This is where Baratunde blogs about things. He also blogs over on his company blog, Cultivated Wit, so check there too. Ooh, you can also get these bloggings via email.
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Baratunde-News
One of the up and coming comedians who also moonlights on Newsnight, Baratunde Thurston spotted something unusual in his Gmail account… Time Travel!
Here's the blog post they're referencing. http://baratunde.com/blog/archives/2009/04/gmail_introduces_time_travel.html
Can anyone give me the lowdown on The Daily Dust? I've never heard of it until now.
Full story at Silicon Alley Insider here: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-5-worst-tweets-ever-slideshow-2009-4
Based on the work of Melissa Lafsky of Discover Magazine http://discovermagazine.com/2009/apr/17-twitters-greatest-hits2014and-misses/
My tweet is actually verifiably awesome, but I guess the authors/judges are saying Skittles was among the worst, and I was reacting to that. And yes, I still hate Skittles and will never eat them again.
Far from terrifying anyone, “Gathering Storm” has become, unsurprisingly, an Internet camp classic. On YouTube the original video must compete with countless homemade parodies it has inspired since first turning up some 10 days ago. None may top Stephen Colbert’s on Thursday night, in which lightning from “the homo storm” strikes an Arkansas teacher, turning him gay. A “New Jersey pastor” whose church has been “turned into an Abercrombie & Fitch” declares that he likes gay people, “but only as hilarious best friends in TV and movies.”
Yet easy to mock as “Gathering Storm” may be, it nonetheless bookmarks a historic turning point in the demise of America’s anti-gay movement.
What gives the ad its symbolic significance is not just that it’s idiotic but that its release was the only loud protest anywhere in America to the news that same-sex marriage had been legalized in Iowa and Vermont. If it advances any message, it’s mainly that homophobic activism is ever more depopulated and isolated as well as brain-dead.
You can see the original ad and our response here: http://bit.ly/54FWg
After a weekend that saw President Obama play action hero -- resolving a stand-off with pirates, delivering a puppy to his daughters, and making time for Easter services -- we chatted with ABC’s Ann Compton and political comedian Baratunde Thurston about the optics of the presidency today on ABCNews.com’s “Top Line.”
So I've been back in the country barely one week, and already I'm being asked to comment on the President's Puppy Situation :) Well, a bit more than that. Anyway, here's the segment from my Noon ET appearance on Top Line, a show distributed at ABCNews.com and several cable and mobile phone operators.
The snippet above links to a blog post with a writeup and links to the full show. My segment can be found directly here: http://bit.ly/W2cAA
From including LGBT families in the Easter Egg Roll (http://bit.ly/3a9AKN) to committing to Iraq troop withdrawal by the end of 2011 to stopping pirates, it's been a good weekend for the President. Maybe it's competence, which we're sadly not accustomed to. Maybe it's luck. Whatever it is, the country needs it
Oh, and for the record, I don't sanction the use of the term "optics" unless someone is referring to the behavior and properties of light.
The network, popular among the market obsessed, has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks for what critics claim is a propensity to cheerlead Wall Street. Occasionally brash commentary on White House policy by hosts Jim Cramer and Rick Santelli did little to help CNBC's cause among progressives. A few weeks ago, a group of leading progressives and economists penned an open letter demanding that the network modify its mission.
Since the launch of FixCNBC.com, the network has, in fact, made several programming changes. Former DNC Chair Howard Dean was brought on as a regular commentator, and Huffington Post editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington guest hosted CNBC's morning show Squawk Box last week.
Big up to Adam Green, Katie Halper, Negin Farsad, Jeff Kreisler, Lee Camp and everyone else involved in the http://fixcnbc.com program. This was actually fun to do. The video doesn't reveal all the footage we got, but you get a slice.
Based on my experience, I'd say half the people we approached had no comment and were in a rush. Another 20 percent thought CNBC was just there for entertainment and didn't take it seriously but conceded that it could be damaging. Another 20 percent thought it was a market-pumping, completely biased and useless network. Ten percent loved it.
So JJP co-founder Cherly Contee has already written extensively about her trip to London to cover the G20. Jack & Jill Politics was selected by G20Voice (founded by Oxfam) to bring diverse new media voices to this global meeting of economic powerhouses. You can follow all of Cheryl and JJP's coverage of the G20 by reading anything tagged "G20" on the blog.
Now for part two. At the same time that Cheryl is in London, I'll be in Amsterdam. My flight leaves tonight, and I'll return next Monday morning. I'll be traveling with 20 fellow New York City activists, artists and engaged citizens as part of a program called Pioneers.
The trip has two basic goals:
The Pioneers sessions will bring together a group of selected Pioneers -- today's cutting edge thinkers and entrepreneurs in diverse professional fields -- for a transatlantic dialogue into the frontiers of civic engagement and social entrepreneurship in Amsterdam and New York City.
During last night's press conference, President Obama spoke about the need to reign in spending on defense contractors and procurement. It's rare to hear a "wartime president" call for such a thing, at least in recent memory, and I hope the president is serious and committed to imposing constraints and sacrifices on those who profit from war.
His mention reminded me of an interview I did three years ago for my then-podcast, "The Front Porch Podcast." The full show is just over 50 minutes, but the interview with "Steve" starts at about minute 25. This was my first direct encounter with someone involved in acquisitions for the military, and through his story, Steve was able to communicate not just the fact of wasteful spending but the how and even the why.
I no longer do the podcast, but thanks to the Internet, you can still here this still-relevant exchange. Again, minute 25 is where we begin, though the entire show is pretty hot :)
Here's the link to the original podcast posting which has some interesting comments from readers and listeners.
This video doesn't capture the slides I'm referring to. Those can be found here (http://www.slideshare.net/baratunde/baratunde-explains-the-onion-at-sxsw-web-awards-open/). I recommend looking at them while you've got the video open. That way, you can pretend you were there!
Enjoy
