Bernie

• The internet was ablaze with rumors about Swift dating Matty Healy, the lead singer of the English pop-rock band The 1975.
• As the Pittsburgh leg of the tour approached, I wondered if I were about to dive headfirst into an angry mob of tens of thousands of Swifties.
• On the day of the show, Acrisure Stadium was mobbed with 72,000 people, but the Swifties in attendance were far from angry.

Collective delusion

• The Eras Tour was not my first experience of collective effervescence.
• Nor was it the first time I felt such a strong disconnect between the online and offline worlds.
• Right before the pandemic began, there was the painfully quiet fizzling out of the Bernie 2020 movement.

A vocal minority sets the agenda

• Research consistently shows that a small minority of people who have social media accounts post the vast majority of content.
• In other words, most of the discussions happening on websites like Reddit and Twitter come from a vocal minority of users – whose posts are then curated and boosted by algorithms.
• But it represents the words of a smaller minority of users within the already small minority of people who post content online.
• In the weeks when Swift was dating Healy, a vocal minority of Swifties came head-to-head with a vocal minority of Healy’s defenders.

Oligarchy of the ‘extremely online’

• v. Wade peaked within a few days and people moved on to different topics.
• Perhaps it’s time to sideline social media and the internet when evaluating the nature of our collective reality.
• Reality exists outside of our devices, whereas social media algorithms push whatever keeps us tethered to the screen.
• That might be easier said than done: 94% of journalists say they use social media for their jobs.

• Largely instrumental, these recordings showcased the guitarist's virtuosity, while offering what could have easily been the sequel to Hot Rats, had it ever been released.
• Flo & Eddie would join the Mothers for Zappa's Chunga's Revenge album, recorded mostly that summer and released in October of that year.
• By the end of 1970, Zappa was well into writing and developing his film, "200 Motels" and the accompanying soundtrack.
• It's a head-scratcher for sure, but it does make sense as Frank was embracing audio technology as soon as it became available."

• Additionally, this is the first posthumous release of this distinct, brief lineup, as Logeman, who replaced drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, would end up leaving when Colaiuta returned to the band.
• The Maestro was early to embrace the emerging technology and would importantly shift to it as a result of this recording.
• Notably the band played an early rendition of "Pick Me, I'm Clean," which Zappa would release the following year on the double live album, Tinsel Town Rebellion.
• Zappa '80: Mudd Club/Munich is an opportunity to experience Zappa and his terrific yet transitory 1980 band playing two fantastic concerts at two very different venues for the first time.

• AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SparkCognition , a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) software solutions perfected for business, today announced the addition of Bernard J. Dunn to its Board of Advisors.
• Dunn brings over four decades of international leadership experience across the aerospace, defense, and commercial aviation sectors to help guide SparkCognition through its next phases of growth.
• "AI has become a game changer in aerospace and defense and SparkCognition has proven itself essential whether it's keeping F-16s flying or manufacturing running."
• In his respective roles, Dunn was consistently named by Forbes Middle East as one of the top executives in the region.