Matt Bors points out that political cartoons are frequently described, maybe attributed to a paper, but rarely to an author.
It may seem like a small gripe, but this is routinely how cartoons are referenced in the media. You would never quote a brilliant …
Read more… • Posted in: rant
If you're over 30, you'll probably press a doorbell with your index finger, while anyone under 30 may well use their thumb.
Read more… • Posted in: links
There's a fascinating article at CJR, "What We Didn't Know Has Hurt Us", about the explosion of classified documents under the Bush administration.
I found this bit mind-boggling:
Far more troubling was the revelation in 2006 that more than twenty-five …
Read more… • Posted in: politics
So, the original story goes something like this: girl buys laptop, laptop comes with (gasp!) Linux, Linux isn't compatible with her High-Speed Internet or her college classes. Girl drops out of the college.
The original article isn't great journalism …
Read more… • Posted in: madison
So, you think things are bad? The Washington Post can tell you just how bad, in glorious, sickening detail:
President Bush has presided over the weakest eight-year span for the U.S. economy in decades, according to an analysis of key data, and economists …
Read more… • Posted in: econ
I had a pretty amazingly good 2008, all things considered. I traveled a lot: this was the first year of my life where I can say that I spoke four languages …
Read more… • Posted in: words, year-in-review
The American media got all hyperventilated when "The Dark Knight" came out there back in July, but there was comparatively less enthusiasm when it was finally released in the Netherlands around September or so. Still, when I saw it was scheduled to go …
Read more… • Posted in: movies
I think Clay Shirky is easily one of the smartest people researching and writing about the modern media age. I really like his answers in a two part interview with CJR, this part especially:
Or look what happened right when Mac came out. Remember when …
Read more… • Posted in: web
CJR has a fantastic interview with Michael Hudson on the origins of the financial crisis, and his background reporting on poverty issues becomes extremely relevant. It's one of the best resources I've seen, with about a dozen links to background stories …
Read more… • Posted in: econ
So, we've had blogs and the intarwebs for some time now, but it still feels a bit like the wild-west frontier at times. It's fun to see people exploring the medium, trying to find new ways to connect, or just make a buck.
In an interview with The A.V …
Read more… • Posted in: reading