Hammond is trying to decide what drink he wants.

His friend Sheep recommends Starbucks because it is really good.

Hammond decided  he likes Starbucks too and now drinks it all the time and knows all about its products.

What I found most interesting about the Branding article was the idea that the thing that is most important to selling a product isn’t something that can be bought but a loyalty that is earned. The thing that moves products is word of mouth not traditional marketing. I think this oversite comes from a disconnect between manufacturers and consumers. People when marketing seem to forget that people are people not numbers and they react better to social environments  People are social animals they like sharing and talking with people, not being talked at. 

Notice Starbucks’ clever marketing has “Coffee makes friendships grow just a little warmer” bonding people to their products and engaging customers in sharing and advocacy behavior.

Daily create: Take a picture of your favorite place to study. 

1. Banana bread
2. Banana muffins
3. Banana pie
4. Banana tarts?
5. Banana smoothie
6. STRAWBERRY BANANA smoothie (love that)
7. Bananagrams
8. Lure rabid monkeys
9. Demonstrate safe sex!
10. Make inappropriate jokes
11. Make your enemies slip on banana peels
12. Compost
13. More banana muffins 
14. Breakfast on the go!
15. Baby food?
16. Pretend microphone, if you can’t find your hairbrush
17. Pretend hairbrush, if you can’t find your microphone
18. Perfect accompaniment to your monkey costume at Halloween
19. Give it to kids on Halloween to ruin their nights
20. NUTRITION!

[Image source]

I read news online daily, but I’ve never considered looking at Michigan Radio, even though I grew up listening to it. Local news isn’t often on my radar, due to general disinterest. 

The past few days I’ve been perusing MR’s website and facebook and I must say I’m pretty impressed for a group that I wouldn’t imagine to have a massive fanbase. I really liked their Facebook interactions, funnily enough, but as for their website in general, I found it to be generally easy to use, if not a little crowded and overwhelming at times. Their “news” section dropdown menu had so many choices (what’s the difference between law, politics, and government?) and it was a little hard to quickly find what I was looking for just because I was unfamiliar with their indices. Having their general news section just be an endless scrolling list of stories was a little overwhelming. Organizing it a bit more like NPR’s front page, in block format, might be a little easier to read.

[Image source]

Sometimes all you need is someone to make you laugh.

[re: Daily Create: “Capture love in a photograph. Give it a title.”]

XML vs. HTML: A lesson learned very early on for me when I was a young Internet troll just beginning to learn HTML to customize my Neopets profile page. 

Michael Wesch’s video “The Machine is Us/ing Us” described the disconnect between content and format when it comes to HTML (which I used to make my 1999 Neopets background a picture of Sailor Moon) and XML (which any sane web designer who wants to share their content uses to make all of their stuff format-free). The creation of XML also allowed commonfolk, or a large sector of internet users who aren’t familiar with HTML, CSS, or the like, to create content without having to buy HTML For Dummies like eight-year-old me.

One of the coolest parts of Wesch’s video was how he described how XML allows websites to “mash” content together, like allowing Flickr to map people’s photos and further integrate user-generated material.

What I found interesting was the “teaching the machine” idea, and then Wesch’s transition: “The machine is using us… the machine is us.” As someone who has been part of the internet community for a long time, beginning with Neopets chat rooms and continuing on to YouTube friendships and internet-enabled communities, this really struck home for me. Wesch’s discussion of what we need to rethink is exactly right, and I think really ties into his video’s title. “We” own the internet… but can “we” control it? Or is it controlling us?

I really enjoyed watching RiP!: A Remix Manifesto, because I feel like it’s not often to hear a refreshing point of view on open source legality and copyright law in the age of the internet. Even before seeing this documentary, I have had a longstanding issue with current copyright laws and how easily they are abused by moneymakers and people in positions of power. 

Hank Green of the Vlogbrothers offered a similar commentary on the role of the internet in the existing legal frameworks of copyright in one of his videos (which, ironically, has now been taken down by YouTube). In the sense that RiP mentions Brazil’s current industry of remixing music, I find that the internet in general has offered a platform for widespread creativity that wasn’t possible before. 

I understand the value of copyright in its barest form: allowing someone who creates something to have a legal say over it. But the way that copyright exists now, wherein George Lucas has copyrighted the Star Wars franchise for the next 100 years, is simply unfeasible. Hank discussed in his video that, had Lucas not been able to manipulate copyright laws that would outlive him, but instead allowed his franchise to become free public property a few years ago, it would have given people the legal opportunity to take that franchise and make their own changes to it. We could have seen an Episode I of Star Wars that didn’t have Jar-Jar Binks and wasn’t about trade regulation. We could have actually had a good movie. 

(On a side note, Hank’s recent video on the ownership of ideas is totally worth watching. DFTBA, everyone.)

“Who cares - this stupid -? We all - it doesn’t - who gets - president of -. Do you - think it’s - to change - around here? - one single - smarter? or -? The only - it does - to is - one that - elected. The - pathetic charade - every year - everyone makes - same pathetic - just so - can put - on their - to get - college. So - for me, - I don’t - want to - to college - I don’t -. As president, - won’t do -. The only - I will - is that, - elected, I will - dismantle the - government so - none of - has to - through one - these stupid - again. Or - vote for -. Who cares? - vote at -!”

-

Tammy Metzler’s monologue from the movie Election. Every third word omitted re: Daily Create challenge. [Original quote here.]

The website for Michigan Radio is great! It is very easy to navigate, and is also aesthetically pleasing. I even find it much easier to use than the New York Times website! When I go to the NY Times website, I am overwhlemed with multiple blocks of sma...

CC Flickr AhansFor the past two months or so, my mom has been urging me to create a LinkedIn profile. As a young person, I thought it was a somewhat weird site because there was never really any social pressure to use it. I've grown up using social med...

Today's special is a lovely croissant made with only best butter, finest flour, and soul of a frenchman. Baked to golden perfection and served fresh. To accompany it we have a perfectly mixed drink of half ice tea and half lemonade. The tea brewed to p...

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A vast space stretching into the horizon, what’s up?

favorite breakfast beverage OJ!

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