Dawn’s been writing a novel. It takes place in the future. There’s a whole world inside her head that is slowly being poured into the pages of this novel, and you get a look at that world, and what’s happened to it, and how creating it is taking a toll on Dawn. But the rules of fiction also sometimes apply to reality, and Dawn learns that when she enters an unassuming gas station and leaves with an energy drink and a million questions about the three characters running the mini-mart attached to that station. Other topics include a recount of Dawn’s last trip down the YouTube rabbit hole, musings on cat-poop, and various other pop-culture flotsam and jetsam.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I get tons and tons of free shit from Klout. You just have to go check it. I happen to like free stuff. I don’t have a money, so free comes in handy. I get about a ‘perk’ or two a week… lots of food, season sets of dvds, nail polish and makeup, discount codes… last week there was one for $35 to use at LiveNation. http://klout.com/#/perks
My ‘employers’ also do look at it… but I work for a social media marketing company (Collective Bias) so I think they know why they are looking at it. It’s frustrating as hell sometimes to think I’m missing out on a nicely paying job with a campaign because not enough people gave me k+ but it’s all kinds of frustrating to start stressing over numbers like that.
I might just be drinking the kool-aid because they do pay me but I really like the marketing company I work for. Sometimes the message we have to deliver really is just “hey, a coupon” but I get paid to pass that along in a more interesting way. Like this post that is essentially just saying that Post cereal is having a $1 off of 3 boxes coupon to help Champions for Kids: http://www.alittledizzy.com/2012/07/update-on-postcfk-bowls-of-hope.html
You’re not just drinking the kool-aid Mandeh, you’re dumping it all over Dawn’s site. I’ve seen your writings before so I know you’re not usually the type to spam comment sections but please look at your own post objectively. LiveNation discounts, cereal coupons, have you got and deals on Viagra or D*I*P*L*O*M*A*S for us next?
Rather than pontificate on why I think klout corrupts good people I’ll let the more eloquent voices on the internet handle that job for me.
This is Charles Stross explaining why klout is possibly illegal where he lives:
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2011/11/evil-social-networks.html
Here is John Scalzi explaining the false sense of importance a klout score provides:
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/11/14/dekloutifying/
You can Google evil klout to get a broader view of the downside of this “service.” If you want a more honest opinion of your online presence you can use klouchebag.com instead.
I’ll wrap up my own little tirade here with my favorite anti-klout cartoon at XKCD:
http://xkcd.com/1057/
It’ll be interesting to see if this gets past the filters, I’ve got three links and I mention viagra and diplomas.
I get your point, and I’m not saying it’s something everyone omg has to do but they were talking about it and it’s something I’m involved with online so I thought I’d share my thoughts. Maybe I should have left out the link to my blog but I got on a roll talking about it and didn’t really stop to think if it was appropriate.
I started messing around online with ways to get stuff I couldn’t afford when I was unemployed and I discovered it was totally possible. I’m not trying to sell anyone on anything – I responded to what they were talking about. I haven’t change anything I do online to try and get a better Klout score – but, yeah, if someone offers me something free with no strings attached that’s actually useful and I couldn’t otherwise afford I’m gonna take it.
As far as klout goes I have no idea what it is or how it works. that said, from what I have heard, it is mostly just a yardstick to give people an idea of how influential they are on the internet, its no tvery accurate, but more a general idea. Beyond that, they monetize the crap out of it. I’m not saying that it is a good thing or a bad thing, just a tool, that some people get way too excited about positively or negatively.
And Dawn, that book, you should write it, I would read that.
sign me up for that as well. i am a pretty big fan of post-apocalyptic stuff. i forget the author, but there is someone who has done a whole series of short stories based around a post-aplocalyptic steampunk circus. i’m familiar with it through audio fiction podcasts, so i don’t remember the rest of the details.
Also, Boneshaker is fantastic! Haven’t gotten through the whole episode yet, but it seems like talk of that book is mostly done, so let me add that not only are there steampunk elements, the gas in question turns people into zombies. on top of that, the people that live inside the wall largely live in what in real life is the Seattle Underground.
Dawn’s book sounds awesome and I thought she was playing a prank when she was describing it because it sounds like Dies the Fire, an awesome book by Sterling.
http://books.google.com/books/about/Dies_the_Fire.html?id=hh9XAAAAYAAJ
I don’t want to crush your dreams, but I also don’t want you to get sued for having brilliant ideas inside a box.
This is by far my favorite episode of Ham Fisted Radio. It features Dawn unspooling a fascinating anecdote and Bobby conjuring up a hilarious fantasy world populated by real life characters from Dawn’s story. Many side-splitting callbacks. The only problem? I can’t listen to it right now because the file went missing! Can anyone hook me up with a copy?