Social Cache.
A Nemo blog. Dealing with uncommon cents.

Although the news would be of no surprise to anyone of voting age, according to The Pew Research Center the Internet has become a major source of election news second only to TV. The numbers look something like this – 72%, 33%, 29% for TV, Internet, and newspapers. The TV ranking is skewed though – as David Weinberger, the author and Fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society says on his blog –

“This can be slightly misleading, though. For me — and I am confident that I am 100% typical of people who are like me — the only election news I get directly through TV comes through The Daily Show and Colbert. Otherwise, the ecology of news works like this: Someone posts a bit of news on some site. That snippet may well come from a mainstream source, or it may not. But like a greasy crumb dropped on the sidewalk, it’s instantly swarmed by ants. The ants — that’s you and me, sister — point at it, link to it, explain it, deny it, make fun of it, connect it with something else, and send it or what we’ve made of it around the world. The morsel is gone, digested, appropriated. The ants are the media. The mainstream are only noticed if they’re doing as good a job at being a news ant as the rest of us.”

And as you might expect the cable TV shows garner a highly partisan audience -

Among those who name the Fox News Channel as their main source for campaign news, 52% are Republicans and only 17% are Democrats. By contrast, among those who rely on MSNBC for their campaign news, 50% are Democrats and only 11% are Republicans. Similarly, CNN’s campaign news audience is largely Democratic — 45% are Democrats and 13% are Republicans.

Individual innovation and creativity in our society are the cornerstones of our economy. They create wealth and improve the nation’s welfare. Through innovations, the 20th century became the American Century. Will the 21st century be so as well or will it become the Global Century? How, if at all, would your administration foster innovation in the following areas: the provision of health care for our citizens; an immigration policy that attracts and retains the best; educational policies that increase the value of our human capital, our most important resource; helping people accumulate enough retirement savings; international trade and manufacturing; the evolution of information technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology and neuroscience; the allocation of water, food and energy and the development of alternative energy sources; and, to some, the most important, the environment?

— MYRON S. SCHOLES, who shared the Nobel prize in economics in 1997

More questions here.

The New York Times announced that Senator McCain has picked a running mate – Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

In a surprise move, Senator John McCain announced here Friday that he had chosen Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate, shaking up the political world at a time when his campaign has been trying to attract women, especially disaffected supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

On the surface this seems like a great opportunity to celebrate equality – the first woman chosen by the Republican party to be on the VP ticket. Give McCain’s choice some thought though and you soon realize that this not about helping women ascend to higher office, this is just politics as usual. Gov. Palin is just a pawn in the game and the game is to attempt to attract disaffected female Democrats to the McCain ticket. Gov. Palin brings no experience to the ticket whatsoever, and at his age you would have expected McCain would have picked someone with a great deal of experience should she have to take over the Oval Office.

McCain’s advisors clearly think that in this campaign women voters will presumably flock to the McCain – Palin ticket just because she’s a woman. So, women of America, congratulations you are now thought of as a demographic group to be wooed for votes. No experience necessary. If I were female I would find this all very demeaning. Women deserve more in this election. Both camps should be very aware of their voting power.