Category: People

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People

Sid Caeser

Sid Caeser died this past Wednesday at the age of 91. He was one of the first starts of television back in the early 1950’s. I have not seen all of his works, but what I have seen has always stuck with me. As a kid, I first saw him in the 1963 movie It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. This was back before cable television when one of the big three networks (ABC, NBC and CBS) played the movie once a year. Later, I saw some of the highlights from Your Show of Shows. It’s slapstick. It’s Vaudeville. It’s Commedia dell’ Arte. It’s hilarious.

Here is the New York Times obituary for Mr. Caesar. I have also included a short video clip of Conan O’Brien’s Salute to Sid Caeser followed by a sketch of Caeser in one of his shows.

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People

Buckminster Fuller: Abundance, Not Scarcity

This is a clip from a documentary of Buckminster Fuller. The name of the doc is not included on the YouTube page. In this bit, Fuller talks about how economic systems can be based on abundance instead of scarcity.

The right audio channel has a few issues so you may want to listen to the video without headphones. If you care to see and hear Fuller in action, there are many videos of him on YouTube. Fuller was way ahead of his time, so if you are new to his work, a visit with his ideas could be invigorating if you need a jolt of a new perspective.

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Richard E. Cytowic, M.D.

WHO
Richard E. Cytowic, M.D.
Neurologist
Author
Rediscovered synesthesia.

WHAT
Some of the Books by Dr. Cytowic:
Wednesday is Indigo Blue
The Man Who Tasted Shapes
Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses


FUN VIDEO LESSON

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People

Douglas Rushkoff

Third author: Douglas Rushkoff

His blog.

His books. (15 as of this post)

Most recent book: PRESENT SHOCK: When Everything Happens Now

The Rushkoff book that I first read: Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age

Rushkoff’s perspective of the digital revolution complements those of Scott Burken and Frank Rose. Each author’s work informs the others’ works. Multiple readings are recommended. With respect to that, it’s time for me to revisit all three of their works. It will be interesting to discover new facets that time will reveal as it has been over year since I first read them.

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People

Frank Rose

Frank Rose is the second author whose work I discovered during the summer of 2012. His book, The Art of Immersion, explores how our current digital age of story telling has transformed audiences from passive receivers to active participants. While reading his book, I couldn’t help but think of McLuhan and his work.

Check out Rose’s blog, Deep Media Online, for his latest writings.

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People

Scott Berkun

I am a fan of Scott Berkun. He is an author who writes about “creativity, leadership, philosophy and speaking.” Check out his blog on his website where you can learn more about the books he has written plus a lot more.

I first encountered Berkun’s work a couple of summers ago. I was looking for some books that explored how individual people and societies are being affected by the Internet, WWW, portable digital devices and social networks. With respect to the digital tools, I was curious about where we are, how we got here and where we are headed. To put it another way, I was wondering who was picking up from where McLuhan left off. I discovered four new books on my search.

The first book that I read was Berkun’s The Myths of Innovation. If anyone enjoyed reading the biography Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson and was fascinated by the history of the technology as well as Jobs, then The Myths of Innovation is a must read.

The above video is of Berkun speaking at Ignite Seattle, 7 December 2010. He provides commentary as the audience watches a time-lapse video of Berkun’s computer screen while he writes 1000 words. The video is in his blog post titled How to Write 1000 Words.

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People

Marshall McLuhan

Marshall McLuhan