From The New York Times: Journalism Rules Are Bent in News Coverage From Iran By BRIAN STELTER “…publish first, ask questions later. If you still don’t know the answer, ask your readers.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/business/media/29coverage.html
6 days ago
June 29, 2009
June 6, 2009
Semi-Submarines, Stealthily Plying Pacific, Arrive as a Way to Smuggle Cocaine - washingtonpost.com
Bottom line: If demand isn’t reduced, suppliers will innovate to defeat countermeasures designed to deter the flow of product. This is the same lesson learned in Iraq regarding IEDs: they went away when the insurgency that was “demanding” IEDs dried up. Efforts to defeat the specific devices only accelerated innovation among suppliers.
4 weeks ago
April 6, 2009
“ Why does one crash cause minimal damage to the financial system, so that the economy can pick itself up quickly, while another crash leaves a devastated financial sector in the wreckage? The hypothesis we propose is that a financial crisis that originates in consumer debt, especially consumer debt concentrated at the low end of the wealth and income distribution, can be transmitted quickly and forcefully into the financial system. It appears that we’re witnessing the second great consumer debt crash, the end of a massive consumption binge.
March 15, 2009
“ The third argument says we have to change. We have to develop content that metamorphoses in sync with new ways of experiencing it, disseminating it and monetizing it. This argument concedes that it’s not possible to translate or extend traditional analog content like news reports and soap operas into pixels without fundamentally changing them. So we have to invent new forms. All of the fascinating, particular, sometimes beautiful and already quaint ways of organizing words and images that evolved in the previous centuries - music reviews, fashion spreads, page-one news reports, action movies, late-night talk shows - are designed for a world that no longer exists. They fail to address existing desires, while conscientiously responding to desires people no longer have.
“ If there is movement to talk to the Taliban in Afghanistan, then there should be some effort to talk to the fundamentalists in Somalia. If the Islamists were permitted to form a viable, functioning and effective government, this shattered land might be able to return to the community of nations — and supertankers will be able to deliver oil to the United States without fear of getting hijacked.
NYT: As Taboos Ease, Saudi Girl Gro
Love to read articles like this…but I’m always concerned about what happens to a liberalizing Middle East if oil prices stay low and prosperity (which is driving liberalization) fades.
3 months ago
March 13, 2009
Guarding the U.S.-Mexico border, live from suburban New York - CNN.com
Fascinating. Of course, the flip side is “only four arrests since November.”
3 months ago
“ There are sleeper cells in the U.S. They’re here, they’re here in the United States.
March 11, 2009
Why Does "Dream" = "Ideal"?
3 months agoI’m always puzzled when people refer to their “dream girl,” or their “dream house,” when they’re talking about their ultimate ideal. Why is the word “dream” synonymous with “ideal”? My nighttime dreams never reflect what I really want. For example:
=====
On my ideal date, a pretty lady laughs at my jokes over a delicious meal. We end the night by making passionate love.
On my dream date, my 7th grade science teacher points and laughs at my teeth as they slowly crumble into the gravy boat. Our sommelier, Nick Nolte, brings us a bottle of live ants.
=====
At my ideal job, I get paid ridiculous sums to write short, pithy articles for a famous magazine.
At my dream job, it’s 5 minutes before the big presentation and I still can’t get the photocopier to work. I have to share a cubicle with a black version of Nick Nolte, who won’t ever let me use the bathroom and makes me pee in Ziploc bags at my desk.
=====
On my ideal vacation, my family and I stroll through Central Park on a perfect autumn day.
On my dream vacation, we get on the wrong plane which is not a plane but a giant dying tree and why is black Nick Nolte sitting on the branch next to me and I can’t see what’s happening but my children are in trouble and shit shit shit there go my teeth again.
March 4, 2009
“ So the problem with Apple’s iLife apps is that they’re too good, and kids never learn that they need to struggle with technical issues before using software to express themselves creatively.
