Monday, January 03, 2005

Don't let a death and two injuries deter you -- we need good luck and healthy crops. Two separate incidents involving the celebratory shooting of antique firearms left one dead and two injured in and around Cherryville, NC...but there's no thought of discontinuing the New Year's ritual. Charlotte Observer: "You've got third-generation people shooting the same guns their forefathers shot," said Cherryville Mayor Bob Austell, who witnessed one of the two accidents Saturday evening. "To my knowledge, there's never been any discussion of curtailing it. In fact it's stronger right now than it's ever been." German settlers began the celebration about 250 years ago, hoping the shots would help their crops and bring good luck. Locally the center of the tradition is in Cherryville, beginning at the stroke of midnight and continuing through the next evening. 6:51:23 PM    comment []

Oliver Willis posts some tough talk about Democratic strategy. It's probably useful -- realistic -- for at least some of the folks who do what Oliver does to adopt this mindset, but here at the local level it won't work. Call BS when we see it, and identify bad actors who don't respect the truth or other people? Sure. But all angry, all the time? Nah. 6:39:17 PM    comment []

David Hoggard has a request on behalf of his wife, Jinni: "Be kind, Taxol." 2:30:13 PM    comment []

From the Fascinating Subcultures department: Have you been voodooed? Symptoms may include pain and hair loss. This local woman says she can help, and apparently enough people believe her to support an ad campaign in a classified-ad paper. 2:24:46 PM    comment []

Funnier than The Onion? World 0'Crap reports on North Carolina's newest newspaper (item 3, Judson Cox). No apparent website for the paper -- which Cox likes to say has NC's largest circulation, even though it, like, doesn't. 9:26:13 AM    comment []

Jay Ovittore is looking for some house-painting work. Dude, you're not begging, you're advertising. 9:05:15 AM    comment []

Don't forget to vote on the location of the next G'boro blogger Meetup. I try not to take it personally that these things are always scheduled to conflict with my monthly ZD story meeting in NY :> At least I get a little treat at the end of this month's trip. 8:56:25 AM    comment []

Jeff Jarvis on Jay Rosen's top 10 media ideas of '04: "To me, the abstraction of the abstraction of all this comes down to one word: power. It's all about a shift of power from those who've had it to those who initially owned it and licensed it: the citizenry....It is happening in marketing and advertising and commerce and culture and politics and may even come to government...media is, for once, on the front edge of the trend...There's a quiet revolution underway. The people are taking back their power again. " This stuff is contagious. Suddenly we're working on the government part here in GSO. 8:52:49 AM    comment []

We went to Saffron for dinner last night. This newcomer is already Greensboro's best Indian restaurant I know of. The lamb (not mutton) rogan josh was perfectly spiced. Syd and Lisa gave the chicken tikka masala two thumbs up. Elijah had positive reports on the mango lassi and the carrot pudding, and promises to order the goat next time. The service is great, too. Located across from Lucky 32 on Westover, tucked in by the Thai place behind Mark's. 8:47:50 AM    comment []

Semi-condescending, semi-useful NYT article on self-correcting nature of blogs. The Times uses the article to mention the big Pew study showing the explosive growth of blogs and blog readership. The study notes that 62% of "online Americans" still don't know what the term "blog" means, but I wonder what % of online Americans knows what "website" means -- I'm guessing about 100%. When I'm talking to non-bloggers about personal journalism, I frequently say "my website" instead of "my blog." Seems relevant, and makes that 62% look high. Still, as Sally Greene points out via email, the Paper Formerly Known as Of Record continues to feel the need to say "Web logs, or blogs" at the start of these stories... 8:39:29 AM    comment []

I got tired of all the jawboning about local officeholder blogs and set up a test site for one prominent pol, who emailed me back that a site of his or her own was already under construction... Meanwhile: "Whistles and bells don't make the train go, they're only good for making noise." Billy the Blogging Poet on useful features for a weblog, in a spirited conversation in the comments over at Hoggard's. As for Yvonne Johnson's blog, I don't understand why she doesn't just enable comments in addition to whatever bells and whistles she desires. The folks who speak for Yvonne when it comes to blogging -- hey, that's kind of a contradiction, isn't it, having someone else speak for a blogger? -- have told me this is her personal blog, not a political endeavor. I'm not sure that's an operative distinction when you are the mayor pro tem of Greensboro. 8:27:40 AM    comment []