Paper Thin | The Holtzman Zone - Ep. 2

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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The Hierophant - Los Angeles Reading

Facebook Event Page

 Muse On 8th

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Ardent Atheist - September 11, 2013 - Episode 129

You can now download this episode on itunes and here:

JamesTripp, Dylan Brody and Matt Kirshen join hosts Emery Emery and Heather Henderson to discuss, among other things, The Hierophant.

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The Prison

 

    The Hierophant, Chapter 1, The Prison

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Ardent Atheist - September 11, 2013

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James Tripp, Matt Kirshen and Dylan Brody join hosts Emery Emery and Heather Henderson on Ardent Atheist.

The Second Coming

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"I Have A Dream!"

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"Breaking Taboo" - December 24, 2012

I was a guest on the holiday edition of "Breaking Taboo" with Suzanne Monk and host Lakota Phillips. We pre-recorded it on December 23:

"Deconstructing Christmas, the end of talking about Mayans and a plug for The Hierophant"

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Trippitorial - Facebook Sponsored Ads

So every time I log into facebook, I notice now, in the right hand column, sponsored ads featuring pages my friends have ‘liked.’ It’s always different friends who ‘liked’ different pages, mostly cell phones and during the 2012 election cycle, Mitt Romney, but those weren’t really friends, so much as bots with fake profiles, whose friendships I accepted in good faith. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of bots who happen to think I’m pretty funny.

Anyway, these ads are all a part of some kind of algorithm. So one day, I decided to become a participant in the algorithm and I clicked on a sponsored ad for one of the pages my friend, Ernie, ‘liked.’ When I clicked through, it took me to the page, and I didn’t ‘like’ it. Why would I ‘like’ anything in a sponsored ‘like’ ad? If I ‘liked’ it, they’d start using my face to try to get my friends to ‘like’ it. Never ‘like’ a page with an advertising budget. And why would anybody ‘like’ their stupid page anyway?

But then I noticed, in the right hand column, a sponsored ad for another page Ernie had ‘liked.’ I guess the facebook algorithm figured, if he clicked on something Ernie ‘liked’ once, maybe he’ll click on something else Ernie ‘likes.’ They were right. I was all in. I figured, hey, let’s see what else Ernie ‘likes.’

And then every time I saw an ad for a page Ernie ‘liked,’ I clicked it, because I figured, if me and Ernie are going to be a part of their algorithm, then I’m going to skew it. I’ll click all the ads Ernie’s in, but I won’t ‘like’ any of the pages. Ernie’s in a lot of sponsored ads, because Ernie ‘likes’ a lot of pages. Ernie never met a page he didn’t ‘like,’ except, for some reason, Will Rogers.

Ernie also gets a lot of event invitations and there isn’t one he isn’t going to: ‘Join? Maybe? Decline?’ Join! Of course. I’ve never seen Ernie at any event he joined. Maybe he’s a bot.

Pretty soon Ernie’s face started appearing in the right hand column on almost every page I visited on facebook. And every time, I would click on it. Then sponsored ads starring Ernie began appearing in my newsfeed. And I kept clicking. Facebook suggested I buy him a gift.

I kept on clicking. I figured, hey, maybe if I keep on clicking, Ernie’s face will start showing up more on his other friend’s pages too. And if they start clicking on his ads on those pages, then maybe his face will show up on other people’s pages. Pretty soon, his face would start showing up on people’s pages he wasn’t even friends with and people would be like, “Well, Ernie ‘likes’ it. Maybe, I’ll ‘like’ it too.”

Ernie ‘likes’ pretzels. Ernie ‘likes’ cell phones. Ernie ‘likes’ batteries. I wonder if Ernie ‘likes’ the page I’m on. Washington slept here, but Ernie ‘liked’ it.

I clicked on Ernie’s picture so many times; the facebook algorithm suggested I start a page for Ernie.  I wonder if he’d ‘like’ it.

Actually Ernie does have a facebook page, and I clicked ‘like.’ Maybe I’ve appeared in an ad for it.

I also have a page, and guess what? Ernie ‘liked’ it. Maybe this is my big chance. Maybe I should take out a facebook ad for my page.  Maybe Ernie is the face I can use to sell my page, because, let’s face it, my face ain’t doing it!’ My face is my business and my business isn’t doing so good.
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"The Hierophant" Excerpt

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"Independent Thinking" with Steve Gelder

Here's today's podcast:

 
Episode 208: A Tripp Through The Headlines

Steve welcomes comedian, former journalist and author James Tripp to the show. They talk about James' new book, "The Hierophant", how the media is failing to do their job when it comes to reporting on the candidates, the role of religion in society, how the Internet will eventually be taken over by corporate interests, and summering in Martha's Vineyard with Gary Hart.
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"The Hierophant" Now in Paperback!

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Trippitorial - "The Hierophant"

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"Free Speech Show" - The Future of the Internet

Here's the final podcast of this series with panelists Laurie Buckley, Dave Plunkett, James Tripp and host Bill Bronner:

Panelists discuss Net Neutrality and the future of an open Web In America.

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"Comedy Nation This Week" - July 27, 2012

Here's the final podcast in this series with panelists Laurie Buckley, Dave Plunkett, James Tripp and host Bill Bronner:

Panelists discuss the Colorado shooting, new DNA evidence about some of our ancestors, the Russians in Cuba and more.

Trippitorial - Guns Are People

There’s been a lot of bad talk about guns in the news lately and I think it should stop. If the corporations that manufacture guns are people, aren’t guns people too? Do they not have feelings of their own?  If you cock them, do not people bleed?  If you hold one, do they not feel like a prick? Everybody on the news is talking about how they feel, but nobody’s asking the guns how they feel. If you tickle them, do they not misfire? I’ll tell you how they feel: Cheap. Used. Misunderstood.

If it was up to them, they’d be shooting themselves up in the air everyday in celebration. Sure, sometimes the bullets that go up come down into somebody’s head, but that’s not the gun’s fault. That’s gravity. What are you gonna do? Shoot Newton? And how are you gonna do that without a gun? That’s what I thought.

Guns are some of the most misunderstood weapons of mass destruction. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a bar and heard some guy say, my gun, she just doesn’t understand me.” Well, you know what? That works both ways, pal.

It’s like the N.R.A. says, "guns don't kill people, we do." guns aren't the problem. It's people who don't have guns who are the problem. We've got to put a gun in the hand of every man, woman and child in America.

Why, some of my best friends are guns. I know a girl who married a gun. She has ten kids. The gun is always going off.

Guns aren't the problem. It's people who are the problem. That's why we need guns---to get rid of the problem.

Of course, if guns are people, and people kill people, maybe guns do kill people.

I’m James Tripp and I’ll be back with another Trippitorial.

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The Hierophant

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"The Hierophant" Now Available on Kindle

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The Hierophant - A Novel - Preview the first Three Chapters

*Updated Post---Now Available in Paperback!*

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