November 2009
24 posts
On the too-damn-insidery scale, scientists’ gossipy e-mail exchanges about climate change is roughly equivalent to the last Obliterati or 2-pm brunch with your reporter friends: entertaining because of the irresponsible ramblings that create needless drama when presented for public consumption.
It relieves me to learn that people in other fields do it too, as though not being able to resist were a universal constant.
“My personal life is a postscript to my novels; it consists of the sentence, ‘And I mean it.’”
—Ayn Rand, Author’s Note to Atlas Shrugged. Despite what you think of her, you have to admit that this is an undeniably noble outlook and fairly badass, as well. (via bmichael) (via natface) (via aminamania)
New York Times Washington correspondent Jodi Kantor has secured a stunning seven-figure book deal this week with Little, Brown to write a volume on the Obamas. →
observer.com
Commence player-hating in five, four, three, …. (via meredithnyc)
Here's your layup trend piece idea of the week.
“Sad and drab? The culture of over-sharing reveals pervasive disappointment”
Tina is sad, or so she says, after realizing her local Whole Foods no longer carries her favorite free trade chocolate. She broadcasts this information to 482 followers of her twitter feed, and many whom she wouldn’t normally describe of friends ‘retweet’ her observation with equally pithy despair, a condition enforced by the now famous 140 character limit.
A far larger number of people expressed ‘sadness’ when it was revealed that President Barack Obama does not actually pen his texts. For the record, none of his 418 tweets described any sadness.
Is sadness growing as a result of communal experiences, a technological Werther Effect? Is it simply the most concise expression, however inelegantly wrought? Is it the unintentional realization that broadcasting your emotions to largely strangers who express almost no interest in the information is inevitably sad?
Etc.
Ugh. To reiterate: ugh.
“My only advantage as a reporter is that I am so physically small, so temperamentally unobtrusive, and so neurotically inarticulate that people tend to forget that my presence runs counter to their best interests. And it always does. That is one last thing to remember: Writers are always selling somebody out.”
—Joan Didion, in the preface to Slouching Towards Bethlehem. (via meaghano)
And Besides, He Doesn't Even Have A Tumblr.
This is probably a fair-enough comparison, but to the extent it’s accurate, I still don’t see a problem.
Sorkin does seem like a “kid with good access to powerful old men” — access most other business reporters just don’t have and can’t, for one reason or another, acquire. That’s kinda the point, and I read his stuff because of his access, not in spite of it. Readers are smart enough to see through the occasional back-scratching that creeps into material that’s otherwise pretty well-sourced.
“We are not able to cover the recent visit by a Supreme Court justice due to numerous publication constraints.”
—Justice Anthony M. Kennedy demands right to edit high-school newspaper article about his visit. (via)
Play
“It’s been seven months since I gave that answer, and they have done nothing but attack me, and try and silence me, and keep me from spreading that message, that free speech still exists.”
—I think that I’ve missed something — apparently, Carrie Prejean has been censored. Hooray!
Play
They’re not really all that. (Related.)AMD hosted an event at Greenhouse in Manhattan’s Hudson Square neighborhood tonight to showcase the company’s “VISION” technology. … We’re still waiting for the photos which Andrew took with his new Motorola Droid.
No, But Really, You Can CHANGE The COLOR!
Semiconductor maker AMD let myself and some other writers-slash-bloggers mess around with its technology last night at Greenhouse in Manhattan.
Reductively, AMD’s VISION technology is what powers the upgrades in performance and useability Microsoft has been touting in its advertising for Windows 7. The chips support new video formats like Blu-Ray, touch-screen monitors, multiple-monitor setups, and other neat consumer technologies.
The new Dell Inspiron Zino HD, a small computer that runs AMD’s Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processors and could compete with Apple’s Mac Mini, was on display as well. One of the reps there told me that the product would start shipping next week and that pricing, sans monitor, keyboard, et cetera, begins at around $250, while the Mac Mini starts at $600. These “mini” computers look like useful consumer products, and the shivering masses might be most turned on by the fact that the Dell Zino comes with interchangeable covers so that OMG YOU CAN CHANGE ITS COLOR!, but either way, they’re good for your living room, not hardcore computing.
Organizers also put the AMD Fusion Media Explorer, a free multimedia search engine and browser for Windows-based computers, on display. AMD’s blog has a post about that product and what it aims to do, along with video from one of the developers.
“We have a great show, Kanye West is not here, so stick around!”
—TSwift on SNL (via meredithnyc)
Play
“About 75 percent of the country’s 17- to 24-year-olds are ineligible for military service, largely because they are poorly educated, overweight and have physical ailments that make them unfit for the armed forces, according to a report issued Thursday.”
—Obesity, Poor Education Are Obstacles to Military Readiness (AP)
