I've been meaning to make a new post for a while.

Recently a rather large score of friends has contacted me via MySpace; two cousins, a high school friend, and my best friend. I had gotten out of the habit of checking MySpace.

I took the time to look up a few of my old friends, like they did. I found people who I have missed so much! I find it strange to suddenly see them at my fingertips. What do we say? Should we try to "hang out" on MySpace? MySpace fosters such a different community from a typical blog community. I think it would be a very real challenge to have any sort of meaningful contact. Let me explain what I mean.

MySpace is full of music files, pictures, "comments," kudos, and the ever-growing "friends" list. It's a high-school popularity contest all over again. Every blog you write will be seen by everyone else (or at least everyone who is on your friend's list). All their comments are seen by all your friends too. To get any privacy on MySpace, you have to send messages, which are sort of pseudo-emails.

It's easy to get graphicy with that site, so the tendancy is NOT to get intellectual. It's full of smilies and "kudos" and personality quizes.

A few of these people I used to be close with. We lost touch along the way. Picking it back up with emoticons just -- cheapens that relationship, I think. I could move the conversation to email; at least there I'd feel there was some legitamite effort to contact the real person. MySpace isn't real.

I can't really define why that is.

Because democracy matters

According to Penny Arcade, "This Is What Democracy Looks Like." Please click on the link; Tycho's opinion piece is pretty interesting.
I realize our age demographic typically doesn't vote. But if there were ONE banner you would stand under... if there were ONE group that could really get you fired up about voting, who would it be?

I'd have to go with the "lesser of two evils" campaign myself...

Speaking of democracy, I'd love to be this reporter:

REPORTER: "And the second question--can you promise a year from now that you will have reduced the number of troops in Iraq?"

BUSH W. : "Uhh, the second question is a trick question, so I won't answer it."
--Oct. 28, 2003 in the Rose Garden.

More brain pain

I'm masochistic, aren't I?

"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table." --Good ol' G. W., Feb. 22, 2005 in Brussels, Belgium.

On the topic of contradictions, don't worry; we can't deny India the right to Nukes. Iran's a different story...

Late nights, coffee, deadlines, and Darth Vader

I'm running on three hours of sleep.

My beat is the Rancho Cordova city council. The city is friendly and young--it's like a lamb in the sunshine, really. Enthusiastic, almost bouncy. Helpful to the extreme. It wears a perfect white shiny coat, and it bounds all over the place.

But the city council members are too enthusiastic. I left that meeting last night at 1:40 a.m. and it still was not done! Their discussions are laboriously off-topic. They get bogged down in details that do not pertain to the city policy before them. Worst of all, they are unused to making decisions as a team! I can't tell you how many times last night two council members talked over each other purposely--for at least fifteen seconds--before having to repeat themselves because no one can hear anything when two mics are battling.

One of the councilmen was in Florida during this time. He had to stay up talking on the phone until 4 a.m. his time, then he had a meeting in three hours. (Anecdotally, he was hooked to a mic, and the whole time was Darth Vader-breathing onto the speakers. No one said anything to him, but everyone laughed about it.)

I sat next to Sac Bee reporter Molly Dugan, who has also been very helpful. She said not to give up on journalism because of this council. "I've covered fifteen other councils, and this one is the worst by far," she told me.

The poor lady had a deadline of 1 a.m. She had to call in to say the deadline wouldn't be made. Worse, she had to teach a class at 8 a.m. She was drinking coffee.

The council's late-night deliberations not only are rude and inconsiderate, they do NOT seem conductive to local democracy. The people are not all able to participate in such a long-winded discussion. Half the commenters left before they were able to speak on the issue they came to speak about!

As a result, my story smells worse than a field of cows. I couldn't get any reaction to their final decision... I don't fully understand what that decision means--and to be fair, they don't either. They left their decision vague on purpose! I did not even stay to see the complete final decision. And why should I have? I kid you not when I say they spent ten minutes debating whether or not to put the word "and" into their policy. I came home at 2 a.m., spent an hour on the story, only quoted people whose names I knew how to spell, got up three hours later and rushed to class. I'm in class now, typing this - if I didn't have class, I'd be on the phone getting reactions to the events of last night.

So there you have it. I feel more than a little like I've set myself up to fail this time around. I'm really hoping that all future deadlines are on Thursday, not Tuesday! And when it comes time for me to really be hired at a paper... I won't schedule anything for the morning after a meeting. I'll use stims and get that story right the first time. Until I'm paid to lose sleep, I'll leave the meetings early and just read about it in the Bee!

Buying gold for virtual worlds

This opinion piece discusses paying real-life currency for in-game gold. From the article:

Other critics claim that buying from companies like IGE supports "gold farming" sweatshop operations run primarily in China. IGE executives have denied such connections. Along those lines, popular game blog Joystiq (www.joystiq.com) reported recently that South Korean fans of the popular online role-playing game Lineage have engaged in a border war of sorts with Chinese players who they suspect are working for gold farmers. Roving vigilante groups of Korean players have been attacking characters who cannot respond to their online questions in the Korean language.

Really? Wow. (That's a feat of... well... cross-faction communication. Aside from that logistical problem? YIKES!)

I have to admit I've been tempted to buy gold before. Whooee, some of that 600-gold gear looks spicy! But no virtual possession is really worth my money... especially if it supports a sweatshop, or a gang.

Here's one of the sweet/fascinating things about the online world. Everyone starts out equal. There are no disadvantages to be born with, no class, no real social structure. As soon as players can pay real money for virtual wealth, all that inherant equality is taken away. Instantly, your rich players sit at the top in PVP ranks, and look cooler than the rest of us.

I understand not having the time nor desire to farm up gold. I'm totally there. I'm also a bit of a hardcore roleplayer. If your character wouldn't be down with spending the time... then she's not going to be rich!

There is definately a work aspect to gameplay in WoW. You do have to grind away at the levels and at your professions. That is crappy. It takes time which equals money. And for those of us who don't have the time, but have the money, it seems like a viable solution.

I'd totally go for it, if the money went to a player who was having fun. But sweatshops and farmers really do get on my nerves. That's not just. Especially for something as trivial as online goods! Outside of that ONE program, you realize, those possessions won't do me any good!

Human decency and respect FTW.

OMG Scary Kill It!!!!11

He unleashed the beast on the people
When it hit no one cried or screamed
They all went about their business
Getting back to the front of the TV screen
Now the thing, he's part of you
He'll keep your pride alive
And who are they to accuse you?
I guess they think that thing's a lie!
--The Thing in the Bass Amp, by the Aquabats

This song has always reminded me of the fear that comes with something or someone that is poorly understood. For example... MySpace!

In Poynter's look at what was over-covered in the media this week, it's mentioned that most major TV networks ran a bit about MySpace, throwing it in a scary light and warning parents to keep an eye on this social evil.

Scary predators are out there. Children online are targets. Kids can post hurtful comments about each other. You know, it IS scary. But it's nothing a little caution and dialogue can't control.

The hype about MySpace reminds me of a number of things my parents had irrational fears of when I was growing up, because they didn't take the time to really understand those things... Dungeons and Dragons, because roleplaying made kids kill themselves... Teen magazine, because it was playboy for girls... Hotmail, because it sounded BAD!

Parents need to stay aware of the new dangers that come with each new technology and use of technology. They need to be aware of "fads." But they need to understand these issues too, before they can judge them. Obviously hotmail wasn't any more dangerous than the family email host... Obviously, MySpace is as dangerous as ANY site online.

Internet responsibility everywhere means your kid will be safe anywhere. Dialogue between parents and kids will help both parties to truly understand what's happening. Us media junkies, we get to help that along by deciding what light to play something in.

As Poynter's Scott Libin said: I think we'll be talking for quite a while to come about MySpace.com, similar sites and the social trends they reflect. The question is not whether journalists should be covering them, but how.

Blond periodic table!

This slideshow makes fun of the many blond newscasters we see on TV. According to Slate's Jack Shafer, 20% of the adult female population is naturally blond, while 33% look the part. That number is thrown way out of proportion on the tele. We blonds rule the world, according to TV!

Tha part that really cracks me up is at the very end: Fox lips. I'm a natural blond, and discovered that no lip color other than pink looks good on me. Now that I'm associating that color with the conservative arm of American TV, I think I'll pass...

In typing this, I discovered a struggle within myself: how should I spell "blond" - with or without the e? Certain connotations come with being a "blonde." A blonde is romantic, exotic, and wears Greek sheets. A blond just has ... hair. In desiring not to oversex myself, I'll go with "blond."

And completely unrelatedly, 20 students have been arrested in the latest school crackdown of MySpace. One kid wrote up some threats; 20 classmates were suspended for VIEWING those threats. Poor Costa Mesa. Sorry, kids: do your surfing at home lest you click on a friend's web site and discover by accident that he likes to put babies on spikes.

Freedom of speach for minors is an issue that will explode! How much responsibility can minors truly take for publishing their thoughts, when they may not realize those thoughts are public? In the above case, the boy's blog was for registered friends only. You had to have permission to see it. Therefore the threats were not directed at the person. Does the school have any right to punish him for his private thoughts?

Once again, my brain is hurt.

And I must share that hurt with the world...

"I believe that people whose skins aren't necessarily, or, you know, different color than white can self govern."
--G. W. Jan. 30, 2004 at the Oval Office.

On that note, I'm tired of voting for the lesser of two evils! No hidden agendas! Even if it means going with the Republican candidate.

Tech news: NYT and MySpace

If you already read Slashdot regularly, I'm sorry--this post will be old hat for you. But two stories on today's news digest grabbed my attention, and I feel they directly impact us J130 folk!

First is a story from yahoo news. The New York Times has sued the Pentagon over its domestic spying. I'd be very curious to see exactly who they spied on, and I'm willing to bet money that political opponents to GW will be predominant on that list. More amusing /. posters say the entire NY Times staff is on that list...

Next is a Wired story on MySpace. Learning that MySpace has been catagorized by NBC as "a cyber secret teenagers keep from tech-challenged parents" was very amusing. Doubly amusing but peppered with injustice is the tale of a high-school student who made a mock 'space blog of his principal, which made fun of his size. The gate-level student got suspended for 10 days and dropped into a special ed class that is far beneath his own skill level...

News from the Ladies - Rough Draft II

Arab Co., White House had secret agreement
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration secretly required a company in the United Arab Emirates to cooperate with future U.S. investigations before approving its takeover of operations at six American ports, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. It chose not to impose other, routine restrictions. Full story at Comcast.net.

State executions may be on hold for most or all of 2006
The postponement of Michael Angelo Morales' execution has created a de facto moratorium on California's death penalty for much of this year, perhaps longer, the state attorney general's office said Wednesday amid new calls for action ensuring even longer delays. Full story at the Sacramento Bee.

Allen makes first court appearance; prosecutors to seek death penalty
MODESTO, Calif. -- Five days after a California Highway Patrol officer was gunned down along Highway 99, the man accused of killing him appeared in court Wednesday to face a murder charge that could lead to the death penalty. Full story at KCRA.


Health concerns limit wireless Internet at Lakehead University
TUNDER BAY, ONTARIO - There are many benefits to studying at Lakehead University. Ubiquitous wireless Internet access, however, isn’t one of them. That’s because president Fred Gilbert won’t allow it until he’s satisfied EMF (electric and magnetic fields) exposure doesn’t pose a health risk, particularly to young people. Full story at IT Business.

No googling Perfect 10's nudes
Google's image search service violates the copyrights of Perfect 10, an adult magazine and web publisher, by displaying thumbnail-sized photographs, a federal judge has ruled. Full story at Wired.

Downtown plaza deals with uncertain future
Several vacant store fronts can be seen at Sacramento's Downtown Plaza, but is mall business on the decline or just in a state of transition? Shoppers have taken notice that a collection of stores has moved out of the mall. Full story at KCRA.

Sectarian violence surges after shrine bombing
BAGHDAD, Feb. 23 -- A wave of sectarian strife and recrimination swept Iraq Thursday after Wednesday's bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in the city of Samarra. The interior ministry said that more than 100 people have been killed in the violence. Full story at the Washington Post.

Net video explosion triggers traffic jam worries

The amount of video online is skyrocketing, whether it's "Lost" episodes or movie trailer mash-ups. The phenomenon is putting new stress on ISP networks, which are seeing the demands on their bandwidth burgeon.

Now a new wave of companies--some newcomers, some with familiar faces--are stepping up to play the role of traffic cop, arguing that they have ways to manage this surge in video traffic and keep networks healthy. Full story at ZDNet.

Web site offers revenge for women scorned

Slash his tires. Burn his clothes. Stalk him. Hire a hit man to beat him up. Put rat poison in his oatmeal.

Sounds appealing to a woman scorned.

But you don't want to land in the slammer, do you?

Well now instead of plotting revenge with your closest girlfriend, you can visit http://www.manhaters.com and tell thousands of people how he cheated on you with your best friend, dumped you after sex, didn't give you a thing for Valentine's Day, missed your birthday, and berated you for burning his steak. Full story at ASAP.

Sticks and stones

I'm not posting this on the J130 news blogsite, because I don't want it in the face of two sections of J130.

But I'm a little--well--dissapointed in that class. The blogs make it plain that some students, in a journalism major, have a down attitude about learning the basics. I think they're standing on thin ground.

Mike Althouse wrote a blog about this, and really called the shots, and was fun to read. But it offended some, and blogs defending the complainers popped up. The defenses just reminded me of another forum flame... tearing Mike's blog up line by line. I wrote an anti-flame blog before I really saw the dialogue in the comments, which was much more mature than the original responses. He apologized without backing down. I think the short-lived flurry is over.

But there are several things to learn from this. First, apologizing without backing down seems like a great way to do it and still reinforce your message. It felt professional.

Second... Sticks and stones. Commentary needs to be kept in the "words will never hurt me" category. Is that mostly a lesson for the readers or the writers? I don't know. Both, I guess. How do you stir a reaction without making someone take the writing personally? With this particular issue it's hard. Someone's going to look foolish because the message is that someone is behaving foolishly!

If Tom were alive, I'd ask him how he managed to write about the City Council in his editorials and still get the councilors to talk to him. It must be a feat of subtlety and .. good humor, perhaps?

NY Times: CIA reclassifying documents

... that the State Department's historians have already published. This is an ORLY? moment for the ACLU...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 — In a seven-year-old secret program at the National Archives, intelligence agencies have been removing from public access thousands of historical documents that were available for years, including some already published by the State Department and others photocopied years ago by private historians.

The restoration of classified status to more than 55,000 previously declassified pages began in 1999, when the Central Intelligence Agency and five other agencies objected to what they saw as a hasty release of sensitive information after a 1995 declassification order signed by President Bill Clinton. It accelerated after the Bush administration took office and especially after the 2001 terrorist attacks, according to archives records.

Read the rest here.

Building a community...

This Poynter article and what few comments there have been on this J130 blog site got me thinking about communities.

Communication is the key to any group's success. I had never really tried to build a community until some friends of mine started a guild in World of Warcraft. My guildmates and I struggled to communicate our intentions, hopes, and critisisms clearly and respectfully in order to keep the game FUN and lighthearted for everyone.

There is an ever-present need to clarify your meaning in a text-only communication model, such as online chatting or blogs, where tone of voice and facial expressions are absent. Sarcasm needs that extra tone of voice to be recognized. Emoticon smilies don't convey any of the subtleties we see when someone smiles. Even face-to-face we know communication isn't clear.

But once we get past those barriers, communities make an environment much more enjoyable. A crop of co-workers that are fun to hang with can make a bleak job colorful.

Building that community means chatting about politics, news, sports... and complimenting and critiquing others in a positive way. It means working with your fellow employee on the "work" and embracing their human side, too.

I think this class could use some of that co-worker community feel. We'll all need help on our beats; we're all trying to learn. We're all here to publish blogs once a week. Why not share our thoughts on the daily news digests and blogs? Post a comment on what was done well, and what you would have done differently? We'd all benefit from that kind of dialogue, and I know I want to hear what other students - our "target audience" - think about the stories.

Then again, maybe some people think this is just another tuck-your-head-in kind of class, and community feedback isn't possible in our busy lives.

I think it's worth the time. Do you?

New overlords - mind-controlling parasites!

Yes, it's true, according to this story. Once again I found it on /. The parasite "Toxoplasma gondii," which lives in the guts of cats, has been shown to affect behavior in rats.

Specifically, the parasite alter's the rat's instincts to avoid cat urine, and makes the rat actually *seek out* cat urine. As the parasite's eggs are often passed through the urine, the rat picks up the parasite eggs, the cat eats the rat, and the parasite makes it back into the cat's gut.

According to the article, there's a link between this parasite in humans and schizophrenia; antipsychotic drugs stop the growth of this bacteria.

Of course, humans are not as instinct-driven as rats... but I am feeling the urge to welcome our new overlords... welcome...

Copyrighted logo or international symbol? Red Cross v. Video Games

According to this interview (another story I found on slashdot), that little red cross on virtual med-kits you pick up in your average first-person shooter game is an illegal misuse of a protected trademark.

To quote the Canadian Red Cross spokesman David Pratt: "The fact that the Red Cross is also used in [videogames] which contain strong language and violence is also of concern to us in that they directly conflict with the basic humanitarian principles espoused by the Red Cross movement."

Right. So, at what point does a trademark become an international symbol? I can't think of a more ready symbol for medical aid than the good old even-barred cross. It's become an association between symbol and meaning that has imprinted our global society. It's beyond the nonprof's reach now.

It's certainly not libel or slander for Red Cross to be associated with healin' up some critical hit points while your avatar is out shooting Nazzis or aliens. If the Red Cross was stamped on the AK-47 you're blasting away with, sure. That could be interpretted as the Red Cross organization standing behind violence. But... Med kits?

And let me get this straight. Since when does placement of an object in an art piece equate to that trademark supporting said art? If I want to accurately portray my surroundings, why can't I have a Red Cross med kit in my virtual surroundings?

Art reflects life and the daily objects around us. Video games are an interactive art form. Censoring that art form would be a crime against freedom of expression.

Achilles handshake

To quote Eddie Izzard, "He suffers from hand-squeezy death!"

And can I just say... I can't get over this Bush quote. It HURTS MY BRAIN.

"I'm honored to, uh, shake the hand--of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein." --May 25, 2004 at the White House.

It just makes me cringe... it's ten times worse than throwing up on the Japanese prime minister's lap ("Bushusuru"). So... I'm sorry, world. *I* didn't vote for him.

My first blog - Why Journalists are like Jedis

My very first blog, courtesy of a homework assignment. I never figured I'd ever have a teacher who knew what a blog is!

I'm a great Star Wars fan. I have always wanted to be a Jedi Knight. Jedi are the Guardians of Peace and Justice throughout the Galaxy. How cool is that? They are like Journalists, the Guardians of Truth throughout the Galaxy. I could be, like, a combination, and get the best of both worlds.

...And as any Jourdi Knight knows, "Truth" is really just one person's point of view. What I want to share is someone else's Truth... you guessed it... their blog!

PZ Myers, who claims to be a professor at the University of Minnesota, wrote this blog on President Bush's State of the Union address --specifically, the section asking Congress to outlaw human cloning and creating human-animal hybrids.

To quote: [Bush is] trusting that everyone will think he is banning monstrous crimes against nature, but what he's really doing is targeting the weak and the ill, blocking useful avenues of research that are specifically designed to help us understand human afflictions. His message isn't "We aren't going to let the mad scientists make monsters!", it's "We aren't going to let the doctors help those 'retards.'"

There is a link to this blog from Slashdot, which also has some lively and interesting comments on the issue... Everything from obligatory Bush animalism comments to more intellectual moral debates.

"Why is this issue a newsworthy one?" I can hear Professor Fox asking. Here's what I think. State of the Union address=timely. Technology being censored=important issue to my generation. A blog=good news delivery. Polls show that people my age (22) prefer their news delivered with a twist of opinion.

In general, I say humanity can't be trusted with human genes. But on the other hand, research could lead to farming human organs so that no one has to go on a waiting list any more. I'm all for that. GATICA doesn't sound like such a great future, but in a way it has a lot of appeal...

I'd love to see how J130 students feel about cloning and chimeras. What do you think?