Don't put your tongue in a socket. The taste of power is too refined for you.

 

** Media

Why have the online versions of the LATimes, Chicago Tribune, and Dallas Morning News recently started requiring registration? The Online Journalism review is running an excellent article that discusses this issue. It also includes some information about how registration has (theoretically) affected these sites' traffic.

I don't know about you, but I haven't yet registered with the LATimes, and I don't know if I will. Sure, I like the paper, but is it worth another potential source of spam? I'd register for the Washington Post, and have, of course, registered with the NYTimes, but that may be it for me. The LATimes is right on the bubble. We'll see.
posted by David at 10:43 AM

 

** Politics

Drudge is reporting that the White House is preparing for a Supreme Court resignation within the next few days. No word on who exactly it might be, but speculation focuses on Rehnquist, O'Connor, or Stevens.
posted by David at 10:52 AM

 

* Hypocrisy?

Salon's Eric Boehlert does a good job of putting the Martha Stewart story into perspective. (Premium content, unfortunately). Perhaps I was being overly harsh before.
posted by David at 10:44 PM

 

** Terrorism

The Washington Post is running an in-depth article on possible vulnerabilites to cyber-terrorism. The focus is on how computers could be used to cause physical damage to utilities, dams, and other key infrastructure components.
posted by David at 11:31 AM

 

* Economy

No wonder Wal-Mart is so cheap. According to this interesting NYTimes article, they routinely force their employees to work off the clock. The employees generally don't complain because they are afraid of getting fired.
posted by David at 2:05 PM

 

* Politics

The Bush Administration is getting into the habit of announcing decisions relating to the environment on Fridays at 5:00, which minimizes media coverage. Sooo unlike the Clinton administration, right?

* Golf

Are the old geezers of golf unfairly attacking Tiger's opponents?
posted by David at 10:13 AM

 

* Hypocrisy

Today we have a couple of good articles on the Martha Stewart insider trading story. This is a great case for the SEC -- they've gotten more publicity on insider trading with this case than with all other insider trading cases ever. So I predict they'll throw the book at her. Anyway, for some good analysis, check out this NYPost article, and this Slate article.

And thanks to today's Media Notes article, which cited these articles.
posted by David at 11:19 AM

 

* Terrorism

Israel's best English-language newspaper, Ha'aretz, has published details of an interview between the Israeli defense minisiter and two captured suicide bombers. It's a long article, but it provides a window into the mind of two different suicide bombers; one who was caught in the act and another who changed her mind at the last moment.

To me, the most interesting part of the article was the interview with the guy who was caught in the act. His justification was pure greed. He was looking for status and reward in the afterlife. "I didn't go to commit suicide. I went to die a martyr's death. I wanted to get the reward."
posted by David at 10:32 AM

 

* Terrorism

The Washington Post is running a provocative rant from a State Department terrorism analyst who accuses the US media of treason for pointing out the nation's vulnerabilities to terrorism. He argues that terrorist organinzations don't have much ability to do field work, so they are benefitting from the myriad reports about potential targets -- things like "Private Plane Charters: One Way Around Air Security" and "Chemical Plants Are Feared As Targets".

He advocates "cooperation" or voluntary censorship. In other words, he wants the media to submit these types of articles to the government before publication. Obviously this is too draconian of a solution, but the article does make you wonder ...
posted by David at 10:41 AM

 

* Crime

Here I am writing about crime again. Am I being sucked into the media vortex? Nah, I'd just like to give a link to this article which takes a look at the different press coverage given to two missing children, one white, one black. Guess which one is getting the media attention? I can't even watch CNN at the gym anymore since they've gone almost completely over to Eliazabeth Smart coverage.
posted by David at 10:15 AM

 

** Terrorism

According to the June 18 Debka.com article, Al Queda operatives have been entering the US by stowing away in shipping containers. It is alleged that there have been firefights in US ports between these operatives and US Special Forces, CIA, and/or Coast Guard. Apparently, however, no one has been captured alive.
posted by David at 9:48 AM

 

* Crime

Normally I don't write about crime stories (far too much of that in the media for my taste), but this one hits close to home. Literally. HOSTAGE HORROR IN E. VILLAGE BAR. On Saturday night, less than 200 yards from my apartment, there was a racially motivated hostage situation and shootout. It's a pretty weird story, perhaps worth reading even if you don't know me or give a shit about New York. Fortunately nobody was killed.
posted by David at 10:45 AM

 

*** War

The June 15 Debka.com article is a must-read military analysis. It looks at the Middle East and India/Pakistan conflicts, as well as the connections between the two.
posted by David at 9:34 AM

 

* Humor

Rufus is a pimp for three girls. If the price is $65 per trick, how many tricks per day must each girl turn to support Rufus' $800 per day crack habit?

This is an actual question from a math test for 13 and 14 year olds in Canada. Check the article for more humorous questions.
posted by David at 3:00 PM

 

** Humor

The LATimes has followed up the story about the article from TheOnion that was picked up by a Beijing newspaper. Apparently the Beijing Evening News finally admits that they made a gaffe. But they still haven't learned their lesson, and are now criticising TheOnion.

"Some small American newspapers frequently fabricate offbeat news to trick people into noticing them, with the aim of making money," the paper said. "This is what the Onion does."

It cited a recent Onion article about the U.S. government issuing life jackets to all Americans for some unexplained reason. "According to congressional workers, the Onion is a publication that never ceases making up false reports," the Evening News said.

posted by David at 10:44 AM

 

* International Culture

It seems that Britain and Germany are having a spat. According to a German newspaper, "Great Britain is a degenerate country, riddled with complexes because of its loss of power, inhabited by fox-hunters in ludicrous costumes and hypocritical lefties who send their spoiled children to private schools." Meanwhile, "Germany, in the opinion of many Britons, is an insufferably dowdy country, inhabited by perpetual students with bumfluff mustaches and satanic fetishes."

Maybe an interesting World Cup matchup could result?
posted by David at 10:40 AM

 

** Tech

Salon is running this article about the economics of file sharing. Not premium content. I was interested to learn that right now more songs are downloaded from the Internet than purchased in CD form. Yet CD sales are down only 5%, which would be expected in a recession in any event.
posted by David at 10:29 AM

 

* Humor?

Police Dog Accused of Racial Profiling

I found this article on Metafilter. It does not appear to be a joke.
posted by David at 3:50 PM

 

*** Personal News

Very good news. I got a job offer today which I have accepted. Call or write me for details.
posted by David at 3:20 PM

 

* Sports

Long profile about Phil Jackson.
posted by David at 5:19 PM

 

* Terrorism

This morning's Media Notes does a good job of putting the dirty bomb arrest story in perspective.
posted by David at 10:40 AM

 

* Politics

When Ronald Reagan was governor of California, he spent years working with the CIA and FBI "unlawfully trying to quash the voices and careers of students and faculty deemed subversive at the University of California" at Berkeley. This information came to light as a result of a 17-year FOIA lawsuit filed by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Maybe this will slow down the movement to name a landmark after Reagan in each of the fifty states? I wish.
posted by David at 11:16 AM

 

** Humor/Journalism

TheOnion recently ran a hilarious parody about Congress threatening to leave Washington DC for Charlotte or Memphis unless they got a new Capitol building. It was one of their best pieces in memory.

Well, apparently Beijing's most popular newspaper believed it was a legitimate article, and they reprinted a translation of the article in Chinese. Good stuff.
posted by David at 12:59 PM

 

* Sports/Politics/Humor

So according to this article from the San Francisco Chronicle, Ralph Nader has written a letter to NBA Commish David Stern asking for a review of the officiating of game 6 in the Lakers/Kings series.

I'm not normaly one to bag on Nader -- for example, I don't blame him at all for Gore's loss. But isn't this type of thing a bit out of his area of expertise?
posted by David at 10:39 AM

 

* Entertainment

Is it all over for Woody Allen?
posted by David at 11:29 AM

 

* India/Pakistan

Salon is running this interesting analysis of India/U.S. relations. Premium content.
posted by David at 11:13 AM

 

** Psychology

I ran across this really excellent Guide to Flirting on MetaFilter. It's a long read, but well worth it, particularly for a shy male like myself.
posted by David at 3:59 PM

 

** Education

As described in this NYTimes article, the state of New York regularly edits literary works that are used in high school regents tests. According to the article, "the vast majority of the passages drawn from the works of Isaac Bashevis Singer, Anton Chekhov and William Maxwell, among others had been sanitized of virtually any reference to race, religion, ethnicity, sex, nudity, alcohol, even the mildest profanity and just about anything that might offend someone for some reason."

Some of the examples given are very funny. For example:

In a speech by Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, in addition to deletions about the United States' unpaid debt to the United Nations, any mention of wine and drinking was removed. Instead of praising "fine California wine and seafood," he ends up praising "fine California seafood." In Carol Saline's "Mothers and Daughters" a daughter no longer says she "went out to a bar" with her mother; on the Regents, they simply "went out."

Authors are pissed off about this, of course, and are writing letters to the state to complain. The state's justification for this absurdity: "Even the most wonderful writers don't write literature for children to take on a test."
posted by David at 10:41 AM

 

* Politics

Today's Media Notes contains an excellent summary of articles on the CIA and FBI.

The June 1 Debka article on the India/Pakistan situation is definitely worth reading.
posted by David at 9:53 AM