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Confessions of a banned Digger
I have been banned from Digg. I have been given a Digg death sentence with no reprieve.
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Ethics of reporting the Palin story: Babies, bloggers and the MSM
Dean Wright, "Reuters' newly named Editor for Ethics, Innovation and News Values", questions the ethics and standards applied to the Sara Palin pregnancy story and invites comments.
Wright: Does the public have a right to know whether Sarah Palin’s (or any candidate’s) daughter is pregnant or not?
Generally, the public does not have a RIGHT to know the marital or reproductive status of a candidate's daughter. The reason Sarah Palin's daughter is in the news is because her mother is a social conservative who claims abstinence-only sex education works and parents just need to focus on teaching their kids "good Christian values" to prevent things like teen pregnancy. Yet, even Palin's statement acknowledged that this would be a difficult time for her daughter- is this what she meant when she championed abstinence-only sex education?
Wright:Should the private lives of family members of presidential and vice-presidential candidates be off-limits?
The private lives of all candidate's underage children should be off-limits. Children are not in a position to defend themselves or to define their public image in the same way that their parents are. However, adult children or children who choose to become part of campaign events through speeches, etc. do become part of the public discussion. Palin, who described herself in Ohio as a 'hockey mom' and uses her children as part of her basis for her ability to lead, put her all of her children (especially her baby) on a national stage, under a national microscope. This includes Bristol's life.
Wright: How aggressively should the mainstream media pursue allegations and rumors in the blogosphere and tabloid media?
The MSM does not pursue ALL allegations and rumors in the blogosphere and tabloid media with the same zeal and desire to discover the truth. The biggest difference is that the blogosphere is willing to show its partisanship/interests in getting a story exposed while the MSM is not.
Wright: Should journalists have reported the Palin pregnancy story before the McCain campaign’s announcement?
If journalists knew about and sat on the Palin pregnancy story before Friday (and/or after Pawlenty and Romney had announced they were not the VP), they should have reported it. Journalists often, and sometimes justly, speak with pride of their role in a robust democracy. But, if the fourth estate keeps failing in its role as the everyday man's eyes and ears to news and instead becomes a parrot of various press releases then the MSM is truly no different than the most liberal or conservative of bloggers who only report the news as they believe it. Dean Wright, "Reuters' newly named Editor for Ethics, Innovation and News Values", questions the ethics and standards a... more -
For Those Who Tried To Rock ...
For those whose dreams got usurped by the day job, a chance to relive the glory.
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Dancin' in the Blogosphere
"Blog House" refers to the MP3 blog subculture that showcases remixes by mostly up-and-coming producers. Want to know more?
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Liveblogging from inside Georgia
This is a pretty interesting perspective on the Russia-Georgia conflict.
This seems to be a legitimate blog set up by Georgia's Foreign Affairs Ministry to update people on events unfolding in Georgia.
They're keeping a record of the conversation between Russia and Georgia, and also documenting what they claim are specific instances of Russian violations of the ceasefire. This is a pretty interesting perspective on the Russia-Georgia conflict. ... more -
Blogging for good! Baywords - censorship-free blogging!
If you know, what torrent means, most likely, you are familiar with Pirate Bay, one of the biggest BitTorrent trackers, the online file sharing community, distributes torrents that not always point to licensed copies of copyrighted material. In some countries, offering such torrents might be illegal as copyright violations, but in Sweden, where company operates, the torrent trackers are not a subject of legal prosecution.
Pirate Bay recently came to the community focus in relation with the music industry lobby group - The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) - going to court to force Danish ISP Tele2 blocking access to the enemy website accusing it of aiding and abetting copyright infringement. In return, Pirate Bay is seeking damages from IFPI for blocking access to its website; even thou the block generating a very limited negative effect on the company popularity and operations.
Devoted to the free information flow on Internet, The Pirate Bay has established an uncensored image-hosting site call BayIMG and is planning to open an uncensored video-hosting community. While the image-hosting is censorship free, host kindly requests not to put porn images on it, using available alternative services instead.
As logical extension of its policy, Pirate Bay has launched a blogging service where bloggers won’t have to fear censorship, Baywords http://baywords.com/), based on the Wordpress blogging platform.
The Pirate Bay team explains:
“We’re proud to present a new service - baywords.com. Because of the need of freedom of speech and secure hosting facility of the words being said we could not agree to how people behave towards bloggers. Many blogs are being shut down for uncomfortable thoughts and ideas. We will not do that. Our goal is to protect freedom of speech and your thoughts. As long as you don’t break any Swedish laws in your blog, we will defend it”.
For people who are considering moving their Wordpress or Blogger account over to Baywords, importing is pretty straightforward and compatible with all the popular blog platforms.
Additional Reading:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/16/piratebay_sues_...
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9920714-7.html?tag=nef...
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/04/16/pirate-bay...
http://torrentfreak.com/baywords-pirate-bay-blog-080416...
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/16/the-pirate-bay-lau... If you know, what torrent means, most likely, you are familiar with Pirate Bay, one of the biggest BitTorrent trackers, the online fil... more -
Please tip good bloggers generously
Online magazine Salon.com opened up its new hosted blog network, Open Salon, which not only allows its readers (or anybody else for that matter) to create their own blogs, but also has a built-in tipping mechanism to reward writers for their best content. As a blog host, Open Salon's feature set is similar to that of Wordpress.com or Blogger, but the differentiating feature for Open Salon is clearly the 'Tippem' tip jar which is prominently featured on every page.
As a blogging platform, Open Salon is about as standard as they come. The front page features a number of especially interesting posts as determined by the editors, as well as the ability to see the top rated, most read, and latest posts. Users can comment, rate, and save the posts on popular bookmarking sites like delicious, digg, and reddit. Open Salon also provides profiles and RSS feeds for every user.
To process micropayments from the Tippem jar, Salon.com has chosen Revolution MoneyExchange, which is still officially in beta, but must have proven stable enough by now to be chosen by Salon.com over competitors like PayPal or OboPay. Salon.com has set the default tip amount to $1, with $0.10 being the minimum and $1000 the maximum amount one can tip (for tips of $1000, Open Salon advises you to contact the author directly).
It's important to note here that everybody who signs up from a Revolution MoneyExchange account from Open Salon immediately gets $10 to give away as tips from Open Salon. While this will surely seed the system at the beginning, the real question, as Caroline McCarthy also points out, will be if users will keep tipping after those first $10 have been exhausted. After all, it's easy to tip if it doesn't cost you anything.
Given that most users on the web consider content to be free, it will be hard for Salon to foster a culture where paying for blog content becomes a regular event. But then, Salon.com is, of course, one of the few sites where a lot of the content is not free, but only available to subscribers or after being forced to watch a 15-second full screen advertisement. Because of this, Salon.com's audience might be more willing to pay for content than the average Internet user.
Check out Joan Walsh's (editor-in-chief) blog entry about Open Salon where she mentions a few featured threads:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/salon/2008/08/11/ope... Online magazine Salon.com opened up its new hosted blog network, Open Salon, which not only allows its readers (or anybody else for th... more -
Mother Knows Best
No more wire hangers! Check out this new Web site that lists a bunch of emails or instant messages from mother dearest to her adult children. No more wire hangers! Check out this new Web site that lists a bunch of emails or instant messages from mother dearest to her adult c... more
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For Those Who Tried To Rock ...
If you spent countless hours in the garage fine tuning your bands sound and image but never quite made it to Coachella, visit this Web site and tell your story. If you spent countless hours in the garage fine tuning your bands sound and image but never quite made it to Coachella, visit this Web... more
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My Fickle Birthday Blog
The internet allows more freedom to be who you are, to speak your mind. It's also a very social place. People want to share, to help. And there's plenty of people wanting help of one sort of another: donations for charities, money to help pay off credit cards, advice, opinions and on and on. My Fickle Birthday Blog is a social experiment of sorts based on these facts. Using the internet and a blog format, I'm putting out a request for birthday gifts for my 30th birthday (Sept. 1st). If I ask, will people send gifts? The internet allows more freedom to be who you are, to speak your mind. It's also a very social place. People want to share, to h... more
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Building Blogs
Check out these architecture blogs that discuss everything from robbing a bank to underground Chinese tunnels.
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Why Lead Singers Should Never Go Solo - GetBack
Here are our favorite Pearl Jam videos and more grunge fun.
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A Daily Dose of Architecture
(Almost) daily architectural musings from New York City.
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cityofsound
They all tend to gravitate towards recurring themes of cities, architecture, design, media and culture - often colliding in the same post, say on the imagined connections between travel writing and design, or football and architecture They all tend to gravitate towards recurring themes of cities, architecture, design, media and culture - often colliding in the same p... more
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Tropolism
What Does Tropolism Mean?
Tropolism means Metropolism.com was taken.
Tropolism means believing that cities are the crowning achievement in our civilization. After ultrasuede, of course.
Tropolism means urban life is a glorious mess, as are the buildings and spaces that enable it.
Tropolism means addicted to density.
Tropolism means loving the works of architects, and all the public conversation that surrounds it, while retaining a healthy skepticism for what architects say about their work.
Tropolism means writing about loving works of architects, and about skepticism for what they say.
Tropolism means calling bullshit.
Tropolism means no complaining.
Tropolism means proposing new alternatives.
Tropolism means finding beauty everywhere it exists.
Tropolism means making the hidden city visible. What Does Tropolism Mean? Tropolism means Metropolism.com was taken. ... more -
Life Without Buildings
Architecture out of context. Observations on the built environment, with a penchant towards pop culture and Postmodernism.
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BLDGBLOG
What can you say? Right now, THE blog of the contemporary architecture world. Written by Geoff Manaugh.
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Globe and Mail highlights BC Bud
The Globe and Mail proudly calls itself Canada’s national newspaper, so it’s appropriate it should be giving prominence to one of the country’s most famous agricultural products which, not all incidentally, also qualifies as a growth industry in British Columbia, from whence it hails
“Beer, BBQ and B.C. Bud: A music festival is born,” says a headline in today’s online edition, with “Long lineups, heavy traffic and pricey concessions can’t keep music fans away from giant festival taking over B.C. mountain village,” as the sub-head.
Ah, BC Bud.
No, it’s not a rock legend.
Well, not that kind of rock legend, anyway
It’s a euphemism for the highly potent marijuana grown illegally in British Columbia.
“This is not to be confused with ‘Beasters’ commonly found in the Northeast, which is low grade, seedless cannabis often contaminated with mold,” says the Wikipedia.
“The term has almost become a brand name, especially in California, Oregon, Alaska and Washington, to where most of the province’s cannabis is exported.”
But it’s not all illegal.
Wendy and Eric Nash, friends of mine on Vancouver Island, grow medicinal marijuana. It’s invaluable for people suffering from a wide range of complaints, particularly cancer and muscular dystrophy.
“Medical cannabis refers to the use of the Cannabis plant as a physician-recommended herbal therapy as well as synthetic THC and cannabinoids,” says the Wikipedia.
“So far, the medical use of cannabis is legal only in a limited number of territories, including Canada, Belgium, Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, and some U.S. states. This usage generally requires a prescription, and distribution is usually done within a framework defined by local laws.”
In a post on their Vancouver Island web site, “The Vancouver Sun ran a piece recently about how BC Hydro and local police are working together to target addresses with suspiciously high electricity use as potential marijuana grow-ops,” says Eric, going on »»»
It’s just the latest in a regular stream of stories about B.C.’s unofficial third-largest industry by GDP. Pot has become almost a regular ‘beat’ in Vancouver newsrooms, in the same way that papers in Winnipeg, and I speak from experience here, assign a reporter to the mosquito beat each summer.
Until recently, I believed tales of drug busts and the legalization debate were news stories, and didn’t belong in a business magazine. Then a few experts attached numbers to the illegal business. Forestry added $10 billion to B.C.’s GDP in 2005, the construction industry another $7.9 billion and according to police sources, the marijuana trade claims third spot, boasting annual sales of $7.5 billion.
Big business indeed.
No kidding. The Globe and Mail proudly calls itself Canada’s national newspaper, so it’s appropriate it should be giving prominence to one of the ... more -
Leaps & Bounders
In 2006 an anonymous British blogger caused outrage by detailing his exploits with the women of Shanghai. Clearly not looking to make friends, he's now revealed his identity in order to promote a book, which also criticises China's economy and culture. In 2006 an anonymous British blogger caused outrage by detailing his exploits with the women of Shanghai. Clearly not looking to make ... more
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"I'll punch you in your dick"
The continuing saga of one man's desire to drink his espresso over ice, and a coffee shop's desire to thwart him in the name of quality control. The continuing saga of one man's desire to drink his espresso over ice, and a coffee shop's desire to thwart him in the name... more
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