Charles Hope and the Luminous Top

Noel begins the Luck of Seven journey

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Yesterday, on 7-7-2007, I was happy to toast Noel Hidalgo on his
departure as he begins a seven month trip, through seven continents, showing us the world and the state of the seven areas of freedom. As I write, he's headed for Barcelona.

Follow his journey (blog, vlog, wiki, flickr, couchsurfing, twitter, myspace, dopplr, and facebook), and if you can, donate a few dollars to the adventure!

Tags: noel hidalgo, noneck, luckofseven

I had lunch with Rachel Clarke and Hugh MacLeod today.

Expect a limited-edition series of blip shirts.

Five Things Most People Don’t Know Me

I was tagged for this fad by Kent Bye, who was tagged by his wife Jen, who was tagged by Jannie Jan, who was tagged by Chris Ritke,  who was tagged by Markus Sandy, who was tagged by Josh Leo, who got double-tagged by both Casey/Rudy and Chris Brogan! Casey/Rudy were tagged by Zadi Diaz, who was tagged by Steve Garfield, who was tagged by Jeff Pulver.

I find it fascinating to trace this path backwards, in search of the Patient Zero who brought this meme back after blogging with African monkeys.

1. I can turn off my hiccups at will, and have had some success in others as well.
2. When I was 11, I won a dinner for myself and my mother by guessing the number of jellybeans in a jar at church. I simply applied the math I was learning in school, which I figured everybody knew.
3. I used to work as a foot messenger one summer. Best job ever for thinking about philosophy. I used to perturb my friend Rob with conundrums to the point where he ended up getting a Philosophy BS.
4. When I was 4 I overheard a pundit pronounce that "Nixon is down the drain". I grabbed a flashlight and went to the sink.
5. I love Will & Grace.

I am now tagging Mary, Barnita, Adriana, Matt, and Josh Wolf!

Diversity makes my jaw clench up

Inside every call for Diversity lies a logical flaw that makes me want to scream!  I can see it plain as day, why can't you?

Racism and sexism are examples of Collectivism, which is the logical error of ascribing greater importance to collective properties than to individual properties. It is an error because collective properties are emergent from the individual properties. A collective is merely a fiction, a figment of the imagination for analyzing the individuals, which are real.  As theories must conform to reality, but not the other way around, so may collective properties be used to humbly suggest reality, but must instantly yield when contradicted by a single fact about a real individual.  It is all well and good to claim that dogs have four legs, but only a fool would insist that a three legged dog actually had four legs because it was a dog and dogs have four legs.  Yet the same logical mistake arises in more subtle cases, causing all too many people to fall prey to confusion.

The progressive movements of the 50s through the 70s argued against racism and sexism, rightfully demanding that people be judged by their individual qualities instead of their group memberships.  On the strength of this argument outlying groups demanded institutional access for their members.  Policies based on collective properties were derided as examples of stereotyped, invalid thinking.

By the 1990s this progressive philosophy had so decayed that it had devolved into an argument for exactly its logical contradiction.  Now members of outlying groups were said to possess alternate "ways of seeing", making their inclusion especially valuable to institutions. The problems with this are legion.

Firstly, this is a reemergence of classical collectivist thinking, and it is just as logically invalid as it was when applied to defend Jim Crow.  It is once more an invocation of collective properties which, in fact, may or may not exist in the individual in question.  Race and gender are fictitious categories! What statements can be made about all people of a particular ethnicity or gender?  To be precise: none.  What then is the use of such a concept?  If the members don't actually share any common trait, what situation could call for one of these categories? None.

Secondly, it provides ammunition for regressive policy.  If women really have a different way of seeing, perhaps it's a way of seeing that finds mathematics especially difficult. Once the camel's nose is back in the tent, I can once more refuse to hire a woman because she is a woman.

Thirdly, in real policy it is often used to mask alarming ideas. Without the kindly disguise of "diversity", these statements if spoken plainly would be immediately recognized as appalling.  For instance, it is abominable to assume a person is poor simply because they're black, yet it's acceptable to call for affirmative-action based exactly on the same assumption.

And finally, collectivism is degrading to me!  It says that my most valuable and interesting characteristics are those based on my genitals, skin color, heritage, and social background -- instead of my accomplishments and experiences which I and I alone possess.  Collectivism can only be the refuge of losers who quietly feel unworthy, who are resigned to the reflected glow of others.

Now here we have the sad spectacle of a video of speakers at a conference, but instead of paying attention to the interesting topics they are discussing, it counts their penises and vaginas. And it is linked to a larger discussion with far too many people all discussing the Office 2.0 conference, counting the penises and vaginas of the speakers therein, and finding a discrepancy in the ratio.  The situation was rectified when more vaginas were invited to speak. (Oh, doesn't that sound so insulting?  To label a person by their genitals?  But that's exactly what they did by inviting -- or rejecting -- speakers on that basis.)

If you want interesting people at a conference, who have unorthodox ways of thinking and fresh approaches, then find them! I can name a dozen people with varied races and genders but very similar perspectives -- and I can name a dozen more people who all look alike yet represent an extreme diversity of viewpoint. And I think you can too!

People with self-esteem instinctively reject the patronizing objectification of special treatment in any sphere.  They feel a tightening sensation in their stomachs, and a flush of adrenaline when their individual distinctiveness -- of which they are proud!  -- is ignored with a glassy-eyed gaze that recognizes only their grossest, least important, most superficial features.

Alexa has been proven inaccurate

Alexa's inaccuracy is the most interesting subplot to emerge from the recent dustup between Rocketboom and ZeFrank. Observe the Alexa graph with Rocketboom in red, far below ZeFrank's statistics. However, after looking at the actual logs, Marshall Kirkpatrick from TechCrunch announced:

The fact remains however, that Rocketboom’s content is being downloaded  nearly 10 times as often as Frank’s.

That's a huge discrepancy! Heather Green from BusinessWeek, who also independently analyzed the logs, concluded:

Rocketboom's daily downloads are still 7 times more than Ze's stated 30,000.

This is the problem with argument by authority.  People believed Alexa because they were a prominent company, presumably staffed by intelligent people who know more about technology than you do. However, although their methodology has been criticized by technical people for years now, let this example be cited the next time somebody risks making a business decision on such shaky figures.

Funny RocketBoom comment by "Nab"

I have to imagine that in RocketBoom studios Drew is really the wise old man. The conversation goes something like this:

SL: Oh most venerable master, how can a vlogger know that he's achieved greatness?

DB: There are many signs of vlogging fullfillment, Bamboo Shoot. Some believe they have achieved the moutain top when they get a small role in a TV show, or a SAG card, or when their vlog attains sponsorship. Others look for a day with 100 comments, or 10000 downloads, or an article in the Wired magazine. But none of these really matter.

SL: But what does matter, oh master? When will I know that my vlogging is meaningful?

DB: Look not to reach a mass audience Bamboo Shoot, but rather to connect with a single viewer. This is the way of 2.0. A lone comment saying "You rock man!" or "I want to have your babies" means more than a million shouts of "First!". When this happens, you will know oneness with the internet.

Casey, Rudy, and feet at Amanda's party

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Casey and Rudy of Galacticast drove down from Montreal to surprise Amanda by showing up at her going away party, which was six hours away in the blip.tv office in NYC. I was in on the secret, and met them outside where they gave me a note to hand to Amanda before they made their shocking entrance.

And finally, is it really a party without bizarre actions involving feet? I never asked her why, just got it down on video.

A tour of the new office

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Mike gives Rudy from Galacticast a tour of the new blip.tv office.

Building the new blip.tv office

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We assemble the new blip office from pieces. Ikea, elbow grease, and too many computers!

Amanda has left the building

 

                   Watch the video 

Amanda Congdon is no longer with Rocketboom.  In this video, she explains that she was fired.

However, Rocketboon's other principal, Andrew, writes in response

I have just learned of this myself from watching Amanda's video. I guess it is in fact over.

I'm not sure what I will do - I have no one else to take Amanda's place and haven't really ever imagined Rocketboom without her except for the past week as everything has been up in the air.

I also have no doubt too that Amanda will go on to do great things, that this is still only the beginning.

Chuck Olsen, who tried to mediate between them, created a fascinating picture set about the experience.