“The Age of Tweety Cats” November 7, 2008

Q: When does a cat go tweet instead of meow?

A: When it’s on Twitter.

When I was speaking to Mary Hodder at the Web 2.0 Summit, the subject turned, not so surprisingly, to Twitter. Ms. Hodder is an academic-entrepreneur-consultant-developer who seems to be all over the most interesting corners of the social media world. And of course, she clicks what she preaches, which these days means using Twitter’s 140-character messages — Tweets in Twitterspeak — as her main way to communicate with friends and figure out what news to read. (Her Twitter feed.)

Mary Hodder.

So wired is Ms. Hodder’s household that her many cats tweet as well.

She began transcribing the tweets of her cats when she was taking care of a friend’s pet, which wanted to stay in touch with its owner. Then she discovered many others hissing and purring on Twitter. One is Sockington, who now tweets to nearly 3,000 followers.

Here’s some of the latest from Ms. Hodder’s flock of Felines 2.0:

CalibanTheCat: I hate the rain. wet kitty smell. ON ME!

MimiTheCat: (who tweets only in Haikus): quiet black cat / a day free of bullying / ummm, you ok pal?

Pantherthecat: @sparklecat so far.. it’s only hyroid medicine. think of it. they’ll put it in my mouth and i’ll hiss at them. twice a day. for life.

arielthecat : @Pantherthecat running away from youz scary kitties.. yr already dressed for halloween!

 

(Twitter users, human or otherwise, use the @ sign to indicate they are replying to a message from someone else.)

There’s a long history of animals on the Internet, of course, with a menagerie of blogs, e-mail lists, profiles and even live puppy cams. Facebook has tried, in vain, to ban nonhuman members, which has led to entire canine social networks.

Twitter, Ms. Hodder argues, is not suited to all animals. Cats, she said, are always striking a pose that implies the sort of pithy bon mot that is perfect for Twitter.

“Cats have something to say,” she said. “Dogs don’t. They are always lying around doing the same boring things.”

- NYT.com

Hello, Stranger August 26, 2008

Crows and their relatives — among them ravens, magpies and jays — are renowned for their intelligence and for their ability to flourish in human-dominated landscapes. That ability may have to do with cross-species social skills. In the Seattle area, where rapid suburban growth has attracted a thriving crow population, researchers have found that the birds can recognize individual human faces. – Fascinating NYT article

Stuff White People Like: Internships August 15, 2008

In most of the world when a person works long hours without pay, it is referred to as “slavery” or “forced labor.” For white people this process is referred to as an internship and is considered an essential stage in white development.

The concept of working for little or no money underneath a superior has been around for centuries in the form of apprenticeship programs. Young people eager to learn a trade would spend time working under a master craftsman to learn a skill that would eventually lead to an increase in material wealth.

 

Using this logic you would assume that the most sought after internships would be in areas that lead to the greatest financial reward. Young White people, however, prefer internships that put them on the path for careers that will generally result in a DECREASE of the material wealth accumulated by their parents.

For example, if you were to present a white 19 year old with the choice of spending the summer earning $15 an hour as a plumber’s apprentice or making $0 answering phones at Production Company, they will always choose the latter. In fact, the only way to get the white person to choose the plumbing option would be to convince them that it was leading towards an end-of-summer pipe art installation.

White people view the internship as their foot into the door to such high-profile low-paying career fields as journalism, film, politics, art, non-profits, and anything associated with a museum. Any white person who takes an internship outside of these industries is either the wrong type of white person or a law student. There are no exceptions.

If all goes according to plan, an internship will end with an offer of a job that pays $24,000 per year and will consist entirely of the same tasks they were recently doing for free. In fact, the transition to full time status results in the addition of only one new responsibility: feeling superior to the new interns.

When all is said and done, the internship process serves the white community in many ways. First, it helps to train the next generation of freelance writers, museum curators, and director’s assistants. But more importantly, internships teach white children how to complain about being poor.

So when a white person tells you about their unpaid internship at the New Yorker, it’s not a good idea to point out how the cost of rent and food will essentially mean that they are PAYING their employer for the right to make photocopies. Instead it’s best to say: “you earned it.” They will not get the joke.

- stuffwhitepeoplelike.com

“Less Is Maier” August 14, 2008

Less Is Maier

Bottega Veneta was hovering on the brink of bankruptcy when Tomas Maier took the helm as creative director. In six years he has pulled off a stunning $575 million turnaround at the venerable Italian luxury-goods firm, without sacrificing its no-logo, anti-bling aesthetic, his own eponymous label, or the Florida lifestyle he craved. In Milan and Palm Beach, the author discovers the interplay of passion and understatement, precision and freedom, that has made Maier a new kind of design star.

Read the entire article here.

“An Obama Fashion Bump” – NYT August 14, 2008

August 14, 2008

Front Row

An Obama Fashion Bump

By SUSAN SAULNY

CHICAGO

OF course there are people dreaming about the presidential inaugural ball in January, two couples in particular. But one dreamer is not a usual suspect.

“I definitely see a light color and something kind of fitted in the torso and fuller in the skirt,” said Maria Pinto, a longtime designer and Chicago native, her thoughts turning to the dress Michelle Obama, a longtime friend and client, might wear if her husband is victorious in November. “I bet every American designer has fantasies of what she’d look like.”

Some more than others. Though she is not Mrs. Obama’s exclusive dressmaker, Ms. Pinto, a designer known for luxuriant evening wear, is a favorite of Mrs. Obama, who wore buzzed-about Pinto creations when her husband announced his candidacy and on the night of the notorious fist-bump before his speech claiming the Democratic nomination, among other occasions.

As Mrs. Obama’s fashion presence has risen, so has that of Ms. Pinto, a former Geoffrey Beene assistant. After 16 years in the business, she opened her first boutique Tuesday night in the arty West Loop, near downtown Chicago. Was the timing fortuitous?

Ms. Pinto said the shop was in the works for at least a year. “We’re not Balenciaga, we’re not Gucci,” she said, “so it’s great that there are women that are free thinkers that come to us and help us establish the brand.”

Ms. Pinto, 51, fluttered about in a white strapless cocktail dress from her label adorned with sequins and ostrich feathers. Her guests — art patrons, models and business executives — numbered in the hundreds. (A high-collared alpaca coat for $2,300 garnered much attention.)

But the woman responsible for the recent fanfare was absent, as Mrs. Obama was with her family in Hawaii. “She loves what I do, and I’m lucky for that,” said Ms. Pinto, whose pieces up to now have been sold nationally in department stores like Barneys and Saks Fifth Avenue.

She met Mrs. Obama a few years ago through a friend. “Michelle came in just like everyone else and said: ‘I need a few dresses. I need a suit for work,’ ” Ms. Pinto said.

While she does point out things Mrs. Obama might like, Ms. Pinto said she has never dressed her for events. Of the purple dress worn the night Mr. Obama claimed the nomination, Ms. Pinto said it was not planned. “Michelle is not scheming like her wardrobe should make certain points.”

- NYT.com