While living in the internet-driven “now” it’s a paradox, indeed to read about long-form television.
Yet here we have again how CBS is reporting on the evolution of “slow TV” on YouTube.
There are lots of reasons for it – and some of them are worth a bit of deep thinking because they tell us something of the future and of ourselves…
(continues)
A good starting point is the 7-hour and 14-minute ride from Bergen to Oslo here.
We don’t have blocks of time like that – what, being retired and all – but we did watch the “Trans Siberia by Private Train” vid in a more reasonable 35-minutes.
Elaine loved it, but the clickety-clack of the tracks might as well have been a sleeping pill. I was out in five minutes…
About the messages that might be found in this, other than the lack of extreme commercial injection in most of it, is that people may like trains a lot more than Amtrak ever figured. Or, it just may be that sitting in front of a 55″ TV the effects are quite immersive.
As Elaine watched the whole Trans Siberian trip, she kept repeating “It was just like being there.”
Which ought to be a HUGE red flag for other modes of travel. Who needs to go on a cruise ship to Alaska, when you can just point a camera at the shoreline and glaciers going by and see the whole deal from home?
Or, as we have advocated nearly forever, going on Skype with a good camera and mic is very close to the same effect as traveling to meet with a colleague.
(My buddy Gaye over at www.backdoorsurvival.com and I have been holding weekly chats, 45-minutes or so, for years on Skype. We get a lot out of it in terms of website ideas and such but it applies much more broadly.)
There’s no question that video is a great business tool, but stripped of huge numbers of commercials, here’s an interesting question: How many people would pay $20 a month for a “commercial-free” version of all YouTube product?
My sense it that a YouTube commercial-free versus a free YouTube with commercials might make Google a ton of money.\
That, and things like adding more streaming content.
We lost about 4-hours of Saturday’s planned work party because of the Yahoo streaming of the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting.
Not as good as a long-form trip- around Scandinavia, maybe, but watching the Warren Buffett/Charlie Munger interplay was as humorous as anything Colbert of Maher come up with.
While short-form “comics” do things like tasteless humor, the longer-form Buffett-Munger act was full of useful content.
It really comes down to a Tale of Two Worlds.
The SMS short, quippy, occasionally useless (or worse) versus the more thoughtful long-form with depth and detail.
In a world falling short on context, the latter, both in print and video, seems to be where insight comes from.
The SMS-parrots? Not so much.
France’s New Liar-in-Chief
If you had read the 2002 book “The Commanding Heights: Battle for the World Economy” you would have a much clearer idea of why Marine Le Pen lost in France this weekend.
For in it, Yergin and Stanislaw get into who’s going to run the world and the elections in France this weekend were, to our way of thinking, a fine example of how to use authority and power to “fix” an election.
As we headlined this weekend, the “fix” was in for Macron from the get-go.
Take this headline, for example: “French electoral authorities warn against spreading hacked Macron data.”
Those documents allege a series of financial affairs run through the Cayman Islands.
Yet, when questioned, Macron insisted in misdirection worthy of sleaze insisted “I don’t have any accounts in the Bahamas!”
Macron’s real answer was to file suit, knowing it would take the issue off the table until after the election…
And you know who else put a thumb on the French election outcome?
The idiots who went to the polls in France may not know their geography well, but the Bahamas are what, a thousand miles from Georgetown, Grand Cayman, B.W.I.?
Then were was the heavy hand of money. Since Marine Le Pen was openly skeptical of the E.U. she might have gone with the recently rising tide of nationalism around the world and tried to dial back the megalomanias we call the Brussels Sprouts.
Ain’t happening. And France will now descend into the new dark ages of totalitarian liberalism which (since people vote themselves everything) should end with France becoming as bankrupt as the rest of Europe.
None of this would concern us but that it increases the future likelihood of war over Ukraine. Because that country has petroleum resources in the Russian held area and when Putin, et al want a fair price for energy, the decaying Europe may have no option but to steal from their neighbors to the East.
Going forward, then, we would raise our bet on another war in Europe down the road. France’s government has run rampant with political correctness disease and the free lunchisms that go with that. As costs mount and no one has dough, there won’t be a better place to avoid, that comes to mind.
The good news that ties both our “slow TV” and the France story together?
Thanks to high def long form video, going to France may not be done electronically. Just send out to the local French restaurant if you have one, and get them to send over some freshly baked loaves and a meal.
With the elections done, we also expect the invader’s terrorism to ramp up again.
Remember where you read it first.
Write when you get rich,
George@ure.net
Recent events in the DC swamp and now this French election have combined to push me towards thinking that the situation for humanity is rapidly moving towards hopeless. The global grip of the NWO bunch is visibly tightening such that I am inclined to think Christian prophecy of a global dictatorship is correct.
Many people worry about the destruction of the planet. I seriously doubt that that will happen, however, it is getting more likely that biological life may take a huge hit, if not extinction. Science indicates the planet is far from nearing its demise due to Sun burnout, so the planet would go on and eventually life would begin again, sort of like wiping the hard drive and starting over.
So glad I am 71.
Read Dannion Brinkley’s prophecies and Mary Summer Rain’s. This is all heading somewhere for sure. This info is free on the internet, just search for it. If you want in-depth info, buy the books used. One is from 1975, and one is from 1984, so definitely, this info is floating around. At 71, all you need is peace. It’ll be okay.
Ah yes, the French. The Germans have been wondering for years, what the hell is going on over on the French side of the border. People eating cheese and drinking wine all day long, with 2 months of vacation a year, and a lot of whining about what they do not get for free. No wonder the Arabs are taking over the country.
Who needs to go on a cruise ship to Alaska, when you can just point a camera at the shoreline and glaciers going by and see the whole deal from home?
interesting you brought this up.. years ago when my oldest grandchildren were just babies.. I took them to a future tech show.. in there was a guy with a computer and a set of goggles.. I put them on.. I could walk forward backwards or gaze around up down behind etc. I was at the edge of the grand canyon. look up see the bird above screeching its song hear the wind blowing.. the leaves rustling.. walk closer look down into the depth of the grand canyon it was majestic.. It was as if you were there..in real time the scene flowed as you moved it was seamless in your mind you were there….. If someone had come up behind you and pushed as you were standing at the edge of the grand canyon you would have thought you were falling into the canyon it was that real .. I can’t wait for that to come out for public use.. want to be in an action film.. your there.. travel and see the louver or the Eiffel tower.. pick a spot the technology is amazing.. I seen something similar to that in the early seventies that amazed me just as much it was a hologram of the earth in real time in a four foot by four foot cube..
Now think of this.. Google travel.. satellite view up down roads.. travel the usa.. it is one dimensional. but then consider this.. a friend of mine was selling his home.. so I traveled his neighborhood.. then did a virtual walk through of his home ..Now consider this.. That is what we have available to us the public imagine what is available to only a few. eventually what kind of data is that creating.. kind of scary huh
Google cardboard will do this, with a little help from your smart phone.
It’s a cleverly folded cardboard piece that folds into a goggle that you can insert your phone into. Specially made files can be accessed and your phone will monitor for your movements using the orientation abilities of the phone and change the images accordingly. If you turn around, you’ll see behind you. It’s an interesting and underrated VR concept. I don’t know how much it costs to make good VR movies/files, or whatever you want to call them, but I tried this thing and it’s amazing. Worth a column if the info/experience is available.
I had a couple email me because of my geology background. They had been watching Youtube stuff about Yellowstone, and were becoming very worried.
So applying a little bit of science and common sense, the area of concern is immediately around the eruption where ashfall would be deepest. The big erupted bits take more energy to travel, so they fall out of the atmosphere first. Most of the country would be unaffected except for light ashfall.
Yes – airline travel interrupted, cars and trucks damaged from ash into the engines and so forth. But an explosive eruption ends rapidly, and slow eruptions don’t make much ash (think Hawaii and recall Mt. St. Helens). There are maps online of the potential ashfall depths and areas, based on weather conditions and prevailing winds.
Secondly, water ought to be a really good indicator. When the geysers stop, or else continuously vent steam – you can bet the magma temp and volume has risen enough to force all the water out of the geyser system. IMHO, that would be a tremendous indicator of a very loaded magma chamber.
Sure – earthquake swarms happen – magma moves and land rises and falls above it. It is a live, dynamic system below your feet. But there are indicators the average person can’t ignore.
The final indicator? Well, when the Park Service guys leave, you might get a little worried then. After all, they are all over the park and they would see any significant changes, and I am very sure they don’t want to be in that BBQ…
So that is my take on that particular never-ending stream of doom porn.
No mention of torn votes for LePen which were disallowed in huge numbers. Election was stolen.
Ergo our headline over the weekend when the journos were told no outing his cayman island bank stash Macron: the fix is in
The only reason for which a trip to Paris can now be justified is to go to the Paris Pinball Museum.They’ve got machines there that cannot be found anywhere in the USA.
I knew the French election was thrown – probably in a far more heavy handed approach than the last stupid election in the USA, where the bias was inadequate to push the leftover Clinton into the White House again(thank GOD!). I noticed the Cayman/Bermuda switchup when it happened and wondered about why he was never called to account. I’d heard about the “damaged” ballots and again it screamed of tampering. Still, it seems that people get the government that they deserve, and that’s not saying much for France.
For those in America, it provides a less volatile yet predictable future.