Links for January 11th
These are my delicious links for January 11th from 08:06 to 22:57:
- UNCUT: Barkley, Wife at Their Gated House -
- From: Jerry YangSteve. Why do you keep ignoring my Facebook... -
From: Rod Blagojevich
How do you delete email that’s already been sent?From: Barack Obama
AirforceOne needs an XBOX. Hint, Hint. - New Media Douchebags Explained -
How to blog, Twitter, podcast, poke, write on Facebook walls and become a new media douchebag. More at http://cinnamonpants.com. - New Web-based news agency going live on Monday - AFP-MediaWatch - New Web-based news agency going live on Monday - AFP-MediaWatch: The Global Post is a new newswire-like service for world news, focuses on new media and beat reporting, the project has exciting implications because it employs a freemium business model, along with…
- Skirting Laws, Iran Buys Bomb Parts From US Firms - World news | Newser - Skirting Laws, Iran Buys Bomb Parts From US Firms - World news | Newser: Are you kidding me!? I don’t know if I’m more embarrassed by the companies that will do anything to make a buck or by the inability of our government to NOT SELL WEAPONS TO THE EMENY.
- Avoiding The Big Yellow Taxi Moment - Avoiding The Big Yellow Taxi Moment: Do bloggers just opine while reporters do ‘journalism?’ The comments are particularly interesting, but present the same problem blogs do: They are a raw source of material — a source — that require a…
- "You are one of the millions of people who sit at a computer all day. Every hour you have 10 minutes..." - ““You are one of the millions of people who sit at a computer all day. Every hour you have 10 minutes where you’re not doing anything productive at work, and you can’t look at porn. So you make a comment and fulfill this desire to show yourself off as a smarty-pants.””
- —Marshall Poe, a professor of history and new media at the University of Iowa, who has studied Internet communities.
All-Stars of the Clever Riposte - New York Times
- "People are doing it [commenting on blogs] for the same reason another generation of people called in..." - ““People are doing it [commenting on blogs] for the same reason another generation of people called in on talk radio.””
- —Shel Israel, a social media consultant and a columnist for Blogger & Podcastermagazine
All-Stars of the Clever Riposte - New York Times
- Here Comes Another Bubble v1.1 - The Richter Scales - Here Comes Another Bubble v1.1 - The Richter Scales:
Winner of the Webby Award for Viral Video! Full credits at http://richterscales.com/bubble_credits Web 2.0 had it… - Crunchies 2008 - The Richter Scales - Crunchies 2008 - The Richter Scales:
The Richter Scales perform their new song at The Crunchies 2008.Views:
4468
- Skirting Laws, Iran Buys Bomb Parts From US Firms - World news | Newser - Are you kidding me!? I don't know if I'm more embarrassed by the companies that will do anything to make a buck or by the inability of our government to NOT SELL WEAPONS TO THE EMENY.
- Avoiding The Big Yellow Taxi Moment - Do bloggers just opine while reporters do 'journalism?' The comments are particularly interesting, but present the same problem blogs do: They are a raw source of material — a source — that require a curator (pro. journalist) to make readable for the average person.
- New Web-based news agency going live on Monday - AFP-MediaWatch - The Global Post is a new newswire-like service for world news, focuses on new media and beat reporting, the project has exciting implications because it employs a freemium business model, along with content sharing.
Don’t Get Caught Photoshopping, We’ll Laugh at You
-Iran: You Suck At Photoshop (updated) - Boing Boing
This week, the Iranian National Guard photoshopped a picture of their missile test to make it look like a missile the presumably failed to launch had taken to the air successfully.
Needless to say, when the Media Industry found out, they were outraged. Several top papers had already run the image on their front pages, and their corrections were necessarily harsh on Iran.
Boing Boing had a different take. They asked their readers to submit a funny photoshopped version of the same phone. My (and their) favorite above. (click for more)
Not News to Me…
I've been straying away from posting 'general news' with the intent to focus more on journalism and photography related issues. However, there are sometimes issues that I can't help but comment on:
Surprise, surprise; Iran is developing nuclear weapons.
Part of the agency’s case hinges on 18 documents listed in the report and presented to Iran that, according to Western intelligence agencies, indicate the Iranians have ventured into explosives, uranium processing and a missile warhead design — activities that ordinarily would be associated with constructing nuclear weapons.
-Nuclear Agency Accuses Iran of Willful Lack of Cooperation - NYTimes.com
I recently wrote a paper on the Iranian nuclear problem – the argument was severely hurt by a report from the US intelligence community stating that Iran had stopped work on nuclear weapons in 2003. Well, here's to US 'intelligence:'
“The Iranians are certainly being confronted with some pretty strong evidence of a nuclear weapons program and they are being petulant and defensive,” said David Albright, a former weapons inspector who now runs the Institute for Science and International Security. “The report lays out what the agency knows and it is very damning. I’ve never seen it laid out quite like this.”
Actually, I can tie this back to the press. Let's talk about bias in the media. Take a moment to read this excerpt from the first article:
A National Intelligence estimate published last December by American intelligence agencies concluded that Iran suspended its work on a weapons design in late 2003, in response apparently to mounting international pressure, adding that it wasn’t certain whether the weapons work had resumed.
The agency’s report highlights the amount of work still to be done before definitive conclusions about the nature of the program can be made, a task that the agency-associated official said would require months.
[Bolding applied]
When this news was first broken, the New York Times' coverage took a stance directly contradictory. There was little mention the surety of the government towards the restarting of the program. The focus was entirely about the stopping of the nuclear program in 2003. Here's the lead from the article:
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 — A new assessment by American intelligence agencies concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains frozen, contradicting judgment two years ago that Tehran was working relentlessly toward building a nuclear bomb.
-U.S. Says Iran Ended Atomic Arms Work - NYTimes.com
Though the article does go on to quote, "that intelligence agencies 'do not know whether it [Iran] currently intends to develop nuclear weapons,'" the news coverage at the time hardly focused on that angle. There is a bit of revisionist history here. The media has a bad tendency to focus on the sensational. If the NIE was inconclusive enough to say that it was not sure what the current status of the Iranian nuclear program was, then that should have been the focus of the reporting. Using the 'stopped in five years ago' angle is either poor reporting or dishonesty.
The second bolding from the excerpt is just another complaint I have about the whole international nuclear process/angencies/bumbling: It's been years since Iran started to develop nuclear weapons (clearly prior to 2003). It sounds like we've got pretty solid evidence that they're violating some rules:
- "The agency also said that during a visit in April, it was denied access to sites where centrifuge components are being manufactured and where research of uranium enrichment is being conducted."
- "The report makes no effort to disguise the agency’s frustration with Iran’s lack of transparency. It describes, for example, Iran’s installation of new centrifuges, known as the IR-2 and IR-3 (for Iranian second and third generations) and other modifications at its sprawling site at Natanz, as 'significant, and as such should have been communicated to the agency.'"
I'm unclear. What's going to take "months" to do? I don't get it; Iran is clearly in violation of the rules/international law. What's stopping someone from doing something about it?
Curious How Much of a Mess Iraq Is?
U.S. and Iraqi troops clamped down on Sadr City after fighting spread and attacks against the Green Zone intensified in the wake of the offensive. Four Americans were killed in near daily shelling.
Iranian Ambassador Denounces U.S. - TIME
This TIME article does a pretty good job showing how much of a mess Iraq is right now. The Iraqi army is attempting to be effective, but they still rely heavily on the US and the UK to do their job. Their job of course, is to try to maintain some sort of status quo between themselves and the insurgents. Iran is not helping matters at all, with their ambassador calling for the end of bloodshed – but only for those on his side. US soldiers continue to die without accomplishing their mission. And, concrete walls are still being constructed in an effort to secure the green zone.
Right. It's been said before, but: "mission accomplished." Right.
China ‘Gold Medal’ For Executions – BBC
In case you're wondering what all the Olympic torch protestors have been complaining about, the BBC is running an article about a recent report from Amnesty International on the death penalty around the world. The article focuses on China.
"As the world's biggest executioner, China gets the 'gold medal' for global executions," said the organisation's UK director, Kate Allen.
"According to reliable estimates, on average China secretly executes around 22 prisoners every day - that's 374 people during the Olympic Games," she added.
Apparently, the idea of capital crimes is a bit different in China than the rest of the world:
More than 60 crimes can carry the death penalty in China, including tax fraud, stealing VAT receipts, damaging electric power facilities, selling counterfeit medicine, embezzlement, accepting bribes and drug offences, Amnesty [International] said.
…and the idea of due process is a bit different than western states:
The BBC's Quentin Sommerville, in Beijing, says justice is usually swift - most of those sentenced to death are executed only weeks after they are found guilty.
The article then goes on to discuss the findings in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries – where the death penalty is also prevalent. Iran was the only country to have more reported capital punishments than China.
The report and article end with a call for the world to stop employing the death penalty.
My Neighborhood – Baghdad Bureau – Iraq From the Inside – New York Times Blog
We carried the injured to our own cars and hurried them to nearby hospitals. Others used wooden carriages to do the job of the ambulance. Some rescuers were using fire extinguishers and buckets filled with water to fight big fires, and others were wrapping the bodies of women, kids and men with blankets and kept shouting, “Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.”
My Neighborhood - Baghdad Bureau - Iraq From the Inside - New York Times Blog
This is another piece of phenomenal journalism from the NY Times. Written by an Iraqi journalist employed by the Times, this piece describes the resolve and willingness of the Iraqi people to deal with the problems of their country – namely terrorism.
The piece is short, and well written, very worth a read to get a quick insight into the mind of an Iraqi.
Iranian Blogosphere Tests Government’s Limits – New York Times
Like women who inch their head scarves back to see how much hair they can show or people who flout the ban on alcohol by drinking at home, bloggers seem to be testing just how far they can push. And, like Iran’s other rule breakers, some pay a price.
Iranian Blogosphere Tests Government’s Limits - New York Times
Blogging from Iran is … challenging. The Iranian judicial system is divided into two. The first is essentially a criminal court, they try things like murder or theft. The second is a religious court which can try … anything that is declared to be against the Islamic state of Iran.
It's a dangerous place to test the limits.
