Hi all. In order to keep up with the suddenly prolific RFO, I thought I would entertain all of you with a summation of a very fascinating article. I won't make you read it, though I suggest that you do if you have the time. Read here.
But, if you want my take, well, keep reading. Basically, my man Chris Anderson talks about how the Internets have changed everything. Sure, we all realize that, but how?
Well, I'll tell ya. Anderson has a theory, and he calls it Long Tail. Hmmmm...Anderson lucidly presents the argument that alternatives in entertainment, i.e. books, music and movies are really the wave of the future. In other words, thanks to the Internets we can obtain information and entertainment easier than every imagined.
As Anderson states, "The future of entertainment is in the millions of niche markets at the shallow end of the bit stream." In other words, the alternative music, the obscure movie documentary or the previously out of print of book can now be obtained. So, pay attention big music companies - your idea of needing only hits and labeling that as good, while all music that does qualify as a hit, as bad is passe as passe can be.
Anderson's gives several examples of his argument, but the following is best.
'To get a sense of our true taste, unfiltered by the economics of scarcity, look at Rhapsody, a subscription-based streaming music service (owned by RealNetworks) that currently offers more than 735,000 tracks.
Chart Rhapsody's monthly statistics and you get a "power law" demand curve that looks much like any record store's, with huge appeal for the top tracks, tailing off quickly for less popular ones. But a really interesting thing happens once you dig below the top 40,000 tracks, which is about the amount of the fluid inventory (the albums carried that will eventually be sold) of the average real-world record store. Here, the Wal-Marts of the world go to zero - either they don't carry any more CDs, or the few potential local takers for such fringy fare never find it or never even enter the store.
The Rhapsody demand, however, keeps going. Not only is every one of Rhapsody's top 100,000 tracks streamed at least once each month, the same is true for its top 200,000, top 300,000, and top 400,000. As fast as Rhapsody adds tracks to its library, those songs find an audience, even if it's just a few people a month, somewhere in the country.'
This is the Long Tail. And this is good, non-mainstream music - here is Ben Sidran "Feel Your Groove" and Planning to Rock "I Wanna Bite Ya."
I Wanna Bite Ya
Hurray, we are the future! All seven of us! And thanks for the great, non-mainstream music!
NO! Do not deviate from the norm! If millions of people don't like it, then it isn't worth acknowledging!
I just read about the Long Tail in Newsweek. How serendipitious. Much props.
Also, it's easy to be prolific when you've suddenly become schizophrenic. It's a Freudian nightmare up in here.
Thanks RFO. The Long Tail sure is sumpin' ain't it? Course we already knew that it exsited didn't we? That is the thing, I have two words to describe something I have know in my heart of hearts for some time.
As for your schizophrenia, well, I would say I was concerned, but you are RFO after all...
C$
Your mom sure likes MY long tail.
(obligatory C$ mom joke, brought to you by King Wookie)
Thanks KW, I was beginning to think the apocalypse was near with the lack of mom jokes. Way to set the world right again.
All of my poop is in my butt.
Good to have you back in the mix, Thunder.
About 3/4 of your average turd is made of water. Of course, this value is highly variable - the water content of diarrhea is much higher, and the amount of water in poop that has been retained (voluntarily or otherwise) is lower. Water is absorbed out of fecal material as it passes through the intestine, so the longer a turd resides inside before emerging, the drier it will be.
Of the remaining portion of the turd, about 1/3 is composed of dead bacteria. These microcorpses come from the intestinal garden of microorganisms that assist us in the digestion of our food. Another 1/3 of the turd mass is made of stuff that we find indigestible, like cellulose, for instance. This indigestible material is called "fiber," and is useful in getting the turd to move along through the intestine, perhaps because it provides traction. The remaining portion of the turd is a mixture of fats such as cholesterol, inorganic salts like phosphates, live bacteria, dead cells and mucus from the lining of the intestine, and protein.
Any mom joke that I might write based on that last entry crosses the line. So for today, C$, I will just say word to your mother.
Thanks Thunder. And thanks, I think, Rower Power - very interesting stuff.