By Lindsay Bell
Welcome to the 77th edition of The Three Things, the weekly update of three links, podcasts, videos, or books you can’t miss – from Howie Goldfarb (Blue Star Strategic Marketing), Laura Petrolino, and yours truly.
For those of you new to this series, The Three Things arrives in your inbox on Sunday mornings (unless you don’t subscribe, but that can easily be fixed if you hurry over and enter your email address or add to your RSS feed) so you have some extra time to spend perusing the obscure content we’ve curated for you (and one another) before your week begins and deadlines, meetings, and work takes over.
Today we explore who owns what on social media, the man in the moon, and Napoleon’s astonishing hubris.
Will Katherine Heigl’s Tweet Lawsuit Against Duane Reade Hold up in Court?
Howie on a Court Case to Watch. This is a really important social media and privacy court case to watch. I don’t think Katherine Heigl has a case. Her position is Duane Reade Drug Stores used her in a Tweet to commercially promote them without her permission. And she wants $6 million. Don’t we all.
It will be very interesting because this happens a lot. There was a recent uproar when one of the fashion houses did a tasteless PR stunt around a star and the handbag she carried while attending Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s funeral.
I don’t think the government is going to stifle this. Otherwise no one could post to Twitter or Facebook about anyone – or anything – without their permission. Do only rich and famous people get to sue regarding their public tweets or posts?
The Moon’s Real Age is Finally Revealed, but the Mystery of Earth’s Tardy Development Lives On
Laura on the Moon. I’m a ridiculous morning person, often known to go through stages. I get up around 3:30-4:00am, annoyingly (for anyone around me) alert and raring to go! The benefits of being a morning person will add a special one more come Tuesday morning, because it will allow me to hopefully view the total lunar eclipse.
I’ve long been fascinated by the moon on many levels. Of course being an ocean girl, the way it affects the tides is very intriguing. But it really controls much more of our experience on earth than we sometimes think about, and without it things would be very different here. And now that I’ve sneakily slipped in several info links about the moon (because it’s so cool you must know more, and more, and more), the main point of this homage to the moon is that it seems scientist have determined his age!
And he is much younger then we originally thought. So tonight when you look up in the sky make sure you give the moon a shout and tell him he doesn’t look a day past 29 million years! Editor’s note: You go Moon. I don’t look a day over 42.
The Greatest Infographic Ever of Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia
Lindsay on Napoleon’s Ego. So, many of us know Napoleon. You remember, the little French dude who liked to hold his hand clasped to his chest. And many of us who work in this space know all about infographics. Those graphs and charts that purport to share data and stats with us all via images and graphics. But, did you know – infographics aren’t a new thing?
No, in fact, an infographic was created in 1862 by Charles Joseph Minard on Napoleon’s failed invasion of Russia. And it is considered the best infographic ever created. Minard was a French civil engineer who pioneered information graphics. And I doubt he had any concept of what the future of infographics would bring.
This chart – and the wonderful video explanation that accompanies it – will blow your mind. It illustrates the savagery of war, and the staggering loss of life that occurred when Napoleon attempted to conquer Russia. This is, indeed, an infographic for the record books. Let’s not do this again, shall we?
Now it’s your turn. Is there a book, podcast, article, TV show, blog post, or story we should read?