I have no independent information on this, but the Trent Lott story may have a new twist. Click on the link at your own discretion. It would seem completely impossible, if it weren’t for the recent past. (Some possibly relevant context here.) A reader posits an alternative theory:
Through my journalism work, I hear Lott is actually resigning in order to try and head off a really bad scandal. Somebody was threatening to air photos of him being polite to a black person.
An assessment of an MSM-social networking alliance:
Facebook [is] the clear winner. The user-base can be monetized six ways to Sunday under their new ad initiatives. On the other hand, ABC could have easily accomplished their goals to allow interaction between reporters and viewers by implementing social tools and widgets on their web sites, and perhaps migrating towards a more blog-style content management system.
I don’t see why ABC’s free-riding of an existing phenom is such a bad idea either.
What is it with Hollywood and hair? I can’t even watch a Nicholas Cage movie any more it’s so silly. And now Travolta wigs rather obviously out. C’mon, guys. Being bald – or just plain balding – isn’t that bad.
As Cartman might put it, why the fuck not? The concept of cumul.us (mad props on the name, btw) is fascinating:
The site launched just a few weeks ago, and represents a new approach to weather forecasting based on the wisdom of crowds — in short, the notion that a bunch of people (both expert and amateur) predicting the weather will make better predictions in aggregate than single sources alone.
This sounds more dubious:
You can predict the weather yourself. When you make prediction for a particular time and place, the site will go check all of its data sources and record what really happened, and give you a score based on how right you were. It could turn out that a random person is a better predictor of the weather than a professional meteorologist or organization. That person could even be you. Since the site will be tracking the accuracy of all of this, you’ll be able to see who is more right, and follow them.
No love lost from Glenn, Hinderaker and RedState. The consensus:
Trent Lott long ago stopped being useful and started being bitter. He hates the Porkbusters. He hates conservatives. He hates most anything other than establishment Republican ideals of entrenched power and earmarks.
Did Larry Flynt play a role? I doubt it. Bonus Malkin meow here.
"More bookish than a book" says Forbes. I hope Steve Jobs takes the concept and amps up the design a notch. Why not an iRead? I have to take exception to this, however:
Even reading a blog will cost one or two dollars a month, a concept that seems as unfair as charging guests to use the bathroom in your home.
What I’d buy is a small printing device that can download any book and print it out in a classic simple paperback style: a consumer-friendly print-on-demand. And make them look like the classic Penguin covers, please.
A pro-Clinton website tried to pay people to leave positive comments about Clinton on blogs. No, I’m not kidding. After a burst of publicity, they added this post:
We had to call this mission off. Also, we want to make it clear: we are not endorsed by the official Hillary Clinton campaign. We are an independent grassroots effort that seeks to ensure Hillary’s election.
But it does remind me of the creepy, cloying cronyism of the Clinton machine’s style. Can you imagine Ron Paul’s supporters wanting to be paid to advocate for their guy? Ugh.
An inverse correlation?
Tyler Cowen notices a strange discrepancy between the American and European press on economic forecasting:
I believe the "America is due for a comeuppance" view remains very popular across the Atlantic.
But Larry Summers is one of the doom-mongers, as Greg Mankiw notes.
