Why are so many people leaving Facebook?

Bajillions (hahaha) of subscribers love…err, are subscribed…err, are enchained-enslaved to FB, right?

ABC News reported “that there’s a mass exodus from Facebook.” I don’t know what counts as a mass, but why are people leaving FB? Well, the story provides Araceli Cruz’s take from March of 2013.

Alternatively, just watch Extremely Decent Films’ “A Facebook Update In Real Life”:

No, I’m not quitting. I know there are some quit-FB sites, and I know that Danny Sullivan has reported that Google searches for “delet…” are autofilled with “delete facebook account” as the top item and that “how do I delete my facebook account” is trending up in search frequency over the past few years, but I’ll stick with it. I only check it once or a few times a week, anyway.

Pi day redux

Yep, it’s 14 March again:

π

3.14.

Thanks, Jeanne Manford!

Jeanne Manford, the founder of Parents and Friends and Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), died 8 January 2013. She showed a lot of us the way. It’s a sorry time, because she was such a pioneer. As PFLAG says, “It is with great sorrow that we share with all of you the passing of PFLAG’s founder, Jeanne Manford.”

Gunning for me?

How many guns do you own? Using data from the International Small Arms Survey, Max Fisher of the Washington Post reported that there are 270 million weapons in private hands in the United States, or about 9 for every 10 US citizens. In an informal survey, I asked a lot of my friends whether they owned guns, and they said “no.” Thus, there must be a lot of people who own more than one to balance out my social circle.

But, you know, there’s big money being made from guns and ammo. That’s a point that Bill Moyers makes in his editorial (print version; video version linked to accompanying image) that aired 4 January 2013 on his TV show. It’s a dandy of a commentary that includes a clip of Wayne LaPierre making that extraordinary statement about bad and good guys with guns, echoes of Archie Bunker, and a real-life gun dealer who quit selling guns. That’s why, as Mr. Moyers reports, the gun lobby suppresses discussion about sensible control of weapons. Watch the video of his editorial.

Ahh, Brubeck

As the 1950s turned to the 60s, my family wound up in southern California. Our parents got a stereo, and my brother Frank and I started snagging records from lots of sources (nearby stores, Columbia’s record club, and more). We bought 33 rpm LPs, which were a departure from our elder siblings’ purchases, which had been 45 rpm recordings.

Some covers Brubeck et al. 33 rpm LP albums

CL 1397 “Time Out” by the Dave Brubeck Quartet was one of the big hits we bought on our subscription from Columbia. Oh, we got the Kingston Trio, the Lamplighters, Barbara Streisand, and a host of other artists available through the catalog at that time. But we played the Brubeck album a lot. And when subsequent albums became available, we bought them.

Waiting for My Fool Heart

Here we were last night at the C’ville test screening of My Fool Heart, the film I mentioned a couple-few years ago. Folks were filing into the Paramount Theater on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. Jim Waive and Sian Richards were in the lobby when we arrived, but we just said “Hi” quickly to them and then hustled into the house as we wanted to get good seats. This was the view from the second row of the balcony waiting for the series of slides showing coming events to end. Though it looks a bit sparse in this photo, once everyone left the party in the lobby and took seats, there was a good house.

View from the balcony of the scene in Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater at the test screening of My Fool Heart 20121117 [Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
John@johnwillslloyd.com]

Data > BS

It’s easy to doubt this equation in the political season, but BSers are common on TV and in the newspapers.

Well, The data folx are getting their due, as Nate Silver, Drew Linzer, Daryl Homlman, and especially, Sam Wang get recognized by the smart press because these people are accurately calling election data. Their observations were pretty dang accurate. Even though some advocates called these data people’s observations biased, it turns out that those observations may actually have been biased the opposite direction!

U.S. Election Mega-analysis

Political pundits are second in line after the politicians themselves in putting spin on political poll data to make those data sound as if they support a particular interpretation. But there is another class of analysts who do not prognisticate. Instead, they simply examine the data and tell what those data show at this time.

Nate Silver of the New York (NY) Times has gotten a lot of publicity recently for his versions of this sort of work, but there are several others who are doing similar work (and to me, some are maybe even better, but let’s not argue about that right now). These people aggregate data from the polls (and, in many cases, other sources of evidence) to arrive at statistically dispassionate estimates of the situation. They don’t use hunches about momentum, ad-buys, and so forth. They follow the data.

George McGovern, 1922-2012

When I was first eligible to vote in a US presidential election in 1972, I went to a little elementary school a few blocks from the rental house where we lived in Pasadena (CA, US) and cast my vote for George McGovern. I never liked his suits, but I really liked his positions. Not only was I in favor of getting US troops out of Vietnam, but I thought McGovern was right about equal rights for women and a guaranteed family income for those with demonstrated need.

In 1972, I was still reeling from the loss of my favorite candidate from the 1968 campaign. For the ’68 election, not only I was 20 years old and—therefore—ineligible to vote, but Robert F. Kennedy had been assassinated. McGovern was, in a way, also a link back to RFK for me, adding to my interest in voting for him.

Madness on the DT Mall?

Did you know that there’s a mad woman loose on Hookville’s downtown mall? It’s more than an idle rumor. It’s actually The Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giradoux, re-imagined by Kay Ferguson and a troupe of veteran players who have been engaged in intense physical training for months as they developed their version of the 1940s play.

The Madwoman of Chaillot is the story of a witty, eccentric woman who rallies a band of artists, workers, and down-and-out characters in a clever plan to disrupt avaricious plans of powerful figures who are bent on sacrificing beauty to obtain profits. As Ms. Ferguson says, the story sounds a lot like “Right Now, USA.”

The first performance is 6:00 PM 6 September 2012, and it’s running all through the month of September. The troupe is using a novel approach to the production, starting with a first act for free on the mall, then parading to The Haven, where they’ll accept donations for the second act, part of which will go to The Haven. Read all about the project, the players, and more.