Off and on access
My internet access is spotty at the moment. I hope to be back online by the end of the week if all the planets align correctly.:-)
And “Hi” dM!:-)
The first retraction in a long time that has made me cry
From Akron News Now:
The family of the late Ohio 11th District Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones was dealing with the tragedy of losing a mother, sister, friend. Amidst the shock and grief of losing someone so vital comes questions on how the media in total got the story so wrong.
[snip]
It seemed so easy for the highest forms of journalism to go with confirmation of death even though that confirmation came not from those on the scene but nameless bureaucrats far away doing their job and peddling a scoop. It was so easy for those of us here at home to quote those in power despite the fact they didn’t really have the power of what was right to begin with.
[snip]
Stephanie Tubbs Jones died at 6:12 p.m. Wednesday but the truth of her passing fell victim just after 2:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, a victim of a cynical news cycle that couldn’t even allow Death his due and Tubbs Jones her passing in dignity.
Props to Mr Esposito for stating so eloquently how the media screwed up.
No comment: CNN T-shirts
I’m not saying a word about this because it may ruin my chances to become Andernetta Cooper.:-) I’ll just describe it: Apparently CNN has a new feature I’ve just noticed on its website: selling t-shirts with story headlines.
Look at the screenshot below. You’ll there’s a little t-shirt icon next to the headline “Boy gets wish: Seat on garbage truck.”
If you click on the icon on the CNN.com site, you’ll be taken to a page where you can buy the t-shirt with the headline.
Again, no comment.
I do have a question though: Do the story subjects get a cut of the profits?
Western beauty institutions and modern Africa
Social critics have been decrying for years the hegemony of the Western or European conception of beauty and the detrimental affects this narrow standard has had on people around the world who do not match this ideal. One region which has suffered greatly from this “othering” is Africa. From the width of the nose to the size of the hips to the darkness of the skin, physical features generally associated with Africans have been vilified and degraded by Western societies for centuries.
Read more at Diplomatic Courier.
VP announcement by txt?
Happened upon this interesting tidbit on The Trail on The Washington Post:
“Da vp iz?”
In text messaging lingo, that translates to “The vice president is?”
Four years ago, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) announced his vice presidential nominee, then Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), at a morning rally in Pittsburgh.
How times change.
Last night, in a cell phone text message that was quickly followed by an e-mail linking back to a new page on his Web site — my.barackobama.com/vp — aides to Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) campaign wrote: “Barack will announce his VP candidate choice through txt message between now & the Conv. Tell everyone to text VP to 62262 to be the first to know! Please forward.”
What? Not Twitter?!.
Note: I’m not sure if that number works internationally. I sent a text message but didn’t get a confirmation.