My father’s a huge fan of the Weather Channel, something I’ve never really gotten into. I did watch a bunch of its hurricane coverage on Sunday, though, trying to figure out how my travel was going to be affected. Thus, I got to see a really fabulous exchange as the studio anchor tossed to a… Continue reading Live News Makes Everyone Dumber
Category: News
I’ll Take “Hobbies Less Acceptable Than Blogging” for $1000, Alex
Via Inside Higher Ed, a professor in New Jersey took the whole social media thing to the next level: A Fairleigh Dickinson University physics professor is in custody for allegedly running a prostitution website involving about 200 women and more than 1,200 johns, police said Monday. David Flory of New York City, who teaches on… Continue reading I’ll Take “Hobbies Less Acceptable Than Blogging” for $1000, Alex
More Fun With Fracking
I intended to do a big book-sales post today, but our DSL modem may be dead, so there was no Internet in Chateau Steelypips this morning, and I forgot to copy the relevant files onto a thumb drive, so it will have to wait. Maybe this afternoon. In lieu of that, here’s some other stuff… Continue reading More Fun With Fracking
Stewart Gets It Right, Again
As usual, the best commentary on this weekend’s shootings comes from Jon Stewart: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c The Daily Show on Facebook If you prefer your sensible commentary in convenient HTML form, John Scalzi’s got you covered. Comments closed, because I don’t want to host a discussion… Continue reading Stewart Gets It Right, Again
Solidarity in Egypt
A story to improve your opinion of humanity: Egypt’s majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night. What had been a promise of solidarity to the weary Coptic community, was honoured, when thousands of Muslims showed up at Coptic Christmas eve mass services in churches around the country and at candle light vigils held… Continue reading Solidarity in Egypt
Journalists Unclear on the Concept
No, this isn’t another “How dare those journalists muddle the explanation of some scientific topic” post. The concept here is journalism itself, as seen in Ed Yong’s discussion of different modes of science journalism. Writing about the recent World Conference of Science Journalists, he talks about some controversy over what “science journalism” actually means: Certainly,… Continue reading Journalists Unclear on the Concept
Wanted: News Smoothing
Back in the fall, I got all caught up in the election, like everybody else, and I added a bunch of blogs to my RSS feeds in Google Reader. I’m thinking that I might need to cut back to pre-election levels, if not lower, though. Following too many political blogs is giving me whiplash. This… Continue reading Wanted: News Smoothing
Working for the Working Class Vote
the New York Times Magazine has a cover story this week about Barack Obama’s efforts to reach working-class voters. The headline writers did it no favors by tagging it “Will gun-toting, churchgoing white guys pull the lever for Obama?,” which makes it sound like the worst sort of demographic electoral college nonsense. The actual article,… Continue reading Working for the Working Class Vote
Help the Red Cross Out
As noted at Making Light, the recent disasters in Iowa have depleted the American Red Cross’s disaster relief fund, and they’re borrowing money in order to keep running: “The disaster relief fund today is completely depleted. The balance is zero,” Jeffrey Towers, chief development officer, said in a conference call with reporters. Towers added that… Continue reading Help the Red Cross Out
Cyclone Relief
There’s been a lot said and written about Cyclone Nargis recently, and reading the coverage by Chris Mooney and others makes me feel a little like a Bad Person for not saying anything myself. But, really, what is there to say? It’s a gigantic disaster, and the deplorable political situation in that part of the… Continue reading Cyclone Relief