
Blog Graveyard
After several minutes of guilt for not caring to write about anything, I considered what it would take, of myself, to abandon the blog in favour of another activity. Say, fencing. Whatever.
Before I was fully able to commit to forgetting the url for this thing, I was distracted by the notion of a platform that aggregates the millions of defunct, two-post blogs that people decided they...
...
It also strikes me that I would really like to change this effing font.
Alas, a blog
It is yet impossible to say whether this is a waste of time.
I am hoping to get three things from this venture:
1/ The opportunity to write. I love to write.
2/ A chance to work though ideas and musings that strike over the course of a day, week, or month. Favourite topics are bound to include language, technology, politics, silliness, and hypocrisy.
3/ The prospect of, one day, not...
And we begin again...