Here's a post that I reblogged from Tom Ewing over on Tumblr, followed by the reply I gave. The article in question is "How Promotion Affects Pageviews On The New York Times Website" by Brian Abelson.*

via @bmichael on Twitter. Long, knotty, work on the extent to which promotion causes pageviews, which is obviously important to know when “ ( Read more... )

The title of this post is a bait-and-switch, actually, since my fundamental motive is to get you to read my old Las Vegas Weekly piece on "cumulative advantage," which is a concept from economics and sociology that I think everyone needs to know.

To summarize in one sentence that combines two ideas: small advantages in fame, wealth, power, etc. ( Read more... )

"Bar Bar Bar" has unexpectedly caught a gust of wind. First week on the Gaon it was limping at 143, three lower than a faltering ChoColat. Second week it jumped to 90 on the heels of a Music Core performance, third week it fell as expected to 116 and appeared ready to join koganbot faves ChoColat, GLAM, Evol, Tiny G, D-Unit, and Z.Hera in the Land ( Read more... )

Sad situation: E.via posted on Twitter that she's split with her agency, Dline Art Media, and that they're not letting her take her stage name E.via with her. The issue seems to be almost total nonpayment over the last two years. (Allkpop provides a translation.) Even if we take into account that we're only getting her side of the story, it ( Read more... )

Dave over on Tumblr:

I like voting in it - stayed on board for the Jackin’ Pop year (voted in both polls) and have thought about staying on this year, since for better or worse it’s the only huge critics poll. Glenn McDonald is still doing stats, which alone kind of makes me want to participate. Just wondering if anyone is staging a parallel poll ( Read more... )

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My understanding of economics is so primitive that I don't even have a good idea of what I need to know but don't. But beyond the basic "supply and demand" stuff, I'd say the crucial concepts one needs to understand right now are (a) cumulative advantage and (b) IS-LM curves. The first I grasp so well - or think I do, anyway - that I wrote about it ( Read more... )

Essay question regarding Occupy Denver (200 words or less): If Occupy Denver were a success, what would this look like?

Answer (my vision of immediate utopia): We'd have an informed and engaged citizenry, rather than the ignorant, alienated voters we have now. People would want to understand concepts such as "cumulative advantage," "liquidity trap ( Read more... )

And then there were three.

Associated Press: "Universal, Sony/ATV to buy EMI for $4.1 billion"

I don't have much to say about this. Something like it has been expected for years. Does it change anything? I don't know. There are now only three majors, assuming the sale gets by the regulators. But are the majors bleeding dry anyway? And if so, what

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