According to the Associated Press more people voted in last night's American Idol finale than in the last U.S. presidential election. Seems like a pretty sad statistic to me.
Recently in National Category
News about or affecting the entire United States of America.
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May25
American Idol attracts over 63 million votes
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Oct27
Denny Hastert blogs
Speaker of the House Denny Hastert is now blogging. Hastert is the #3 politician in Washington D.C., second only to Vice President Dick Cheney in the Presidential line of succession. He hopes to provide "some inside access to the Republican playbook."
The internet is changing the way we share information. My office has been talking a lot about some of the conversations going on in blogosphere. So I thought, hey, I should start one and give you unfiltered updates on Capitol Hill.
The journal has no comments, not even a list to a congressional e-mail address. The journal does not have a RSS feed, so you will have to revisit the site for updates.
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Sep05
The history of Labor Day
Today is Labor Day. A day for every man and woman in the United States to take some time off, sip some ice tea, and spend time with friends and family. The tradition began with coordinated unpaid day off of work and became a part of the national scene under political pressure and a mid-term election in 1894.
The work environment of the late 19th century heavily favored the employer. The Pullman Palace Car Company company was one example of a company where you assumed not just a job, but a lifestyle. Founder and CEO George Pullman created the town of Pullman in Illinois, the first planned industrial town in the country, in what is now south Chicago. All residents of Pullman, Illinois worked for the Pullman company, had their paychecks deposited into the Pullman bank, bought goods only from Pullman-owned stores, and had their rent for their Pullman-owned homes automatically deducted from their weekly paychecks. Assembly and craft workers lived in row houses, managers lived in Victorians, and George Pullman lived in the penthouse of a luxury hotel created for visiting customers, suppliers, and salesmen. The depression of the early 1890s popped the railroad bubble and a quarter of the railroad companies in the United States went bankrupt. The Pullman company was forces to layoff hundreds of employees and cut wages for the remaining employees but the company did not adjust its rent for company-owned housing or product prices at company-owned stores in correlation with the local and national depression. Employees walked out, and people across the nation boycotted riding trains with Pullman cars, led by the efforts of Eugene Debs at the American Railway Union and sympathy strikes across the country. 12,000 federal troops were sent in to contain the 50,000 striking workers, troops fired on protesters, union organizers were arrested, and mayhem erupted.
The Pullman strike occurred two years after Irishman Hugh O'Donnell led a strike at Carnegie Steel Works' Homestead plant. Management at Carnegie Steel hired a private police force of Pinkerton detectives and closed the mill, locking out 3,800 existing workers while hiring new workers at lower wages, and imposed 12-hour workdays.
The Knights of Labor, a labor union with a national agenda at the time, had a convention and a parade in New York City on the first weekend of September. Many workers would take an unpaid day off work the first Monday of September and march for labor rights and declare their sympathy for the efforts of the Knights of Labor. Irishman Matthew Maguire organized a campaign for a national labor day, taking advantage of the hot mid-term political elections of 1894. President Grover Cleveland of the Democratic party created Labor Day in an attempt to reconcile his actions and win favor for his party.
It took a lot of effort and events to create a national holiday for the average worker. I hope you are enjoying your day off from work.
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Aug29
Hurricane Katrina on Technorati
I spent my morning summarizing the current happenings around Hurricane Katrina for a new Technorati page on the topic. Some interesting observations with limited citations as I am just braindumping.
- Bloggers opened their houses to each other sight unseen.
- Blogs with video and photo coverage quickly exceeded their bandwidth limits and were offline this morning.
- CNN setup a special citizen journalists page for submissions.
- Technorati received calls from media outlets this morning in their search of the latest news from the blogosphere.
- Bloggers lost power and Internet access put kept on blogging through laptops connected to dial-up modems and free trial Internet accounts, mobile phones, as well as PDAs. They wanted to share their unique story however they could, and the comments and advice helped them know they were not alone as some feared for their lives.
- Many local bloggers were quick to point out the risk loving people who were down by the shore, on their roofs, and generally disregarding all advice and preparedness.
Later in the day more questions emerged from the blogosphere.
- Is Bush to blame for the hurricane?
- Is Katrina a result of global warming?
- When will the New Orleans Saints be able to play football in the Superdome again?
- How will this event affect the price of oil?
- Should emergency workers assist people who disregarded evacuation orders and are now stranded?
I am impressed with the blogging and community action around Hurricane Katrina this morning.
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Jul18
Newsweek and Time Magazine editors discuss sources and blogging
Mark Whitaker, editor of Newsweek, and Jim Kelly, editor of Time Magazine spoke tonight at Stanford about the current state of journalism. Topics included confidential and anonymous sources, the influence of blogging, and the consolidation of news media.
On Mark Cooper and Karl Rove
Time Magazine and reporter Matt Cooper were recently criticized for turning over the names of sources after a grand-jury subpoena. Jim Kelly explained that while reporter's notes and research are their own property Matt Cooper included the names of his sources in company e-mails that were later demanded by the grand-jury investigating the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Jim Kelly commented "if there was no e-mail with Karl Rove's name in it there would be nothing of significance to turn over to the general counsel." Time Magazine and other news organizations are now very careful to not name sources in e-mail and leave a trail for prosecutors. Mark Whitaker commented that people would talk to Bob Woodward and no one else because they knew he was the one who kept Mark Felt's secret for so many years. Judith Miller may have similar exclusivity in her career when she is released from jail.
On Blogging
Mark Whitaker of Newsweek did not seem to be a big fan of blogging. "I think the idea that blogs are going to replace the mainstream media for the moment is laughable. If the mainstream media disappeared what would bloggers have left to write about?" He also stated that blogs do not have sources that are knowledgeable enough or in a high enough position to demand anonymity.
Jim Kelly appeared to be a fan of blogging. He mentioned the recent bombings in London and the incorporation of pictures and text from individuals on the streets of London into the pages of Time Magazine as an example of timely and very topical reporting. He also believes blogs provide a way for people who are distrusting of big media or who feel under-served in the amount of mainstream reporting of their demographic to find the news they care about.
My thoughts
Large media companies are very aware of the blogosphere and commonly cite Dan Rather and 60 Minutes as an example of what can happen if a mob of bloggers goes after your story. They realize that blogs and online media in general is the best way to reach a younger market but it seems like most companies are not sure how to get started and rely on acquisitions of popular online media brands such as Slate and About.com to provide some experience and experimentation with online media.
The journalism industry is constantly learning and changing its practices with the times. The recent falsified stories of Jayson Blair at The New York Times and the close scrutiny of sources in the cases of Mark Cooper and Judith Miller will hopefully lead to a more thorough review process and the willingness of more sources to be identified or justify their reasons for anonymity. In journalism, as in blogging, reputation belongs to an individual and the reputation of a media organization is only as strong as the reporters earning the Pulitzers or creating sensationalist stories.
News journalism and the world of blogging have a lot to learn from each other. I hope each group identifies their uniqueness and find ways to work together to broaden perspectives and provide thorough in-depth perspectives as well as breaking news.
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Feb28
Craigslist postings transmitted to space
On May 15, 2005 the Deep Space Communications Network will transmit craigslist postings, a video message from Craig Newmark, and a clip from "24 Hours on craigslist" from Cape Canaveral into space.
This announcement seems like an April Fool's joke. A view of Earth through craigslist postings would be an odd cross-section of our culture. Hopefully the Voyager interstellar records are discovered first.
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Sep03
Presidential brand association
The Presidential ImagePower study from branding company Landor Associates and research firm Penn, Schoen and Berland revealed the perceptions of George W. Bush and John Kerry by undecided voters. 1,262 Internet survey respondents associated brands with the candidates. George W. Bush was the unanimous choice for Ford, IBM, and Bud Light. -
Jul22
Military perk: free cosmetic surgery
Karen Schaler writes about free cosmetic surgery for members of the United States armed forces in the July 26 issue of the The New Yorker.
[P]ersonnel in all four branches of the military and members of their immediate families can get face-lifts, nose jobs, breast enlargements, liposuction, or any other kind of elective cosmetic alteration, at taxpayer expense. (For breast enlargements, patients must supply their own implants.)
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Jul17
Los Alamos National Laboratory shut down
Wired News: " Los Alamos National Laboratory director Pete Nanos shut down the country's leading nuclear weapons lab on Friday, after a set of classified computer disks disappeared and a student was hit in the eye with a powerful laser beam -- all in the space of a week." -
Jul09
W Ketchup
If your choice of ketchup makes you feel like a Democrat buy some patriotic W Ketchup today. Dedicated to Ronald Reagan. Made from the finest California tomatoes using ketchup techniques passed down through American generations. Made in Ohio. "You don't support Democrats. Why should your ketchup?"
