We interrupt for a special bulletin: STEVE JOBS IS STILL DEAD! This blog will resume normal posts on Wednesday

As 'celebrity news' goes, this isn't at all bad:

"Silicon Valley elite honor Steve Jobs"
AFP (October 16, 2011)

"Silicon Valley nobility arrived at Stanford University on Sunday to pay tribute to revered Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

"Security teams from Apple and Stanford along with local police officers cordoned off the main quad on campus, only letting pass those with invitations to the private event....

"...Responses to invitations were directed to Emerson Collective, a philanthropy founded by the Apple co-founder's wife, Laurene Powell Jobs.

"Amid global mourning for the death of the man behind iPhones, iPods, iPads, and Macintosh computers, California Governor Jerry Brown declared Sunday as 'Steve Jobs Day' in the western US state...."

The Lemming doesn't mind this follow-up on a celebrity's death: partly because Steve Jobs became a celebrity for what he contributed to the world's cultures.

That's a welcome change from the usual news about:

• Some media star's latest incarceration for
  • Shoplifting
  • Public intoxication
  • Reckless driving
  • All of the above
• A sports 'great' beating up someone
  • Again

Celebrities, News, and Silliness

Not that everyone who's on the 'grin until your lips hurt' side of the camera is a chronically inebriated kleptomaniac with relationship issues. And I'm sure that quite a few professional athletes get through an entire season without forcing their managers to deal with the courts. The quiet ones don't seem to get much publicity.

There's something about celebrities that seems to bring out the 'silly' in people.

Like the 'Princess Di is Still Dead!!' items that littered journalism a few years back; or seemingly endless 'royal wedding' coverage, more recently.

Or news that '[celebrity] is dead:' given national coverage after some caffeinated journalist read something online. Maybe news editors have gotten more savvy these days.

Steve Jobs, Humanity, the Big Picture, and the Lemming

For what it's worth, the Lemming's sorry to see Steve Jobs gone. He made a real contribution, by helping change the way most folks relate to information technology. That's a big deal.

On the other hand, the Lemming thinks that, just as humanity somehow struggled on after whoever learned to use fire died: humanity will endure the death of Steve Jobs. Maybe the next-generation iPod or digital nose hair trimmer won't be quite the huge splash it would have been with Jobs' colorful personality pushing it.

But the Lemming strongly suspects that somehow, somewhere, someone is going to get a new idea or two. And others will realize that the idea's a good one.

Then, quite likely, it'll just be a matter of time before we see editorials warning about how the new idea will

• Bring about the end of civilization
• Kill some cute animal
• Generally spread chaos and destruction

Sorry: It's Monday, and it's hit the Lemming with unusual severity this week.

Related posts:

• "Steve Jobs, 1955-2011: Computers and Hyperbole"
  (October 7, 2011)
• "Copyright Infringement Case: Over a Tattoo?!"
  (June 11, 2011)
• "'The Report of My Death' - Bill Cosby, This Time"
  (August 3, 2010)
• "Rebuilding Japan, Living in a Big World"
  (April 18, 2011)
  Particularly
  • Japan, the Aflac Duck, and the Lemming
• "Dolly Parton Dead? Another Reason I'm Not a Journalist"
  (August 25, 2008)