I’ve worked for lots of editors and lots of publishers. Some were supportive; some were… not. Here’s a nice piece at MediaBistro on how to strike the right balance.
The inalienable right of journalists to freebies
So Apple are coming to take the G5 back. I’m gutted. After life with an 800MHz G4 iMac, a Quad G5 was something else altogether. I’m going to be holding a small memorial service on Sunday, if that’s all right.
The impending repossession has set me thinking though. Why is that hardware vendors expect their hardware back after you’ve reviewed it, when software vendors don’t?
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The benefits of meditation
Meditation really is good for you and your brain it turns out. I have tried some meditation, but of the Hindu, not the Zen kind. Didn’t do much for me, but I didn’t stick with it very long. Plus concentrating on the air going in and out your nose really doesn’t occupy your mind much. I just kept drifting away. Maybe I’ll add it to my New Year’s Resolutions.
Science, fundamentalism and climate change
Scientists need to stop ignoring fundamentalists and start explaining themselves, according to the president of the Royal Society. Otherwise, climate change is going to be downplayed and we’re all doomed.
Seems an odd argument, given there are environmentally friendly fundamentalist Christians out there campaigning for CO2 reductions and more. The trouble is he uses the word “fundamentalist” to mean all kinds of fundamentalists, not just religious fundamentalists. His definition is so loose, it applies to anyone with a firm belief. As a result, his argument is woolly and obvious: we need to stand up for what we believe or else people who believe different things will get the upper hand.
Thanks, Lord May, for clearing that one up.
Nevertheless, he has a point. In 20 years’ time, when we’re all melting in heat waves, freezing in Winter and the sea level is slowly rising, what will you say to your kids if they ask you what you did to stop it happening? Do something now and don’t let people who simply know how to shout loudly win the argument. If you’re a CIO or IT manager, incidentally, you might like to read my article on how to make your computing facilities more environmentally friendly: save power, stop using so many resources and you’ll save money as well as the planet.
That Blair-Bush-Al Jazeera memo finally getting some notice in the US
Salon’s among the first of the US’s online left-wing magazines to pick up on the now-infamous UK memo that hinted that President Bush wanted to bomb Al Jazeera. It’s a run-through of events at the time of the memo, so you get to see everything in context. Whether the memo is being correctly reported or not, it’s clear Rummy and co have gone through the looking glass on a couple of issues.
Salon’s usual take – why has the mainstream media not picked up on this until now? – is starting to annoy though: you are the mainstream media; stop acting like you’re outsiders still. Why didn’t you pick this up until now? It’s not like you wouldn’t have known within minutes via a Google News subscription, and your content deals with The Guardian and Der Spiegel surely would have helped if you had missed it.
Perhaps if Salon could refrain from the kind of preaching that gives liberals a bad name in the US and put its efforts into making its voice heard, maybe other media outlets would join in instead of ignoring otherwise important events.
Pilger on Internet news
The ever-excellent John Pilger is bigging up Internet news organisations in his latest New Statesman feature. If you ever thought the BBC was either neutral or left-wing, you really should read some Pilger, just to learn how much it’s backed the governments of the day over the years.
“Wooden tongue” writing
It doesn’t matter how hard you try to explain to management types, they all think there’s some sort of virtue in their stilted jargon. The English language is a thing of beauty and subtlety; writing what you think is more likely to make people trust you than if you write empty, meaningless sentences that say nothing. These facts don’t seem to sway them.
Let us all launch a united attack on “wooden tongue” writing. People must learn to be interesting.
What it takes to be a sub
What does it take to be a sub (Americans who are mystified, I’m talking about copy editors here, not sandwiches or submarines)? Some people drift into it, some people train for it. Whatever the entry route, you need to have an appreciation for language, a knowledge of the law, an understanding of production and design, the ability to write, a pedantic need to check facts and an eye for spotting mistakes at least.
Not any more though.
My psychic powers
My sister and I were out on the town last night. We’d decided to see Broken Flowers (I’ll probably review that once I’ve worked out what it was all about) but before then we had pizza. We discussed many things, including QI, the quite interesting show featuring Stephen Fry and Alan Davies. We discussed Mr Davies at length then adjourned to the cinema.
Well waddaya know! Who should be there in the audience but Mr Alan Davies himself!
Clearly our combined psychic powers summoned him to us.
We’re going to discuss Chris Morris the next time we meet to see if it works again. Okay, we’ve already seen him a few times (a Beck concert in Camden comes to mind), but it’s for science, you understand.
A defence of Bob Woodward
Finally, someone’s leaped to the defence of Bob Woodward. As far as I can see, all Woodward did was not volunteer information. Maybe his colleagues didn’t like that, but then that’s not his job. He was protecting his source. End of story.