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Brad Williamson

Brad Williamson

As The Virtual Biographer™, I produce for public figures an online, day-to-day, reality program about their famed life. http://TheVirtualBiographer.com/blog
Sammy Sosa's Stunning Transformation | NBC Dallas-Fort Worth - http://www.nbcdfw.com/news...
Sammy Sosa's Stunning Transformation | NBC Dallas-Fort Worth
"It's typical for an athletes' appearance to change after they retire from professional sports -- they pack on a few pounds and age like normal people. But there's something stunningly different about Sammy Sosa's post-baseball look. Recent photos snapped of the former Chicago Cubs slugger show a shocking transformation: his skin is turning white -- stark white." - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
Wow - Rodfather
Does Sammy have vitiligo? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - Bill Sodeman
His hair texture has changed dramatically too. - Anika
Michael Jackson Syndrome? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF) from fftogo
For real?? - Shey, Jamaican of FF
When your job doesn't require you to stand in the sun for long periods, you tend to lose your tan. - EricaJoy
That's a bit drastic though. The article guesses steroids might have a part in the cause of vitiligo. - Rodfather
'Daily Show' Asks Which City Has Douchier Fans: New York Or Philly? (VIDEO) - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009...
'Daily Show' Asks Which City Has Douchier Fans: New York Or Philly? (VIDEO)
"As the New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies this week, the Eagles were crushing the Giants. This unprecedented moment in the New York/Philadelphia rivalry made the folks at the "Daily Show" ask: Which fans are the douchiest? Jason Jones and John Oliver were there as the sports supporters battled it out for the title. Clad in the ugliest suits anyone has ever seen, they ran down the criteria of being a douche: excessive drinking, excessive cursing, gay-bashing opponents, and defiling the icons of opponents." - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
As a Phillies/Eagles fan, I would say the answer is obviously New York. (Seriously though, every city has its own share of assholes among its fan base.) - John (a.k.a. dendroica)
Writing And Velocity | The New Republic - http://www.tnr.com/blog...
Writing And Velocity | The New Republic
I like blogging. I enjoy its informality and instantaneousness—the way it provides me an opportunity to spout off publicly about this or that outrage of the moment. Opining is fun, and so is ideological combat. But a book is, or should be, something different: A chance to slow down. An opportunity to raise one’s sights a little higher. To stop focusing so incessantly on the moment and strive, instead, to step back a bit, to take in a wider view, perhaps even to rise above the fray. To reflect instead of react. To ruminate instead of respond. - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
Interesting article... I didnt have the time to read it fully but it looks like interesting reading.. - TrafficBug
The golden age of infinite music - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2...
The golden age of infinite music
"Most importantly, as the great digital revolution rolls on, bands are no longer having to compete for people's money. Instead, they're jockeying for our time. And the field is huge, crossing not just genres, but eras. Who do you want to investigate today: TV On The Radio or Crosby, Stills and Nash? Do you fancy losing yourself in the brilliant first album by Florence And The Machine, or deriving no end of entertainment from how awful The Rolling Stones got in the 1980s? Little Richard or La Roux? White Lies or Black Sabbath? As one of my music press colleagues use to say, there's no longer any past - just an endless present." - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
On the Internet everything is everywhere all the time. Cosmic consciousness given physical structure, made physically manifest as a global machine. - Sean McBride
Losing Net Neutrality: What The Worse Case Scenario Looks Like - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009...
Losing Net Neutrality: What The Worse Case Scenario Looks Like
"What would life be like under the "Internet Freedom Act?" Well, one Reddit user created an image that depicts the "worst case scenario." John Biggs at crunchgear says, "this sort of bundling is a favorite pastime of most stream providers. For years voicemail was a privilege, not a right, and there are still grannies out there renting phones from the phone company. While month-to-month the costs might not seem like much, this sort of thing adds up to delicious profit." Over at Gizmodo, John Herman adds:" - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
is that article really claiming John McCain invented the Blackberry? - alphaxion
Top 10 Lessons From NBC's Failing Jay Leno Strategy - http://adage.com/mediawo...
Top 10 Lessons From NBC's Failing Jay Leno Strategy
"How a Network Shot Itself in the Foot by Cynically Cost-Cutting -- and Betraying Its Viewers and Affiliates" - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
"Jay Leno is a helluva lot more annoying when you're still wide awake." - maybe this is why I've never warmed to Leno. As a night person, I'm generally wide awake when he's doing his monologue. - Andrew C
BTW, http://www.thrfeed.com/2009... - a scripted CABLE show beat Leno's ratings. - Andrew C
Good. Go away Jay Leno. NBC lost slots for keeping good dramas (*coughKingscough*) because of you. - Chieze Okoye
I haven't forced myself to watch his prime time vehicle yet... just watching the promos have convinced me that it's more of the same stuff that turned me off on his old show. The only thing that worries me is that if his show goes away, there will be even more Law & Order reruns filling their schedule. If it wasn't for Thursday nights (30 Rock, et al), I wouldn't watch NBC at all! - Mark Jepsen
reading through that, I realized that I felt this coming. NBC, which used to be about good dramas, dropped at least 2 pretty good dramas in their infancy (Kings and My Own Worst Enemy). I watched a bit of Southland and thought it was ok, but after those other two were cancelled, I couldn't let myself get into another new NBC drama and sure enough, it has been cancelled. Now I've even lost my fervor for SVU (SVU!!) because of my general malaise towards NBC. Way to kill your brand, guys. - Chieze Okoye
Want 50Mbps Internet in your town? Threaten to roll out your own - http://arstechnica.com/tech-po...
Want 50Mbps Internet in your town? Threaten to roll out your own
"ISPs may not act for years on local complaints about slow Internet—but when a town rolls out its own solution, it's amazing how fast the incumbents can deploy fiber, cut prices, and run to the legislature." - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
Competition always trumps government intervention when it comes to innovation. - Craig Eddy
The 1986 Crystal Light National Aerobic Championship, team competition The San Francisco Bay Club - http://www.youtube.com/watch...
The 1986 Crystal Light National Aerobic Championship, team competition The San Francisco Bay Club
Play
"Open Internet" - An Amazing Video About Net Neutrality - http://www.youtube.com/watch...
"Open Internet" - An Amazing Video About Net Neutrality
Play
This is a video we made about free and open web access as a right for all people, with all interests, of all backgrounds -- it's for all of us. Enjoy - Brad Williamson
I like this. I just wish that it didn't start with kiva. And certain examples are not really about 'open' but the interviews are good. If I created this, I think that it would be nice to start with quick quotes of people talking about what open / net neutrality is about, show some examples, then get back to the longer parts.. but it's nice. thanks for sharing :) - See-ming Lee 李思明 SML
HOW MARKETING HAS GOT UNDER OUR SKIN - http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/content...
HOW MARKETING HAS GOT UNDER OUR SKIN
"Branding used to be for products, then celebrities. Now it is something ordinary people do to themselves. Peter York traces the roots of a phenomenon that goes back to Dale Carnegie" - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
Tim and Eric Awesome Show! Gross, Half-Naked, Demented TV - http://www.wired.com/magazin...
Tim and Eric Awesome Show! Gross, Half-Naked, Demented TV
"The show is part of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, a block of late-night shows, and individual Awesome Show sketches can be as short as 15 seconds, making them ideal Internet fodder. Heidecker and Wareheim usually strive to make Awesome Show look as low tech as possible, a tribute to an earlier generation of user-generated do-it-yourself content creators who plied their craft on local news shows, infomercials, and public-access channels. If you were to stumble upon Awesome Show on a late Sunday night, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a slapped-together collection of viral videos. You’d also be thoroughly weirded out, as Heidecker and Wareheim have found a way to tap into the voyeuristic glee these clips can inspire — the sense that you’re watching something that wasn’t meant for you to see and enjoying it in ways that the creators could have never intended or even imagined. Awesome Show is perfect for the YouTube era — now that our comedy metabolisms have accelerated and our inboxes are filled with accidental classics like “Chocolate Rain” and the Star Wars kid." - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
I've been a fan of Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great job since day 1! Before day 1, actually. I saw the promo for the show months before it hit and knew I'd love it It's definitely divisive. Some of my friends HATE it, and some of them LOVE it. Mostly HATE though, probably because the few friends that do "get" it quote the show absolutely nonstop. T&E try to make you uncomfortable, but if you have the stomach for it, it's absolutely brilliant. - veo
Rise of the Machines: Why Demand Media is Worth More Than the New York Times (IMPORTANT Read for Content Many Creators) - http://www.wired.com/magazin...
Rise of the Machines: Why Demand Media is Worth More Than the New York Times (IMPORTANT Read for Content Many Creators)
"“I call them the Henry Ford of online video,” says Jordan Hoffner, director of content partnerships at YouTube. Media companies like The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, AOL, and USA Today have either hired Demand or studied its innovations. This year, the privately held Demand is expected to bring in about $200 million in revenue; its most recent round of financing by blue-chip investors valued the company at $1 billion. In this industrial model of content creation, Muñoz-Donoso is working the conveyor belt — being paid very little for cranking out an endless supply of material. He admits that the results are not particularly rewarding, but work is work, and Demand’s is steady and pays on time. Plus, he says, “this is the future.” He has shot more than 40,000 videos for Demand, filming yo-yo whizzes, pole dancers, and fly fishermen. But ask him to pick a favorite and he’s stumped. “I can’t really remember most of them,” he says." - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
SHOCKINGLY SAD NEWS FOR MANY CONTENT CREATORS. - Brad Williamson
I think this is brilliant -- really. What's not to like? - Sean McBride
"Before Reese came up with his formula, Demand Media operated in the traditional way. Contributors suggested articles or videos they wanted to create. Editors, trained in the ways of search engine optimization, would approve or deny each while also coming up with their own ideas. The process worked fine. But once it was automated, every algorithm-generated piece of content produced 4.9... more... - Sean McBride
So are they the ones to blame for the increasingly weak search results at Google and Yahoo? The top results have been SEO'd into irrelevance. I no longer look at top 30 for my personal searches, unless its branded content I am explicitly looking for - like Fedex locations. At least half the time, rich content is buried in the Second Hundred (what I call result pages after 100). Smart content providers are devising strategies right now to place branded content high and deeper content in the middle. - Cole Jolley
Cole -- I would have to see some examples of what you are referring to. Usually I seem to find what I'm looking for in the top 5 results of a Google search. - Sean McBride
The 100-Inch 3-D Frickin’ Laser TV - http://newteevee.com/2009...
The 100-Inch 3-D Frickin’ Laser TV
"HDI’s 100-inch TV gives off a 1920 x 1080p image from three RGB laser-illuminated micro display imagers. It’s not thin like plasma or LCD, but it’s nice and bright and refreshes quickly at 360 Hz. HDI thinks it can sell the TV for $10-15,000, undercutting what people are used to paying in the home theater market. HDI’s TV can also do 2-D (in fact, it was only in the middle development that HDI realized it could combine 3-D with such a nice screen). The demo unit weighs 80 pounds, is 10 inches deep, and draws 190 watts of power." - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
Why are the laser projector systems starting off with rear projection? - Andrew C
This seems quite steep. I'd prefer getting a plasma & a projector to this. - Cristo
Big Brother & the Holding Company - Ball and Chain (Live 67) - http://www.youtube.com/watch...
Big Brother & the Holding Company - Ball and Chain (Live 67)
Play
Where were YOU when on that horrifying day of 10/15/2009?
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That day cannot be forgotten. - Brad Williamson
I actually didn't stop working... and i was probably the better for it too - Chris Heath
I actually wasn't caring ... *shrug* - Rene Wirtz
Imagine how easy it is to fool the public when governments and mainstream media establishments really put their mind to it: Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11 and the 9/11 anthrax attacks, WTC 7 was brought down by fire, etc. Human beings in the mass are infinitely susceptible to hypnotic suggestion, hoaxes, illusions, delusions, legerdemain, crude propaganda and other forms of psychological manipulation. - Sean McBride
can somebody explain what was that? what happened 15/10/09?? O_o - morose
Sean, I don't have to imagine it. But what would be good to imagine is how easy it is to not buy into that manipulation etc. - Chris Heath
Chris -- in my experience, it is very difficult for most people -- even people who consider themselves to be intelligent, well-educated and skeptical -- not to be manipulated by sustained mainstream media propaganda campaigns. - Sean McBride
That's because they watch TV all the time. It's really easy to shield yourself from these types of 'campaigns' ... just turn off the idiot box! - Chris Heath
Chris -- I stopped watching all cable TV news years ago -- I receive all my news from the best feeds on the planet, all of which have been well ahead of the curve in debunking the nonsensical propaganda being dished out by Fox News, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post and the usual suspects. But I am guessing that fewer than 5% of Americans share my proclivities. The mainstream... more... - Sean McBride
Yeah, i wasn't really talking about you (and i totally agree) - Chris Heath
Actually, I will remember, because I was twittering with other New Orleanians who were disappointed that a helium balloon allegedly carrying a 6-yr-old boy had preempted the 9-yr-old Tyren's question to Obama why people hated him, when God is love. Maybe(!) that was staged as well, but he was earnest. I'm just glad child protection services are being called in, and Falcon and his brothers will get the help they obviously need. - Ojos Criollos
New camera promises to capture your whole life - http://www.newscientist.com/article...
New camera promises to capture your whole life
"For consumers, the gadget will provide an easy way to become a "lifelogger" – someone who attempts to electronically record as much of their life as possible. Microsoft researcher Gordon Bell has made his life an experiment in lifelogging, recording everything from phone calls to TV viewing, and uses a SenseCam wherever he goes." - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
It will be great help to Alzhemer's patients who forget the little things. If they could track back in time and see a time lapse video of themselves, it will help improve jog their memories. It serves same purpose as photograph - something that you want to record and preserve. Students can wear this camera and sit thru lectures and outsource the note taking part (transcriptionism) and... more... - TrafficBug
The VHS Mail Slot (BRILLIANT!)
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So when my Netflix arrive, will my mailbox play them? Wait... that's for a DVD player. Dayum! - Brad Williamson
Kids These Days. Just Look at Them! ;-( - http://chronicle.com/article...
Kids These Days.  Just Look at Them! ;-(
"Kids these days. Just look at them. They've got those headphones in their ears and a gadget in every hand. They speak in tongues and text in code. They wear flip-flops everywhere. Does anyone really understand them? Only some people do, or so it seems. They are experts who have earned advanced degrees, dissected data, and published books. If the minds of college students are a maze, these specialists sell maps. Ask them to explain today's teenagers and twentysomethings. Invite them to your campus to describe this generation's traits. Just make sure that they don't all show up at the same time. They would argue, contradict one another, and leave you more baffled than ever." - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
Soon To Be the Most Photographed Tourist Spot in Dallas: The Reflecting Pond in Front of the Winspear - http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2009...
Soon To Be the Most Photographed Tourist Spot in Dallas: The Reflecting Pond in Front of the Winspear
Soon To Be the Most Photographed Tourist Spot in Dallas: The Reflecting Pond in Front of the Winspear
"The reflecting pond in front of the Winspear is a joy. In the summer? Kids will go nuts for this thing." - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
..just took the quiz, "Are You Funkay as Hayell?" Brad scored:Eleventy Billion Million % FUNKAY AS HAYELL! Listen 2 this & c if u is "FAH" 2
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By "The Meters" (1972) Download the entire album here... http://bunsoplenty.blogspot.com/2009... - Brad Williamson
Cool and Classic - Enlivening a Dallas Cultural District - NYTimes.com - http://www.nytimes.com/2009...
Cool and Classic - Enlivening a Dallas Cultural District - NYTimes.com
Cool and Classic - Enlivening a Dallas Cultural District - NYTimes.com
"The latest additions to the district, the Dee and Charles Wyly Theater and the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, are scheduled to open on Sunday. Facing off across Flora Street, the district’s main thoroughfare, they embody radically different design philosophies, one coolly experimental, the other a traditional take on civic architecture cloaked in a modern wrapper. Yet together they give the area the cultural stature Dallas has long been craving." - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
I gotta hand it them... they did a great job on these. Up until about a month ago, I lived about a half a mile away from the construction and it was beyond exciting to see these innovative structures take shape. - Brad Williamson
TV industry looks for a game plan on using Twitter - http://www.latimes.com/enterta...
TV industry looks for a game plan on using Twitter
"Many stars and show creators are promoting their series on the messaging service. But giving platoons of highly opinionated actors and writers a filter-less forum can have its drawbacks." - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
NPR to social media: Bring it on - http://www.knightdigitalmediac...
NPR to social media: Bring it on
"The leadership language of National Public Radio’s new social media guidelines offers a positive counterpoint to the Washington Post’s" - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
Media, In Ted Turner's Misguided Dreams - http://gawker.com/5383004...
Media, In Ted Turner's Misguided Dreams
"Ted Turner distanced himself from the media business in 2006, when he stepped down as vice-chairman at Time Warner, which previously bought his eponymous broadcasting company. And now envisions a magical world in which he again calls the shots." - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
John Mayer Threatens to Sodomize Us - http://nymag.com/daily...
John Mayer Threatens to Sodomize Us
"What do you think about health care? Would you take the public option? Have you ever heard me play guitar? I'm really fucking good. You know what I'm bad at? Answering questions about public health care. This is not in my wheelhouse. Do you have any questions about music? I almost got a mad need to lighten up. You need to lighten up, because the questions you asked me were all troublemaking questions. If someone gave me the Nobel Peace Prize, and I didn't deserve it, I would just shut my mouth and enjoy the hell out of it." - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet
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