Oh Yeah, Well You Can't Get Falafel on the Street for $4 in Omaha. Am I right people??

It's not very often that my home state gets mentioned in any form of media that's not football or agriculture related.

However, every so often, the pages (in this case virtual) of a big city periodical will make a smidgen of room for the state that founded Arbor Day.

Daily Intel makes the point that things aren't so bad in fly-over country, especially with regard to unemployment. Nebraska actually ticked downward last month to 4.2%! The recovery is on!

Oh but wait...the boom was never really over or even going on for that matter. That's a major point of the post. Lots of the flyover states don't have investment bankers or luxury condos on beachfront property so things just aren't hurting as much...Most people in Nebraska would probably say "duh" (or perhaps "der") to this news but any press is good press Huskerinos, even in the blogosphere.

The Downturnaround Is Long Nebraska [Daily Intel]

Links 3/19/2009

March Madness = Inefficiency. I think I speak for everyone when I say, "duh". [Slate]

TMZ to comment on elected officials' booty calls and drunken escapades. [Washington Post]

Dick Vitale, not surprisingly, ups his Viagra scrip this time of year [The Onion]

Donations Can Be Made on Behalf of All the Journalists Who Will Now Try Writing Spy Novels

This might be what we would read in the obituary of the Rocky Mountain News, whose last publication is today. Read about here, here, and here. Here's an "official" obit.

Apparently for this Greatest Depression thing to really gather some steam, a major Denver newspaper had to go down.

Is it sad? Sure. The Rocky was published for 150 years. The longest run business in Colorado. That's not exactly a weekend in the Hamptons (or Vail, the choice is yours). But what I think we're witnessing is another business model that has failed to keep up with the changing business environment and was just plain run by morons who probably don't know a damn thing about working capital or debt/equity ratios.

Hell, if banks and car companies don't have a chance, what kind of odds does a tabloid-format newspaper have?

Donuts II

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/doughnuts-the-third-rail-of-american-politics/index.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

And it doesn't stop...

Openness on the Bathroom Wall

As you may recall, a certain chef equated blogging to the writing on the bathroom wall. Today I read an article on the NYTimes website (appearing in the Times Magazine) written by Emily Gould, who makes her living blogging (read it here) most notably and formerly at Gawker. Most of what I read on this person (in the blogosphere) gives me the impression that she is another shameless self-promoter (mostly New York Mag).

I have to say though that reading the article gives me pause to think about the millions of people out there putting their thoughts out there and how exposed they (and I) really are. This girl ends up in a huge fight with her boyfriend (who she eventually breaks up with) over a post, has panic attacks, goes through big mood swings, and many other issues, both personally and professionally.

Ultimately she admits that the addiction to blogging is the attention that she received from those that disagreed with her and even chastised her. She was extremely open about herself and what she was feeling in every aspect of her life. While I can relate in the sense of wanting to share thoughts and opinions with others, the complete opening of your entire life seems to be a risky proposition at the very least.

I certainly don't know if I am able to share every going-on in my life with the whole world having access and then opining on my personal feelings. Clearly this girl doesn't consider enough of a concern to filter herself. That brings up the point, is blogging so openly about your own life therapy or just plain stupid?

I for one, wouldn't necessarily share details of therapy sessions on my blog. I don't think anyone out there would be that interested in my rantings inside of a small room with a stranger. I think it's important for everyone to maintain a certain amount of anonymity in their lives in order to keep their sanity in check. This girl had people recognizing her on the streets after appearing on Larry King and that's what started her panic attacks.

Now, it's fairly obvious that I or most of the millions of other bloggers out there that will never enjoy the readership that Emily has/had but even so, there are certainly things that are for myself and few others. Nothing personal readers, but privacy in our country is getting more scarce every day so I figure I'm taking enough risk just blogging about politicians...

Michelle Malkin, the New York Post, and other "Media"

So I'm going about my Google Reader list, per my usual routine lately, and notice and an article entitled: Barack Obama's Bitter Half (read here) listed under Real Clear Politics. The author is a woman named Michelle Malkin.



After reading approximately half of the article, I decided I had to start complaining, starting with:



How does this woman make a living doing this? I mean, is she writing anything that is all that interesting? Does she have regular readers, and if so, who are these people? Do they think she is smart and that she knows what she is talking about?



She just goes on and on about much Michelle Obama complains and gripes and whatever other synonyms the Microsoft Word Thesaurus could come up with. I've seen this woman on Fox News in the past and she is just loud and opinionated with no real substance to any of her commentary.



Wait a minute...Loud, opinionated, no real substance, Fox News...



I guess that makes her perfect for Fox News. I guess my concern is why would a website like Real Clear Politics is doing posting this person's rants. I mean George Will's columns are also posted on this website. They might as well post my brilliant comments if they are going to include both Michelle Malkin and George Will. I mean you've basically got the two ends of the spectrum in terms of perceived intellect here (regardless of how smart George Will actually is, he is accepted by the masses as "smart"). I easily fall in between the two of them (where exactly that may be, feel free to comment).



Now, to be fair, another regular obnoxious contributor on Fox News is Ann Coulter. Now, while Ms. Coulter is both loud and opinionated, much like Ms. Malkin, at least she is FUNNY. Yes, I am admitting that Ann Coulter has talent. Whenever I read something she writes, I disagree with probably 99.9% of what I'm reading. But, at least she writes in such a way that will make me laugh a little. It's the same way I laugh at my friends with similar points of view when they go on similar rants but hey, I like laughing...



Ms. Maulkin isn't funny AT ALL. If I'm going to be listening to dumb-downed media (I just finished a Noam Chomsky documentary, forgive me) I better get some laughs out of it. Don't try and come across all serious and act like you're a legitimate journalist giving me the "truth" about what's going on.



Which brings me to my second topic for the day: the New York Post. I picked up a copy on my way home yesterday to read on the train. The Post is owned by News Corp. Which, also owns Fox News. Fine. Effectively, the same tyrant runs both. But at least the Post isn't trying to hold itself out as legitimate news. I mean seriously, do you think the editors at the Post really care if anyone takes them seriously?



I mean, "HO NO". How great is that? That pretty much sums up the feelings of the Post: "We know you're dumb, so we are going to put headlines on our paper that you can understand".



Sure, it's filled with celeb gossip and plenty of other nonsense but at least it's not pretending to be something it's not (i.e. a legitimate news source but what is a legitimate news source? Drat, save that for another day).



I guess what I'm attempting to say is that most media is a joke. Now, as I said, I recently watched a documentary on Noam Chomsky so this topic is fresh in my mind but I guess that's what blogs are for...Hang in with me readers, I'm still new at this...