Columbia Journalism Review:
Blog-Gate. “First, much of the bloggers’ vaunted fact-checking was seriously warped. Their driving assumptions were often drawn from flawed information or based on faulty logic. Personal attacks passed for analysis.” Sounds terribly familiar, doesn’t it? Gobs to say about this, but it would be better discussed over a cup of hot chocolate (it’s slushy and cold here). Don’t have the time to type it all out.
CSM:
Review of “Blink.” Justifications for leaping to conclusions. Reference “The Phantom Tollbooth.”
ABC News:
Turning flat TV’s into digital art galleries. When LCD windows debuted 10 or 15 years ago, I figured by the 00’s we’d no longer need freestanding TV’s ... we’d be running screen savers, image galleries and watching movies on our windows. Can’t wait to reclaim those few cubic feet of space, y’know.
BBC:
Peter Rabbit translated into ... heiroglyphics. Dare I wonder why, other than as titillating mental exercise?
Chronicle of Higher Ed:
Don Quixote, as pervasive archetype.
Vanity Fair:
Gore Vidal, Was Lincoln Bisexual? Lincoln’s remains were in good condition, the last time his tomb was opened; but it would be a job and a half to exhume him to prove out these theories.
Pew/Internet:
Report on technology and media use, the internet’s impact on artists and musicians.
Reuters:
Filing this under “yuck” ... Cleric Suspect Misses Hearing Due to Long Toe Nails. Ranks right up there with having an enjoyable evening snack ruined by a graphic network toe-fungus commercial ...
Gotta make a run down to Albuquerque.
I will be making a left turn, but I’ll be back.
Later: Went down in pouring rain, came back in blizzarding snow. Gotta love altitude.
NY Times:
The next planned phenomenon: trollz. Synchronicity; this holiday season, I’ve run across at least half a dozen references to the older troll dolls.
NY Times:
Beware the “Liberace veneer.” “Is there anyone left with teeth just a little uneven. ...” goes the song.
CNN:
GOP reverses course on ethics rules. Astonishing, really. How politicians can turn this into political hay for ‘upholding standards.’
American Public Media:
The surprising legacy of Y2K. Er, ammo and spam do have a shelf-life, but it’s way longer than the whole life of laptops or cellphones. Interesting bits. Via Mefi.
Reuters:
Stem cells partially reverse Parkinson’s in monkeys. I added the italics to avoid over-promise. Still, a stark contrast to the rejoinders tossed at Ron Reagan Jr.
20D update:
I took a slew of 1600 ISO shots with my new Canon EOS 20D over the weekend. The images are stellar. No banding to speak of. Compared to a 1600 film, it’s just about unbelievable. The ‘grain’ is quite minute. Very, very happy. Here’s one as a sample, darkening dusk [click “other sizes” to see 600x900].
The original, and best
weblog awards close on January 10. Do get your nominations in. It is appropriate that we continue to adjudge ourselves; speaking for myself, I give no quarter to big media assessments [whether as professional journalist or corporation]. The smallest, and often least-qualified voices are often the best; professional journalism seems to use a ‘litmus test’ with weblogs and webloggers. It is the small but deep footprints I follow. Thank you, Nikolai, for your yearly dedication of time to this endeavour.
Hey ETP’ers ...
the Curmudgeon checked in on December 8. Happy New Year, my friend.
CNN:
A not-so-ill-wind for Michaelangelo’s David.
Who the hell is
216-55-165-10.dedicated.abac.net, and why are they dragging down 111 megs of my content in three days?
Digital Outback Photo:
Color correcting with a gray card. For static subjects, very convenient.
Reuters:
Elephants are helping with the tsunami recovery effort. Disturbing to read these items, however: “As the world poured out its heart for the victims, a women’s collective in Sri Lanka said rapists were preying on survivors, taking advantage of lax security at refuge centers. The U.N. Joint Logistics Center said pirates were a threat to aid supplies along Sumatra’s west coast. In Aceh, officials said they were investigating reports of trafficking in orphans.” Whenever civil society breaks down, rank opportunists and carpetbaggers get active.
The Economist:
Meritocracy in America ... Ever higher society, ever harder to ascend. The term “social sclerosis” will now find its way into my vocabulary ... excellent.
Chronicle of Higher Ed
comments on the Pell Grant issue.
CJR Daily:
The secrets war. “But the secrets guarded by those in Washington don’t only involve Star Wars programs run amok, or abuses of civil rights in a time of war, or poor management of an agency vital to national security. Denial of access to information of all sorts is growing ‘at an epidemic rate,’ according to Associated Press President and CEO Tom Curley.”
The phone’s ringing off the hook,
which is a good thing. But it’s patently obvious the year-end holidays are way, way over.
