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Ebola, what you need to know...
The above video probably doesn't put you at ease, especially when the Drudge Report looks like this right now:
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported this morning, among other things, that the death rate has increased to near 70%. This is on top stats like, there will be 10,000 NEW cases of Ebola per week for the next two months and that, on average 50% of the health care workers that are exposed to the disease - die from it.
Numbers like that should give you pause but remember that most of those statistics are coming from ground zero for the disease, Liberia.
Liberia has had 8,399 cases of Ebola and currently 4,033 deaths (WHO, 2014) that number will rise as the science says the death rate will be more like 70% and Liberia is about to have a health care strike which would be catastrophic during what is already a catastrophic event in a country with none of the advantages we take for granted.
I joked on Sunday:
But I fear the latter is more the case.
The head of the Centers for Disease Control (how many times have you seen that in a zombie movie) says that "just one case of Ebola is unacceptable" which is delusional for a number of reasons; A) you already had one case who has since died, B) you are on to your second case with a health care worker, and C) the incubation of Ebola is around 21 days so the near 100 people (70 of them were health care workers) you are keeping an eye on, mathematically speaking - a handful will probably get sick.
But before you get all Rick Grimes on us remember that we have faced similar viruses and come out of this okay. Panic is certainly more dangerous here than fact, but that doesn't mean you should not pay attention, because you should. Especially when you probably just wanted to know if this is true:
"Old Media" hates the web
Last week Vanity Fair held its New Establishment Summit where it covered things like technology and education, the culture in Silicon Valley, or why old media might really want the web turned off. While Kara Swisher, co-executive editor for Re/Code is credited with the quote "old media hates the Internet and wishes it would go away" the thought is far from unique.
But that is the thing about disruption, it is uncomfortable, brash, and doesn't have to play by the established rules. Old media or what educators might call mass media has every right to want the web to go away, it won't but they have that right. Unlike the disruptions before, this new phase of human communication doesn't look back fondly on its counterparts or even use them to build and audience like the wars between radio and newspapers in the early parts of the 20th century. The Internet is a black hole that is sucking all of those mediums into its galaxy to create and recreate the world on at least a weekly basis. The response from these giants can come in only two ways adaptation or extinction.
Companies like Vice, Netflix, Snapchat, Whisper, or whatever URL the zeitgeist reflects have the benefit of using all the data from newspaper, television, radio, magazine, and movies to create products and services that are either completely new or hybrid in nature. The question I often find myself asking is why didn't the old guard follow suit? Or even see it coming?
Certainly, to be fair there are plenty of companies born out of the old guard that have gotten on the surfboard to try the web waves out, but for every one that does there are seven that do not and while this site is a parody site, the blog seems so spot on for how most of the heads of mass media think, it would be a shame not to share:
The most apt quote in the blog is this "Hollywood studios need to remember this – WE DECIDE WHO IS FAMOUS AND WE DECIDE WHO GETS TO PRODUCE CONTENT!"
While the quote in jest tells you everything you need to know about Hollywood (yes, new Nicholas Sparks movie I am talking to you) it is also completely false. You decide. You get to produce or consume as you wish in the age of the web, and that is and has been the promise of the web.
What if?
What if regret was something you didn't experience? What if you woke up everyday knowing that even if you make the wrong decision that day, you could fix it, probably learn from it, and grow into a better person than you were, yesterday.
What if you were not afraid to take chances? Leap, maybe even fly...? What if your differences were and advantage and not a weakness?
What if?
That was my first week at MLive.
You may not resinate with that, perhaps you think platitudes are best served on a wooden frame in a kitchen in East Town, which I can respect. But, prior to making this leap from a safe 20 year career into the unknown Joe Rogan made this video:
I have watched once a week ever since as it became my muse, not Joe - the message.
Try something and if you fail, get up and do it again with what you learned. That every sunrise brings a certain forgiveness and if you choose you could give it another go. I am not sure what I am going to do with this blog but I can promise this; I will make mistakes, forget to post, post things you hate, and perhaps start over. But that is the beauty of the world we live in now. The barriers are GONE, all that is left are excuses which you own exclusively yourself.
Have a brilliant weekend and now go do something cool!
-Eric
A new start
Welcome to my new corner of the web. Here you will find much of the same things you have gotten used to over the past 20 years. Blogs about human communication, social media, society at large, videogames, + craft beer. I hope you enjoy what this site has to offer as we all embark on a new chapter together.
Cheers,
-Eric