It’s a blog!

Countdown with Keith Olbermann is definitely my favorite news show. I studied journalism through high school and college, and he’s the only prime-time news anchor that does things right. He’s described as progressive, though some say that’s a smoke screen for the word liberal (I don’t agree that they are one in the same). Basically, he’s the anti-Bill O’Reilly. He’s dedicated to making sure the facts are correct, and he apologizes when he or anyone on his program makes a mistake.

Anyway, his show is online here. Countdown is broken up into segments, the 5 top stories of the day, and a few interstitials. If you click on a segment, it will play the selected one, and then cycle through the other stories. You pretty much get the whole show. I highly suggest you check it out. It’s a great news show, and it’s a good way to distribute the content using Flash.

Good night, and good luck.


In The Know: Are We Giving The Robots That Run Our Society Too Much Power?

Why didn’t I see this on any of the American media websites?

Bush veto for child health bill

US President Bush vetoes a bill to expand a children’s health insurance plan by raising tobacco taxes.

It passed with an overwhelming majority in the Senate, yet it was vetoed.

Well, at least the kids will save money on cigarettes. They’ll need that money to pay for the chemo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEQOvyGbBtY

I was appauled when the first headline naming the VT gunman on the BBC News website said he was S Korean. BBC has since changed the headline, but Google still shows the original headline in the search query:

I find not only the initial headline, but the whole idea of mentioning the original nationality of the gunman completely irresponsible journalism. I studied Journalism for about 6 years, including all 4 years of high school, and a degree in Journalism/Advertising. I have profound respect for the journalistic process, but journalism seems to be more about entertainment than unbiased reporting.

If the gunman had been white or black, would it have been as big of a deal? And if the gunman were a gunwoman (which technically isn’t even a word like gunman), would it be a bigger deal? Sure, it’s a fact, but it creates an undue negative impression that could potentially lead to racial violence.

Also, please, please, please, stop reffering to it as the biggest shooting in U.S. history. It doesn’t in anyway affect the outcome of this tragedy, it only endangers more people. Let historians make that call after we’ve healed.

A BBC report on the future of robots and ethics.

WARNING: I’m probably going to get into more of my shallow philosophical bullshit.

Earlier today, I was reading an article on Transparency in Social Networking that I found on Digg, and I found it somewhat disturbing. It was was discussing the topic of voting rings, voters that will vote up or down certain articles based on the topic, without reading the material. Digg shows who gives a positive vote, but conceals the identity of a negative vote.

Late last year, Sen. Ted Stevens, the “series of tubes” senator, placed a secret block on a bill that would require the government to publish an online database of federal spending. The “liberal” media grabbed a hold of this story for a short time.

In theory, the U.S. is a democratic state, meaning that WE are the ones in control of the government, however for practical purposes, we elect representatives to do the work for us. It’s our government. There’s a certain degree of irony in the fact that Sen. Stevens was able to place a secret block on a bill promoting transparency. (Is irony the right word?)

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Go Colts!

Did anybody else notice how shitty the SuperBowl commercials have become? Check out this banned commercial for Go Daddy. It’s kind of funny, but not quite sure why it’s banned. Fuckin’ NeoCons.