December 2011
49 posts
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“Skip has a unique ability to at once inspire and infuriate, all the while...”
– ESPN Front Row admits, inadvertently, that Skip Bayless does not have opinions that can be backed up with knowledge and facts.
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Today will never happen in Samoa →
The island nation in the South Pacific had announced earlier this year that it would switch from being on one side of the International Dateline to the other, putting itself in the world’s earliest time zone instead of the latest.
To achieve this change, Samoa has to lose a day. So even though today is Thursday, tomorrow won’t be Friday. Sorry, Rebecca Black! Friday is canceled, as is the date...
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“Without editors planning assignments and copy editors fixing mistakes, reporters...”
– George Vecsey tells good stories, reflects wisely on newspapers’ nadir, then slags bloggers. Sigh.
A Departing Q & A with George Vecsey - The Morning Delivery
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“The newspaper of the future is going to be where you touch the picture and the...”
– Michael Bloomberg in 1998 (via Poynter)
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Chimpanzee from Tarzan movies dies at 80 →
Update: This may be a hoax, and the chimp not actually from the movies or that old: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/12/29/doubts-surround-the-death-of-cheetah-1930s-tarzan-chimp/?xid=newsfeed-daily
Cheetah was the comic relief in the Tarzan films that starred American Olympic gold medal swimmer Johnny Weissmuller. Cobb says Cheetah came to the sanctuary from Weissmuller’s estate sometime around...
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“There are as many domestic workers in London now as in Victorian times.”
– These days domestic workers are more likely to be self-employed, well-qualified and well-paid than their 19th century counterparts. Yet in some respects the industry has changed surprisingly little. (via theeconomist)
“Here is the simple truth about Cary Grant: he was the best and most important...”
– Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Cary Grant’s Intimate Bromance | The Hairpin
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“If all the official stories of monotheism, from Moses to Mormonism, were to be...”
– Christopher Hitchens, on Christmas.
The key here, to me, is that being nonreligious isn’t an end in itself. For doing so doesn’t answer anything; it just means you’ve got to work harder than ever. Hitchens did that where much of the snarky commentariat hasn’t (yet,...
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“People just get things wrong. They read them wrong, or remember them wrong or...”
– What Is Good Fact-Checking? | Mother Jones (via rubenfeld)
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“With regard to the C-word, I think we didn’t consider it appropriate in...”
– State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland, talking about “condolences,” thankfully, and not the real c-word.
CNN.com
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“Nearly 1 in 3 newsroom jobs have been eliminated … since 1989.”
– Reflections of a Newsosaur: Newspaper job cuts surged 30% in 2011
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“It is now the month of December, when the greatest part of the city is in a...”
– Seneca The Younger, from a letter referencing Saturnalia (via wwnorton)
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“The cartoon has been reprinted and redrawn widely throughout American history....”
– Someone is screwing around with the Wikipedia entry for Join, or Die - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, by referring to political bodies “being appealed to with a large wang.” Love it!
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Kim Jong-Il dead? No better time to look at a... →
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“I can recall a lunch in 1991, when I was editing The New York Observer, and he...”
– Graydon Carter Remembers Christopher Hitchens | Culture | Vanity Fair (via felixsalmon)
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“Critics are always complaining “This doesn’t challenge me.”...”
– Hey, “Two and a Half Men” is no benchmark of humanity’s brilliance. But Jon Cryer gets what a lot of the “smart” TV people don’t — most people watch what they enjoy and find relaxing. Comedy that puts its brilliance ahead of causal viewing enjoyment still...
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“Winston Churchill put it very squarely when he defined the issue as,...”
– Christopher Hitchens on the virtues of alcohol (via felixsalmon)
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“One of our lunches, at Café Milano, the Rick’s Café of Washington, began at 1...”
– Christopher Buckley remembers Christopher Hitchens, in the New Yorker
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Correlation or Causation? →
Statistics without context in six graphs that are technically correct but utterly ridiculous.
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“Timing is everything. Chemistry is something that you don’t just throw in...”
– Deadspin: Kevin Garnett Made One Hell Of A Cooking Metaphor Today
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“But the intensity of the derision strikes me as unwarranted, in that it outdoes...”
– Frank Bruni, correctly pointing out that the well-meaning zealot, though we may find him unbearable, is usually better than the creepy maybe-rapist.
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Watchthedailywhat:
So This Happened of the Day: Tired of waiting for American Airlines to apologize to him for kicking him off a plane for being rude, Alec Baldwin made a surprise appearance on last night’s Weekend Update to apologize to himself on behalf of American Airlines.
[snl.]
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“There are ways that companies can try to minimize the damage when they eliminate...”
– The Case Against Layoffs: They Often Backfire - The Daily Beast
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Siri is a fan of "Big Love"
whysiriwhy:
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“A pickup attempt? I’m offended! I have very little time to get to the gym...”
– Will Ferrell, in “Anchorman”
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“When I cranked up the amp I also cranked up the surface noise, all the clicks...”
– NPR’s Bob Boilen/Vinyl’s Not Final : All Songs Considered (via lookhigh)
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“I wasn’t Secretariat. I was that No. 3 horse that could go to the post...”
– Jim Kaat On Jim Kaat, or “An athlete actually says he’s not Hall of Fame material.” via Rob Neyer at Baseball Nation
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“So deadline is closing in fast and furious at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times,...”
– Just one of the many awesome newspaper bloopers that Jim Romenesko collected from readers back in 2000. Yes, 2000. He’s was online then, still going now.
Poynter.org - Jim Romenesko’s Media News
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WatchJason Segel of “How I Met Your Mother” and the Muppets movie, on how his love of puppets affects his love life.
