dl004d, in blog form

Finally, a Washington Post paywall

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:38:00 +0000

The Washington Post announced this week that it will charge money for online access to its content. The newspaper reported that until now it has shied away from an online paywall "for fear of driving away readers."

As a consumer, I'm disappointed that this mentality — the fear that charging money will scare away customers — isn't pervasive everywhere.

Imagine if car dealers were afraid to charge money for their product for fear that fewer people would come into their dealerships.

George Bush's final snub

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 17:32:00 +0000

Oh, did you hear?

We're done snubbing George W. Bush.

Today's issue of Politico has reported that the final snub has taken place.

That's it everyone. No more snubs.

Let's hope they don't get the NYT in Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 13:39:00 +0000

While making the case for John Kerry's diplomacy chops, the New York Times printed this anecdote from an anonymous member of Obama's national security team:

Pakistani officials tried to get Mr. Kerry to write what they called a “blood oath” that the United States would never take action to seize Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. Mr. Kerry found a diplomatic way out, saying the United States had no “designs” on Pakistan’s weapons. “It meant nothing,” a member of Mr. Obama’s national security team said later. “And it solved the crisis. Quite artfully.”

It meant nothing. Don't worry, world, our nation's top diplomates don't mean what they say.

Wine pubs

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 02:39:00 +0000

The D.C. City Council passed a bill yesterday to authorize wine pubs.

What is a wine pub?

What what does it feature that would necessitate D.C. having to explicitly pass a law legalizing it?

Spectrophotometers and electron microscope

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:49:00 +0000

Regarding the University of Maryland's impending move to the Big 10, Alex Prewitt of the Washington Post writes:

According to one individual privy to internal discussions within the Maryland athletic department, the school is also considering the move because of academics. Big Ten members, along with the University of Chicago, a former member of the conference, comprise the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, a consortium in which members collaborate on academic endeavors. Opportunities for expanding research in the agricultural, biotechnological and engineering fields, the individual said, presented an enticing allure for Maryland.

Why the anonymous informant? Wouldn't the school prefer that people perceive this decision to be about academics and not money?

I enjoyed my dad's sarcastic reaction to this part of the story: "I can only imagine athletic directors considering sharing of spectrophotometers and electron microscopes."

University of Washington thinks it controls the Internet

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 15:10:00 +0000

This week, the University of Washington announced new publishing rules for the journalists the school credentials to cover its games. The policy puts a cap on how often journalists can provide "periodic update of scores, statistics or other brief descriptions" on a real-time basis:

No more than 20 in-game updates for basketball
No more than 45 in-game updates for football

They are limited the number of times journalists tweet and blog the score of their games?!

This is amazing.

Is the school aware of the rest of the Internet?

Eye surgery gone wrong?

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 14:56:00 +0000

Michael Wilbon had laser eye surgery seven years ago. But now he's back to wearing glasses. Uh-oh.

Debate memories

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 18:41:00 +0000

Rather than pay for its football team at a cost of $4.5 million per year, Hofstra University eliminated the team in 2009. The school spent that same amount of money to host tonight's presidential debate, reports Vivian Yee of the New York Times.

Learning that fact reminded me that when I attended the 2008 debate at Hofstra, I filmed a scene of angry people outside the debate hall. More memories from my trip to all four debates that year:

For a brief minute, it looked like the debates were going to be canceled due to John McCain's busy schedule.
People at Hofstra like pot.
The Hofstra campus features a confusing sculpture of a hitchhiker.
It rained and I got wet in my dorky polo shirt.
There's a cool place in Nashville called Hatch Print Show. If you've been to my desk at work, you've seen what I came home with.
I learned that the Mississippi Delta isn't particularly proximate to the mouth of the Mississippi River.
It turned out that the St. Louis skyline is pretty lame when you're inside the one cool part of it.
I stayed in a super cool hotel in St. Louis.
Washington University removed two holly trees by the tennis courts to make room for TV reporters to do "stand-up" shots outside the debate hall.
I had fun with Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.
The political signs were pretty funny.
I toured Sun Studios and got to belt out some lines while cradling the very Shure 55 microphone Elvis Presley used.
I met the folks behind Rednecks for Obama.
Students at Old Miss left campus to go home rather than sticking around for the debate.
The sororities at Old Miss love Katie Couric.
But not everyone likes Katie Couric.

The Pope of College Football

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 18:19:00 +0000

In its obituary for Beano Cook, the New York Times opens thus: "Beano Cook, whose authoritative growl and curmudgeonly but witty observations as an analyst for ESPN and other networks earned him the nickname the Pope of College Football, was found dead on Thursday morning."

He was called The Pope of College Football because of his growl and witty observations?

I'm clearly confused about what a pope does.

An old man turned 98/He won the lottery and died the next day

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:58:00 +0000

In giving Jerry Sandusky a 30-to-60-year jail term, Judge John M. Cleland said: “I’m not going to sentence you to centuries. It makes no sense for a 68-year-old man. This sentence will put you in prison for the rest of your life.”

If it turns out to be a 30-year sentence, that means we expect that he won't live past 98.

If he had been 97 years old at this trial, would his sentence have been one year?

And what would be so bad about giving him centuries only to find out that he died less than 30 years later?

Bob Peck lives

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 13:52:00 +0000

In 2006, I ventured out to Ballston to say goodbye to the iconic Bob Peck's Chevrolet dealership, which was being demolished in favor a big office building.

Tom Jackman of the Washington Post reports that the new building makes a nod to the 1960s-era landmark by way of exact replicas of the old dealership.

Very cool.

Elections on Sept. 11

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:28:00 +0000

In the New York Senate, tomorrow is election day for incumbent Roy McDonald (R) and challenger Kathleen Marchione (R).

"The turnout is expected to be unusually low," writes Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times, "because the statewide primary is being held on Thursday." Kaplan says the election would have been yesterday but the state wanted to "avoid asking voters to go to the polls" on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Wait a minute.

Why would turnout be lower on a Thursday than a Tuesday? Why would it be more difficult for people to vote on a Thursday? I don't get it.

More importantly, why are we canceling elections on Sept. 11?

Isn't that letting the terrorists win?

Wouldn't it be a bigger "fuck you" to the terrorists — who, according to George W. Bush, hate our freedom — to purposely hold our elections on Sept. 11?

Obama's iPhone problems

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 17:29:00 +0000

At the Republican National Convention, Paul Ryan talked about the playlist on his iPod ("it starts with AC/DC and ends with Zeppelin").

President Obama once said he did not know how to use an iPod, but later told The View that his iTunes playlist includes Jay-Z, Frank Sinatra and Maria Callas.

But that was awhile ago. Has Obama learned how to use an iPhone, the iconic device that shows American ingenuity at its best?

Not really.

According to media reports, Obama looked "befuddled" while trying to make a call on an iPhone.*

To be fair to the president, I don't really make calls with my iPhone either.

*This would be similar to George H.W. Bush's reported lack of awareness about the existence of grocery store scanners. Except for that the story never happened.

Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 19:42:00 +0000

CHEVERLY, Md. — I've always loved admired this building from afar while driving on the BW Parkway. Figured I'd visit for an up-close view.

Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 13:18:00 +0000

We're heading into the vacation season. For me, anyway. In fact, I'll be in the office for only about two weeks between now and the end of August.

It turns out that my series of back-to-back-to-back vacations may help my company. Patty Azzarello of Fast Company writes that my absence will make both me and my team more productive.

I know several people who simply don't take vacations, which is likely due to the same thinking that makes people afraid to be the first person to leave work at the end of the day. Tim Kreider of the New York Times calls it "the busy trap," in which people convince themselves that they must be busy to be productive members of society. He writes:

"Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day."

And so I'm off to do nothing for awhile.

If you need me, I'll be on Instagram. And Foursquare. Twitter. Draw Something. And occasionally Facebook.

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Wed, 02 May 2012 22:03:00 +0000

Conservative media outlets, such as The Examiner pictured above, are making the case that President Obama is exploiting the one-year anniversary of the Pakistan raid on bin Laden by talking about it and traveling to Afghanistan.

My view, however, is that simply by making that argument — and writing headlines that mock Obama's trip by calling it a "victory lap" — they are reminding people of Obama's leadership and reinforcing the very feelings they're trying to dissuade.

I believe his apology

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:24:00 +0000

"Fidel Castro. He’s a bullshit dictator and everybody’s against him, and he still survives, has power. Still has a country behind him. Everywhere he goes they roll out the red carpet. I don’t admire his philosophy. I admire him."
— Ozzie Guillen, Oct. 1, 2008

“I love Fidel Castro. I respect Fidel Castro, you know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that motherfucker is still here.”
— Ozzie Guillen, April 9, 2012

''It was a personal mistake of the thing I had in my mind and what I said. What I wanted to say in Spanish, I said in English in a wrong way.''
— Ozzie Guillen (translated from Spanish), April 10, 2012

NYT home delivery

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 12:28:00 +0000

For the New York Times, it is cheaper to give me only iPad access as opposed to iPad access and home delivery.

Yet it costs less money to get both.

Clearly it is an attempt to drive up their home delivery numbers.

But why would they want to do that? Why would they want to prop up a delivery mechanism that costs them more money? It's not a sustainable business model for home delivery.

Typically, businesses achieve success by convincing customers to choose options that save the company money rather than the other way around.

Some search engines

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 12:24:00 +0000

From the New York Times Co. press release: "Readers who come to Times articles through links from e-mail, search, blogs and social media will continue to be able to access those individual articles, even if they have reached their reading limit. For some search engines, users will have a daily limit of five free links to Times articles."

That's confusing.

What do they mean by "some search engines"?

Why not be specific?

Flipping around the NCAA tournament

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 12:04:00 +0000

For better or worse, our society is relying increasingly less on newspaper editors to tell us what the most important stories are. We can find the news we want ourselves. I could, for example, consume only stories about the Wisconsin Badgers without ever coming into contact with a single story about Syria.

The same thing is happening in the NCAA tournament.

For years, CBS had been forced to choose a single game per viewing area. When it came to seeing other games happening at the same time, fans were at the mercy of CBS to flip around.

CBS began sharing the broadcast of the NCAA tournament with Turner Sports last year, and it means that each game would be televised — if not on CBS then on TBS, TNT or truTV. Rather than sit passively as CBS picks which game to show, viewers can flip around and see for themselves.

This is a huge improvement for hard-core fans who know what game they want to watch. But what about casual fans?

They probably miss the ability to let someone else find the best games and flip around for them.

Chris Rock's 'modern' joke

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:51:00 +0000

Here is how the New York Times recapped Chris Rock's on-screen appearance at the Oscars:

Chris Rock followed with a racial joke, about black men getting lousy roles even in animated films. It may have been in questionable taste, but it jarred the show closer to modern times

Modern times? His topic was racial inequality. How is that "modern"?

This was Rock's joke:

"I love animation. I love animation because in the world of animation, you can be anything you want to be. If you're a fat woman you can play a skinny princess. If you're a short wimpy guy, you can play a tall gladiator. If you're a white man you can play an Arabian prince. And if you're a black man, you can play a donkey or a zebra. You can't play white, my god! I hate when people go on TV and tell you how hard it is to do animation. 'Oh, Jay, it's such hard work.' No no no, UPS is hard work. I’ve done some animation … It’s the easiest job in the world. I go in a booth and I go, ‘what’s the line?’ And the guy goes, ‘it’s time to go to the store.’ And I go, ‘it’s time to go to the store!’ … And then they give me a million dollars."

More than just Apple

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 15:02:00 +0000

Can we stop framing Foxconn as a story about iPads and iPhones? The company also makes the Xbox, the PlayStation and the Amazon Kindle. Perhaps you've heard of them.

In addition to building electronics for Apple, Foxconn makes products for Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Asus, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Intel, I.B.M., Lenovo, Microsoft, Motorola, Netgear, Nintendo, Nokia and Vizio.

As the largest company, Apple is in position to lead the way in forcing improved conditions for workers. But it need not be the only company that takes on the costs of improving conditions. All of those companies should act together.

As David Pogue says, we shouldn't force Apple to sell its iPhone for $350 while a competitive Android phone costs $200.

What's the rush?

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:06:00 +0000

Presidential candidates have key message points they hit as often as possible. For the moderators of presidential debates, it's the same thing. I took these snippets directly from the CNN transcript of last night's presidential debate:

KING: Governor -- Governor, take 30 seconds to respond and then I want to move the conversation on.

ROMNEY: Much longer than 30 seconds.

KING: I hope not.

KING: Let's move the conversation along

KING: Senator, the governor singled you out. Take a few seconds.

KING: Senator Santorum, respond quickly.

KING: Congressman, quickly.

KING: Quickly.

KING: Congressman, quickly, please?

Vote for youth concussions

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:52:00 +0000

Mark Tauscher, a former standout for both the Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers, says he supports Wisconsin's youth concussion bill.

According to news reports, the bill's supporters include:

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
State Medical Society
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
National Football League
Green Bay Packers
Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association
Brain Injury Association of Wisconsin.

Despite these endorsements, the bill is stalled in the state Senate. Maybe that's because it's known as the youth concussion bill. Who supports youth concussions?

Shouldn't it be the anti-concussion bill?

(See also: D.C.'s medical malpractice king.)

Romney's budget

noreply@blogger.com (dl004d) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:35:00 +0000

Presidential candidates frequently mock the federal budget. If only they were in charge, or so they say, there would be no budget deficit because they would balance their own budget.

However, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in January spent nearly three times the amount of money it raised. Romney for President spent $18.8 million but raised $6.5 million.