Now that I’m on with the more serious and alert segment of my morning (up
next, summing up c.1 of H. White’s Tropics of Discourse), I have to point
you to
a bit I landed
via Metafilter
on
proposed legislation to fine drivers of spinner-adorning autos in Iowa.
Spinning hubcaps can be misleading, you know; they give off the appearance that
the vehicle’s wheels are moving when they aren’t. When the vehicle stops, the
wheel covers keep moving. When the vehicle’s moving, the wheel covers
could be rolling in reverse motion. They’re perceptually dishonest.
Unethical. Basically, expensive lies. And so to curb rampant wheel-cap
mendacity among Iowa drivers, the fine would charge
ten bucks for the offense. I’m sharing this just because the comments
are a riot, from comparisons of spinners to moonwalking (which also should be
banned, yes?) and rear-view mirror danglers. And definitely scroll down to
the Jetta collapsed under the load of wood (in the linked entry, not the MF comments).
Open in a different tab: Slate’s Ed-in-Chief on
"Blog Overkill." Gist: you be
careful fetishizing new media, and journalists are s l o w e r than bloggers:
The biggest difference between me and conventional bloggers is that I
usually pause between first thought and posting. Inspired by the
slow food movement,
I like to think of myself as a slow blogger. Sometimes I’m so slow–as this
Wednesday dispatch from a Friday-Saturday conference proves–that I resemble a
conventional journalist.
And
I’ll send a U.S. dollar to the first who writes "Shafer doesn’t get it."
For a dollar? Shafer doesn’t get it. If not getting it means
overgeneralizing about the thoughtfulness and care girding
most writing in the blogosphere or, in another spot, suggesting that new
media merely mimic the work of old media, then it deserves more
nuance. But subtleties aside, the essay offers insight to the tensions
between clashing info-economies–the flows and mediums and controls and values
tangled together. And that’s worthwhile, especially if such attempts bring
about dialogue that pushes any of us beyond revolution/stagnation cliches.
I just took a quick look at this and due to time constraints, couldn’t get into all the links and details. However, I’m not sure if anyone really gets it. Going back to Speech 101 (CMU, 1967) “a percept is a product,” what more can I say?
In my opinion, the blogosphere is all about liberty and freedom (does GWB go here?) Who needs to listen to the Bushies when you have the bloggers?
As one who is a disciple of the 80 – 20 principle, I find that the vast universe of cyberspace can be very challenging to traverse, especially regarding time management. What are the rewards reaped for the time invested? With the new media, are we growing collectively, and individually in a positive manor?
Percept/product is interesting, Dad. And I appreciate your thoughts on blogging as it relates to liberty and freedom. It’s especially relevant to consider this alongside the ongoing revelation that GWB and friends have been funding conservative talking heads to circulate rave reviews of suspect or even damaging initiatives.
The alleged payoffs to talk rafdio hosts was one of my points. Something like “payolla” in the old days of rock ‘n roll.
Was it the Canadian rauckers, The Who, who said “we wonn’t get screwed again!”
I don’t listen into much talk radio. Tend to think of it as working somewhat differently than blogs. But yeah, forums for exhcanging ideas, the freer they are, are generally better for it.