Bella Parola

You

2009-03-14T14:53:00.001-04:00

Found ya!I need some commas in my blog.Wilya go getem?

Today's tearjerker, from the WaPo

2007-07-01T18:00:00.000-04:00

Fated to Be Friends
Sometimes you read a remarkable news story about remarkable people, remarkable events, and remarkable moments in history. This one throws in a more-than-remarkable coincidence and is definitely the tearjerker of my day.

A little comma-doctoring for the WaPo

2007-07-01T17:36:00.000-04:00

Betting on Hype Tech
I have to get in a little comma-doctoring now and then, and when one of the nation's major dailies gives me the opportunity in the lead sentence of a Page 1 story, I simply won't resist it.

By Kim Hart and Tomoeh Murakami Tse
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, July 1, 2007; Page F01

For the giddy Apple groupies who spent hours, or days, in line for an iPhone, it all came down to the final reward: snagging a new technology for $600 that has yet to prove itself.

So, how does $600 prove itself, really? Or perhaps they meant to say, "snagging a new technology that has yet to prove itself, for $600." Maybe even, "snagging, for $600, a new technology that has yet to prove itself."

Ya think? I personally would dump the snazzy "snagging" and go with "spending $600 on a new technology that has yet to prove itself." But that's just me, and that lead sentence is supposed to be catchy.

WWAY-TV and ethics: it's worse than I thought

2007-07-01T15:24:00.000-04:00

As I wrote not long ago, I really don't look for reasons to write about the people at WWAY, but they seem to try really hard to give them to me.

This is just stunning. Stunning actually doesn't begin to describe my reaction - I wrote earlier about a "news" story about a company award won by the local BMW dealer, but even then I tried to give the benefit of the doubt, and thought perhaps it was just an ethical slip on the part of some junior members of the sales and/or news staff, perhaps born of inexperience. And I thought, when I wrote earlier about "Dancing with WWAY," that it was nothing more than one of the stupidest sweeps series I ever saw.

WWAY TO GO: LIVE, LOCAL, INTERACTIVE
But no, as this article published on TVNewsday, a subscription-only trade website (but almost certainly mostly written by WWAY staff themselves) brags loudly and lustily, they are proud of the success of a new plan to completely disregard the separation between sales and news. The article even reports that the ridiculous failure (as a news series at least) "Dancing with WWAY" earned them $5,500 for that ethical breach. I don't have time to go into the Mother's and Father's Day promotions, which were equally stupid if not quite so annoying, and apparently just as unethical.

Weatherman Chris Phillips was a good sport about it, but nonetheless seemed rather pained to be participating in "Dancing" even before he was actually injured and had to sit out the rest of the "contest." Stephanie Beecken, on the other hand, threw her entire talentless self into it. While it is probably accurate to describe him as one of "two of our most popular news talent," how on earth could they include her in that?

Even after the pretty much complete turnover of the newsroom over the past year, it is ludicrous to claim that yet another imported bottle blonde is even familiar to anyone in Wilmington, much less "popular," after three months here. I had felt sorry for her up till then, definitely including her in the list of those I mentioned earlier who arrive here on their "first or second jobs out of college and spending one contract term here working for their big break somewhere else, or showing us and themselves why they don't have what it takes to get any further." While I wasn't thinking of her specifically when I wrote that, she is definitely in the latter camp. The only talent I have observed in her thus far is an entirely uncalled-for self-esteem. She wasn't bad at the dancing, but who gives a flying flip about that? I just noticed on the WWAY website (no link in order not to give them more traffic to brag about) that even after his injury, Chris still somehow won the contest - that would pretty well underscore the lack of "popularity," then, wouldn't it?

Getting back to the real subject here, the ethical impropriety of selling a news series, I am basically flabbergasted. The slogan "Live, Local, Interactive" doesn't mean that you do news items just for the sake of getting ad revenue out of a sponsor. I used to say that perhaps it's OK to solicit and credit donations of clothing, decorations and services for the news set and anchors, but apparently that was the slippery slope that let these people end up in the ethical swamp at the bottom of anyone's acceptable news ethics guidelines.

They should be ashamed, and in another day, they would be facing FCC investigation, I truly believe.

In case you think I'm exaggerating the absolute wrongness of this practice, see this article on the website of the Poynter Institute, acknowledged as one of the leading sources of journalistic guidance. The article is three years old, but I can't imagine that the wall between news and sales that had existed for decades has fallen in that period of time. Here's the best, most applicable, quote, with my emphasis added:

Candy Altman also views these challenges from the corporate level as vice president of news for Hearst-Argyle Television. She says the news/sales line ethical dilemma "continues to raise its ugly head."

"Thankfully, our company is very clear on this issue," Altman says, "but I still hear horror stories about deals being made to sell news content that should not be for sale."

(I'm pasting this entire article below in case WWAY realizes that this isn't something they want to brag about, and takes it off their website. I've added emphasis on the key points mentioned above.)

Market Share by Arthur Greenwald: WWAY TO GO: LIVE, LOCAL, INTERACTIVE
TVNEWSDAY, May. 21, 6:21 AM ET

The ABC affiliate in Wilmington, N.C., is finding success with "just right" promotions that involve viewers and rely on the humblest of new media—e-mail.

By Arthur Greenwald

When it comes to new media, small- and medium-market stations face the classic Three Bears dilemma.

Too few interactive features make a station look dated and permit competitors to gobble up online advertisers.

But too much fancy digital content can waste money and staff time, while delivering a minimal boost to ratings and revenue.

But those clever Goldilocks at WWAY in Wilmington, N.C., have got it just right. The Morris Multimedia ABC affiliate has branded itself as WWAY-TV3: Live, Local, Interactive! They achieve all three with a smart and selective combination of old and new media.

To make certain the station lives up to its slogan, General Manager Andy Combs ordered his team to scrutinize every daypart for opportunities to add a local slant and, when possible, an interactive twist. But there was a catch. Combs insisted that each innovation prove cost-effective.

That was just fine with News Director/Senior Strategist Jack Pagano, who set about refreshing both the station’s newscasts and Web site with the most tried-and-true of all "new media"—e-mail.

"We invite viewers to comment on every story, and they certainly have a lot to say," says Pagano. "We’ve been able to build viewer opinions right into the newscasts, in the form of e-mail [excerpts] and direct viewer polls. (Click here and see what WWAY viewers say about immigration reform and other stories.)

"It worked so well," adds Internet Sales and Marketing Director Charlie Bragg, "that we wanted to see what we could do with ABC primetime."

Not long ago, MarketShare asked why more ABC affiliates weren’t leveraging the network’s solid success with Dancing With The Stars. It turns out that this ABC affiliate was, well, WWAY ahead of us.

"We created Dancing With WWAY," says Bragg, "and we built it around two of our most popular news talent: meteorologist Chris Phillips and reporter Stephanie Beecken." In fact, Phillips and Beecken are the only contestants, locked in a running battle for weekly bragging rights.

Although the newsroom colleagues dance in tandem, "our viewers decide each week who"s the better dancer," explains Pagano. "Chris and Stephanie have to learn the same steps as the primetime contestants."

Making sure they do is Babs McDance, a local dance studio and social hall that Bragg quickly signed up as a series sponsor. "Neither was an especially good dancer before starting lessons," says Bragg. "So viewers could really appreciate their progress as they followed along at home."

And follow they did, thanks to weekly news features, which Internet Director Chase Clark repurposed as online videos on a dedicated Web page. Viewer response was so enthusiastic that tomorrow (May 22) the station will celebrate the season finale of Dancing With The Stars with a live event. All of Wilmington is invited to the Babs McDance studio to applaud ABC’s primetime winner and, more important, to cheer on Phillips and Beecken in their final face-off.

It’s like a combination of a local contest and an Oscar Night Party," crows Pagano. "We’ve even lined up another sponsor, Chelsea’s Wine Bar and Eatery, which is donating refreshments for attendees, just as Babs McDance is donating the location."

Whoever triumphs, WWAY has taken steps to ensure that the real winner is Wilmington. In lieu of tickets, viewers are asked to make a donation at the door. "One hundred percent of the proceeds go to the Lower Cape Fear Hospice," says Pagano, who predicts hundreds of attendees.

According to Bragg, this promotion netted the station around $5,500 in new revenue, on air and online, from Babs McDance alone, not bad for the 136th DMA. The station earned added value in the form of increased viewer interest in the newscast and online. There was even a bonus effect: it seems that eavesdropping on Chris and Stephanie’s lessons inspired WWAY viewers to get up and try it themselves.

"We heard from several senior citizen homes that residents were imitating the steps on their own, and even demanding dance lessons," says Pagano. "Naturally we sent out our crews and got some very nice feature stories."

Indeed, the viewer response to Dancing with WWAY was so encouraging that midway through the promotion, the station quickly scheduled another: a Queen For A Day-style campaign with an interactive twist they called Make Your Mother’s Day.

Jump-started with an appealing promo shot at a local elementary school, the campaign invited viewers of all ages to write to the station and explain why their moms deserved a day of luxury. Over 150 responses soon followed, mostly by e-mail, but some by fax and regular mail.

Charlie Bragg’s team made sure that Wilmington’s Top Mom was showered in prizes, provided by the six local sponsors who also spent a collective $3,500 on airtime and online ads.

The station received so many thoughtful entries that despite many hours of overtime, the newsroom staff was hard-pressed to select just one winner. But choose they did, along with six runners-up who received large bouquets, thanks to the extra generosity of one of the sponsors, Azalea Coast Florist.

(See the Make Your Mother’s Day Promo and winning entries by clicking here.)

Just like Dancing With WWAY, the Mother’s Day promotion resulted in a big boost to the station’s Web traffic. So much so that they’re ready to launch a third promotion for—you guessed it—Father’s Day. But the deadline will be a few days earlier so they can once again compliment a Web-based contest with traditional TV production.

"We plan to surprise the winner by presenting the prizes during our newscast." says Pagano. "We’ll knock on the winner’s door and surprise him live on the air."

Which could lead to yet another interactive feature on administering CPR to a shocked father.

Market Share by Arthur Greenwald focuses on successful station promotions of every shape and size. Have you produced the Mother of All Marketing Campaigns? Don’t keep it a secret. Let us share your success with your colleagues around the country. Write to Arthur at greenwald@tvnewsday.com.

Wilmington police step up post-bar patrols downtown

2007-07-01T15:05:00.000-04:00

Wilmington Star-News: Police step up post-bar patrols

All I can say, is why has there been such tolerance until now? It's been out of hand for years. I hope this will help de-scent downtown from the aroma of beer, both pre- and post-consumption, and get rid of the more dangerous elements - including those imported from elsewhere and locals who prey upon outsiders, both.

How 'bout them Realtors?

2007-06-25T20:17:00.000-04:00

Ted Vaden, the "Public Editor," or ombudsman, at the News & Observer, got snippy about the profession of real estate in answering a question about why the N&O capitalizes "Realtor." And one responder used AP style as a reason for not capitalizing it, incorrectly. Below is my comment in reply.

I agree that the tone of this item is unnecessarily snide.

But, Editor Beth, you know a different AP style than I learned. While I don't have a Stylebook (its proper title, so it's capitalized!) in my hand, this item from the Realty Times puts it the way I remember it, and if you are using lower-case "realtor," rather than "real estate agent," you are not using AP style.

According to the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual, Addison Wesley, a trademark is "a brand, symbol, word, etc., used by a manufacturer or dealer and protected by law to prevent a competitor from using it." According to the guidelines, editors should "use a generic equivalent unless the trademark name is essential to the story." When a trademark is used, "capitalize it," says the news bible.

To criticize someone else's usage, get yours right

2007-06-25T19:12:00.000-04:00

Today's really the day for the Durham newsroom of the News & Observer. A third blog item, from the education beat reporter, gets all snotty about the local school system using a tricky word wrong, arguably. However, the post, School policy uses poor grammar, is itself wrong out of the gate by using the word grammar to gripe about a usage error.

Here's my post in reply:
The error in the item you are so distressed about is not of grammar but of usage - and by calling it grammar you have committed an equal error of usage.

See Lingua ex Machina, from MIT Press:

grammar Not to be confused with socially correct usage. In order to handle novel sentences, we not only need to access the words stored in our brains but also the patterns of sentences possible in a particular language. These patterns describe not just patterns of words but also patterns of patterns. There are three aspects of grammar: morphology (word forms and endings), syntax (from the Greek "to arrange together" – the ordering of words into clauses and sentences), and phonology (speech sounds and their arrangements). A complete collection of rules is called the mental grammar of the language, or grammar for short.

The Maven's Word of the Day from Random House suggests doing what I do - avoiding the word altogether - at the same time it quotes no less literate an author than Saul Bellow as using it the "wrong" way that upsets you so badly.

"Put together the slaughterhouses, the steel mills, the freight yards...that comprised the city" (Saul Bellow).

The American Heritage Dictionary allows that:

Even though careful writers often maintain this distinction, comprise is increasingly used in place of compose, especially in the passive: The Union is comprised of 50 states. Our surveys show that opposition to this usage is abating. In the 1960s, 53 percent of the Usage Panel found this usage unacceptable; in 1996, only 35 percent objected.

So I would suggest you unknot your panties and pay attention to something really important.

Sophomoric hijinks at the News & Observer

2007-06-25T18:09:00.000-04:00

The News & Observer's Bull City blog, covering Durham, appears to have been taken over by 8th-graders. One entry today made fun of firecracker-safety tips provided by the Durham Fire Department, and another consisted of an informal contest to write a caption for a photo of a man with his head under the tail of the city's large bronze Bull Durham statue.

I posted the following comments on the blog, and after the second item appeared, sent an email including both of the comments to Melanie Sill, the managing editor, and to Rob Waters, the Durham editor. I received two responses quickly: one from Ms. Sill, telling me that she couldn't reply without knowing who I am, and one from the author of the firecracker item, telling me to lighten up. Interestingly enough, he did that only in a direct email, and not as a comment on the blog.

Following is the email exchange with Ms. Sill:

June 25, 2007, 5:40 PM
TO: Melanie Sill
From: Bella Parola
Subject: Is anyone paying attention to the Bull's Eye blog?

This makes two incredibly juvenile posts on that blog today. Are there no adults paying attention?

RE: Firecrackers: The Silent Killer
Are there any adults paying attention to what you people do over there? The tone of this post is completely inappropriate and downright disrespectful for a newspaper that claims to be doing community service - this is not the Lampoon, nor Weekend Update, nor the Simpsons or whatever ridiculous prime-time cartoon that begat your character above. I think people who shoot off fireworks are idiots, but mass media that claim a public-service mission are beholden to at least try to take these kinds of messages seriously.

RE: Insert clever punchline here
How sophomoric and totally inappropriate for the News & Observer. This kind of photo is fine for internal newsroom yucks, but I don't think there is any reason to share it on the website in this fashion. Grow up.

From: Melanie Sill
Date: 2007/06/25 Mon PM 05:50:31 EDT
Subject: Re: Is anyone paying attention to the Bull's Eye blog?

If you'd care to identify yourself, I might be able to reply to this note.

June 25, 2007, 6:04 PM
TO: Melanie Sill
From: Bella Parola

As I have said before, I fail to see what difference that makes. You were able to reply, by using that handy feature on your email program, and I have received your reply - which indicates only that you choose not to address any issue unless it's presented by someone you can identify. I am not interested in providing comments or correspondence for attribution in the paper (or elsewhere) and so cannot understand why you insist on knowing who I am.

I have no connection to the News & Observer, or to any other media organization, but I do care about the news and about how it is presented. If you care more about identities than the quality of your product, that is not my problem.

From: Melanie Sill
Date: 2007/06/25 Mon PM 06:09:54 EDT

Basically, I think people who send anonymous email are somewhat cowardly, especially when they are criticizing others. I generally don¹t reply.

Date: 2007/06/25 Mon PM 06:23:18 EDT
To: Melanie Sill

You are welcome to that opinion.

I think people who ignore reasonable criticism based on an inapplicable journalistic standard are ivory-tower snobs.

What difference would it make if my actual legal name were Bella Parola or Jane Doe? You don't know me, and you are not being asked to verify that I am a credible source of information in a published news item. I alerted you to inappropriate material on your website, which requires you only to click on the link and see it for yourself, not to validate my credentials.

Obviously we are on opposing sides of this issue, and I will not bother you again.

Leaping before an onrushing train

2007-06-25T12:15:00.000-04:00

RE: Leaping before an onrushing train

This is a very interesting trend. However, I will quibble with your use of the statistic of the number of suicides in Japan vs. the U.S. Raw numbers from one country to the next rarely make for a meaningful comparison - while the rate, dividing the number into the population, does.

I also disagree strongly with your apparent alarm about families who receive a 'sizable insurance payout' from a train-track suicide being required to pay for the resulting delays. Who would you prefer to pay? And why would we not want to give those hellbent on self-destruction, and who are also insured in order to provide a reward for it to their survivors, a good reason to avoid flinging themselves in front of a train? I would think any way to reduce that particular method would be welcome. Carbon monoxide in a parked car isn't pretty, but only a very tiny number of first responders and/or family members are traumatized by it, while hundreds or thousands witness the train-flingings and many thousands are affected by the resulting delays.

Jousting a little with a much brighter light

2007-06-22T11:02:00.000-04:00

G.D. Gearino, the late lamented columnist at the News & Observer, on his website Words Assembled Well, makes a couple of interesting points today about the Nifong spectacle and about journalists and political contributions. He is a heavyweight in the world of verbal sparring, but I don't mind a quick turn in the ring with him. Fortunately, I don't particularly disagree so it's not a real fight, more like trying to keep up the rhythm he started at the speed bag. (That was a long and interesting boxing metaphor, especially when you consider I detest boxing.)

Here's my reply to his post:

Thank you for making clear a mostly unmentioned meaning of the Nifong spectacle. I'm still too mad, and mulling over what how many others have to say about the lacrosse/Gell (as a glaring example, of course not the only instance) conundrum, to have written about it myself. Clearly, the impact of the prosecutorial misconduct is more severe in capital cases - but I believe that ardent supporters of the lacrosse players labor under the worldview wherein people of their class suffer equally, when they are inconvenienced or discomforted temporarily, as do lesser mortals when they are executed or incarcerated wrongfully for the bulk of their adulthood. There is a real belief that people of their station in life are of inherently higher value, and infinitely higher sensitivity. The same dichotomy is also visible to a more ridiculous extent in the discussions of the "persecution" of Paris Hilton.

I would quibble mildly with your assessment of the media political contributions. Don't most media employers prohibit any political activity, certainly including participating in a campaign in any way, on the part of the journalists (if not all employees) in their employ? I find it conceivable that people with strong political views hindered from expressing them in that most visceral of ways, by giving their own money to a candidate who they believe will pursue their views, may be more likely to sublimate those views in their work - not necessarily intentionally, but perhaps with the same result.

While most journalists adhere to the credo of objectivity, and many try hard to remain apolitical, things do change from the beginning of a career through the later years of it. Living and observing and caring all lead to the formation of beliefs more basic to one's being than mere opinion about current events - and while you have said you are a conservative and I definitely am not, I think we both, along with many others who use words to make a living, have no choice but to reflect our beliefs.

That said, I do tend to disagree that there is a liberal media bias - the values of the journalists being nicely balanced, and perhaps overbalanced, by the views of their corporate employers. And I don't think an analysis of media member's political contributions can prove it either way, because of the ban on contributions I mention above.

Looking a little different at WWAY News

2007-06-22T09:15:00.000-04:00

It's too early to say exactly what the change is, but there are definitely some changes on the anchor desk at WWAY TV.

The hapless humanoid Kaci Christian appears to have been demoted from her three-month or so reign as 6 & 11 co-anchor with the slightly hapless Steve Rondinaro. I'm not sure exactly what his title, "managing editor," means, beyond an ego boost and an excuse to pay a middle-aged white man more than anyone else, but I assume it allowed him to transfer the energy he generated grimacing at her absolute, appalling, lack of ability to relate - to him, the weather people, the camera, the viewers and her subject matter - into a decision to back her out of the main anchor gig.

The long-suffering Ann McAdams, the only member of the adult sector of the newsroom (not counting Chris Phillips, who they definitely need not to force out!) to remain since new management came in swinging the budget scythe last year, has been restored to the 6 & 11 anchor chair next to Steve. She isn't the best anchor the world ever saw, but she is head and shoulders above the imported botox bimbo - and she has one of the key ingredients of an audience-building cornerstone of the newsroom: she is local and she's not going anywhere.

If there has been any mention on the air (which I really wouldn't expect) I have missed it, but the new configuration began the first of this week, I think, and it's reflected on the newsteam page of the WWAYtv3.com website, where Ann's photo has moved up next to Steve's, bumping Kaci down to the second tier of images, and her title has changed from Anchor/Producer to Evening Anchor, formerly the province of Steve and Kaci only. Kaci retains that title right now, but that could change as quickly as Ann's did, the move taking place one day and the title change later.

You don't have to look far to see that continuity and the level of trust and familiarity that come only with years of exposure, combined with an unspoken assurance that she's not spending half her time looking for her next job, are the keys to building and keeping a loyal local news following. Charlie Gaddy at WRAL, Larry Stogner at WTVD, Ken Murphy and Frances Weller at WECT - there's nothing groundbreaking about the rewards of having an authoritative, "permanent" face on your anchor desk. Spread the radius farther, and everywhere you look, the leading news sets in most markets are led by someone with not just years of experience but years in that very chair.

It's a given in this size TV market that the reporters and probably the second-tier anchors will be transients, probably in their first or second jobs out of college and spending one contract term here working for their big break somewhere else, or showing us and themselves why they don't have what it takes to get any further. (Kim Lehman at WECT/WSFX is the best anchor in the market by far, in terms of talent and performance, but at this point I don't think anyone has the feeling she's staying around. If she is, Frances' replacement is in the house!)

The only way to get audience loyalty is by getting and keeping a copacetic anchor team - including the weather folks and, everywhere but WWAY right now, including sports. Get Ann some speech therapy or a dental appliance to lose the lisp, and assuming her doctor-husband is happy here, you've got your main standby. The jury's still out on Steve - if he can tone down his hokey 80s-style selling of every word a little bit, and increase the already hugely improved chemistry with Ann vs. the total lack with Kaci, and if he and the management are both committed to the long run, he may be a keeper too. There is a pretty clear lack of news judgment over there, significantly more effort spent promoting stories than ensuring the reporters have a grasp of the subject they are addressing, so perhaps he can exercise the "managing editor" part more, too.

It's not rocket science, y'all ....

Product placement works - on WWAY news

2007-06-06T18:01:00.000-04:00

I truly do not look for reasons to pick on WWAY. But the news item I saw last night about the local BMW dealer earning a 2007 "Center of Excellence Award" - from BMW, not some objective outside party - is the single worst instance of pandering I've ever seen.

I can't provide a link to the story, as they had the good sense not to post it on the website. But here's what I recall: it was an actual reporter package, with a soundbite from someone from BMW who looked like a deer in headlights, probably startled to have TV coverage of such absolute non-news. It was as gushy as if someone from UNC Wilmington had won the freaking Nobel Prize - ONLY the top 10% of dealers each year attain this pinnacle of customer satisfaction blah blah .....

OK, so there are about 350 BMW dealers in North America, which means that 35 of them won this award this year. In fact, a quick google finds that at least one other dealership in North Carolina won it this year - and they earned it in February, which I suspect would also be true of the local award. This award isn't for having the most kidney donors on staff. BMW says: "The Center of Excellence award is reserved for those dealers who excel in brand values and customer satisfaction while achieving key business objectives related to vehicle and parts sales. "

I wouldn't consider it worth a reporter package on the 6:00 news if they were named the very best BMW dealership in the country, but this is absolutely ridiculous. An internal company award is simply not real news, EVER and one announced four months ago isn't even slightly like news. If they want to buy commercial time and brag about it, that's fine, but it just doesn't get news coverage.

This was so transparently either a direct tie-in to an ad sale already made, or a big pitch to make one, that I almost lost my lunch. I suppose it's conceivable that an amateur news director might think it acceptable to call this news, but I simply can't believe the wall between ads and news has so completely crumbled.

'We Googled You'

2007-06-04T21:29:00.000-04:00

RE: 'We Googled You,' Harvard Business Review Case and response from Danah Boyd

This is a very interesting case, because it bears out what I have been telling people much younger than I am for the past several years: the same wildly interconnected world of information that is making the second half of my own life so much more rewarding is making it no longer possible for those in succeeding generations to live down their youthful mistakes.

When I was 18, the drinking age, for beer at least, was 18. Of course, when I was 16 and 17, I drank beer along with my friends, who were also consuming other illicit substances. We didn't even have fake IDs, because we didn't have to worry much about getting carded - we'd either sneak in or go somewhere else.

In the next few years, I drove home many a night I shouldn't have, spent many a night where I shouldn't have, and generally had a real big time. I didn't get married until I was almost 30, didn't settle into my eventual career for a few more years, and never had children, so my misspent youth was a long one.

I won't say I never got caught doing anything bad, but at the time I got caught, the penalties were current, with only a couple of years of higher insurance premiums and the immediate embarrassment the worst of it. One friend, who had a major marijuana-dealing arrest that resulted in a short jail term and fairly long probation, went on to make lots of money in the fashion business. Another one nearly died of mortification when he was caught embezzling from his fraternal organization, lost his career and spent several months in jail, and today works just a few miles away in a very different field, and no one but his family knows about the crime.

Today, I am a staid, sedate, nigh-on-to prim, middle-aged, middle-class, middleweight lady with a nice professional job, who would be the perfect recruit for Al Qaeda: I am virtually invisible to everyone, and unless the authorities are patting down every single corpus that passes a particular point, I am virtually guaranteed to get by untouched if not entirely unnoticed.

A few old friends and I laugh uproariously when we get to recollecting our wild youths. But for those who have children themselves, the laughter often fades into nervous giggles, when we continue the conversation into the current impossibility of blotting out mistakes.

With the advent of both the internet - mainly the Googlable internet - and digital public records as well as news media, every little mistake has the potential to do what we used to joke about, go on your "permanent record," really. Every kid who gets into trouble for doing something stupid, whether it's buying beer with a fake ID or shoplifting, may pay for it for the rest of their lives. Today, not every little thing like that is recorded and searchable. But 10 years ago, who would have thought you could go to a website that would show you in seconds everything you wanted to know about every registered sex offender in the United States. In fact, some of the worst permanent-record smears young people are getting right now are on those rolls: in many places, a 16-year-old who has sex with someone a few months younger can end up there. I'm thinking that might be a real career-limiting move, before they even know what career they had in mind. Just ask Genarlow Wilson.

I don't know if it's a good thing to live down your past. Maybe if it's harder, people will learn when they're younger not to be so wild, but I'm not sure. I am sure that some people who are in their teens and early twenties right now will become the poster children for the new edition of the permanent record. You can see the draft version on their own places in cyberspace, where they brag about doing the things I mentioned above, with the difference being that the occasional nostalgic weekends my friends and I spend dredging the past out of our ever-dimming memories will be replaced by ever-bright and more or less incontrovertible digital proof, saved somewhere, by someone, maybe to appear when it's least helpful to the cause. I've been trying to warn the young people in my life, but they laugh. And their mothers giggle nervously while we're remembering our wild days.

Getting back to the Harvard Business Review case: I don't care whether Hathaway Jones hires Mimi Brewster or not. I don't much care about any of the people in that world, and my main question about the case as presented is this: Why doesn't anyone think it's wrong that Fred Westen is recruiting his prep-school buddy's daughter? If he would broaden his universe of candidate-seeking, maybe she wouldn't be the only one to choose from. But what do I know? I'm just a middle-aged, middle-class middleweight lady who'd be called matronly if you didn't know I don't have children .... and there's a good reason you don't know my real name!

Tougher penalties for killing police animals approved

2007-06-04T20:40:00.000-04:00

Sometimes legislative remedies are overreactions, but sometimes they're not. I'm not sure exactly where I stand on this one, but I think my desire to protect the dogs outweighs any thought that this might be overkill. Anyone who intentionally kills a police dog, first of all, is probably a pretty bad character to begin with and second, is just about as likely to kill a police officer as well.

The Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. - Someone who willfully kills a K-9, seeing-eye dog or other law enforcement or assistance animal would be guilty of a felony and could serve prison time under a bill given final legislative approval Monday night. .... The bill was filed by Sen. A.B. Swindell, D-Nash, after last year's death of Danny, a K-9 police dog in Rocky Mount. The dog was shot and killed while chasing a suspect wanted on gun and cocaine possession charges.

This story certainly tips me in the direction of book-throwing - for a K9 officer to kill his own dog because he didn't perform up to par in a competition is on the same level as killing a child.
Miami-Dade police sergeant charged in death of K-9

11-year-old hunter bags 'monster pig' in Alabama / 'Monster Pig' was really farm-raised 'Fred'

2007-06-03T14:06:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure what I can add to these two news stories. With the parts I have boldfaced as commentary, they are pretty self-explanatory.

Although I would like to add the dictionary definition of "feral," from Merriam-Webster Online:

a not domesticated or cultivated : WILD
b:having escaped from domestication and become wild

Poor Fred definitely doesn't meet either of those definitions, and for the wildlife officials to say otherwise is just wrong.

And to expand on the commentary indicated by the boldface, how can anyone call shooting any animal with a handgun hunting, especially the part about finishing it off point-blank? It would seem to me that if you can get close enough to shoot a pig with a handgun, he's clearly not wild. But it seems that there is a new sport of handgun hunting I haven't heard about. If you scroll to the end of this item, you will see that it's even more fun than that, another preteen boy killed one with a knife .... I'm sorry, but this is the end of civilization as I knew it.

While some may debate the morality of meat-eating, as long as we're doing it, there's nothing wrong with a good old-fashioned hog-killing on a farm to understand where meat really comes from. But to make a sport of it out in the swamps and glorify the manliness and excitement of stabbing an animal to death just disgusts me.

UPDATE: I feel even less sorry for the "hunter" and his family - apparently in an effort to profit from their unsportsmanlike slaughter of handfed Fred, they faked the photos on the website they quickly put up - the photos which then were used by the media across the country.

From the Wilmington Star News:

Montgomery, Ala. | An 11-year-old Alabama boy used a pistol to kill a wild hog his father says weighed a staggering 1,051 pounds and measured 9-feet-4 from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail.
.....
Regardless of the comparison, Jamison is reveling in the attention over his pig, which has a Web site put up by his father - www.monsterpig.com - that is generating Internet buzz.
"It feels really good," Jamison, of Pickensville, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "It's a good accomplishment. I probably won't ever kill anything else that big."
.....
He said he shot the huge animal eight times with a .50-caliber revolver and chased it for three hours through hilly woods before finishing it off with a point-blank shot. Through it all there was the fear that the animal would turn and charge them, as wild boars have a reputation of doing.

"I was a little bit scared, a little bit excited," said Jamison, who just finished the sixth grade on the honor roll at Christian Heritage Academy, a small, private school.

This story really grossed me out to begin with, but it got worse in the next news cycle.

From ESPN:
'Monster Pig' was really farm-raised 'Fred'
Not-so-wild pig sold to Lost Creek Plantation four days before it was hunted down
FRUITHURST, Ala. — The huge hog that became known as "Monster Pig'' after being hunted and killed by an 11-year-old boy had another name: Fred.

The not-so-wild pig had been raised on an Alabama farm and was sold to the Lost Creek Plantation just four days before it was shot there in a 150-acre fenced area, the animal's former owner said.

Phil Blissitt told The Anniston Star in a story Friday that he bought the 6-week-old pig in December 2004 as a Christmas gift for his wife, Rhonda, and that they sold it after deciding to get rid of all the pigs at their farm.

"I just wanted the truth to be told. That wasn't a wild pig,'' Rhonda Blissitt said.

Mike Stone said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Friday that he had been under the impression that the hog was wild, not farm-raised.

Stone said state wildlife officials told him that it is not unusual for hunting preserves to buy farm-raised hogs and that the hogs are considered feral once they are released.

Stone said he and his son met Blissitt on Friday morning to get more details about the hog. Blissitt said that he had about 15 hogs and decided to sell them for slaughter, but that no one would buy that particular animal because it was too big for slaughter or breeding, Stone said.

Blissitt said that the pig had become a nuisance and that visitors were often frightened by it, Stone said. "He was nice enough to tell my son that the pig was too big and needed killing,'' Stone said. "He shook Jamison's hand and said he did not kill the family pet.'' The Blissitts said they didn't know the hog that was hunted was Fred until they were contacted by a game warden for the Alabama Department of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. The agency determined that no laws were violated in the hunt.

Test Post from the Goat

2007-06-03T00:03:00.001-04:00

OK Bella.I guess I'm on here!

Maybe we will have a dialog here ...

2007-06-02T21:17:00.000-04:00

I am both flattered and touched that the denizens of my former hangout at the Star News forums miss me and want to come here to continue the conversation. I am not terribly fond of the idea of opening this to comments, but have decided to do it in the most restrictive way, to members of the blog only.

That means you have to send me an email, at bellsouth net, removing all the spaces of course, and I will then send you an invitation to become a member. You will get an invitation email with a link in it, and it seems to be pretty self-explanatory from there.

I just played around with it a little bit and it seems kind of annoying - you have to set up a Google account in order to accept the invitation to participate in the blog. It walks you through the process so it's not too much trouble, but some people do object to some of Google's privacy-invading policies.

Anyway, we'll see if anyone wants to be a guinea pig.

More fun with WWAY news

2007-06-02T18:58:00.000-04:00

I really haven't been that critical of technical performance in the writing of regular people on blogs and forums, but because I've been such a stickler on facts and so forth, I got the Comma Doctor name I so enjoy. And I figured I need to live up to it a little bit.

I linked to this bio of news director Jack Pagano at WWAY in an earlier post about the stellar new anchor team he's put in place. Normally, I try to give a little quarter to the occasional typo, etc., but not when the guilty party is a news director, especially one in the process of pumping himself up so large. So here are my edits and comments - comments in [brackets] and edits in boldface or ~~strikethrough~~.

Two things, to be clear: I have no connection to WWAY or Mr. Pagano, have never had any contact with him whatsoever. And these are only CORRECTIONS of what is actually WRONG with this bio - not even gonna try to critique the content and presentation beyond one or two minor moves of text.

Jack Pagano, WWAY-TV3 News Director

Jack comes to Wilmington after spending the past two and a half years in Iraq and Washington D.C., ~~Jack worked~~ as a government contractor, Ssenior Sstrategist/Eexecutive Pproducer ~~(Gov’t Contractor)--~~
developing and producing high level information operations products in the Middle East.
He also trained ~~Iraqi’s~~ Iraqis [plurals don't need an apostrophe] in the art of producing television in a challenging ~~and agile~~ [don't think environments do a lot of jumping around - and not really sure what would be the correct word choice as I can't even discern what concept he intends to convey] environment. One of his highlights in Iraq--directing and producing, [delete comma here] “Baghdad My Love” [add comma here] a compelling and behavioral [what the hell does that mean?] music video that’s motivating and inspiring Middle East audiences.[to do what? kill more Americans?]

Jack has more than 28 years of civilian and military ~~and~~ documentary broadcasting experience. He has produced high level video work for Fformer Secretary of State GENen. Colin Powell,[delete comma here] and Oliver North,[add comma here] and for President’s [plurals still don't need an apostrophe] Bush and Clinton. Jack is a retired Army Llieutenant Ccolonel with extensive hands-on overseas experience, called back to active duty ~~experience~~ in: [absolutely no need for a colon here] Operation Desert Storm, Bosnia, Kosovo and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Jack’s commercial broadcasting experience includes stints as a Pentagon Ccorrespondent and Pproducer for FOX News, Eexecutive Pproducer at KDFW in Dallas, Texas, and Ppreproduction Pproducer/Ssupervisor at WSVN in Miami, Florida.

~~In 2005,~~ Jack was a coordinating producer and videographer for Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson's 2-hour ABC TV special, "TOUR OF DUTY," that aired around the world in 2005. During that special[add comma here] ~~Jack Pagano~~ he shot and edited a music video that aired worldwide. ~~The ABC primetime show aired May 23 and July 4, 2005 around the globe.~~

Pagano's began his broadcasting career ~~began~~ as an page at NBC ~~Page~~ in New York. He holds a B.A. degree in Communication from Seton Hall University.

He continues to seek out work that will inspire, educate, and empower audiences everywhere. Pagano is an award-winning producer,[delete comma here] who creates impassioned productions.

Jack’s vision and goal at WWAY-TV3:
Develop and produce stories and newscasts that educate, inform, motivate, empower, entertain and inspire. It’s all about "people" and the way they live and work in Wilmington. Make a difference every[add space here]day...

Scholarship contest teaches self-confidence

2007-05-27T23:50:00.000-04:00

Star News

This is an exceptionally amateurish story. It builds expectation for some kind of revelation about our semi-Iranian neighbor, which never comes.

And why, pray tell, is the spotlight of a story about a scholarship contest on a non-winning competitor? I didn't call her a loser, because I am indeed impressed with her effort and do not wish to denigrate her accomplishment. But just because she's a cute blonde (actually, I'm not sure the photo accompanying the story online is her: the caption says "An aerial view looking North along Wrightsville Beach in 2005. " !!!) and apparently the writer thought her story was the most interesting doesn't mean she deserves the focus of the story. That should have been squarely on the WINNING competitors. Do a feature on her some other time, if you wish, but the story about the contest should be about the contest, I believe, and not give such short shrift to the actual winners.

Personally, I think the winning speech, while it may have been entertaining, sounds awfully fluffy to win a soberly named "Oratorical Contest." If they used an applause meter to pick the winners, that might make sense. It makes me wonder whether there is some back story to the judging process, like who is related to whom, and whether the "mission" orientation of the boy winner's speech contributed to his victory, that bears reporting on.

Finally, please get this reporter a dictionary and take away her thesaurus. The "patron" of an endeavor, when it means sponsor, remains the patron regardless of gender. Mrs. Williamson is NOT the "matron" of the event. If the writer, or editor, can't handle that conflict, then use sponsor or benefactor or supporter or namesake or donor. Matron is simply wrong. And while it was very big of you to actually mention who won, "discreetly ecstatic smile flitted" is about the stupidest description of a facial expression I've ever read outside of cheap romance fiction. It goes way beyond feature writing into the realm of treacle - use the dictionary on that one, too, while you're at it.

Personality features are nice, but fraught with the danger of showing inappropriate personal preferences on the part of the writer. This story succumbed to that danger.

A Reprieve for the Paddlewheel in Wilmington

2007-05-26T22:36:00.000-04:00

Star News Forums

RE: A reprieve for the paddlewheel - editorial

See my post on the related news article here.

I'm disappointed that this editorial merely adds to the hot air about this issue. The museum "may want to use the paddlewheel in a fundraising campaign" is the best you can come up with?

Why don't you suggest that Mr. Merritt pull out his checkbook and keep the promise he made to throw in a big chunk of money to keep the boat here? You seem to be congratulating him for pulling personal political strings in pursuit of something personally important to him - isn't that the same as earmarks and pork and all the other political sins so often decried in these pages? Now that he got his way, there is no suggestion that he indeed bears responsibility for the expense.

To suggest as you do that the museum rethink all of its financial priorities and base a facility expansion on this boat is a real slap in the face to the people who run it. Are you laboring under the assumption that they have no strategic plans, that they have never considered what among their missions is important, and how much they could afford to achieve which of them?

I have no affiliation with the museum, in fact have barely set foot in it, but I've never heard anything to indicate that they are either clueless or profligate - rather that they do the best they can with very limited funding.

Americans often misuse the word "romantic" when what is being discussed is actually maudlin sentimentality. You have done precisely that here - if the romance with this boat were genuine, you and Mr. Merritt would have more to offer in terms of actual, financial support instead of this phony gushy love, like a baby-daddy who thinks he's doing his job when he brings a rose on Mother's Day but never sent a single support check.

Historic boat's future uncertain

2007-05-26T22:20:00.000-04:00

Star News Forums

This May 8 article said:

The decision comes just hours before officials were to begin dismantling the engine and just days after downtown developer Gene Merritt has said he'd be willing to move and store the steam-powered paddle wheel at his own expense to keep it from leaving the Port City.

But today Mr. Merritt says:

"It's not leaving town, and as far as I'm concerned my mission is accomplished on that level," he said.

Now that the museum has pointed out that it would take a huge fundraising effort to get the boat restored and on display, Mr. Merritt is finished. It seems to me that if he were truly sincere, he would put a dollar figure on the table that he's willing to pay - based on the earlier grandstanding - so the fundraising can get started in a big way, right away. Otherwise, it appears to me to be a lot of self-serving hot air.

Gas station passing out credit card info on back of receipts

2007-05-24T21:58:00.000-04:00

Star News Forums
RE:
I'm a big fan of the concept of the three R's - reduce, reuse, recycle, but this one takes the cake.

With all we hear all the time about identity theft, this bozo (I'm referring only to the owner here) thinks it's OK to pass out complete credit card numbers with expiration dates, etc., as a free prize on the back of people's receipts - and since no one complained but this one troublemaker, well what's the problem?

Thank goodness for Kay Gordon, a woman after my own heart who didn't mind causing a ruckus with a bunch of complacent nitwits. At least the BBB and the sheriff's department didn't brush her off, too, which could certainly happen in some places or perhaps a few years ago in many places.

And now for something completely different

2007-05-24T20:43:00.000-04:00

There's no media criticism in Wilmington, so I was in the mood to do some.

Star News Forums

I'm a little tired of the news itself, and wondering who and when will ever make a comment about the newest news team in town.

Grinny Ginny and her partner Ron Burgundy have been on Channel 3 for a couple of months now and while I did my best to give them a fair chance, I am just flabbergasted that anyone thought this was an improvement over Ann McAdams and Jon Evans.

Where do you start? Kaci Christian is probably the worst excuse for a main news anchor I've ever seen anywhere. She appears to have both the personality and intellect of a houseplant, but a carnivorous one that has been trained to bare its teeth when the lights come on, and to enunciate clearly. I have never seen anyone worse at camera changes, happy talk between segments, or applying the appropriate facial and vocal emotion to what she is reading. She will grin manically, batting the lashes on her caricature-sized eyes, as she lists the dead from a mass murder. I would joke that an AM radio station somewhere must be missing its traffic girl - except that it's true. How anyone bought her as a serious journalist, or even a good news reader, is simply beyond belief. I think it's testimony to the power of self-promotion. It's certainly not humility.

Steve Rondinaro probably isn't as bad as he seems to be as a result of debuting with her as a team. At least he's been to North Carolina before. He certainly has a nice voice and a particularly strong ability to use it to sell his stories. I don't know whether he's writing the promotional copy he reads - both during the news, as teases before commercials, and freestanding promos during other shows - but some of them are hilarious in their resemblance to 80's news parodies. He truly seems to have stepped out of a time machine from about 1981 - and pairing him with her only reinforces the worst aspects of his presentation.

Other things seem to have changed around there too. What the heck was this Dancing with WWAY garbage? Wasn't there any news for a whole month or whatever? The thing they did on Good Morning America was pretty stupid but at least they have a bigger budget to waste than these guys down here in Podunkville-size market.

Most of the reporters on Channel 3 seem to try hard to do a good job, but it's almost impossible for me to watch a whole show with those two on it. I end up laughing at the incredible stupidity of the blonde one and then giggling at the apparent eyelid paralysis of the other one, and the next thing you know it's the weather. But not the sports - apparently those two were so expensive to get that they don't have a sports department anymore. Gene Motley wasn't the best sports guy who ever lived, but people around here were definitely used to him, he still cared about his job after about 80 years doing it, and you could say he was an institution. The only thing I can imagine worse than being fired and replaced with a younger version is to be fired and replaced with Grinny-Ginny-and-Ron-Burgundy-do-SPORTS-too!!

Finally, while I was poking around the web, I found something that may explain a lot of this stuff. Perhaps this has something to do with the level of news judgment being exercised over there. The auteur of the behavioral music video - yes, that's what he calls it in this item on their website - Baghdad My Love - yes indeedy, that's the guy to figure out what's news right here in River City. If you're not familiar with high level information operations products, which he brags about as his background, you might want to do a little research and then get a little afraid every time you turn on Channel 3.

Congratulations .... you have printed spam in the newspaper

2007-05-21T20:03:00.000-04:00

This is an email exchange with the News & Observer.

May 18, 2007, at 8:29 AM
Congratulations ... you have printed spam in the newspaper.

See text, same as earlier post

2007/05/21 Mon PM 05:41:58
Thanks for your reaction to the item in the News & Observer. By printing it, we meant to neither endorse the idea nor imply that it would be effective. Pesonally, I share the skepticism of anyone who doubts that loosely organized consumer boycotts will drive oil companies to their knees, but these kinds of boycotts are being talked about by a lot of people these days -- and that's the only reason for printing it. In a different format, of course (e.g., a news story), we would have discussed the potential effectiveness of the strategy.

May 21, 2007, at 7:29 PM
Thanks for your reply. I didn't infer endorsement, and I still object to your having printed it at all - the fact that it was not the individual's own original thought should have knocked it out of contention.

It's the same as printing a letter to the editor that arrives as a bad photocopy with "Dear N&O" scribbled at the top and the "sender's" signature at the bottom. As I attempted to point out, that particular message has been around since 2001 or so, and to print it as anything other than an example of the stupidest kind of spam is simply bad judgment of the worst sort.

This PR guy shares the blame

2007-05-20T12:20:00.000-04:00

Public relations spokespeople who work for taxpayer-supported institutions have a sometimes difficult task - they obviously have individuals they are responsible to, but both their and their superiors' true responsibility is to the public who pays the bills for all of them. When the choice is between the truth and saving somebody's butt in the agency, the truth should win, no matter how temporarily - or even permanently, in the form of losing the job - painful it may be.

The Health Services department spokesman in this story from today's Los Angeles Times fails miserably in his duty to the public, and to the truth. He attempted to scapegoat a dead woman and her surviving boyfriend in order to save the skin of the people in the hospital who killed her. He should be fired along with the other heads that will roll in this horrifying story.

Even if this kind of whitewash and demonization of the victim succeeds - which it often does in the short term - in the long term, it comes back to haunt. Either the true horror is exposed, and those responsible, including the PR guy, pay a harsher penalty than if it had been handled right at first, or the anxiety of wondering if and when it will be found out takes its own toll. I'd way rather lose my job now for refusing to help with a coverup than be part of this kind of stink.

Tale of last 90 minutes of woman's life

Hours after her death, county Department of Health Services spokesman Michael Wilson sent a note informing county supervisors' offices about the incident but saying that that police had been called because Rodriguez's boyfriend became disruptive.

Health services Director Dr. Bruce Chernof said Friday that subsequent information showed Prado was not, in fact, disruptive. Chernof otherwise refused to comment, citing the open investigation, patient privacy and "other issues."

Who Sets the Gas Prices?

2007-05-18T21:49:00.000-04:00

News & Observer's Editors Blog
Sue's story was good, as her reporting usually is. So how does the N&O follow up the education it provided in that story? By printing spam in the newspaper today.

All week I have been yelling at people for passing along yet another stupid spam campaign about sticking it to the oil companies. Now the N&O in a total lapse of good judgment has decided to validate it by printing it, as below, in a "Love it/Hate it" feature. I am just flabbergasted.

Before passing along this kind of nonsense, whether from your own email to annoy your own friends or in the News & Observer's pages, I suggest you check out the validity at a site like Snopes. Here's their response to the SEVEN-YEAR-OLD bright new idea you have just shared.

Hate it
We are going to hit close to $4 a gallon by summer, and it might go higher! ... With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! ... For the rest of this year, don't purchase any gasoline from Exxon and Mobil. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices.

-- ARTHUR SHUMATE (PASSING ALONG IDEA FROM FRIEND), CARY

Amazon review policy allows unethical practice

2007-05-17T11:00:00.000-04:00

I stumbled across a book review on Amazon.com which had been posted by the author's mother-in-law, using very amateurish half-anonymization. To begin with, she didn't identify their relationship in her review, which would have made it basically acceptable. I happened to have just seen the wedding announcement online, and recognized her town. Upon looking at the announcement again, I saw that the Amazon user name was a contraction of the mother-in-law's first and last names. The review, posted more than a year ago, is the only one she has ever posted there, so it was clearly an intentional effort to boost her relative's sales.

So I dropped a quick email to Amazon, thinking how happy they would be to remove such craven pap from their pages. Well boy, was I wrong. Following is some of the correspondence.
Sun May 13 21:56:24 UTC 2007

I just happened to run across this review after seeing the author's wedding announcement in the NY Times online and realized the reviewer is her mother-in-law. Not only that, she is a retired librarian and certainly knows it is unethical to write such a droolingly positive review of a relative's work. You should delete it immediately.

From: "Amazon.com Customer Service"
2007/05/14 Mon PM 03:05:03 EDT

We're sorry for any inconvenience you've experienced. I hope the following information is helpful:
We would be happy to look into this matter further. To help us find the comments in our archives, we will require more information. Please use the link below to send us the ASIN, subject line and date of the review as it appears on our web site. This will allow us to locate the review and take the appropriate action.

Tue May 15 11:47:56 UTC 2007

I provided everything you could possibly need to know to find the review - a link as generated by your system. I certainly can't help it if the URL is four lines long and certainly don't see why you can't copy and paste each of those four lines.

I was not inconvenienced by this, I was outraged that your site allows such egregious self-promotion.

From: "Amazon.com Customer Service"
2007/05/16 Wed PM 01:31:20 EDT

We understand your concern, but the review doesn't fall outside of our guidelines. In order to help customers make informed buying decisions, we are interested in cultivating a diversity of opinion in our reviews. Part and parcel of that is allowing our customers to air their honest thoughts about items.

You can read our review guidelines online at:
http://www.amazon.com/o/tg/browse/-/14279631/#reviewguidelines

I am sorry to hear that you consider one of these reviews to be harmful to the sales of this title. We do, by all means, encourage you to submit your own review for this title. You can do this on the detail page by clicking on the link to "Write an online review."

May 17 12:01:24 UTC 2007

I was reporting a review that needs to be removed because it was written by a family member of the author. The cut-and-paste reply I received had nothing to do with my message at all. (I certainly don't "consider one of these reviews to be harmful to the sales of this title.")

From: "Amazon.com Customer Service"
Date: 2007/05/17 Thu PM 01:40:34 EDT

Thank you for writing back to us at Amazon.com. I've reviewed our previous correspondence and your account. I sympathize with your frustration. However, please understand that the information provided in our last message correctly represents our policy at this time. As my colleague previously mentioned, the review doesn't fall outside of our guidelines and so we cannot remove it.

I'm sure many authors, and others who create work for sale to the public, will be relieved to learn that they no longer need to buy the false moustaches before shouting praise of their own work from the rooftops. You can just go right ahead and have all your friends and relatives put gloppy raves into all the online sites, and thus make them useless to those who might seek an honest assessment of the work.

Which part of speech is that?

2007-05-16T15:07:00.000-04:00

N&O Grammar Errors Forum
RE: Father finally reunites with children

" For years, Denis Mukoka has sweat over a mop and corralled shopping carts ..."

Has SWEAT? Most of us have sweat, but I think in this instance he may have sweatED.

Today it's more style than grammar

2007-05-12T15:14:00.000-04:00

N&O Grammar Errors Forum
RE: Teen dies in Wake Forest accident

This story refers to a 17-year-old several times as a woman. Has the style changed recently? Or do you not use AP at the N&O? The cutoff between girl and boy or woman and man has always been 18, I thought. Perhaps you're working on the current NC legal conversion from juvenile to adult at 16, but this story just jangled my nerves.

UNC TV is indeed for NC, imagine that

2007-05-11T20:47:00.000-04:00

Wilmington Star News Forums
RE: Letter to the Editor

EDITOR: (On May 2) I settled into my easy chair to watch Atlantic Records: The House that Ahmet Built.
It wasn't on. There was something about dogs. The program was on across the rest of the U.S. … We have a censored, University of North Carolina-controlled PBS.
Just look at the May 5 programs: N.C. Now, Our State, Exploring N.C., N.C. Folkways, then, at 10 p.m., Live from Lincoln Center. Do you think the rest of the U.S. is watching Exploring N.C.?
I was told the original program last night had "objectionable language." Who determined that?
Our cable subscription pays for PBS. We are not getting PBS. We are getting a censored version, abridged version of PBS.
I think it must be illegal. It's certainly archaic and suppressive.

Donald DiGiulian
Leland

I don't know which state this writer recently moved here from, but public television is pretty much the same all over - and in fact, the way the programming is slotted is very similar to the commercial networks and their affiliates. PBS and other sources make programs available. The PBS programming feed is much more varied and the scheduling is much more flexible - local affiliates run many programs as they are fed, but some are run at other times and some don't air at all. There is absolutely no such thing as a required national PBS schedule, very much less so than the commercial networks. Programming decisions at the local affiliates are based on finances, local tastes and needs, and getting some different kinds of programming on the air - different from the commercial offerings and diverse within the schedule.

First, I watched that program. I won't swear it was that day, but it did indeed air on NC Public Television. My schedule - which I receive because I am a subscriber to public television, not cable - shows that it was on May 2, and I haven't seen many times that the printed schedule was ignored. There is no indication in the detailed listing of any problem with language, etc. So you may actually have had a problem with your calendar or your clock.

That likelihood is borne out by your second problem with the UNC-TV schedule. The list of May 5 programs provided above is actually for May 3. Regardless of the date, though, what on earth is wrong with the NORTH CAROLINA TAXPAYER-supported UNC Public TV running North Carolina-oriented programming? If your cable company told you you would receive a direct feed of programming straight from PBS, not the very highly acclaimed programming from the public broadcasting network in this state, then your problem is with the cable people.

To answer your question about what people in the rest of the country watch: on the New Jersey Network, they're watching State of the Arts: The life and unique history of Peters Valley Craft Education Center, New Jersey Network News, Caucus New Jersey, Ask the Governor, Here Comes the Weekend, and other NEW JERSEY-oriented programs. Tonight, they're also watching Tracks Ahead, about the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad, and on May 13 they will finally get the chance to watch the Ahmet Ertegun program that got you so riled up.

I'd like to be clear - I don't now nor ever have had any connection to UNC-TV, beyond supporting it both as a North Carolina taxpayer and as a member. I don't think it's perfect and quite frankly I don't like a lot of the stuff they air, both locally produced and from PBS or other national sources. But that's when I watch another channel, and when I complain, I prefer to have at least the first freaking clue what I'm talking about!

Today's most annoying

2007-05-09T15:42:00.000-04:00

N&O Grammar Errors Forum
Under the Dome:

" McKissick said he has owned homes in each of Durham's Senate districts since 1993."

Is that two districts, nine districts, or 22 districts? Seems germane to me, considering the expense of owning homes and the rarity of owning even two homes in the same city/county, much less more. I assume that there are two districts and he owns two homes. If the writer and editor wish to convey that succinctly, then the word is both, not each.

"Could GOP bring Dole down?
A top political observer said this week that U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole could falter in her bid for re-election in 2008, but that North Carolina Democrats still have a tough road ahead of them."

I'm pretty sure GOP still means Republicans, and there isn't the slightest hint in this item that they intend to commit fratricide upon the good Senator. I nearly spit out my tea, wondering how that could be a subordinate item in the column, then read and realized it was just a stupid error.

Wolfowitz's Story Disputed By Ex-Official

2007-05-02T21:18:00.000-04:00

Washington Post
I've been waiting for someone to point out that neither Wolfowitz's job nor Riza's is or was an immutable right.

How many thousands of couples have had to face that dilemma: a ban on fraternization or nepotism within the workplace where they met, much less one as in this case, where one works there and the other gets an offer? What is so special about these two that makes it their prerogative to both work there?

In my life, everyone I know who faced that situation actually made a choice that was within their own power. Either one of them quit or, if career was their main priority, they ended the relationship. Since when did the level of public-sector service either of these two have performed deserve a publicly funded guaranteed job, or a golden parachute?

As a non-Beltway type, I also find it absolutely astounding that someone on the World Bank payroll would be working inside the US State Department for an indefinite period, and now running a supposed non-governmental organization. Last I heard, these three institutions were in entirely different silos, so to speak. How can someone work at all three without actually changing jobs?

These are questions I would like to see answered in addition to seeing Mr. Wolfowitz and Ms. Riza both removed from what they appear to consider their high entitlements.

Star News photo caption problems

2007-05-01T16:21:00.000-04:00

Star News Forums

I won't go into a lot of detail as the last time I assessed the apparent professionalism of the online staff, they disappeared me for weeks.

This CQ business has been going on for months - it comes from whoever enters the information about the photograph into their computer archive, and CQ indicates the spelling has been verified. That makes this even funnier, as the person who wrote this added "I HAVE CALLED SGT. WILLIAMS AND THIS IS THE PROPER SPELLING OF HIS NAME" even though that is what CQ is supposed to stand for.

It is normally removed before publication, don't know why they don't bother to do it for the online edition, but then again I think we've already established that I don't understand a lot of how and what they do to the online edition ....

The "satalite" typo is separate but related, just more failure of whoever makes the online edition to do the most basic part of the job.

By the way, you missed the other typo in the same sentence, Pman - "Nesbit" Courts.

p.s. I also agree with you that this was a poor choice of photos to accompany the tax increase story. And the caption doesn't tie it into the story at all - maybe I missed it, but I don't see anything in the story about satellite offices or anything about morale or whatever the last sentence in the caption is referring to.

Remembering Halberstam

2007-04-29T22:06:00.000-04:00

News & Observer Editors Blog

To clarify the statistic about black baseball players mentioned above: the report from the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport says that 8.4% of major league baseball players are AMERICAN, non-Hispanic blacks.

American black athletes, it seems, have moved from baseball to other sports because of the programs available to them in their youth, or perhaps because of community preferences for football and basketball or the increasing number of Michael Jordan and Warren Moon and Donovan McNabb role models.

The news is not that black people are being pushed out of baseball, as the striking decline might appear to indicate, but that people from other cultures now make up more of the player pool. There are also significantly fewer WHITE Americans playing major league baseball now, with 29.4% of players considered Hispanic, which could be black or white, American or not. However, the bulk of them are from Latin American countries, including Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, and many of them would be considered black by any standard.

Really, it's not lobbying

2007-04-26T19:41:00.000-04:00

N&O Triangle Grammar Guide blog

Thanks for the comments and for understanding about my slow response. I appreciate your three valid points.
The usage on "lobby" does seem to have loosened quite a bit.
687 lips!? That's a very good catch. We definitely should have fixed that.

I agree that lobby has loosened. But it remains an extremely disrespectful way to refer to courtroom proceedings - disrespectful mainly to our judicial system itself, but at the same time denigrating the issue and its advocate.

Lobby, as a verb, is not a synonym for request or even for advocate - the reason we have so many words in the English language is so we can clearly express true meaning, and this usage flat fails that test. At best, it is incorrect, and at worst it editorializes.

Lobbying is not a legal term

2007-04-26T19:38:00.000-04:00

N&O Triangle Grammar Guide blog

In his challenge of the state's biggest economic incentives deal, Robert Orr was thwarted before he got started. On Wednesday, he lobbied for a second chance to begin.

While the lumpen rhymishness of thwarted and started might bear discussion, the real problem is with the use of "lobbied." The word has a pretty specific meaning, and it pretty specifically excludes a lawyer making legal arguments in a court of law.

I don't care for the good justice nor particularly support his effort here, but nothing justifies flippantly disparaging him and his effort by equating it to the pimping of special interests by frequenting the lobbies or corridors of legislative chambers.

Where'd that lip go?

2007-04-24T19:34:00.000-04:00

N&O Triangle Grammar Guide blog
"Dedicated earlier this month, the simple stone sanctuary honors 687 eloquent lips silenced"
How did that one guy lose his lip, to make it an odd number? Or should it say "pairs of lips," perhaps?
At first, when I read it as the blurb on the main news page, I though it was totally ridiculous but then realized the source was the Paul Green quote with the story. So only the counting of lips is ridiculous.

Shot where?

2007-04-24T19:32:00.000-04:00

N&O Triangle Grammar Guide blog
Here's a humdinger, from today's NY Times, no less!
"In 1980, Michael Halberstam was shot in his home and killed by an intruder."
I bet it hurts to get shot there. And I wonder how that intruder happened to be there to kill him right after he was shot?

Under the Dome makes the leap

2007-04-22T22:11:00.000-04:00

News & Observer Editors Blog
04/22/07 at 09:54
I have already weighed in on the topic of anonymity and posting. However, speaking of faults, I am posting this here because among other things wrong with it, the comment function on the new Dome blog doesn't work.

Your web folks appear to have unveiled that blog a little prematurely. Or do you truly think the names listed in the Profiles section are appropriate? Or worse yet, does someone think they are amusing?

I suspect the following politicians highlighted there might disagree with all three of the above concepts. (It's not ready, it's not correct and it's certainly not funny.)

Speaker John Hackney
U.S. Representative George Butterfield
U.S. Representative John Coble
Candidate Johnny Edwards
U.S. Representative Robert Hayes
"H. Majority Leader" Lindsey Holliman
U.S. Representative Douglas McIntyre
U.S. Representative Ralph Miller
U.S. Representative Joseph Shuler

I suppose you might argue that it's correct to list them by their given names, and I am assuming that that's what they all are, without researching every single one. But you don't follow that practice in the newspaper and no one else does either - and there is also disparity in the titles, with Jim Black listed as "Former Speaker" but Mr. Edwards disparaged with only "Candidate" - since when is that appropriate standing alone, without including either "presidential" or "former senator?" I also don't believe using "H. Majority Leader" or "S. minority leader," or for that matter, "Former speaker" is appropriate either. There's lots of room in that box, and you need to include the body in which each profiled individual serves - assuming, that is, that it is for the use of the general public on the web and not an internal document for those who already know who these people are.

This looks to me like the unsupervised and unreviewed work of an intern – or should I say, that would be the only possible explanation, while still not excusing its appearing in a product trumpeted on the top of the home page of your website. Most of the profiles indicate that they were last modified days ago, and still no one appears to have noticed a little problem. This does not bode well for the future of that web section.

05/07/07 at 14:43
I don't know whether any of you get email alerts about posts to this blog, so I may be speaking into the abyss here. Even so, I figure here is the place to note that a) the problems with the Dome website noted above have been fixed (mostly - apparently the unsuitable abbreviations don't bother you as much as they do me) and b) as of today, it appears the problem that was engineered into the "Printer Friendly" function some months ago has been fixed. I've only tried four or five articles, but they all resulted in an actual usable, printer-friendly page.

Thanks for paying attention, sort of, sometimes!

Mother Of All Blunders

2007-04-08T17:48:00.000-04:00

Washington Post
Ms. Parker forgets that the military here, as well as in the United Kingdom, consists of volunteers.

I was one of them, and I politely request that Ms. Parker put her nose back where it belongs. While I don't want to be raped or tortured, I also don't want anyone else to be raped or tortured - and the things that were done to people I know in Vietnamese POW camps are no more acceptable because they were done to men.

Everyone who joins the military knows of the tiny risk of that happening to them, and they volunteer anyway. I can't imagine what she is talking about in differentiating the rape of women by men and men by whomever, other men I assume. I would like to challenge her spurious logic with another bit of it: since the rape of men by women most resembles sexual relations as God created it, and the rape of men by men is abnormal and an abomination (I am using the perspective of Ms. Parker and her ilk here, by the way, not my own) then the latter is worse, so perhaps we should send all men home to protect their nether areas.

And the bit about training men to ignore women being assaulted is crazy too. Since when does any military member ignore one of his or her buddies being assaulted for any reason? And since when do men in pain not scream? This kind of right-wing propaganda is just laughable.

Pearls Before Breakfast

2007-04-08T17:18:00.000-04:00

Washington Post
What an absolutely fabulous story. I expected precisely the outcome you obtained, but the writing and analysis of the situation was great, and I think Joshua Bell is probably as fine a human as he clearly is a musician - and I'll bet many of those people did appreciate the music, if not recognize or compensate the musician. I don't live there now, but when I was riding the Metro, busker exhaustion set in after about the first week. I simply didn't budget to pay every one I ran across, no matter how talented they may have been. Sad, but true.

Odd turn of phrase

2007-04-07T19:25:00.000-04:00

LA Times Kinseygram blog

STEREOTYPICALLY WILD: Apparently reneging on or trying to wiggle out of disagreements with his attorneys, "Girls Gone Wild "creator" Joe Francis has been ordered back to jail, according to Fox News.

Just out of curiosity, could you possible explain how one reneges on a disagreement? I think I might have done that once.

Zell Wants End to Web's Free Ride

2007-04-07T17:26:00.000-04:00

Washington Post
I'm not a businessperson, but I am a vast consumer of news. And except for the top 5 or 6 papers I visit every day regardless, my visits to other media websites - and exposure to their ads - are generated entirely by Google News. Google News doesn't aggregate entire stories, which this story and/or Mr. Zell appear to imply, just a few words.

Mr. Zell is a fool if he thinks that the couple of lines that appear with a Google News hit are stolen intellectual property, worth more than the visit generated to the website where the story actually appears. If not for that referral, the content and its accompanying advertising would be the tree falling unnoticed in the forest to all but the core readership of local subscribers. And I'm pretty sure the comprehensive media website business model depends on far more than their readership.

On Apex animal control and the house full of sheep

2007-04-07T17:06:00.000-04:00

Independent Weekly
I completely share the "zero" assessment of Apex and Wake County zoning and law enforcement officials and animal control officers, who felt there was nothing they could do even as this situation spiraled out of control over months and years.

But I add to that assessment a new and future zero for the Apex council, for their knee-jerk reaction in banning all livestock in Apex. You're right - some people kill other people driving tractors down country roads. Let's ban all tractors!!!

Apex is not Cary, at least not yet, and I think it's really too bad that they would now prohibit someone with a big, fairly natural lot from having a couple of goats to tend it, or prohibit a backyard duck or two.

The problem wasn't with the livestock or even the lack of a livestock-regulating ordinance, it was a complete lack of common sense and/or observation skills on the part of those enforcers. The stench described has probably been a public nuisance, regardless of source, for years, and the description of the animals' condition leads me to believe the situation evolved into animal cruelty at least several months ago. If they didn't see or address these obvious violations, why pass more ordinances they can fail to enforce?

What's going on at The N&O?

2007-04-06T16:49:00.000-04:00

Independent Weekly
Thanks for the expanded info. I had gathered most of it from the various bits dribbled out by the N&O, but appreciate the exposure of how badly the whole episode was handled – rather than an episode, they stretched it, for no apparent reason, into an arc.

You may choose not to include this lengthy missive in your forum – I understand that it belongs to you, which many of those outraged by the N&O's deletion of its forums don't. I am not particularly on their side on that issue – but I am as one with them on the way the N&O handles input and its users' concerns.

My perception is that the N&O is one of those smarter-than-thou, phony-solicitous operations. You know, the ones that collect big bags of input from their viewers/readers/users/visitors – and then shred them unopened, because after all, they are the pros and know what's best.

I am one of the readers Ted Vaden mentioned in his column, who contacted him about what this article refers to as "nitpicks." He quoted me in the column – but made it sound as though slightly nitpicky information I included as background to my complaint, that I detest all jumps in online news items – was my complaint. It was not, as can be seen in the email below. It was to complain about the technical execution of their decision to add the detested jump pages, which was as poorly done as I've seen on any newspaper website, even the tiniest backwater burg's.

I didn't just lay the complaint on the table, I fully explained it and gave examples of how and where it is done better, in several different ways. But in the column, I came off as a whiner, provided with the patronizing explanation that jumps allow the paper/website to sell more advertising. I would argue with that point, but even if it's true, my complaint was more with the way their jumps are presented and the absence of navigational assistance to use them.

My message to him, and to Orage Quarles, the publisher, was the second one I sent. The first, to the management and technical staff of the online N&O, was ignored.

Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 2:55 PM
To: oquarles@newsobserver.com; tvaden@newsobserver.com
Cc: gsmith@newsobserver.com; dfeld@newsobserver.com; ericf@nando.com; cmachali@newsobserver.com; dsipe@newsobserver.com
Subject: [Fwd: Next page > NONSENSE]

I find it stunning that not a single one of the addressees below could be bothered to acknowledge this message, let alone respond to it or better yet, reverse the exceptionally bad decision to add the Next page > jumps to the online version of the News & Observer. My opinion of them remains the same and I am equally stunned that it's not being done better by now.

Date: 2007/01/28 Sun AM 10:53:00 EST >
To: , , , , >
Subject: Next page > NONSENSE

What in the world is this new jump-page nonsense, and why are you doing it both differently and in a less user-friendly fashion than any other online newspaper?

I absolutely detest jump pages in online news. There is just absolutely no reason to jump anything short enough to have run in a newspaper. I read about 2 dozen papers online regularly, and your new format is the first I have seen that ONLY says "Next page >" and/ or "Previous page >" in the same size font as the body text, and on my browser a pale blue, with no indication of how many pages there are and where in those pages I currently am.

The Los Angeles Times, which runs far more very long-form articles than the N&O, has always had a page-count/position indicator/page selector at the bottom of every page of an article. In the past year or so, they apparently realized that their most desirable – that is, brighter and better-educated – readers were not amused by clicking through 12-page articles ad nauseam. They have added an icon next to the numbered navigator to allow the reader to select "Single page" instead. The New York Times also offers the single-page option now, and the Washington Post has a red “Continued” indicator and a clear, numbered navigator.

The International Herald Tribune, which used to offer only a very different 3-column format and barely perceptible navigation at the bottom, now offers a choice of one or three columns. Both offer visible and useful position indicators at the bottom of the page, especially the latter version, where they are now significantly larger than the body copy.

The only escape from multipage presentations - unless a single-page option like the LAT's and NYT’s is provided - is to use the printable version instead. But months ago you made your printable view useless when you chose to include the giant box full of garbage on the right in that view as well.

I am one of those select few who was a member of NandO.net as soon as it was born and have been a loyal reader over the many years intervening, and a print subscriber when I have lived in the actual circulation area. It is true that in the early days, the NandO folks broke ground in online news and its presentation, but that is far from true now. You have demonstrated that with this silliness, which reeks of a desperate attempt to do it differently than the current leaders in the industry while failing to understand that different is definitely not the same as better.

You all should be absolutely ashamed of these ill-advised attempts at progress, which instead push your product farther down the slope to irrelevancy.

On Floyd McKissick vying for Jeanne Lucas's Senate seat

2007-04-06T16:48:00.000-04:00

Independent Weekly
Mr. McKissick does indeed have significant experience and other qualifications for the job.

He also has the significant disqualification of having entered the process under an ethical cloud, which is not a good thing ever, and especially these days. The last politician I remember pulling this trick is Dick Cheney - and he's certainly not the role model for ethical leadership I would want if I lived in the district still.

He should eliminate himself as abruptly as he inserted himself into the race.

Send In the Clowns. Don't Bother, Sanjaya's Here

2007-04-04T17:39:00.000-04:00

Washington Post
I don't watch American Idol, have never seen any of the performances by anyone but the Sanjaya clips on the news, and couldn't care less about who wins it.

However, I did just watch Blake Lewis on Youtube, just because this description sounded so goofy. And I made a remarkable discovery - this description is so inaccurate and negative that I can safely say it's a lie. Stroking himself? He put his hand a few inches inside his jacket, in the neighborhood of the breast pocket, once, for about 4 seconds. Never touched any other part of his body, much less 'stroked' anything, at all. Spinning? He did a sort of little circle dance step maybe 3 or 4 times during the song, not the single slickest maneuver in history but nothing terribly weird or uncoordinated or anything else bad about it.

I have never liked Mack the Knife and think the lyrics are weird, but this is the first time I ever was actually able to understand the whole story of the song. And finally, he didn't confide to Ryan that he didnt 'get' the lyrics - he was asked which was more difficult this week, going first or the lyrics, and he said lyrics. And Ryan said, 'It was a little tough in rehearsal this week - ya got it.'

I think he has a very nice voice, that it was a cool jazz vibe, for that show at least, likewise pretty hip for that show, and not the worst version ever of that song. And I think this exaggerated and snarky summary of the performance borders on the uncalled-for. That's just my opinion, but at least it's based on what really happened.

A Push to Create a Fresh Class of Public Servants

2007-03-23T17:29:00.000-04:00

Washington Post
I was thinking this sounded like a great idea until I got to the part about it being run by the Department of Homeland Security. That's the stupidest thing I've heard since Brownie's attaboy. And I'm not convinced Washington is the place for it - as one who escaped its confines for the hinterlands, I do not think concentrating our best minds in one place to become inbred is a good idea at all. But I look forward to hearing more about this plan nonetheless.

Donations Pooled Online Are Getting Candidates' Attention

2007-03-11T17:13:00.000-04:00

Washington Post
ActBlue is still immature technology - or it was a few months ago when I used it. I am not interested in being a bundler - just in having a convenient page to donate to candidates who appeal to me whether they are in my neighborhood or not.

The main appeal for me would be having my credit card number saved, just as it is at the dozens of online merchants where I shop regularly. Not only was I unable to do that, except perhaps to create a recurring donation to one recipient, which I did NOT wish to do, when I wrote to them to point out that this was a serious flaw, they were defensive. I don't have the response handy, but my recollection is that they seemed to think that was a really advanced idea, when I have had that info on file at some ecommerce sites for nearly ten years now. It's a great idea, but they may want to get some grownups on staff.

Heck of a Job, FEMA

2007-03-10T17:09:00.000-05:00

Washington Post

I'm generally a fan of the Post, and agree completely with the premise of this editorial. That said, it exacerbates my annoyance with the Post's worldview, as well as with the people profiled in an article last week about Prince William County residents upset that their neighborhood was going upscale too slowly.

The unsatisfactory progress was evidenced by shopping that offers only outlets at Potomac Mills, whose shopping offerings make it the single largest tourist attraction in the state of Virginia and the fact that a promised Jaguar dealership ended up not opening. I include that story here because that worldview carries over to this editorial, unfortunately.

Travel trailers, to the vast majority of normal Americans, need not be set off in quotation marks nor explained as though they were some exotic concept. Travel trailers ARE the campers pulled behind private vehicles, though rarely cars as most are far too big and heavy, and require a pickup truck or SUV as a tow vehicle. Americans bought $11.4 billion worth of recreational vehicles, including travel trailers, in 2004, I just learned from a Google search - this is not a sliver of the population but a big chunk.

And the other trailers mentioned in this editorial are not trailers at all, but mobile homes. They have been too large to be "trailered" for about 35 years now, long enough for astute journalists to absorb the new terminology, I would think. The tone of this sentence reveals that its writer and the editorial board that condoned the writing are far too privileged and removed from the experience of average Americans to know what its like out here in the world - basically, it epitomizes the inside-the-Beltway worldview and attitudes that are a big problem for how our country is managed. I really wish you could do better!!!

Setbacks Change Prince William County Back to Pumpkin for Some

2007-03-09T17:22:00.000-05:00

Washington Post
This is really a disturbing article. Are people really that upset that there isnt a full selection of dining - if you can call cookie-cutter chain joints like Ruby Tuesdays that - and shopping in their new neighborhood? The idea that an area is a slum without a Jaguar dealer gives me absolute chills.

That pretty well sums up what's wrong with this country, when the front-page story is still about wounded soldiers at Walter Reed. If there is an afterlife, these spoiled yuppy scum will be in the hot section.

Two Generals Provide A Contrast in Accountability

2007-03-06T17:52:00.000-05:00

Washington Post
Any admiration I had for Secretary Gates evaporated when Gen. Kiley remained in uniform past lunchtime Monday. He should be court-martialed for absolute dereliction of duty and held out as an example to the promotion-hungry politic-ers for promotion at every level in every branch of the service.

And this unbelievable story-management continuing right under the committee's noses, with the patient turned away from empty seats in the hearing room .... the profession of military public affairs has been replaced by the company line. You work for the taxpayers first, the general second, in that profession - and the old axiom, 'Maximum information, minimum delay,' is the most important thing to know about what to tell the media and the public.

A Favorite Fish Experiences Identity Theft

2007-02-13T17:55:00.000-05:00

Washington Post
This story doesn't surprise me at all as my mother was served a fishy, skinny little piece of fish pretending to be grouper two or three years ago at one of those crazy-busy, big fried seafood places.

I just thought it was a mistake and they had brought her someone else's plate with sea trout or spots or whatever, but the waitress and then the manager were very defensive about it - they allowed her to order something else but insisted it was grouper and implied we were just being overly particular and/or didn't know anything about fish. I have never doubted that it was something else, but at least maybe the restaurant got taken, too, not just us as the consumers!

While the Nation Mourned, Their Trip Continued

2007-01-06T17:44:00.000-05:00

Washington Post
While the subject of this story is reasonably relevant, the tone of it is unnecessarily snarky.

The fixation we have on mandatory mourning in this country is exceptionally stupid, and the idea that anyone other than a family member or other close associate needs to cancel a trip involving this amount of planning and coordination by government employees, and also involving this amount of interaction with foreign governments, is ludicrous. If a sitting President dies, that's one thing. The man was 93 years old, for goodness sakes.

I have great respect for President Ford and also mourn his passing, but only in the passive sense.
There is nothing in the world to be gained by me or anyone else changing even a whit of daily routine in observance of it - and the fact that it was turned into a federal holiday is equally ludicrous. If you have a problem with junkets in general, then write about every one that happens and make sure to include the costs as well. But to imply that this one is worse because they didn't instead take a funeral junket is hypocritical and annoying.

Illegal Drug Use Among Teenagers Continues to Fall

2006-12-24T18:32:00.000-05:00

Washington Post
I don't understand why there is any difference between abuse of illegal drugs like cocaine and heroin and prescription drugs like OxyContin and Vicodin.

If the Office of National Drug Control Policy truly believes the usual source of those drugs is a parent's medicine cabinet, then we may as well have no such office. Most of those drugs get into users' hands by way of robberies, burglaries, and organized forgery -- all of which are just as serious crimes as any of the smuggling and so forth that brings illegal drugs across our borders from overseas.

Perhaps the fact that the prescription drugs aren't produced by subsistence farmers in faraway countries, and have their own rather well-funded lobby in Washington, has something to do with it?

It's the print version, too, not just the website!

2006-11-04T15:47:00.000-05:00

Star News Forums
The ineptitude ends up on paper as well. Either that or the Currents staff is speaking Welsh, Martian or Basque, or some combination thereof.

I was just looking at Thursday's Currents, and found a page head that says [I EVO [MER] and another one that says [TRI] M[RO]. They are complemented by subheads on the pages which say SNTOR, GI RGN HGOG, HDNGI, and my favorite by far: SI GTUYI SAYI DHRNNS.

Something is very strange over there....

Please just kill the polls

2006-08-08T15:53:00.000-04:00

Star News Forums
As with the rest of the website, they are haphazard, halfhearted and less than fully literate. There is no "daily" poll - the questions seem to linger for weeks on end, and on the news page the poll has been known to be several months old. There is no reason for a different poll to appear there anyway, just more of the bad management of the site.