It has been cold. We have enjoyed bitter cold. Or, perhaps, the opposite. These last few days a few places have reported wind chills at 12 degrees. Twice we’ve had weather stations reporting morning lows lower than you can find on the northern shores of the 49th state.
When it is warmer in Barrow, Alaska …
But it has all turned a bit today, when it is only chilly. It isn’t the sort of “Oh we’re used to it, and so now it is just chilly” sort of day, but rather an invigorating sort of “take it outside while there’s still warmth in the sun to enjoy” kind of chilly.
I watched a lot of it pass by from my window, as usual.
So this guy goes on Chatroulette and gets people to sing songs with him. This is very helpful since I somehow found myself in a conversation about Taylor Swift today. I was able to retort with this:
If you didn’t watch, allow me to try one more time: I’m not sure if I preferred the Spiderman-Batman interaction or the grandma making it rain.
In class today we talked about user generated content, which I can sum up in one business card-sized image for anyone interested in curation and aggregation:
The Verification Handbook, an invaluable resource, has more on the subject if you’re interested.
That’s what they don’t see …
Sometimes that song isn’t so good, no?
One of our students, who is awesome:
@kennysmith My friends asked me why they haven't seen me in 9 days. I told them the @SamfordCrimson is a lifestyle, not a hobby.
— Emily Featherston (@feathers_878) November 20, 2014
Things to read … which are also awesome.
Polygraph Critic Charged with Training People to Thwart Polygraphs:
Williams is admitting to the charges. But why is his action a crime? Polygraphs have been notoriously unreliable for decades and their results are inadmissible in court because of that. A campaign to further undermine confidence in the technology is, if anything, laudable.
Nielsen to Measure Netflix Viewing:
Even as Netflix Inc. and other streaming-video providers have expanded to reach 40% of American homes, they have largely remained black boxes. They have refused to share data on how many viewers watch TV shows on their services, and there has been little independent data.
This looks to be about licensing, but I wonder if it will account for the times I inevitably fall asleep watching while I’m streaming something.
