July 24, 2009

Can the New York Times and Washington Post survive on a pay-wall business model if they do it together?

In a new essay entitled Build the Wall, David Simon (who was a Baltimore Sun reporter before he produced The Wire) argues that if the larger newspaper industry is to survive, The New York Times and Washington Post must start charging readers for access to their websites (preferably done as a single action in concert with each other) — John Gruber, Dave Winer, and the folks at Gawker disagree, and Steven Berlin Johnson argues that while the future for newspapers might be quite bleak, the future for journalism and high quality analysis is actually quite bright. Meanwhile, the Times is currently doing market research to see if it's readers would be willing to pay $5 a month for online access, and the Associated Press announced it's intent to build a new news DRM system that will enable users to “consume, mash up and share AP content based on rights”.
posted by dyslexictraveler at 10:35 PM PST - 128 comments

How green was my valley

How green was my valley: California's economic meltdown The fields of wheat, cotton and cantaloupe that sustained his family for three generations are gone. The land is a mess of fallow fields, cracked earth and swirling dust. (PDF - By some estimates, 12.8% of the United States' agricultural production (as measured by dollar value) comes from California, and the majority of that is in the Central Valley). However, his particular scene of devastation, Mr. Allen argues, has nothing to do with the credit crisis, the housing crash or the downturn that has California in a vice grip. It has to do with a seven-centimetre-long, semi-translucent, steel blue fish known as the Delta smelt. [more inside]
posted by KokuRyu at 8:51 PM PST - 79 comments

Kimota!

Thanks to a combination of publishers going out of business and rights disputes Miracleman is probably the best superhero comic you never got the chance to read (previously on the blue). That looks set to change as today at SDCC, Marvel comics has announced that they now own the rights to the title.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:35 PM PST - 55 comments

Harassing women for fun and prizes

Electronic Arts, the video game publisher that is no stranger to either controversy, is sponsoring a contest for its upcoming release of Dante's Inferno (Previously). The contest, taking place at this weekend's Comic-Con, requires entrants to "commit acts of lust" and take a photo of said act with an EA (or other company's) booth babes, post the photos on Twitter or Facebook, and repeat the process as many times as possible for additional chances to win. The prize is listed in part as "Dinner and a sinful night with two hot girls". [more inside]
posted by cmgonzalez at 3:08 PM PST - 136 comments

Keeping it real

Linguists and Missionaries often find themselves in similar situations. The Jesus Film Project. [more inside]
posted by fcummins at 2:38 PM PST - 17 comments

Remember: New Glasses Before New Passport

Detained in Kenya for not looking enough like her passport photo, Canadian Citizen Suaad Haji Mohamud has been trapped in Kenya for 2 months while trying to return home to her adopted country. [more inside]
posted by jacquilynne at 2:31 PM PST - 29 comments

‘Everyone has a jet’ : Scenes from the new New Delhi

"‘You have to have at least, like, a BMW or a Mercedes to join. They meet at midnight and they race their cars. The Prime Minister’s office is always calling us to complain.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because the Prime Minister can’t sleep. These engines make so much noise they keep him awake...." (via Ultrabrown)
posted by sk381 at 1:33 PM PST - 24 comments

I'm just an animal.

This Must Be The Place. For fans of The Talking Heads and American Psycho. NSFW.
posted by miss lynnster at 1:21 PM PST - 37 comments

TalkingPointsTwitter

Talking Points Memo has put together an excellent resource for keeping up with happenings in Washington.

Whatever else Twitter might be, we've found it a good way to keep tabs on politicos and reporters, what they're doing, saying and so forth. Pols make unguarded or revealing statements, sometimes just helpful heads-ups on events or statements; reporters give early tips on stories. And just atmospherically you can get a feel for what certain groups of people are thinking and talking about.


With that, enjoy Twitter feeds aggregated at TPM for Elected Democrats on Capitol Hill, Elected Republicans on Capitol Hill, Democratic and liberal insiders, Republican and conservative insiders, and reporters and bloggers.
posted by lazaruslong at 12:15 PM PST - 29 comments

Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius: Was He Quite Ordinary? [Via] [more inside]
posted by homunculus at 12:08 PM PST - 33 comments

Where the bombs were built

Photos of nuclear-explosives production facilities built during the Manhattan Project, by photographer Martin Miller. He also took photos of nuclear missile sites built during the cold war.
posted by of strange foe at 11:54 AM PST - 24 comments

Congratulations on your recent death

Video footage of death for your amusement. [more inside]
posted by dortmunder at 11:08 AM PST - 42 comments

Adam Curtis's It Felt Like A Kiss

Adam Curtis's It Felt Like A Kiss. The whole of the experimental film (from the author of The Power of Nightmares and The Trap) which accompanied his recent show at the Manchester Festival. "When a nation is powerful it tells confident stories about the future."
posted by feelinglistless at 10:57 AM PST - 23 comments

Recombinant Records cartoons by Stuart McMillen

Recombinant Records cartoons by Stuart McMillen, e.g. Aldous Huxley vs. George Orwell. (via)
posted by kliuless at 10:40 AM PST - 17 comments

5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

Scramjets are go!
posted by Artw at 10:25 AM PST - 35 comments

Clerihews

Sir Humphry Davy
Was not fond of gravy.
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered sodium.

This is the first example of the form that came to be known as the clerihew. [more inside]
posted by Iridic at 10:12 AM PST - 66 comments

Meet the new type

A new type of newspaper for a new type of world One story from it previously. [more inside]
posted by msalt at 9:38 AM PST - 43 comments

Chi...Chi...Chi...Chicken

When the 'secret' of the Colonel's blend of herbs and spices was revealed, The Guardian had to test the recipe - and then see if it could be bettered ... (video)
posted by nam3d at 8:50 AM PST - 115 comments

The Wire Illustrations

The Wire Illustrations -- Characters from The Wire, illustrated.
posted by OmieWise at 8:40 AM PST - 43 comments

I'll never let go

Archaeologists find graveyard of sunken Roman ships. Information on how such a shipwreck is discovered available from the Aurora Trust site.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:32 AM PST - 12 comments

Three Cat Moonshine

Like Keyboard Cat? Like Three Wolf Moon? Now they are TOGETHER AT LAST. [more inside]
posted by mippy at 8:01 AM PST - 51 comments

When we've been there ten thousand years.

Hymn 41 Harmony Grove New Britain Claremont Arlington Amazing Grace. The timeline links to a nice variety of recordings, traditional (1939: Mary Shipp; 1941: Shiloh Baptist Church) and otherwise (1975: The Amazing Rhythm Aces; 1992: The Lemonheads). [more inside]
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:32 AM PST - 27 comments

Summer Mix Series

Summer Mix Series is the soundtrack to your summer. Created by yewknee.com, this collection of user submitted mix CDs encourages submissions to have unique, specific themes, giving many of these mixes a more cohesive edge than "Bill's Favorite Tunes June 2009". Listen to summer, 48 CDs and counting! [more inside]
posted by CharlesV42 at 5:11 AM PST - 17 comments

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