Current Events

Why the media can’t get Wikipedia right

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I recently had a short conversation with a woefully misinformed person about Wikipedia, wherein they claimed that “It’s going to be shut down!” and “They’re getting sued!” Nope, on both counts. They were discussing, without much understanding, John Seigenthaler Sr.’s USAToday op-ed piece about the popular online open-source encyclopedia.
David Weinberger analyzes the “controversy” and identifies what the media is not getting about what wikipedia is, and does, and why the hysteria is unfounded.

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Bloggers publishing leaked torture memos

Bloggers around the world are reprinting and publishing leaked memos from former UK ambassador Craig Murray, who divulged information on secret torture programs in Uzbekistan the benefit the United States and the UK.
Boing Boing has a complete post on the subject, including links to the leaked memos, and information on a woman who was jailed for demanding information about her son, who was tortured and died after being immersed in boiling water.

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More Tom Delay Scandals

From MSNBC.com:

The U.S. Family Network, a public advocacy group that operated in the 1990s with close ties to Rep. Tom DeLay and claimed to be a nationwide grass-roots organization, was funded almost entirely by corporations linked to embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to tax records and former associates of the group.
Two former associates of Edwin A. Buckham, the congressman’s former chief of staff and the organizer of the U.S. Family Network, said Buckham told them the funds came from Russian oil and gas executives. Abramoff had been working closely with two such Russian energy executives on their Washington agenda, and the lobbyist and Buckham had helped organize a 1997 Moscow visit by DeLay.
The former president of the U.S. Family Network said Buckham told him that Russians contributed $1 million to the group in 1998 specifically to influence DeLay’s vote on legislation the International Monetary Fund needed to finance a bailout of the collapsing Russian economy.

This, couple with the recent news that Abramoff may be working on a plea agreement with the authorities to deliver information on numerous congressional Republican ethical scandals is very exciting. I can’t wait to see how many people are going to take a fall.

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how much brush is on that ranch, anyway?

From three recent White Houlse press briefings:

December 27
Good morning. Let me update you on the President’s schedule. Yesterday, after arriving, he went out and did some cutting and clearing brush, and then was at his home on the ranch.
December 28
The President had his normal intelligence and daily briefings this morning, and was out clearing brush. And that’s what I have on his schedule.
December 30
He then did some brush clearing and just completed a bike ride before I came out. This afternoon he’s scheduled to sign several pieces of legislation…

Seriously, is there really that much brush? He’s been clearing it for five years now, shouldn’t it be done? How can Trent Duffy go out and say this every day with a straight face?

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100 things we (the BBC) didn’t know this time last year

According to the BBC. Here are a few of them….

7. Baboons can tell the difference between English and French. Zoo keepers at Port Lympne wild animal park in Kent are having to learn French to communicate with the baboons which had been transferred from Paris zoo.
17. Bosses at Madame Tussauds spent £10,000 separating the models of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston when they separated. It was the first time the museum had two people’s waxworks joined together.
20. The Queen has never been on a computer, she told Bill Gates as she awarded him an honorary knighthood.

Hmmm. If the Queen has never been on a computer, who’ve I been e-mailing then?

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Nature’s Harmonious Money Cycle

Fafblog explains how trickle-down economics work for you:

That’s right! You’re the tiny microscopic planktony thing about to get eaten by the octopus! You’re right next to the leprechaun with the magical pot of pixie gold who’s gonna pay down the national debt.
So if you’re feelin cold, sick and hungry this winter while Larry Ellison buys an extra boat, don’t feel sad! We’re all part of Nature’s Money Cycle, and someday some a that boat’s gonna trickle down to you! Maybe a piece of the bowsprit, after Larry throws it out to buy a better boat. I hear that’s delicious in a lemon marinade.

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The NonSequitur

My new favorite political blog is The NonSequitur — a blog run by Logic professors that analyze failure of reasoning and logical fallacies of right-wing pundits. Found via one of my other favorite blogs, Americablog.com.

I also discovered that Overheard in New York, a site the recounts funny conversations that people overhear, is now a blog. It used to be a yahoo group that I linked to long ago, but I lost track of it. Now it has an RSS feed, so I can read it regularly.

Chick #1: My underwear’s so cute! Its got a bulldog on it.
Chick #2: Why’s it got a bulldog on it?
Chick #1: It’s so cute, it’s protecting my vagina from intruders.

I also added The Big Gay Picture to my RSS feeds. It’s a gay political blog that looks like it might be funny. I’ll give it a shot.

Another great Gay Blog/News site that I’d heard of once before but lost track of: Good As You. I added them to my newsreader also.
And last but not least: Buyblue.org now has a RSS feed: last time I checked, they didn’t. So they’re in my newsreader also. Too bad GLAAD hasn’t gone that direction yet.

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