The Long Tail: The dangers of "Headism"

The Long Tail: The dangers of "Headism": "I've been riffing on the dangers of 'headism', the mistake of assuming that the economic incentives and other forces that dominate at the head of a demand curve apply equally down the tail. This is a common misconception, much like when people ask bloggers how they intend to make money from their online noodling (other than, you know, turning it into a sure-to-be bestselling book coming out RSN).

For too long we've viewed the economics of the entertainment industry through the lens of hits and stars, studios and networks. Just as we are recognizing that the Long Tail is a huge and growing market that was hidden by the scarcity economics of the old distribution systems, we're starting to realize the nature of the goods, the participants and the incentives in this new market are also different. Here are a few examples:

Products"

Live 8

Metromix. Live Aid Organizers Announce New Shows: "Geldof said he had resisted any recreation of Live Aid, but relented to pressure from U2's Bono and others: 'It seemed to me that we could gather again, but this time not for charity but for political justice.'

The aim of the concerts was to create attention and 'political heat' ahead of the G8 meeting to persuade the leaders to agree to cancel Africa's unpayable debts, double aid for the continent and make trade fair, Geldof said. "

Summer Dance Chicago

City of Chicago: "Wednesday, June 15 - Sunday, August 28
Spirit of Music Garden, Grant Park
601 S. Michigan Ave., between Harrison St. and Balbo Ave. across from Columbia College
FREE

The ninth annual Chicago SummerDance series of public dancing to a variety of live music outdoors in Grant Park kicks off on Wednesday, June 15, and continues through Sunday, August 28. Organized by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the 11-week festival features one-hour dance lessons, followed by two hours of live music and dancing, every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening starting at 6pm (dance lessons at 6pm, live music at 7:30pm) and Sunday afternoons starting at 4pm (dance lessons at 4pm, live music at 5pm) , weather-permitting.

For its ninth season, Chicago SummerDance is proud to continue the 11-week, Wednesday evening 'DJ Series' which focuses on the ever-growing genre of electronic dance music. The Wednesday evening series runs June 15 through August 24. Unlike the other nights of the series, there will be no dance lessons offered on Wednesday evenings, but DJs will begin at 6pm and go until 9pm.

Chicago SummerDance will also continue it's themed weekly programs: Thursday evenings dedicated to international and folk music and dancing, Fridays and Saturday dedicated to more popular styles such as salsa, swing, R&B, country and more. Sundays continue as the traditional ballroom dancing and music format."

Survey: US residents addicted to e-mail | InfoWorld | News | 2005-05-27 | By Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service

i am trying to turn off my blackberry at nights and on weekends. we'll see how it goes after comcast comes tonight and brings us internets to the home.
Survey: US residents addicted to e-mail | InfoWorld | News | 2005-05-27 | By Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service: "The average e-mail user in the U.S. has two or three e-mail accounts and spends about an hour every day reading, sending and replying to messages, according to the survey, conducted by Opinion Research.

E-mail dependency is so strong for 41 percent of survey respondents that they check their e-mail inbox right after getting out of bed in the morning. The average user checks his inbox five times per day, according to the survey, which polled 4,012 respondents at least 18 years old in the 20 largest U.S. cities.

About a fourth of respondents acknowledged being so e-mailholic that they can't go more than two or three days without checking for messages. That includes vacations, during which 60 percent of respondents admitted logging into their inbox."

CNN.com - DeLay angered by 'Law & Order' mention - May 27, 2005

CNN.com - DeLay angered by 'Law & Order' mention - May 27, 2005: "House Majority Leader Tom DeLay reacted angrily Thursday to this week's episode of 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' for what he called a 'manipulation of my name' in the show.

The show's executive producer responded by accusing DeLay of trying to change 'the spotlight from his own problems to an episode of a TV show.'

The controversy centers around Wednesday's episode in which a police officer investigating a murder of a federal judge suggested putting out an all points bulletin for 'somebody in a Tom DeLay T-shirt.'"

German police baffeled by Bush poo-flags : SF Bay Area Indymedia

German police baffeled by Bush poo-flags : SF Bay Area Indymedia: "Police in Germany are hunting pranksters who have been sticking
miniature flag portraits of US President George W. Bush into piles of
dog poo in public parks. Josef Oettl, parks administrator for Bayreuth,
said: 'This has been going on for about a year now, and there must be
2,000 to 3,000 piles of excrement that have been claimed during that
time.' "

bad public radio blog

this is an example of my worst fears of how Public media will approach blogs et al: brian lehrer hosts a great show; and this blog is called Brian's Blog-- i was excited to hear brian's blog voice. color me disappointed to realize that all the posts are made by the show's unnamed producer-- and there is no place for comments. yeeech. Brian's Blog: "Posted by blproducer "

Telesur: New York Times

And Now, the News in Latin America's View - New York Times: "And Now, the News in Latin America's View
By JUAN FORERO

CARACAS, Venezuela - The United States has CNN and Fox, while the Arab world can watch Al Jazeera or American-financed Al Iraqiya in Iraq.

Now, an initiative pushed by Hugo Ch�vez, the left-leaning president of Venezuela, will soon give Latin America Telesur, a regionwide television station that he says is aimed at 'counteracting the media dictatorship of the big international news networks.'

A venture that involves Argentina, Cuba, Brazil and Uruguay but is largely financed by Venezuela, Telesur will have a decidedly Latin feel, says its director, Aram Aharonian. The station, scheduled to begin broadcasting in July and testing its signal late this month, will show long documentaries about landless peasants in Brazil or indigenous movements in the Andes while offering nitty-gritty reports about politics and sports from Tijuana to Tierra del Fuego."

Edgewater News

Edgewater Speaks Out!: "City targets underused lots on North Side

By Jeanette Almada
Special to the Tribune
Published May 15, 2005

City officials are gaining authority to acquire eight underused parcels near the intersection of Broadway, Devon Avenue and Sheridan Road on the North Side.

The acquisition is aimed at spurring conversion of the parcels from what neighborhood leaders describe as 'an eyesore at best' into a suitable gateway to the Rogers Park and Edgewater neighborhoods.

'The corner serves as a gateway to the Devon Commercial Corridor and acts as a link between the Edgewater and Rogers Park communities,' the Planning Department staff told the Community Development Commission last week. The commission approved the department's petition to add the eight parcels to an acquisition list associated with the Devon/Sheridan TIF Redevelopment Project Area."

Koreans Say They Cloned Embryos for Stem Cells

Cloud Atlas becoming a reality?

Koreans Say They Cloned Embryos for Stem Cells: "Scientists in South Korea reported making nearly a dozen cloned human embryos that are genetic twins of patients with various medical problems and have isolated from those embryos batches of stem cells with the potential to replace failing tissues in those patients."

Cruise Says Holmes Is 'Magnificent'

gosh
MSN - News - Cruise Says Holmes Is 'Magnificent': "Tom Cruise is smitten with the charms of Katie Holmes. 'I love this woman,' Cruise says in an interview to air Monday on 'Access Hollywood.' 'She's magnificent.'"

Photographing Frida Kahlo

Guardian | Photographing Frida Kahlo: "At the famous Blue House in Mexico City, where Frida Kahlo was born and died, a curator has begun to catalogue hundreds of treasures recently discovered in a locked bathroom. A pair of boots, reinforced with steel to help Kahlo walk, are caked in mould; there is a dusty pickled foetus in a jar, donated to the childless artist by her doctor. A single earring has been found - an ivory hand given to Kahlo by Picasso when she visited Paris; 180 of her moth-eaten signature Tehuantepec dresses have been unearthed, along with 26,000 letters and documents. Kahlo died in 1954 and instantly became an icon. How could all these things, relating to one of the most over-exposed artists of the past century, have just surfaced in the very place that has become a shrine to her?

In 1958, after the death of Kahlo's husband, the rotund muralist Diego Rivera, the Blue House was turned into the Frida Kahlo Museum by Rivera's wealthy patron and executor, Dolores Olmedo Pati�o. She owned 25 of Frida's darkest and most famous paintings (on show next month at a new Kahlo retrospective at Tate Modern), which Olmedo crammed into a small room of her sumptuous 16th-century hacienda, also now a museum, mostly given over to showing Rivera's work. The eccentric Olmedo was openly dismissive of Kahlo's work, referring to it as 'trashy'. She acquired her masterpieces, she admitted, only because Rivera begged her to. 'Otherwise I would not have done it,' she told the New York Times. 'I did not get along with Frida. She liked women and I liked men, and I was not a communist.' (The paintings cost Olmedo a total of $1,600; five years ago, one Kahlo self-portrait sold for $5m.)"

Bush likely to back weapons in space

great

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Bush likely to back weapons in space: "President George Bush is expected to issue a directive in the next few weeks giving the US air force a green light for the development of space weapons, potentially triggering a new global arms race, it was reported yesterday.

The new weapons being studied range from hunter-killer satellites to orbiting weapons using lasers, radio waves, or even dense metal tubes dropped from space by a weapon known as 'Rods from God' on ground targets."

Blog Business Summit on media future

Blog Business Summit: "In the article Why Newspapers Aren’t Dead And How Print Needs to Evolve, the Wall Street Journal interviewed Gary B. Pruitt who is CEO of McClatchy Co. which owns 12 daily and 17 nondaily newspapers. Here is what was said about the challenges they are facing, and how they plan to deal with them.

Listed in the piece are these market facts:

*

The average daily circulation for newspapers reporting slumped 1.9% for the six-month period ended March, 31.
*

Newspapers face increasing competition from news outlets that weren’t around 20 years ago, including 24-hour cable news channels and the Internet.
*

Restrictions such as do-not-call lists are making it harder for newspapers to sell subscriptions.
*

The barriers to entry for competitors are less, and there are many more classified companies that can compete.

What is Pruitt’s plan for success? Here is what he says (emphasis mine):

“In many ways tailored niche products will be the key to newspapers success online, because more targeted online offerings can supplement the mass reach of the print product. As we learn more about our online users through registration, we are able to tailor content to their interests and sell more targeted advertising to them. And of course advertisers are willing to pay a higher rate, if they know their advertising message is going to an audience already interested in their product or service… we are blogging everything from pop music to politics on our sites. We are expanding into community-based services and grassroots journalism. As a result of this multifaceted innovation in our Internet operations, we would expect that there would be successful business models to support niche products.”

Niche, targeted, advertising, grassroots… Blogs."

Holovaty.com | Thoughts on online journalism and Web development

Holovaty.com | Thoughts on online journalism and Web development

Chicago crime map | chicagocrime.org

Chicago crime map | chicagocrime.org
cooles website of the week

Faith No More bassist Bill Gould's indy label

San Francisco Bay Guardian | Arts and Entertainment: "'BEING AN INDEPENDENT label now is kind of like volunteering your services driving retarded kids to the dentist,' Koolarrow label head Bill Gould says. 'It's like, 'What a good guy! That's nice, and I'm really glad you're doing it. But I wouldn't do it.'

'People who do the right thing are stupid.'

Hey, wait a second.

'No, I'm stupid,' Gould freely admits. 'Absolutely, I'm totally stupid. I'm gonna do it anyway because I like to do it, and luckily, with Faith No More, I made some money where I can afford to be stupid.'"

'Fair Use' Bill Draws Ire Of Rights Holders

'Fair Use' Bill Draws Ire Of Rights Holders: "Some of the most important copyright holders, including the studios, sports leagues and the entertainment unions, are urging lawmakers to oppose legislation that would scale back intellectual property protections.

In a letter sent to lawmakers this week, the companies, leagues and guilds told lawmakers that the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act (HR 1201) actually undermines consumers.
"

Iraq fiasco: The Independent

News: "The greatest failure of the US in Iraq is not that mistakes were made but that its political system has proved incapable of redressing them. Neither Mr Rumsfeld nor his lieutenants have been sacked. Paul Wolfowitz, under-secretary of defence and architect of the war, has been promoted to the World Bank.

Almost exactly a century ago the Russian empire fought a war with Japan in the belief that a swift victory would strengthen the powers-that-be in St Petersburg. Instead the Tsar's armies met defeat. Russian generals, who said that their tactic of charging Japanese machine guns with sabre-wielding cavalry had failed only because their men had attacked with insufficient brio, held their jobs. In Iraq, American generals and their political masters of demonstrable incompetence are not fired. The US is turning out to be much less of a military and political superpower than the rest of the world had supposed."

The New York Review of Books: Adventures of a True Believer

The New York Review of Books: Adventures of a True Believer: "If Russia weren't governed by fools and reprobates, if the roads were smooth and wide and free of bandits, if Russia were suddenly a modern European country as far removed from Stalin's legacy as today's Germany is from Hitler's, three groups of citizens would suffer the most: corrupt traffic cops, oligarchs, and satirists. Of this last group, Vladimir Voinovich is possibly the most important Russian satirical writer of the last fifty years, and given the absurdity and repressiveness that characterized those fifty years, one of the most subversive writers in the nation's history. If all Russian writers (as Dostoevsky said[1] ) are supposed to come 'from under Gogol's 'Overcoat,'' Voinovich has come directly out of Gogol's 'Nose.'"

Technology360: Users Don't Want VOD To Be C.O.D., Want It Free

Technology360: Users Don't Want VOD To Be C.O.D., Want It Free: "The lack of free content appears to be supressing demand for video-on-demand (VOD) television services, suggests new research from Forrester Research. � VOD is now available to nearly 19 million homes--or about 75 percent of the U.S. digital cable universe, Forrester's Josh Bernoff notes in his report on the various ad models for VOD. While movie buys and usage of subscription content such as HBO On-Demand are increasing, the model is languishing to some degree, largely because of the reluctance of cable operators to pay for quality programming."

Laborers, Leaders Mourn 'the Real Miguel Contreras'

Laborers, Leaders Mourn 'the Real Miguel Contreras': "Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, speaking alternately in English and Spanish, presided over the funeral Mass. But it was Maria Elena Durazo, Contreras' widow, who offered the most stirring eulogy.

In a strong voice that quavered at moments, Durazo told mourners that since her husband's death, she had heard Miguel Contreras described as 'a kingmaker, a man of great influence, a consummate behind-the-scenes dealmaker.'

'These views miss the real Miguel Contreras,' Durazo said. 'They ignore why he was able to do what he did. While he reveled in the game of politics, he succeeded because his constituency, the people he was trying to help, knew he was the real thing….

'Miguel was as passionate about the struggles of electricians and actors and longshoremen as he was about homecare workers and janitors and nurses and hotel housekeepers,' she said. 'He fought for each worker with the same heart and the same soul.'"

not on google: Rocking Party on Staten Island

Mistakes Were Made � Rocking Party on Staten Island

Blues Fest lineup June 9-12

Koko Taylor and BUddy Guy are headlining.
City of Chicago

Public TV and Radio to Receive Big Grants - New York Times

I can say that I was in on the early conversations leading to this fund. Could be legacy-material for Margaret, Alison, Jon and John P.
Public TV and Radio to Receive Big Grants - New York Times: "The Ford Foundation, the main financial backer of public broadcasting in its formative days, is undertaking its largest initiative to support nonprofit media in more than 25 years, officials said yesterday.
Readers
Forum: Television

The initiative will funnel $50 million over five years to a baker's dozen of public television, radio and other media organizations. A major focus of the effort will be to spur the creation and distribution of public affairs programming, particularly programs dealing with international affairs."

N.C. Church Kicks Out Members Who Do Not Support Bush

sounds fair to me
N.C. Church Kicks Out Members Who Do Not Support Bush: "embers of the small East Waynesville Baptist Church say Chandler led an effort to kick out congregants who did not support President Bush. Nine members were voted out at a Monday church meeting in this mountain town about 120 miles west of Charlotte. Forty others in the 400-member congregation resigned in protest"

CNN.com - Witnesses: Dog cared for abandoned baby - May 9, 2005

CNN.com - Witnesses: Dog cared for abandoned baby - May 9, 2005

cameron was talking about similar occurrrences this weekend

Edgewater - May 2005

Edgewater - May 2005: "Edgewater, bounded roughly by Foster, Devon, the lake and Ravenswood, has all of the ingredients for a great urban community. Allen might also have mentioned beautiful and wildly varied architecture (from palatial single-families in Lakewood-Balmoral to lakefront highrises along Sheridan Road); topnotch public transportation; some of the best beachfront in the city; a dense, diverse population; the influence of Loyola University; and prices that while rising rapidly are still comparatively affordable for lakefront property on the North Side."

Miguel Contreras

Leader Who Restored Labor's Clout in L.A. Dies: "Miguel Contreras, the son of migrant farmworkers who grew to be one of Los Angeles' most powerful labor leaders and a dominant force in city politics, died late Friday evening of an apparent heart attack. He was 52.

Contreras, who worked the arid fields of the Central Valley as a boy, re-energized a sputtering Southern California labor movement struggling to regain relevancy."

Union to Input: Outgo!

AlterNet: MediaCulture: Union to Input: Outgo!: "'Sometimes it's hard for liberals to understand,' he says. 'They try to tell unions what's in their best interest. We define our own interest, and we know goddamn well how to win. There's not much of a gray area for our workers.'"

The Time Traveler Convention

http://web.mit.edu/adorai/timetraveler/

The Time Traveler Convention

May 7, 2005, 10:00pm EDT (08 May 2005 02:00:00 UTC)

East Campus Courtyard, MIT

42:21:36.025°N, 71:05:16.332°W

(42.360007,-071.087870 in decimal degrees)

What is it?

Technically, you would only need one time traveler convention. Time
travelers from all eras could meet at a specific place at a specific
time, and they could make as many repeat visits as they wanted. We
are hosting the first and only Time Traveler Convention at MIT in one
week, and WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Why do you need my help?

We need you to help PUBLICIZE the event so that future time travelers
will know about the convention and attend. This web page is
insufficient; in less than a year it will be taken down when I
graduate, and futhermore, the World Wide Web is unlikely to remain in
its present form permanently. We need volunteers to publish the
details of the convention in enduring forms, so that the time
travelers of future millennia will be aware of the convention. This
convention can never be forgotten! We need publicity in MAJOR
outlets, not just Internet news. Think New York Times, Washington
Post, books, that sort of thing. If you have any strings, please pull
them.

Great idea, I'd love to help! What should I do?

Write the details down on a piece of acid-free paper, and slip them
into obscure books in academic libraries! Carve them into a clay
tablet! If you write for a newspaper, insert a few details about the
convention! Tell your friends, so that word of the convention will be
preserved in our oral history! A note: Time travel is a hard problem,
and it may not be invented until long after MIT has faded into
oblivion. Thus, we ask that you include the latitude/longitude
information when you publicize the convention.

You can also make an absolute commitment to publicize the convention
afterwards. In that case, bring a time capsule or whatever it may be
to the party, and then bury it afterwards.

Can't the time travelers just hear about it from the attendees, and
travel back in time to attend?

Yes, they can! In fact, we think this will happen, and the small
number of adventurous time travelers who do attend will go back to
their "home times" and tell all their friends to come, causing the
convention to become a Woodstock-like event that defines humanity
forever.

Unfortunately, we of the present (2005) don't have time travel, and
so we only have one chance at observing the convention. If the time
travelers don't leave us their secrets, we won't be able to go back
in time and see our convention in all its glory unless it is
publicized in advance.

Isn't time travel impossible?

We can't know for certain. The ancient Greeks would have thought
computers were impossible, and the Phoenicians certainly wouldn't
have believed that humans would one day send a spacecraft to the moon
and back. We cannot predict the future of science or technology, so
we can only make an effort and see if any time travelers come to our
convention. If you would like to read more about time travel, check
out our reading list.

I'm from the future, and I'd like to attend!

We're not sure how you're emailing us from the future, but we'd love
to have you! Come as you are! No dress code whatsoever. We do request
that you bring some sort of proof that you do indeed come from the
future, and haven't just dressed like you do. We welcome any sort of
proof, but things like a cure for AIDS or cancer, a solution for
global poverty, or a cold fusion reactor would be particularly
convincing as well as greatly appreciated.

I'm from the present, and I'd like to attend!

Great! We would also love to have you, especially if you have helped
publicize. We request that you bring refreshments if possible, as we
need to make this a great party for you and for the time travelers.
RSVP at timetravelerconvention@gmail.com, and then show up at the
designated place at the designated time! The East Campus Courtyard is
in between the two red rectangles on this map. If you plan on
attending, PLEASE check this page frequently for updates.

I'm from the present, and I'd like to attend, but I can't!

No worries! If time travel is invented in your lifetime, you can
always come later. Even if it isn't, we'll have pictures and video up
at this site within a week after the Convention.