Charlie Foxtrot Cubed

Watching the gears of the news industry turn towards a brighter (think screen glare) future

2010-09-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

I will grieve mightily the loss of cellulose. Though I suppose forests everywhere will finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Arthur Sulzberger: 'We Will Stop Printing The New York Times Sometime In The Future'

"That trip to the hospital was the beginning of a five-week odyssey -- one that involved defying doctors, e-mailing specialists around the country..."

2010-09-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

This reads like a Lifetime movie filled with persistence and determination.

Except for one thing.

It's. A. Freaking. Pinky. Finger. That's it. The end of a digit. We're not talking some sort of Schnindlerian tale of sacrifice and bravery. We're talking about a finger tip. A small one.

But read it if you must:

Woman's persistence pays off in regenerated fingertip - CNN.com

9/11 = Free your hate day

2010-09-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

Fla. church to go ahead with Sept. 11 Quran burning - USATODAY.com

Um. The world is ending. But you knew that.

2010-09-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

"A considerable amount of evidence shows that humans are causing what biologists call the sixth mass extinction, an allusion to the five previous cases in the fossil record where huge numbers of species died out mysteriously in a flash of geologic time."

The article also mentions that we need to QUIT HAVING SO MANY BABIES.

And points out in the next breath that we aren't gonna do that. We just won't.

Forget going green -- The earth doesn't care Paul B. Farrell - MarketWatch

Well, hell, if Saudi Arabia and China can do it, why can't we?

2010-09-05T21:44:00.000-07:00

I'm talking censorship of the Internet, not senseless institutionalized killing.

Oh wait...

Anyway, here's the story: Censored! Craigslist Adult Services Blocked in U.S. | Wired.com

Will Feminists Rally Around Sarah Palin? - Newsweek

2010-09-03T12:42:00.000-07:00

Will Feminists Rally Around Sarah Palin?

No.

Is MySpace circling the drain or consolidating its position as a musician's tool?

2010-08-31T15:52:00.001-07:00

MySpace finally plugs into Facebook | The Social - CNET News

Freaky acid-in-the-face move finds its way from hatin' Muslim countries to Vancouver, WA

2010-08-31T15:51:00.001-07:00

Vancouver woman hospitalized at burn center after stranger throws liquid in her face | OregonLive.com

Hey! Who's in charge here? Me or mini-me?

2010-08-27T15:12:00.000-07:00

Hot or iced? How a cup of coffee can trick your subconscious mind into thinking someone's a tool.

The Subconscious Brain - Who's Minding the Mind? - New York Times

Ya'll it's gonna be four months...oh wait...I wuzzint s'posedta say that wuzzi?

2010-08-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

Miners' deep motivation: Stay slim or stay in mine - Yahoo! News

States struggle to find ways to cover pension payments

2010-08-23T22:44:00.000-07:00

"Actuarial necessity" trumps promised payments.

Your Money - The Coming Class War Over Public Pensions - NYTimes.com

This just in: Yet another round of environmental illnesses for active duty soldiers.

2010-08-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

Another refrain in the ol' our soldiers-are-getting-the-shaft ditty.

Veterans Sound Alarm Over Burn-Pit Exposure - NYTimes.com

The most isolated man on the planet. - By Monte Reel - Slate Magazine

2010-08-21T13:51:00.000-07:00

The last member of an uncontacted South American tribe lives alone in a patch of jungle. Holy Jesus.

"In 2007, with ranching and logging closing in quickly on all sides, government officials declared a 31-square-mile area around him off-limits to trespassing and development.

It's meant to be a safe zone. He's still in there. Alone."

The most isolated man on the planet. - By Monte Reel - Slate Magazine

A Crude Awakening in the Gulf of Mexico | Science & Nature | Smithsonian Magazine

2010-08-19T17:18:00.000-07:00

Haven't read it yet, but Michelle's really good at what she does and I sorta want to be her when I grow up.

A Crude Awakening in the Gulf of Mexico | Science & Nature | Smithsonian Magazine

Whodathunk? Improving quality of life for cancer patients helps them live longer.

2010-08-19T13:30:00.000-07:00

Super nice to see cancer care evolving past 'Let's throw everything we've got at it even if it makes the patient sick, miserable and dead sooner.'

Study shows value of quality-of-life cancer care - Yahoo! News

For bikeped's sake, don't close the gate.

2010-08-18T15:43:00.000-07:00

Merchants, trail users at odds over Granite Creek Park gate

This article covers the possible gate closure between the Depot Marketplace and Granite Creek Park in Prescott. I'm hoping to goodness that someone's thinking about pedestrian and bicycle safety to and from the marketplace from all the neighborhoods west of the park.

Good neighborhoods have lots of passages and connections and pass-throughs for people on bikes and on foot. Closing the gate would close a vital, vital connection in a town that already has too few. I understand safety, especially at night, is a consideration, but in this case, closing the gate would swap one set of hazards for another.

Turning the gate over to the Depot Marketplace owner almost assures that commercial interests will supercede community interests. This is not a win for Prescott nor for its vulnerable pedestrians and cyclists.

Merchants, trail users at odds over Granite Creek Park gate

Montag's 10-procedure plastic surgeon dies by driving off cliff while Tweeting about his border collie

2010-08-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

And dear Candace claps, howls and says, "We love this for so many reasons."

Yes, Cadence, we really do.

Plastic Surgeon Was Texting in Car Before Fatal Crash - Heidi Montag : People.com

With constitutional fetters and a public conscience, Obama going down in flames

2010-08-17T21:42:00.000-07:00

Obama, the one-term president - Roger Simon - POLITICO.com

Enrolling young kids can mean a lifelong label

2010-08-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

Youngest in class get ADHD label - USATODAY.com

Healthcare: Japan's not just about trusty automobiles

2010-08-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

This Newsweek article opens by stating that Japan is at the top of every comparative ranking in terms of quality, coverage and cost. Food for thought as we struggle with our expensive, bloated, inadequate and therefore deadly system:

Japan's Good, Cheap Health Care - Newsweek

"Japan produces ... high-quality care at bargain-basement prices. The aging nation spends about $3,500 per person on health care each year; America burns through $7,400 per person and still leaves millions without coverage."

Riding with strangers after riding a 5-year post-Katrina wave

2010-08-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

Ready...set...screenplay!

This is pretty tragic. Eastwood directs?

State takes custody of children after father lets girl ride with stranger | OregonLive.com

Seattle loses an inveterate digger of science dirt, gains a handyman

2010-08-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

"To hear Tom Paulson tell it, his career in science journalism and its environs has been a long saga of “pissing people off.” During the 1980s, for instance, Paulson was working in public affairs at the University of California-Berkeley, where it fell to him to publicize the work of controversial biochemist Bruce Ames, who argues that natural carcinogens can be just as dangerous as synthetic ones. Paulson thought that was “ridiculous,” and therefore instructed a roomful of journalists about how they might “poke holes” in Ames’ claims. And when nobody took him up on the suggestion, Paulson went one better; He wrote a freelance article for the Sierra Club’s magazine debunking Ames and criticizing the journalists who’d failed to cover him with adequate skepticism. As a publicist, he had gone completely rogue."
It's a Carl Hiaasen wet dream, that.
Anyway, he worked for years at the Seattle PI and should be sliding off his severage package right about now.
Read the article: Science-less in Seattle

Man Scrawls World’s Biggest Message With GPS ‘Pen’ | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

2010-08-12T22:19:00.000-07:00

Man Scrawls World’s Biggest Message With GPS ‘Pen’ | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

And this, of course, is what any of us would have written:

Though for the record, I should note that A. Reading Ayn Rand caused me to vote for Dubya's daddy back in the early 90s, and B. Her novel, We The Living is among my top five favorite books. Beats The Fountainhead all over the block because it's way less with the political treatise and way more with the keeping it real. Rand herself was not pleased that this was the case, but really not for me to care.

Man Scrawls World’s Biggest Message With GPS ‘Pen’ | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

IMing a hundred years ago: File this under "cool"

2010-08-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

Check it out:

From 1890: The First Text Messages | Sunday Magazine

Facebook to Google: Yer outevilin' me

2010-08-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

You know you got an evil problem when Facebook — Facebook!! — calls you on it.

Facebook differs with Google on Net neutrality | The Social - CNET News