Sunday, January 30, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Innovations In News
Wow, the latest innovatoin at the Washington Post was last August? That sure does not come across as operating at digital speed, does it?
Monday, January 24, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Saner Gun Laws - NYTimes.com
It's depressing to see such modest proposals bite the unintelligent dust.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
New York Times search
Why is the search engine on The New York Times website so bad? About 30% of the time, I simply cannot pull up something that I know for sure is there and know that it is online, but the search will not produce a link. That happened with two stories just today; saw them in passing on TimesWire, but then later when I tried to search for them, there was no sign of them. Finally found them on Google, but even there it was not on the first try, as it should be.
Tunisian spark
This morning, there was a touching tribute to this man who seems to have started much of what has happened in a short week in Tunisia http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/world/africa/22sidi.html?pagewanted=1&hp . I think it was his mother, but it might have been his sister, who said that she hoped his death would bring about a new, representative and democratic government in Tunisia. That should not be so startling, but imagine the courage and appreciation required for her to do so. It would have been so much easier to rant and rave about Ben Ali or his family, or simply to do the normal thing and express tremendous grief over the loss of a son or brother, but, no, she rose above that somehow and said what so many Tunisians seem to be saying – in a rational and coherent, non-radical manner. I just hope they can keep that together. Already, yesterday, there is new Imam for Tunis and I have not seen a good report on the Friday prayers message. Separately, there is now a struggle for ownership of various enterprises in which the family had a stake, including the media where reporters are claiming that the shares owned by the family ought to be redistributed to the workers. These will be very touchy matters, and I think many of them have the potential to cause considerable unrest and consternation. So, it’s still very much doigts-crosses time, I think!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Journal Le Temps - Tunisia
One of several Tunisian newspapers online. Some are in Arabic and a few in French, like this one - the only one I have been able to access online. Having read them, and visited many of them, over the years, it really is astounding to see the stories they now carry and no apparent front page pictures of Ben Ali!
Facebook to a blog
Apparently, there is no way to link from a blog to a specific Facebook entry/posting. I wonder why this is.
iTunes and iPod Shuffle
It sure takes a lot of effort to download podcasts into iTunes and then to transfer them to the iPad Shuffle (I think that is its name). And it's hard to organize what you've listened to and what you have not. Maybe it just makes sense for music that you want to download once and leave there, but for news and podcasts, life evolves and so do the news and other items. There ought to be a orderly way in which to manage this, and there does not appear to be one.
Vive la Différence - NYTimes.com
When I try to print this, I get only part of it. Must be the graphic and there is no print option to help.
The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia
I can't get The New York Times pages to fully load.
What I Learned From Sargent Shriver - NYTimes.com
This New York Times piece by Bono on the late Sargent SHRIVER simply won't reload and I have yet to get the whole piece to display on my screen.
Cloud storage
I use an online backup service with my laptop, and it has given me huge problems. The latest is that I have a very large Outlook file that it seems unable to swallow in one backup. So I must keep it running for days in the hope that the connection holds and it is able to swallow the whole thing. That means I cannot reboot my Lenovo and improve efficiency.
Orange
I tried to print this page and Internet Explorer said there was a problem and it had to close. Tried it twice.
"Vive la Différence" - NYTimes.com
This looked like it might be an interesting graphic until I read it. While it may offer a valid characterization in a few cases, and one or two laughs, I have to wonder whether the Times would do one of these talking about Latin-Americans, African-Americans, Native Americans, etc. Probably not is the likely answer, so why pick on the - mostly - Europeans? Thick skins?
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Tunisia
I am especially interested in the evolving situation in Tunisia as are many people.
As I look online and on television (here in France) for coverage, I am struck by several things.
The ease of getting to quality coverage has really not improved very much in the last twenty years. I mean that literally.
It is still a matter of making some informed and uninformed guesses about where to go, and a matter of the places visited in the internet and on television deciding when and what to share.
Much of what I see is either older information (as in hours), or is just not relevant to my core questions about what is happening.
I know of no way that one can go to virtual real time, well-informed and researched coverage, either for free for a fee.
It's remarkable that we have come so far technologically traveling no distance at all in terms of what matters most....the content of what we consume.
As I look online and on television (here in France) for coverage, I am struck by several things.
The ease of getting to quality coverage has really not improved very much in the last twenty years. I mean that literally.
It is still a matter of making some informed and uninformed guesses about where to go, and a matter of the places visited in the internet and on television deciding when and what to share.
Much of what I see is either older information (as in hours), or is just not relevant to my core questions about what is happening.
I know of no way that one can go to virtual real time, well-informed and researched coverage, either for free for a fee.
It's remarkable that we have come so far technologically traveling no distance at all in terms of what matters most....the content of what we consume.
Friday, January 14, 2011
New Gun Control Limits Are Improbable, Lawmakers Say - NYTimes.com
I have sadly come to the view that there are basically two groups of people in the US. One group is intelligent and caring of all those living creatures around them. They support the intelligent policy that basically prohibits most people from owning or using firearms. Instead, this group believes that only people who have a proven need to have a gun ought to be allowed to have and use one (or more). These people should be strictly supervised, licensed, inventoried, examined, etc. I am a member of this group, whether or not I have the intelligence associated with most who believe this way.
The other group, largely unintelligent people, believe otherwise.
For me, it's a simple choice and if we choose not to change, the blame for future tragedies caused by the use of guns rests solidly with that second group and with those of us in the first group who fail to make our case successfully.
A friend told me long ago never to engage in a battle of the wits with the unarmed, and I am afraid her advice was good, is good, and is likely to result in leaving the intelligent gun policy on the shelf instead of on the streets.
The other group, largely unintelligent people, believe otherwise.
For me, it's a simple choice and if we choose not to change, the blame for future tragedies caused by the use of guns rests solidly with that second group and with those of us in the first group who fail to make our case successfully.
A friend told me long ago never to engage in a battle of the wits with the unarmed, and I am afraid her advice was good, is good, and is likely to result in leaving the intelligent gun policy on the shelf instead of on the streets.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Sunday, January 02, 2011
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