Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
scriptingNews outline for 11/15/2000
Author: Dave Winer Posted: 11/15/2000; 5:56:30 AM Topic: scriptingNews outline for 11/15/2000 Msg #: 21986 Prev/Next: 21985 / 21988
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More great mail.
A new tradition?
After watching a week of escalating lies on TV, I wonder if it wouldn't be fun to lie myself?
How about a new tradition. We've had Casual Fridays for years, where people can wear jeans and T-shirts (nice ones) to work, so everyone can relax. That was cool. Now how about Casual Thursdays, where we relax on honesty?
Under the rules of Casual Thursdays, you wouldn't be required to lie, but it would be permissible, even encouraged, to do so. When someone asks why you lied about this or that, ask them to look at the calendar. Or say "I'll get back to you on Friday." That would be the keyword alerting the other person that you're taking advantage of the new rules.
A recycled idea
In my younger days I used to go to industry conferences several times a year, mostly sitting in the audience, listening to poor speakers drone on and on about how great their stuff is, how dominant they are, and thinking to myself Blah blah blah blah blah.
Sometimes I'd lean over and whisper into the next person's ear, Blah blah blah, etc. It's always good for a laugh. My guess is that virtually 100 percent of the people in the audience know that the speaker is lying, so why not find a way to capture that information and display it?
Here's the idea. Give 1000 viewers, on a rotating basis, a new device hooked up to their TV, a special remote control that has a new big easy to hit button, labeled "Blah-Blah". You can hit it as many times as you want, when you feel insulted by whatever the person is saying.
There would be a Blah-Blah bar at the bottom of the TV screen for everyone to see. It would add a new dimension of unpredictability to TV watching. And the people who spew lies would have to stop and ask every once in a while how they're doing, and then we could all have a really fine laugh if the Blah-Blah-Bar was high at that moment.
A visible Will of the American People. Or a new kind of reality TV, based on an idea pioneered in the 1980s.
BTW, just for fun I applied to be the editor of the Gong Show category on DMOZ.
Does my vote matter?
This is the first morning since the election that my point of view hasn't shifted. After this is over if anyone tells me that my vote matters, I'm going to laugh. I'm laughing right now.
Just do the math. Let's say it's not a close election. Clearly, in that case, my vote doesn't matter, the outcome would be the same whether or not I voted. Suppose it is a close election. Then it's going to court and a judge is going to decide. In that case my vote doesn't count. As they say in math, QED.
The only remaining question is if the judge is impartial or is a partisan. How could the judge be impartial?
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