Google becomes self aware on August 29, 2011

No longer are there arguments between coworkers, friends or spouses about who said what and when.  With magical speed, the now ubiquitous Google.OS preemptively finds conversation markers even before the parties ask Goog to find them; ending fights almost before they begin.  The psychiatry profession morphs within a few weeks into remote coaches who listen to, and evaluate, the constant stream of recorded audio files.  The psychiatrist then calls the patient and explains his or her state of mind to them.  Those conversations are recorded as well, offering Google even more knowledge as it learns. via Hologram Thoughts | Google in 2011

Impacts of the Financial Crisis

Only a small fraction of funding by investment banks, mortgage companies, brokerages, equity funds, hedge funds, commodities futures speculators, etc., comes from actual investor capital. The rest—up to ninety-seven percent, in the case of commodities futures contracts—is credit self-created by the banks.

Where did the banks get this credit? The answer is that they simply cranked it out through their fractional reserve privileges derived from their government charters. In fact the only way money comes into existence in this day and age is through a loan from a bank which must be repaid with interest. The loan is secured by the borrower’s collateral or promise to pay. But the cumulative interest load on the economy grows exponentially. As a part of the federal budget, for instance, interest on the national debt is around $500 billion a year and growing.

Frame analysis on the word stage

Frame analysis reveals the complexity of mundane social activities and it brings out the arbitrary nature of any fixed, social-domain or activity-based dichotomy between what is "staged" and what is "real". It brings out the reality-constructing capacities of what is staged, but also the staged nature of the everyday tangibly real. Note in this respect for instance that mass-media communication - including especially the solidly real called "news broadcasting" - is saturated by frame laminations which are deliberately and purposefully staged. What's more, an understanding of media communication is rather hard to arrive at, unless one comes to terms with the constructed pretense of an absence of mediation and the audiences' routine submission to an illusion of direct communication - even in situations where such a pretense becomes extremely hard to sustain... via Stef Slembrouck | What is meant by discourse analysis?

More Proof Poetry is Thriving Online?

"The British-based Poetry Archive has released statistics that visitors to its website are now viewing a total of more than one million pages a month. More than 125,000 individuals - or 'unique visitors' in web jargon - have visited the site, which hosts poems and audio readings by the poets themselves." via The Telegraph (UK)

Life Forces the Arts

Have you ever felt drawn to a particular painting, sculpture, or handmade thing but you weren't quite sure why? It could be that the item was made by an artist who infused his or her chi into the work. The spirit energy per say of the artist; focused emotional energy implanted in the piece while it was being made. The artist puts an impression of his spirit and mental energy into the work. Even with all the best technique in the world, a painting that lacks chi also lacks a certain vitality, that kind of ephemeral underlying energy that draws me to some work. via Modern Art Quotes

All the world's a stage

Way back in the 1950s, sociologist Erving Goffman proposed in his study The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life that the very warp and woof of the social world consists of carefully constructed dramaturgy, albeit of a manner that most performers were unconscious. Our daily lives and cultural rituals provide all the settings, costumes, props and scripts we need to take our roles. The same logic underpins our movement through digital spaces and online communities, but unhinged from the necessities of physical limitations, and with a greater promise of self-transformation -- the dream of a complete rebooting of the self. via Rhizome

Poetry can make a difference

In "Education by Poetry," one of his finest essays, Frost argued that an understanding of how poetry works is essential to the developing intellect. He went so far as to suggest that unless you are at home in the metaphor, you are not safe anywhere. Because you are not at ease with figurative values, "you don't know how far you may expect to ride it and when it may break down with you." Those are very large claims. via Jay Parini | Chronicle Review

They call it ambient awareness

Social scientists have a name for this sort of incessant online contact. They call it “ambient awareness.” It is, they say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through the little things he does — body language, sighs, stray comments — out of the corner of your eye.

Social Networking and Health Care

The social-networking revolution is coming to health care, at the same time that new internet technologies and software programs are making it easier than ever for consumers to find timely, personalized health information online. Patients who once connected mainly through email discussion groups and chat rooms are building more sophisticated virtual communities that enable them to share information about treatment and coping and build a personal network of friends. At the same time, traditional Web sites that once offered cumbersome pages of static data are developing blogs, podcasts, and customized search engines to deliver the most relevant and timely information on health topics. via Post-Gazette

Consider the way a human face speaks

Consider the way a human face speaks with silent eloquence. In the view of Raymond Tallis, an eminent British doctor and a talented writer, the face of a man or woman constitutes "the most sign-packed surface in the universe." Nothing else we see carries more meaning. Every face displays a pattern of dense emotional responses in the present and an archive of its owner's experience in the past. And each one is both unique and mysterious. via National Post