A MarketPlace of Ideas

Reference Arty: Internet users transformed into news reporters

Exerpt: Telling someone they are going to be a citizen journalist is like telling them they are going to be a citizen dentist; it requires training and the average person just can’t do it.”

Who ever this reporter is he must be dumb as a rock.  Not only can the average person do reporting, he can do it BETTER ….WAYYYY  better than the professionals.  The professionals are obviously many times wed by economic gain to politicians and otherwise.  I have MUCH more faith in the amateurs.

Of course there is always the chance he’s just worried about his job security.  He should be.   I don’t buy a single newspaper.  I studiously do not buy products that support liberal / socialist causes.  Let’s get real.  There is a bias in the antique media that is super lefty leftist.  This is a product I have no interest in supporting.

I suggest that if this reporter is indeed worried about his job that he go train to be a dentist.  A dentist actually contributes to GNP, unlike professional reporters.   In addition a dentist induces less pain than these professional propagandist journalists.  ( LITERALLY !! )

In a related story KFTY-TV channel 50 in Santa Rosa California is experimenting with distributed journalism.

Exerpt: So the next step in Channel 50’s evolution will be a nationally watched experiment in local television coverage. Over the next few months, the station’s management plans to ask people in the community — its independent filmmakers, its college students and professors, its civic leaders and others — to provide programming for the station.

Original arty= Tonight at 11, news by neighbors

A rather comical comment in the article was:

People come to CBS News because it’s a trusted source of information that they know has been vetted,” said Mike Sims, director of news and operations at CBS.com. “That’s why we’ve been slower to move into citizen journalism.

……of course that’s a real knee slapper / belly acher when you remember RatherGate.

This is going to get really exciting.  In the past you could have a limited number of Antique Media people on the payroll and corner the market.  Even today its possible to push the news agenda….ala global warming.  However its going to be really tough to corner this new journalistic market.   There is going to be a whole brand of politics that is cornered and cornholed by this new process.  Participate actively in Wikipedia for a little while to find out why!  Self policing does a super job and generates very valuable content.  My reaction to this journalist lamenting? Get out the chalk dust lubricant, I want to watch the old guard reporters scream bloody murder.

The Chilling Stars ,A new book for all you Global Warming Deniers!

Excerpt: Why is east Antarctica getting colder?” It makes no sense at all if carbon dioxide is driving global warming. While you’re at it, you might inquire whether Gordon Brown will give you a refund if it’s confirmed that global warming has stopped. The best measurements of global air temperatures come from American weather satellites, and they show wobbles but no overall change since 1999.

The book goes on to propound that solar activity is the chief metric to look at in regards world temperatures.  Geee Duhh! Who would have thought that ?   To quote Rush Limbaugh “global warming is caused the the huge burning fireball in sky”

I know its an uncomfortable thought but the sun is not a constant.  To me that is a hugely uncomfortable proposition but one that is emminently provable. Sol is on a lifecycle just like you and I.  When I think about it Sol has been worshipped in the past and still is.  It truly is the giver of most life on Earth.  ( some life forms live on the energy of volcanic vents and do not need the sun directly )

The book goes on to explain that cosmic rays influence rates of cloud formation.  This should be obvious to anyone having any interest in physics.  I always wanted to build a Wilson Cloud chamber when I was a boy.