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Showing posts from January, 2006

google resists evil

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Aren't Republican administrations supposed to be business friendly? Why is the federal government entitled to data mine a US corporation? The Department of Justice asked nice, was politely rebuffed, and now it has gone to court. Huh? "Google's acceding to the request would suggest that it is willing to reveal information about those who use its services. This is not a perception that Google can accept." --Google lawyer Ashok Ramani If Google isn't the target of an investigation, what obligation does it have to provide the US government with any information? And why are all the other -- publicly-traded! -- companies complying in some way shape or form with this request, however innocuously portrayed? Why are Yahoo! and AOL and MSN not resisting? Is this China? Yahoo recently drew criticism for complying with an informational request by China, which used the information convict and jail a dissident. MSN also caught heat for shutting down access to a popular Beijing

what's truth got to do with it?

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A Million Little Lies - January 8, 2006 here's my problem. do i read it or not? there isn't much more to say about all this. a book isn't a memoir if things are made up. you can't remember what didn't happen. when you assert something as factual when it isn't you do so to add value, to serve your purpose. it's selfish and dishonest. but is it ok to read this book on the merits anyway? would genuine fiction by such infamous fakers as jason blair or janet cooke be banned from your reading list? speaking for myself, i am not sure. i stumbled upon ' a million little pieces ' a few weeks ago without any knowledge of it (no, i don't live in a bubble). like many others i started to read the first few passages and was taken in (pun intended) by the graphic detail and vibrant writing. it was compelling, and if it had been marketed as a non-fiction novel i doubt any of the justified criticism would have or could have been made. and i would have bought it

covering alito

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i like msnbc and all -- but why cut away to scheduled programming in the midst of the alito hearings in the afternoon?! cnn is unwatchable, with a six-screen layout. there is so little to fill this mosaic that there is a wide shot of the space between the witness table and the senators, a position shot of the u.s. capital, a position shot of the u.s supreme court and graphic that says, just to eliminate any ambiguity, "the alito hearings". somebody needs to re-read "amusing ourselves to death." cspan (senate) isn't carrying the hearings, but cspan (house) is (?) so, the only network that can be relied upon to carry this in a more or less straightforward way is, sigh, fox news, and the ever reliable PBS.

and then there were none

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my old boss left reuters the other day -- and just like that there was nobody left from the original gang who put reuters on the internet map. in officially announcing bob's departure to all staff his last boss, very new to the company, was refreshingly sincere, generous and accurate, not only capturing bob's legendary zeal for the internet but his personal style. "I have benefited greatly from Bob 's flawless news judgment and his guidance in the ways of Reuters," the memo says. "And this was always delivered with grace, charm and a sense of humor." this is bob in a nutshell. the kind note made no mention, of course, of the reasons and trigger behind the move, which i frankly do not completely know. but one of bob's many talents was a keen insight into the reality of company politics and i'm sure he knew for quite some time that the end was not only coming, but was inevitable and perhaps even necessary. my career was intertwined with bob'