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Woohoo @BelindaThurston in The Onion's offices for a special #WhiskeyFriday

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:44:39 -0500

She works for a real paper, and we do fake news. Great interactions
going on here as we try to understand one another

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Face Punch is a fun action drama trapped in a crappy Mormon propaganda film. Let's free it from New Moon!

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:59:29 -0500

I watched Twilight this weekend an did a live hate-tweeting of the experience. Later I went back and added some images and other content to the tweets. I think my favorite part of this crappy movie was when the characters went to see the crappy fictional movie, Face Punch

I actually could use to see a bit more of this Face Punch movie and am sure it would be better than New Moon. Since that’s not quite possible, I did the next best thing: I transcribed the scene from New Moon and fleshed out the premise and characters a bit. Thus, the image above. (click it to see a larger view. it’s also on Flickr).

Hey, here’s a crazy idea. Anyone interested in writing the full script to Face Punch, the movie? Like the entire thing? I feel like this is something that should happen.

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Twitter graffiti in NYC subway

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:27:26 -0500

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Steve Lambert » Wallet Keys Phone. i love this

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:26:18 -0500

via visitsteve.com

i’ve had a tradition of saying “Phone, Wallet, Keys” to myself as I exit my abode since I was about 9 years old. Steve has a brilliant sign

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There's A #Hashtag For That. My Web 2.0 keynote video (and slides)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:56:37 -0500

This week, I had the honor of presenting a keynote at the Web 2.0 Expo in NYC. My topic was hashtag warfare on Twitter, and I titled my talk, “There’s a #Hashtag for that.”

Here’s a really high quality video with slides below. Enjoy. Spread the word! Hire me to speak at your conference/school/organization and talk smack about the latest medium using the latest medium

and here are the slides

There’s A #Hashtag For That (Web 2.0 Presentation by Baratunde Thurston)

View more presentations from baratunde.

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You don't have to move out of your neighborhood to live in a better one. #Pioneers

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:36:18 -0500

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For the next few days, I'll be taking part in the #Pioneers conferene. Here's what that means

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:20:36 -0500

2009 is the 400 year anniversary of Henry Hudson sailing from Amsterdam (Holland) to New Amsterdam (NYC). All year, governments on both sides of the Atlantic have been celebrating with cultural events, tourism programs, and various other commemorative actions. The Pioneers program is part of that celebration.

The Pioneers Sessions will celebrate the common values of creativity, diversity and entrepreneurship in Amsterdam and New York City and the two cities’ shared history of urban greatness that began 400 years ago with the journey of the Dutch ship “Halve Maen,” commanded by Captain Henry Hudson across the Atlantic in 1609. The sessions will bring together a group of selected Pioneers-today’s cutting edge thinkers and entrepreneurs in diverse professional fields-for a transatlantic dialogue into the frontiers of civic engagement and social entrepreneurship in Amsterdam and New York City. Participants will be young professionals drawn from a broad range of fields including academia, the arts, business, health, education, government, grassroots activism, media and technology. Pioneers will gain knowledge and inspiration from exploring how innovative thinkers from different cities and disciplines are meeting the challenges of urban, social and civic engagement.

I’m one of 20 New Yorkers that went to Amsterdam in April to meet and work with 20 Amsterdammers as part of this Pioneers program. We listened to lectures, are touring each other’s cities, workshopping and brainstorming on how to create the best cities we can. Over the next few days, NYC will play host to the Pioneers from Amsterdam, and I’ll be posting updates to Twitter and Facebook from the conference. If you see the #Pioneers hashtag, this is what I’m talking about.

To sample a bit more of what has come from our cultural exchange, check out this video I shot in April with Kirsten van de Hul discussing the (somewhat secret) history of Dutch dependence on slavery.

and another

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woohoo. i just got some pretty awesome hate mail. i'm a poser clown!

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:25:06 -0500

I just got this via my website, and I thought I’d pollute the twitterverse with it, since it’s someone else’s content and all. I’ve removed the sender’s name to protect the guilty.

Subject: you
Message: Wow you suck suck suck. What are you supposed to be doing? You’re not really funny, you don’t seem especially smart, and all the content I see coming out of you seems to be linked to someone elses content. You blow! You suck! Stop polluting the twitterverse you poser clown…

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My Web 2.0 Expo keynote is today at 1:35pm ET, and you can watch it online for free

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:20:24 -0500

I’m giving a talk at the Web 2.0 Expo in NYC today and it will be live streamed.

here’s the topic. it’s all about hashtag warfare on twitter. it’s live streamed but you’ll have to register for a free account to view it

I encourage you to watch all the keynotes. They run from 1:30-3pm and, I’m basically opening for these awesome people: Douglas Rushkoff, Gina Trapani, Anil Dash, Brady Forrest and Scott Berkun

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Microsoft stores show why we should have kept the Electric Slide away from white people

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:13:44 -0500

via crunchgear.com

Crunchgear has already pointed out that these Microsoft Stores are clear knockoffs of Apple Stores, and this spontaneous dance thing is a knockoff of Improv Everywhere

But this scene is troublesome for reasons beyond that:

It just hurt my heart to watch this. It made me feel bad in my heart! It was deeper than pity and more potent than sadness. I just kept thinking: “No, no no no.” and “But why? Why, why why why?”
I had to force myself to sit through it. It was like watching a child pick its nose, slowly and then bring it to you full of pride as if the kid had done something worthwhile.
How is this supposed to encourage sales? If I’m walking by this in a mall, I see a bunch of brightly colored t-shirt wearing people dancing in unison, and I’m thinking: “Oh that’s nice. They’ve let the developmentally challenged out for a field trip.”
It’s way too long. It’s actually the full four minutes and 45 seconds. Who does that??
WTF does this have to do with helping people understand Microsoft products? Will corny dancing help prevent spyware and viruses from destroying your computer?
What’s up with those people not dancing and not even paying attention to the dancing? They’re just on laptops in the background like this is a normal situation. This is not normal! It demands attention! Horrific, cringe-inducing attention!
Why do I have a feeling this is all Steve Ballmer’s fault?

I can only hope no one at Microsoft has heard of the Cupid Shuffle yet.

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My second appearance on This Week In Tech is available for your enjoyment

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:58:53 -0500

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, Baratunde Thurston, and John C. Dvorak

Modern Warfare 2 is the biggest media launch of all time but PC gamers are hopping mad, how come usability expert Jakob Nielsen’s site looks so bad, and so long Geocities…

via twit.tv

I’ve loved listening to this show for years, and now I can say I love being on this show. Geekfest and lots of fun, silly and occasionally substantive conversation. Make sure you get to the end when I rant against the “convenient oppression” of Apple.

Show is available in every format imaginable at http://twit.tv/221

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The Gitmo-fueled Prison Economy Boom And Illinois

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:00:19 -0500

This is what I saw on my television screen as CNN switched from live coverage of President Obama’s town hall in China to a story about Guantanamo’s future: “Illinois Prison A Mini-Gitmo?” I had the TV muted because I was still tuning in to the town hall on my laptop. I assumed the Gitmo reference to Illinois prisons was about the rampant culture of torture and corruption reported out of Chicago jails.

Short excerpt from the Chicago Police Torture Archives

May 1972 – Jon Burge is promoted to Chicago Police Detective and is assigned to the Area Two detective division on the south side of Chicago. Area Two serves a mostly African-American community, and it is here that the military training in torture he received in Vietnam first begins to arise in the context of his police work.

Aug. 1972 – the first allegations of torture and abuse against Jon Burge and other Area 2 detectives are made by three African American men arrested and held at Area 2, Mastin, Smith, and Hill.

May 30, 1973 – Anthony “Satan” Jones is tortured by electric-shock and suffocation with a plastic bag by Burge and his men while in custody at Area 2.

1977 – Burge is promoted to Sergeant at Area 2.

Instead CNN was referring to Illinois being the latest to join the prison economy gold rush set off by the planned closure of Guantanamo Bay and the resulting need to find alternate “housing” for current inmates.

A proposal to house federal prisoners, including some detainees from Guantanamo Bay, in a largely vacant maximum-security prison would be an economic boost to struggling northern Illinois, state officials said Sunday.

There’s always something perverse about economic development driven by imprisonment but it’s even more perverse to see Illinois raise its bloodied hands and offer itself as a solution to the Gitmo shutdown. Of course, it could be the state’s secret plan to preserve that authentic Guantanamo feel by forgoing the supermax prison and throwing the detainees right into a Cook County jail.

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Facebook update exonerates teen according to Newsday story supported by passive aggressive business model

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:27:34 -0500

I was reading this fascinating story about a teenager who served 12 days in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. He was finally released when prosecutors acknowledged he couldn’t have committed the robbery because he posted to Facebook from his father’s Harlem apartment at the same time. Happy for the kid. Annoyed that the testimony of his entire family as to his whereabouts wasn’t enough to keep the young man out of jail for twelve days. Also annoyed then when I tried to watch the video linked in the story, an annoying Newsday popup blocked my experience the entire time. Rather than telling me I couldn’t see the video unless I was a subscriber, the video played in the background with the annoying registration box permanently floating above it. Passive aggressive douchebags.

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My 2012 movie review in four tweets or less

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:44:36 -0500

Friday night, I saw 2012. Immediately after leaving the theatre, I
posted my observations in the hopes that my experience could help
others. However, based on the number of Foursquare checkins from
friends announcing their plans to see this film, my work has not
reached everyone it should have. So here’s a Twitter retrospective of my 2012 impressions. Please, heed
my tweets!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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State Department 2.0 on Sudan, Darfur and Public Engagement | (via techPresident)

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:15:53 -0500

Tomorrow afternoon at 3:00pm EST, Special Envoy Scott Gration and Samantha Power, NSC Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs, are going to sit down at the White House with the leaders of the largest, most vocal advocacy groups on Darfur issue, Jerry Fowler of Save Darfur, and Layla Amjadi, the student director of STAND (the student-led division of the Genocide Intervention Network). Ho-hum, you might say, yet another behind-the-scenes meeting between administration officials and NGOs, what’s new about that?

Well, two things. First, the meeting is going to be streamed live onto the web on not only the White House and State Department websites (in the latter case on their Facebook page, where viewers can comment along in real-time), but also on the Save Darfur and STAND’s sites. So the conversation is hardly going to be behind-the-scenes. And second, since last week both groups have been canvassing their memberships to submit and/or select questions to ask Gration and Power since last week when Gration announced the event on the State Department’s blog. He wrote:

via techpresident.com

I’ve been impressed and excited with how the administration is offering new methods (and a higher frequency) of public engagement. I think it began with the online town halls the president did last Spring, but it seems now that rarely a week goes by without some sort of live chat from a major executive branch office.

I don’t think I can make the Darfur chat, but I hope many of you can. Active citizenship, yall.

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Anyone else find the Coke Zero "Facial Profiler" a bit creepy?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:40:11 -0500

My first thought was: “They should make an app called Racial Profiler” because I’m a fool.

But then I started reading the not-so-fine print on the Facial Profiler app. “Compile a database of faces…” Um, no. This is a bit too CIA for me. There’s no way I’m helping fill a spooky database owned and operated by the people that brought us Diet Coca-Cola Black Cherry Vanilla. Not now. Not ever.

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Cops taser man with his hands already on police car. What you can do about it.

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:25:35 -0500

Rolando Ruiz is the man featured in yet another taser video making the rounds on Youtube. Ruiz was in police custody after being arrested by a Minneapolis police officer for reportedly throwing a brick at an officer’s vehicle.

Ruiz, who is 18-years-old, is seen in the video with his hands on the car before the officer appears to hold the taser to the back of Ruiz’s neck for 15 seconds.

Chief Tim Dolan called the video “very disturbing” and has asked the FBI to review it.

We’re always told tasers are the “safe” alternative to deadly force, and that police officers need to carry electric guns for purposes of self-defense only. This video appears to shatter the self-defense myth as does this recent story about a 51-year-old man, who was shot dead by officers after trying to escape his tasering.

via trueslant.com

Keep reading and watch the video on the clickthrough. The author is on point as usual.

Now, after that, please head over to http://taserhearings.blogspot.com/

It’s a site and movement started by many Afrospear members. And for those in Fort Worth, TX please check out this rally tomorrow (Saturday Nov 7) http://bit.ly/2JABK4

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TPM report from Tea Party rally on Capitol Hill (or how mobs form and wreck sh*t)

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:39:28 -0500

TPMDC happened upon a crowd that formed around two police vans as the protesters were prepared for “transporting,” according to one officer there.

Without those official details, protesters in the crowd watching the arrests were furious. They shouted “Let them go!” and one man yelled at the police that “Martin Luther King” was being dishonored and shouted “Letter from Birmingham Jail!”

One woman told officers they were “shameful.”

“This is America, this is not the Soviet Union,” one woman said.

Like a bad game of telephone, the crowd spread rumors without anyone having witnessed exactly what happened.

via tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com

You really need to read the entire post over at TPM DC. It’s a case study in how misinformation spreads rapidly and horribly false conclusions are drawn by people predisposed to anger and action.

This isn’t unique to the Tea Party movement, and it would be hilarious if it weren’t also so potentially damaging, both physically and to the health of the healthcare debate we really need.

I can already see the headlines based on these unsubstantiated outbursts:

CAPITOL POLICE ARREST PRAYER GROUP

OBAMA THUGS SHRED CONSTITUTION

SOCIALISTS SOCIALIZE SOCIALISM!!

*sigh*

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First Lady Salutes Higher Achievement Program (I was part of this as a kid!)

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:31:00 -0500

via higherachievement.org

Higher Achievement is the proud recipient of the Coming Up Taller Award, the nation’s highest honor for out-of-school time organizations providing humanities and arts programming to children with great potential, but limited outlets for creative expression.

First Lady Michelle Obama presented the award to Higher Achievement during a special ceremony at the White House on November 4th. Higher Achievement is one of only 15 award winners, selected from more than 400 nominees from across the nation.

Wow, what happy news. I was in HAP throughout elementary school. It was like school after school in order to push me ahead academically. A few years ago I emceed one of the organization’s fundraisers. It so good to see this group getting the recognition it deserves. It really did change the course of my life for the better. Because of the extra investment of HAP, I was able to apply and gain entry to Sidwell Friends, and today, I spend most of my time on Twitter. Success!! :)

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Amazing and disturbing tweet from Fort Hood area. Now with ebonics translation

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:12:53 -0500

The Huffington Post tweeted this Twitter search result which shows tweets coming from the Fort Hood area. It’s an amazing feed actually. I noticed the tweet above in the feed, and had to pause for a second. So amazing and disturbing. So many levels.

Rough translation:
There’s a shooting at Fort Hood, and people are being killed. I’m going to go to Walmart and purchase a firearm in order to protect myself. I’m going right now.

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