Posts Tagged ‘geekdom’
President Obama to Graduates: “Look, Don’t Be Tweeting Your Facebooks All Day”
by NONPOPULIST / Apple / geekdom / iPad / President Obama / Comments
Yesterday President Obama gave the commencement address at Hampton University and made a somewhat controversial statement if you are an Apple fanboy. Being an Apple fanboy… the most likely way to get beat up as an adult. Here’s an excerpt of his comments:
“You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank all that high on the truth meter. With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation.”
I guess I can see what he means about information being a distraction. Look at twitter, for example. I follow roughly 190 people on twitter (they all like it rough), and I prefer not to miss anything. So I waste a significant portion of time keeping up with people’s sleeping/meal habits and other over-tweeting. Some people have viewed the President’s comments as an attack on new media (i.e. blogs, podcasts), but I view it much more simply. He’s a little old. I know he uses a Blackberry and he is the first president to appoint a C.I.O. (which I never got a call back for an interview for that position- your loss), but he’s still old. He just happens to have been turned on to Blackberry by someone. It’s kind of like when your parents or grandparents eventually sign up for Facebook and all of the hot girls I am friends with have to hide all of their slutty drinking pictures. It’s terrible, really.
The decentralization of information is not a bad thing, though. The fact that information doesn’t only come from stuffy news rooms anymore would be something I would be scared of, though, especially if I had things to hide. The free flowing nature of information means it is harder to control. Politicians can’t call their old college buddy at the Post and ask for them to suppress a story for 24 hours while they set up for damage control because they know as soon as Huffington Post or a similar outfit gets wind of the story they will go with it.
[Newser]
Wait, You Can Win Money Playing Video Games?
by NONPOPULIST / geekdom / lolz / video games / Comments
Sign me the freak up! *Quits job* The ingenious marketing campaign by 2k Sports to offer a prize of $1 million dollars to the first person to pitch a perfect game in their new baseball game Major League Baseball 2K10 recently backfired when they had to pay someone a $1 million dollars because he met the challenge. What did 2k Sports think would happen? Gamers would be too scared to attempt the feat? Well, sirs, you don’t know the ballsy and heroic nature of gamers. They go on quests for hours on end fueled only by energy drinks and Doritos. They scoff in the face of showers and social interaction because they believe in the cause. But seriously, a tip of the hat to Wade McGilberry of Mobile, AL, the winner of the $1 million challenge. People whose wife can no longer give them crap about playing video games, that guy.
[CNBC SportsBIZ]
RE: RE: Superman Vs. Batman
by NONPOPULIST / comic books / geekdom / super heroes / Comments
Some of my fellow New Ledgerians New Ledgericans New Ledgerites, yeh, let’s go with New Ledgerites have been nerdily debating who is the better superhero, Superman or Batman. Well, you know what they say, nerd up or shut up. No one says that. Let me bring a different perspective to this debate. After all my handle is Nonpopulist. My take will be much shorter than the lengthy dissertations seen here by Pejman Yousefzadeh and here by Ben Domenech. And as if that weren’t enough links in a row here is the original post that sparked the debate from Poetic Faith.
I have never been a comic book person. When I was kid we rode around on bikes, played basketball, and did a little graffiti if time allowed. I hardly even played video games because my parents would never let me get a game system. That being said I have seen every Batman movie and every Superman movie except the most recent one, and I have gleaned close to enough knowledge to be able to settle this debate once and for all. Superman is strong. He can really fly, not just glide. He is an alien that is super-human (better than humans.) Batman is a vigilante born of a personal tragedy and too much of a bankroll to finance his lack of psychosocial well being. Batman is like Kick Ass if it worked out (haven’t seen the movie yet, don’t ruin it for me, I just assume it can’t work out in the movie.) Bottom line: Batman would get served (as pictured above.) See, that didn’t take long.
Photoshop Can Fix Everything In Your Life Now
by MICHAEL TUNISON / geekdom / Photoshops / Comments
Photoshop CS5 will include a “Content Awareness Filter” which will make it very easy for graphic designers and stupid gag-making bloggers to remove annoying detritus from their precious Photoshop images. The feature can even remove white space around a stitched image, which I believe is just a step away from identifying dark matter. It almost goes without saying that this program will undoubtedly evolve to possess a “Content SELF-Awareness Filter”, allowing it to swiftly and effortless DESTROY ALL HUMANS!
[H/T - The Awl]
But Can She Recite Them In Elvish?
by MICHAEL TUNISON / geekdom / gratuitous simpsons references / Comments
A precious lass recites Pi to the 100th place while solving a Rubik’s cube and balancing 15 books on her head. Impressive, sure. But can she record 18 kills on Call of Duty while drunkenly carrying on a phone conversation? Didn’t think so. I maintain my superiority.
Were Bullies Wiped Out By Disease?
by MICHAEL TUNISON / geekdom / star wars / Comments
There’s no other way to explain how this many dorks could convene in a public space and engage in activities that satiate their dorky cravings. It could be that a sacrificial dork offered to create a diversion that allowed this mass light saber battle to transpire undisturbed. They should some sort of statue in honor of this selfless nerdlinger.
Kids Hooked On Reading Four Color Crack
by MICHAEL TUNISON / comic books / geekdom / Comments
You have to love when an industry comes together to tell the world what a positive force it is. Usually such self-importance is the calling card of show business, but it looks as though comic books want to get in on the fun with “Comic Book Literacy”, a independent documentary that will premiere at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo in April. I’m sure it will go over like a lead balloon with that crowd.
And, sure, comics can help with those who are trying to build basic reading skills and anything that is effective to that end should be duly praised. But is the industry really doing itself a huge favor advancing the notion that comics are essentially kids fare or aimed at those with only rudimentary readings skills? But then there’s probably not a documentary out there that can dispel the stigma that the only people reading them are socially backwards freaks, so I suppose this is the best way to expand their audience while getting to feel good about themselves.
The Wii is But a Mere Toy
by MICHAEL TUNISON / geekdom / Nintendo / video games / Comments
Influential game developer Will Wright has condemned the Nintendo Wii to lowly toy status. Whereas other systems hold the right to grouped under the rubric of video games, the Wii appeals to people outside the traditional game market, therefore it must be denigrated. Yeah, I understand the core point of his argument that Nintendo puts out a lot of simplistic titles of the Wii, but I also love it when geeks get pretentious.
— January 20‚ 2009 —
Concerned With Facebook Privacy?
There are tools to help if you are concerned with Facebook privacy. And if you were unsure you should be concerned with your privacy on Facebook. The CNN SciTechBlog highlights four of them. Why can’t Google and Facebook chill out a little and not be so concerned with knowing every detail about us in order to monetize every penny they can. Clam down, guys, we just want to use the damn internet. If we want to buy something we’ll let you know.
THREADZombie Awareness Month?
So we can just make up awareness months now? The Zombie Research Society has dubbed May ‘Zombie Awareness Month,’ and it doesn’t appear to be a joke, maybe. You are encouraged to wear a gray ribbon to signify your awareness of zombies for the month of May. This can not be real. On their website they offer a lifetime membership in the society for $25. This is ingeniously crazy. I totally just liked the ZRS on FB.
THREADThe NFL Throwing TV Elbows
Is the NFL a television juggernaut or what? NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said ratings are up 30% from last year’s draft. Thursday night was the first ever NFL draft in prime time, and the major networks will have to take notice when the official ratings come out. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com reports the league is declaring last night’s first round a success and speculates the draft in prime time will most likely become a yearly tradition. Next year I am predicting there will be a lot of reruns aired against the draft if the networks are smart… which they aren’t.
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