Scientists, and their moral duty to resist trumpism

from Boing Boing:

A trio of "scientists against a fascist government" set out a program for resisting trumpism with science, delving into the moral duty of scientists to resist the perversion of their work to attain cruel and evil ends.

Trumpism includes savage attacks on ideologically inconvenient science -- climate science especially -- as well as xenophobic attacks on scientists themselves; as with Max Planck's arguments for sparing Jewish theoretical physicists (because they were different from other kinds of Jews), the trumpist agenda will likely grant exemptions for Muslim scientists if they're working on projects revelant to the Trump program -- there are a lot of oil engineers who graduate from universities in the Islamic world, for example.

In order to move away from a constrained, collaboration-oriented stance, we propose that starting points for discussion should include those with the most power taking the highest risks. Among a growing number of proposed ways to engage in resistance, one option is for tenured faculty to engage in work slowdowns and strikes, with teaching and committee work stoppages. We cannot afford to normalize this administration’s attempts to subvert the rule of law, which has often fallen short in protecting people at the margins and more often than not has established their place at the margins.

It is not up for debate; science can be, and has been, used as a tool of fascism.

We cannot do business as usual anymore, regardless of how much we love our research or how important it feels. It is for the love of science and our long-term ability to study it that we must take a stand now, while there is still time. This is not just a matter of individual action, but collective action: Faculty and administrations must visibly oppose marginalizing policies, whether they target immigrants from majority Muslim countries or further institutionalize destructive mass incarceration of American residents.

We believe that scientific research is a creative enterprise and expect that scientists can and should come up with creative ways to stand in solidarity with society’s most vulnerable, whether or not they are members of the scientific community. There is a proud tradition of the revolutionary scientist. Linus Pauling, a nobel laureate and protein chemist, worked with the Black Panther Party to develop inexpensive diagnostic tests for sickle cell anemia. Albert Einstein worked as an anti-racist and peace activist during and after World War II. Max von Laue resisted Nazi infiltration of German physics and maintained relationships with Jewish scientists, while publicly eulogizing those who were lost. This is a tradition we see as our duty to uphold.

We Are The Scientists Against A Fascist Government [Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Sarah Tuttle, and Joseph Osmundson/The Establishment]

‘NIGHT OF THE LIVING REDNECKS’: DEAD KENNEDYS LIVE IN PORTLAND, 1979

from Dangerous Minds:

While it is still legal to select your own music and video entertainment, why not seize the day? Come join me in YouTube’s deep Dead Kennedys hole. After you’ve exhausted the band’s slender official home video catalog, there’s more than enough not-so-official footage to absorb all the sleepless hours after curfew.

This video of the DKs at Portland’s Earth Tavern on November 19, 1979 captures them in between their first single, “California Über Alles,” and their second, “Holiday in Cambodia”: pre-Peligro (the drummer is Bruce Slesinger, a/k/a “Ted”), but post-6025.

It’s the second set of the night (and substantially different from the first, to the DKs’ credit), which explains Biafra’s hoarseness. Portland-area YouTube user MikeBrainfollies claims the video is his work, but doesn’t say more; in any case, it’s a two-camera job with the kind of video mixing you just can’t get these days.

If you’re a fan of the Dead Kennedys’ compilation album Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death, “Night of the Living Rednecks,” Biafra’s spoken-word rant about getting hassled by rich dickheads on a previous visit to Portland, comes from this show. After “Chemical Warfare,” East Bay Ray exits the stage holding his guitar—a sunburst Strat?—by the neck; “Ray’s guitar broke,” Biafra complains. Klaus and Ted blow some jazz.

It’s very strange to see a performance you’ve heard on record hundreds of times. When Jello says “His fists didn’t go up so quickly this time,” you can see the person in the audience he’s talking about. You also see Jello using a cigarette as a prop, a strange sight to behold. After Ray finally returns to the stage, Jello asks the audience for a cowboy hat in which to sing “Rawhide,” but has to settle for a beanie that makes him look at once like Mike Nesmith, Bruce Springsteen, and Dumb Donald of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. I appreciate what he says about “clowndominiums.”

The set list:

“Forward to Death” (0:00)
“Back in Rhodesia” (an early version of “When Ya Get Drafted,” 1:24)
“Funland at the Beach” (3:28)
“Dreadlocks in the Suburbs” (6:02)
“Drug Me” (9:19)
“Kill The Poor” (12:36)
“Kepone Factory” (15:03)
“Police Truck” (17:09)
“The Man with the Dogs” (19:52)
“California Über Alles” (22:52)
“Holiday in Cambodia” (26:10)
“Chemical Warfare” (32:01)
“Night of the Living Rednecks” (35:10)
“Rawhide” (44:07)
“I Kill Children” (46:11)

Listen: interview with Mad Magazine's Al Jaffee: The longest working cartoonist in history'

Brian from the Recommend if You Like podcast sez, "For episode 200 (MP3), we sat down for a 90 minute interview with Mad Magazine's Al Jaffee, who, at the age of 95 holds the title of 'the longest working cartoonist in history.'"

Weeks before I sat down to record this interview in Al Jaffee’s amazing Manhattan studio, upcoming guest Kid Congo Powers made reference to a club “looking like a scene out of Mad Magazine.” I knew what he meant immediately. The strange cross section of the human experience filtered through the lens of the Usual Gang of Idiots. And at their center is Jaffee.

The cartoonist is now 95 (“closer to 96,” as he handily points out during the interview), with his signature fold-in having appeared in virtual every issue between 1964 and 2008, along with his other mainstays like “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions.”

The longest working cartoonist in history kindly agreed to sit down for wide ranging interview about life, death, cartooning and the importance of a steady gig. It’s one my absolute highlights of doing the show and great way to spend episode 200.

Episode 200: Al Jaffee [Recommend If You Like]

Paul ‘H.R.’ Hudson (BAD BRAINS) and the Enduring Power of P.M.A. from Psychology Today

from Psychology Today:

Bad Brains singer shares spiritual path

“Some people look at me, and talk about me like a clown.
They just don’t realize it’s just my simple way to get down.
I’ve got that supertouch. Chances are, I’ve got too much.
I’ve come to let you see that you also can be free.”

— from “Supertouch/Shitfit” by Bad Brains

It’s no exaggeration to say that people worship Bad Brains.

Bad Brains’ legendary front man, Paul “H.R.” (“Human Rights”) Hudson, commands an almost supernatural reverence. For example, in the book Finding Joseph I: An Oral History of H.R. From Bad Brains, co-author Howie Abrams refers to H.R.’s voice as “otherworldly.” Norwood Fisher of Fishbone described H.R. as a “genius madman musical prophet.” Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi described H.R. as “a visionary.” And Mark Anderson of Positive Force D.C. called H.R. “an absolute shaman.”
​

Source: Photo credit: Jeff Schmale

​
The admiration that H.R. commands is perhaps best summed up by John Joseph of Cro-Mags: “Still to this day, I bow down.”

At the same time that H.R. is so highly revered, there are few figures in music history who are as enigmatic. Far from an exercise in abject hero worship, the portrayal of H.R. in Finding Joseph I is one of a complex man who has defied convention at every turn, perhaps to his own detriment.

Bad Brains’ music and live shows still set the bar for excellence in heavy-metal music. And H.R. is admired for his tremendous insight and strong ability to build bonds and command loyalty. However, the book also describes erratic, violent and self-destructive behavior by a man struggling with mental and physical illness making commercial success less viable and at times leading him to incarceration or homelessness.

In spite of the various struggles that H.R. has experienced in his life, there is one incontrovertible fact: Through it all, he has maintained an unyielding and unflinching spiritual approach to his life; specifically, Positive Mental Attitude. P.M.A. can perhaps best be defined as a deep sense of optimism. And the theory of P.M.A. is that this optimism attracts positive people and situations, helping one to achieve life goals and personal fulfillment.

So when I spoke with H.R. about his life and career, my goal was to deconstruct how H.R. approached P.M.A., not only as a way of celebrating his consistent ability to maintain this mindset, but also to learn from his example. In doing so, I became aware that P.M.A. is not a mindset or attitude per se, but a holistic and active spiritual, mental and behavioral practice. And while not everyone will embrace every aspect of H.R.’s approach, his story serves as an inspiration for each of us as we navigate our own struggles.

At the core of H.R.’s approach to P.M.A. is a deep spirituality – particularly a connection to God and Jesus Christ. H.R. described himself as initially a Jehovah’s Witness, but then eventually embracing Rastafarianism. He explained how reading Napoleon Hill’s 1937 book Think and Grow Rich introduced him to the concept of how faith can drive one to success.

“I was doing more drugs and living wild. At that time, I knew in my heart that I wanted a better way. Just in the nick of time, God taught me how to relate to him. It was in 1979. My father introduced me to a book called Think and Grow Rich,” H.R. told me. “So I read the book and found the connection to God … it introduced a new philosophy to me.

“The new philosophy was P.M.A. Anything the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.”

That spiritual connection serves as the engine for H.R.’s approach to P.M.A. “I think the way is better when you can believe in yourself and believe that you are a true son of God and a true daughter of God,” he explained. “And there will be a better way of living for those that want to know…that can help them and save them from tragedy.”

Connecting with God is not a passive endeavor for H.R. in which he hopes to find divine revelation, but rather an active process in which he engages in activities specifically designed to enhance his connection with God.

“Love thy neighbor as one loves thyself. Using these ideals and using the formula that one can have through a labor of love. So they would grow up and learn to do the things that they love,” H.R. explained..

Also, for H.R., one needs to have an open mind to embrace P.M.A. and to always be simultaneously learning and teaching. “A good leader is someone who would lead people to the new way, the new lifestyle of God,” H.R. said. “But it is very important to also be a good follower still.”

In theory, when one is focused on their connection with God and having a loving path, different activities can help facilitate P.M.A. “It’s not in one particular formula except for love,” he explained.
As an example, H.R. embraces going to church and reading the Bible. “I think that the way we can do it is by studying the word … and then we will learn for ourselves,” H.R. said. He recalled going to a local church “and the pastor there came to visit us, and he said I was very familiar with the Bible. And he wanted to know how I was so into the Bible.

“And it made him feel happy and glad that I was.”

Another form of exploring P.M.A. is through music or other creative outlets. “When someone keeps the faith, they’re able to become a better person and also do things better. These things that I’m talking about are like playing guitar or playing the bass or singing.  Music has a lot to do with the new person they’re transforming to be,” he said. “I knew I’d have to continue on in music, but I’d have to do a new kind of music to help me be a new person.”

And while there are several things that can enhance one’s P.M.A., H.R. points to racism and discrimination as obstacles to having a loving relationship with oneself and others.

“It was easy coming to know the new way of God and this attitude or this way of living does not interfere with one who is not a racist,” H.R. described. “I think some people make it hard because of racism … I think that it does interfere with their quest of life… They know what they’re doing is wrong. But they still want to get away with it and try another way of living.”

In the early ’80s, H.R. himself harbored discriminatory attitudes and in an anti-gay incident involving the hard-core band Big Boys, H.R. used derogatory slurs against the band. In Finding Joseph I, H.R. is quoted as saying, “I am much more live-and-let-live. I would not say those things today.”

Over time, science seems to have caught up to H.R.’s approach. Though P.M.A. as a construct still has not been formally studied, we now know that different aspects of P.M.A. predict health and well-being. For example, research suggests that optimism, as well as spirituality and religion, predicts improved health and well-being. And there is consistent evidence that music can be a form of medicine, improving conditions including Parkinson’s disease and depression.

And while H.R. has faced many ups and downs, things seem to be headed in the right direction. In addition to the recent book about his life, Finding Joseph I co-author James Lathos completed a documentary about H.R.’s life as well. And there is talk of Bad Brains making new music together this fall.

Perhaps most importantly, however, H.R. is on a path to recovery from the mental and physical health issues that he’s faced. In contrast to many people whose religious beliefs result in lower adherence to medication regimens, H.R.’s approach to P.M.A. dictates that difficulties can often be temporary and that medication is one way to help people through a difficult time in life.

H.R. describes how he has been willing to take medication to manage his mental health issues, which his wife, Lori Carns Hudson, has described as schizophrenia. “I think that some people … they let the medicine pass them by. Or they may object to a certain kind of medicine. But one should know that they are going through a phase in life,” he described.

H.R. has also embraced healthier dietary habits that become a form of self-love. “I think by eating and drinking new things that we’re supposed to eat and drink … So, here’s this wonder drug called spirulina. Also, another good source of eating is the wheatgrass.  These can definitely assist mankind in taking care of oneself,” he explained.

And to continue on his path of health, H.R. heads into surgery on Feb. 21 to relieve him of a rare form of headache — short-lasting, unilateral neuralgiform headache with conjunctival injection and tearing (SUNCT).

And after years of being his followers, we can perhaps show that we are also leaders by sending support through a GoFundMe campaign to help raise money for H.R.’s medical costs.

As we continue to understand his message and learn from his life, we can learn to find the path that works for us.

Because, hey, we’ve got that P.M.A.


Michael A. Friedman, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist in Manhattan and a member of EHE International’s Medical Advisory Board. Follow Dr. Friedman on Twitter @DrMikeFriedman and EHE @EHEintl.

School of Life Monday: Are we too Materialistic?

The worry that we are too materialistic is an inevitable one in modern consumer society. The answer, surprisingly, is that there are better and worse versions of materialism.

major TV just happened

go see SAVING BANKSY this weekend in the theater!

I saw it last night for the first time, and was stoked.
Good work, cool "Street Art" film,
and a story of commercialism and integrity.



find a theater here: SAVING BANKSY near you.



and it's not just cause I got a few quotes ;-)



read the New York Times review here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/movies/saving-banksy-review.html

Review: ‘Saving Banksy’ Affirms Graffiti’s Populist Values

SAVING BANKSY NYT Critics’ Pick

Colin Day’s fascinating documentary “Saving Banksy” rightly honors that renowned pseudonymous street artist whose work (often in public spaces, like a resort town) combines stenciled imagery with clever, cryptic phrases. But “Saving Banksy” has a larger goal: pointedly weighing graffiti’s populist ethos against art-world profiteering.

Graffiti art can be ephemeral: a spray-painted image — until somebody defaces it, or a property owner paints over it — is, at least briefly, free for everyone to behold. Banksy’s public art endures, partly because of extraordinary efforts to salvage it. When the artist visited San Francisco in 2010, his work popped up in various neighborhoods. One artist-collector, Brian Greif, had part of a wall, with Banksy’s rendering of a rat, meticulously carved out of a Victorian building on Haight Street. He seeks a museum that will share it with the public in perpetuity.

Mr. Greif’s effort contrasts with that of Stephan Keszler, an art dealer with a gallery in Southampton, N.Y., who excavates Banksy’s works from public sites and sells them for his own gain. Banksy (who has never revealed his identity) condemns such sales, as does Ben Eine, one of many street artists interviewed here. Mr. Eine says Mr. Keszler is regarded by such painters as “a shyster”; Mr. Keszler, who displayed a few Banksys at Art Miami in 2012, says he enhances Banksy’s reputation.

“Saving Banksy” owns its sympathies: “It’s the poor street kids and the multibillionaires,” Mr. Eine says. “We’re doing everything for nothing, and they’re walking home with Banksys for a million dollars.”

read the Hollywood Reporter review here:
www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/saving-banksy-964296


the director Colin M. Day made this clip for my show in San Francisco back in 2010

Jay Adams would have been 56 years old today

Here's a photo of Jay from the Cherry Hill skatepark, never seen before... circa 1978

“Donald Trump has branded himself a traitor to everything this country has stood for.”

Keith Olbermann has a message for the global community: We’re sorry.

“Donald Trump has branded himself a traitor to everything this country has stood for. We have already acted against him in the streets and in the courts,” the liberal commentator said in his latest “The Resistance” segment for GQ. “We will remove him. We will welcome you again.” 

Olbermann also spoke about America’s long history as a sanctuary for the world’s immigrants and refugees, and drew parallels between Trump’s immigrant grandfather and his own immigrant great-great grandfather.  

Toward the end of the video, Olbermann seemed on the verge of tears as he quoted “The New Colossus,” the Emma Lazarus poem written for the Statue of Liberty and engraved in bronze inside its pedestal.

Check it out above.

Noam Chomsky [and Harry Belefonte] on Trump and the decline of the American Superpower

Noam Chomsky: "The most predictable aspect of Trump is unpredictability I think it’s very dangerous"

School of Life Monday - PHILOSOPHY - The Stoics

How the Stoics can help us tackle anxiety, fury and loss of perspective - and realise that very little is needed to make a happy life.

Protests Erupt at U.S. Airports As Trump Order Targeting Refugees & Muslim Immigrants Takes Effect

from Democracy Now:

Protesters have gathered at airports in New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Dallas and other cities as immigration authorities begin to block entry to all refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations.

Thousands of protesters gathered Saturday at JFK International Airport. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance joined the protest by calling on its members not to pick up passengers between 6 and 7 p.m. tonight.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other legal organizations filed an emergency lawsuit Saturday on behalf of plaintiffs who have been detained and threatened with deportation even though they have valid visas to enter the United States.

“President Trump’s war on equality is already taking a terrible human toll," said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. "This ban cannot be allowed to continue.”

"Families are being ripped apart without warning and with no assurance of when they will be reunited," said the National Iranian American Council in a statement. "Students traveling abroad at the time of the ban are horrified that they might not be able to return to continue their studies. Children are being detained along with their parents when they were just seeking to return home. This is a dark day in the history of this country."

JFK airport #MuslimBan #NoMuslimBan #NoMuslimBanJFK #NoBanNoWall pic.twitter.com/Z2iwNdXPM1

— MoveOn.org (@MoveOn) January 28, 2017

Thousands protesting #MuslimBan right now at Chicago O'Hare Terminal 5 pic.twitter.com/3fQyT1dcy5

— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) January 29, 2017

Protest against Trump's Muslim ban at Logan airport #NoBanNoWall pic.twitter.com/2iMrEbMYzQ

— Amy Littlefield (@amylittlefield) January 29, 2017

Two hours into #SFO #MuslimBan protest, energy still high. pic.twitter.com/H6nRX2ddKQ

— Vivian Ho (@VivianHo) January 29, 2017

The crowd outside JFK Terminal 4 has grown ENORMOUS pic.twitter.com/RAUMX9EBhg

— Noah Hurowitz (@NoahHurowitz) January 28, 2017

Thousands of protesters at JFK, chanting "Let them in!" and "No hate no fear refugees are welcome here!" #MuslimBan pic.twitter.com/9SDiunzJDq

— Robert Mackey (@RobertMackey) January 28, 2017

Many are asking "How Can I Be of Help?" in the wake of the #MuslimBan.
Below are some ACTION STEPS. pic.twitter.com/h0NN4li90x

— Khaled Beydoun (@KhaledBeydoun) January 28, 2017

Rewind Last Weekend! #NastyWoman by Nina Mariah (Donovan)

Ashley Judd passionately denounces President Donald Trump's misogyny at the 2017 Women's March on Washington by reciting Nina Donovan's "I Am A Nasty Woman" poem.



THE ORIGINAL:

FOR THE RECORD Lest We Forget Bill Moyers and four historians on the big lie behind the rise of Trump.

In this web exclusive, Bill Moyers and four historians dissect the big lie Trump rode to power: the Birther lie. Nell Painter, historian and Edwards Professor of American History, Emerita, at Princeton University; Khalil Gibran Muhammad, professor of history, race and public policy at Harvard Kennedy School; Christopher Lebron, assistant professor of African-American studies and philosophy at Yale University; and Philip Klinkner, James S. Sherman Professor of Government, Hamilton College discuss the fertile ground on which the birther lie was sown: our nation’s history of white supremacy.

Credits: Gail Ablow, Producer; Sikay Tang, Editor

ERUPT AND MATTER - Are you Ready to Testify?

I've never been a fan of Moby at all, but pretty great that he made this ;-)

the racist & antiquated far right are encroaching upon democratic freedoms in almost every country in the western world. we need to respond by protesting, supporting progressives, and most important: VOTING

Erupt & Matter is taken from These Systems Are Failing, the debut album from Moby & The Void Pacific Choir. Out Now: http://moby.la/mvpcthesesystemsarefai...

BONUS:

A Musical interlude for the times

THIS IS A DISTRESS SIGNAL

School of Life Monday: Why Hegel knew there would be days like these. PHILOSOPHY

Protest and Survive by DISCHARGE

and here's a photo I made of Cal from Discharge back in 1982

How an overwhelming majority of America feels

But you know so many just didn't want to vote the lesser of two evils ...
And then those so uneducated or selfish really believed the con man would help them ... such a motherfucking shame ...

ugh!

Shepard Fairey Designs ‘We The People’ Inauguration Posters

from Graphic Design USA:

In response to Donald Trump’s pending inauguration, Shepard Fairey has designed a series of posters featuring groups he considers traditionally marginalized. The “We the People” series is the work of Fairey — with contributions from artists Jessica Sabogal and Ernesto Yerena — and it has raised several hundred thousand dollars to purchase full-page ads with the posters in the Washington Post to make a statement on Inauguration Day.



Fairey is reportedly collaborating with the Amplifier Foundation, a nonprofit that supports grassroots movements and which commissioned the project. The plan: buy full-page ads in the newspaper that feature the images, and encourage people to tear them out and hold them as placards or posters. Fairey is, of course, famous for his 2008 Obama Hope poster.

Three of my Shepard Fairey collaborations over the weekend on Instagram - Skate-Punk-HipHop

TONY "MAD DOG" ALVA - collaboration with Shepard Fairey @OBEYgiant of the iconic original (you can scroll down in my feed to see the original photo, or better yet get the MY RULES book!) T.A. trespassing in Beverly Hills 1977, first day using my Takumar 17 mm fisheye that was bought used for my 15th birthday. One of my favorites of ATTITUDE and an all time classic. One of the greatest and most important skateboarders in history. His STYLE is absolutely unique and incredible. The fact that he still has it to this day is noteworthy. The original photo was first published in an article I wrote in 1983(?) for Thrasher magazine "Taking and Talking Killer Skate Photos" where I gave tips and told stories on making great skateboarding photographs. Then it appeared un cropped full frame (as all the photographs) in my first hard cover book FUCK YOU HEROES. Now it also appears bigger and better reproduction than ever in my book MY RULES . #skateboarding #TonyAlva #Style #Attitude #KnowYourRoots #ZBoys #Zephyr #BlueTileObsession #TonyBlueTile #backyardpool #OBEY @obeygiant #FUN #inspiration #integrity #zflex #powerflex #middlefinger #art #collaboration #ShepardFairey #flippinthebird #classic #ICON #MyRules #GetTheNewBook #WestLA #DogTown

A photo posted by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Jan 14, 2017 at 5:27pm PST

Keith Morris of the CIRCLE JERKS at the Starwood (Hollywood) circa 1980. This collaboration between Shepard Fairey @obeygiant , Keith and myself was cool to do, Keith inspired this color palate and it was a rare one for Shepard along side his typical red base, also did a blue based one. I always thought Keith had a a great writing style so I asked him to write down some of the songs he was most known for over the years as one of the great Punk Rock vocalists (Black Flag, Circle Jerks, OFF!). We also used some pieces of the LP cover i made with them. circle Jerks were a great band to see at this time and at this place, seemed to be the center of it all at the time. Keith is one of four people who wrote an editorial for my original MY RULES Photozine in 1982 as well as a piece for my latest book MY RULES (the other three being Ian MacKaye, Chuck Dukowski, and Jello Biafra) the book is huge and something you need to see (ask at your local bookstore or worst case scenario you can get it at Amazon). #inspiration #integrity #photography #book #keithmorris #circlejerks #punkrock #punk #LAPunk #FrontierRecords #WestCoastPunk #RedTape #LiveFastDieYoung #GoupSex #Bud #GetTheNewBook #MyRules #ShepardFairey @obeygiant #collaboration

A photo posted by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Jan 15, 2017 at 3:21pm PST

PUBLIC ENEMY collaboration with Shepard Fairey from some years back, one of our first together, based on my 1987 photograph. Anyone who sees this doesn't need to be reminded on this holiday celebrating the life and ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Probably doesn't need to be reminded of the social impact and inspiration this group started to make in the late 80's and beyond. I am proud to have worked with my brothers in the formative years and help spread the positive and strong ideas... and while not always perfect in those years, at least there was movement, encouragement and education going on, for anyone within earshot. What Public Enemy and the Bomb Squad started back then was a seed that still blossoms to this day. I believe they were responsible for incredible education among all races to the plight of African Americans. Contribution acknowledged 🙏🏽 ✌🏽👊🏽✊🏽🤝 - 🖕🏽racists #MLK #MalcolmX #RaceInAmerica #AmeriKKKa #PublicEnemy #PublicEnemyNumberOne #FightThePower #SpeakUp #FuckRacism #ChuckD #HipHop #Culture #NewYork #DefJam #MiuziWeighsATon #inspiration #integrity #FuckYouHeroes #MyRules this original photograph was one of their first publicity photos and appeared in Fuck You Heroes, on the shared single cover for "Bring The Noise" and in the My Rules book.

A photo posted by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Jan 16, 2017 at 2:06pm PST

The Millennial Question - Millennials in the workplace

School Of Life Monday: History as a Cure for Our Times + Dr. Cornel West Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It can seem as if we are living in deeply, uncommonly troubled and crazy times. We should take a measure of consolation from the example of history, that teaches us that humans have always been cruel and mad – but that civilisation has progressed nevertheless.




MLK DAY BONUS:

Eating Our Way To Extinction Trailer IDGG

The Plant-Based Lifestyle movement is perhaps the largest, and fastest growing movement in the world. Many of those involved are incredibly pro-active when it comes to inspiring positive social change to all around them. As people who take an active role in the betterment of our world, we need tools to educate and inspire others in the most effective way.


There are several recognised documentary films that cover the different individual aspects of the movement, and more often than not, when you hear the reason someone decided to go vegan, it was because they watched one of these titles.

We all know how much of a challenge it is to get someone to sit down and watch just one of these films, let alone three or four. So EATING OUR WAY TO EXTINCTION is the ultimate Plant-Based Lifestyle feature documentary that covers all the most important aspects of the movement:

go here to help fund:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/eating-our-way-to-extinction-food-vegan#/

The film looks at the latest science of what is happening to the ecology and climate of the planet and shows the conclusive evidence that the main cause is animal agriculture.

The film will feature the latest research from some of the world’s largest studies on human health and nutrition, that show beyond any doubt that a Plant-Based diet, free from animal products, is far healthier for humans in the long term.

We will be showing the explosive and damning evidence that exposes the twisted economics in the foundations of an industry that is one of the most corrupt in the world.

We look at some ground breaking new research from animal-behaviourists that shows us how farm animals and fish are not only far more intelligent than most people give them credit for, but also share many of the same emotional needs and wants as humans.

The shift towards a plant-based diet has become a global phenomenon. The film looks at the explosive growth of the plant-based food industry, and how the meat and dairy industries in the modern world are, although they won't admit it, beginning to collapse.
Celebrities, leaders and famous athletes all over the world are making the switch, and the growing interest in a plant based lifestyle is hitting the mainstream media almost every day. The film will aim to leave audiences feeling moved and inspired; that by making the shift to a plant based diet, they are joining millions of people all over the planet in a global movement that is beginning to change the world.

Eating Our Way To Extinction Trailer IDGG

The Plant-Based Lifestyle movement is perhaps the largest, and fastest growing movement in the world. Many of those involved are incredibly pro-active when it comes to inspiring positive social change to all around them. As people who take an active role in the betterment of our world, we need tools to educate and inspire others in the most effective way.


There are several recognised documentary films that cover the different individual aspects of the movement, and more often than not, when you hear the reason someone decided to go vegan, it was because they watched one of these titles.

We all know how much of a challenge it is to get someone to sit down and watch just one of these films, let alone three or four. So EATING OUR WAY TO EXTINCTION is the ultimate Plant-Based Lifestyle feature documentary that covers all the most important aspects of the movement:

go here to help fund:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/eating-our-way-to-extinction-food-vegan#/

The film looks at the latest science of what is happening to the ecology and climate of the planet and shows the conclusive evidence that the main cause is animal agriculture.

The film will feature the latest research from some of the world’s largest studies on human health and nutrition, that show beyond any doubt that a Plant-Based diet, free from animal products, is far healthier for humans in the long term.

We will be showing the explosive and damning evidence that exposes the twisted economics in the foundations of an industry that is one of the most corrupt in the world.

We look at some ground breaking new research from animal-behaviourists that shows us how farm animals and fish are not only far more intelligent than most people give them credit for, but also share many of the same emotional needs and wants as humans.

The shift towards a plant-based diet has become a global phenomenon. The film looks at the explosive growth of the plant-based food industry, and how the meat and dairy industries in the modern world are, although they won't admit it, beginning to collapse.
Celebrities, leaders and famous athletes all over the world are making the switch, and the growing interest in a plant based lifestyle is hitting the mainstream media almost every day. The film will aim to leave audiences feeling moved and inspired; that by making the shift to a plant based diet, they are joining millions of people all over the planet in a global movement that is beginning to change the world.

Friday fun plucking on the three string shovel

An Incredible Circus Watching the Implosion in Real TimeCheck out Buzzfeed's article from yesterday...

But really hasn't every person with more than half a brain thought the same thing? the insanity the Dumpster seems to get away with is beyond "the Teflon Don" it's pure ignorance and insanity... and this story is just funny and exacerbates the whole shit ... haaaa haaaa haaaa!

from BuzzFeed:

These Reports Allege Dump Has Deep Ties To Russia 🤔

A dossier making explosive — but unverified — allegations that the Russian government has been “cultivating, supporting and assisting” President-elect Donald Trump for years and gained compromising information about him has been circulating among elected officials, intelligence agents, and journalists for weeks.

The dossier, which is a collection of memos written over a period of months, includes specific, unverified, and potentially unverifiable allegations of contact between Trump aides and Russian operatives, and graphic claims of sexual acts documented by the Russians. BuzzFeed News reporters in the US and Europe have been investigating various alleged facts in the dossier but have not verified or falsified them. CNN reported Tuesday that a two-page synopsis of the report was given to President Obama and Trump.

Now BuzzFeed News is publishing the full document so that Americans can make up their own minds about allegations about the president-elect that have circulated at the highest levels of the US government.

The document was prepared for political opponents of Trump by a person who is understood to be a former British intelligence agent. It is not just unconfirmed: It includes some clear errors. The report misspells the name of one company, “Alpha Group,” throughout. It is Alfa Group. The report says the settlement of Barvikha, outside Moscow, is “reserved for the residences of the top leadership and their close associates.” It is not reserved for anyone, and it is also populated by the very wealthy.

The Trump administration’s transition team did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News’ request for comment. However, the president-elect’s attorney, Michael Cohen, told Mic that the allegations were absolutely false.

“It’s so ridiculous on so many levels,” he said. “Clearly, the person who created this did so from their imagination or did so hoping that the liberal media would run with this fake story for whatever rationale they might have.”

His former campaign manager and current senior White House adviser, Kellyanne Conway, also denied the claims during an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, adding that “nothing has been confirmed.” She also said Trump was “not aware” of any briefing on the matter.

The documents have circulated for months and acquired a kind of legendary status among journalists, lawmakers, and intelligence officials who have seen them. Mother Jones writer David Corn referred to the documents in a late October column.

Harry Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson tweeted Tuesday that the former Senate Democratic leader had seen the documents before writing a public letter to FBI Director James Comey about Trump’s ties to Russia. And CNN reported Tuesday that Arizona Republican John McCain gave a “full copy” of the memos to Comey on Dec. 9, but that the FBI already had copies of many of the memos.

Greenpeace takes on the polluted political ecosystem

Vegan? Hate vegans? you gotta watch this : VEGAN at the end of 2016THE [short] FILM : A Growing Movement Under Attack

2016 A YEAR IN REVIEW w/ ANONYMOUS FOR THE VOICELESS, MICHAEL GREGER M.D., NEAL BARNARD M.D., F.A.C.C. DR. JOHN MCDOUGALL, DR. MICHAEL KLAPER M.D., ALAN GOLDHAMMER D.C., DR CALDWELL ESSELSTYN M.D., T. COLIN CAMPBELL PhD, PCRM, NUTRIONFACTS.ORG, JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, GENE BAUR, UNITED STATE GOVERNMENT, PAMELA ANDERSON, MCDONALDS, ARMANI, VOGUE, PRADA, ANITA KRAJNC, TORONTO PIG SAVE, HUNT SABS, KIP ANDERSON, COWSPIRACY, WHAT THE HEALTH FILM, RUSSEL SIMMONS, THE HAPPY VEGAN BOOK, CNN, ABC, FOX NEWS, SUNRISE, BITE SIZE VEGAN, SAM SCHACHER, QUORN, HELLMANS, BURGER KING, CHIPOTLE, VEGAN RESTAURANT, VEGAN MENU, PLANT PURE NATION, VEGAN EVERYDAY STORIES, FORKS OVER KNIVES, ANIMALS AUSTRALIA, DXE, PETA, EATING YOU ALIVE, ROBERT OSTFELD M.D., JAMES ASPEY, VOICELESS 365, HAPPY COW, VEGANUARY, VEGGIE PRET, PRET A MANGER, WAYNE PACELLE, OPRAH, ELLEN DEGENEROUS, IMPOSSIBLE FOODS, GAY RIGHTS, BEYOND MEAT, VEGSOURCE, SOCIAL JUSTICE, HUMAN RIGHTS, JOSH TETRIC, HAMTON CREEK, SCANDAL, ERIC SCHMIDT, BEYONCE’, GARY YOUROFSKY, DAIRY BOARD, EGG BOARD, CONGRESS, HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, PROF MAARTEN HAJER, PLANT BASED BY NAFSIKA, A&C, FYI NETWORK, HBO, SIMONE REYES, TANA MONGEAU, NEXT TOP MODEL, CARLI BYBEL, ROYAL FAMILY, THE CHIC NATURAL, ALEXANDRA’S GIRLY TALK, PEW DIE PIE, KALEL, RICKY DILLON, MIRANDA SINGS, NATHALIE TRAN, VEGAN SHOPPING HUB, VEGANSHOPPINGHUB.COM, SIA , MORRISSEY, MOBY, JAMES CAMERON, ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, LEONARDO DICAPRIO, MATT DAMON, IRON MAN, FORMULA ONE, STARBUCKS, JEROME JARRE, ELLIE GOULDING, JESSICA LANGE, MERRYL STREEP, MILEY CYRUS, WEIGHTLOSS, DOLLY PARTON, ANTI-AGING, GAME OF THRONES, PROFESSOR GREEN, HIP HOP, RAP, FUNK, SOUL, STEVIE WONDER, KAT VON D, VENUS WILLIAMS, CHRIS JENNA, GRIFF WHALEN, DANIEL NEGREANU, MICHELLE RODRIGEZ, ARIANA GRANDE, SERENA WILLIAMS, WILEY, 360, 3REE6IXTY, DJ KHALED, VEVO, TYRANN MATHIEU, HALEY WILLIAMS , GOOD DYE YOUNG, MANIC PANIC, KYLIE JENNA, EVANA LYNCH, HARRY POTTER, NOVAK DJOKOVIC RESTAURANT, CIVIL RIGHTS, ANIMAL RIGHTS, POLICE BRUTALITY, BEFAIRBEVEGAN.COM, MANCHESTER PIG SAVE, KEEGHAN KHUN, CHRIS HEDGES, VIVA!, ED WINTERS, DAMIEN CLARKSON, VEVOLUTION, iANIMAL, SEA SHEPHERD, GREENPEACE, SIERRA CLUB, TRUE NORTH, CANADA GOOSE, THE HERD, BEAR STORY, MORGAN MITCHELL, OLYMICS, RIO, DAVID HAYE, TIM SHIEFF, PATRIK BABOUMIAN, GUINESS BOOK OF RECORDS, WORLD RECORD HOLDER, STONGEST MAN, TOREY WASHINGTON, NATURAL BODYBUILDING, STEROIDS, BARNY DU PLESSIS, NATE DIAZ, CRISSI CARVAHLO, KENDRICK FARRIS, KJ JOSEPH, TESLA, CHRISTINA GRIMME, ANA KASPARIAN, RICHARD OPPENLANDER, COMFORTABLYUNAWARE.COM, VEGAN BROS, THE ONION KNIGHT, CHEF AJ, RICH ROLL, BOB LINDEN, GOVEGANRADIO.COM, KERRY MCCARTHY, MARGARITA RESTREPO.

Special thanks to:

1) Vegan Shopping Hub, who sponsored this film: http://veganshoppinghub.com/?ref=klau...

2) VegSource, who gave me the opportunity to go to LA this October to get a lot of content featured in this video: https://www.youtube.com/user/headveg

3) Robbie Lockie (http://www.laverita.co.uk/), who built plantbasednews.org (check it out - and sign up to the newsletter here: http://www.plantbasednews.org/signup)

4) My special patreon supporters (https://www.patreon.com/plantbasednews)

5) Anonymous for the voiceless, who exported a lot of raw footage for me: http://www.anonymousforthevoiceless.org/

To see the full links of everyone featured in the film, please click on this link (there was not enough room in the comments section): https://www.plantbasednews.org/post/us-government-exposed-in-new-vegan-documentary

************

PLANT BASED NEWS LINKS

WEBSITE: http://www.plantbasednews.org/

SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER: http://www.plantbasednews.org/signup

Support my work on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/plantbasednews

• FACEBOOK: PLANT BASED NEWS https://www.facebook.com/plantbasednews

• YOUTUBE: PLANT BASED NEWShttps://www.youtube.com/plantbasednews

• TWITTER: @plantbasednews https://twitter.com/plantbasednews

• INSTAGRAM: @plantbasednews https://instagram.com/plantbasednews

School of Life Monday: Why You Can Change The World

Though it looks like the world is set in its ways, it is in fact eminently open to change by those who dare to swim into the stream of history.

One of the Greatest Sub Culture Documentaries Ever Made: STYLE WARS

At the time I saw this on PBS in 1983/4 it was one of the most inspiring things I'd seen.

How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful: (VIDEO) Noam Chomsky & Glenn Greenwald

The basis for power elite membership is institutional power, namely an influential position within a prominent private or public organization. About the book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250013836

One study of power elites in the USA under George W. Bush identified 7,314 institutional positions of power encompassing 5,778 individuals. A later study of US society found that the demographics of this elite group broke down as follows:

Age Corporate leaders average about 60 years of age. The heads of foundations, law, education, and civic organizations average around 62 years of age. Government-sector members about 56.
Gender Women are barely represented among corporate leadership in the institutional elite and women only contribute roughly 20 percent in the political realm. They do appear more among top positions when it comes to cultural affairs, education, and foundations.
Ethnicity White Anglo-Saxons dominate in the power elite, with Protestants representing about 80 percent of the top business leaders and about 73 percent of members of Congress.
Education Nearly all the leaders are college-educated with almost half having advanced degrees. About 54 percent of the big-business leaders and 42 percent of the government elite are graduates of just 12 heavily endowed, prestigious universities.
Social Clubs Most holders of top position in the power elite possess exclusive membership in one or more social clubs. About a third belong to a small number of especially prestigious clubs in major cities like New York, Chicago, Boston, and D.C.[16]

In the 1970s an organized set of policies promoted reduced taxes, especially for the wealthy, and a steady corrosion of the welfare safety net.[17] Starting with legislation in the 1980s, the wealthy banking community successfully lobbied for reduced regulation.[18] The wide range of financial and social capital accessible to the power elite gives their members heavy influence in economic and political decision making, allowing them to move toward attaining desired outcomes. Sociologist Christopher Doob gives a hypothetical alternative stating that these elite individuals would consider themselves the overseers of the national economy, appreciating that it is not only a moral but a practical necessity to focus beyond their group interests. Doing so would hopefully alleviate various destructive conditions affecting large numbers of less affluent citizens.

Mills determined that there is an "inner core" of the power elite involving individuals that are able to move from one seat of institutional power to another. They therefore have a wide range of knowledge and interests in many influential organizations, and are, as Mills describes, "professional go-betweens of economic, political, and military affairs."[19] Relentless expansion of capitalism and the globalizing of economic and military power binds leaders of the power elite into complex relationships with nation states that generate global-scale class divisions. Sociologist, Manuel Castells, writes in The Rise of the Network Society that contemporary globalization does not mean that "everything in the global economy is global."[20] So, a global economy becomes characterized by fundamental social inequalities with respect to "the level of integration, competitive potential and share of the benefits from economic growth."[21] Castells cites a kind of "double movement" where on one hand, "valuable segments of territories and people" become "linked in the global networks of value making and wealth appropriation," while, on the other, "everything and everyone" that is not valued by established networks gets "switched off... and ultimately discarded."[21] The wide-ranging effects of global capitalism ultimately affect everyone on the planet as economies around the world come to depend on the functioning of global financial markets, technologies, trade and labor.

CHIEF ROCKER BUSY BEE on my Instagram + Bonus battle

BUSY BEE one of the real OG's in Hip Hop and originator. I'm guessing this photograph was made in the late 80's. The bootleg early battle tapes with the Chief Rocker Busy Bee 🐝 are probably gonna end up in The Smithsonian Institution one day, just like some seats from this iconic Bronx landmark (the original, renovated, but now gone) YANKEE STADIUM. Busy Bee (David Parker) has been involved with Hip Hop since 1977. This day we made photos around the Bronx and Harlem, had a great time with Busy and Rocky Bucano who had me on this job. We did the album cover for THANK GOD FOR BUSY BEE 🐝 this day as well as a single cover or two, some too controversial to even be released... maybe post in the future if this one gets some proper love. #knowYourRoots #OG #HipHop #Inspiration #Partytime #BattleRapping #DoingItInThePark #DoingItAtTheRollerRink #WildStyle #FuckYouToo #MyRules #oldschool #rap #fun

A photo posted by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Jan 5, 2017 at 1:53pm PST

Jeff Grosso's Love Letters to Skateboarding Episode on SKATE ROCK

from Jeff, Buddy, Rick, Lance and Vans

It took us a few seasons to get this episode going but it’s worth the wait. Clocking in at just under 25 minutes it’s a mini documentary about the relationship between skateboarders and the music they listen to and create. Like Jake Phelps says: “We’re skateboarders, the music exudes from our bodies”.

[Web] Traffic Is Fake, Audience Numbers Are Garbage, And Nobody Knows How Many People See Anything

from Tech Dirt:

from the stabs-in-the-dark dept
by Leigh Beadon

How many living, breathing human beings really read Techdirt? The truth — the most basic, rarely-spoken truth — is that we have no earthly idea. With very few exceptions, no media property big or small, new or old, online or off, can truly tell you how big its audience is. They may have never thought about it that way — after all, we all get as close as we can to what we think is a reasonably accurate estimation, though we have no way of confirming that — but all these numbers are actually good for (maybe) is relative comparisons. What does it really mean when someone says "a million people" saw something? Or ten or a hundred million? I don't know, and neither do you. (Netflix might, but we'll get to that later.)

Where should we start? How about this: internet traffic is half-fake and everyone's known it for years, but there's no incentive to actually acknowledge it. The situation is technically improving: 2015 was hailed (quietly, among people who aren't in charge of selling advertising) as a banner year because humans took back the majority with a stunning 51.5% share of online traffic, so hurray for that I guess. All the analytics suites, the ad networks and the tracking pixels can try as they might to filter the rest out, and there's plenty of advice on the endless Sisyphean task of helping them do so, but considering at least half of all that bot traffic comes from bots that fall into the "malicious" or at least "unauthorized" category, and thus have every incentive to subvert the mostly-voluntary systems that are our first line of defence against bots... Well, good luck. We already know that Alexa rankings are garbage, but what does this say about even the internal numbers that sites use to sell ad space? Could they even be off by a factor of 10? I don't know, and neither do you. Hell, we don't even know how accurate the 51.5% figure is — it could be way off... in either direction.

Okay, so what about TV ratings? Well, there's a reason they've been made fun of on the shows themselves for as long as our culture has been able to handle "meta" jokes without getting a headache. Nielsen ratings in their classic form are built on monitoring such a tiny sample of households that the whole country's viewing profile can probably be swayed because someone forgot to turn off the TV before going on vacation. They sucked before DVRs and digital distribution began transforming the single household television into a quaint anachronism, and now it's just chaos. Nielsen was slow to catch up with DVRs, and now the TV industry juggles scattered measurements including three or seven days of viewing beyond live air, and constantly complains that the ratings are off — specifically, that they're too low. And they might be right, in the sense that they are too low by comparison to the garbage ratings from the pre-digital age that everyone eventually embraced as a standard for relative rankings. How big are these audiences really, in terms of real living breathing human beings? I don't know, and neither do you.

YouTube view counts? Subject to all the same fake internet traffic problems, plus the fact that there's an opaque system for supposedly ignoring too-short incomplete views according to the genre and nature of the video, but good luck finding out how accurate that is. Channel operators know their length-of-view statistics, but you don't see them bandying them about much. Plus, how often have you heard public view counts casually referred to as the number of "people" who watched something, even though (especially when it comes to short-and-cute viral animal hits and their ilk) the bulk of them probably come from obsessive re-watching? Yeah.

So what about Facebook stats? Everything from impressions to simultaneous live video viewers is padded out by the most transient of idly-scrolling-through-the-newsfeed interactions. Twitter followings and tweet stats? Dig into the bowels of any list of followers, or any trending link, and see how much of it is mindless bots. Print readerships? Don't even get me started. Did you know it's common practice for newspapers to calculate their readership by applying a multiplier to their actual circulation, to account for an imaginary surplus of "readers per copy"? Yes, that soggy "local" paper that's been sitting out in the rain on your porch for two days, and that only exists to give them an excuse to deliver flyers to your door, is not only being counted — it's probably being counted five times. So are all the free/cheap copies that big national papers give to hotels. Oh, and when these companies distribute multiple publications in different channels — with newspapers, magazines and paywalled websites all being given away with each other as free cross-subscriptions, in order to pad out all three subscriber numbers — they add them all up and then try to determine the actual number of individual people they are reaching. How? By applying an opaque "deduplication" formula. I once pressed a newspaper's stats person about what this formula could possibly entail, but details were not forthcoming — because I suspect they just knock off 20% and call it a day, despite the fact that the magazine is distributed inside the newspaper whose audience they are supposedly "deduplicating" it from, and half the website subscriptions were free add-ons with print delivery. That's awfully generous when the truth is they don't know, and neither do I, and neither do you.

So who does know how big of an audience they really have? Well, maybe Netflix, Amazon and other digital subscription services. Their paywalls insulate them from the bulk of random bot traffic, and their proprietary ecosystems give them the ability to closely monitor all activity. Netflix, of course, is famously secretive about viewer numbers and insists on the inaccuracy of those who claim to have worked them out. The most common assumption is that they do this to avoid giving content creators too much leverage, and because the data can be seen as a valuable commodity — but I propose another reason: Netflix's likely-more-accurate statistics, if made public, would have zero context in the topsy-turvy world of nonsense TV ratings. They would probably look exceptionally low, giving the legacy bosses who would like nothing more than to downplay the importance of digital distribution (and there are as many of those as there are record execs who can't spell mp3) a chance to project whatever narrative they wanted onto the numbers.

So why does any of this matter? Because advertising is a multibillion dollar industry, and whenever an industry is worth that much, you have to ask: is that because there are billions of dollars of worthwhile transactions happening, or because every bloodsucker in a ten-industry radius wanted in on the action? So, so much of the advertising industry is pure waste. How much exactly is as impossible to determine as the audience sizes themselves. This is hardly a new idea (in fact it's a century-old quote) but it's probably more true now than ever, despite the fact that in theory technology could have delivered us from uncertainty.

Finally, what can be done about this? There's no simple answer, and maybe no answer at all. Here at Techdirt, we've been working to come up with good advertising solutions by focusing almost entirely on what we know our community likes and might be interested in (as in, our real community of people who talk in our comments and we can say, with confidence, exist) and paying less attention to raw numbers — both a luxury and a necessity for a smaller publication, depending on how you look at it. That's not always easy though, as we face an advertising industry ruled by metrics, where there are often ten spreadsheet-wielding interns between us and someone who might actually care about our creativity. In our experiments with more traditional algorithmic display advertising to monetize the raw traffic numbers we do have, we keep running up against what appears to be a universal truth: the bulk of the global internet ad ecosystem runs on trash. Gigantic prestigious online media brands can sell display campaigns straight to the same people who buy Superbowl ads — everyone else receives a hundred pitches a week from new ad networks that claim to deliver great, relevant content but in fact litter your site with ads for fad diets and ambulance-chasers (at best). And this lowest-common-denominator filler appears to be the only reliably successful form of internet advertising! At least, it never goes away when the good stuff does, and the proud quality networks eventually embrace their roles as crap-peddlers. "Good" internet advertising is a rickety ship navigating an endless roiling ocean of spam, clickbait and outright fraud — but it couldn't float at all without it.

I realize I've painted a grim picture, but these are (more or less) the facts. I'm surely wrong in some of my guesses, but like everything discussed here, nobody knows how wrong or in which direction. We'll never even really know how many people read this — we'll just have a vague estimate that can be compared to other posts on Techdirt. But for now that's the reality, so maybe more people should stop worrying about the supposed size of their audience, and focus on making the content they want to make.

thanks Sean Bonner

DJ NU MARK - Killin it!

Here's another episode of Zodiac Tracks. The Cancer one is very special to me. So many great artists born that month. Everyone from ‎RZA of ‎Wu Tang Clan, Sly Johnson, ‎Kool G Rap, ‎Missy Elliot, ‎Chali 2na of ‎Jurassic 5, ‎Mick Fleetwood of ‎Fleetwood Mac and ‎Guru of Gangstar. I remember the first time I heard him with Gangstarr. It really moved me. We lost him way too early.
R.I.P. Guru and Charlie Tuna of KBIG & K-Earth 101. Enjoy!

School of Life Monday: Exercise for Intellectuals

my new years resolution..

All too often nowadays, people who love to exercise their brains forget to exercise their bodies. This wasn’t the way of the Ancient Greeks, who believed that true philosophers always work on their physical and mental selves



HAAA

2017