I the weekend is typically a period of light posting anyway, but I’ll be out of town Friday through Monday and will probably be posting less than usual.
Shameless Self-Promotion
May 14, 2009 — JonSo I recently attended an event at the New America Foundation called “Who Pays for the News?” which as you can imagine, paid a great deal of attention to the newspaper industry. A put up a post on FH’s Public Affairs blog on it. Please go check it out in full. Here’s an excerpt:
While panelists and other observers have enumerated a number of reasonable causes of the newspaper industry’s woes – ad revenues lost to the internet, poor quality of reporting, the debt burden of news conglomerates – these problems fail to grasp the broader context by incorrectly conflating symptoms and disease. This mistaken reasoning was best characterized by Sen. Cardin, who offered an elegiac declaration that the business model of a traditional newspaper is “dead,” a fact Sen. Cardin believes to imperil democracy as we know it. Although the temptation for drama can be hard to resist, this particular diagnosis suffers from the incorrect assumption that traditional outlets are inextricably tied to the news they report. To be fair to Sen. Cardin, newspapers have themselves enthusiastically embraced this assumption, helping foment a process wherein media companies have wandered haphazardly into a parallel, but nonetheless entirely distinct industry. The question then, pace Sen. Cardin, isn’t whether the print business model is “dead” in the digital age, but rather why it was ever presumed to work.
Interesting stuff! Check it out!
New URL, Redesign, Etc.
May 5, 2009 — JonHello loyal readers and also a big warm welcome to anyone who is wandering over here for the first time. Feel free to check out my about page to get a feel for who I am and what I write about.
As my loyal readers will note, the site has changed themes and it’s going to look a little funky while I still work out the kinks (namely the fact that the left and right bars show the same thing). Just stick with me and we’ll all come through this alright. This goes hand in hand with the new URL, of which the tagline (which I can’t get to appear) is something along the lines of, “…like the French word, but less dignified.”
Welcome Improvements
April 13, 2009 — JonSorry for the complete and total lack of updates over the past week or so. I’ve been rather busy with work related matters. Anyway, I’m planning major changes to the site as you know it, so don’t forget about me. In the meantime, I just wanted to highlight this bit of information from TIME’s Michael Scherer.
Meanwhile, the Washington Times announces that it will devote one page a day in its print edition to “news stories reported and written by average citizens in local communities.”
Good, glad to see the Times finally commit to improving its journalism.
My Role in History
February 11, 2009 — JonSo you may have heard about how Peanut Corporation knowingly shipped off salmonella infected peanut products, but did you know your intrepid blogger was staring diabolically in the background while Stewart Parnell, Peanut Corp CEO invoked Fifth Amendment rights?
Unlike the dashing gentleman in the background, this guy is an asshole.
UPDATE: Check out the video here (or just click the image below). In addition to the riveting testimony and Greg Walden’s awesome prop usage, you can clearly see me scoffing at about 1:48 and employing a solid shit-eating grin at 2:29.
Mea Culpa
December 4, 2008 — JonSorry about the light posting today, I’ve been distracted by some recent events in Jonland.
Sometimes I’m Worth Listening To
December 2, 2008 — JonSo David Gregory will be taking over Meet the Press. In addition to other things, Ezra Klein says this:
Additionally, Gregory is a straight political reporter. He’s been a political reporter his whole life. By contrast, Tim Russert served as chief of staff to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. George Stephanopoulos was chief of staff to Dick Gephardt, and a key adviser to Bill Clinton. Both men, in other words, had a background in the substance of governance rather than simply the coverage of politics. Gregory doesn’t. That strikes me as a disadvantage, though as far as I know, no one with governing experience was under consideration for the slot.
Anyway, I made a similar argument about political coverage yesterday. I point this out not because I care particularly that David Gregory will host Meet the Press but because Ezra Klein writes for a serious magazine and I blog from work where they tell you self-marketing is a big deal. So consider yourself marketed.
Typealyzer Update
November 21, 2008 — JonI guess it’s still in beta, because this time it got it right and produced a stunningly accurate portrait.
UPDATE: Some of you may have been reading long enough to remember when I wrote occasionally for Political Derby, which is sort of like The Corner with an extra chromosome. Anyway — I realize that a number of folks write for PD — but even still, it’s kind of funny to get a result like this.
[...]Once they’ve made up their mind on something, it can be quite difficult to convince otherwise. They listen to hard facts and can have a hard time accepting new or innovative ways of doing things.
Yeah, that’s about right.
Me Blogging
November 20, 2008 — JonSo it did seem that whatever Typealyzer might say, I’m definitely not a “Mechanic.” So I took a test, and it turns out I’m — along with 3.3 percent of the population (I always knew I was special) — an INTP. According to a somewhat legitimate looking website my “match” is ESFP, who apparently looks like this:
ESFps usually have a smooth oval facial structure, which is mainly free of projections with the exception of the nose, which can be quite large.
Great. My match has the countenance of Ms. Potato Head. And as improbable as it sounds that personality types conform with general physical appearances, the site is right to note that I have an “aquiline nose.” Anyway, this is from INTp “uncovered”, and I bet is something a lot of you who know me can relate quite well with.
If a sign “Take your hats off” is normally understood as a request to take headwear off, you may suddenly find yourself arguing with an INTp over what is considered a hat.
Yep.
Typealyzer
November 20, 2008 — JonThis tool reads your blog and spits back your score on the Myers-Briggs personality test. Crazy. I did it, though it’s not consistent with what I’ve taken before. According to Typealyzer, I’m a “Mechanic.”
The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generelly prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.
The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.
I don’t know. I’m pretty well known for my rhythm skills. Math, not so much.
