Curated knowlege, trenchant insights & witty bon mots
Legendary B.C. radio broadcaster Rafe Mair did his first Internet-based broadcast today. Here's a blurb from his site: Rafelive.com: This is not a “radio” show as I’ve been accustomed to but something quite different. There’ll be no newscasts, sports and weather – and no ads during the one hour program! The show will always start [...]
Tue, September 4 2007 » Main Page » Comments Off
For more than two decades, MI5, Britain's domestic intelligence service, kept an eye on George Orwell, author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. They suspected him of being a communist. Hey, the guy dressed like a bohemian. He was practically begging to be put under state surveillance. From the BBC: A Scotland Yard Special Branch [...]
Tue, September 4 2007 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
Virtually the entire economic foundation of the online publishing business rests on advertising. So let me tell you about a little program called AdBlock. From the NYT: Adblock Plus — while still a niche product for a niche browser — is potentially a huge development in the online world, and not because it simplifies Web [...]
Tue, September 4 2007 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
And by doing so, Google preps the ground for selling ads alongside the content on its fully-automated news aggregator. From the Aug. 31 Reuters story on NYT.com: Google is playing host to articles from four news agencies, including The Associated Press, the company said Friday, setting the stage for it to generate advertising revenue from [...]
Tue, September 4 2007 » Main Page, Media » Comments Off
From CP via globeandmail.com: She's run a newsroom at a daily newspaper but now she wants to build a co-op brothel, run by and for prostitutes. Jody Paterson chuckles when she considers the career change from managing editor to madame of Victoria. But she says it was the people and stories she encountered on the [...]
Tue, September 4 2007 » Main Page, Minutiae » Comments Off
Some interesting factoids from a Globe and Mail story: Farmers spray hops with various pesticides an average of 14 times in a growing season One could power a TV set for 20 minutes with the electricity used to make a glass bottle. In comparison, making an aluminum beer can would take 180 minutes' worth. Paper-free labels [...]
Tue, September 4 2007 » Main Page, Minutiae » 4 Comments
U.S. and British troops have reportedly recovered Chinese weapons after clashes with the Taliban. Britain would like China to explain how this could be so. From the BBC story: When asked about the latest British concerns, the Chinese foreign ministry referred back to a statement made by their spokesman Qin Gang in July who said [...]
Tue, September 4 2007 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page » Comments Off
Starbucks' pumpkin-and-cream-cheese muffin is back. Starbucks never sells that unless it's (gulp) … fall!!