Tag: media

Research, TeachingLeave a comment

My Information Diet

Andy Driska

I’ve been prompted to examine my “information diet,” which includes all of my sources of information throughout the day.

I typically wake up around 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning, to the sound of the Michigan State University college radio station, Impact 89 FM. I love the awkward first-time DJs, and the station seems to have an early 1990s nostalgia — lots of grunge.

Ever since I got an iPhone, I now read most of my e-mail in the morning while I am lying in bed. There are about 20 minutes where I don’t want to be physically awake and out of bed, but I need to do something to wake my mind up. I get e-mail alerts from ScienceDaily website, which keeps me up to date on a range of topics from Social Psychology to Sensory Perception. Occasionally, I will tweet the findings of the study — I use twitter to catalog and bookmark things that are of interest to me.

Continue reading “My Information Diet”

CultureLeave a comment

The debt ceiling debate that we don’t hear about

Andy Driska

I am really torn about this debt ceiling debate. On one hand, I see a noisy Republican majority in the House who doesn’t care if the government shuts down, a reckless attitude that ignores the impact that this will have of millions of people’s lives. On the other hand, the Fed’s desire to continue raising the debt ceiling has been somewhat callous and ignorant. The sub-text here is that there are two separate debates: one political, one economic. The political debate has been a theater of incompetence; the Daily Show on Monday, July 25th, characterized it with a YouTube video of a skunk with its head stuck in a peanut butter jar. The economic debate has not been very visible at all — carried on in the pages of the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

Continue reading “The debt ceiling debate that we don’t hear about”

CultureLeave a comment

NewsCorp: The actions of a few… or the Business Model?

Andy Driska
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Horrible Bosses
www.thedailyshow.com
http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:392461
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

This clip from the Daily Show gives a little more background on the case (humorously).

Rupert Murdoch has his ass in hot water, Jim, and let me tell you, there isn’t one piece of me that’s rooting for him to come out the other end unscathed. Should the bureaucrats for whom he has shown so much contempt decide to grind him into hamburger, so be it. Bureaucrats are old, angry dogs that sleep in the sun all day, generally too tired to fight until they are poked with a sharp stick one too many times. And when they devour you with the full force of government power that they wield, no diatribes about freedom of the press or strong-handed government interfering with the workings of business will rally enough sensible people to stop the carnage. Didn’t your mother warn youabout poking old dogs with sharp sticks?

Continue reading “NewsCorp: The actions of a few… or the Business Model?”
UncategorizedLeave a comment

Michael Steele plays along on the Daily Show

Andy Driska

If you haven’t followed the Daily Show’s running puppet satire of Michael Steele (former chairman of the RNC), this video might not make much sense. Steele’s resemblance to the blue Muppet who frequently had something wrong with his soup morphed into Wyatt Cenac’s rhyming-version of Steele, whose speech was filled with lots of extra “bibbles.” http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:372947 Once the jokes were over, Steele was pretty candid about his ouster as RNC Chairman… kind of refreshing for the RNC, whose language is usually cloaked in the typical motherhood and apple-pie BS. Among his interesting comments were that the Republican Party has “a … Continue reading Michael Steele plays along on the Daily Show

UncategorizedLeave a comment

From the Daily Show – Revenue Crunch for States

Andy Driska

Main St. Anytown U.S.A. http://www.thedailyshow.com http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:371595 Most states (47 of 50) are out of money and looking for ways to generate revenue without increasing taxes or changing tax structures. The fear seems to be that if taxes are increased, businesses and people with higher incomes will leave the state and relocate to other states where taxes are lower. I think this argument is too simple. It’s impossible to have low taxes and a high standard of living. A high standard of living means good schools, affordable health care, transportation infrastructure, clean and safe neighborhoods. That has a cost. It’s a … Continue reading From the Daily Show – Revenue Crunch for States

UncategorizedLeave a comment

From the Daily Show – Larry Wilmore’s Take on Huck Finn

Andy Driska

This is such an old argument. Wilmore makes his point humorously. He also pokes fun at the current congress for whitewashing history in their recent edited reading of the Constitution on the floor of the House, which omitted the section about slaves counting as three-fifths of a person. This clip appeared on the Daily Show with John Stewart (January 11, 2011). http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:370709 Continue reading From the Daily Show – Larry Wilmore’s Take on Huck Finn