Humorist Dave Barry is apparently giving up his column, though he leaves open the possibility of returning to it in the future. “I want to stop before I join the horde of people who think I used to be funnier,” he writes in his farewell column.
I love Flickr! See my photos and a very cool Flash slideshow I made with the few photos I had from ONA.
The theme of the 2004 Online News Association conference, if there was one, seems to be that journalists and their uncredentialed, unkempt, pajama-clad cousins have learned to live together in the online realm. Everyone now pretty much agrees that bloggers have an important role in social discourse, even if their standards of fairness and accuracy are, well, largely non-existent.
More later…
Howard Dean, the media-darling-turned-loose-cannon poster child for grassroots civic involvement, is now shilling — and yelling — for Yahoo! Local (hear the radio ad). While it’s not as lame as Bob Dole pitching Pfizer’s little blue pill, I think it still hurts his image. If Dean had a hard time seeming “presidential” before, he can forget about it now.
(I swore I wouldn’t talk politics on this blog, and this is the only time I’m going to break my self-imposed restriction! Really.)
Irritating Republicans and Democrats alike, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has thrown his weight behind a proposal for an open primary system similar to that used in elections in my home state of Louisiana. I’m thrilled that, after so many years of political ridicule, Louisiana is finally being held up as an example of something positive.
Though it’s regarded as a conservative state, Louisiana actually has sent a number of fairly moderate legislators (such as Sen. John Breaux and Rep. Billy Tauzin) to Washington over the years. That’s partly because the Louisiana system, unlike the closed primaries used in most states, does not compel candidates to run to the right or left at the outset of their campaigns. By not having to compete for a party’s nomination, candidates are spared the awkwardness of playing to the party faithful during primary season only to moderate their views a few weeks later for the broader electorate. It’s no wonder voters think politicians will say anything to get elected when the prevailing electoral system in this country encourages candidates to take two positions on everything.
Open primaries strike me as a sensible step toward reducing partisanship at a time when the country is dangerously polarized. In California, a state that prides itself on empowering voters, open primaries could help us judge candidates by the virtue of their ideas and the strength of their character rather than their fluency in doubletalk and their aptitude for political sleight of hand.
Battered by four hurricanes this year, Florida — home to much of my extended family — now gives new meaning to the term “disaster area.” FEMA has already called this the most costly clean-up in its history.
But consider that hurricane season runs through Nov. 30. That means we’re actually only two-thirds of the way through. So, statistically, Floridians should expect two more hurricanes before the season’s over, right?
Well, no. The storms tend to taper off in frequency and ferocity well before the end of the season. But another hit for storm-battered Florida is, sadly, not hard to fathom.
Maybe mother nature will take pity on these poor people and give them a breather… At least until November, when they’ll be caught in a whirlwind of a different kind.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Everything. Let me explain.
For one, I never should have seen this, the registration screen for the San Jose Mercury News site. But today I ended up here, even though I already had an account in Knight Ridder’s database (KR, which owns the Merc, keeps a single database of users for all its sites). Had I logged in from home, my browser would have been recognized automatically, but I was at work, and my password — the standard one I use for most sites when I don’t care about security — wouldn’t take. Because the login process is transparent when I’m at home, I couldn’t remember how long the Mercury News had been requiring registration and, come to think of it, I wasn’t even positive that I had an account.
So I filled out the registration form — and lied. But my deceit has weighed on my conscience all day, so I have to come clean and tell you why I did it, and why I shouldn’t have had to. Because I work in online news, I understand the need to have as much useful demographic information on visitors as possible, mainly in order to sell targeted advertising. So I will gladly (and honestly) supply such information as birth date, gender and ZIP code. I might even tell you what I do for a living or how much schooling I have. But I will not provide, for purposes of gaining access to a “free” site, personally identifiable information — no matter how nicely I am asked. This includes:
It takes a lot of gall to request this information in the first place, but it’s just laughable to think that people will answer honestly. The most frequently used excuse for this practice is the need to compare users’ contact information with newspaper subscription records in order to provide subscriber-only benefits online. To which I say: I have never subscribed to the Mercury News and I likely never will. If I do and the paper offers some online perk to subscribers only, then — maybe —
I went to a forum Tuesday night featuring Michael Kinsley, the founding editor of Slate and the new editorial/opinion editor for the Los Angeles Times. Some of you might also remember him from his role opposite Pat Buchanan and Robert Novak on CNN’s Crossfire. Kinsley, in conversation with KPCC Radio’s Larry Mantle, shined some light on his new role and his plans for the Times’ opinion pages.
He described his vision of the op-ed page as a place to balance the views expressed by the newspaper in its editorials. So, if the editorial page leans left (as most would suggest the Times’ does), the op-ed page, Kinsley suggested, should move to the right to counter it. It’s an interesting idea, but it didn’t seem to resonate with the overwhelmingly liberal audience (a mention of conservative Times cartoonist Michael Ramirez brought hisses and jeers from the 300 or so people in attendance).
A group announces its intention of “shutting down” New York City on Sept. 1, in the middle of the Republican National Convention. This particular plot seems a little far-fetched, but I have a feeling we can expect more unrest in New York than we’ve seen in Boston.
I believe there are more people blogging the Democratic convention than reading about it.
