2010-06-18 06:35:38

FLORIDA THINKS: Intimations Of Doom And Whispers Of Hope In A Hurricane Season

Filed under: Economy, Politics, oil
Posted by: Purple State of News

This morning, John Koenig, editor and publisher of Florida Thinks, writes with clear-eyed realism about his state’s future. If you want a sense for how people directly affected by the Gulf oil spill are thinking, look no further. If you think it’s all going to be okay, it’s not.

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2010-06-14 17:26:53

IS TECHNOLOGY MAKING US DUMBER?

Filed under: Books, Culture, Technology
Posted by: Purple State of News

There is a certain irony in the fact that we are presenting this information to you courtesy of the latest means of technology, but for whatever reason there was a spate of articles (several revolving around the publication of Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains) in the news this past week on the possible downside of both our constant reliance on technological devices and the way in which we process information via the internet.

To begin – and in the spirit of Purple State – here are two divergent points of view: Carr asks, “Does the Internet Make Us Dumber?”, while Clay Shirky opposes, “Does the Internet Make Us Smarter?”

Carr first stirred the waters with his provocative 2008 Atlantic article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” While not a technological naysayer or prophet of doom, Carr effectively argues in his latest book and in this interview that the internet has led us to become increasingly distracted on both a social and cognitive level – with current research seeming to support this, as in this 2009 paper in in The Journal of Neuroscience - further encouraging and accelerating the emphasis on superficiality, or “the shallows”.

And preceding the above items, the technology editor of Newsweek contributed his comments in “Confessions of a Tech Apostate” on the heels of a recent commencement address, wherein President Obama proclaimed, “information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation.”

Finally, on Monday The New York Times had a front-page feature on the mental price we may be paying for our interactive multi-tasking lifetyles. Is it all too much? Feeling information overloaded yet? If so, then the Times also offers several suggestions on how to disengage and digitally detox. With a gentle nod to Timothy Leary, maybe it’s time to turn away, tune out, and log off.

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2010-06-14 07:16:41

PAPA, FIFA, OBAMA, PIXAR: The Week In Purple

Filed under: International, Movies, Pop Culture, Sports
Posted by: Purple State of News

Come Sunday, it’s Father’s Day, the least successful of all the Madison-Avenue-manufactured holidays, and yet still on the calendar, hanging in there for decades now. The day after is the official beginning of summer, and the start of our Congressional-style recess at PSOM, but in the meantime, here’s hoping that Purple State readers who also happen to be fathers get some combination of sex, road food, fishing trips, golf clubs, bottles of wine or six packs of Cherry Cola, comic books, zombie movie DVD’s, Lakers tickets, the reissue of Exile On Main Street or the new New Pornographers or the first few seasons of Friday Night Lights, The Wire or True Blood.

Speaking of The Wire, last night on the latest David Simon drama, Treme, a world-weary John Goodman took a particular kind of New Orleans ferry boat ride, and I have a feeling that the last episode in the first season will be the ultimate Father’s Day weepie. Stay tuned.

For those who want a more upbeat week, the World Cup chugs on. On Saturday, the Yanks tied the Brits in what is bound to be one of the unforgettable games of the tournament, mostly thanks to a goal that should never have been made. Yesterday’s upset? Germany wiped the floor with Australia.

Later today, Italy plays Paraguay, and Japan takes on Cameroon. For more, go here.

Is the President of the United States watching the World Cup this year, or is he too distracted? Tomorrow night, he’s making another speech to the nation, this time about the disaster in the Gulf Of Mexico. Clearly, the gushing hole at the bottom of the sea threatens to become his 9-11, the unexpected crisis that rips through everything and redefines a presidency.

The economic meltdown doesn’t count, because he knew about it going in. Unlike his opponent, Obama was prepared. This one came out of nowhere and has become a political nightmare, a no-win situation that could spill into every corner of his legacy, pun intended.

It’s hard to imagine what he will say tomorrow night. Right now, most people want action. Plug the hole. Talk later.

Finally, another Hollywood sequel comes our way. I’m sick to the death of them, but it is Pixar, so who knows? Toy Story 3 will be many a father’s fate, one way or another. There are far worse. Garfield 2 comes to mind.

That’s the last Purple week for a while. See you in August.

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