The weather is torn between getting warm and staying cold, and has therefore settled on just being crap ...
- Media Dragon (Really brave ... or really stupid)
The 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia has been documented many times before, but a new English translation of a book by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes not only breaks new historical ground but brings the history to a whole new audience. The everyday occupation
Others take notice Comparing Twitter Growth to FBook, GOOG
It's Twitter's third birthday, and there's been lots of chatter about Twitter's growth lately, so I thought I'd try to find some context.
Google (officially) launched in Sept 1998
Three years later it had nearly 18mm US uniques (comscore)
Facebook launched in mid 2004
Three years later it had nearly 27mm US unique users (comscore)
Twitter launched in March 2006
Three years later it has (roughly) 8 million US uniques users (compete)
I'm a student of history. OK, maybe more like, I am a getting-older journalist following a youngish history, of companies like Apple, a company I covered in the 80s, Microsoft, (late 80s to present), AOL, Yahoo (mid 90s to present), Google (late 90s to present), Facebook (early 2000s to present), and on and on (yes, Twitter is my most recent obsession as a story) …
• Like the fox says in The Little Prince, words are the source of misunderstandings. Twitter is a distributed service; [Perfect one sunny political day in Queensland. Apolitical voters plump for the devil they know Should Anna Bligh be grateful for compulsory voting?; Everyone wants to look good on Facebook ; One-hundred and thirteen years ago, in the midst of the deepest depression of the 19th century, William Jennings Bryan talked about struggle between the "idle holders of idle capital" and the "struggling masses" who produce the country's wealth. We have always hated the moneymakers, rather than hate ourselves ]
• · PODCAST | There’s no turning back for the news media dragons Revolutionary rivers and highways; Draft Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Bill 2009
Submission to be in on Gabriella’s birthday – Sweetest 17
• · While the majors are in terrified thrall to the bottom line, the shoestring passions of the small presses will carry on regardless How independents will save literature from the recession; It's important to remember evidence-based policy focuses on specific interventions and can't always take into account the context in which they are implemented A good time to be modest
• · · The brothel has its own stimulus package … I'm not saying I watch Desperate Housewives -- I'd feel like I was cheating on my favorite guilty pleasure entertainment, Cheaters … If customers can't even afford to spend money on housing, food, and cars, how can we expect them to spend money on sex? The economy spanks the sex industry. Hard.; As major publishing houses suffer a big knock to their credit, many are now expecting a doom-and-gloom end to literature as we know it Recession a boon for great literature
• · · · Literature is neither a chore, a duty nor a waste of time. It is, first and foremost, a pleasure. But something pleasurable shouldn't be mistaken for something easy. It often requires an effort. A love of reading involves moving on from where we are, journeying into more and more distant territory, passing from easy authors to more difficult ones. And it is often the most difficult texts which yield the most pleasure Why MPs should be taking time to read Proust ; For all its demotic language and popular appeal, this series is television drama at its literary best Underbelly
• · · · · Russia's richest man has a nose for literature; Web Semantics: Storytron How Is It Different from Literature; THEY are the profits from crime which won't make their way into any Swiss bank accounts or police coffers. Counting the cash from love of Underbelly-style true crime books; Watching Underbelly is an exercise in juggling appreciation for 1970s hairstyles and excellent scriptwriting. Underbelly: The Tale Of Two Cities; Fierce fighting, intense rivalry and even murder were all forgotten as arch enemies Can't see the truth for the screen; The Girl who Played with Fire Fiction vs. Non-fiction Writing, by Kari Sperring
• · · · · · It was as if the author was hanging on the gates of literature rather than fully admitted inside because she was only writing short stories Munro heads through literature's gates; Asking me to list my five favorite novels is like asking me to choose which of my internal organs I like best Swapping stories;The major book awards are Booker Prize, Caldecott Medal, Newbery Medal, and Nobel Prize for Literature, Faulkner Award, Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Literature - and a bowl of soup ; Wood is playing fast and loose here, and you can see how when you read that quote from Child of God in its proper context:
As he neared the town the roosters were calling. Perhaps they sensed a relief in the obscurity of night that the traveler could not read, though he kept watch eastward. Perhaps some freshness in the air. Everywhere across the sleeping land they called and answered each to each. As in olden times so now. As in other countries here. Book awards for quality literature