unsorted ephemera bits held onto for some reason or another – might be waiting for a category or tags or just be hanging out waiting for a click or a reason to happen
Listen to 21-Year-Old David Letterman’s College Radio Show (1969) (via Open Culture)
Over thirty years at the desk of his very own late-night talk show, multiple generations of fans, the respect of comedians the world over: David Letterman has had, by any measure, an awfully good run.
As with many illustrious careers, Letterman’s humble early shot followed even humbler, earlier shots. Just above, you can hear the 21-year-old “Dave Letterman”’s broadcast from April Fool’s Day 1969 on WAGO-AM, the closed-circuit radio station he helped to found at his future alma mater, Ball State University. Though only a five-minute clip, this recording showcases not just Letterman’s preternatual microphone presence, but his way with the near-psychedelic walls of sound effects, seemingly free-associative speech, and pure wackiness that so came into its own in the late sixties and early seventies. (The Firesign Theater would soon perfect it.) Letterman followers who must know everything — and they certainly exist — should note that, when he calls a delirious-sounding woman in this segment, he calls none other than Michelle Cook, the very first Mrs. Letterman. Though we have yet to learn the identity of Letterman’s Late Show replacement, I feel certain, after this listening experience, that the Letterman of twenty years from now will rise from the ranks of podcasting. Listen out for him; he may not drop colorful phrases just like “horse dentures falling into a rusted howitzer artillery shell,” but you’ll know him when you hear him. Or her.
Audrey Hepburn’s Screen Test for Roman Holiday (1953) (via Open Culture)
In his biography of Ms. Hepburn, the author Barry Paris writes:
Her Roman Holiday test took place at Pinewood Studio in London, September 18, 1951, under [Thorold] Dickinson’s direction. “We did some scenes out of the script,” he said, but “Paramount also wanted to see what Audrey was actually like not acting a part, so I did an interview with her. We loaded a thousand feet of film into a camera and every foot of it went on this conversation. She talked about her experiences in the war, the Allied raid on Arnhem, and hiding out in a cellar. A deeply moving thing.”
Later, so the story goes, the director William Wyler watched the footage (shown above) in Rome and found it irresistible. He claimed: “She had everything I was looking for: charm, innocence and talent. She also was very funny. She was absolutely enchanting, and we said, ‘That’s the girl!'”
An Illustrated Dictionary of Cyborg Anthropology
Summary
Cyborg Anthropology is a way of understanding how we live as technosocially connected citizens in the modern era. Our cell phones, cars and laptops have turned us into cyborgs. What does it mean to extend the body into hyperspace? What are the implications to privacy, information and the formation of identity? Now that we have a second self, how do we protect it?
This text covers various subjects such as time and space compression, hyperlinked memories, panic architecture, mobile technology, interface evaporation and how technology is changing the way we live.
Who is it for?
Useful for researchers, scientists, interface designers, developers, professors, students, and anyone who engages with or wishes to better understand technology and culture.
About the Author
Amber Case is a Cyborg Anthropologist and UX Designer from Portland, Oregon. Her main focus is applying anthropology to mobile computing and social software.
Case has spoken at various industry conferences including MIT’s Futures of Entertainment and Inverge: The Interactive Convergence Conference, Ignite Portland and Ignite Boulder.
Case founded CyborgCamp, an unconference on the future of humans and technology. In 2010 she was named one of Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Tech.
You can learn more about Cyborg Anthropology at cyborganthropology.com, and on Twitter at @caseorganic.
6. Voynich manuscript [Wikipedia]
The Voynich Manuscript is a medieval document written in an unknown script and in an unknown language. For over one hundred years people have tried to break the code to not avail. The overall impression given by the surviving leaves of the manuscript suggests that it was meant to serve as a pharmacopoeia or to address topics in medieval or early modern medicine. However, the puzzling details of illustrations have fueled many theories about the book’s origins, the contents of its text, and the purpose for which it was intended.
The document contains illustrations that suggest the book is in six parts: Herbal, Astronomical, Biological, Cosmological, Pharmaceutical, and recipes.
Community: What I Know « Welcome to Trixieland
As I leave behind my Community Manager days at Xbox, I want to share some of the things I’ve learned over the years. So CMs and CM-hopefuls, take note!
1) It’s not about you
Being a community manager is not a chance for you to become a celebrity or to pump up your ‘personal brand’ (puke). If community is a party, you should strive to be the host with the most, not the drunk dude with a lampshade on his head or the lady surrounded by suitors like Scarlett O’Hara at the Twelve Oaks picnic. Your job is to keep the party safe, make sure everyone has a good time, and bounce troublemakers. Welcome newcomers, nip arguments in the bud, make sure the pretzel bowl is full. If you see someone sitting alone, strike up a conversation and introduce them around. If all the attention is on you…you’re doing it wrong.
2) Community is supposed to be inclusive
As in the opposite of “exclusive”. Discourage factions and cliques in your community. No one needs to re-live Junior High. Above all, don’t surround yourself with an exclusive group of butt-kissers. You are not the Queen Bee. You may not think you’re playing favorites, but inside jokes, references to partying with certain people or hanging out at events is off-putting to the members of the community who aren’t part of the ‘in crowd’.
3) Don’t badmouth your employers
No one’s asking you to be a corporate shill. Or if they are, their definition of community manager is skewed. If you don’t agree with what your company/game/service is doing, either quit or keep your trap shut. You have opinions, but remember who signs your paycheck.
4) The truth about Community Managers
Your job is to humanize and distribute the corporate message to customers, then corporatize and distribute the customer’s message back to your employer. Example: Hey guys, we’re going to be doing X! I know it’s different, but try to keep an open mind when you try it. Give it a chance and let me know what you think.” Then you gather the feedback and put it in a way that makes sense to your company: “Based on community feedback, over all they love X but really hate Y. Fixing Y will satisfy our customers and help us meet these business goals…ABC “ See what you did? You listened to the customer, you provided meaningful insights and an action plan to your employer, and actually made a difference in the product. Go you!
Super Punch: If Star Wars had been set in feudal Japan
Steve Bialik turned Star Wars into Samurai Wars and created these six prints, including a fantastic squid Samurai Ackbar.
