The idea is that GroupOn moves the economic activity to the right of the normal micro-economics price/demand curve by offering up a lower price than the market has settled into charging for that particular good or service in exchange for a higher volume than the market would normally demand for that good or service at that lower price.
There are basically only two types of people in this world: Those who do what they want. Those who wait to be told what to do. AThe tragedy is that too many of the first engage in illegal or sociopathic behavior to the detriment of everyone. The tragedy of the second is that they deserve better.
This year we will all begin remembering the American Civil War, which started 150 years ago. For the next few years, the news in the states will be full of various re-enactments, celebrations, and, sadly, protests and arguing.ABut why protest and argue about something that happened and was finished 150 years ago? Part of it is that we live in a "24-hour-conflict-a-tron" as Jon Stewart says, but part of it is something else.
Speaking as a neutral observer with exactly zero opinion on any political question, and not even a cyberpunk reader given that I've read about two such novels in my life: Is it just me, or do the last few months' global news headlines read like they were ghostwritten by Neal Stephenson?
Revenge of the Introvert
There are as many introverts as extraverts, but you’d never know it by looking around. Introverts would rather be entertained by what’s going on in their heads than in seeking happiness. Their big challenge is not to feel like outsiders in their own culture.
Twitter Literacy
Post-Oprah and apres-Ashton, Twittermania is definitely sliding down the backlash slope of the hype cycle. It’s not just the predictable wave of naysaying after the predictable waves of sliced-breadism and bandwagon-chasing. We’re beginning to see some data. Nielsen, the same people who do TV ratings,Arecently noted that more than 60% of new Twitter users fail to return the following month. To me, this represents a perfect example of a media literacy issue: Twitter is one of a growing breed of part-technological, part-social communication media that require some skills to use productively. Sure, Twitter is banal and trivial, full of self-promotion and outright spam. So is the Internet. The difference between seeing Twitter as a waste of time or as a powerful new community amplifier depends entirely on how you look at it - onAknowing how to look at it.
When I started requiringAdigital journalism students to learnAhow to use Twitter, I didn’t haveAthe list of journalistic uses for Twitter that I have compiled by now. So I logged onto the service and broadcast a request. "I have a classroom full of graduate students in journalism who don’t know who to follow. Does anybody have a suggestion?" Within ten minutes, we had a list of journalists to follow, including one who was boarding Air Force One at that moment, joining the White House press corps accompanying the President to Africa.
One of my students asked me online why I use Twitter. I replied off the top of my head. Sometimes, thats better than taking longer to compose something more elaborately thought out (which is one of the reasons I like to Twitter its a great way to start my wordflow for the day with something short and lightweight.
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Posted: January 2nd, 2011
at 1:14pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: #twitterisfothebirds
Comments: No comments
Quote of the Day
Posted: January 1st, 2011
at 10:22pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: quote of the day
Comments: No comments
How To Manage A Tech Career
Over the last few weeks I've had a strange disconnect with several friends when discussing their careers. AIt's almost like there's a fundamental difference in our world view - our assumptions about how the universe works. AI was confused, until I started to suspect that I may be the freak.
The fact is that on an average day most people who have careers don't really think about them. AThey think about what they're doing at work that day. AThey think about how many days are between them and the weekend. AThey certainly don't think about the fact that the things they're doing (or not doing) now may affect them profoundly in a year, two years, five years and so on.
About 20 years ago I was an unemployed rock musician on the verge of dropping out of college - with no degree, no career and no plan beyond "being a rock star". AI lived in a mouse and cockroach infested apartment in Toronto, that shared a bathroom with the apartment across the hall. AThe other tenant was an unstable man on medication that threatened to kill me in the hall one day. ALife has gotten better for me since then.