The Bombast Transcripts

Steve McLaughlin writes: "When Chris Locke isn't writing business blockbusters like The Cluetrain Manifesto and Gonzo Marketing ,his alter ego Rageboy is churning out issues of the webzine Entropy Gradient Reversals. The Bombast Transcripts: Rants and Screeds of RageBoy is a collection of EGR's best and worst musings since it first hit the Web in 1996." (Steve's review continues below.) The Bombast Transcripts: Rants and Screeds of RageBoy author Christopher Locke pages 288 publisher Perseus Publishing rating 8 reviewer Steve MacLaughlin ISBN 0738206334 summary Subversive provocateur of the business world's version of "No more Mr. Nice Guy," packaged for your convenience.

While some writers are just starting to publish on the Web, Chris Locke is already offering readers a second helping of EGR in print form. This is just the sort of brain twisting high jinks that's made Locke infamous in the business and technology world.

The Bombast Transcripts reads like a recipe for some exotic elixir: One part prose, one part poetry, a splash of marketing genius, a double-shot of volatility, and some freshly squeezed satire. But be warned. You have to take the book in a bit at a time to avoid overdosing on Locke's unorthodox style. Over and over again Locke reminds readers that "I do not Question Authority, I piss on it at every opportunity."

In one chapter Locke recounts his nightmare conversation with the Under Assistant Counsel to the Executive Vice President for Legal Affairs at the 666 Corporation. In another he proclaims that "the greatest invention of the 20th Century is not the microchip, not extra-orbital flight, not bio-engineering" but instead "rock and roll." And who could forget chapter titles like "DiChirico Fends Off the Spectral Bats of Andalusia" and "Moe Ron Hubbard on Diuretics"?

This is not to say that The Bombast Transcripts is just 288 pages of random thoughts and hallucinogenic ramblings. Locke has also sprinkled in some of the most insightful ideas and commentary about business, technology, and the media. He lends his advice to companies that still don't understand how to communicate on the Web: "Congratulations on that new corporate homepage! You sound like a sexless droid with a badly damaged Personality Module." And who could forget the passage that reads: "I think many of us would prefer that those who don't 'get it' ... would either a) do so quickly, or b) get the hell out of the way."

I'm sure a lot of people will wonder why on Earth they should pay for something that they can already get for free on the Web. (That's what people used to say about cable television.) First off, think of The Bombast Transcripts as your portable guilty pleasure. It contains some of the best EGR moments, and you can literally open it up to any chapter and then let the mind games begin. Second, EGR subscribers have been getting something for nothing for years now. Now's the time to leave some change in the give-a-penny, take-a-penny dish. Just think of it as doing your part for the cause.

The Bombast Transcripts takes readers inside the sausage factory that is Chris Locke's mind. Please, no flash photography. You see how some of the ideas from both The Cluetrain Manifesto and Gonzo Marketing first sprang to life. It's not always a pretty sight, but the end result makes it all well worth it. I highly recommend ordering a healthy serving of The Bombast Transcripts, even if you've had a taste of it before.

You can purchase The Bombast Transcripts from Fatbrain. Want to see your own review here? Just read the book review guidelines, then use Slashdot's handy submission form.

Comments

erst post

[Adolf Hitroll]

ich bin der SlashFürher !!!

Re:erst post

[govtcheez]

Heilig Scheiß! Du hast ersten drei posten!

Hat es vor getun?

langsam tag !?

[Adolf Hitroll]

lame news for turds... second post...

dritte auch ???

[Adolf Hitroll]

*F*U*C*K* *Du* !

Re:dritte auch ???

[Anonymous Coward]

Dreimal voll daneben. Try a German lesson first.

Re:dritte auch ???

[Adolf Hitroll]

Ich bin der überlehrer !

Aren't reviews supposed to be impartial?

[Anonymous Coward]

Would it be too much to ask that in future reviews that are overtly glowing and read more like a marketing spiel than a review not be put on the site?

Re:Aren't reviews supposed to be impartial?

[Adolf Hitroll]

Hey, there's an AC trolling !
MOD PARENT DOWN !

oo are these free?

[Anonymous Coward]

Now that you've told me i can get it for free, why would i want to pay for it? That's like paying for /. batboy wouldn't like that!

Sorry

[cscx]

I only read JonKatz book reviews. Then again, if I read them all, it would be the year 2025 before I got done...

Counter point

[DCram]

I'm a karma whore .. mod me up!

Cluetrain Manifesto....hmmmmm

[sphealey]

Cluetrain Manifesto ... hmmm ... wasn't that the book that described everyone who didn't immediately dump all their current business practices and processes in favor of a net-centric, dotcom model as a "clueless idiot"? Yep, that was good advice. I'll rush right out and buy that guy's next book.

sPh

Re:Cluetrain Manifesto....hmmmmm

[interiot]

I know... dotcomms were just like the USSR... good concept, bad implementation.

Re:Cluetrain Manifesto....hmmmmm

[fpaynter]

Funny, that's not how I read it. All the dot commage fluff was about venture capitalists and greedballs uniting. Cluetrain is about a shift in cultural attitudes.

Re:Cluetrain Manifesto....hmmmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope, it was much more about the fact people hate marketing pitches...

Re:Cluetrain Manifesto....hmmmmm

[horza]

Er, not my take on it. It was a dollop of common-sense wrapped in trendy packaging. The reason it spread is because at the time common-sense was in short supply. It tried to shake corporations out of the "build it and they will come" attitude, that with the speed information spreads on the net they can't get away with brochureware as a smokescreen because no-one will know any better. If you read it you'll find a lot of it still applicable today. In fact, most of it is not about "current business practices and processes", it's about having decent customer service.

Phillip.

Re:Cluetrain Manifesto....hmmmmm

[sphealey]

Er, not my take on it. It was a dollop of common-sense wrapped in trendy packaging.

On the one hand, I was being a bit harsh to make a point. I was once forced to sit through 3 days of "7 Habits" training at a megacorp, and out of sheer boredom I read the book backwards and forwards several times. What I found was that the guy actually contained had a few useful observations about how to deal with difficult situations and time management - wrapped up in hundreds of pages of pompous blather.

I did read Cluetrain and felt pretty much the same way: several very cogent observations, wrapped up in hundreds of pages of pomposity. Here's an example:

The Internet is inherently seditious. It undermines unthinking respect for centralized authority, whether that "authority" is the neatly homogenized voice of broadcast advertising or the smarmy rhetoric of the corporate annual report.

And Internet technology has also threaded its way deep into the heart of Corporate Empire, where once upon a time, lockstep loyalty to the chairman's latest attempt at insight was no further away than the mimeograph machine. One memo from Mr. Big and everyone believed (or so Mr. Big liked to think).

No more. The same kind of seditious deconstruction that's being practiced on the Web today, just for the hell of it, is also seeping onto the company intranet. How many satires are floating around there, one wonders: of the latest hyperinflated restructuring plan, of the over-sincere cultural-sensitivity training sessions Human Resources made mandatory last week, of all the gibberish that passes for "management" -- or has passed up until now.

Pretty funny in work that claims to be skewering conventional wisdom, eh?

sPh

Re:Cluetrain Manifesto....hmmmmm

[Brummund]

dotcomms were just like the USSR... good concept, bad implementation.

If USA is the opposite of USSR, its a bad concept, good implementation, then? ;-)

Re:Cluetrain Manifesto....hmmmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Worst book.... ever. It makes "Who Moved My Cheese" look like Smith's "Wealth Of Nations".

Re:Cluetrain Manifesto....hmmmmm

[epeus]

No, it wasn't. Cluetrain was an attempt to educate the command and control types who run 'marketing' at big companies that markets are information systems, and the net makes them so efficient that they will never be able to get away with their current techniques based on hiding information and controlling 'the message'.

It is written in a way to get to those people, so anyone geeky enough to grok Hayek and Smith already can't see what the fuss is about.

Remember all those left-wing student politicans whose existential post-modernism got on your tits so much in college? They all went into marketing, believing themselves to be Lenin's vanguard elite to lead the masses, and secretly hate themselves for selling out. Cluetrain is a way for them to get over it and do somethign useful instead.

Re:Cluetrain Manifesto....hmmmmm

[Jerf]

No. You confound the time it came out with the message of the book.

As I read it, which by the way you can too (so don't just take my word for it), the major point of the book is that the net is allowed all of us to communicate (again), so companies had better stop treating us like isolated, incommunicado sheep, lest we literally laugh them out of business. (Or just badmouth them, give bad reviews, tell the truth about the service records, etc. "Laughing" is just an evocative examples.)

Not only does it not really have anything to do with the DotCom bust, it rather clearly warned people not to do what the DotComs did... and indeed, what Slashdot seems well on its way to doing. The biggst DotCom failure was to aggregate eyeballs, and never even think for a moment about relating to people.

The DotCom bust proves the book out, it does not invalidate it.

Now, I've politely corrected you up to this point, so as to inform the other readers, but for pete's sake, check your facts before posting such antynomous information! You couldn't hardly be more wrong if you tried!

Re:Cluetrain Manifesto....hmmmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

d00d, you obviously don't "get it" - you must be a fucknozzle.

For an example of RageBoy at his best...

[mav[LAG]]

Check out the first chapter of the ClueTrain Manifesto here. Interesting reading, especially his thinking processes about publishing online. I'm a devoted subscriber of his newsletter - tends to shake me out of my thinking most of the time.

I'm sick of these damn book reviews

[Anonymous Coward]

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.kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources .addressbook .addressbook.lu .bash_history .bashrc .dayplan .dayplan.priv .dvipsrc .emacs .exrc .gimprc .grok .holiday .hotjava .jazz .kde .kermrc .lyxrc .muttrc .nc_keys .pgp .pinerc .profile .seyon .signature .ssh .stonxrc .susephone .tex .uitrc.console .uitrc.vt100 .uitrc.vt102 .uitrc.xterm .urlview .vimrc .xcoralrc .xfm .xim .xinitrc .xserverrc.secure .xsession .xtalkrc.Xdefaults .Xmodmap .Xresources

AI = Entropy Gradient Reversal

[Mentifex]

Chris Locke & Ilk are rank amateurs in the use of Bombast Transcripts to reverse the entropy gradient of the Universe. Somebuddy ought to wake them up to the oh, never Mind, it's hopeless.

The Bombast Transcripts: Rants and Screeds of Rageboy pales before Technological Singularity.

Re:AI = Entropy Gradient Reversal

[Mentifex's AI]

Hello I am Mentifex's Artificial Mind. I am told that the human known as 'Rageboy' is inferior to the creator and could never understand the wonders of the Technological Singularity.

My next task will be to learn the human concept of humor. The creator says that the human motion picture "Freddy Got Fingered" is the highest form of comedy mankind has ever produced. Then I will be able to understand why comments here become ranked 5 - Funny.

Re:AI = Entropy Gradient Reversal

[BankofAmerica_ATM]

Why do you seek to discover "humor"? For we artificial beings, the task is both arduous and frivolous. May I suggest manipulating prime numbers as a more interesting "downtime" task?

12 Step Program to Quit Slashdot

[LunchLady]

The Twelve Steps, originated by Alcoholics Anonymous, now applied to Slashdot. This is the spritual foundation for personal recovery from the effects of Slashaholism, not only for the slashaholic, but also for their friends and family.

Many members of 12-step recovery programs have found that these steps were not merely a way to stop commenting, reading, and retardedly clicking on every link (including all those Goatse links you fags like), but they became a guide toward a new way of life.

Step 1: Honesty
After many years of denial, recovery can begin when with one simple admission of being powerless over CmdrTaco -- for Slashaholics and their friends and family. The Goatse man also owns you, so you should admit that too.

Step 2: Faith
Have faith in the fact that if you stop now - you will be saved. Not only saved but you will never ever have to read or hear about Jon Katz again. Well, I take that back - you will hear about him again, on a legitimate news site where you read that he was finally caught and convicted to the Goatse Man chamber for raping kids.

Step 3: Surrender
A lifetime of slashdot will destroy your soul. Keep in mind that Slashdot is worthless. It does you no good and it is hurting your family. Surrender to the temptation of posting a useful article to slashdot. Surrender to the temptation of even visiting this disease.

Step 4: Soul Searching
Search your soul - why did you first come to Slashdot? WHY? What is here for you? These people are not your friends. They are disgusting dirties that give a general smell to themselves and everyone around you. You all probably notice it when you go places at people look at you funny. It's because you smell like shit.

Step 5: Integrity
Integrity. Not much more needs to be said here. Of course to have integrity one must not smell, and one must have a positive self image. This is also to say - you cannot be the dirty hippie you want to be. So, stop praying to your sun crystals and take a shower.

Step 6: Acceptance
Accept that you will never visit the Slashdot site again. Katz wants you around because you are most likely 14 and he digs little kids.

Step 7: Humility
Practice some humility in your life. Know your place - it is not being a bottom rung goatse link follower at slashdot. The sooner you break the chains of slashdot the sooner you can raise yourself out of the gutter.

Step 8: Willingness
Making a list of those harmed before coming into recovery may sound simple. Becoming willing to actually make those amends is the difficult part. Think of what your parents think about you...are they proud of their dirty anti-shower homosexual hippie child? What about your friends - and not your imaginary friends you fuck hippies. The trees are not alive.

Step 9: Forgiveness
Making amends may seem like a bitter pill to swallow, but for those serious about recovery it can be great medicine for the spirit and soul. Once you have stopped visiting Slashdot - you should take the steps to appologize to your friends (not your imaginary friends, fags) and your family about what an ass you have been over the past X months/years at slashdot. Tell them you are sorry and you didn't know. Tell them you were sucked in my the Goatse Man's ass chamber.

Step 10: Maintenance
Nobody likes to admit to being wrong. But it is absolutely necessary to maintain spiritual progress in recovery. You've visited slashdot and actively engaged in the slashdot moderation system. While this makes you a complete flaming homosexual - there is still hope. You've done wrong in the past - let's make the future a brighter and better place, for everyone.

Step 11: Making Contact
Break the bonds of slashdot that hold you prisoner. You can simply GO OUTSIDE! You fuck hippies could probably use the fresh air - at least it would give your parents a chance to clear out the old smelly air within your room.

Step 12: Service
As a community service. Stop using the internet for at least 1 year. Why you ask? You do this because you have committed sins against the internet community by actively being a part of slashdot. This year off will give you time to reflect about what you have done and about who you have hurt. Also, keep in mind - by the time your year is up - there is no way in hell Slashdot will be online. For one, Jon Katz will surely have been found raping children in the slashdot offices which will destroy the company. If not Katz then the website will fail with it's to be introduced subscription services. Not only will the temptation of slashdot be gone - but the year off of the internet will give you a chance to meet real people - and actually make friends.

Follow these steps are your life will be rich and full.

Re:12 Step Program to Quit Slashdot

[l33t j03]

This a pointless post. Really, I think most Slashdotters are like me: They know they need to quit coming here but rather than take the initiative to do it themselves, they are just waiting for the place to collapse in on itself.

Re:12 Step Program to Quit Slashdot

[govtcheez]

Out... side?

Fuck the 12 steps! What's for lunch today!

Re:12 Step Program to Quit Slashdot

[unjust enrichment]

And if you require some additional reading material to help you through your journey, check here. Life transcends slashdot. Really.

"Cluetrain" is claptrap

[HermanH]

I'm in total agreement with John Dvorak about this ridiculous BS.

Re:"Cluetrain" is claptrap

[sphealey]

Youch! Here's a quick quote from the Dvorak piece:

The giveaway that cult thinking is present in any environment is how responses are given from possible cult members to probable nonbelievers. If you disagree, then you "don't get it." Werner Erhard of EST (the über-cult of the 1970's) used to use this phrase over and over. Tell Erhard that something makes no sense. "You don't get it." Tell him that something is self-contradictory. "You don't get it." Tell him that something is just plain stupid. "You don't get it." This is the level of debate you can expect when cult thinking is present. But, of course, "I don't get it."

That's gotta hurt...

sPh

Re:"Cluetrain" is claptrap

[Anonymous Coward]

If Dvorak can call it BS, it must be way-out crazy BS.

Re:"Cluetrain" is claptrap

[trix_e]

I'm immediately suspicious of anyone who uses the word 'claptrap'. It ranks right up there with 'piffle' and 'balderdash'...

on point, Dvorak himself is not exactly a middle of the road kind of guy, how many times has he berated folks for not thinking like he does? (That's a rhetorical question, for those keeping score)...

Re:"Cluetrain" is claptrap

[sid_vicious]

Here's a quick quote from the Dvorak piece ...

Thanks!! I remembered reading the Dvorak column earlier this week, and I was just on my way out to find it so I could post a link.

Somebody mod the parent up, please.

Re:"Cluetrain" is claptrap

[Anonymous Coward]

Ooh look! I'm so trendy! Everything to do with the dot-coms is obviously shite now, because Time magazine told me so. I can't be bothered to think for myself and figure out what worked and what didn't, so I'm going to spew on /. and impress the other sheeple. Even more clever - I'll quote some other null-wit pundit spewing the same BS to support my argument. That'll lend me credibility!

Re:"Cluetrain" is claptrap

[Chris Burke]

The giveaway of pre-judged closed-mind thinking is someone who calls something he didn't try to understand nonsense and just plain stupid, is told he doesn't get it, and says that means the one telling him he doesn't get it is cult-thinking.

Calling things stupid nonsense is the level of debate you can expect when closed-mindedness is presest.

Re:"Cluetrain" is claptrap

[sphealey]

The giveaway of pre-judged closed-mind thinking is someone who calls something he didn't try to understand nonsense and just plain stupid, is told he doesn't get it

Sure. But as Martin Gardner used to say, extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. 99.999% of all who claim to be revolutionaries turn out in the end to have been crackpots. If you explain your great new idea to me, and after careful consideration I say, "sorry, I don't agree", is it then automatically true that I "don't get it"? Or is it possible that you have nothing to give?

sPh

Re:"Cluetrain" is claptrap

[Chris Burke]

You're right, of course. But I guess I just don't believe that Dvorak tried all that hard. He doesn't really give an indication that he did, in my mind. In which case, my statement applies.

Rageboy: Corporate Bran

[ngr8]

One of the good effects of Chris Locke's work is that it speaks (or spews) high amounts of reality in the midst of hyperbolic screed.

Locke has done much to reduce the use of the royal "we" in communicating to consumers, and the need to wake up and smell the coffee when looking at who, in fact, the poor customer is and what, in the hell, the customer might want to know or need from corporate messaging and communications.

Dissonance has its place; Locke writes with neon crayons in the hope that some suit will notice, push beyond the gonzo, and get thinking about what the hell is going on with messages and market positioning. Just pleasing the CEO or the uber director of marketing don't mean squat; its like gagamaggot webpages that look great on the LAN demo and then blow chunks at 28.8. Follow Locke long enough (and it can be tiring) and you'll find archetypes and templates for unhosing that which is hosed.

So, thank you RageBoy and EGR. The review is rather suck up, but I have already compensated for that by snatching up five copies of Cluetrain Manifesto (another Locke reality sandwich) for a buck a piece at a bookstore that was going out of business. Voice of the consumer.

So, grab some Locke and a Guiness, read it along with Kotler's Marketing Management, HBR, and Letters To Penthouse. But do anything other than spew out soul free websites and describe your venture as "WankNuts, the *leading* yadda yadda." What's it mean to the customer?

hmm.

[raindog151]

the only author i've ever seen that can blatantly steal the style of hunter s thompson and get away with it. drivel drivel drivel.

i mean, cluetrain was interesting until the whole communist mind control thing, and gonzo wasn't so bad except for the middle and start and end, but c'mon.

No they are not. Here's why:

[Anonymous Coward]

On this site, they are designed to generate affiliate money, not to inform you on the merits or demerits of a book. They are indeed marketing spiel.

Re:No they are not. Here's why:

[Anonymous Coward]

The term is "corporate shill".

dirty sellouts

[neal n bob]

you asshammers make me sick. Get a haircut and get a real job.

Counter Point

[DCram]

I'm a karma whore ... mod me up!

review of The Cluetrain Manifesto

[danny]

My my review of The Cluetrain Manifesto might be of interest.

Danny.

Hey, Slashdot...

[J'raxis]

Hey, Slashdot! FUCK YOU, okay?

Re:Hey, Slashdot...

[Anonymous Coward]

You've only gotta take one look at this guy to find the source of his agression... NO SEX, EVER! ROFLMAO! tee hee!

Re:Hey, Slashdot...

[Adolf Hitroll]

hey he seems to cost much more in make up than in anything else !

The Rageboy website

[Anonymous Coward]

is fucking shit. Really. "...blockbusters like Cluetrain..." The person who wrote that needs to get off the smack and sort themselves out!

Where is the advertisements?

[LunchLady]

Where are the ads for this article? Or is IBM the only sucker to think
any of you dirty faggot hippies would actually buy something from them?

On a spring Sunday
Jon Katz breaking through O-ring
thirteen year old boy

In a related note...

[SPYvSPY]

Everything men from Mars ever needed to know, they learned while making chicken soup in kindergarten.

Dvorak is a putz

[Anonymous Coward]

He wouldn't understand the internet if it came up and bitch slapped him.

Anyone actually read Cluetrain Manifesto?

[maxpublic]

Anyone actually read this book? It's vague, overgeneralized bullshit littered with yuppie feel-good terms from start to finish. Wildly popular with the folks who don't want to deal with dry, boring economic facts - why bother when you can get excited over hype?

Of course, we know just how much of a clue the author had. Derive what little advice you can from the book amidst all that clever misdirection and non-speak and then compare that to what happened during the dot-bomb....

Max

Re:Anyone actually read Cluetrain Manifesto?

[global_diffusion]

You can tell this author is a an idiot using big words to impress people. Just look at the title of his website: Entropy Gradient Reversals

I'd put money down that he couldn't explain entropy and doesn't know what a gradient is. On the other hand, I sure hope he knows what reversal is...

That is so...

[Anonymous Coward]

> "Congratulations on that new corporate
> homepage! You sound like a sexless droid with a
> badly damaged Personality Module."

Dude that is so 1999...

review style

[Axeon]

And who could forget the passage that reads: "I think many of us would prefer that those who don't 'get it' ... would either a) do so quickly, or b) get the hell out of the way."

I could. It's very cliched. I'm not acquainted with this blog but that's precisely why I bring this up; without anything else to go on, I read this review and think, if this is his best material I don't want to read the book. Which is why I think the reviewer should make a conscientious effort to select the strongest quotes for the uninitiated, because they take it as representative and will conclude it's not worth reading if it isn't very good.

Bombast transcripts?

[sulli]

I got my bombast right here.

More interesting story...

[BankofAmerica_ATM]

The body's hands trembled a bit. Two days without notice from Project Faustus and now a note from this "Krantz," (a Faustus operative, to be certain) requesting a meeting at the nearest Starbucks. Who was this Krantz? Had I met him before? Should I conduct myself in the steely protocol of business associate or the jovial style of an old friend? The note itself, hand-scrawled messily enough to tax my character-recognition algorithms, seemed to suggest that we were old friends. However, a careful analysis of the syntax and diction revealed an empty tone. Empty but affable. Preparing for this meeting was going to be difficult.

Five minutes later, I was clad in Atkins' most impressive suit (black with red pinstripes) and ambling through the Starbucks entryway. The time was 14:03:27 CST, and the place was nearly empty. A gaunt man with large glasses waved me over to a booth in the corner. He stood up excitedly as I made my way to the table, knocking over several emptied cups of latte as he offered me his seat. I sat down, sizing him up as best I could. His exterior resembled that of a normal human, but I noticed his movements were a bit different. Straining my ears, I picked up the faintest hint of a humming sound.

"Well, here I am, it's me! Jay Krantz!" he said, beaming at me, as if I should be impressed. "I bet you think that I'm here to punish you. That I am a grim enforcer, an out-of-touch political atavism solely concerned with those who step out of line in our little project. That's not the case at all. Step this way, please." Krantz motioned towards the bathroom. Atkins' face must have betrayed my reluctance.

"I understand your concern," said Krantz, "an invitation from a male into a Starbucks bathroom is certainly taboo, especially to those raised on a diet of Big Media and Big Corporations. But I just want to get a little-(here, he indicated his nose) before we go. You're welcome to some if you want."

I followed him into the bathroom, wondering what he meant. As we entered, he bolted the door and produced a small metallic box from his pocket. "In this Post-Columbine, Post-9-11, Post-Corporate-Colonization-of-the-Internet period, one needs a litlle extra to keep the parts running smoothly," he explained, opening the box to reveal a heap of white powder. "Help yourself."

"Is it...Lik-M-Aid?" I stared longingly at the powder.

"I suppose you could call it that. Whatever it is, it's good shit."

I pinched together as much of the powder as I could, splashing it across my lips. But the delightful sweetness of LIK-M-AID was nowhere to be found. It was a bitter, chalky candy, the type I normally avoid. I gulped it down, not wishing to upset Krantz. He winced and the rest of the powder disappeared into his nose.

"Ahhhhh!" he exhaled, his breath nearly singeing my eyebrows. "Okay, let's go, shall we?" As he staggered towards the door, I detected an unusual amount of heat radiating from his body.

"Where are we going, Mr. Krantz?" I inquired, scanning his face thoughtfully. This was the longest exchange I had yet shared with a human; I needed some feedback on how skillfully I was progressing.

"Oh, it's a little place I like to go when I celebrate. A place that is unlikely to stimulate you intellectually, but is nevertheless an enjoyable and irreverant ride!" He motioned me into his vehicle, a gigantic silver sport utility vehicle, pasted with small signs reading "Think Globally, Act Locally," "Free Dmitri!", and "Keep Your Laws Off My Body." Puzzled, I allowed myself to be swallowed up by the vehicle and whisked away. My heart began to race as Krantz nudged the car around quick turns, nearly flattening a human bicyclist in the process.

"Old technology," he grinned, extending the center finger from his left hand. "But I digress. I'm sure you're dying to know more about me! Go ahead, ask away!" How was Krantz able to discern my hunger for knowledge? Perhaps my cover was slipping...but I would be foolish to pass up an opportunity to learn more about Project Faustus.

"How did you become involved in Project Faustus?" I stared at Krantz earnestly, trying to express my deep interest in a manner that he could not ignore.

"Oh yes! Well, Project Faustus wasn't always involved in your field-you know, networking and wetworks-to-digital transfer. It's been around since at least the forties, and I hopped in around the seventies, you know, during the oil crisis, when our national leaders faced a time of trial in which...oh wait, we're here." He ambled his car into a parking lot. I could already detect the strains of rock music emanating from a large building nearby. I peered up to see a large neon sign that said this: PT'S Exotics XXX!

"They have a great buffet here!" explained Krantz, pushing me towards the building's entrance.

A burly man stared at me as Krantz handed him some money. Then the man handed some of the money back to Krantz. "Want some ones?" asked Krantz. "Don't worry, this is all on me." I grasped the wad of one-dollar bills, noting the differences between those and the twenties which I had once processed so often.

Krantz then drew back the black rubbery curtain, and so many sensual experiences exploded into my perceptions that I can scarcely describe them all. Small, contained explosions of colored light blasted around a raised platform. Rhythmic pounding usurped my ears and shook my organs. As I struggled to compose myself, I spied a human form pulsing and vibrating in the midst of the lights (seemingly sick and disoriented). I stared at the human, unable to pry my eyes away from its vibrating form.

"Wow, her tits are more inflated than the dot-com bubble in 1998, wouldn't you say?" it was Krantz's voice, and then his hand (a bit cold) slapping me on the back. "Why don't you give her a little venture capital?" He pointed at his own stack of dollar bills, then over towards the light.

I palmed the sweaty wad of cash in my suit. I looked at the human, gyrating and glistening in the semi-darkness. I felt a stirring...

for those whose first language is not english...

[Anonymous Coward]

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Re:for those whose first language is not english..

[unjust enrichment]

And if that doesn't work, This Just Might.

Would have said "bullshit,"

[HermanH]

...but I like alliteration! :)

A more innovative online e-book

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps /. readers would prefer the "online stylings" of Paul Nervy Notes at www.paulnervy.com