Tag Archives: articles

Thursday afternoon readings

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A quick rundown of some of today’s interesting articles:

The Weekender, aka things to read for the online crowd

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I’ve had a hell of time trying to fix my comment problem, which appears to be something in the .php of this theme. I refuse to give up this theme, however, and I will fix it. The good thing is that right now I get very few comments, so it doesn’t matter.

Because I’ve spent half the night trying to fix it, to no avail, all I’ve got are some meaty links for now

Yeah, it’s cheap to just post a link farm but it’s what I’ve got for now.

Oh, and as an aside, the venerable Mindy McAdams was at my very own (well, not mine per se) Orlando Sentinel doing trainging on blogging and audio. I missed it unfortunately, but by the looks of the outlines it looked like a good time.

Good online journalism-related reads for today

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Read anything good today?

What the heck is a Petawatt!?*

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Petawatt laser

Well, according to Wired, it’s the power output of the world’s most powerful laser. Built at the University of Texas at Austin is pretty much the kind of laser an evil genius would put on the moon in order to hold the world hostage.

How much is a petawatt? Well, in zeros it is 1,000,000,000,000,000 watts of power. I wonder if in a couple decades we’ll have petabyte hard drives and petabyte CPUs?

Click on the link some stunning photos.

*Let it be known it was a struggle to decide whether to make a Back to the Future, Austin Powers or a Real Genius reference.

Evening reads

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  • Facebook Reportedly Near Accord Over Origin – Apparently Aaron Grennspan claims he created ‘The Facebook,’ soon to be associated with ‘The Huge Settlement.’ With the company worth an estimated $15 billion and rumor that it well sell public shares soon, I think they can afford to pay this thing under the rug.
  • Cindy McCain is shopping a book – I’ve got to tell you, those McCains are some writing fools. McCain has put out (what seems) like two books during his presidential run. Hell, I think he even put one out while in that Vietnam POW camp. Now his wife is jumping on the wagon as well. McCain’s book are always big sellers too, not that Cindy needs the money.
  • Yahoo/Google deal is anti-competitive: Microsoft – The ‘Search Wars’ continue, or do they? This bit in Wired claims that the Search Wars are over, and declared Google Inc. the victor. From my experience (which is limited) it seems that eliminating almost all competition in a market is just bad. We are taught in Econ 101 that competition is necessary to promote innovation. Now I don’t think Google would just stop being innovative if they were the only game in town, but it would certainly be easier for them to rest on their laurels a bit. However, I do have to admit I am a bit of a Google fanboy, I just love all of their apps and services.
  • ‘USA Today’ Launches Instant Message News Alerts and Search Function – While no doubt useful, there is something weird about talking to robot services in AIM. A news service would no doubt be any less creepy. Gannett has really been stepping up its online game (even stealing the Sentinel’s Flash prodigy last month), so I’ve got to commend them for that.
  • Study: Newspaper Web Sites Dominate Local Traditional Media, But Are Losing Share – Yay, job security! Well, sort of. To say that news Web sites are losing market share to Google and Yahoo! is to assume they ever really had a ton of it. Seems to me that is a winless battle, better to fight on your own turf and compete against other news Web sites. The key is to do things Google and Yahoo! can’t do or can’t make use of on their news sites.
  • San Francisco torch route switch angers spectators – So the torch bearers, on their way to cast the fire into the mouth of Mount Doom, are forced to pump fake and pull the old switcheroo in order to stave off attacks from protesters and rabble rousers. I just woke up from a nap and apparently I am in the Twilight Zone.

Good reads, if you’re in the online journalism biz of course

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These will be terribly boring to anyone not in the journalism industry, specifically the online journalism industry. But for me, this is my bread and butter.

New articles

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I forgot to put these up, but I had two more articles run. Both were speakers, one was a professor from Princeton speaking on illegal immigration and the other was the former first lady of Egypt, Jehan Sadat.

Fighting for the people

Illegal immigrant arrests at a 40-year low

Oh and just to gloat a little and mug for the camera, I got a job at The Orlando Sentinel as a part-time online producer. I’ll be working with the website on the weekends. It’s really awesome and I am stoked.

Articles on deck and other miscellany.

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I just dropped an article on the SCCC and guns on campus. It should hit the stands on Friday, which of course I will vainly post as well.

Friday I have the privilege of sitting down and doing an interview with ZNet co-editor, Z Magazine founder, activist and writer Michael Albert. Albert is in town for the Oct. 27th anti-war rally and will be speaking to students at UCF on a number of progressive issues. I have to admit that I will be a little starstruck as I used to read Z Magazine on a regular basis and still check out the website once in a while. I must maintain my journalistic integrity however and leave my bias at the door.

Oh, and I most likely have a spring internship at the Lakeland Ledger, a 65,000 circulation daily in Lakeland, FL. Even better this may lead to a summer internship at the Wilmington Star-News in Wilmington, NC, the paper I eventually want to work at. Both are New York Times papers so connections will be made. None of this is in stone yet though, but my fingers are crossed.

Look ma, I’m really doing it! Things are very awesome right now, bring on the news.