• Egypt's Got Facebook Cops: This Week in Online Tyranny
  Depressing news from depressing places.
  (tags: censorship monitoring internet facebook google egypt india MLRC china jordan iran rod_coronado)
• Organization Architecture: Should managers be their own consultants?
  The late management theorist Russell Ackoff once told a story of a Mexican school in a poor, rural region that simply could not afford to hire teachers. It was forced to let the older students teach the younger students (8th graders would teach 7th graders, who would teach 6th graders, and so on.) The students were expected to fail, but contrary to expectations, the students at this school went on to achieve some of the highest test scores in Mexico. Ackoff concluded that you learn more from being a teacher than from being a student, the way schools are set up today.
  (tags: business business_models organization_design consulting)
• Connect your community with a Twitter daily newspaper | NevilleHobson.com
  About a month ago, I discovered Paper.li, a service that aggregates content linked to by people in a Twitter community into an online newspaper. It’s one of the most useful ways I’ve found for surfacing news and information I might otherwise have missed entirely. Not only that, "Neville Hobson Daily," the newspaper I created with Paper.li, gives me insight into the kinds of content some in my own Twitter community find useful or interesting that they link to it. Some of it is similar to the sort of things I would link to but more is new, part of its discovery appeal.
  (tags: twitter paperli socialmedia social_media blogrolls)
• The Twitter iabc Daily of Allan Jenkins
  Links provided on Twitter by IABC members, updated daily.
  (tags: IABC twitter twitterlists #IABC)

• The internet: is it changing the way we think? | Technology | The Observer
  American writer Nicholas Carr's claim that the internet is not only shaping our lives but physically altering our brains has sparked a lively and ongoing debate, says John Naughton. Below, a selection of writers and experts offer their opinion
  (tags: internet web2.0 culture psychology technology nicholas_carr)
• Cover story - The first printed books came with a question: What do you do with these things?
  Inventing the printing press was not the same thing as inventing the publishing business. Technologically, craftsmen were ready to open presses across Europe. But they could only guess at what to print, and the public saw no particular need to buy books. The books they knew, manuscript texts, were valuable items and were copied to order. The habit of spending money to read something a printer had decided to publish was an alien one.
  (tags: books history technology culture Gutenberg printing bibliophilia)

• The rise and fall of quicksand. - By Daniel Engber - Slate Magazine
  Quicksand once offered filmmakers a simple recipe for excitement: A pool of water, thickened with oatmeal, sprinkled over the top with wine corks. It was, in its purest form, a plot device unburdened by character, motivation, or story: My god, we're sinking! Will we escape this life-threatening situation before time runs out?

Warning: this is about cartography, bibliophilism, storytelling, crowdsourcing and self-publishing.

It should take about 30 minutes to drive from  Liverpool to Argleton, out in the Lancashire countryside. A sprint up the A59, then a few hundred feet on Smithy Lane and Bold Lane. If you get to the Cockbeck Tavern in Aughton, you've gone a half mile too far. Turn around and go back.

But you will never arrive in Argleton; you will always go too far and have to retrace your route. In the end, you must face some difficult questions, the sort that invite a pint or few at the Cockbeck: Does a place exist if it's on a map? Does it exist if it isn't? Do mapmakers -- the people we expect to faithfully illustrate our physical space -- lie? And why do they?

Because Argleton doesn't exist. Except on Google Maps.
View Larger Map

If Argleton doesn't exist, why is it on the map?

It could be a mistake (which Google claims). Or it could be a "trap street." Commercial cartographers often insert a fake street (usually a minor alley or lane) or landmark (such as small pond in the middle of nowhere)  to foil others from copying their maps -- a sort of cartographic canary trap.

But I like a more romantic (or realistic) view: places on maps always have stories -- places creep onto maps because they have a story. 

Argleton does exist after all.. it's on the map. You can walk there. You could, in a few minutes, take your pint from the Cockbeck, walk to the site of Argleton and... "be there"... even if it is not. As local Roy Bayfield put it:

"A colleague of mine spotted the anomaly on Google Maps, and I thought 'I've got to go there'," he said.

"I started to weave this amazing fantasy about the place, an alternative universe, a Narnia-like world. I was really fascinated by the appearance of a non-existent place that the internet had the power to make real and give a semi-existence."

Suw's mix of cartography and storytelling

Suw Charman-Andersen has picked up that idea and is writing -- co-creating -- a book: Argleton: a story of maps, maths and motorways. If you didn't read the link.. go back. It is a book and a puzzle -- a puzzle she wants people to help create and help solve. I will quote her briefly

"Books don't just have to be books. They can be other things too. Like paper weights, monitor stands or cat toys. This book is not just a book, it's a puzzle too. What kind of puzzle? Well, that would be telling.

"What I can say is that I need your help to make this puzzle truly puzzling. If you like geolocation, maths and photography, then this should be right up your alley.

"If you support this project, you will be sent an URL to which you can upload a photo of a landmark local to you, along with its exact location as a longitude and latitude. You can photograph whatever you like, wherever you like, so long as it's a place rather than a person.

"I will then do stuff with that stuff and the resulting stuff will, via the magic of technology, be sent back to you as an important, intrinsic piece of the puzzle.

"The first person to successfully solve the puzzle will get a non-trivial prize that I'll decide on soon. (After all, I don't want to give away all the secrets up front!)"

Supporting the project means making a pledge through Kickstarter to help raise $2700 for publishing. Pledges of $60 or more get you a hardback copy of the book, signed and hand-bound by Suw, and lots of the behind-the-scenes updates. But you can make pledges as low as $3. Your pledge is binding only if the $2700 is pledged.

I am in. This is the intersection of a writer I like, cartography, imagination, crowdsourcing, bibliophilia, storytelling.....I look forward to nestling this book next to my 4th edition Andrees Handatlas (which makes no mention of Argleton).

• White House Tapes | Miller Center's Presidential Recordings Program | University of Virginia
  Between 1940 and 1973, six American presidents from both political parties--FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, and Nixon--secretly recorded on tape just under 5,000 hours of their meetings and telephone conversations. The Miller Center's Presidential Recordings Program is a unique effort aimed at making these remarkable historical sources accessible.
  (tags: history politics transparency video data usa archives presidents government)
• Goathland (VisitGoathland) on Twitter
  Another example of how *not* to market your region on Twitter. Months of autoposts, then suddenly dropping off the air. Oh, and all the links are 404.
  (tags: twitter socialmedia social_media marketing tourism)
• luciano cola (AntonioRestaur) on Twitter
  How *not* to market your restaurant on Twitter. Autoposting the same message over and over and over and....
  (tags: twitter socialmedia social_media marketing)

Ditte Okman loves her breasts and is down on the mentally ill

Facebook can be a minefield. College students post some unfortunate photos, forgetting basic security, and employers see them. Employees write posts criticizing the boss, forgetting they have "friended" the boss. It can get messy if you aren't adept at social media.

But when a professional communicator (in other words, someone paid to communicate officially) screws it up, it's saddening. And when a professional political communicator screws up so badly on Facebook that the prime minister of a country has to start spinning, it's beyond bad.

Okman works in the communication department of "Venstre", the governing political party in Denmark,  where she helps create and send the messages the party wants Danes to hear. This is no secret to her Facebook friends, many of whom include prominent Danish politicians and journalists.

Imagine the jaw dropping around Parliament, then, when she posted this about a parliamentary employee:

""der står en fucked up medicineret psykisk syg dame (...), der helt hæmningsløst hælder ud af sit triste lorteliv over enhver kunde". (Loose translation: "there's a fucked up, medicated, mentally ill woman (...) who unashamedly pours her sad shit life over every client.")"

And other quotes, which have now been taken down, according to several papers:

"Paven er et svin" ("the Pope is a pig.")

"Dronning Margrethe siger nøjagtig ligeså hjernedøde ting som Amalie fra Paradise Hotel" ("The [Danish] Queen Margrethe says stuff that's just a brain-dead as what you would hear from a contestant in Paradise Hotel." )

So far, Venstre's political leadership, including the Prime Minister, has issued a blanket "no comment." Okman's boss first stated "we don't censor our employee's Facebook statements," which she later amended to "But we are considering guidelines."

That's turning it into a "social media" problem: "We didn't have guidelines for her.... she just didn't know."

Bullshit. This is about a rogue employee. Yes, Venstre needs guidelines. Every company does. But Venstre should fire Okman, anyway:

1) You don't attack your colleagues in public media.

2) When your employer's stated policy is to help the mentally ill become reintegrated, or stay integrated, in society, you don't rip these people in public media.

3) When your employer is, technically, Queen Margrethe, it is probably better just to remain silent in your remarks in public media.

Will Ventre sack her? The press will have a lot to do with that. Already, they are turning it into a debate about "what can you say on Facebook?" discussion, which entirely misses the point.

Which is: when you speak in a public forum, as a known representative of a company, what can you say without being fired?

• Corporate Hallucinations: Hey, Kevin Smith: Shut your fat ass up and fly United
  Enough already with this Kevin Smith slob. By now you’ve heard the story: Smith, who is really super fat and obnoxious and arrogant, was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight. He was kicked off because he was fat . . . but the reason we all know about it is because he’s obnoxious and arrogant. Smith has been blogging and tweeting and podcasting about the incident relentlessly, trying to set himself up as the Rosa Parks of fat people.
  (tags: swa southwestairlines kevin_smith steve_crescenzo airlines travel)
• Justice Stevens Renews Criticism of Gerrymandering - WSJ.com
  Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens expressed concern about court rulings that give politicians wide leeway in drawing election-district lines, saying it worsens partisan divides in government. Justice Stevens made the remarks in an interview earlier this month, shortly before another prominent ruling on election law in which he was on the losing end. On Jan. 21, he filed a 90-page dissent, joined by three other liberal justices, criticizing the conservative five-justice majority's decision striking down limits on corporate and union political spending.
  (tags: maps cartography politics redistricting gerrymandering election_districts)
• Decorating with Rare and Antique Maps | Geographicus Rare & Antique Map Blog
  Decorating with maps is a tradition that dates back to ancient Rome where elaborate regional maps and city plans were laid in mosaic tile. Hundreds of years later, during the Renaissance and the great age of exploration, maps were hotly contested national secrets and were often hidden away. Yet, even then, the decorative value of maps was appreciated. Wealthy Dutch merchants commissioned elaborate wall maps not only to plan their trading exploits, but as decorative symbols of their wealth and power. By the late 19th and early 19th centuries it was common to frame and display maps in homes and offices. Though the collecting of maps diminished significantly in the early 20th century, once again collectors and decorators are appreciating their beautify and craftsmanship.
  (tags: maps decorative_art interior_design)
• Is my Antique Map Authentic? Breaking Down the Rare and Antique Map Authentication Process | Geographicus Rare & Antique Map Blog
  How can I tell if my antique map is authentic? This is one of the most common questions we are asked. Most people who ask this question are looking for a quick checklist that they can run through to determine authenticity. Unfortunately, authentication is rarely so simple. Most experts and experienced dealers in old maps and prints can identify a fake or reproduction at a glance, leading the uninitiated to assume that authentication is an easy and straight forward process. The facts are far different. The quick glance of a map expert is comparable to a master chef tasting his signature soup. In a single sip he is able to identify which spices are needed to perfect the dish. The chef is able to perform this remarkable feat by accessing a vast and partially subconscious database of experiences and tastes. Much in the same way, the map or print expert is able to instantly assess a variety of factors including printing style, paper type, coloration factors and production
  (tags: maps cartography authentication antique fakes reproductions atlases)

• Consumers Seek Comfort Food
  Consumers will seek out “comfort foods” such as sausage, fried foods and tavern fare in 2010, according to the Top List of 2010 Menu Trend Predictions from Flavor & the Menu magazine. Other predicted trends include a desire for reasonable pricing and casual setting. Top 10 Menu Trends for 2010 * Top ethno-cuisine trend: Worldly sandwiches. Consumers will favor ethnic/regional sandwiches from around the globe, such as Cubanos, as opposed to traditional American sandwiches such as ham and cheese. * Top sauce trend: Chile-fired sauces. Consumers will want sauces layered with several types of chiles and infused with heat in different ways.
  (tags: trends consumers comfortfood cuisine culture menutrends)

• The Awkward Follower: 3 Ways to Avoid This Unpleasant Nickname | MattFlies.com
  Even though you can’t physically get in a person’s face online, you can invade their personal space. Everything from posting on an individual’s Facebook wall too often to constantly posting silly games on personal Facebook pages is an invasion of space. So are emailing prospects something about your product every day and uncontrollably direct messaging your twitter followers with your product information. Doing any of the above is a sure way to become the awkward follower.
  (tags: socialmedia socialnetworking socialnetworks facebook twitter)
• Become a Gmail Master Redux - Gmail - Lifehacker
  No one really needs to be sold on Gmail anymore. Either you like the threaded conversations, powerful search, built-in filters, and awesome Gmail Labs functionality or you don't. I love these things, and below I've attempted to put together my comprehensive guide for turning Gmail into the ultimate communication and productivity hub. (I'm focusing on covering territory that I didn't cover in my previous guide, so if you're looking for a more beginner guide, read that first. Much of it remains true.) I've broken things down into sections, starting with keyboard shortcuts, then moving down into the best Labs add-ons, third-party add-ons, search techniques, etc. Ready to power up your Gmail? Let's get started with how to set up and use Gmail's robust keyboard shortcuts—my favorite Gmail productivity booster.
  (tags: gmail howto tips tutorial gtd tutorials)
• Keywords: Anger — The Bygone Bureau
  Darryl Campbell on why everyone is mad about everything all the time. Benjamin Franklin, that idiot, once wrote, “Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.” Obviously, the twenty-first century has proven him wrong. This is the age of Bill O’Reilly and Frank Rich, Pitchfork reviews and hipster-hate (or possibly self-hate?), and, worst of all, YouTube comments. (Don’t just take my word for it: do a search for something innocuous, like “cats,” click on the first link, and I’ll bet you that the comments include such gems as “Jesus can fucking suck it…SATAN 4 LIFE” or “It appears to me that the little black kitten in 202 and 211 imay have been drugged… If this is true and that is how you’re going to make videos of innocent animals, you shouldn’t be making them. Drug yourself and put it on film and leave the animals alone!!”) Nothing is too sacred or too trifling to bash, and bash angrily, whether the stylistically and morally incoherent Thomas Friedman to grammarians of all stripes.
  (tags: anger commentary communication discourse civility bygonebureau)
• The BBP Blog » 8 Ways to Extend Your Presentations
  With social media growing as a popular resource for businesses to reach out and connect with customers and prospects, presenters need to look outside of the room where they give presentations. Sharing them on the Internet establishes your expertise, shows how you think, spreads your brand and provides yummy link juice. Here are eight ways you can squeeze more out of your hard work in creating your beautiful bullet-free presentation.
  (tags: presentations powerpoint career ppt)
• kuler
  Excellent color theme generator. Also generates from images. Must have.
  (tags: color webdesign tools art reference generator colour adobe)

• Copenhagen and the Commons | Psychology Today
  Reviews of this month's Copenhagen conference on climate change have ranged from nonplussed to fatalistic. Copenhagen has been called a "crime scene" and an "abject failure." A prominent undertone in this reaction is that such conferences will never work, because they are tragic in the old sense of the word: displaying the inevitable power of human selfishness. The fear is that in all cases, world leaders will enthusiastically agree that something needs to be done to reduce carbon emissions, and in all cases, the same leaders will pipe down when asked to make concrete sacrifices themselves.
  (tags: cop15 copenhagen_climate_summit climate climate_change climatechange jamilzaki)
• ‘The Big Lebowski’ and Its Dude Get the Academic Treatment - NYTimes.com
  Joel and Ethan Coen’s 1998 movie, “The Big Lebowski,” which stars Jeff Bridges as a beatific, pot-smoking, bowling-obsessed slacker known as the Dude, snuck up on the English-speaking world during the ’00s: it became, stealthily, the decade’s most venerated cult film. It’s got that elusive and addictive quality that a great midnight movie has to have: it blissfully widens and expands in your mind upon repeat viewings.
  (tags: cinema coenbrothers biglebowski cultfilms culture academicstudies books)