Mixed Media

In my ongoing fascination over the battle between traditional print media and online news, I thought I'd point you at a terrific article in the New Yorker (online, of course) that is worth reading.

And so we are about to enter a fractured, chaotic world of news, characterized by superior community conversation but a decidedly diminished level of first-rate journalism. The transformation of newspapers from enterprises devoted to objective reporting to a cluster of communities, each engaged in its own kind of “news”––and each with its own set of “truths” upon which to base debate and discussion––will mean the loss of a single national narrative and agreed-upon set of “facts” by which to conduct our politics. News will become increasingly “red” or “blue.” This is not utterly new. Before Adolph Ochs took over the Times, in 1896, and issued his famous “without fear or favor” declaration, the American scene was dominated by brazenly partisan newspapers. And the news cultures of many European nations long ago embraced the notion of competing narratives for different political communities, with individual newspapers reflecting the views of each faction. It may not be entirely coincidental that these nations enjoy a level of political engagement that dwarfs that of the United States.

There's a bit of history in the article that I didn't know much about, too. Hmm, may have to read up on it sometime!

Placebo Effect

After proudly telling Keith how I was seeing a doctor regularly, and how my cholesterol was under control thanks to Vytorin and a steady diet of Cheerios, I see the benefits were all in my head:

At the moment, no evidence exists to show that Vytorin and Zetia help patients, said Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a cardiologist at Yale University.

The drugs could even be harmful, Dr. Krumholz said. He spoke on a panel on Sunday discussing the trial at the American College of Cardiology annual conference in Chicago.

“Just because you know what a drug does to cholesterol doesn’t mean you know what it does to patients,” Dr. Krumholz said.

Great. There is some good news, though. I have a doctor's appointment in a few weeks, so she can steer me toward a different medicine that will do me no good.

Cheeky Eating

Now that I have fully recovered from the memory of eating pigeon for lunch in Edinburgh (cooked "pink" at the recommendation of the waiter), I wanted to share that I had the cow's cheeks on the menu when Dara and I went out last night. They were marinated in a variety of things (the only one I can remember being espresso), served on a crusty piece of bread with a salsa and other spicy things on top. Tasty! I figured Mom would want to add it to her list of adventurous eating to look out for.

A Moment Of Silence

Booo Hooo!!! My ancient 40GB IPod (one that should be in a museum by now) might just be heading to that Apple store in the sky. ;o(

It’s served me so well. How many miles have we been together? How many happy tunes have I sung along with it? I’ll admit, maybe it’s not been so happy for anyone that could hear my singing, but I sure have enjoyed it.

Maybe I could get one last song downloaded… Taps

At least my ITunes is in 1 piece and can be loaded onto my next one.

Parachuting in to Naples

What was scheduled to be a three days in Naples for me ended up being only two, thanks to the unpredictable side-effects of spending $8B on an acquisition. Dara arrived earlier and left later. I took one picture for evidence on my new cell phone, but I even lost that when I went to the AT&T store to get something fixed. We really loved the new place, though. Between the pilleated woodpecker, the wood stork, the eagles, various crane-like things, raccoons noisily fornicating in the backyard, and even an armadillo, it was like a well-manicured episode of Wild Kingdom. It was also great to see Ken and Sharon and Steve and Gail. Thanks to Mom and Dad for taking such good care of us, and to Missy and Mike for the wonderful dinner.

Yale v. Harvard Online

In yet another variation on old board games, it seems Yale and Harvard and other colleges are battling one another online now. And of course, anything of interest to online college students is of interest to the VCs, which has in turn spawned its own little battle.

GXC more closely resembles an intramural or interscholastic sport than the typical online video game, where individuals or small groups are pitted against each other. GXC teams, made up of hundreds and sometimes thousands of players, play on behalf of real-world dorms or schools — even presidential candidates — by jostling for hegemony on maps of their campus or locale and conducting their campaigns as much in the real world as online.

Just thought Kyla would like to know, although it seems like it might appeal to Josh more.

Fish Tale

I thought Keith might enjoy reading the funny story of a sushi-eater from San Francisco going bass fishing in a Georgia "borrow pit."

I had traveled across the country for the promise of finding the ultimate fishing spot, and while there to discover just what the sport of fishing is all about. My concept of fishing has always been of a couple of drunken rednecks sitting in a canoe with a hook in the water, pulling up trout while finishing a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon. In my mind, the activity required about as much art as throwing rocks at pigeons.

But I recognized I had a lot to learn. About as close as I normally get to live fish is the sushi I order in San Francisco. On his visit to the city, David couldn't stop laughing. "Y'all are eatin' bait, you know that, right?"

I am expecting to catch some sushi at Deep Creek Lake.

Scrabble Scrap

I know Mom and Missy are online Scrabble fanatics, so I figured they would not want to miss out on the fight between the owners of Scrabble and the fantastically popular Scrabulous.

The latest bane of office productivity is Scrabulous, a virtual knockoff of the Scrabble board game, with over 700,000 players a day and nearly three million registered users.

Fans of the game are obsessive. They play against friends, co-workers, family members and strangers, and many have several games going at once.

Everyone seems to love the online game — everyone, that is, except the companies that own the rights to Scrabble: Hasbro, which sells it in North America, and Mattel, which markets it everywhere else.

And who can blame them. Mostly they have to be kicking themselves that they did not find two young guys in India to whip out an online version for them aimed at Facebook users. Now that this version is living wild on the Internet, complete with rabid fans, it looks like they're going to need to get creative to sort it all out.

Cingular Sensation

Thanks to a tip from Missy to a BusinessWeek article about "consumer vigilantes", I see that Justin has been wreaking havoc with Cingular while becoming a YouTube success. That annoying noise a Cingular GSM phone makes when it's next to a speaker apparently blew one of his speakers up. (This is incredibly annoying to me every day in meetings, given the proliferation of cell phones on the table next to the speaker phone.) After being rejected by customer service, he started a web site called Feeling Cingular and posted a YouTube video. Later the company offered to replace the speakers, but by then it was too late.

Callaway, who works with video equipment, says that even if there's not damage the phone causes an irritating buzz, and feels AT&T should do more to make consumers aware of the issue. That's why he didn't accept the offer. "It wasn't about the speakers anymore," he says. He's not stopping with the video, either: Callaway is seeking class-action status for a suit against Cingular over subscribers' inability to use their phones in some settings without interference. An AT&T spokesperson says that, due to the proposed litigation, it could not comment, but it works to resolve consumers' issues promptly.

I have always wondered how the phone companies managed to get FCC approval when their phones obviously interfere with nearby electronic equipment. I figured it was one more example of a political appointee looking the other way for a corporate donor. I bet it would cost them less than a penny a phone to fix the situation. So, while I was unhappy about the woman suing the stables because she did not pay attention to the release form, I have to go with Justin on this one.