December, 5, 2002 archives

online journalism review has an interview with harry shearer, who talks about what he thinks the big missing entertainment and technology story is (the failure of the digital television switch-over) and is generally negative on the drm future that the entertainment companies are trying to shepherd in.

no, i don't really have anything against jakob nielsen. i think he says lots of great things, actually. i was just re-reading his microcontent: headlines and subject lines article, and realized that nearly all of the headlines i've used in recent posts violate the written in plain language: no puns, no cute or clever headlines test. i think i use titles most when i'm trying to be cute or clever. the exception is when i want to claim a google position. (and i'll add that i'm disappointed that google can't handle the »s and «s in my page titles. we'll see if it handles the numeric version of those entities better.)

a clever con to create a new state agency. no, it's not about the department of homeland security, it's a piece from the moscow times about a con-man who tried to get office space for a fabricated coast guard-equivalent in russia.

scientists at colorado state university think too much refined bread and cereal may be behind teen acne, and and an australian team is going to perform a study to try to prove it. another point in favor of low-carb diets?