It’s stories like this one, on the front page of the New York Time, that put the “no shit?!” look on my face when someone tells me they’ve never heard of blogging.
Stories like this must make it a little harder for institutions and governmental bodies to deny access to bloggers. Not that the U.N. or the New York Times get much respect outside of The Big City. [Thanks, Henry]
That’s the question Bill Moyers attempts to answer in “Buying the War” (Bill Moyer’s Journal on PBS). A damning indictment of the coverage of the events leading up to the invasion of Iraq. Tim Russert looked silly and Dan Rather was pathetic. I kept flashing on the old pre-WWII Nazi propaganda footage.
I always thought a good, strong, free press would be our last line of defense against the crooks and thieves we keep electing. (“Gooks in the wire!”)
After watching Buying the War on Tivo, we watched Moyer’s Conversation with Jon Stewart. An insightful look at The Daily Show. What it is and what it is not.
Following that, Moyers did a great segment with Josh Marshall, the political blogger from talkingpointsmemo.com. Blogging for Truth looked at Marshall’s perspective on the role of politics in the recent firings of federal prosecutors.
Watching these back-to-back was interesting. And somewhat reassuring (if you watch them in the right order). You’ll find video and transcripts on the PBS website. Good stuff.
A good blog is: personal, informative, timely, passionate, focused… and, yes, I do have an example in mind. Following excerpt is from yesterday post on Your Pet’s Best Friend:
“When we welcome a new client to our practice, part of the process is a questionnaire about their pet’s health history and environment. The last question is: “Do you consider your pet to be a member of the family?” and most people answer “Yes”. The human-animal bond is very strong. It’s very common for people to say that the pet is like a child to them. Cat-lovers often say that the cat owns them, rather than the other way around. Certainly many (most?) of us consider our pets as companions, as opposed to property. Thus it would seem that referring to ourselves as the “guardians” of our pets is just a nice way of saying how we really feel. [Trade Secret: the real key question is “Where does your pet sleep?”]”
If you come across what you believe is a better vet blog, send me the link.
Earlier this month I ranted about the mindless, clueless use of the REPLY ALL button. We’re currently experiencing one of these Dumb Storms. The following exchange has been shared with 80+ people in our office. (Yes, I do understand that some of the recipients find this witty exchange delightful.) I’m posting in reverse order to make this (on-going) thread easier to read. This is the work email equivalent of Open Mic Night at the Comedy Club. And you’re chained to your chair.
“Word has already been passed back to Learfield from I-70 that the troopers are out in full force, so be careful and watch out”
“Watch out now… my son is a trooper
“We love your son, but would like to interact with him in a more informal manner.”
“I really think it would be a great idea if police officers were put to work protecting people from murder, rape, and other vicious attacks … instead of being used by the state, counties, cities, and towns as men and women in uniform who main duty is to generate revenue. I’d wager they would probably prefer to be fighting crime than ticketing someone who has the audacity to drive at 65 MPH in a 60 MPH zone on I-70 in St. Louis County. How dare anyone drive at such an “unreasonable” speed on what is, at that point in the highway, an 8-late thoroughfare!”
“Thank your son for performing his duty. Many people have died at the hands of wreckless drivers who thought they were doing nothing wrong until it was too late.”
“I second that!!”
“Me thinks (name) is a bit cranky.”
“Maybe he got a ticket on the way to work???
“Well if he did, at least it wasn’t me this time!!
This is pretty close to home but I’m proud to report that our CEO writes pretty much everything he posts to his blog. He might ask me to add an image to one of his posts if he’s on the road, but nobody is ghosting his blog.
“At the 2007 National Association of Broadcasters show, ComVu Media demonstrated live video transmitting at 30 fps at 640 x 480 resolution from a mobile phone over a wireless data network.
ComVu used its PocketCaster software to broadcast full screen video from a Nokia N95 multimedia device, transmitting over HSDPA data connection. Anyone using a Nokia N95 device — including field reporters — can now capture and broadcast video directly to air and concurrently stream live video to Web-portals, blogs and 3G-enabled phones. ComVu CEO William Mutual called the end-to-end solution “the future of news gathering worldwide.” — Podcasting News
If I was running a news operation, I think I might invest in one of these and see if it’s as cool as it sounds.
“I’d like to be in charge for just five minutes. Balance the books. Get us out of debt. Be nice to our friends, tell our enemies to fuck off. Clean up the air and the water. Throw corporate crooks in the clink. Put dignity back in government. Fix things.”
— Randolp K. Jepperson. Boomsday by Christopher Buckley.
“The 2008 election is already shaping up to be the most cyber-savvy presidential contest in the brief history of the Web. Now three major Web sites — Yahoo Elections 2008, The Huffington Post, and Slate — have announced that they will collectively host two online-only debates, one for the announced Democratic candidates and one for Republicans.
The debates will allow the candidates to participate wherever they are located around the country. Each will appear on live video, and will be able to speak to and question the other candidates through the online connection.
The debate will also be uniquely interactive for the audience. Viewers will be able to submit both written and video questions in real-time, and can blog their responses to the candidates’ answers.
The idea of hosting a virtual presidential debate was the brainchild of conservative-turned-liberal-pundit Arianna Huffington, who saw the potential for an online forum while at the World Economic Forum in Davos. That event was covered by both traditional journalists and bloggers.” — Yahoo! News
So, I can be sitting in the Coffee Zone in beautiful downtown Jefferson City (slurping Rocket Fuel)… record a 30 second question and zap the the video clip to the debate site…and see my question (and candidate responses) 5 minutes later. Or, watch what hundreds (thousands?) of bloggers are saying, about what the candidates are saying, in real time. Okay, that’s only cool to bloggers.
I find most TV debates to be a waste of everyone’s time. But I might watch/take part in something like this.
[Mac shields up!] I created my first DVD last night, using iDVD that ships with OS X. Now, I’ve burned files to DVD’s before but iDVD makes it fun and easy to create a more finished product. Pick a theme, drag over your video from iMovie, your still images form iPhoto, pull some music over from iTunes… hit the burn button and you’re done.
This first effort looks like it. But the next one will be better. I haven’t done much with DVD’s because it seemed like a cumbersome way to share media. But this was fun and the resulting DVD looks pretty snazzy.