Internet Insight into the value in blogging
This site contains the links behind the Behind the News Weblog, at Newsresearch.blogspot.com
· Blogs [News research]
· It's 3 a.m. Where's your librarian? [KF Source]
Tuesday, February 04, 2003
Intelligence Professor of Hard Heart & Soft-ish Head
Kieran Healy rightly takes umbrage with Professor Reynolds for stupid, inconsistent comments about how the Space Shuttle disaster is not being covered sufficently in France.
Here's another to add to the list. 34 people died in a train crash in Zimbabwe and all Instapundit can say is this:
‘THIS is a tragedy, too. What makes the Columbia's loss more striking than the deaths of train passengers is that space exploration is forward-looking, not just part of ordinary life, and such a loss is a setback to something important, and noble. It's not that astronauts' lives are worth more than those of anyone else; it's what they do, and what it stands for.’
This sort of nonsense is just so unnecessary. Who the fuck does Instatwit think he is to even bring the two things into the same discussion? What does it even mean? If his concern is with a number of unfortunate people dying, then just let him note the tragedy and leave the world-weary evaluations alone. He can protest all he likes that he is not saying the astronauts are more important, but that's exactly what he's doing. It's a bigger tragedy because they were doing more important work. What a crock.
And btw: nine people were killed in a Sydney train crash the other day. Am I allowed to take Reynolds to task for not mentioning it? No, I'll just do what he does: "Hmm. That's representative, too."
Perhaps he could write and tell me that the train passenger aren't as worthy of attention because they weren't involved in important enough work.
· Twit [Road To Surfdom]
Kieran Healy rightly takes umbrage with Professor Reynolds for stupid, inconsistent comments about how the Space Shuttle disaster is not being covered sufficently in France.
Here's another to add to the list. 34 people died in a train crash in Zimbabwe and all Instapundit can say is this:
‘THIS is a tragedy, too. What makes the Columbia's loss more striking than the deaths of train passengers is that space exploration is forward-looking, not just part of ordinary life, and such a loss is a setback to something important, and noble. It's not that astronauts' lives are worth more than those of anyone else; it's what they do, and what it stands for.’
This sort of nonsense is just so unnecessary. Who the fuck does Instatwit think he is to even bring the two things into the same discussion? What does it even mean? If his concern is with a number of unfortunate people dying, then just let him note the tragedy and leave the world-weary evaluations alone. He can protest all he likes that he is not saying the astronauts are more important, but that's exactly what he's doing. It's a bigger tragedy because they were doing more important work. What a crock.
And btw: nine people were killed in a Sydney train crash the other day. Am I allowed to take Reynolds to task for not mentioning it? No, I'll just do what he does: "Hmm. That's representative, too."
Perhaps he could write and tell me that the train passenger aren't as worthy of attention because they weren't involved in important enough work.
· Twit [Road To Surfdom]
Monday, February 03, 2003
Office Perks
It is no longer okay to have wandering hands, no matter how good you are at your job. Hard drinking and womanizing no longer equate to 'tough boss, good at taking risks.' Sex addiction is no longer an executive-suite perk; it's bad for business. Now you know ...
· Wandering hands [ecompany]
It is no longer okay to have wandering hands, no matter how good you are at your job. Hard drinking and womanizing no longer equate to 'tough boss, good at taking risks.' Sex addiction is no longer an executive-suite perk; it's bad for business. Now you know ...
· Wandering hands [ecompany]
Politics Powerless, Voiceless People
Why don't our distinguished state leaders stop paying for bureaucrats' SUVs before they stop paying for poor old ladies' teeth? Why does the state drop Medicaid coverage for eyeglasses but keep on funding not one but two mega million-dollar convention centers? What I think is that people without power are the ones politicians feel most comfortable cutting services to. The people who need protection are the powerless, voiceless people
· Voiceless [Boston Herald]
A new rule book for our politicians
Few issues make politicians cringe more than the spotlight being placed on their perks of office. They find it galling when increases, or speculation about their travel habits and superannuation packages, are constantly questioned. But what further justification does the media and public need for better accountability than the case of independent upper house MP Malcolm Jones.
· Accountability [SMH]
Why don't our distinguished state leaders stop paying for bureaucrats' SUVs before they stop paying for poor old ladies' teeth? Why does the state drop Medicaid coverage for eyeglasses but keep on funding not one but two mega million-dollar convention centers? What I think is that people without power are the ones politicians feel most comfortable cutting services to. The people who need protection are the powerless, voiceless people
· Voiceless [Boston Herald]
A new rule book for our politicians
Few issues make politicians cringe more than the spotlight being placed on their perks of office. They find it galling when increases, or speculation about their travel habits and superannuation packages, are constantly questioned. But what further justification does the media and public need for better accountability than the case of independent upper house MP Malcolm Jones.
· Accountability [SMH]
Housing Tales of the Australian Castle
People are asked whether they would approve of a scheme allowing institutional investors up to a one-third stake in their home, in return for forfeiting 50 per cent of its value when sold.
· PM explores Home Ownership Scheme in Australia [SMH]
Tales of the Hunt
Five house-hunting families in US tell their stories
Editor's note: The high cost of housing is not only a story about real estate, about business or about the economy. It also is a story about people. The five families introduced below agreed to share their experience in the regional housing market as part of our special report
· Housing Market US [NY Journal]
People are asked whether they would approve of a scheme allowing institutional investors up to a one-third stake in their home, in return for forfeiting 50 per cent of its value when sold.
· PM explores Home Ownership Scheme in Australia [SMH]
Tales of the Hunt
Five house-hunting families in US tell their stories
Editor's note: The high cost of housing is not only a story about real estate, about business or about the economy. It also is a story about people. The five families introduced below agreed to share their experience in the regional housing market as part of our special report
· Housing Market US [NY Journal]
Fame Great
Ms Kylie Minogue has been named Greatest Living Australian. The Great Novel (a term alien to Henry James) came into common currency, and Hollywood, in an absurdity of excess, claimed greatness for movie stars. Yet the adjective retained an ironic twist. Charles Chaplin, in The Great Dictator, poked holes in Hitler's image by ridiculing the pomposity of his assumption of greatness.
· Great Butt [This Is London]
Ms Kylie Minogue has been named Greatest Living Australian. The Great Novel (a term alien to Henry James) came into common currency, and Hollywood, in an absurdity of excess, claimed greatness for movie stars. Yet the adjective retained an ironic twist. Charles Chaplin, in The Great Dictator, poked holes in Hitler's image by ridiculing the pomposity of his assumption of greatness.
· Great Butt [This Is London]
Sunday, February 02, 2003
Internet / Apple Searching Safari
Google Toolbar may shun Mac users, but they have an exciting new option: a speedy new Internet browser called Safari that has a built-in Google search.
Andrew Morrell, a public radio consultant and former NPR program director, calls Safari an amazing piece of software. Just enter your search terms in the browser's Google field next to the URL field, hit enter and up pop your results, just like the Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer. The Google search field remembers your most recent searches, and after youve explored a search result, another button returns you to your most recent results page. [Web Tips - Poynter]
Whether you're a primary or high school student, starting your HSC studies, or a concerned parent with two daughters like me, the following web resources might help ease you back into the school year even if you are outside NSW, and provide tools to help you achieve your potential as well additional support for making the school year as stress-free as possible.
Google Toolbar may shun Mac users, but they have an exciting new option: a speedy new Internet browser called Safari that has a built-in Google search.
Andrew Morrell, a public radio consultant and former NPR program director, calls Safari an amazing piece of software. Just enter your search terms in the browser's Google field next to the URL field, hit enter and up pop your results, just like the Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer. The Google search field remembers your most recent searches, and after youve explored a search result, another button returns you to your most recent results page. [Web Tips - Poynter]
Whether you're a primary or high school student, starting your HSC studies, or a concerned parent with two daughters like me, the following web resources might help ease you back into the school year even if you are outside NSW, and provide tools to help you achieve your potential as well additional support for making the school year as stress-free as possible.
Wisdom Kurt Vonnegut
Another interview with Kurt Vonnegut whose quote I must say it again inspires this blog;-) I have no reasons to doubt one of my blogs of note, Bookslut, from whom I shamelessly pinch links, that Kurt is amazingly frisky in his old age. I want to be Kurt Vonnegut when I'm 80.
I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war, might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened, though, is that it has been taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup d’etat imaginable. And those now in charge of the federal government are upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography, plus not-so-closeted white supremacists, aka Christians, and plus, most frighteningly, psychopathic personalities, or PPs.
· Invaded by Martians [In These Times]
Ben Blames Britain
The Booker Prize-winning novelist Ben Okri has blamed Britain's decline and slide into "imaginative impotence" on its lack of respect for writers. The man has obviously never tried to get a book about the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain reviewed in Australia.
· The Famished Road [Guardian (UK)]
Another interview with Kurt Vonnegut whose quote I must say it again inspires this blog;-) I have no reasons to doubt one of my blogs of note, Bookslut, from whom I shamelessly pinch links, that Kurt is amazingly frisky in his old age. I want to be Kurt Vonnegut when I'm 80.
I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war, might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened, though, is that it has been taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup d’etat imaginable. And those now in charge of the federal government are upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography, plus not-so-closeted white supremacists, aka Christians, and plus, most frighteningly, psychopathic personalities, or PPs.
· Invaded by Martians [In These Times]
Ben Blames Britain
The Booker Prize-winning novelist Ben Okri has blamed Britain's decline and slide into "imaginative impotence" on its lack of respect for writers. The man has obviously never tried to get a book about the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain reviewed in Australia.
· The Famished Road [Guardian (UK)]
Vaclav Havel: Part Saint and Part Sinner, an Extraordinary Character That Moved Us
It was a bitterly cold winter in November of 1989, but it felt like a Sydney’s summer of love in the Czech capital of Prague and the Slovak capital of Bratislava.
There will never be another Czechoslovak President, Philosopher King, like Vaclav Havel. No other leader will become teenage idol and write about the theatre of the absurd. And it is most unlikely that any Czech or Slovak presidents will design a document like the Charter 77.
· This Morning I Farewell My Teenage Hero [Jozef Imrich City Blog]
It was a bitterly cold winter in November of 1989, but it felt like a Sydney’s summer of love in the Czech capital of Prague and the Slovak capital of Bratislava.
There will never be another Czechoslovak President, Philosopher King, like Vaclav Havel. No other leader will become teenage idol and write about the theatre of the absurd. And it is most unlikely that any Czech or Slovak presidents will design a document like the Charter 77.
· This Morning I Farewell My Teenage Hero [Jozef Imrich City Blog]
Saturday, February 01, 2003
Trends Forbidden Broadway: Ovation inflation
There are all sorts of theories to explain this phenomenon. There's the Cartesian: I spend; therefore I stand. People who lay out upwards of $90 a ticket need to justify, at least rationalize, the expense. It's for themselves more than for the show. There's the Caesarean: I came, I couldn't see; I had to stand. There is the Pavlovian:
· You stand so I stand. [Opion Journal / Wall Street]
There are all sorts of theories to explain this phenomenon. There's the Cartesian: I spend; therefore I stand. People who lay out upwards of $90 a ticket need to justify, at least rationalize, the expense. It's for themselves more than for the show. There's the Caesarean: I came, I couldn't see; I had to stand. There is the Pavlovian:
· You stand so I stand. [Opion Journal / Wall Street]
Politics Politicians for sale - at low prices
The state of the union is that money talks and public policy is sold to the highest bidder.
· High Cost [Baltimore]
From 'Anti-Globalization' To A World Of Possibilities
As French President Jacques Chirac noted, A hundred thousand people don't take to the streets unless something has seized their hearts and minds.
· Contrary to what the pundits might think, that other world is making itself heard [Tom Paine]
The state of the union is that money talks and public policy is sold to the highest bidder.
· High Cost [Baltimore]
From 'Anti-Globalization' To A World Of Possibilities
As French President Jacques Chirac noted, A hundred thousand people don't take to the streets unless something has seized their hearts and minds.
· Contrary to what the pundits might think, that other world is making itself heard [Tom Paine]
War & Peace One Inescapable Conclusion: Partially Pregnant Peace
Once they served their nation, then they became homeless, faceless, and now they need our help. The story of one vet who did not receive that help.
· Billions For Invading Iraq And Homelessness For Veterans [Intervention Magazine]
Law & Order: Bad will vs. Goodwill
On January 30th, 70 years ago, Paul Gingerburg, the President of Germany, offered Hitler to take the position of the chancellor. A few days later Nazis put the Reichstag on fire, having blamed communists for that. The communist party was outlawed. Social democrats’ turn came in spring; the majority of them was completely demoralized by that time.
· Law and order was established in Germany, and the whole world had to pay for it. [Pravda]
Like Richard Butler, I just hope that the world will choose the lesser of so many evils. Strangely, whilst talking about the current situation Butler noted in his speech at the Sydney Institute that Australia ought to be careful because Iraq could take out Brisbane ... More ironically, Nelson Mandela and Vaclav Havel, the two moral reference point for the politics of the modern world, a status earned by their years of battle with the evil empires, seem to agree to disagree.
Havel / Pro Bushmen
A letter was signed byVaclav Havel and other eight European Leaders backing the US on Iraq
The Czech Government has become the first eastern European country to commit troops to the Gulf.
· Pro [SMH]
Mandela / Anti Bushmen
· Anti [Independent(SA)]
· Anti [Independent(SA)]
New Vs. Old Europe: A growing divide over law, war and order
French and German opposition to regime change reveals both their moral bankruptcy and isolation within the larger Europe.
· Divide & Rule [OpenDemocracy]
Farewell, Phillip Adams
To oppose the drift of history is to invite a charge of treason, to be characterised as un-Australian, un-American or unpatriotic. And on this rather alerting note Phillip hands over his column in the Australian to Luke Slattery.
· And finally: Be alarmed! [The Australian]
Once they served their nation, then they became homeless, faceless, and now they need our help. The story of one vet who did not receive that help.
· Billions For Invading Iraq And Homelessness For Veterans [Intervention Magazine]
Law & Order: Bad will vs. Goodwill
On January 30th, 70 years ago, Paul Gingerburg, the President of Germany, offered Hitler to take the position of the chancellor. A few days later Nazis put the Reichstag on fire, having blamed communists for that. The communist party was outlawed. Social democrats’ turn came in spring; the majority of them was completely demoralized by that time.
· Law and order was established in Germany, and the whole world had to pay for it. [Pravda]
Like Richard Butler, I just hope that the world will choose the lesser of so many evils. Strangely, whilst talking about the current situation Butler noted in his speech at the Sydney Institute that Australia ought to be careful because Iraq could take out Brisbane ... More ironically, Nelson Mandela and Vaclav Havel, the two moral reference point for the politics of the modern world, a status earned by their years of battle with the evil empires, seem to agree to disagree.
Havel / Pro Bushmen
A letter was signed byVaclav Havel and other eight European Leaders backing the US on Iraq
The Czech Government has become the first eastern European country to commit troops to the Gulf.
· Pro [SMH]
Mandela / Anti Bushmen
· Anti [Independent(SA)]
· Anti [Independent(SA)]
New Vs. Old Europe: A growing divide over law, war and order
French and German opposition to regime change reveals both their moral bankruptcy and isolation within the larger Europe.
· Divide & Rule [OpenDemocracy]
Farewell, Phillip Adams
To oppose the drift of history is to invite a charge of treason, to be characterised as un-Australian, un-American or unpatriotic. And on this rather alerting note Phillip hands over his column in the Australian to Luke Slattery.
· And finally: Be alarmed! [The Australian]
In the city of sin hundreds of Catholic believers flock to the Coogee Beach, Sydney, headland to witness what they say is an apparition of the Virgin Mary.
Internet Miracles: A Marriage Made Online
Amid the recent publicity surrounding Slate, a quieter online story is evolving: the collaboration of Reason editor in chief Nick Gillespie and former Suck editor Tim Cavanaugh on what they call the Suck-ification of Reason.
· How Reason' Came to 'Suck’ [Village Voice]
Internet Miracles: A Marriage Made Online
Amid the recent publicity surrounding Slate, a quieter online story is evolving: the collaboration of Reason editor in chief Nick Gillespie and former Suck editor Tim Cavanaugh on what they call the Suck-ification of Reason.
· How Reason' Came to 'Suck’ [Village Voice]
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