It's official!
That's what champions do at the end of the day. They retire in style.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
The wonderful world of syndication
Isn't syndication wonderful?
No, I don't mean the RSS/Atom/etc. syndication of XML content, e.g. blogs. No, I mean news syndication. Reuters. AP. The way one reporter can instantaneously post a story to more than one news publications at once. Actually, a lot of them. Dozens. Hundreds.
Take this guy, Jeremy Pugmire. He's a staff AP sports writer. Which in itself sounds mind-numbingly boring. Images of pig-like NFL announcers, shouting something about men in tights piling on top of each others, flash by. But no. Jeremy is writing about something else. Cycling. We like Jeremy. He gives us news about how the 'old man' is doing. Which is the first thing I checked after finishing my 20 mile sprint this morning.
Jeremy's writings, as a virtue of his AP status, get syndicated. A lot. Fifty minutes ago, a piece of his on the Tour's last time trial this year, which is going on right now, got published. So I cobbled together some code and did a little rummaging online, using only the .com TLD. Within the first hour, how many do you think had picked up and published Jeremy's piece? Not just one paper. Or two. But seventy-one!
No, I am not kidding. Take a look:
Seventy-one.
The affluent part of mankind really is constantly moving closer and closer together. The global village? Forget that. Try the global appartment building. With all the late-night practicing on the trombone, the headache of agreeing on what color to paint the staircase, plus the obnoxious fumes from across the hall, where some idiot is eating fermented shark.
No, I don't mean the RSS/Atom/etc. syndication of XML content, e.g. blogs. No, I mean news syndication. Reuters. AP. The way one reporter can instantaneously post a story to more than one news publications at once. Actually, a lot of them. Dozens. Hundreds.
Take this guy, Jeremy Pugmire. He's a staff AP sports writer. Which in itself sounds mind-numbingly boring. Images of pig-like NFL announcers, shouting something about men in tights piling on top of each others, flash by. But no. Jeremy is writing about something else. Cycling. We like Jeremy. He gives us news about how the 'old man' is doing. Which is the first thing I checked after finishing my 20 mile sprint this morning.
Jeremy's writings, as a virtue of his AP status, get syndicated. A lot. Fifty minutes ago, a piece of his on the Tour's last time trial this year, which is going on right now, got published. So I cobbled together some code and did a little rummaging online, using only the .com TLD. Within the first hour, how many do you think had picked up and published Jeremy's piece? Not just one paper. Or two. But seventy-one!
No, I am not kidding. Take a look:
- Bonner County Daily Bee, ID
- Carthage Press, MO
- In-Forum (subscription), ND
- Carlisle Sentinel, PA
- KFSN, CA
- Mt. Carmel Daily Republican Register, IL
- Daily Independent, CA
- Skagit Valley Herald, WA
- Santa Maria Times, CA
- Penn Live, PA
- McCurtain Daily Gazette, OK
- Lodi News-Sentinel, CA
- North County Times, CA
- Petoskey News-Review, MI
- Daily Inter Lake, MT
- Princeton Times, WV
- Bismarck Tribune, USA
- Corvallis Gazette Times, OR
- Ceres Courier, CA
- Suffolk News-Herald, VA
- The Porterville Recorder, CA
- Kansas City Kansan, KS
- Jefferson City News Tribune, MO
- Tahlequah Daily Press, OK
- MLive.com, MI
- Times Picayune, LA
- In-Forum (subscription), ND
- Carthage Press, MO
- Bonner County Daily Bee, ID
- Gadsden Times (subscription), AL
- Record-Journal, CT
- Rapid City Journal, SD
- Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier, IA
- In-Forum (subscription), ND
- Canton Daily Ledger, IL
- Daily Press, VA
- Orlando Sentinel, FL
- Greenwich Time, CT
- Carlisle Sentinel, PA
- Allentown Morning Call, PA
- Wyoming News, WY
- Santa Maria Times, CA
- Skagit Valley Herald, WA
- Los Angeles Times, CA
- Mt. Carmel Daily Republican Register, IL
- Daily Independent, CA
- Stamford Advocate, CT
- Sun-Sentinel.com, FL
- Lodi News-Sentinel, CA
- Petoskey News-Review, MI
- Daily Inter Lake, MT
- McCurtain Daily Gazette, OK
- Tahlequah Daily Press, OK
- North County Times, CA
- San Marcos Daily Record, TX
- Corvallis Gazette Times, OR
- Brenham Banner Press, United States
- Suffolk News-Herald, VA
- Albany Times Union, NY
- Jefferson City News Tribune, MO
- Kansas City Kansan, KS
- Bismarck Tribune, USA
- The Porterville Recorder, CA
- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL
- Dateline Alabama, AL
- San Marcos Daily Record, TX
- Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier, IA
- Rapid City Journal, SD
- New Albany Tribune, IN
- The Missoulian, MT
- Gainesville Sun, FL
Seventy-one.
The affluent part of mankind really is constantly moving closer and closer together. The global village? Forget that. Try the global appartment building. With all the late-night practicing on the trombone, the headache of agreeing on what color to paint the staircase, plus the obnoxious fumes from across the hall, where some idiot is eating fermented shark.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
To boldly go
Here's me, saying "Beam me up, Scotty", one last time.
What I find strangely heart-warming is that he left on the anniversary of our one giant leap, which took place exactly 36 years ago.
To the minute.
What I find strangely heart-warming is that he left on the anniversary of our one giant leap, which took place exactly 36 years ago.
To the minute.
Death is creeping in
It is numbing to see this country slowly sink into the red. It was a red victory, last November, and it served as a symbol of the red that is already here, and a harbinger of the red to come: The red blood of a country invaded. The red in the eyes of an administration, a congress, a people acting on their anger, their hurt, their post-9/11-vulnerability. The omnipresent red alert signs of terror. The red haze blinding the once sane people that curse France, pray to Fox, and turn a blind eye to Gitmo. The red ink needed to pay for all this bloodlust, since this angry mob was not about to pay for it themselves, with their taxes.
And now, the red states' overflowing streams of blood are running upwards. I have already blogged Connecticut's first execution in 45 years, last May. Last week, it was Massachusetts' turn, as their governor suggested to lawmakers that the death penalty be re-instated in the state. The traditionally sane, blue states—those that fought against slavery, started this country's fight for independence, ignited the civil rights movement, led the fight against the Vietnam war, and have for the most part turned their back on the barbaric practice of state-operated slaughter of human beings—are slowly succumbing to the cry for blood.
This time around, it's Vermont. Last week, a jury in Burlington, VT sentenced a man to be exterminated. This act of God-impersonating was based on a federal statute, not Vermont state law, since the state does not have such savagery on the books anymore. But now, Duncan Kilmartin, a sleazy member of the state legislature, seeks to capitalize on the blood, and re-introduce state-run butchery into Vermont law.
This Kilmartin (yes, his real name) person has actually previously announced that he would introduce such an amendment, only to get cold feet at the last minute. This time around, he obviously thinks that he can ride this Burlington death penalty ruling and get some death back into Vermont statutes. On NPR tonight, he was asked what justification he could offer for the state to assume the right to determine who should live and who should die. His answer? "How would you explain to the victim's family that you did not think that the murderer should pay the 'ultimate price'?" And when asked why Vermont, which voted to abolish the bloody statutes decades ago, should go back to supporting it, the answer: "Well, after 9/11 we live in a different World..." Different indeed. If only the Al Qaida slaughterers could hear this. If this is not a description of their ultimate victory, then I do not know what could be: Murdering more than 3000 Americans on 9/11 has inspired Vermont to pass a law to allow it to kill even more of them.
And you know what? He just might succeed. Yes, he may be one of those trial attorneys-turned-politician who gives attorneys a bad name and revels in feeding off fear, death and misery. Yes, he may be trying to give this homicidal initiative of his some undeserved respectability by asking for a "rational discussion on this valid form of punishment". Yes, he may be bringing red blood to one of tha last vestiges of sanity in the country. Yes, he may be sporting a silver tongue and riding a pale horse. But who is there to stop him, or those like him, or the Hell that follows in their wake?
Where are your leaders, your voices of reason? Where are your Benjamin Franklins, your George Washingtons, your John Adamses?
The answer is simple. They are dead.
And now, the red states' overflowing streams of blood are running upwards. I have already blogged Connecticut's first execution in 45 years, last May. Last week, it was Massachusetts' turn, as their governor suggested to lawmakers that the death penalty be re-instated in the state. The traditionally sane, blue states—those that fought against slavery, started this country's fight for independence, ignited the civil rights movement, led the fight against the Vietnam war, and have for the most part turned their back on the barbaric practice of state-operated slaughter of human beings—are slowly succumbing to the cry for blood.
This time around, it's Vermont. Last week, a jury in Burlington, VT sentenced a man to be exterminated. This act of God-impersonating was based on a federal statute, not Vermont state law, since the state does not have such savagery on the books anymore. But now, Duncan Kilmartin, a sleazy member of the state legislature, seeks to capitalize on the blood, and re-introduce state-run butchery into Vermont law.
This Kilmartin (yes, his real name) person has actually previously announced that he would introduce such an amendment, only to get cold feet at the last minute. This time around, he obviously thinks that he can ride this Burlington death penalty ruling and get some death back into Vermont statutes. On NPR tonight, he was asked what justification he could offer for the state to assume the right to determine who should live and who should die. His answer? "How would you explain to the victim's family that you did not think that the murderer should pay the 'ultimate price'?" And when asked why Vermont, which voted to abolish the bloody statutes decades ago, should go back to supporting it, the answer: "Well, after 9/11 we live in a different World..." Different indeed. If only the Al Qaida slaughterers could hear this. If this is not a description of their ultimate victory, then I do not know what could be: Murdering more than 3000 Americans on 9/11 has inspired Vermont to pass a law to allow it to kill even more of them.
And you know what? He just might succeed. Yes, he may be one of those trial attorneys-turned-politician who gives attorneys a bad name and revels in feeding off fear, death and misery. Yes, he may be trying to give this homicidal initiative of his some undeserved respectability by asking for a "rational discussion on this valid form of punishment". Yes, he may be bringing red blood to one of tha last vestiges of sanity in the country. Yes, he may be sporting a silver tongue and riding a pale horse. But who is there to stop him, or those like him, or the Hell that follows in their wake?
Where are your leaders, your voices of reason? Where are your Benjamin Franklins, your George Washingtons, your John Adamses?
The answer is simple. They are dead.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
News at midnight
In my midnight news gobbling gear, I find the best headline description of the whole Plame affair.
And that from China Daily. Go figure.
晚上好
And that from China Daily. Go figure.
晚上好
Monday, July 18, 2005
Sick, but hopeful
'Tis a sick, sick, sick place indeed, this Earth of ours. But perhaps a recovering one?
Oh, if I only were an optimistic man. How I yearn for that.
Oh, if I only were an optimistic man. How I yearn for that.
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