In all of our education, whether it’s in institutions or not, in homes or streets or wherever, whether it’s scholarly or whether it’s experiential, there is a kind of a progression. We move from data to information to knowledge to wisdom. And separating one from the other, being able to distinguish among and between them, that is, knowing the limitations and the danger of exercising one without the others, while respecting each category of intelligence, is generally what serious education is about. And if we agree that purposeful progression exists, then you will see… that it’s easy, and it’s seductive, to assume that data is really knowledge. Or that information is, indeed, wisdom. Or that knowledge can exist without data. And how easy, and how effortlessly, one can parade and disguise itself as another. And how quickly we can forget that wisdom without knowledge, wisdom without any data, is just a hunch.
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Chris Eigeman and Tushka Bergen in Whit Stillman's "Barcelona" (1994). I loved this film, not least in part because the leads talk as much as I do. Just better grammar.
(Castle Rock Entertainment/Fine Line Features)
Wednesday - May 15, 2019 Wed - 05/15/19
rantnrave:// I watch a lot of television. I love my stories. One of the great thrillers to watch is not a show, but the traditional business itself and the coming tsunami that's going to hit it. Existing businesses with legacy deals and models are hard-pressed to innovate and compete against new entrants that have no legacy deals or models. Many make the mistake of not understanding that short-term revenue may need to take a hit in order to evolve into what they want and need to be. Leaders need to be uncharacteristically strong in navigating towards and through this. Many just know they won't be around for the tsunami. This is the dilemma I'm seeing as I look back at the last 15 years of the television business. As I watch the upfronts, just amazed at how far behind the industry is on its future. Announcements proclaimed as blockbuster (and they may be) are really late. Or is television the next BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO? They knew as far back as 2005. And yet, examples of companies that disrupted themselves early to be a market leader in the evolution of their industry? The stark reality is that "cable television" as we knew it is in (i think) irreversible decline. It's a format change. And those that prepared for the format change may be left standing. Most were not. Most will not be in their current form. But, I did listen to DEF LEPPARD on cassette. Then on CD and then digitally. Their content can and will survive a format change. The OTT SVOD universe is not going to replace cable. One of the main reasons you are hearing about AVOD (Advertiser Supported Video on Demand) is because the people running the traditional networks know that cable will not be replaced on a channel for channel basis. The overall subscriber universe is not going to subscribe to every OTT service offered. There will be SVOD overload. And in a down economy, there will be more trimming. NETFLIX will win. DISNEY+ will win. I think HULU should be the next giant. Then what? How many sub-10 million subscriber services will really survive? Cable is dropping channels. And keeping prices the same or higher! The entire OTT ecosystem is basically subsidized by cable. In the future, a lot of the content will be subsidized by businesses where the video is supportive of other businesses. Not pure plays. AMAZON, APPLE and so forth. So when that tips, where do prices go in the OTT universe. Up and up and up. And guess what comes back. Bundles. Oh, the irony. Many of these sub-scale services will depend on the funnel that the 3-4 leading services provide. They will be add-ons. These companies have content engines and with the main players holding back stuff for their own services, is there an evolution to arms dealer for some of these channel brands? Will some networks turn into production houses for the streaming behemoths or their upstart competitors? Yes, but likely with a hard cap on profit. Cost plus 10-20% as we're seeing develop now. If you create it's not doom and gloom out there, but you will need to work harder and spend more to maintain your audience and your awareness across multiple platforms that you haven't mastered. So, as the crux of your strategy, trying to get your audience from those platforms back to the mothership is probably not going to help you survive long-term. If you think we've seen the disruption of television, you ain't seen nothing yet. A nimble, risk-taking, startup-like mentality is what's needed to weather the storm. And an understanding of what you need to sacrifice now in order to be reborn as what you want and need to be. Long live television in all its evolutions. One thing is certain. There will be content. And we, the audience, wins... My favorite part of the upfront presentations. It happened in almost all of them... On my most self-involved days, my narrative is that BOB IGER posted this to torture only me and kill the dream that I'm going early... Happy Birthday to BRIAN SUGAR and WILL MOLONEY. Belated to JOHN SYKES, DANIEL PASETTE and BRIAN AUGUST.
- Jason Hirschhorn, curator
shawty mixin' up the vodka
Epicleff Media
MUST LISTEN: ‎Blockbuster
by Epicleff Media
A Six-Part Original Series. Set in the 1970s, this immersive "biopod" tells the story of two big-dreaming filmmakers and friends, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, and how they turned their lives upside down to lead a movie revolution.
Longreads
Technology Is as Biased as Its Makers
by Lizzie O'Shea
From exploding Ford Pintos to racist algorithms, all harmful technologies are a product of unethical design. And yet, like car companies in the ’70s, today’s tech companies would rather blame the user.
Medium
We're a Niche, We Just Didn't Know
by Anna Gát
Why you probably belong to the “inter-intellect” and why this matters.
Psychology Today
RETRO READ: Chris Rock PhD, Honorary Professor of Evo Psyc (Part 1 of 3)
by Barry X. Kuhle
Rock’s routines are funny because they invoke humans’ evolved psychology.
The Washington Post
How William Barr, now serving as a powerful ally for Trump, has championed presidential powers
by Tom Hamburger
The attorney general is part of a group of conservative intellectuals who have been leading the charge to expand the powers of the executive branch over the past four decades.
Vox
Hulu CEO Randy Freer explains why Hulu never promoted its ad-free version
by Peter Kafka and Randy Freer
The more expensive Hulu No Commercials plan was announced in 2015, and almost four years later, the company is finally ready to start advertising that it exists.
Lawfare
Why I Do Not Hate Donald Trump
by Jim Baker
The former general counsel of the FBI writes that he has come to believe that the best approach for him regarding President Trump-the only approach-is love.
Vox
People say they care about privacy but buy devices that can spy on them anyway
by Rani Molla
Experts explain why people are giving mixed signals about smart tech.
ProPublica
The Country That Exiled McKinsey
by Ian MacDougall and Anand Tumurtogoo
A dubious project raises serious questions about the world’s most prestigious consulting firm and its work for corruption-plagued regimes.
Wired
Why I (Still) Love Tech: In Defense of a Difficult Industry
by Paul Ford
Technology is just another human creation-like religion or government or sports or money. It's not perfect, and it never will be. But it's still a miracle.
with the lacroix
Nieman Journalism Lab
U.S. journalism really has become more subjective and personal -- at least some of it
by Laura Hazard Owen
A deep linguistic analysis finds that newspapers today are a lot like newspapers 30 years ago. But TV news -- especially cable news -- has ramped up the emotion, the conversationality, and the arguing.
Vanity Fair
How 'Veep' Did What 'Game of Thrones' Couldn't
by Sonia Saraiya
Selina Meyer’s downfall was beautifully earned. Daenerys Targaryen’s was a frustrating mess.
VICE
Pittsburgh's Rap Scene Is Wounded But Optimistic
by Casey Taylor
Following the deaths of two of the city's most prominent exports, Mac Miller and Jimmy Wopo, rappers like Benji. and My Favorite Color are doing their best to pick up the pieces.
Deadline
Francis Ford Coppola: How Winning Cannes 40 Years Ago Saved 'Apocalypse Now,' Making 'Megalopolis,' Why Scorsese Almost Helmed 'Godfather Part II' & Re-Cutting Three Past Films
by Mike Fleming Jr
He was one of the defining voices of the auteur '70s, having made some of the greatest and most ambitious films ever attempted. The films included "The Godfather" trilogy, "Apocalypse Now" and 'The Conversation." His penchant for risking himself personally to make those films, and the fortunes he won and lost along the way, makes him the quintessential disruptor's disruptor.
Lawfare
The Anatomy of Humanitarian Trade With Iran
by Tyler Cullis and Amir Handjani
The United States has long promised to ensure trade in humanitarian goods for countries under its economic sanctions. Yet the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign against Iran is rendering these legal exemptions unworkable in practice.
Rolling Stone
The Eternal Revenue Stream of Led Zeppelin
by Amy X. Wang
In the streaming era, record companies are cashing in anew on old hits -- and getting more creative about how to do it.
The Guardian
Why copying the populist right isn't going to save the left
by Cas Mudde
Social democratic parties have been losing ground for more than two decades -- but pandering to rightwing anxieties about immigration is not the solution.
Washingtonian
What Happened After My 13-Year-Old Son Joined the Alt-Right
by Anonymous
A Washington family's nightmare year.
CNBC
YouTube and its users face an existential threat from the EU's new copyright directive
by Lauren Feiner
Samuel Jones largely lives off the money he makes from YouTube as a TV and film reviewer. "In terms of paying rent, buying food, buying cigarettes, it's all YouTube money," he said. While his channel's co-creator Max Bardsley is in university, Jones works on " NitPix " full-time.
Engadget
Wandering the quiet digital halls of Habbo hotel
by Nick Summers
We went back to Habbo, a virtual hotel filled with user-designed chat rooms.
GeekWire
Melinda Gates opens up about tech industry, equality and 3 women who changed her life
by Monica Nickelsburg and Todd Bishop
Melinda Gates once famously set a rule in her kitchen. Nobody leaves until mom does. It’s a story she tells often during interviews and it comes up in her new book, “The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World,” because it shows that balancing unpaid work is a challenge universally shared among men and women.
FreightWaves
Why you should be rooting for startups like Uber
by Brian Aoaeh
Market expert Brian Aoaeh explains why all of us should be rooting for Uber, Lyft and other startups.
MUSIC OF THE DAY
YouTube
"Do It Properly"
2 Puerto Ricans, A Blackman, and a Dominican
Nell's, NYC. Circa 1987.
“REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask ‘why?’”
@JasonHirschhorn


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