Things Here I'd Rather Avoid

I mean, I-No-Need, I-No-Need, I-No-Need :

"CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP"

Ever Heard of 'Public Transportation'?

Oy, on the NPR program 'Here And Now', they were baffled by the question: 'Why teens aren't driving as much as they used to?' [link]

Um, maybe because they've got this alternative -- you know, something called 'public transportation' 🙂🙂🙂 -- LeofromLakeview

Newspapers in Decline - Continuing Story

The Chicago Suntimes ran a rather disturbing article on the decline of newspapers, 'As Newspapers Close Across The U.S., Study Finds Illinois Is Hard Hit' (link).

Some of the disturbing information:

Since 2005, more than one-third of U.S. newspapers — 3,300 outlets — have closed. In that time, Illinois has lost 36% of its newspapers, or 232 outlets, and Cook County has lost 40% of its newspapers.

Illinois has also lost 54% of its newspaper workers, or about 4,600 positions, in the decade ending in 2023.

There are a few positive developments including a "net increase of 81 stand-alone digital news sites" -- still it's clear: one of our most valuable resources is running into serious difficulties.

New York Times Does 'Live Blogging'

 

You know we've come a long way when the 'Grey Lady' herself starts doing 'live-blogging'.

Three Days Till Doomsday (Mass Transit in Chicago)

Love the subtle messaging of the Chicago Sun-Times. This graphic greeted commuters somewhere halfway in Thursday's paper. The headline read, "3 Days Until Another 'Doomsday".

UPDATE: Doomsday averted. Praise the Lord!

SaveNetRadio.org

SaveNetRadio.org is where you ought to go if you've ever listened to Internet Radio and thought it was a welcomed contrast to all the crap (pardon my French) on Broadcast radio.

Unfortunately this nascent medium is about to be wiped off the face of the earth -- at least in the U.S. -- thanks to an extremely punitive and destructive increase in royalty fees approved by the Copyright Royalty Board.

Richard MacManus from Read/Write Web who has a post on the subject, quotes from Pandora Radio:

"The new royalty rates are irrationally high, more than four times what satellite radio pays, and broadcast radio doesn't pay these at all. Left unchanged, these new royalties will kill every Internet radio site, including Pandora."

In other words, those who can least afford it are being forced to pay the most. This is nothing but an attempt to stamp out innovation and choice in the one medium, namely the Internet, that we have left.

Washington Post Issues Correction on Fairfax County Library Story

The original story that appeared in the Washington Post about Fairfax County's weeding of classics from its collection raised a nationwide "firestorm of outrage".

Now WaPo Ombudsman, Deborah Howell, reports that the weeding wasn't perhaps as sweeping as orginally suggested:

The story said that "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" are among the titles that hadn't been checked out in two years and that could be eliminated. Those books have been checked out; it would have been better to say that some copies of those books may not have been checked out in two years at some branches and could be weeded out. Kirkpatrick and Clay say there was never any intention of weeding out all copies.

Complete article here...