SNJ05-30-09 Detective Jazz

When I was a kid I grew up watching some of the great TV detectives. Shows like Richard Diamond, Private Eye, Mannix, 77 Sunset Strip, The Naked City, Dragnet, Highway Patrol, Hawaii Five-O, Ripcord and Sea Hunt. My love for the TV detective has never died.

In the 70’s it was Starsky and Hutch, Vegas’s Dan Tanna, Barnaby Jones, Cannon, and Magnum P.I. In the 80’s it was Spencer for Hire, and Miami Vice. In the 90’s TV kind of took a break from the detective theme, but there were some great movies like 8mm and Twilight (no not that idiotic vampire drivel, I’m talking about the one with Paul Newman. If you haven’t seen it, do so. It’s a good flick.)

Anyway, along with great detectives, came great detective music. Much of it pretty decent jazz. Some of this stuff comes from those great TV shows, others from the movies, but this is the kind of jazz that gets me in the writing mood and stuff I listen to when I read my favorite P.I. novels. Hope you enjoy it, and don’t let the bad guys getcha.

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So Misled

Quick, answer the following:

What kind of government do we have in the United States, a democracy or an oligarchy?

Which is the lesser of two evils, fascism or socialism?

What is the purpose of the Constitution?

These are basic questions that a high school student should be able to answer. Yet, I’d almost be willing to put money on the table and bet that you got them all wrong. It’s not that you’re stupid, you aren’t. If you are a product of the U.S. educational system, and haven’t re-educated yourself, then you’ve been lied to and probably answered the questions with the lies you were taught.

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Twitter Following Counts are Useless. Here’s proof.

An unsophisticated forecaster uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts – for support rather than for illumination. ~ Andrew Lang

It has long been recognized by public men of all kinds . . . that statistics come under the head of lying, and that no lie is so false or inconclusive as that which is based on statistics. – Hilarie Belloc (The Silence of the Sea)

I always find that statistics are hard to follow and impossible to digest.The only one I can ever remember is that if all the people who go to sleep in church were laid end to end they would be a lot more comfortable. – Mrs. Robert A. Taft

On Thursday April 16, 2009, Jeff Turner writing for the Social Media Marketing Institute gave irrefutable proof that the number of people you have following you on Twitter is a completely useless number. And he did this with brilliance and aplomb.

I won’t go into a lot of detail as you can click on the link above and read it for yourself. Briefly, here’s what happened. He created two fake Twitter accounts. Used a script that randomly followed 100 users an hour and used other automated Twitter services to post messages and handle re-tweets. He generated thousands and thousands of followers.

The results of this experiment are fascinating. The most interesting and disturbing result to me was that Mr. Turner actually changed the sex of one of the fake accounts and only one person out of the thousands that were following that account even noticed the change.

Mr. Turner’s conclusion:

There is a huge difference between a follower and someone who is engaged and listening to what you have to say…. It is better to have 100 truly engaged, targeted followers, people who are listening to you, care about what you’re saying and are willing to act on your behalf, than 10,000 who wouldn’t notice if you changed your gender.

I fully agree with Mr. Turner’s conclusion. I believe, like him, that social media is about engagement, not broadcasting. Broadcasting is old school and is dying a slow and agonizing death. No one listens to commercials anymore, and no one is going to listen to your stream of continual links, quotes, and promotions. Sure its OK to occasionally shout out a quote or a link promoting one of your sites or products, but people gravitate to social media to be…well, social.

I like Twitter. I really do, but I’m getting frustrated by several things:

1. People who continuously re-tweet only stuff about themselves.
2. Spammers who have no intention whatsoever to connect with those they follow, except to dump their crap in the Twitter stream.

3. People who are only interested in tweeting their blog posts.
4. People who constantly broadcast, but never join in conversation.
5. Celebrities who never actually respond to their followers.

6. Companies who promote but never listen to their customers.

7. People who actively promote the myth of “the bigger, the better” about your follower numbers.

As far as I’m concerned, if you are any of these people you won’t be followed by me. If I’m currently following you, I won’t be for long. Read Mr. Turner’s article. I think you’ll find it educational. Here’s the link:

YEO – Why Twitter Follower Counts Mean Nothing

Picture by flicker user kevinzhengli under Creative Commons License. Use of this picture does not constitute an endorsement by kevinzhengli of the ideas in this post.

The Bane of Our Existence?

No man is free who is not master of himself. – Epictetus

We mustn’t let our passions destroy our dreams. – Anonymous

Let him that would move the world first move himself. – Socrates

I hate where my mind goes sometimes. Especially when it starts doing it’s dirty little trick of thinking about me in that brutally honest way it has of focusing on the truth. It almost always does this at a time when I least want to hear it.

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SNJ05-23-09: Cole Porter

Composer and songwriter of some of the best jazz standards and American popular music of the ’20’s and ’30s. Many are still being sung and played today. Cole Porter is the daddy of some of my favorites.

Born in June 1891 he lived and wrote until his death in October of 1964. He was a fascinating man who embodied the spirit and adventure of the “Roaring ’20s.” You can read more about him at AllAboutJazz.com.

Thought tonight that I’d introduce you to some of his great music. I know you’ll recognize many of these. Have fun, and as usual, if you have any requests or suggestions for Saturday Night Jazz, leave a comment and let me know.

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What Does “Individualist Freedom Lover” Mean? (Part 3)

“The basis of a democratic state is liberty.” — Aristotle (384 B.C.-322 B.C)

“Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.” — Lord Acton (1834-1902)

“A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.” –Baron de Montesquieu

Though the term “Individualist” hasn’t been exhaustively examined, I believe that it has been described enough to give you a solid idea of what I mean when I use it. Now it’s time to turn our attention to the phrase “Freedom Lover.” Just what exactly do I mean by that and what does that phrase require from the person who adopts it?

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What Kind of Impression Have You Left?

Daniel Scocco of Daily Blog Tips posted an interesting article yesterday titled How Far Can We Go to Build Buzz?

Apparently a UK company specializing in home PC maintenance called “The Geek Squad” set up a bizarre PR campaign involving a 104 year old woman named Ivy. They set her up with a Twitter account and took some photos and then fed them to the news media as a way to promote their “Silver Surfer Day” campaign — an effort to “encourage more elderly people to get online.”

The issue is that the company promoted Ivy as a Twitter user, when she actually hadn’t used Twitter at all until the day before the PR campaign. There are those who believe that it was a set up. There’s even some suspicion about her Tweets and whether or not they truly are coming from her. I’m not saying they aren’t, but I am saying that some people suspect they aren’t.

Mr. Scocco writes the following:

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What Are You Doing?

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. – Albert Einstein

Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action. – Benjamin Disraeli

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. – Edmund Burke

Twitter poses the question “What are you doing?” in order to get people started with active posting on the micro-blogging service. Many people answer that question with the mundane. You know, things like “Making breakfast” or “Playing with the cat.” Things that really don’t matter. Others answer with interesting posts, links to things they are reading, or questions that start conversations. Either way, the question itself has a troubling aspect to me.

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SNJ05-16-09: Random Goodies I

Playing around on last.fm this week and found some great jazz. Last.fm allows you to listen to full tracks of a variety of music. You can set up your own library of music and leave comments about songs you listen to. It has artist bio’s, photos, videos, news and events. All around it’s a complete system you can use to explore and discover great new music, or listen to songs you already love.

So I thought it’d be fun to share some of the wonderful jazz I experienced this week. Some, like Katie Melua, might not fit the traditional definitions of jazz, while others can’t be anything but. I hope you enjoy. I’d love to hear from you and hear what you think about Saturday Night Jazz, and as always if you have requests or suggestions — I’m all ears.

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What Does “Individualist Freedom Lover” Mean? (Part 2)

“The key to wisdom is this — constant and frequent questioning … for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.” — Peter Abelard

“Truth always originates in a minority of one, and every custom begins as a broken precedent.” — Nancy Astor

“Freedom, morality, and the human dignity of the individual consists precisely in this; that he does good not because he is forced to do so, but because he freely conceives it, wants it, and loves it.” — Mikhail A. Bakunin

“Political correctness is really a subjective list put together by the few to rule the many — a list of things one must think, say, or do. It affronts the right of the individual to establish his or her own beliefs.” — Mark Berley

In Part 1 of this post I defined an individualist as a person who is independent, who knows himself and lives out of his own rational, thought-out convictions. But what does that mean exactly? How does the positive individualist approach life? That I’ll try to answer in this post.

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