Recently in newsworthy Category

So two days after Forbes shames itself completely by advising men to steer clear of "career-minded" women, they publish this stunning report on the drunkest cities in America. Coincidence? I think not. (Update: A point-counterpoint version of the article is back up at Forbes.com.)

I hear Mr. Noer has a second home in Milwaukee.

Oh, and Seattle and San Antonio both tied for #12.

*Despite the title of this posting, I am in no way implying that Forbes actually hires incompetent drunks. For all I know, their drunks are entirely competent.

So, I've been in Vancouver since last Thursday (3/23) for the IA Summit, which is part of my dissertation research. It was a good conference - lots of interesting things going on in the IA field that I will be thinking more about during the next couple of weeks. I attended a bunch of different panels, including one on research in the IA field (side note: it's amazing how many people only consider quantitative work valuable), and connected up with some UW geography students and one of my committee members. I also conducted two of my expert interviews: one with Peter Morville and one with Keith Instone. Both gave extremely thoughtful answers to my questions, and I am lucky that the IA community is filled with such generous people who are willing to talk to a total stranger in such depth about the work they do. The conference was a great opportunity to meet people whose work I've admired for a long time. I'll be conducting a number of interviews (via Skype or phone) over the next few weeks with some other folks who presented at the Summit.

I arrived early for the conference so I could enjoy a bit of the Pacific NW. I was reminded, again, of how much I miss this place, and how wonderful Vancouver is. I spent some time shopping on Main St. (between 12th and 24th), an area that reminds a bit of Capitol Hill and parts of Toronto. There are great coffee shops, cafes, ethnic groceries, amazing restaurants, vintage stores, and comic book shops in the area. I got a bunch of local zines at Lucky's and bought a bunch of other frivolous items at Voltage. I also ran on the seawall path along the water and gazed out at the beautiful mountains to the north. Sigh. I'm happy to be going home, but I really miss living in a (real) city.

A let me know about the horrible stuff that happened on Saturday in Capitol Hill. The Stranger has a very detailed article about the events. It's very weird, as I only lived four or five blocks from the crime scene. (via joygantic)

Oh, and I'm blogging from the YVR airport. For free. This place rocks!

(Pictures and other conference thoughts to come when I can figure out how to get my stupid cameraphone to send photos to Flickr at a higher quality.)

Newsy

• Comedian Lenny Bruce finally received a pardon from NY state Gov. Pataki - a mere 37 years after his death.
  
• They've just discovered the first possible case of Mad Cow disease in the US - right here in Washington state. "'This incident is not terrorist-related,' [Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman] said. 'I cannot stress this point strongly enough.'"

• Just in time for last-minute gift wrapping - beautiful paper boxes from the good folks at Kaliber 1000 (via Christina Wodtke's most excellent weblog, Gleanings).
  
• More paper-y goodness - lovely paper models of animals and motorcycles courtesy of Yamaha (!!) Motors.
  
• For you IA/user design lovers, here's a plethora of Web widgets and a bunch of interaction design patterns (thanks, xBlog), and some absolutely gorgeous typography. Oh, how I wish I were an actual designer.

• Pitchfork Media has published their annual review of the top 50 albums and the top 50 singles of 2003. As one of my friends pointed out, the review for the #1 song, Outkast's Hey Ya! is brilliant: "You can approach pop music as cynically as your indieness mandates, but 'Hey Ya' is a monument to the idea that a really fucking great song will blow up because it's really fucking great. Mind-blowing, then, when the track sounds very much like a home recording by a guy with a couple guitars and keyboards." Well played.
  
• While you're gathered 'round the Yule log, check out the newest release from 8bitpeoples - Christmas songs created using the music from classic video games.
  
• Harold von Braunhut, creator of Sea Monkeys and X-Ray specs, died on Sunday (via Boing Boing).

Think what you will of Michael Moore - but I personally was incredibly moved by some of the letters he's received from military personnel in Iraq.

From: ________________
To: mike@michaelmoore.com
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2003 12:33 AM
Subject: re: thanks, from Ft. ______

wow, 130,000 troops on the ground, nearly 500 deaths and over a billion dollars a day, but they caught a guy living in a hole. am i supposed to be dazzled?

SPC _____________, US Army

There's a great forum happening on Monday at Columbia University in NYC about media consolidation. If you're going to be in the area, I highly recommend checking out the debate between staffers from The Nation and The Economist. John Nichols and Jenny Toomey will take on Ben Edwards and the FCC's W. Kenneth Ferree. More information about the event is available at ActNow!

Just in case you need another reason to be concerned about this stuff, check out these media consolidation chart - all of them are somewhat out-of-date, but bear in mind that things have only gotten worse in the last few years - from Media Channel, The Nation, Columbia Journalism Review, and Frontline. Lots more information can be had on FAIR's telecommunications policy pages. And if you're still pining for more, check out Ben Bagdikian's book, The Media Monopoly. (I do realize that it's only slightly ironic that I'm linking to Amazon.com when mentioning books on my site. Here's the link to Powells if you'd prefer to buy it there.)

Earlier this year, I made a pledge to volunteer for whichever Democrat wins the party's nomination, not because I have any great love for the Democrats, but because I can't stand to see GWB win another term. He's already plunged the country into the insanity of war, increased our national debt and undermined just about every environmental and social program that have been created in the last twenty years (check out The Daily Outrage). I don't really care who gets the nomination - although, I'm leaning towards Dean - just that they organize a good, viable campaign that could actually challenge Bush and his cronies.

Unfortunately, an article in today's Washington Post suggests that for some unfathomable reason, many other individuals do not feel the way that I do. Apparently, Bush's campaign has been incredibly successful in garnering grassroots support from diehard GOP fans.

Bush's campaign Web site already has signed up 6 million supporters, 10 times the number that Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean has, and the Bush operation is in the middle of an unprecedented drive to register 3 million new Republican voters...."I've never seen grass roots like this," said a veteran GOP operative in one of the battleground states.

Yes, yes, I know...you can write me off as another liberal who reads Moveon.org's action alerts and The Nation. Just repeat after me, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore."

Whoohoo! Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's decorating guru Thom Filicia is replacing Kirstie Alley as Pier 1's spokesperson. In other QE news, the show's soundtrack will be released on February 10, 2004. The CD will feature Basement Jaxx, Elton John, the Chemical Brothers, and, "former indie rocker but now corporate sellout who's one step away from being an older Avril Lavigne" Liz Phair.

Apparently, 13 year-old Bethany Hamilton is "in demand" after being attacked by a shark on the north shore of Hawaii. She's being courted by all of the biggies -Leno, Letterman, 20/20, etc. to tell her story.

Fine. I appreciate that losing a limb is a terrible blow. However, the fact that the press is promoting her as a "hero" is depressing. Yes, she was hurt. Yes, she survived. Yes, it's awful. But is it really heroic to be bitten by a shark? Perhaps I'm being cold, but it seems to me that there are plenty of other teenagers out there who are more deserving of this sort of attention. When Today show host Matt Lauer tells you that you're "the most sought after teenager in the world," and you have a manager who says things like, "What I'm trying to do is make this 15 minutes of fame into Brand Bethany Hamilton," you have officially become a product, and your suffering ceases to be deserving of my sympathy. You have become a public figure who risks being ridiculed when the inevitable backlash happens. In my mind, this is the real tragedy.

Of course, there's already talk of a book.