MetaFilter posts tagged with nytimes

David Rohde: Held by the Taliban

Merik — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:05:46 -0800

On a reporting trip to Afghanistan in November of 2008, New York Times reporter David Rohde and two of his colleagues were kidnapped by the Taliban. After being held captive for seven months in the mountains of Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan, David and one of his colleagues escaped in the middle of the night and made their way to freedom. He recounts the story in a five part series: Held by the Taliban. Part One: Kidnapped Part Two: The New Islamic State Part Three: Understanding the Captors Part Four: Through the Eyes of Jihadists Part Five: Escape Epilogue The intro for the series includes video summaries narrated by David Rohde. (previously)

"It was the worst day of my life."

Lutoslawski — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:15:43 -0800

25 years ago today, Vicki Dunbar Nelson and Jean Hepner played the longest tournament rally in tennis history, lasting 29 minutes and 642 shots (SLNYT). NPR interview with Ms. Nelson, 25 years later. The longest non-tournament rally was accomplished by the Rossetti Brothers in 2008, with 25,944 strokes over 14 hours and 31 minutes.

Magazines as Fabric

ocherdraco — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:07:05 -0800

Artist/Designer Ilisha Helfman makes clothes for her custom made paper dolls every week from the cover of the New York Times Magazine.

A Whole New Meaning to 'Forefathers.'

Lutoslawski — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:58:03 -0800

The Circumcision v. HIV debate rages on. [previously and previously-er and previously-er still] The debate has been rekindled due to new findings. It is expected to be one of the main topics during the CDC's National HIV Prevention Conference this week, as the CDC is considering endorsing routine circumcision. The American Academy of Pediatrics is also considering revising their circumcision policy, thus making it covered under Medicaid. Naturally, there is a lot of criticism of the evidence. In related news, it appears that there is a modicum of the so-called 'Birthers' who believe Obama's citizenship can be proven by his penis.

One in 8 Million

ocherdraco — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 22:06:52 -0800

One in 8 Million "New York is a city of characters. On the subway and in its streets, from the intensity of Midtown to the intimacy of neighborhood blocks, is a 305-square-mile parade of people with something to say. This is a collection of a few of their passions and problems, relationships and routines, vocations and obsessions. A new story will be added weekly." A photo and audio series from the New York Times. A few of the stories:

Baida is honest

zinfandel — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:15:05 -0800

How Baida Wanted to Die In Baquba, the Iraqi police detective flipped pointlessly through a file on his desk...“You will like Baida,” Maj. Hosham al-Tamimi said..."She is” — he paused — “honest...” She began in a soft voice: “My name is Baida Abdul Karim al-Shammari, and I am from New Baquba near the general hospital. I am one of eight children; five were killed. The police raided our home. It was a half-hour before dawn during Ramadan. The Americans were with them...” When we did finally go, we met with Baida alone, sitting together on a bed in the nurse’s office because there were no chairs. I asked her gently, and as nonjudgmentally as I could, whether she wanted to kill me because I was a foreigner. “Frankly, yes.” Then she added, to soften it, “Not specifically you, because I know you.”

You were lookin' in the mirror and you wish you had some pot?

rottytooth — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 18:52:51 -0800

Potbellies: the fashion must-have hipster accoutrement for the summer, according to the NYTimes. Rebuttal from Flavorwire. via reddit

Barbara Ehrenreich on Poverty in America

ocherdraco — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:50:05 -0800

Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed, has for the past two months been writing a series of opinion essays in the New York Times that discuss poverty, both new and entrenched. The pieces, so far, are "Too Poor to Make the News," "A Homespun Safety Net," and "Is It Now A Crime to Be Poor?" "Too Poor to Make the News"

In some accounts, the recession is even described as the “great leveler”.... But the outlook is not so cozy when we look at the effects of the recession on a group generally omitted from all the vivid narratives of downward mobility — the already poor.

"A Homespun Safety Net"

So far, despite some temporary expansions of food stamps and unemployment benefits by the Obama administration, the recession has done for the government safety net pretty much what Hurricane Katrina did for the Federal Emergency Management Agency: it’s demonstrated that you can be clinging to your roof with the water rising, and no one may come to helicopter you out.

"Is It Now A Crime to Be Poor?"

In defiance of all reason and compassion, the criminalization of poverty has actually been intensifying as the recession generates ever more poverty. So concludes a new study from the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, which found that the number of ordinances against the publicly poor has been rising since 2006, along with ticketing and arrests for more “neutral” infractions like jaywalking, littering or carrying an open container of alcohol.

For the Unemployed, the Day Stacks Up Differently

splatta — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:18:15 -0800

How are Americans spending their time? An informational graphic from The New York Times.

Steamtwitter

ericbop — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:10:24 -0800

The wonderful Ben Schott (previously on Mefi) has posted an awesome excerpt from the 1891 Anglo-American Telegraphic Code, showing how folks got around (economically-induced) character and word limitations over a century before Twitter. Too wacky to be true? Gleam tus!

"Files Vanished, Young Chinese Lose the Future."

Keter — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:12:08 -0800

Imagine you're living in China, trying to work your way out of the family date farming business (which garners approximately $450 annually). You do all the right things. You apply for (and receive) Communist Party membership. You study literally to the point of collapse, and despite coming from coal-town origins, you score high on your gao kao ("high test," more-or-less the only thing that matters in getting into a Chinese university). Your already-poor family goes deep into debt to send you to college, and you even manage to come out with a degree. Classic rise-up-by-your-own-bootstraps tale, right? However, finally, when you go to apply for a job—your state-sanctioned educational, occupational, and political records are inexplicably, awfully gone. What has happened to that plain manila folder (!) that serves as your only legitimate, official history in Chinese society? Probably stolen and sold so a party official's child can get everything you worked so hard for. And then, of course, your family is detained by party officials when your parents demand to know where the hell your life went. Of course. Then again, local corruption by local officials in China isn't terribly surprising. It's had some time to evolve. This just isn't what you normally think about when you think "government corruption."

Why we need Law & Order, SVU, Criminal Intent and CSI: New York

crossoverman — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:40:19 -0800

Murder: New York City. A map pinpointing murders in the five boroughs of NYC from 2003-09. Broken down by time of day, weapon used, age, sex and ethnicity of both victim and perpetrator. Not surprisingly, in the heat of summer the body count rises. Investigating homicides - a Q&A series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

"Jeez Louise, what a sorehead"

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:23:24 -0800

Tim Kreider muses on being judgmental and angry

Is this proof enough?

gushn — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:17:18 -0800

The NYTimes prevents leaks of its reporter's kidnapping from circulating on Wikipedia. The NYTimes managed to keep a story about one of its reporters being captured by the Taliban off of major newspapers through courtesy, but had a much harder time doing so on the Pulitzer Prize winning reporter's Wikipedia page. The reporter has since escaped and the story has now broken, though heated exchanges on the page's history remain, with edits by founder Jimmy Wales himself.

Confidential to NY Times: Free as in speech

chesty_a_arthur — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:41:41 -0800

Getting smart about personal technology. NYTimes publishes Sonia Zjawinski's assertion that other peoples' images on Flickr are probably OK to download, blow up and use to decorate her house: And if you’re wondering about copyright issues (after all, these aren’t my photos), the photos are being used by me for my own, private, noncommercial use. I’m not selling these things and not charging admission to my apartment, so I think I’m in the clear. Other people think it's more complicated, and some are just pissed. Coincidentally, the Times photo editor is taking questions this week. Next, Zjawinski will also address the issue of tattooing Flickr photos without attribution (maybe.)

East Village, Nation Mourns Death of Pretty Boy

BitterOldPunk — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:39:51 -0800

Cat dies. The NY Times is there.

Authors Can Autograph It

Fizz — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:13:27 -0800

To Marty, This bespells doom! A recent reading in Manhattan at the Strand bookstore by David Sedaris, whose most recent book is “When You Are Engulfed in Flames,” may have offered a glimpse of the future. A man named Marty who had waited in the book-signing line presented his Kindle, on the back of which Mr. Sedaris, in mock horror, wrote, “This bespells doom.” (The signed Kindle was photographed, but its owner’s full name is unknown.)

Photography, Video, and Visual Journalism

netbros — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:29:29 -0800

Lens is the new photojournalism blog of The New York Times, presenting visual and multimedia reporting — photographs, videos and slide shows. A showcase for Times photographers, it will draw on The Times' own pictorial archive, numbering in the millions of images and going back to the early 20th century. Features in their first week include: Essay: Slow Photography in an Instantaneous Age, about what it means to shoot on large-format film in the digital age; Showcase: A Prom Divided, a multimedia feature about a segregated prom in 2009 south-central Georgia.

Edmund Andrews writes about his credit crisis

russilwvong — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:03:17 -0800

My Personal Credit Crisis. By Edmund Andrews, economics reporter for the New York Times. I felt foolish, ashamed and angry.... Why had I been trying to live a lifestyle that I couldn’t afford? Why had I tried to keep up the image of a conventional suburban family man, when nothing about my situation was conventional? How could I have glossed over the fact that we had been spending about $3,000 more than we were earning, month after month after month? How could a person who wrote about economics for a living fall into the kind of credit-card trap that consumer groups had warned about for years? Via Brad DeLong.

"Monsters Inc. meets The Nightmare Before Christmas inside a retro Japanese video game"

Rhaomi — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:15:12 -0800

"Once upon a time there was a game that nobody ever played, sitting on the floor in the back room of an empty arcade. The game was full of life and strife, mega-monsters and robot fights. We Are The Strange was the title. Now meet the players who live inside, idle." The story of filmmaker M dot Strange and his solo indie masterpiece, We Are The Strange. When the trailer hit the web in October of 2006, it was an instant sensation. The video depicted a surreal digital dystopia full of bizarre characters and an absurdist plot, all set to rockin' chiptune music. Soon the eccentric creator of the film, M dot Strange (a.k.a. Michael Belmont), opened up his production process to the web. Through use of an official blog, making-of videos, and an extensive "film skool" series, Belmont gave viewers insight into the innovative animation process he calls "Str8nime" ("strange plus 8-bit plus anime"). By collating disparate techniques such as CGI, greenscreen, stop-motion, papercraft, and even Mario Paint, he had perfected a striking, overstimulating visual style that was not quite like anything seen before. The premise of the film unfolded, too -- a mute "dollboy" named eMMM and a cursed woman named Blue meet, forlorn, in the Forest of Still Life. Together they sojourn into the sinister Stop-Mo City in search of the perfect ice cream parlor. Meanwhile, the chain-slinging superhero Rain and his psychotic origami sidekick, Ori, do battle with the monsters inhabiting Stop-Mo in pursuit of their ectoplasmic archnemesis, Him (based on videogame baddie Sinistar). But, like the 8-bit games that inspired it, the plot of the film is incoherent and somewhat juvenile -- the focus is on the action and the cinematography. By the end of the year, Belmont completed the film and even snagged a spot at the Sundance Midnight Movie Festival, which led to favorable write-ups in Wired, Variety, and the New York Times. (Not all the buzz was good, however -- several of the Sundance critics reportedly walked out in bewilderment halfway through the film). His work finished, Belmont payed back the community that supported him by releasing the movie for free in HD on the web (eager fans churned out art and translated the movie into 17 languages, including Icelandic, Brazilian Portuguese, and leet). He also put together a 2-disc deluxe edition with scads of bonus features. He still runs a blog where he chats about filmmaking, animation, and upcoming projects.

Letter from an AIG bonus recipient

Argyle — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:09:24 -0800

Letter from an AIG bonus recipient - The resignation letter of an AIG executive explaining his point of view on the bonus furor. The proverbial other side of the story.

Gar's revenge

ericbop — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:37:09 -0800

Meet batting stance guy. The NY Times has a neat profile on Gar Ryness, who has the most marketable least-marketable skill in America. He does your favorite old-school players, as well as most of the current MLB team lineups, including the (non-Dutch) stars of the WBC. He's made video appearances for several teams (and MLB TV), and has quickly become a fan and player favorite for his uncanny depictions of players' idiosyncratic moves in the batter's box. In terms of virtual baseball, batting stance guy is slightly more awesome than this.

Now with eCoffee and eDonuts

device55 — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:24:01 -0800

The NY Times Article Skimmer. A little more information. (still a prototype, but very nice way to browse)

End Times?

netbros — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:11:37 -0800

Virtually all the predictions about the death of old media have assumed a comfortingly long time frame for the end of print—the moment when, amid a panoply of flashing lights, press conferences, and elegiac reminiscences, the newspaper presses stop rolling and news goes entirely digital. Most of these scenarios assume a gradual crossing-over, almost like the migration of dunes, as behaviors change, paradigms shift, and the digital future heaves fully into view. But what if the old media dies much more quickly? What if a hurricane comes along and obliterates the dunes entirely? Specifically, what if The New York Times goes out of business—like, this May? New York Times stock performance over the past five years.

Everything you ever wanted to know about the NY Times crossword puzzle

Zed_Lopez — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 16:03:22 -0800

XWord Info soberly describes itself as containing "data about NYT puzzles dating back to November, 1993, covering the entire time that Will Shortz has been Puzzle Editor," understating the cornucopia of geeky goodness within. See any crossword over that time. Look up every appearance of a word with every clue ever used for it. See the most frequently used 500 words, and the most popular by length. Look at unusual puzzles: those with fewest and most black blocks (with thumbnails of fewest and most); those with most and least words; the most frequently used grid patterns, and examples of grid art; pangrams (puzzles using each letter at least once), and puzzles using the fewest letters (the least is ten); puzzles whose words have the highest Scrabble score; or the freshest (according to a measure of how unusual the words are.) Check stats for the crossword constructors: the most prolific (Wordplay and the Simpsons may have misled you -- Merle Reagle doesn't make the list); which constructors' puzzles have appeared by which day of the week, and which have "hit for the cycle", had a puzzle on each day of the week; sorted by Shortz number (their order of publication by Shortz.) And there's even more. You don't have to be a crossword fan to enjoy it, but it doesn't hurt. Essentially, it is to the NY Times crossword puzzle what J-Archive is to Jeopardy! (previously discussed.) Previously: 1 Across: Mathowie's community blog.