Comments Posted By crosspatch
Displaying 1 To 10 Of 70 Comments
REFLECTIONS ON WALTER CRONKITE AND THE DEATH OF AMERICAN JOURNALISM
"Journalism" isn't dead ... "reporting" is dead. A trade that used to rely on accurately reflecting the facts of events normally out of sight of most people has turned instead into painting the picture as the "journalist" would wish it to be. It is the difference between a photograph and an impressionist painting.
There are no more reporters, only "journalists".
The REAL problem, though, is a lack of diversity of agenda. Papers were always biased but you had access to several. Ben Franklin was an absolute scoundrel when it came to "journalism" often fabricating "letters to the editor" to make them appear to come from a reader. He would also slant the real letters he did publish making his view seem the more popular.
The real problem is a lack of alternative points of view in print and broadcast media.
Comment Posted By crosspatch On 19.07.2009 @ 15:23
WHAT'S THE RUSH TO MARS, BUZZ? IT'S NOT LIKE IT'S GOING ANYWHERE
We would be pretty stupid to attempt to colonize Mars at the moment. The main reason is that one of Mars' moons, Phobos, is in an unstable orbit and will be crashing into Mars in about 10 million years. So why go to all the trouble of colonizing a place that we *know* is going to experience a catastrophic event and wipe out all our work?
A better plan would be to intentionally speed that process up and crash Phobos into Mars now. That has a couple of benefits. First it slightly increases the mass of Mars and makes it able to hold a tiny amount more atmosphere but most importantly it might restart some volcanism and possible add some heat to the inside of the planet from the collision. This might make for the generation of more atmospheric gasses and make it easier to colonize.
It would also give us experience in manipulating large object that might come in handy if something large was ever headed toward us from space.
Yes, but in 10 million years we will probably have some kind of super-duper destructo ray that would pulverize Phobos. And Mars will probably be a paradise since we will have changed its atmosphere and climate by then.
As far as manipulating large bodies from space, it would indeed be a triumph if we could do something about Michael Moore...'
ed.
Comment Posted By crosspatch On 16.07.2009 @ 23:12
ANOTHER 'IRAN IS SIX MONTHS AWAY FROM HAVING THE BOMB' STORY
For all practical purposes, Iran already has North Korea's bomb.
Comment Posted By crosspatch On 16.07.2009 @ 23:15
WHAT IF THE WORLD ENDED AND NOBODY SHOWED UP?
All scientific research should be canceled because it is possible for people to raise a never ending stream of worries and uncertainties surrounding any field of research. These uncertainties increase the anxiety of the public and adversely impact the public health. No scientific experiment should be done unless you can absolutely prove that something bad WONT happen and since you can't prove a negative, then no scientific experimentation should be done. We can not afford to take any risks whatsoever.
Who is advocating not carrying out experiments? I think it safe to say that those who wish to carry out experiments without any regard for the consequences are ignoramouses.
ed.
Comment Posted By crosspatch On 30.03.2008 @ 18:24
ARE WE DAYS AWAY FROM WAR WITH IRAN?
Take note of the reaction so far of the UK and the US. So far it has been extremely subdued. We have a call from both countries to release the hostages immediately and nothing much beyond that.
Iran does this to get the price of oil up on world markets by creating regional tensions. Every time they do this, they make money. They need money right now. They are behind on their payments to the Russians for building a power plant. They are also importing foreign refined petroleum products which tends to offset their oil revenue.
By keeping the rhetoric to a minimum, we are minimizing Iran's profiting on the situation. Rather than a major military attack or an attack on nuclear facilities, an extremely limited attack on domestic refining capacity might be a option.
Israel's response to Hezbollah has caused tremendous economic damage to the Shiite community in Lebanon and to Iran who payed for the building of much of the infrastructure that was destroyed and has said they would pay to rebuild it. The kidnapping and invasion got oil to $75 per barrel but Iran and her allies in Lebanon didn't profit from it.
Iran shouldn't profit from this latest attempt to create a little windfall for herself either. OPEC should announce increased oil export quotas, the world should treat Iran economically as if it were a lake, and there should be a refinery "accident" or two inside Iran. Then the longer they drag this on, the more Iran suffers for it.
Comment Posted By crosspatch On 25.03.2007 @ 14:27
DEMS BETTER NOT BE HASTY ABOUT HASTINGS
Problem is, I don't think 85% of the voters would know a Hastings from a Harmon if they were bitten in the rear by one.
So while it might put the pundits all in a tizzy, I really don't think it is going to make a difference with your average couch potato who has probably never heard of either one of them.
Comment Posted By crosspatch On 18.11.2006 @ 20:38
IDF, OLMERT AT LOGGERHEADS; BUSH FLASHING YELLOW LIGHT
Olmert is toast. He has written his own ticket to political oblivion.
Comment Posted By crosspatch On 10.08.2006 @ 15:12
BLOG STRIKE. MASSIVE DAMAGE. NEWS AT 11:00
"Have we witnessed the death of reporting?"
I don't think so. But what we are probably witnessing is a transformation. In the past the journalism trade was self-policed and engaged in some navel gazing from time to time when something went wrong. Now things are different. There are average people and people with some serious skills that have instant global reach with blogs that are now keeping them honest.
As the media begins to realize that they can't get away with the stuff they could in the past, we will probably see a more responsible media
Comment Posted By crosspatch On 6.08.2006 @ 15:42
THE CIVILIAN PARADOX IN MODERN WAR
As long as Hezbollah is able to make political hay from civilian deaths, they will have incentive to maximize those deaths. Killing civilians is what Hezbollah does. Their rockets kill civilians in Israel, and their attacks are based from places designed to cause civilian deaths if responded to. Their entire doctrine is based on maximizing civilian deaths. The sad part is that the major media outlets play so easily into Hezbollah's game.
Comment Posted By crosspatch On 1.08.2006 @ 02:15
"If it were only the comments that were the problem, I’d say that most bloggers already moderate comments to one degree or another."
While that is true, what I ment was I think we will see more blogs that just don't allow a comment to go on the blog until it's been looked at.
As for stuff that isn't comments, I am not sure what can be done about that because people are going to say whatever they are going to say. While I agree that what we are seeing now goes beyond what would expect to see in a civilized society, I am at a loss as to any ideas of what can be done about it. It isn't against the law to be a jerk.
A treatening email or phone call can be prosecuted but what one posts on their own blog is pretty difficult to do much about.
"Unless the blogosphere as one rises up in righteous anger and condemns without equivocation, without qualification, and without regard to ideology or party affiliation those who seek to sully this medium with the poisonous tactics of bullying, or threatening, or crossing over from the virtual world into the physical world in order to carry out vendettas against opponents, we will become a sideshow, a gaggle of carping, sniping, irrelevancies who deserved to be laughed at rather than taken seriously for our ideas or beliefs."
I am quite prepared to stand against this behavior. I am disgusted by it. I also believe it is an example of why the extreme left is pushing itself into irrelevance; most people don't want to be associated with that kind of public behavior.
That kind of behavior isn't sustainable and I believe we are witnessing the coming apart of the most extreme fringe elements of the left. Everyone is abandoning them, even the Clintons. Now if they can just get Dean out of his chair, they can begin to clean things up because I think this fringe sees Dean as their source of legitimacy. But I suppose if Dean is replaced we will hear a howl of how Rove, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Diebold, and Israel all conspired to "get him".
Comment Posted By crosspatch On 28.07.2006 @ 19:28
