Friday, July 29, 2005

American Journalism Review article on blogs and the media, including a look at Greensboro, by Barb Palser. 3:18:26 PM   permalink   comment []

A secret proposal by the United States to a United Nations organization would change the way time is measured, reports the Wall Street Journal's Keith Winstein (subs req). "The plan would simplify the world's timekeeping by making each day last exactly 24 hours. Right now, that's not always the case." "Because the moon's gravity has been slowing down the Earth, it takes slightly longer than 24 hours for the world to rotate completely on its axis. The difference is tiny, but every few years a group that helps regulate global timekeeping, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, tells governments, telecom companies, satellite operators and others to add in an extra second to all clocks to keep them in sync." The "leap seconds" screw up precisely-calibrated computers, and some big businesses are for the US proposal. Astronomers and English devotees of Greenwich Time strongly oppose it. 3:01:15 PM   permalink   comment []

Clueless Cauthen. He's right that a lot of big media types will blog poorly and that blogs won't always be used effectively, but wrong on the basic premise that journalists can't and shouldn't blog. 1:07:50 PM   permalink   comment []

When your winter coat looks like this...                      ...you need a haircut for the Greensboro summer. The folks who gave Luna her summer 'do nipped the end of her tail. It got infected. For a while it looked as if she might lose the tip. She had to wear a bandage and cope with a bad haircut at the same time, for which I am told she was mocked on the air by Jack Murphy, who saw her while dropping a child off at camp. She had to wear a plastic lampshade collar to keep her from chewing on her tail, and thus looked even dorkier, especially when she would bump into the doorframe. She was forlorn, but through it all she stayed the same sweet girl. The vet finally decided against snipping the tip, which has started to grow hair again. Good dog, Luna. 12:31:48 PM   permalink   comment []

If the potential of a Democratic candidate can be measured as the inverse of enthusiasm for that candidate by the editors of the Wall Street Journal, then VA gov Mark Warner might be one to watch. Yesteday's mugging by WSJ edit board member Stephen Moore starts with the headline ("Virginia Ham") and mucks its way down from there. Southern Governor and moderate challenger to Hillary -- a dangerous combo. 11:54:37 AM   permalink   comment []

Jeff Sykes, the former editor of the Reidsville Review, gives "an apology to journalism" at Romenesko's blog. 11:34:06 AM   permalink   comment []

Frist breaks with Bush on stem cell research. A bold move for the physician who would be President. 9:54:00 AM   permalink   comment []

This Jon Udell review of Dave Winer's new outliner tool helped me understand what Dave is trying to do here. The link to this piece by Dave Luebbert was helpful, too. 9:50:55 AM   permalink   comment []

Reading Friedman for Greensboro: Today, the columnist formally located on the N&R op-ed page writes about the changing political landscape across the Middle East. "To put it bluntly, the political parties in the Arab world and Israel that have shaped the politics of this region since 1967 have all either crumbled or been gutted of any of their original meaning. The only major parties with any internal energy and coherence left today are Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood, and they are scared out of their minds - scared that if all the secular parties collapse, they may have to rule, and they don't have the answers for jobs, sewers and electricity." [snip] "The big challenge for all these societies is obvious: Can they reconstitute these old parties or build new ones that can make the task and narrative of developing their own countries - making their people competitive in an age when China and India and Ireland are eating their lunch - as emotionally gripping as fighting Israel or the West or settling the West Bank? "Can there be a Baath Party or a Fatah that has real views on competition, science and the environment? Will Labor and Likud (which, though badly hobbled, are still more like real political parties than those in the Arab world) ever have a defining debate over why nearly one in five Israelis live below the poverty line?" 9:39:55 AM   permalink   comment []

NYT's frontpage CAFTA coverage: It was just before midnight on Wednesday when Representative Robin Hayes capitulated. Mr. Hayes, a Republican whose district in North Carolina has lost thousands of textile jobs in the last four years, had defied President Bush and House Republican leaders by voting against the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or Cafta. But the House speaker, J. Dennis Hastert, told him they needed his vote anyway. If he switched from 'nay' to 'aye,' Mr. Hayes recounted, Mr. Hastert promised to push for whatever steps he felt were necessary to restrict imports of Chinese clothing, which has been flooding into the United States in recent months. As it turned out, the switch by Mr. Hayes was decisive. Within a few minutes, the House approved the trade pact by the paper-thin margin of two votes, 217 to 215... UPDATE: NC 8th district congressman Robin Hayes calls Charlotte radio host Keith Larson station to explain his CAFTA vote. Hayes says he got concessions on trade with China that will help his district. (via Jim Capo) 9:34:48 AM   permalink   comment []

Will Charles Taylor's fumble help elect Heath Shuler? Rep Charles Taylor, a Republican from Brevard, failed to vote on CAFTA. Josh Marshall has been all over the story -- interviewing our own Howard Coble and wondering if one more 'No' vote could have shifted the momentum on the deal (go here and scroll down, he's got several items). Missing the chance to vote 'No' might hurt Taylor in his district, and a suspicious story about why that happened won't help him. The NC Dems have targeted Taylor, who did not overwhelm his last opponent, and his next opponent has some name recognition: former Tennessee and NFL QB Heath Shuler. 8:40:22 AM   permalink   comment []