check yourself

in slate's today's papers, andrew rice references a NYTimes "Dust Bowl" comparison for current dry conditions in the great plains.

unfortunately, the lazy NYT repeatedly characterizes it this way--having done it 8 times since 1980.

Finally, the NYT reefers a big piece on arid conditions in the Great Plains, which have left "farmers and ranchers with conditions that they compare to those of the Dust Bowl of the 1930's." It's the worst drought since … well, maybe 2003, "an extremely dry summer that … brought back memories of the 1930's Dust Bowl" (NYT, 9/5/03). Or maybe 2002, when "farmers shrug[ed] and wonder[ed] if a new Dust Bowl [would] soon be upon them" (NYT, 5/3/02). Or 1998: "a dry spell that officials say shows signs of developing into the costliest and most devastating the region has seen since the Dust Bowl years" (NYT, 8/12/98). Or 1996: "Coming after two years of low rainfall and a number of other weather problems, the ferocity of this year's drought has slowly begun to evoke memories for some here of the Depression-era Dust Bowl" (NYT, 5/20/96). Or 1988: "Since the spring's dry weather evolved into the worst drought since the Dust Bowl, the farm policy has been turned upside down" (NYT, 7/10/88). Or 1982: "And when the winds come, turning the sky dark with dust and burying fence rows under shifting dunes of soil and thistle, those who are old enough remember the bleak days of the Dust Bowl." (NYT, 5/14/82). Or 1980: "Is the nation in for a new Dust Bowl or at least a succession of scorching summers?" (NYT, 7/17/80).

the lame newspaper that cries wolf

¶ - nitish @ 9:00 AM | 0 comments

  who's the puppet now

following up on the (not so) cookie monster debacle, the blue beast subjects himself to an interview with matt lauer.
however, when matt overstate the dietary change, cookie monster puts his paw down:
No! You members of the media blow story way out of proportion! Me still like cookies!i have to find audio of that one

¶ - nitish @ 3:22 PM | 0 comments

  colbert kinda sucks

mr goodwrench pitchman stephen colbert gets loads of MSM attention (if not ratings) despite evidence of unfunny material.

in order to piggyback another popular phenomenon, colbert rips-off a 3 year old video by the 25 year old star wars kid.

with all those writers, you'd think they could come up with something funny on their own

¶ - nitish @ 3:08 PM | 0 comments

 

much ink (and many pixels) have been devoted to the 'asian miracle', including the ascendance of china economically, politically, etc.

but china also worries about the little things like protests, domestic animation, and strippers at funerals (via the uk reg)...
apparently scantily clad women are brought in to up the attendance at funerals. the gov't crackdown includes the ever helpful tip line with rewards
...i hope they pay out in dollar bills...

similar to the accented cow story, this story could have gone with multimedia aids

¶ - nitish @ 8:50 AM | 0 comments

  this animal story demands audio

animal stories intrigue: when they are wacky, heartless, heroic, ironic.

while it may not be as catchy as snakes on a plane, but cows with accents grabbed me.
i'd really like to hear a cockney moo as opposed to a drawl moo

¶ - nitish @ 9:01 AM | 0 comments

  the nature of global warming

enviros tend to confuse doubts about global warming being manmade and global warming, going so far as to reject dissension from the party line. taking it to the extreme, haters link bush and hurricanes.

"the most comprehensive [study] ever conducted on the movements of Greenland's glaciers" reveals the glaciers shrinking for well over 100 years.

those who doubt man as principle cause global warming point to such natural phenomena (it even extends to space).
further, the cost-benefit analysis of onerous actions like the kyoto protocol led to senate rejection of its principles--which signatories appear to mock

¶ - nitish @ 8:42 AM | 0 comments

  underreported progress on AIDS in africa

in the boston globe, john donnelly relates progress in africa, partially owing to bush 43 initiatives.

Today, the change for the better is astonishing: Idoko now treats nearly 6,000 HIV-positive patients. He has expanded his clinic three times in five years, and his waiting room once again is too crowded. ``Now, we are eyeing an abandoned building nearby," he said last week, chuckling.
The major reason for Idoko's success is the Bush administration's AIDS program, which in the last three years has sent billions of dollars to Africa and helped save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

unfortunately, their appears to be institutional resistance to anything bush among

One telling moment in Toronto came last Sunday when Bill Gates, whose foundation has spent billions on global health in recent years, praised PEPFAR, prompting a chorus of boos from the audience.

that's right the two people who have perhaps devoted the most resources for causes in africa get booed.
the resistance likely stems from 3 buzzwords: 'abstinence', 'faith based', local. taking them one by one...
donnelly explains that less than 10% go towards abstinence programs. the wariness of support for faith-based orgs is undercut by the fact that africa's medical services (hospitals and clinics) often are run by them. finally the local control of resources fails in africa due to mind-boggling corruption in where leaders live it up at their countries' expense. the corruption proves so pervasive that it's allowed in sports)

¶ - nitish @ 8:51 AM | 0 comments

  will computer journalists be biased too?

biz journalism company thompson financial plans to roll out computer programs which will automatically generate news stories based on financial press releases

"This is not about cost, but about delivering information to our customers at a speed at which they can make an almost immediate trading decision," Thomson's Matthew Burkley says. "This means we can free up reporters so they have more time to think."

i wonder whether the program will have the necessary BS detector necessary to deal with these companies?

note: of course, there is no media bias...

¶ - nitish @ 8:43 AM | 0 comments

  a place to actually see music videos

the common complaint about mtv among old fogies like me is the lack of actual music videos. mostly, mtv consists of a bunch of reality shows in between a bunch of commercials.

online vid site YouTube looks to provide possibly the definitive repository of music vids

you might think it's crazy, but having one place to watch music videos right now would be virtual insanity
...i could've kept going, but that's enough...

¶ - nitish @ 3:01 PM | 0 comments

  it's good to be the king, if not a shareholder

corporate executives receive excessive compensation on a regular basis, sometimes even more when they do a bad job: jill barad's $50 million severance for messing up mattel, infamous dennis kozloski of tyco, etc.

despite public humiliation and even some legal proceedings, the gravy train continues through 2006.
furthermore, slate's daniel gross [who previously had a wacky journalists-are-underpaid story] points to the executive yacht purchase as a sign of bad things to come

When someone who's supposed to be looking out for public shareholders is instead mulling over wallpaper samples for staterooms, it's time to sell. The yacht has long been the classic indicator of someone who has so much money that he doesn't need to make any more. Unlike a jet, which can speed busy executives to their offices efficiently, a yacht has no useful purpose. And who has time to play with such an over-the-top toy? Someone who doesn't work weekends figuring out how to make money for other people.

another warning sign is the 'naming rights' money hole

¶ - nitish @ 9:19 AM | 0 comments

  celebrities have to pay taxes, too

considering the hefty value of award show presenter bags (~$30k for 3 minutes), the IRS reminds celebrities to pay 'their fair share' in taxes.

When the 2006 Academy Award gift bags weighed in at more than $100,000 apiece with no single gift being worth any less than $500, the IRS issued a statement wishing the Oscar nominees luck and reminding them to include their $25,000 four-night Hawaiian vacations and $7,000-worth of Victoria's Secret undies on their income tax returns.
If they choose to keep the gifts, that is. Charitable donations are usually tax-deductible. The IRS couldn't be reached for comment, but it was reported earlier this year that the governemnt agency stood to collect almost $1.2 million from Oscar bags alone.

update aug18th: the oscars drops the bag going forward

¶ - nitish @ 3:24 PM | 0 comments

  clinton - for lieberman before he was against him

former president bill clinton's positions on iraq have been all over the map. further his memory on key al qaeda events approaches the delusional.

so his flip-flop on joe lieberman after campaigning for him only a few weeks ago (the appearance which prompted the classy blackface by a lamont blogging buddy) should surprise no one

¶ - nitish @ 12:25 PM | 0 comments

  giving conspiracy theorists ammunition

conspiracy theories abound, particularly on historic events like hurricane katrina and 9/11 (with popular mechanics addressing several issues of each).

the apollo moon landing remains one of the biggie conspiracy theories out there. and NASA 'misplacing' the original footage will likely stoke those theories
note: i didn't realize the famous footage seen by the public is a recording of the original transmission incompatible with broadcast tv

¶ - nitish @ 9:03 AM | 0 comments

  fun with trademarks, patents and cartoons

- both google and apple make efforts to avoid brand dilution. i think google has more of a case here, although the 'pod' dropping done at apple's expense attempt to capitalize on the iPod brand.

- amazon continues its ridiculous patent trawling

The patent application is simply the latest in a long line of database mining techniques for online ordering filed by Amazon.com, and is no more intrusive than many other over-reaching patent applications. Amazon has patented, or attempted to patent, search histories, gift certificates, and customer reviews.

an overhaul to the patent system is long overdue

- china goes too far by banning foreign cartoons, like the simpsons, mickey mouse, even teletubbies during primetime in order to prop up domestic television production

¶ - nitish @ 8:38 AM | 0 comments

  AP stands by their man

the MSM's unquestioned acceptance of 'fake news' like the reuters phony photos and reporting of staged events continues.

AP does a glowing story of lebanese rescue worker dubbed 'green helmet', with only slight acknowledgement of phoniness

Bloggers have accused rescue workers and volunteers of showing off victims for the media. The Lebanese make no apologies for wanting the world to see the civilian suffering in the Israeli onslaught aimed at uprooting Hezbollah.

those pesky bloggers caught 'green helmet' staging with for the cameras with dead bodies as props. pesky bloggers can't believe the audacity of AP

fellow blogger EU Referendum maintains a running entry on 'green helmet'

¶ - nitish @ 9:16 AM | 0 comments

  remain skeptical

in light of the phony reuters photos story, all forms of media have received scrutiny.

about a week ago the EU referendum blog hit radar screens with the tale of 'green helmet'. apparently, according to video released by a german newsmagazine 'zapp', 'green helmet' helped stage a photo op for more impact.
(found via nro's media blog)

¶ - nitish @ 2:47 PM | 0 comments

  my school ranking is better than yours

being skeptical of those USNews college rankings since they are easily manipulated, washington monthly's alternative rankings sparked my interest last year.

slate's excellent in other magazines features this year's version from the moderately lefty mag. WM goes as far as to point out vastly different rankings than US News--and the reasons behind those differences.

incidentally, my school WashU in StLouis garners a #11 USNews ranking but checks-in at #45 in the WM rankings

¶ - nitish @ 9:03 PM | 0 comments

  abc already peaked

as i fearfully predicted after the network schedule releases: abc is in trouble.

this summer has been an unmitigated disaster

The news marks the unceremonious end to the Alphabet's various summer projects outlined back in May, which included "Buy It Now" (scrapped before it even premiered), "How to Get the Guy" (pulled with two episodes left to air), "Master of Champions" (pulled with a single installment left to air), "The One: Making a Music Star" (axed after two weeks) and now "One Ocean View" (pulled with four hours left on the shelf).

despite abc's abysmal development record last year, they're going bigger (thus more expensive) this fall. however, promotion of new shows may prove difficult when no one watches during the run-up to the fall season.
abc plans to depend on old reliables which have fared poorly this summer [a newsmagazine will replace fall returnee boston legal]. further the timeslot replacement to breakout hit grey's anatomy, brothers & sisters remains in disarray

¶ - nitish @ 4:01 PM | 0 comments

  they say bad things happen in threes

it's not always serious around her...how about some celebrity couples...
while 'celebrity' may be a stretch, it was a tough day for mtv alumni as two laguna couples along with tattooed drummer travis barker and former miss usa shanna moakler (who may land on dancing with the stars) join previous post-mtv break-ups carmen electra-dave navarro and jessica simpson-nick lachey on the rocks.

as e-online chimes in: "It looks as if Ozzy and Sharon got out just in time."
maybe putting a marriage on mtv isn't a good idea.
however with the backdrop of mtv's 25th year anniversary (with the requisite retrospectives of mtv moments, both positive and negative), mtv looks to continue the non-'music tv' slate including award shows, reality shows, in between all those commercials

¶ - nitish @ 9:41 AM | 0 comments

  reuters' fun with war photos

note: admittedly, i'm very late to this story

having been at the forefront of debunking the cbs-60 minutes-dan rather-national guard memos, little green footballs blogger charles johnson led the charge on the reuters photo fraud.

helpfully, a san fran photog documents all types of photo fraud enabled by the MSM

as some background, reuters has difficulty using the term 'terrorist' when referring to terrorists

¶ - nitish @ 8:44 AM | 0 comments

  myspace already paid for itself

despite being as glitchy as other websites (alright..it was a power outage), news corp has already recouped the half a billion smackers it paid for myspace.

myspace secures a monster deal from google for $900 million over three years. the search giant outbid other internet giants. the uk reg chimes in

There's a bubblesque quality to the internet's two most hyped entities hooking up so that they can "monetize user-generated content." But only a cynic would focus on that.
Let's instead celebrate three more years of hammering our kids with ads for SpongeBob SquarePants sports-bras, natural Ritalin options and Jewish wedding singers.

i'm guessing the guys who sold myspace wish they held out a bit longer

¶ - nitish @ 8:56 AM | 0 comments

  nonpartisan confirms 'partisan' numbers

in mid-july, the white house lowered projections of the budget deficit. [WaPo bugmenot login]
like pavlov's dog, democrats drooled negative, by pointing to 'pessimistic' initial estimates intended to overstate the situation. dutifully, the MSM joined in the negativity.

the democrats and MSM may have difficulty making the bell, as the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office echoes the improving situation previously announced by the administration

¶ - nitish @ 9:28 AM | 0 comments

  what good is letterman again?

david letterman apologists developed a healthy list of excuses, rationalizations and self-delusion to explain his nightly trouncing at the hands of jay leno.

even worse for letterman, the post-koppel changes at nightline shifted that shows viewing audience--namely growth in overall viewers and younger viewers.
the coup de grace is the aging of letterman's audience.

There's been a big shift in the median age of late-night viewers on the Big Three networks over the past five seasons, so much so that ABC’s “Nightline,” not CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman,” is now the youngest of the bunch. So reports a new Magna Global U.S. study.[snip]
Meanwhile, Letterman has aged at a faster pace than any other show.
His median age has shot up from 46.5 in 2001-2002 to the current 51.0, a 10 percent increase. By comparison, “Nightline” is down 2 percent and “Tonight Show” up 6 percent in the same span.
[snip]
At its present pace, Letterman’s median age could outpace Leno’s by this time next year.

found via tv newser

¶ - nitish @ 12:40 PM | 0 comments

  tipping off terrorists frowned upon

judy miller knows her share of controversy,
(not to single out miller, the ny times and the media know it too)

apparently, miller and the nytimes helpfully tipped off terror suspects of fbi action. prosecutor patrick fitzgerald, (in)famous for the plamegate investigation, was not amused.
a federal appeals court ruled newsroom phone records must be turned over in the investigation [via the ldotters again]

¶ - nitish @ 9:04 AM | 0 comments

  marine questions murtha's murder charges

a marine who doesn't appreciate being referred to as having "killed innocent civilians in cold blood", files a defamation suit against congressman jack murtha [found via lucianne.com]

while murtha often claims to be pro-military, he backed such anti-military measures as the reinstitution of the draft, which many military experts believe would sap morale.
certainly, convicting military servicemen of murder before a complete investigation would not qualify as 'pro-military'

¶ - nitish @ 8:44 AM | 0 comments

  charging for the privilege

given microsoft's decision to charge for the beta of office 2007, the uk reg analyzes the situation. essentially, M$ wants customers to pay for the right--no, the privilege--of testing an incomplete product and doing the admitted monopolist's job of software development.

OK, so it is only $1.50, but if this is still in the realm of genuine beta testing then the idea of asking people to pay to see how many bugs a vendor can generate is an idea that we must sincerely hope does not become endemic amongst the software development community.

the reg continues with a few slippery slopes of this beta program.

despite suffering recent difficulties, M$ continually demonstrates hypocritical pettiness a sense of techie elitism

¶ - nitish @ 8:51 AM | 0 comments