|
|
Monday, May 13, 2002
|
|
| |
There is a running difference of opinion in the blogosphere, in which the bloggers talk about a natural self-correcting tendency when bloggers post misinformation, and some professional journalists insist that the fact-checking capabilities of the big media outlets make them much more credible.
Andrew Sullivan points to this correction published in the New York Times explaining the problems in an April 21 article. (Sullivan's permalinks don't seem to work, so you'll have to scroll down to the article, titled "Those Unreliable Blogs.")
An article on April 21 about Florida's place in the national culture referred incorrectly to the standoff between Branch Davidians and the F.B.I. in Waco, Tex., which occurred during the tenure of Janet Reno as attorney general of the United States and is getting new attention in light of her campaign for the Florida governorship. The investigation of the standoff led by former Senator John Danforth was independent, not Congressional. According to the Danforth report, the Branch Davidians were responsible for the fire inside their compound; it was not started by the F.B.I. The number of Branch Davidians who died was about 80, not 75, including more than 20 children, not 25. The previous office held by Reno was state attorney for Dade County, Fla., not state attorney general. The article also misidentified the first family of Hispanic origin to live in the Florida governor's mansion. It was that of Bob Martinez, not Jeb Bush. The article also referred incorrectly to a swamp in Florida. It is Okefenokee; Atchafalaya (not Atchalafaya) is in Louisiana.
Hope they caught everything.
12:25:39 PM 
|
|
The first car I bought after graduating from college in 1969 was a 1970 BMW 2002. It wasn't luxurious or elegant; it was just competent at being fast. And it wasn't much more expensive than other cars of the time, which meant that I had enough money left over to have a great time with the car.
Apparently, BMW has lost its way. And it has also lost a connection with the real purpose of driving a car. Seems as though the gnomes of Munich have turned the Ultimate Driving Machine into the ultimate video arcade machine.
Though intended to be intuitive, iDrive is maddening, especially at first. The hardware becomes easier to use with practice, but just as you get the hang of it you run into some exasperating quirk of the software: you call up menus just to tune the radio or adjust the air flow. If you've wondered what a car from Microsoft might be like, the 7 offers a clue.
Of course, this is all of merely academic interest. At upwards of $70,000, the 7-series Beemer is priced more like a house (outside of Silicon Valley), and dealers don't even let me in the front door any more.
Would you believe that we early BMW drivers actually flashed our lights at each other when meeting on two-lane roads? How quaint.
12:13:08 PM
|
|
|
|
© Copyright
2002
Ivan Heling.
Last update:
6/1/02; 12:16:06 AM.
This theme is based on the SoundWaves
(blue) Manila theme. |
|
|
