ZeD☼

Hi Jane!

Jane!

Those that can, do….

Those that can’t, become a “new media” perfesser….

From a 57 year old man in that income group, who reads far more than 10 hours of blogs per week, and writes his own blog as well, my only comment is:

You got it exactly right!

I wonder what the demographics look like here?

you mean all this time I coulda been in my PJ’s?
Crap!

I guess I fit: have higher income, more yrs. (I’m 66), an M.A.,and read Jane and Christy and TPM several times a day.

This anti-blog thing is wishful thinking, denial and most importantly, propaganda.

Oklahoma kiddo @ 9

This anti-blog thing is wishful thinking, denial and most importantly, propaganda.

It’s also willful refusal to even look at reality.

Hey! A Sree with a fringe … up top!

If it were up to me, I’d be a teenager making $80,000 a year in my pajamas.

I dunno, Jane, you and I are roughly the same age but if someone wants to confuse us with young chicky-babies, maybe it’s because of our youthful appearance. I can see where Sree would get confused. As for being early adapters, IMHO that has nothing to do with age. That is a personality trait.
But if some people want to assert that blogging causes people to youthen, not age, who am I to argue? The sex is good.

ON the west side of 45 years old, juris doctor, above that income bracket, and totally blog addicted

What I lack is the teenager’s tech skills!

(which makes me wonder how I stay in my income bracket since blogs eat up so much of my billable time!)

whistling past the graveyard i say ……..

i’m not sure it’s possible they will ever learn, but we’ll see……

portia.vz @ 13

I dunno, Jane, you and I are roughly the same age but if someone wants to confuse us with young chicky-babies, maybe it’s because of our youthful appearance. I can see where Sree would get confused. As for being early adapters, IMHO that has nothing to do with age. That is a personality trait.
But if some people want to assert that blogging causes people to youthen, not age, who am I to argue? The sex is good.

Now there’s a silver lining!

Doug Keenan @ 11

Hey! A Sree with a fringe … up top!

I dunno, you can keep yer gig if yer thinkin’ that I’d care to swap

You mean I get to go back and be a teenager!!! Wow. Blogging is a time-warp, far out!!

What people are missing is that many of us (I am 61) really do remember the Nixon/Viet Nam/ Iran Contra era – AND Know what is at stake.

And so we become involved, just as we did then. But there are so many new (ahem, younger) people involved now and I am overwhelmed at their smarts and savvy. Evidenced by our wonderful leader pups (besides the 2 black poodles).

Actually I do spend alot of time reading here and elsewhere in my p.j.’s but don’t tell – okay?

Someone on a comment thread on one of this morning’s posts (too lazy to chase it down) suggested that all media folks interviewing Tenet and other ex-Bushies who got us into this mess should ask the first of all how they are profiting personally from the Iraq war. Salon has a piece up on Tenet’s life at the trough.

http://www.salon.com/news/feat…..ndex1.html

h/t to Raelyn at The Spy Who Billed Me.

Yo Jane?

Columbia is allowing this guy to teach this to his student?

When I was teaching college we actually had to look stuff up and have sourcing for the information we taught the students.

Where is his research?

Eli @ 12

If it were up to me, I’d be a teenager making $80,000 a year in my pajamas.

Not me! Too miserable as a teenager. But I wouldn’t mind making $80k in my pajamas.

Approaching sixty and I’m still an “early adaptor”? Thanks, Sree. (I’ll rank it right up there with “heckuva job, Brownie”.)

This here is a Blog? dang. all this time i thought it was an online newspaper and event pointer coupled to a real-time discussion group with brilliant people and some world class punsters. i certainly would never have participated if i thought it was a blog…

though i have posted with less than pajammies on.

minor corrections noted:

In the end, who has time to blog read newspapers? After reading four newspapers blogs each day and my e-mails and doing my work, I’ve had it. Blogging Reading the newspaper remains a luxury. for the young — or the bored.

I say let them continue to underestimate the power of the blogosphere, they will ignore us at their own peril. I’m not young, or stupid and will always make time to seek out the truth about the criminals in charge of this country.

Hmmm. Let’s see what I get when I check the points:

54 YO WM (older)
zed income (long term unemployment seems to cause that)
Read at least 10 blogs per day for more like twenty or thirty hours per week (maybe only benefit of long term unemployment?).
Bachelors degree
Have contributed to campaigns.

looseheadprop says
May 7th, 2007 at 12:24 pm

ON the west side of 45 years old, juris doctor, above that income bracket, and totally blog addicted

I have been sayin’ that I wish LHP could get a steady job muckrakin’, with Josh maybe.

I don’t think Josh can pay her enough to tempt!

spurious @ 22

Eli @ 12

If it were up to me, I’d be a teenager making $80,000 a year in my pajamas.

Not me! Too miserable as a teenager. But I wouldn’t mind making $80k in my pajamas.

Well, I wouldn’t mind being a little younger and a little richer, at any rate.

I *am* in my pajamas, tho.

An FDL demographic survey would be very interesting.

SteveAudio @ 10

Oklahoma kiddo @ 9

This anti-blog thing is wishful thinking, denial and most importantly, propaganda.

It’s also willful refusal to even look at reality.

Reality is such an unreal concept with these people. As witness their extremely stubborn refusal to face it anywhere. I call it being willfully obtuse.

Steve @ 30

An FDL demographic survey would be very interesting.

You’re soaking in it.

My favorite is the Brian Williams description.
Some guy from the Bronx, living in parent’s basement, in bathrobe, hasn’t been outside in years. Oh, and named Vinny (which I think was an ethnic slam as well).

Eli @ 32

Steve @ 30

An FDL demographic survey would be very interesting.

You’re soaking in it.

true – but what is the Madge Inovera?*

*(car talk)

GrandmaJ @ 19

What people are missing is that many of us (I am 61) really do remember the Nixon/Viet Nam/ Iran Contra era – AND Know what is at stake.

And so we become involved, just as we did then. But there are so many new (ahem, younger) people involved now and I am overwhelmed at their smarts and savvy. Evidenced by our wonderful leader pups (besides the 2 black poodles).

Actually I do spend alot of time reading here and elsewhere in my p.j.’s but don’t tell – okay?

I’m beginning to think that bloggers are born, not made. In the 16th century, we would have been protestants. In the 18th century, we would have been printing pamphlets or attending salons. In the 19th and 20th century, we would have been suffragettes and union organizers. In the 60’s, we would have been freedom riders. We just can’t keep our f$&^ing mouths shut. We’re just born that way.

Eli @ 32

Steve @ 30

An FDL demographic survey would be very interesting.

You’re soaking in it.

Yeah, and I’m old enough to remember that TV commercial when it was in black-white, Madge.

looseheadprop @ 14

ON the west side of 45 years old, juris doctor, above that income bracket, and totally blog addicted

What I lack is the teenager’s tech skills!

(which makes me wonder how I stay in my income bracket since blogs eat up so much of my billable time!)

Lawyer (and consultant’s) matra: Billable hours. M-u-s-t h-a-v-e billable hours. ;})

Speaking of lack of tech knowledge, where my daughter lives (and I, too, now) has a different cable company. I closed my old cable account. When I list a new email number, can I keep my old name?

Just curious.

Solai @ 33

My favorite is the Brian Williams description.
Some guy from the Bronx, living in parent’s basement, in bathrobe, hasn’t been outside in years. Oh, and named Vinny (which I think was an ethnic slam as well).

Not everyone can be as connected with the great wide outside world as Brian Williams.

Ahhh, to be in my pajamas….

You’re telling me this person is allowed to teach at an actual school? Not an on line diploma mill or a right wing Christianist school? I’m pretty fact free myself, how do I get me one of them new media professor jobs??

55 year old and an “old perfesser” myself. Read blogs daily to get better information than from the papers (though I’m still addicted to print)

new media professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

I’d say there’s more than a vested interest in propping up the old guard, there.

…You mean I have to put pyjamas on to blog now? How formal.

;>)

Well, two out of seven…

He’d have more time for blogs if he wasn’t reading four newspapers a day. He’d be better informed too. [/snark]

(I filled out the Blogads survey, and was frustrated that they miss the industry I’m in, the magazines I read, and the kind of beer I like. Their choices were so mundane.)

“It’s still a small percentage of people using these technologies.”

Sumerian pundit commenting c.4000BC on writers
Persian pundit commenting 333BC on Alexander’s infantry tactics
British pundit commenting in 1837 on the telegraph
American pundit commenting in 1888 on wireless radio
American pundits in 1940 commenting on television
American pundits in 1945 commenting on computers

and on and on…

What people are missing is that many of us (I am 61) really do remember the Nixon/Viet Nam/ Iran Contra era – AND Know what is at stake

.

So, we really are DFH’s.

older, poorer and female but spend more time on blogs

spurious @ 22

Eli @ 12

If it were up to me, I’d be a teenager making $80,000 a year in my pajamas.

Not me! Too miserable as a teenager. But I wouldn’t mind making $80k in my pajamas.

I’d get nicer pajamas

Eli @ 29

spurious @ 22

Eli @ 12

If it were up to me, I’d be a teenager making $80,000 a year in my pajamas.

Not me! Too miserable as a teenager. But I wouldn’t mind making $80k in my pajamas.

Well, I wouldn’t mind being a little younger and a little richer, at any rate.

I *am* in my pajamas, tho.

Ditto all. (And if you sleep in sweats and a work shirt, it isn’t so obvious!)

portia.vz @ 35

GrandmaJ @ 19

What people are missing is that many of us (I am 61) really do remember the Nixon/Viet Nam/ Iran Contra era – AND Know what is at stake.

And so we become involved, just as we did then. But there are so many new (ahem, younger) people involved now and I am overwhelmed at their smarts and savvy. Evidenced by our wonderful leader pups (besides the 2 black poodles).

Actually I do spend alot of time reading here and elsewhere in my p.j.’s but don’t tell – okay?

I’m beginning to think that bloggers are born, not made. In the 16th century, we would have been protestants. In the 18th century, we would have been printing pamphlets or attending salons. In the 19th and 20th century, we would have been suffragettes and union organizers. In the 60’s, we would have been freedom riders. We just can’t keep our f$&^ing mouths shut. We’re just born that way.

Well, there are a couple of family rumors that my maternal grandfather was a union organizing lawyer in the eastern KY coal fields in the late teens/early twenties of last century.

wow, Jane, that’s a great picture of my last birthday party. Where did you find it?

Elliott @ 48

I’d get nicer pajamas

I’m not giving up my ‘86 Mets World Series Champs t-shirt for nothin’.

Damn.

And all this time, I thought I was a 56 year old security geek with a Ph.D. in mathematics. And arthritis.

Now they are telling me I’m 20-something?? That rocks!

Now if the pundits could only tell me why the X-rays of my spine look like outtakes from “Dawn of the Dead”, I’d be really appreciative.

OT:

According to Robert Cringely, the infotech columnist, IBM is beginning a stealth program to lay off 100K plus American employees from its Global Services operation and outsource the jobs to Asia. My daughter, an IBM/GS employee, tells me that the link below is flying around the company, as one might expect.

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pu…..02027.html

GrandmaJ @ 38

Speaking of lack of tech knowledge, where my daughter lives (and I, too, now) has a different cable company. I closed my old cable account. When I list a new email number, can I keep my old name?

Just curious.

You should be able to use it as long as the name is not already in use by someone else on the new system. Kinda first come, first served type deal.

Stormcrow @ 53

Damn.

And all this time, I thought I was a 56 year old security geek with a Ph.D. in mathematics. And arthritis.

You can get a PhD in arthritis? The dissertation must be a bitch.

I wonder how many FDLers are left handed. My martini group is filled with women artists and eight out of ten of us are lefties. And Lefties.

Sree must think blogs are something only accessible through an Xbox.

Caslon Analytics Blogging

Wired News noted claims that in January 2002 alone some 41,000 people created new blogs using Blogger and that there were now more than 500,000. In August 2002 another source claimed that Blogger had 350,000 users, with converts supposedly “creating a new weblog every 40 seconds, or more than 60,000 a month”. By early 2006 that had risen to around 160,000 per month (albeit with many splogs), subsequently declining to 100,000 per month.

http://www.caslon.com.au/weblogprofile1.htm

after reading four newspapers each day and my e-mails and doing my work, i’ve had it. blogging remains a luxury for the young — or the bored.

he sounds almost proud of being a luddite.

“after brushing and cleaning and feeding my horses and scrubbing down the buggy, who has time to drive a car?”

i used to love reading papers. i would take an hour in the morning and leisurely peruse the paper, scanning every section.

but they got thin, both literally and figuratively. they got shallow and repetitive and more and more taken over by neo-con apologists.

now i only read the entertainment section, and the comics.

i get all my news and opinion-jones satisfied from blogs and blogging.

Muzzy @ 58

Sree must think blogs are something only accessible through an Xbox.

LOL! Comment of the Day.

Mary McCurnin @ 57

I wonder how many FDLers are left handed. My martini group is filled with women artists and eight out of ten of us are lefties. And Lefties.

Well, the left-handedness doesn’t really surprise me, what with creativity being right-brain and all.

Mary McCurnin @ 57

I wonder how many FDLers are left handed. My martini group is filled with women artists and eight out of ten of us are lefties. And Lefties.

I’m a lefty. And a lefty.

I’m 58, but prefer (as per Herb Caen – ask TeddySF -) to think of it as 14 Celsius. I agree with LHP that FDL can be hazardous to billable hours.

punaise @ 34

Eli @ 32

Steve @ 30

An FDL demographic survey would be very interesting.

You’re soaking in it.

true – but what is the Madge Inovera?*

*(car talk)

For those who don’t speak Bostonian that is “Marge Inovera”

Eli @ 62

Mary McCurnin @ 57

I wonder how many FDLers are left handed. My martini group is filled with women artists and eight out of ten of us are lefties. And Lefties.

Well, the left-handedness doesn’t really surprise me, what with creativity being right-brain and all.

I guess you are right, prolly a no brainer.

tbsa @ 63

Mary McCurnin @ 57

I wonder how many FDLers are left handed. My martini group is filled with women artists and eight out of ten of us are lefties. And Lefties.

I’m a lefty. And a lefty.

I’m a righty lefty. ;})

leftie-Leftie, but male…

Don’t look now, Sree Sreenivasan but I am 50. :)

Eli @ 52

Elliott @ 48

I’d get nicer pajamas

I’m not giving up my ‘86 Mets World Series Champs t-shirt for nothin’.

safety pins or stitches holding it together?

Geat post Jane, and I was just listening to NPR run a piece the attempts to justify torture. Continuing Tenets’ claim that it had saved lives, NPR is now trying to make the case that torture really does work sometimes. I guess just just goes to show how much better they are they us.

It makes me sick.

petedownunder @ 64

I’m 58, but prefer (as per Herb Caen – ask TeddySF -) to think of it as 14 Celsius. I agree with LHP that FDL can be hazardous to billable hours.

RIP Herb Caen, coiner of “Baghdad-by-the-Bay”. don’t hear that one much these days.

roger that, re billable hours!

lefty squared.

47 years old.

Board-certified physician (psychiatrist) with sub-specialty fellowship (PTSD /consultation-liaison).

Annual income (for half-time work) in excess of median noted above.

NPR listener/ LA Times reader since late 70’s.

I use my “free time” blogging (on very high-impact sites) to increase public attention to public health/ecology/biology issues…

because the MSM are – by and large – neither competent nor diligent in these matters.

jeffreyw @ 28

looseheadprop says
May 7th, 2007 at 12:24 pm

ON the west side of 45 years old, juris doctor, above that income bracket, and totally blog addicted

I have been sayin’ that I wish LHP could get a steady job muckrakin’, with Josh maybe.

I don’t think Josh can pay her enough to tempt!

Awwww, you’re makin’ me blush.

But seriously, I really love being a lawyer. You never feel quite as really alive as when you are standing in front of a jury and you see them converting, one by one, to your point of view.

Arguing an appeal in front of a hot bench also makes you feel every atom in your body.

I completely get off on being a lawyer. When Littleprop is all grown up and out of the house, I might have the time to go back to my true love, which is being a prosecutor ( a 24/7 kinda job). Right now, I’m trying to balance the lawering with the soccer momming.

and the blogging monkey on my back

Elliott @ 70

safety pins or stitches holding it together?

Holding up pretty good, actually. Just faded. I need it to at least hold together until they win another one…

A couple of points.

First, note that Sreenivasan is only responsible for the following:

the effectiveness of Web sites and blogs as political tools may only go so far: “It’s still a small percentage of people using these technologies.”

Most are young and what Sreenivasan terms “early adaptors.” And, as he concludes, the impact of young voters “is notoriously hard to predict.”

Much of this is paraphrased. I’m curious exactly what he said about youth. But we ARE early adapters (you’d think a fairly sharp journalist might consider the way early adapters can swing elections, but then…). But the quoted information is not far off.

It’s the rest, the “bored people” quote, that is remarkable. That comes from the “journalist,” the one no doubt espousing objectivity. This is a person making a remarkably ill-informed comment from her personal perspective in an article on blogs. I’d point out the irony, but I suspect she’d miss it.

As to demographics, I’m thinking of starting a line of fine blogging pajamas (silk? linen?) tapping into the affluent demographics of blogging and giving me something to wear in public when I go out as a blogger. Any takers?

Solai @ 33

Oh, and named Vinny (which I think was an ethnic slam as well).

Only if he owns an IROC

;>)

Hey {{{{{JANE}}}}}

Whut about those rascally, over-65 females w/ advanced degrees, published research, & stable loving families, who happen to be stubborn &/or dedicated enuf not to be shooed away by pugs in overly-starched collars & over-inflated egoes frosted with goppy, artificially flavored resumes.

Humph! Heh!

Jes keep doin’ whut yer doin’, Wild-Thing. And the likes of us will keep tryin’ to help any way we can. *g*

spurious @ 22

Eli @ 12

If it were up to me, I’d be a teenager making $80,000 a year in my pajamas.

Not me! Too miserable as a teenager. But I wouldn’t mind making $80k in my pajamas.

in my best year i didn’t make 80K, no matter the attire …….

billable hours are passing me by at THIS VERY MOMENT.

Always had the impression that folks here are older, and wiser. What a buffoon that guy is.

lhp (if you’re around and have time)

I had a question on Comey’s testimony in Christy’s
‘refiner’ thread yesterday. (quite late on and somewhat lost in the tinfoil maze, I’m afraid.)

I wonder if you have any thoughts.

PS thanks for answering my previous query re political/career.

FDL Big Dogs — migth not a guest appearance from Sree might be appropriate?

Trying to beat the EPU:
Stats: Vintage 43 SWM(NonS) & have theory that to avoid Income Tax, avoid income which I seem to do beyond my wildest expectations. Oh yea, university dropout, no steenkin letters afta my name (that I have to remember), and sand can spell betterin me (thankin god for silicon and puters). I celebrated my 25th anniversary of being 39 ;-)

Elliott @ 48

spurious @ 22

Eli @ 12

If it were up to me, I’d be a teenager making $80,000 a year in my pajamas.

Not me! Too miserable as a teenager. But I wouldn’t mind making $80k in my pajamas.

I’d get nicer pajamas

What are pajamas!? ; )

petedownunder @ 64

I’m 58, but prefer (as per Herb Caen – ask TeddySF -) to think of it as 14 Celsius. I agree with LHP that FDL can be hazardous to billable hours.

Your preference for Celsius reminds me that if I state my age in hexadecimal, as I occasionally do, I fit the profile exactly! I’m 43 in hex. Sounds a lot better than 67.

Here is the link to Mike Pesca on NPR trying to argue that torture is really ok.

If this professor truly calls them “early adaptors” he’s even more ignorant than the rest of his comment makes him sound. The term is “early adopters” — as in, the folks who adopt [the use of] a new technology before the rest of the crowd. Early adopters tend to be well-educated, among other positive traits.

Oh, and I’m another over-50 blog addict. But I don’t wear pajamas.

Good lord – I am the median political blog reader. And here I thought I was such a unique individual!

Ed*ard Teller @ 68

leftie-Leftie, but male…

Which begs the question, is there such a thing as a leftie cubed?

Perhaps some things are better left unsaid.

Mary McCurnin @ 57

I wonder how many FDLers are left handed. My martini group is filled with women artists and eight out of ten of us are lefties. And Lefties.

“my martini group”?

What’s a martini group? I feel so uneducated sometimes

Ed*ard Teller @ 45

“It’s still a small percentage of people using these technologies.”

Sumerian pundit commenting c.4000BC on writers
Persian pundit commenting 333BC on Alexander’s infantry tactics
British pundit commenting in 1837 on the telegraph
American pundit commenting in 1888 on wireless radio
American pundits in 1940 commenting on television
American pundits in 1945 commenting on computers

and on and on…

Inclding IBM’s opinion of the PC prior to about 1980.
—–
As an aside, I gotta say that among the treasures of the Lake, I find your comments and acts beyond the keyboard here just so…well, ‘good’ does not come close to capturing what I mean at all.

Always a treat, and quite likely intriguing. There. That’s closer.

OT – breaking rumour about Wolfie on Wonkette

tbsa @ 26

I say let them continue to underestimate the power of the blogosphere, they will ignore us at their own peril. I’m not young, or stupid and will always make time to seek out the truth about the criminals in charge of this country.

Thank you, tbsa…..my thoughts EXACTLY.

emptywheel @ 77

As to demographics, I’m thinking of starting a line of fine blogging pajamas (silk? linen?) tapping into the affluent demographics of blogging and giving me something to wear in public when I go out as a blogger. Any takers?

I have a suggestion…

Judging from the comments in the last 30 minutes alone, and the apparent billing rates, I estimate that the collective opportunity costs of reading this post are at least $10 thousand per hour. The economy is doomed.

Eli @ 76

Elliott @ 70

safety pins or stitches holding it together?

Holding up pretty good, actually. Just faded. I need it to at least hold together until they win another one…

anything’s possible

clueless @ 94

tbsa @ 26

I say let them continue to underestimate the power of the blogosphere, they will ignore us at their own peril. I’m not young, or stupid and will always make time to seek out the truth about the criminals in charge of this country.

Thank you, tbsa…..my thoughts EXACTLY.

BINGO!

Mary McCurnin @ 57

I wonder how many FDLers are left handed. My martini group is filled with women artists and eight out of ten of us are lefties. And Lefties.

i’m an artist and a lifelong leftie (both tactily and philosophically) …..

scarecrow @ 96

Judging from the comments in the last 30 minutes alone, and the apparent billing rates, I estimate that the collective opportunity costs of reading this post are at least $10 thousand per hour. The economy is doomed.

707

I’ve got to thank the learned Prof for the compliment. I’ll be 66 on Friday. Worked in Washington when Eisenhower was stil President and thanks to Bill Moyers was on my way to spend the weekend at LBJ’s ranch the day Kennedy was shot. Still, I sometimes do blog in my pajamas. I guess that makes all the difference.

Ugh, Jane, I’m 42 and that would be 7 blogs a day, thank you!

clueless @ 94

tbsa @ 26

I say let them continue to underestimate the power of the blogosphere, they will ignore us at their own peril. I’m not young, or stupid and will always make time to seek out the truth about the criminals in charge of this country.

Thank you, tbsa…..my thoughts EXACTLY.

The kids don’t use the blogs that much anyway. They SMS text each other a lot. Or else they go to FaceBook or MySpace or they Twitter each other. Not blogs. Teens aren’t that big on blogging.

Speaking of early adopters I read a very interesting white paper a few years ago that labeled people born in the 90’s digital natives and those born previous as digital immigrants. Old media and old teachers will have been retired before mainstream acceptance at a fundamental level will occur.

I found the paper (PDF).

looseheadprop @ 91

Mary McCurnin @ 57

I wonder how many FDLers are left handed. My martini group is filled with women artists and eight out of ten of us are lefties. And Lefties.

“my martini group”?

What’s a martini group? I feel so uneducated sometimes

It is just a first tuesday of the month get together of my friends in Sonoma. Writers, potters, painters, lefty lefties, and all women. Some drink martinis and a few, like me, drink champagne. It is always at a beautiful house on top of moon mountain. Bev, Roberta, Annalea, Sharon, Beth, Billy, and many more. Sometimes we let the daughters come. Sometimes we bay at the full moon.

I’m beginning to think that bloggers are born, not made. In the 16th century, we would have been protestants. In the 18th century, we would have been printing pamphlets or attending salons. In the 19th and 20th century, we would have been suffragettes and union organizers. In the 60’s, we would have been freedom riders. We just can’t keep our f$&^ing mouths shut. We’re just born that way.

Not only would have we been, we WERE. Many in this soul family here have been brought back together in this lifetime to continue this work that we have done many times before together through the ages. “We’re just born that way.” has more import and truth than we could ever imagine.

And btw, what PJ’s? What clothes? ;)

bill in turkey @ 82

lhp (if you’re around and have time)

I had a question on Comey’s testimony in Christy’s
‘refiner’ thread yesterday. (quite late on and somewhat lost in the tinfoil maze, I’m afraid.)

I wonder if you have any thoughts.

PS thanks for answering my previous query re political/career.

What’s the question?

Wow, never in my life have I matched a demographic so perfectly. They even got it right about my grad school degree. Being that it’s from USC, I’ve discovered that it’s actually only worth 39% of a real graduate degree.

scarecrow @ 96

Judging from the comments in the last 30 minutes alone, and the apparent billing rates, I estimate that the collective opportunity costs of reading this post are at least $10 thousand per hour. The economy is doomed.

But our republic isn’t!

We all have to make our sacrifices. ;)

I’ll pull the age range down a little – 31. Over the income range, more blogs for more time, working on a Masters, and I have given to a campaign.

This 64 yo female retired educator thinks that this person is taking money under false pretenses as a media professor. He is obviously not smart enough to be teaching anywhere except perhaps at Regent. Since he is reading 4 newspapers he surely has no real idea what is going on in the world.

I thought that youth turned out in record numbers and proportions in 2004, but they were outnumbered slightly by the fundie turnout.

Where does this guy teach, Columbia? Hmmm, their standards must be slipping.

And I would willingly go back to being a teenager again if I could take my wisdom with me. The hormonal fluctuations can’t be that much worse than menopause and I’d be free of pain. Yes!

North of 50, DWF, South of the Income range mentioned, some college (ran out of money), read newspaper daily and as many books as possible, and retiring in less than 5 years…

{{{{Blank Kludge}}}} – unless you were referring to the Sumerian pundit.

I don’t know what it’s going to take to kill the “teenagers in their pajamas” stereotype but I suppose I should be grateful. If these people were any less lazy and stupid we wouldn’t have a readership.

NEVER in a million years could they ever hope to be that good.

:)

If Sree Sreenivasan really understood journalism he would have figured out by now that blogs are the only place to find anything real in the way of news. Isn’t that the first objective of a news reporter? I once read three newspapers a day. I have not touched a single one in five years. I want news, not deflection, not distraction and certainly not misinformation. Same goes for TV. Occasionally i will watch a good show i like (can’t stand the commercials, they are bad for your brain) and TV news even when accurate has soundbites that tell you almost nothing.

When this country began to expand small towns had several newspapers and several points of view. Cities had even more. Now we have newspapers as chains, fast food nonsense with empty calories and lots of fat (infotainment.) The blogs are bringing our country back to its roots.

dakine01 @ 50
portia.vz @ 35
GrandmaJ @ 19
What people are missing is that many of us (I am 61) really do remember the Nixon/Viet Nam/ Iran Contra era – AND Know what is at stake.

And so we become involved, just as we did then. But there are so many new (ahem, younger) people involved now and I am overwhelmed at their smarts and savvy. Evidenced by our wonderful leader pups (besides the 2 black poodles).

Actually I do spend alot of time reading here and elsewhere in my p.j.’s but don’t tell – okay?

I’m beginning to think that bloggers are born, not made. In the 16th century, we would have been protestants. In the 18th century, we would have been printing pamphlets or attending salons. In the 19th and 20th century, we would have been suffragettes and union organizers. In the 60’s, we would have been freedom riders. We just can’t keep our f$&^ing mouths shut. We’re just born that way.

Well, there are a couple of family rumors that my maternal grandfather was a union organizing lawyer in the eastern KY coal fields in the late teens/early twenties of last century.

Same rumour in my family. My great grandpa was an organizere for the IWW out in Washington State way back when.

tbsa @ 63
Mary McCurnin @ 57

My martini group

Sounds like Women who Wine.

Minnesotachuck @ 86

petedownunder @ 64

I’m 58, but prefer (as per Herb Caen – ask TeddySF -) to think of it as 14 Celsius. I agree with LHP that FDL can be hazardous to billable hours.

Your preference for Celsius reminds me that if I state my age in hexadecimal, as I occasionally do, I fit the profile exactly! I’m 43 in hex. Sounds a lot better than 67.

But somehow 3A isn’t funny.

i can readily accept htat I may be way off-base here, and I hope that is indeed the case.The only possible downside I can see to the rise of the blogosphere is analogous to the rise of cable TV-in the days of three networks, it seemed that the media functioned much more as a unifying force, whereas now, with hundreds of channels, the media serves to Balkanize the citizenry with such a storm of programming that everyone is watching something different, and no one knows what anyone else is talking about. I’d like to see something of a high-profile network or clearinghouse for progressive blogs, where the best and brightest, like TPM and FDL, can be sure of the widest possible dissemination, and see that we don’t wind up a nation of three hundred million bloggers, all sitting talking to ourselves while the established powers keep going to the Bank.
Just a thought.

Doodle Bean @ 113

I thought that youth turned out in record numbers and proportions in 2004, but they were outnumbered slightly by the fundie turnout.

Where does this guy teach, Columbia? Hmmm, their standards must be slipping.

And I would willingly go back to being a teenager again if I could take my wisdom with me. The hormonal fluctuations can’t be that much worse than menopause and I’d be free of pain. Yes!

As they say… Youth is wasted on the young.

From a 50 something that ran a reasonably large “City Site” with message boards. OK … in Ohio “reasonably large” might mean a number of things  The site was owned by a media company with newspapers, TV, radio and the like. In 2001 we had message boards – blogs were just starting. I arranged for all the active posters to get together in order to meet one another. It seemed like a good idea at the time. We all did get together and it did turn out to be a good idea – certainly an interesting time. However, to make a long story short, I, then being 50, was the youngest in the room. I never could convince the newspapers folks upstairs though that they might need to tweak their idea of just who the audience was.

petedownunder @ 120

Minnesotachuck @ 86

Your preference for Celsius reminds me that if I state my age in hexadecimal, as I occasionally do, I fit the profile exactly! I’m 43 in hex. Sounds a lot better than 67.

But somehow 3A isn’t funny.

25 doesn’t sound too bad. Maybe I should calculate my income in octal…

One thing little discussed amongst the discerning media types pooh-poohing an imminent punditocalypse, as they sup on cucumber sannies after croquet at the club…

What aperitif goes best with BRAAAAAAINS…?

;>)

noen @ 103

clueless @ 94

tbsa @ 26

I say let them continue to underestimate the power of the blogosphere, they will ignore us at their own peril. I’m not young, or stupid and will always make time to seek out the truth about the criminals in charge of this country.

Thank you, tbsa…..my thoughts EXACTLY.

The kids don’t use the blogs that much anyway. They SMS text each other a lot. Or else they go to FaceBook or MySpace or they Twitter each other. Not blogs. Teens aren’t that big on blogging.

That’s true. Littleprop cannot understand why I do it. None of her friends read blogs. Teen pop star (and JOnny Depp) fanzine sites yes, political blogs, never.

Funny story, you know how we tell our kids never to give out their personal ID or to agree to meet inperson anyone we have met on the net?

When I was leaving to go to DC for the Opening of the Libby Trial, Littleprop pitched fit and didn’t want me to go. Said I was going to be kidnapped by mommy molestors who were luring me there with a make believe trial.

Even after she calmed down, she has never let me forget what a hypocrit I am.

Just someting to think about when you are packing for Yearly Kos, you are being lured there by a bunch of folks you have only met online. *g*

RonD @ 121

i can readily accept htat I may be way off-base here, and I hope that is indeed the case.The only possible downside I can see to the rise of the blogosphere is analogous to the rise of cable TV-in the days of three networks, it seemed that the media functioned much more as a unifying force, whereas now, with hundreds of channels, the media serves to Balkanize the citizenry with such a storm of programming that everyone is watching something different, and no one knows what anyone else is talking about. I’d like to see something of a high-profile network or clearinghouse for progressive blogs, where the best and brightest, like TPM and FDL, can be sure of the widest possible dissemination, and see that we don’t wind up a nation of three hundred million bloggers, all sitting talking to ourselves while the established powers keep going to the Bank.
Just a thought.

I respectfully disagree. The networks may have unified us but i am not sure they fully enlightened us. I believe all viewpoints need to be heard especially the ones i disagree with. If someone does not know what you are talking about see if you can inform them.

Two groups that don’t get blogs are the media and academia. I suspect it has something to do with the generational concept that, as a general rule, however you were trained is the way that you will function throughout your career. These people did not grow up with blogs so they don’t believe in them, dismiss them, feel vaguely threatened by them, and are glacially slow in picking up on them.

I was at a talk given by Rashid Khalidi recently and the person that introduced him went off on wikipedia of all things. She made fun of it and acted as if it was the definitive source of information for web users like bloggers. I use wikipedia for a quick thumbnail sketch, a date, or a spelling, but as I pointed out to Khalidi in a letter I later sent to him I read the original text of the UN Resolution on Lebanon the day it came out and could comment on it in real time. And this is not at all unusual.

I found it an incredibly shallow characterization that “real” research like “real” news reporting can only be done by those who have been appropriately sanctioned and anointed. The web’s virtues are speed, self-correction, memory, and reach. In this, it has begun to leave many in academia and the media further and further behind.

MyDD has a long-running interest in this question, as in yesterday’s blog by Chris Bowers, A Quick Note On Diversity In the Blogosphere.

They even funded their own survey this year Netroots Demographics and Diversity, by Chris Bowers, Tue Jan 23, 2007, and in general their tags “Blogosphere,” and “Demographics.”

Their sample of almost 1,500 revealed an average age of 41.4. (See MyDD Survey Data, Part Two: Partisanship, Voting and General Ideology.)

Bob in HI

David Shuster is subbing for Tucker

How about we make that permanent Dan Abrams? ; )

TeeVee Alert — David Schuster filling in for Tucker.

“She’s giving me a look that only a mother could give a child.” Hmmmm. Dubya, you ain’t no kid and you ain’t no prince.

petedownunder @ 120

But somehow 3A isn’t funny

You have to be selective about which years you use hex. ;)

Let’s see: 58, two post-graduate degrees, about six blogs a day, have contributed to campaigns but not so much income these days. The professor needs to read this blog.

RonD @ 121

i can readily accept htat I may be way off-base here, and I hope that is indeed the case.The only possible downside I can see to the rise of the blogosphere is analogous to the rise of cable TV-in the days of three networks, it seemed that the media functioned much more as a unifying force, whereas now, with hundreds of channels, the media serves to Balkanize the citizenry with such a storm of programming that everyone is watching something different, and no one knows what anyone else is talking about. I’d like to see something of a high-profile network or clearinghouse for progressive blogs, where the best and brightest, like TPM and FDL, can be sure of the widest possible dissemination, and see that we don’t wind up a nation of three hundred million bloggers, all sitting talking to ourselves while the established powers keep going to the Bank.
Just a thought.

doncha think there’s a natural weeding process at work already? Why impose one?! After all, isn’t that an inherent problem of the MSM right now? BigBro filtering the news content?

The most common reaction I notice among folks turned on to FDL is akin to, “WOW! What took me so long to discover this?! It’s FANTASTIC!”

looseheadprop @ 125

Just someting to think about when you are packing for Yearly Kos, you are being lured there by a bunch of folks you have only met online. *g*

And Markos said “I’ll bring lotsa quarters…”

My mom warned me about that. So I’m going to her 89th birthday party in Seattle instead of to YKos.

Cozumel @ 129

David Shuster is subbing for Tucker

How about we make that permanent Dan Abrams? ; )

yeah, anyway. I’m gonna go suggest it to Danny Boy

Yes, a fortune could be made by a proper designer creating “Blogging Togs”

Let’s hope we could arrange for a domestic manufacturer to service the brand.

Blogging Togs would need to come in different fabrics — Minnesota Bloggers need warmth at least 6 months of the year, Florida and Gulf Coasties need summer weight year round.

There ought to be multiple designs — some prefer the MoMoo style, others the sweats fashion, still others may have various ethnic preferences. The idea of Blogging Togs ought to accomodate many tastes. Perhaps someone could make a business of the idea, and use the profits for various “investigative projects.”

male, post graduate degree and clearly the oldest person in the room who’s admitted it so far, so you folks on the south side of fifty, you may consider yourselves young, at least to this guy you most definitely are, especially if you think that’s the way you want to be …..

looseheadprop @ 126

When I was leaving to go to DC for the Opening of the Libby Trial, Littleprop pitched fit and didn’t want me to go. Said I was going to be kidnapped by mommy molestors who were luring me there with a make believe trial.

Even after she calmed down, she has never let me forget what a hypocrit I am.

Just someting to think about when you are packing for Yearly Kos, you are being lured there by a bunch of folks you have only met online. *g*

I think you should advertise that “Come to the Yearly Kos and get kidnapped by mommy molestors.” Attendance will go through the roof. I can think of worse than being molested by kos.

;)

Prairie Sunshine @ 130

TeeVee Alert — David Schuster filling in for Tucker.

“She’s giving me a look that only a mother could give a child.” Hmmmm. Dubya, you ain’t no kid and you ain’t no prince.

And the Queen is going to soon have dog-in-the-fight when the Prince goes to Iraq. No doubt she wants him back safe.

looseheadprop @ 125 says:

That’s true. Littleprop cannot understand why I do it. None of her friends read blogs. Teen pop star (and JOnny Depp) fanzine sites yes, political blogs, never.

Funny story, you know how we tell our kids never to give out their personal ID or to agree to meet inperson anyone we have met on the net?

When I was leaving to go to DC for the Opening of the Libby Trial, Littleprop pitched fit and didn’t want me to go. Said I was going to be kidnapped by mommy molestors who were luring me there with a make believe trial.

Even after she calmed down, she has never let me forget what a hypocrit I am.

Just someting to think about when you are packing for Yearly Kos, you are being lured there by a bunch of folks you have only met online. *g*

I wound up going to an unofficial aol party in ‘Vegas about a dozen years ago. We’d all “met” in the over-forty chat rooms. And I’ll try not to embarrass myself with any more of THOSE type revelations.

I’m 71 and my husband is 76.(not quite teenagers in PJ’s.) I have a post grad degree. We blog daily. We only look at the paper and news on television to see if they accurately report the news, which is rare, and usually a day latter than it has been fully discussed on the blog.

Must admit we try and see what Rosie has to say while she is still on the air.

OT: LAPD “Elite Squad” in big doo doo after Mayday Melee. Are they something like a formal version of Blackwater within LAPD? Creeepy!!

The median political blog reader is:
a 43 year old man
Check!
reads 6 blogs a day for 10 hours a week
Check!
have post-graduate degrees
Check!
have contributed to a campaign
Check!
an annual family income of $80,000.
What the hell? 80 thousand American dollars?! Are you kidding?

Eli @ 124

petedownunder @ 120

Minnesotachuck @ 86

But somehow 3A isn’t funny.

25 doesn’t sound too bad. Maybe I should calculate my income in octal…

Try binary! ;)

Elliott @ 135

Cozumel @ 129

David Shuster is subbing for Tucker

How about we make that permanent Dan Abrams? ; )

yeah, anyway. I’m gonna go suggest it to Danny Boy

The only problem with that idea (and it is a good idea) is that then Schuster won’t be out doing reporting.

Face it, he is one of the few who actually DO any reporting –as opposed to stenography

Hugh @ 128

I did not grow up with blogs either. I suspect they are more worried about their jobs than they care to admit.

I suspect most people use Wikipedia as you do. The most interesting thing about sites where people discuss issues is that if you post a piece of misinformation whether intentionally or not someone will be glad to correct you. The feedback is usually instantaneous and thus more important and enlightening than screaming at your tv screen or writing a letter to the editor in the hopes they will write a correction.

LS @ 143

OT: LAPD “Elite Squad” in big doo doo after Mayday Melee. Are they something like a formal version of Blackwater within LAPD? Creeepy!!

LAPD has always been nasty and mean.

xoites defends Constitution @ 117

If Sree Sreenivasan really understood journalism he would have figured out by now that blogs are the only place to find anything real in the way of news. Isn’t that the first objective of a news reporter? I once read three newspapers a day. I have not touched a single one in five years. I want news, not deflection, not distraction and certainly not misinformation. Same goes for TV. Occasionally i will watch a good show i like (can’t stand the commercials, they are bad for your brain) and TV news even when accurate has soundbites that tell you almost nothing.

When this country began to expand small towns had several newspapers and several points of view. Cities had even more. Now we have newspapers as chains, fast food nonsense with empty calories and lots of fat (infotainment.) The blogs are bringing our country back to its roots.

Amen.

Hugh @ 128

Two groups that don’t get blogs are the media and academia.

At the risk of offending the fine educators in the audience, of which my wife is one, there is the possibility of the old cliche, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach,” which might account for academia in relation to blogs, in a nutshell, the academics can’t do it.

To that admittedly flimsy logic, I’d like to add the corollary, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach; those who can neither do nor teach, criticize.” This would account for the modern MSM.

Ed*ard Teller @ 115

{{{{Blank Kludge}}}} – unless you were referring to the Sumerian pundit.

Sumerian pundit?
hoodat?

Anyway…
(assuming that shoulder is healing well)

{{{Ed*ard Teller}}}

and many happy returns.

If by “early adopter,” you mean “impoverished grad student,” then, yes, I am an early adopter.

Mary McCurnin @ 148

LS @ 143

OT: LAPD “Elite Squad” in big doo doo after Mayday Melee. Are they something like a formal version of Blackwater within LAPD? Creeepy!!

LAPD has always been nasty and mean.

Miami too. The “Miami Model”.

Adie#134, that was certainly my reaction to discovering FDL. I love this site, and the people who hang out here. I’m certainly not in favor of weeding anyone out-I would just like those that have stood the test of time and demonstrated their committment amd quality to get the widest possible audience.

looseheadprop @ 145

Elliott @ 135

Cozumel @ 129

David Shuster is subbing for Tucker

How about we make that permanent Dan Abrams? ; )

yeah, anyway. I’m gonna go suggest it to Danny Boy

The only problem with that idea (and it is a good idea) is that then Schuster won’t be out doing reporting.

Face it, he is one of the few who actually DO any reporting –as opposed to stenography

Media Bistro will be posting the ratings in a couple of days. This could get interesting ; )

johnSwifty @ 150

Hugh @ 128

Two groups that don’t get blogs are the media and academia.

At the risk of offending the fine educators in the audience, of which my wife is one, there is the possibility of the old cliche, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach,” which might account for academia in relation to blogs, in a nutshell, the academics can’t do it.

To that admittedly flimsy logic, I’d like to add the corollary, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach; those who can neither do nor teach, criticize.” This would account for the modern MSM.

Academia does it’s form of “blogging”. It’s the publish or perish culture of academia and I think it is similar to blogging… or would have been a couple of centuries ago that is.

johnSwifty @ 150

Hugh @ 128

Two groups that don’t get blogs are the media and academia.

At the risk of offending the fine educators in the audience, of which my wife is one, there is the possibility of the old cliche, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach,” which might account for academia in relation to blogs, in a nutshell, the academics can’t do it.

To that admittedly flimsy logic, I’d like to add the corollary, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach; those who can neither do nor teach, criticize.” This would account for the modern MSM.

HUH? My retired-educator honey luvs ‘is teeshirt:
“Those who can, do.
Those you can do MORE, teach!” ;->

When I’m not in my pajamas, I work 40 hours a week. I don’t have time to read newspapers but I blog about 20 hours a week and I contribute to campaigns. And this guy is a media professor?? Yikes.

looseheadprop @ 145

The only problem with that idea (and it is a good idea) is that then Schuster won’t be out doing reporting.

Face it, he is one of the few who actually DO any reporting –as opposed to stenography

your right, I got carried away. It’s like people who say fitzgerald-for president

Washington Journal is like a blog.

CAlifornia has less cops per capita than most other states. This has always confounded me. Maybe that is why even in SF the police have reps has assh*oles.

LS @ 142

OT: LAPD “Elite Squad” in big doo doo after Mayday Melee. Are they something like a formal version of Blackwater within LAPD? Creeepy!!

I knew it was blackwater.

Hmmm….

61 years old, Master’s degree, $209k household, political independent, avid daily blog reader/lurker.

Gotta go to the blogs if you want in-depth critical analysis. MSM are largely asleep, too busy preserving their cocktail weenie access.

uh… it’s “adOpter” not adapter. That’s an “O”, not an “A”. This Sree person needs to get his colloquialisms in line.

Unlike the media, we have “boots on the ground” everywhere. And we have connections…

Fact checking? I’m an SF fan, and Dr. Asimov used to joke that at a World Con you have access to a field of knowledge as wide as the Encyclopedia Britannica. I submit that a blog like FDL easily matches this.

Here in Bloggistan it’s raining soup, and the media hasn’t even discovered bowls much less spoons.

Alas, I am an alumni of Columbia’s famous graduate School of Journalism.

The School of J has always been seriously out of touch and slow to adapt. As a student, I paid good money to often get stuck listening to aging gasbags from the New York Times, etc. talking about their glory days in journalism.

I’m sorry to say that many of my fellow students loved the Kewl Kids, loved the elitism and only wished to join the club. They hung on every word, strapped on their kneepads and went on to glorious careers covering the Bush administration. I’ve run into a few old colleagues in the last couple of years and I’m always surprised by how “non-political” they are. They honestly don’t care what happens to this country or to their fellow citizens. It’s all a game to them. That and cocktail weenies.

Very discouraging.

Capital J @ 88

If this professor truly calls them “early adaptors” he’s even more ignorant than the rest of his comment makes him sound. The term is “early adopters” — as in, the folks who adopt [the use of] a new technology before the rest of the crowd.

Thank you for making that point. There are no hits for the professor saying that (although there is a scientist named Sreenivasan with “adaptor” in the name of his paper. Perhaps she doesn’t realize more than one person has that name?).

I’m thinking transcription error, along with someone writing a thumbsucker about a subject they know nothing about.

noen @ 156

Academia does it’s form of “blogging”. It’s the publish or perish culture of academia and I think it is similar to blogging… or would have been a couple of centuries ago that is.

Pretty much says it all. If they keep this up, they will put those scribes in monasteries out of business any time now.

johnSwifty @ 150

Hugh @ 128

Two groups that don’t get blogs are the media and academia.

At the risk of offending the fine educators in the audience, of which my wife is one, there is the possibility of the old cliche, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach,” which might account for academia in relation to blogs, in a nutshell, the academics can’t do it.

To that admittedly flimsy logic, I’d like to add the corollary, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach; those who can neither do nor teach, criticize.” This would account for the modern MSM.

those who can do. try teaching sometime if you don’t think it’s doing. you might be in for a big surprise. there are a hell of a lot of people who tried doing it and fell on their arses. part of being a good teacher is being able to do what you’re teaching. it’s also being able to do it and choosing to teach when you could go out in “the real world” and make a lot more money just doing it.

…and I’m on the North side of 60. …or is it the South?
Anyway, over 60. and I read way more than 10 hours a week. FDL seriously impacts my billable time.

So there.

ccmask @ 162

LS @ 142

OT: LAPD “Elite Squad” in big doo doo after Mayday Melee. Are they something like a formal version of Blackwater within LAPD? Creeepy!!

I knew it was blackwater.

I don’t know what they are, but it would be interesting to follow the $$. Are they part of Homeland Security who subcontracts Blackwater? Also, they refer to themselves as “platoons”. They are definitely paramilitary in structure. Is that actually legal? I’m just speculating obviously, but I am extremely disturbed by their actions and the actions of a similar case referred to as the “Miami Model”.

noen @ 155

Academia does it’s form of “blogging”. It’s the publish or perish culture of academia and I think it is similar to blogging… or would have been a couple of centuries ago that is.

I’m remembering an academic annie blooging the american idol

Bill in Turkey

I think I found your question

155 bill in turkey says:

May 6th, 2007 at 11:54 am

Just a few thoughts from an interested foreigner (and one who is very much not a lawyer). Apologies if any seem OT: they all relate to attorneygate one way or another.

If I remember EW’s liveblogging of Comey’s testimony, towards the end, Comey was asked something like : ‘How would you go about restoring confidence in DOJ’ It seemed like he gave a fairly non-committal answer, where he could have said a number of things which would have got the ball rolling faster – simply because *his* saying them wd have given them huge credibility: as a former political appointee at DOJ he couldn’t have been accused of ‘partisan rancour’.

The sorts of things I have in mind that he might have said have would be – eg – ‘Well, it lloks as though Gonzales resigning might be a good step’; or ‘we need an independent prosecutor’ or ‘Congress ought to repass the lapsed special prosecutor statute – it would be irresponsible of Bush to use his veto if it undermines DOJ’ or even ‘Well, even if Bushco could fight it in court, they shd hand over the RNC emails ‘

Does anyone have any thoughts as to why he didn’t make any specific recommendations that the commmittee could then have followed up on.

Two further appended thoughts – a) Dems offered him at least some opportunity to say this, but they cd easily have led his testimony more – why didn’t they? and b) I’m not really trying to suggest that I’m cleverer than either Comey or you folks for thinking of these things – the point is that from here (viz, a long way off, and perhpas too far to see some things it looks as though Comey might have said things that could have unblocked various pipes. I certainly don’t want to rule out the possibility

PS – I guess I shd have posted this on LHP’s thread yesterday, but didn’t find it till today . Sorry abt that.

While all of those are plausible ideas, I don’t know if any of them are a solution. I think Comey was right, how do you put the genie back in the bottle?

For Comey to say any of those things would suggest that he was endorsing one of those actions as a solution to the problem. Maybe he does not think any of them are the solution.

Further, (putting myself in his very large shoes for a second) even if I had something that I thought might be a solution if competently handled, I would hesitate to state it for fear that under current conditions it would not be competetnly ahndled and then the blame for the failure of “my solution” would not be on those who screwed up the execution.

In the current circumstance, unless he has “no fail” solution to offer–and I cannot fathom what that might be–he is wisest not to throw any old idea out there

64 years old, Engineering and Teaching degrees (BSc, BA), Above median wage, Left handed.
By the way, there is an upside to this. If they (the right-wing politicos) believe this rubbish then they are doomed. They will ignore us “youngsters” and settle for the MSM.

Midwest Meg @ 166

That and cocktail weenies.

Very discouraging.

I thought Quail wings were the fair de jour.

Elliott @ 48

I’d get nicer pajamas

me too, but whether I’d wear them or no…. ?

Brisingamen @ 165

Here in Bloggistan it’s raining soup, and the media hasn’t even discovered bowls much less spoons.

Fork ‘em.

tbsa @ 63

Mary McCurnin @ 57

I wonder how many FDLers are left handed. My martini group is filled with women artists and eight out of ten of us are lefties. And Lefties.

I’m a lefty. And a lefty.

Me too.But isn’t it a pest having to move the mouse when you borrow someone else’s machine to see what’s going on?

Hey, how dare you insult zombies like that?

noen @ 87

Here is the link to Mike Pesca on NPR trying to argue that torture is really ok.

And here’s NPRcheck, where they try to keep a tally on each day’s egregiously handled stories. I heard the first part of that story this morning. I was tempted to do something to the radio. So, I turned it off and walked down to the lake, where the ice should be completely gone by tomorrow morning.

OT: This is my second visit to this site since i found it yesterday and i must say the users of this blog (you) are an impressive lot. I am glad i found you.

Mary McCurnin @ 161

CAlifornia has less cops per capita than most other states. This has always confounded me. Maybe that is why even in SF the police have reps has assh*oles.

They don’t want to spend money policing “those people” and as a result there is more violence. Then, because of the violence and fewer police, they are put into a position where they feel a need to use deadly force more and more.

The basis is the racism of the ruling class that doesn’t properly finance the police. Orange country excepted of course. And it is also true everywhere else too.

Small towns and rural communities aren’t less violent either. They just don’t usually have an identifiable minority class and so law enforcement doesn’t get short changed for them.

How come we use “zed” to mean “zero” here, when it means the letter “z?”

JeffinBerlin @ 174

64 years old, Engineering and Teaching degrees (BSc, BA), Above median wage, Left handed.

Yep, I’m a hooker, too. Anyone else out there? EW and other ruggers don’t count. It has to be a right brained approach.

AZ Matt @ 139
Prairie Sunshine @ 130

TeeVee Alert — David Schuster filling in for Tucker.

“She’s giving me a look that only a mother could give a child.”

You know this kind of thing is why he didn’t invite his parents (the last living US president to have hosted a state dinner in her honor) to the state dinner tonight. President or no president, Barbara Bush would have taken him out for the way he’s behaving.

karnak12 @ 169

…and I’m on the North side of 60. …or is it the South?
Anyway, over 60. and I read way more than 10 hours a week. FDL seriously impacts my billable time.

So there.

It’s west. As in sun setting in.

To add to the demographic inquiry – female lefty-lefty here, over the 50, under the 80 thous.,college perfesser, musician, and hard FDL addict – so clothing while reading depends on the time of day or whether am at school or not. While I don’t do billable hours, there sure are a lot of things I should be doing instead of enjoying myself here at the lake with all you firepups! Not gunna change, though!

57, Ed.D in Adult Education, Korea 67-68, Vietnam 68-69. Shitty attitude. next

JoyB @ 183

How come we use “zed” to mean “zero” here, when it means the letter “z?”

zed is a lolo number

41, under 80,000, college grad. Early adapter (my yahoo account is from 1995 or 6), and kind of tired of it all. But still addicted to this place.

Don’t count out us young people either. We may not be the average blogger but we do blog and our votes do matter.

JoyB @ 182

How come we use “zed” to mean “zero” here, when it means the letter “z?”

When you come to a new thread before any comments are posted, the first comment to show up displays as number “0,” which it stays until you refresh the screen or leave the page and return.

Chetnolian @ 177

Me too.But isn’t it a pest having to move the mouse when you borrow someone else’s machine to see what’s going on?

Get a Mac (1-button mouse – easy)

I’ve noticed for a while that many of the commenters seem to be 50-60 years old — speaking about grandchildren, etc. We are the Boomer Bloggers and we are a huge number of people. We’ve done pretty well. We are taking a bit more time off from work now to educate ourselves about all the vital and fascinating issues that are being blogged here and at Dkos, TNH, TPM, etc. We are still interested in changing the world for the better and here’s where it is happening. Maybe not in PJ’s but slippers, yes.

dakine01 @ 191

JoyB @ 182

How come we use “zed” to mean “zero” here, when it means the letter “z?”

When you come to a new thread before any comments are posted, the first comment to show up displays as number “0,” which it stays until you refresh the screen or leave the page and return.

Right. But what does the letter Z have to do with 0, other than it starts the word “zero.” Is that what people are thinking? It’s not just a badly-executed affectation?

KathieinMN @ 186

To add to the demographic inquiry – female lefty-lefty here, over the 50, under the 80 thous.,college perfesser, musician, and hard FDL addict – so clothing while reading depends on the time of day or whether am at school or not. While I don’t do billable hours, there sure are a lot of things I should be doing instead of enjoying myself here at the lake with all you firepups! Not gunna change, though!

How much does it aggravate me that the people who are charged with passing on know;edge to our children are so underpaid!

One of the most important jobs to the preservation of civilzation, and no $$ for it. Sigh…….

I’m thinking S.O.S. in MA is THE early adopter…says his was the 18th email addy ever while at BB&N early ’70’s as they ‘created’ the internet.

lil man @ 191

Don’t count out us young people either. We may not be the average blogger but we do blog and our votes do matter.

Nobody is counting you out, we, just like any other group despise being stereotyped, especially derisively. In fact you should be more irritated than us because Sree Sreenivasan seems to think you less valuable than we who are older. Never let anybody discount you based on your age.

JeffinBerlin @ 192

Chetnolian @ 177

Me too.But isn’t it a pest having to move the mouse when you borrow someone else’s machine to see what’s going on?

Get a Mac (1-button mouse – easy)

People on the lake use pc’s? I would have never thought that!

JoyB @ 194

dakine01 @ 191

JoyB @ 182

How come we use “zed” to mean “zero” here, when it means the letter “z?”

When you come to a new thread before any comments are posted, the first comment to show up displays as number “0,” which it stays until you refresh the screen or leave the page and return.

Right. But what does the letter Z have to do with 0, other than it starts the word “zero.” Is that what people are thinking? It’s not just a badly-executed affectation?

zed is sometimes used as a shorthand for zero. Also comes up on google searches as acronyms where the first word is zero.

Hey Guys,

If I may barge in. It’s not just the MSM that’s missing important stories. The biggest spy story out there is getting buried, much to the delight of Langley and the Director of National Intelligence. I’ve been hanging out there for days as the only one who’s covered the censorship by the Director of National Intelligence of the year long study on outsourcing the CIA and other agencies to private contractors.

Just did another post on it Kremlinology and the Censored DNI Outsourcing Study. Hoping the blogsphere wakes up. *hint* *hint*

BTW, *love* FDL.

tbsa @ 26

I say let them continue to underestimate the power of the blogosphere, they will ignore us at their own peril. I’m not young, or stupid and will always make time to seek out the truth about the criminals in charge of this country.

Here! Here! I just hate it when people insult my intelligence and lie to me…jeez.

Why did Bushco lie about Jessica Lynch and Tillman? Because it didn’t occur to them that truth might sound good!

RonD @ 154

Adie#134, that was certainly my reaction to discovering FDL. I love this site, and the people who hang out here. I’m certainly not in favor of weeding anyone out-I would just like those that have stood the test of time and demonstrated their committment amd quality to get the widest possible audience.

Keep telling folks about it. That’s what I do.
Most are blown away by the thot that everything is documented, with references, so you can not only read original material as well as distillations, but follow links & double-check all the info for yourself. People are deeply appreciative also concerning the style of moderation at the Lake.

Further thot: I think the age-barrier idea, and a number of others, are not so reliably accurate assumptions as presented by that prof-fella.
I know many “2nd-hand bloggers” – people of all ages who are not able to blog directly, but who depend on reliable bloggers for pointing out good articles, etc. Personally, I’ve done that for golden-oldies, boomers, & down to busy 20-somethings. They’ve grown to expect it, and appreciate it. Such folks DO read the stuff I share, & they DO fwd the references to others, and they not only vote, but they encourage others to do so in an informed fashion. Counting them all in, how does one define the “audience” of a glorious place like the Lake?

So? So what?! That prof. just barely glimpsed the tip of this particular iceberg! ;->

raven @ 198

JeffinBerlin @ 192

Chetnolian @ 177

Me too.But isn’t it a pest having to move the mouse when you borrow someone else’s machine to see what’s going on?

Get a Mac (1-button mouse – easy)

People on the lake use pc’s? I would have never thought that!

I think prol’ly a higher percent here are mac afficianados. Such as moi.

xoites defends Constitution @ 180

OT: This is my second visit to this site since i found it yesterday and i must say the users of this blog (you) are an impressive lot. I am glad i found you.

I found this site starting at NBCNEWS.com then to ‘altercation’ and then just clicking different sites. NBCNEWS.com got rid of ‘Altercation’ awhile ago (go figure) so I think it’s going to be harder for newbies to find FDL. That would be a shame.

Solai @ 204

xoites defends Constitution @ 180

OT: This is my second visit to this site since i found it yesterday and i must say the users of this blog (you) are an impressive lot. I am glad i found you.

I found this site starting at NBCNEWS.com then to ‘altercation’ and then just clicking different sites. NBCNEWS.com got rid of ‘Altercation’ awhile ago (go figure) so I think it’s going to be harder for newbies to find FDL. That would be a shame.

I came here through HuffPo but got really interested during the Libby trial. Like so many others.

Gee, I’m a left-handed artist also! This is getting scary.

do-si-do @ 201

tbsa @ 26

I say let them continue to underestimate the power of the blogosphere, they will ignore us at their own peril. I’m not young, or stupid and will always make time to seek out the truth about the criminals in charge of this country.

Here! Here! I just hate it when people insult my intelligence and lie to me…jeez.

Why did Bushco lie about Jessica Lynch and Tillman? Because it didn’t occur to them that truth might sound good!

and lying really is hard work, for those of us what don’t have “the gift”

dakine01,

In case you missed it! ; )

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne…..;type=lgns

Schuster and pundits just were discussing Kansas Gov Sebelius statement about troops and supplies not available for disaster ’cause they’re over in Iraq.

Bring Our Troops Home
To Take Care of Our Own.

I found FDL when I heard Ambassador Joe Wilson mention it during a press conference.

looseheadprop @ 195

KathieinMN @ 186

To add to the demographic inquiry – female lefty-lefty here, over the 50, under the 80 thous.,college perfesser, musician, and hard FDL addict – so clothing while reading depends on the time of day or whether am at school or not. While I don’t do billable hours, there sure are a lot of things I should be doing instead of enjoying myself here at the lake with all you firepups! Not gunna change, though!

How much does it aggravate me that the people who are charged with passing on know;edge to our children are so underpaid!

One of the most important jobs to the preservation of civilzation, and no $$ for it. Sigh…….

Yeah – and private college teaching is the worst; always bugs me when my students graduate, and go out to teach in public schools and make twice what I make! But of course we all know public school teachers are all way overpaid! heh.

before I get EPU’d

Bad Hugh, for painting all academics with the same broad brush.

ccmask @ 162

LS @ 142

OT: LAPD “Elite Squad” in big doo doo after Mayday Melee. Are they something like a formal version of Blackwater within LAPD? Creeepy!!

I knew it was blackwater.

Has anyone yet commented on the fact that blackwater is a plumbing term for sewage?

(15 celsius, postgraduate degrees, lefty-righty, currently either retired or unemployed and probably not worth $80k in any case)

do-si-do @ 202

tbsa @ 26

I say let them continue to underestimate the power of the blogosphere, they will ignore us at their own peril. I’m not young, or stupid and will always make time to seek out the truth about the criminals in charge of this country.

Here! Here! I just hate it when people insult my intelligence and lie to me…jeez.

Why did Bushco lie about Jessica Lynch and Tillman? Because it didn’t occur to them that truth might sound good!

That and remember, it isn’t a lie if you have a pathological inability to speak the truth. Besides, if you have cultivated an audience of mouth-breathing imbeciles, waiting to be spoon fed the daily ration of propaganda, there is a certain amount of expectation that needs to be met. This administration has created a monster which needs to continuously be fed…lies. The Rovian concept of a single party system doesn’t come without a serious administration requirement. Thank the lord for Sean Hannity!

I found FDL via Crooks and Liars, then I found Watertiger and Dependable Renegade, then EW and The Next Hurrah, then TPM and so on and so on.
What a wonderful world.

Cozumel @ 208

dakine01,

In case you missed it! ; )

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne…..;type=lgns

Not even gonna look before I reply as I bet it’s about Josh getting 2 homers yeterday. Or being a homer short of the cycle on Saturday. Or being the NL rookie for the month of April. I think my Reds have found themselves a BALLPLAYER.

itwasntme @ 207

Gee, I’m a left-handed artist also! This is getting scary.

As am I.

Not scary though.

But I like the Punaise bit- lefty squared. Me too.

Most are young and what Sreenivasan terms “early adaptors.” And, as he concludes, the impact of young voters “is notoriously hard to predict.” It was thought they were going to turn out in big numbers in 2004 but that didn’t happen.

I can’t let this pass…
While the first part of this statement has been properly challenged here, the last part is also completely wrong-headed. The young vote definitely did come out in record numbers in 2004! I have a lengthy rant on the subject with extensive references here

spurious @ 213

Has anyone yet commented on the fact that blackwater is a plumbing term for sewage?

(15 celsius, postgraduate degrees, lefty-righty, currently either retired or unemployed and probably not worth $80k in any case)

I thought maybe it was also a reference to the Doobie Brothers song

dakine01 @ 203
raven @ 198
JeffinBerlin @ 192
Chetnolian @ 177

Some of us aren’t entirely awkward squad. My pc works fine for me thanks.

Me too.But isn’t it a pest having to move the mouse when you borrow someone else’s machine to see what’s going on?

Get a Mac (1-button mouse – easy)

People on the lake use pc’s? I would have never thought that!

I think prol’ly a higher percent here are mac afficianados. Such as moi.

I know a # of folks who learned about the Lake while on Elderhostel trips, tee hee…

I asked a few weeks ago but whatever happened to the “I Am A Blogger” (?) project someone here came up with way over a year ago on this very subject of the true faces of bloggers? Look at any group pictures that have been published of us. So many of us are older, I’m enjoying being a grandma at 51 with another on the way in Dec.

Also, on who bloggers are, was it mentioned yet that Crooks & Liars has a new survey going on? I took it 2 nights ago. The one question I would like added is what is your birth order? I’m a first born, I’m curious how many active bloggers are.

dakine01 @ 216

Cozumel @ 208

dakine01,

In case you missed it! ; )

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne…..;type=lgns

Not even gonna look before I reply as I bet it’s about Josh getting 2 homers yeterday. Or being a homer short of the cycle on Saturday. Or being the NL rookie for the month of April. I think my Reds have found themselves a BALLPLAYER.

LOL!

Valley Girl @ 213

before I get EPU’d

Bad Hugh, for painting all academics with the same broad brush.

wasn’t atrios teaching university econ while blogging?

JeffinBerlin @ 216

I found FDL via Crooks and Liars, then I found Watertiger and Dependable Renegade, then EW and The Next Hurrah, then TPM and so on and so on.
What a wonderful world.

Have you found Digby yet?

itwasntme @ 207

Gee, I’m a left-handed artist also! This is getting scary.

Left handed people do tend to have a natural tendency to conceptualize and theorize rather than to narrow and compartmentalize a world view.

It isn’t terribly surprising to find those are generally positive traits here at the lake, regardless of which hand you type with.

youngest

ambidextrous

heading into EPU-land no doubt –

46/f, right-handed lefty, some college, blog at all hours of the day or night depending on work schedule, get paid an insane amount of money to tell firefighters where to go. Oh, and since I found FDL, the WaPo doesn’t get nearly the attention from me that it used to.

johnSwifty @ 227

itwasntme @ 207

Gee, I’m a left-handed artist also! This is getting scary.

Left handed people do tend to have a natural tendency to conceptualize and theorize rather than to narrow and compartmentalize a world view.

It isn’t terribly surprising to find those are generally positive traits here at the lake, regardless of which hand you type with.

What do you mean which “hand” – don’t you mean which 6 fingers?

Adie @ 228

youngest

ambidextrous

I’d give my right arm to be ambidextrous!

Elliott @ 220

spurious @ 213

Has anyone yet commented on the fact that blackwater is a plumbing term for sewage?

(15 celsius, postgraduate degrees, lefty-righty, currently either retired or unemployed and probably not worth $80k in any case)

I thought maybe it was also a reference to the Doobie Brothers song

Which is itself a refence to the Mississippi River

I tried to say some of us aren’t entirely the awkward squad and my pc works fine for me thanks…then proved myself wrong by rotting the post up. Sorree!

Let’s see.

29 year old female. No offical degrees, but i work full time as a retail pharmacy tech. So i earn below 20K well below 20K. (thank you corporate assholes!) I do plan on making the Associates offical with the National Pharm Tech Certificate this year, but i’ve been on the job for 3 years. hehe. I also live in my own studio apartment. Been moved out of my parents house for years.

Oh, also. Left handed, musician to my fingertips despite the science job. Singer, by ear learner and trying my damndest to learn the piano in my spare time. I don’t have a lot of money to spare to donate a lot, but i do bits and pieces when i can.

So..slightly off on both profiles.

How come all you crazy kids aren’t outside smoking weed and playing hacky-sack in this beautiful weather?

Sorry I’m late but I was in detention for wearing my jammies to school.

-GSD

noen @ 71

Geat post Jane, and I was just listening to NPR run a piece the attempts to justify torture. Continuing Tenets’ claim that it had saved lives, NPR is now trying to make the case that torture really does work sometimes. I guess just just goes to show how much better they are they us.

It makes me sick.

This is why I read blogs.

The torturing makes me sick to my stomach. Just to know not only that people are being tortured (hellish, yes) but that our troops are being commanded to “interrogate” against their Army manual training. This just compounds the torture, in my view. Who can stand up to this?

Shez @ 223

I asked a few weeks ago but whatever happened to the “I Am A Blogger” (?) project someone here came up with way over a year ago on this very subject of the true faces of bloggers? Look at any group pictures that have been published of us. So many of us are older, I’m enjoying being a grandma at 51 with another on the way in Dec.

Also, on who bloggers are, was it mentioned yet that Crooks & Liars has a new survey going on? I took it 2 nights ago. The one question I would like added is what is your birth order? I’m a first born, I’m curious how many active bloggers are.

Youngest of 3 by 5 and 8 years. Oldest is wing-nutter male. Sister in the middle just as confused by him as I am. I think the elves left a changling in the hospital when he was born. She says he got a brain transplant when he was stationed in the Phillipines in early 60s.

selise- don’t know Atrios’s history -if true, that would be interesting.

Chetnolian @ 222

Get a Mac (1-button mouse – easy)
People on the lake use pc’s? I would have never thought that!
I think prol’ly a higher percent here are mac afficianados. Such as moi.

I would be a mac afficianado if I could afford one.

I’d like the new eight core monster please, ok?

Raven — two tours overseas. Shoulda stayed out of trouble, son, then you wouldn’t have had to be RA. :-)

Chetnolian @ 222

dakine01 @ 203
raven @ 198
JeffinBerlin @ 192
Chetnolian @ 177

Some of us aren’t entirely awkward squad. My pc works fine for me thanks.

Me too.But isn’t it a pest having to move the mouse when you borrow someone else’s machine to see what’s going on?

Get a Mac (1-button mouse – easy)

People on the lake use pc’s? I would have never thought that!

I think prol’ly a higher percent here are mac afficianados. Such as moi.

PC here, but that may be because i like building them (when my existing one fries out.) Ok, maybe i don’t like building them as much as i need to. :)

37, well under $80k now and for the foreseeable future, right-handed, completely unartistic except for photography, undergrad degree, bailed on my MBA when I realized I didn’t really need one.

“After reading four newspapers each day and my e-mails and doing my work, I’ve had it.”

He reads all those newspapers and yet his head remains firmly stuck up his own arse. Yet it doesn’t stop the pontification. Wow.

I got here thru reference – as in a mention vs. a link…I had to google for that – in a Mac centric mag ‘forum’ with a political ‘board’.

Nice.

looseheadprop @ 232

Which is itself a refence to the Mississippi River

no wonder they were down there during Katrina

Eli @ 56

Stormcrow @ 53

Damn.

And all this time, I thought I was a 56 year old security geek with a Ph.D. in mathematics. And arthritis.

You can get a PhD in arthritis? The dissertation must be a bitch.

I don’t know why but I totally 707′d over that.
And I’d call Jane my little sister, if we were actually related. Though I do blog in my pyjamas I find it’s easier on the computer.

Oh, and I’m either an only child or the middle of five, depending on whether you count half-sibs or not…

Chetnolian @ 233

I tried to say some of us aren’t entirely the awkward squad and my pc works fine for me thanks…then proved myself wrong by rotting the post up. Sorree!

I figgreed that’s what the intent was. It’s just a mac OS is just so much easier to use all the way around. There are problems with new releases sometimes, but far fewer and far less traumatic than in windowsland. And MS is still a minimum of five-seven years behind the mac os.

Never commented before but I am 73, read at least 10 or 12 blogs a day, grandmother, yellow dog Democrat, don’t believe anything I hear on the news. Couldn’t do without FDL. Love it.

Rick Roehlk @ 219

Most are young and what Sreenivasan terms “early adaptors.” And, as he concludes, the impact of young voters “is notoriously hard to predict.” It was thought they were going to turn out in big numbers in 2004 but that didn’t happen.

I can’t let this pass…
While the first part of this statement has been properly challenged here, the last part is also completely wrong-headed. The young vote definitely did come out in record numbers in 2004! I have a lengthy rant on the subject with extensive references here

Good on ya, Rick. Thanks for posting.

These hosers float so many “misstatements” it’s exhausting to set the record straight. Like paper towels to firehose.

Someone should see to it that Sree Sreenivasan reads these comments.

KathieinMN @ 231

What do you mean which “hand” – don’t you mean which 6 fingers?

I’ve got a Rick Wakeman setup with FDL and Dkos on my right hand and billable work on my left hand. I gave up the CRTs for neuro shunts.

Twain! thanks for delurking!

Early 50s, no post-grad, blog over 10 hrs/wk, grossly underpaid

dakine01 @ 249

Chetnolian @ 233

I tried to say some of us aren’t entirely the awkward squad and my pc works fine for me thanks…then proved myself wrong by rotting the post up. Sorree!

I figgreed that’s what the intent was. It’s just a mac OS is just so much easier to use all the way around. There are problems with new releases sometimes, but far fewer and far less traumatic than in windowsland. And MS is still a minimum of five-seven years behind the mac os.

If it wasn’t that I have certain programs that I must have, I would be using Ubuntu. I’ve tried it and I like it a lot, but I simply must have a Windows PC, and a VM will not do either.

emptywheel @ 77

A couple of points.

As to demographics, I’m thinking of starting a line of fine blogging pajamas (silk? linen?) tapping into the affluent demographics of blogging and giving me something to wear in public when I go out as a blogger. Any takers?

I think this could be a real winner but wouldn’t recommend pure silk or linen especially if you want to get out of the basement from time to time. A blend would be better, perhaps a summer weight silk/wool blend that wouldn’t wrinkle. All those lap wrinkles look so messy.
A stylish housecoat might work as a cover up. ;o)

Well, call me left-wing but I came to FDL after a poster at COURT TV posted about it (re Libby trial). You know, law and order and all that. Now you know how old I am!!! Or at least old-fashioned.

Lately it occurs to me….

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W…..mouse_Said

This prof ain’t read much.

Valley Girl @ 239

selise- don’t know Atrios’s history -if true, that would be interesting.

yep. i remember when we used to joke in the comments about him being a gym teacher (this was while his identity was still unknown).

if you will permit a wiki reference:

After obtaining his BA from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Black obtained a Ph.D. in economics from Brown University in 1999. He has worked at the London School of Economics, the Universit catholique de Louvain, the University of California, Irvine, and, most recently, Bryn Mawr College. He is now a Senior Fellow at the media research group Media Matters for America.

Black began his online political life as Atrios, remaining pseudonymous for several years, and even joking that he was actually a high school gym teacher. According to Black, the name “Atrios” is actually a (misspelled) reference to a character named Antrios in the Yasmina Reza play ‘Art’ who paints the play’s key “white painting on white canvas”.

Before starting Eschaton, Black wrote (as Atrios) for the webzine Media Whores Online (now defunct). During the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, he revealed that he had accepted a job at Media Matters for America and allowed his name and photograph to be published. He later said that as an academic he blogged pseudonymously to avoid attacks like those later unleashed on Timothy Shortell.[2]

Twain @ 249

Never commented before but I am 73, read at least 10 or 12 blogs a day, grandmother, yellow dog Democrat, don’t believe anything I hear on the news. Couldn’t do without FDL. Love it.

Welcome Twain! Nice to meet you.

I read 3 political blogs every day. I ignore the TV and the newspapers in general, aside from checking the headlines to see which way the spin is heading. This place keeps me informed and ahead of the game adn ready to do what small things i can to help things along. You could say i’m part of the new guard of DFHs. I just ‘look normal’. *grins evilly*

I do personal blogging and mostly unpolitical. As i’m fairly active in the anime fandoms in the rest of my ’spare time’ when not working or reading. There’s nothing on tv i like, so i’ve taken to watching anything but american programming.

Confessed age range here 15-73 (maybe even higher than 73, but I can’t remember… 77?)

JeffinBerlin @ 231

Adie @ 228

youngest

ambidextrous

I’d give my right arm to be ambidextrous!

hm-m-m. I lied. Actually, playing strg instrument from age 4 helps, as does getting in a funk as a middle schooler & deciding to MAKE myself left-handed. beware stubborn musicians. they will liberate the world ;->

the whole premise is inane:

“Most are young and what Sreenivasan terms “early adaptors.” And, as he concludes, the impact of young voters “is notoriously hard to predict.” It was thought they were going to turn out in big numbers in 2004 but that didn’t happen.”

I guess what’s different here is that Prof Sreenivasan doesn’t believe that “young voters” don’t turn into “older voters”. Leaving aside the fact that the stereotype is totally incorrect, even on its own terms its got a built in fallacy.

Perhaps it is better to be under estimated….

Let’s keep it that way….

xoites defends Constitution @ 251

Someone should see to it that Sree Sreenivasan reads these comments.

oh, why bother the lad…. (?)

dakine01 @ 216

Cozumel @ 208

dakine01,

In case you missed it! ; )

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne…..;type=lgns

Not even gonna look before I reply as I bet it’s about Josh getting 2 homers yeterday. Or being a homer short of the cycle on Saturday. Or being the NL rookie for the month of April. I think my Reds have found themselves a BALLPLAYER.

BTW, I was in New York the week before last and was telling my business partner about him. He lives in Hudson Valley (Mahopac) and Hamilton played about 15 games for the Rays farm team there last season. He and his son went to one of the games, got his autograph and a photo taken with him,. Cool, eh? ; )

under 50 (but barely), work in financial services, read FDL, TPM and Froomkin faithfully, WSJ because I have to.

noen @ 255 says:

If it wasn’t that I have certain programs that I must have, I would be using Ubuntu. I’ve tried it and I like it a lot, but I simply must have a Windows PC, and a VM will not do either.

Save your funds and pick up a new Mac. Macs use the same intel chips as windows machines now. Mac has a free program called boot camp that allows both windows OS and Mac OS to reside on the same machine. You pick the OS at start-up. I think the top MacBook laptop runs just under 1500.00 and you’re paying for the black color. If you can handle a white machine, price is approx 1295.00 iirc. You do have to purchase windows os separately, but most everything else you’d need is already loaded without all the MS cr*p.

Twain @ 249

Never commented before but I am 73, read at least 10 or 12 blogs a day, grandmother, yellow dog Democrat, don’t believe anything I hear on the news. Couldn’t do without FDL. Love it.

Welcome! And PLEASE keep commenting ;->

Check out the Anti-Dems articles on this Blackwater Newsletter site. Are they paid using our tax dollars??????

http://www.blackwaterusa.com/b…..707btw.htm

Actually I found FDL via Jay Rosen, journalism professor (Press Think blog) when he gave Jane kudos.

And, I discovered YouTube via FDL. My YouTube knowledge certainly adds a “cool” factor with my students.

dakine01 @ 270

Save your funds and pick up a new Mac. Macs use the same intel chips as windows machines now. Mac has a free program called boot camp that allows both windows OS and Mac OS to reside on the same machine. You pick the OS at start-up. I think the top MacBook laptop runs just under 1500.00 and you’re paying for the black color. If you can handle a white machine, price is approx 1295.00 iirc. You do have to purchase windows os separately, but most everything else you’d need is already loaded without all the MS cr*p.

Yeah, I know, I just can’t afford it. I’m poor folk.

I live in a place that is for those who are homeless, that is the requirement to get in here. And I’m on disability, it was a stretch to get what I have now. But thanks for the thought.

Cozumel @ 267 says:

BTW, I was in New York the week before last and was telling my business partner about him. He lives in Hudson Valley (Mahopac) and Hamilton played about 15 games for the Rays farm team there last season. He and his son went to one of the games, got his autograph and a photo taken with him,. Cool, eh? ; )

NY/Penn league is prol’ly one of the best minor leagues as it’s short season but gets mostly former college players just after drafted. They’re usually just excited to be pros and willing to spend a LOT of time with fans, especially kids.

dakine01 @ 199

JoyB @ 194

dakine01 @ 191

JoyB @ 182

How come we use “zed” to mean “zero” here, when it means the letter “z?”

When you come to a new thread before any comments are posted, the first comment to show up displays as number “0,” which it stays until you refresh the screen or leave the page and return.

Right. But what does the letter Z have to do with 0, other than it starts the word “zero.” Is that what people are thinking? It’s not just a badly-executed affectation?

zed is sometimes used as a shorthand for zero. Also comes up on google searches as acronyms where the first word is zero.

I’m just more used to the terms “zip” and “zilch” for zero. And, yes, I know I’m revealing my age in doing so.

So our dear friend Sree has another job besides his post at Columbia….where itv seems his main job is as an Administrator. I looked for published academic work from this guy…found none. Wonder what his dissertation (thesis?) was on. Or maybe he was allowed to submit a portfolio or :stories”. Maybe his sole work is in the print and broadcast media. Lots of folks in journalism are hired, not because they know how to do research, but because they can get their students jobs. Research to these people, remember, is the reliance on “sources”. I doubt that they need to have training in Science, Critical Thinking, or Statistical Analysis (think Andrea Mitchell).

And one doesn’t exactly need to be adept in website construction to ACCESS a blog or on line news site. One merely needs to know how to use the internet and a search engine. That’s not exactly rocket science. It’s not something that is restricted to “early adopters”. Millions of people now use on-line sites for everything from gambling, to shopping (Ebay), to communicating by email.

Print media’s declining circulation rates have been directly attributed to PRIOR SUBSCRIBERS (not the young) using the internet for news.

Mr. Sreevanathan falls into the classic trap of assuming that because he, a journalist. reads 4 newspapers a day, does his job as a Dean at Columbia, and then moonlights at NBC…that EVERYBODY is doing that, and simply lacks the time to go on line to view a favorite blog.

But it seems odd to me that Mr. Sreevanathan is supposedly a “new media” specialist…yet is apparently still trapped in his world of print media and broadcast news. He admits he doesn’t even use or examine “new media” on a regular basis…but presumably that’s his field of expertise? How odd of Columbia to hire someone as an expert who seems to willfully avoid studying it!

4th decade looming/f
2 PG degs, Ivory Tower escapee (ABD)
Freelancer income
Freethinker’s 3rd digit
Ambidex
Artist
Woof!

And a few want to know how come I know so much about politics… the blogs, I tell them. You know, blogs…

Bionic @ 256

emptywheel @ 77

A couple of points.

As to demographics, I’m thinking of starting a line of fine blogging pajamas (silk? linen?) tapping into the affluent demographics of blogging and giving me something to wear in public when I go out as a blogger. Any takers?

I think this could be a real winner but wouldn’t recommend pure silk or linen especially if you want to get out of the basement from time to time. A blend would be better, perhaps a summer weight silk/wool blend that wouldn’t wrinkle. All those lap wrinkles look so messy.
A stylish housecoat might work as a cover up. ;o)

and puppy slippers

If the majority of journalists did their jobs, blogs wouldn’t be necessary. But in the absence of a viable, adversarial press, there is nothing to stand in the way of the powerful and the well-connected in this country – at least at this time.

This really isn’t the death-knell of some time-honored profession, as much as it’s an indictment of the tragic fact that there’s only a relative handful of people who are actually practicing the art and getting heard.

Glen Greenwald is absolutely right in calling the Beltway Establishment – and the compliant media that “cover” them – “Versailles”. That’s the crux of the problem. The MSM reporters and journalists, all too often, are part of the power structure now, and far too many of them are willing to take a pinch of snuff and say “Let the peasants eat cake – we want our tax cuts!”, and cake is precisely what they serve up – heavy on the frosting. They refuse to do their jobs, so the blogs are filling the void.

Blogs are not going away – but I hope in a future time, if and when journalism finds its’ way out of the “info-tainment” wilderness, traditional journalism outlets and blogs will become augmentary. It’s already happening more than the David Broder’s of the world would have you believe – they already inform each other to a large extent, and more and more traditional journalists are actively blogging too. And in my opinion, many of the political bloggers are journalists, in the ideal sense – they’re just utilizing different media that doesn’t compel them to get some bullshit degree from some accredited Cookie Cutter-Mind Molders to prove they can think. I’m sure that idea upsets the old print-media guard – but that’s what they get for abandoning their duty.

The good Professor, like lots of head-up-their-ass academics, doesn’t know what he’s talking about. If the current batch of overpaid “News Models” and Administration/Neo-Con “transcribers” and apologists currently infecting the press are “journalists”, then I’d say the contemporary crop of journalism professors have done one piss-poor job of training them.

corry342 @ 264

the whole premise is inane:

“Most are young and what Sreenivasan terms “early adaptors.” And, as he concludes, the impact of young voters “is notoriously hard to predict.” It was thought they were going to turn out in big numbers in 2004 but that didn’t happen.”

I guess what’s different here is that Prof Sreenivasan doesn’t believe that “young voters” don’t turn into “older voters”. Leaving aside the fact that the stereotype is totally incorrect, even on its own terms its got a built in fallacy.

how about those “early adaptors” who keep adapting as they grow . . . OLD?! ahem. oh well. golly, that was such a neat little research bit for Sree, & the hounds have just left it in, well, tatters……..
“Who Let The Dawgs In?”

Oh {{{{Molly}}}}! We still love you!

Zed is forthe z in zero, but also. It’s used for slang for zero in canada. *grin*

I have so much canadian family that i thought nothing of the calls of zed when i first started hanging out here.

now, now, let’s not be computer elitists. I am totally happy with my circa 1998 PC. Though I do use FireFox.

LS @ 272

Check out the Anti-Dems articles on this Blackwater Newsletter site. Are they paid using our tax dollars??????

http://www.blackwaterusa.com/b…..707btw.htm

From the article:

WITH THE DEMOCRATS pushing so hard for withdrawal from Iraq, the party seems unaware that they may be making the job much harder for themselves should they get the chance to govern again someday. After all, the United States has many vital strategic interests in the region, and it is not obvious how a plan no more elaborate than bringing our troops home from Iraq will protect, for instance, the free flow of affordable Persian Gulf oil.

I guess they get points for being honest that it is really about the oil.

Elliot @ 278 says:

and puppy slippers

Sorry, I’m a cat person.

*just* shy of 50 anglo male with a family income in that neighborhood
too busy with other things to hang around for much more than drive-by comments
(sorry)
but an avid reader here and many places linked
spouse is a pre-school teacher
family of 3
formerly apolitical spouse now politicized

new wine varietal: Zedfindel

do-si-do @ 257

Well, call me left-wing but I came to FDL after a poster at COURT TV posted about it (re Libby trial). You know, law and order and all that. Now you know how old I am!!! Or at least old-fashioned.

I used to love watching court tv, when they just went to a trial and showed everything. there really are Perry Mason moments!

noen @ 283

LS @ 272

Check out the Anti-Dems articles on this Blackwater Newsletter site. Are they paid using our tax dollars??????

http://www.blackwaterusa.com/b…..707btw.htm

From the article:

WITH THE DEMOCRATS pushing so hard for withdrawal from Iraq, the party seems unaware that they may be making the job much harder for themselves should they get the chance to govern again someday. After all, the United States has many vital strategic interests in the region, and it is not obvious how a plan no more elaborate than bringing our troops home from Iraq will protect, for instance, the free flow of affordable Persian Gulf oil.

I guess they get points for being honest that it is really about the oil.

All the more reason to move away from oil to whatever alternatives we can develop.

I want Congress to stop Blackwater. How can they be legal? Cruising their website is sickening.

Adie @ 266

xoites defends Constitution @ 251

Someone should see to it that Sree Sreenivasan reads these comments.

oh, why bother the lad…. (?)

Oh, just this obsesive desire to help educate the ignorant. Its a problem i have and i will not visit it on you unless of course you cross my path. :)

completely OT – from TPM

Reid Spokesman: Short-Term War-Funding Option Won’t Fly In Senate
By Greg Sargent | bio
The other day we told you that a senior Congressional leadership source had confided to us that the short-term war-funding measure favored by Dem Rep. David Obey was going to face some serious reluctance in the Senate.

The Obey measure — which would fund the war through July but make further funding contingent on progress in Iraq — had stirred optimism among some Dem House staffers because it would allow Dems to keep standing up to the White House on Iraq while ducking Bush’s charges that Dems weren’t funding the troops.

Well, now Senate leader Harry Reid’s spokesman has confirmed it: The plan is a non-starter in the Senate. From CQ Congress Daily (sub. only):

A House-backed plan to send President Bush a supplemental spending bill to fund the war only through July is not likely to get through the Senate, an aide to Senate Majority Leader Reid said today. “It’s not anything that will fly in the Senate,” spokesman Jim Manley said. Manley’s comments and earlier opposition from Senate Armed Services Chairman Levin are likely to complicate efforts by the White House and congressional leaders to wrap up a new spending bill before the Memorial Day recess later this month.

No word yet on why. Now what?

too depressing for words.

punaise @ 287

new wine varietal: Zedfindel

Snort!

aliasofwestgate @ 281

Zed is forthe z in zero, but also. It’s used for slang for zero in canada. *grin*

I have so much canadian family that i thought nothing of the calls of zed when i first started hanging out here.

And, if you are really lucky, you can get a first comment with the number “0″. I had been here 2 years before I actually saw one! Saw one earlier today.

all this “zed” stuff:
don’t trip on yer way to the top, folks *g*

dakine01 @ 284

Elliot @ 278 says:

and puppy slippers

Sorry, I’m a cat person.

(me too!)

xoites defends Constitution @ 290

Adie @ 266

xoites defends Constitution @ 251

Someone should see to it that Sree Sreenivasan reads these comments.

oh, why bother the lad…. (?)

Oh, just this obsesive desire to help educate the ignorant. Its a problem i have and i will not visit it on you unless of course you cross my path. :)

cool! [obsessive]

dakine01 @ 284

Sorry, I’m a cat person.

what kind do you have and how many?

Wow, an out-of-touch Ivy League professor — who’da thunk?

do-si-do @ 257

Well, call me left-wing but I came to FDL after a poster at COURT TV posted about it (re Libby trial). You know, law and order and all that. Now you know how old I am!!! Or at least old-fashioned.

YIKES! I lived on the Court TV message boards for a couple of years. Mostly during the Scott Peterson trial, etc

noen @ 274

dakine01 @ 270

Save your funds and pick up a new Mac. Macs use the same intel chips as windows machines now. Mac has a free program called boot camp that allows both windows OS and Mac OS to reside on the same machine. You pick the OS at start-up. I think the top MacBook laptop runs just under 1500.00 and you’re paying for the black color. If you can handle a white machine, price is approx 1295.00 iirc. You do have to purchase windows os separately, but most everything else you’d need is already loaded without all the MS cr*p.

Yeah, I know, I just can’t afford it. I’m poor folk.

I live in a place that is for those who are homeless, that is the requirement to get in here. And I’m on disability, it was a stretch to get what I have now. But thanks for the thought.

I hear/see/feel ya…

http://www.lowendmac.com/deals/pbg3.html

There is hope….

I’m using ‘donationware’ Win product. It works, and I ain’t complaining, really. No virii yet.

But I miss my PB. Dearly. It is a s.t.r.e.t.c.h. to replace – as you say.

Jimmy Cliff says “You can get it if you really want’. And the Mets (as a RedSox fan I can barely type that let alone..) “Ya gotta believe!”
—-
Happy trails and, computing.

tee hee. did everyone run upstairs to check? ;->

Elliott @ 295

dakine01 @ 284

Elliot @ 278 says:

and puppy slippers

Sorry, I’m a cat person.

(me too!)

I snorted just then and my Dan’l looked up at me like “What? Are you out there in them toobz again?”

Mary McCurnin @ 147

LS @ 143

OT: LAPD “Elite Squad” in big doo doo after Mayday Melee. Are they something like a formal version of Blackwater within LAPD? Creeepy!!

LAPD has always been nasty and mean.

Always. This is one big fat reason why OJ walked…

selise@291

Okay that’s it. Senator Levin’s getting a disgusted letter from me as soon as possible. I’m one of his constituents and that is just going waaay too far into capitulation territory. Idiot! (i’m trying not to lapse into japanese insults here)

New thread upstairs!!!

selise @ 292

completely OT – from TPM

Reid Spokesman: Short-Term War-Funding Option Won’t Fly In Senate
By Greg Sargent | bio
The other day we told you that a senior Congressional leadership source had confided to us that the short-term war-funding measure favored by Dem Rep. David Obey was going to face some serious reluctance in the Senate.

The Obey measure — which would fund the war through July but make further funding contingent on progress in Iraq — had stirred optimism among some Dem House staffers because it would allow Dems to keep standing up to the White House on Iraq while ducking Bush’s charges that Dems weren’t funding the troops.

Well, now Senate leader Harry Reid’s spokesman has confirmed it: The plan is a non-starter in the Senate. From CQ Congress Daily (sub. only):

A House-backed plan to send President Bush a supplemental spending bill to fund the war only through July is not likely to get through the Senate, an aide to Senate Majority Leader Reid said today. “It’s not anything that will fly in the Senate,” spokesman Jim Manley said. Manley’s comments and earlier opposition from Senate Armed Services Chairman Levin are likely to complicate efforts by the White House and congressional leaders to wrap up a new spending bill before the Memorial Day recess later this month.

No word yet on why. Now what?

too depressing for words.

I don’t want them to fund the war for one more second. And I want them to de-authorize Bush’s ability to wage war.

I’m 38, a bit north of that income range as a design engineer, read well over ten hours a week in political blogs and can’t stand newspapers or the nightly news anymore. The continual forced feeding of the most trivial and meaningless stories (missing white woman, White House staged photo op or dead fourth tier celeb) have driven me away for good. I catch some CNN after work but Wolf’s endless cheerleading about how great they are tends to give me a touch of the red ass. I Tivo Countdown, The Daily Show, Colbert and Real Time and some of the Sunday morning shows just for laughs.

And I don’t wear pajamas. I think they’re stupid.

I’m a 51 y.o. man with a PhD who reads blogs (mostly this one and Eschaton, w/ a little from the TPM smorgasbord and whatever y’all link to), for at least 10 hours a week. What I really wanted to say, tho, is Columbia’s J-school must be for shizzit. Between this guy and the head of Columbia’s J-school, who contributes regularly to the New Yorker (Nicholas Leman?), they’re not only clueless, but seemingly intentionally so.

P.S. I hope the transcendant Jane is doing well with her recovery.

link to a new thread

Elliott @ 297

dakine01 @ 284

Sorry, I’m a cat person.

what kind do you have and how many?

Just one. When I adopted him, I was told he was a singelton and didn’t play well with others. The official colors/marking from the shelter were “grey tiger and white” but it’s the shade that always looks almost green to me. The shelter said he was “twoish” when I got him and that was in Feb of ‘03. I had mourned my previous companion for about a year by then. I’d had her for 13 1/2 years after she’d started as my sister’s and she was 18 when she died.

P.S.S. I forgot to mention I also read the great Digby.

52 & changing carrers in midlife-will grad with associates degree in resp therapy on friday-(HIP HIPHOORAY-its been hard!)will add to my bachelors degree & masters degree- hey that’s 3-that constitutes a collection!

Noen re NPR piece on torture…

I don’t think Mike Pesca was promoting torture at all. I think he was reporting on the discussion/language of it.

ONe point that could get lost is that the Black Hawk Down guy said “would I want to torture if I could save a child who was buried alive, yes” but I think his point is it isn’t the wanting permission to torture and the wanting to punish the person who may be responsible for the child’s condition that makes it OK. What I heard him infer was that it is never OK.

Mike Pesca is stating that it is very sad that the US govt is resorting to language used by Nazi Germany to justify it: torture is evil, but necessary sometimes.

In today’s world, it isn’t enough to claim the moral outrage high ground (sad but true). YOu have to sound tough and smart about defeating a supposedly tough guy stance. IOW, torture isn’t cost-effective. Or something.

Sheesh.

In my middle twenties, from northern europe (fin) and I enjoy reading FDL.
First time posting here and wanted to say hi to all! :)

Thank you for bringing such interesting news and comments.

1,508 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..

Firepup Patriots:

I think it’s beginin ta dawn on folks, at least around these blog-parts, that we are in a full grown fascist state…how else could it be that we have a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress and they can’t find their way to the staff lavatories but in the 1990’s we could have a legitimately elected Democratic President and the fascist legislature impeaches ‘im??!!

Good God, folks, we hafta get our military back in-country and put a whole lotta folks in jail AND impeach the Chimpenfurer and his dog Dick. Any conversation about media stooges or what strategy to use to get the criminals to speak to Congress is jest another faggot hassle…I am certain that at the pace we are goin’ the 2008 elections are gunna be meaningless.

KEEP THE FAITH AND DON’T LET THE BASTARDS IN YER YARD!!

do-si-do @ 305

Mary McCurnin @ 147

LS @ 143

OT: LAPD “Elite Squad” in big doo doo after Mayday Melee. Are they something like a formal version of Blackwater within LAPD? Creeepy!!

Not to mention, I think complicity in…
“…and now it’s on to Chicago and let’s win there.”
Ambassador Ballroom
June 5/6, 1968
http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~dlewis/crime.htm

sigh.

LAPD has always been nasty and mean.

Always. This is one big fat reason why OJ walked…

dakine01 @ 311

Just one. When I adopted him, I was told he was a singelton and didn’t play well with others. The official colors/marking from the shelter were “grey tiger and white” but it’s the shade that always looks almost green to me. The shelter said he was “twoish” when I got him and that was in Feb of ‘03. I had mourned my previous companion for about a year by then. I’d had her for 13 1/2 years after she’d started as my sister’s and she was 18 when she died.

sorry you lost your true friend.
I love grey tabbies, can’t say I ever saw a green one. Does he like to eat fish-type food?
I have a tortoiseshell and a little grey tabby with white paws

Hugh @ 127

Two groups that don’t get blogs are the media and academia. I suspect it has something to do with the generational concept that, as a general rule, however you were trained is the way that you will function throughout your career. These people did not grow up with blogs so they don’t believe in them, dismiss them, feel vaguely threatened by them, and are glacially slow in picking up on them.

And apparently Sree Sreevanathan is both. He was a longtime NBC reporter before being hired at Columbia, and still moonlights for them as a “tech reporter”.

But I find it odd that anyone with any sort of college experience in the last 20 years would not comprehend the ease of accessing blogs…and say that older people aren’t capable of using or creating them. Certainly bloggers themselves require a certain level of time to produce blogs…and some of the best blog sites are, consequently “cooperative” team efforts. Once a site is set up there is little need for some spectacular level of technical ability by most of the contributors.

And it takes almost no technical ability to access and read a blog…and to comment upon a posting. Students have been using emails at colleges for 25 odd years. That means that those who went to college when email was esoteric are about 45-50 years old. But they still knew how to use it, and access has been made immensely easier from the days when one had to physically march down and apply for an email address at the Comp Science desk. It sorta makes me wonder where all these folks have been for the last quarter century?

And Sreevanathan makes some comment about how the young failed to make a big impact in the 2004 election…but notice that he didn’t mention the 2006 midterm election where young adults turned out in numbers unheard of in any other midterm election.

OT re new thread: I’m getting a 404 error when I click on the comments link.

LS @ 271

Check out the Anti-Dems articles on this Blackwater Newsletter site. Are they paid using our tax dollars??????

http://www.blackwaterusa.com/b…..707btw.htm

No wonder we are losing in Iraq! What did Machiavelli say about Merc Armies? I would love to hear General Petraeus defend ussing mercs instead of US troops. His only possible defense would be we don’t have enough troops, a draft is politicaly impossible but hey higher taxes to pay for Mercs (who apperently hate Democrats) can be stuck on to Hilary’s administration. Support the troops defund the Mercs! Give the Mercs money to the troops now! I know that means we won’t have enough troops to do a surge before we pull out of Iraq. However expecting Democrats to keep paying for a private army that POLITICALY OPPOSES DEMOCRATS is insane. George is trying to play GAMES with this one a smackdown is the only proper response.

I’m a fan of Sree’s and I think, in his defense, that he is primarily talking to a younger audience, which is what that story seems to focus on. Sree’s a very reasonable guy and I’ve suggested to him that he come over here and take a look.

fwiw, I’m pretty sure that

In the end, who has time to blog?

is Ms. Hunter’s contribution and not a quote from the professor.

I’m guessing the professor got his info on blogs and bloggers, plus the erronius info about young voters in 2004 FROM THE 4 NEWSPAPERS he reads daily. Huh.

How do I get in on that $80K median income action???

Elliott @ 318

dakine01 @ 311

Just one. When I adopted him, I was told he was a singelton and didn’t play well with others. The official colors/marking from the shelter were “grey tiger and white” but it’s the shade that always looks almost green to me. The shelter said he was “twoish” when I got him and that was in Feb of ‘03. I had mourned my previous companion for about a year by then. I’d had her for 13 1/2 years after she’d started as my sister’s and she was 18 when she died.

sorry you lost your true friend.
I love grey tabbies, can’t say I ever saw a green one. Does he like to eat fish-type food?
I have a tortoiseshell and a little grey tabby with white paws

Both of mine have been true friends. Two totally different personalities, last companion very anti-social, hated to be picked up but loved to sit in lap and get rubbed. This one very outgoing and personable, doesn’t ming being picked up and likes to sit in lap and get rubbed. Both travel well in car. Last ran away from doors opening (unless she knew itr was time for me to come home, then she’d be waiting at the door but in a “I can get away if I have to” mode. Current runs to door and wants to get out so I occasionally take him out on a harness and leash. Last one was small, only about 8 pounds or so, this one over 13 pounds. Dan’l (the current friend) likes to eat beef or chicken. He gets approx 1/3 of a can each morning. I’ve offered him fish, liver, and other things but he won’t eat ‘em. With both, I can keep a bowl or now a long term feeder filled with dry food for munching as desired.

johnSwifty @ 149

Hugh @ 128

Two groups that don’t get blogs are the media and academia.

At the risk of offending the fine educators in the audience, of which my wife is one, there is the possibility of the old cliche, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach,” which might account for academia in relation to blogs, in a nutshell, the academics can’t do it.

To that admittedly flimsy logic, I’d like to add the corollary, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach; those who can neither do nor teach, criticize.” This would account for the modern MSM.

Unfortunately Columbia seems to have taken the adage as a truism. Sreevanathan is a long-term NBC (and MSNBC) reporter. Thus Columbia hired a guy that they think “can do” to teach. But teaching also means to provide students with ideas about how to improve and change the failures of a current regime. Academics haver to be able to analyze (using proper hypothesis testing) and critique the media.

Does one really believe that journalists from todays crop of “personalities” who thinkinvestigative reporting is taking planned leaks that are, at best, press releases that make them think that they have gotten a scoop (when they actually have gotten poop)…are capable of teaching JOURNALISTIC ETHICS? OR investigative reporting? Or social documentary?

John H. Farr @ 325

How do I get in on that $80K median income action???

i am bringing that median income way down.

i earn a half time teacher salary. late 30’s with a masters of education

TribeScribe @ 278

Freethinker’s 3rd digit

Good name for a blog?

aliasofwestgate @ 304

selise@291

Okay that’s it. Senator Levin’s getting a disgusted letter from me as soon as possible. I’m one of his constituents and that is just going waaay too far into capitulation territory. Idiot! (i’m trying not to lapse into japanese insults here)

Ooh, teach me some Japanese insults. My sons will love them.

LS @ 170

ccmask @ 162

LS @ 142

OT: LAPD “Elite Squad” in big doo doo after Mayday Melee. Are they something like a formal version of Blackwater within LAPD? Creeepy!!

I knew it was blackwater.

I don’t know what they are, but it would be interesting to follow the $$. Are they part of Homeland Security who subcontracts Blackwater? Also, they refer to themselves as “platoons”. They are definitely paramilitary in structure. Is that actually legal? I’m just speculating obviously, but I am extremely disturbed by their actions and the actions of a similar case referred to as the “Miami Model”.

They looked like they had too much equipment on for them to be real LAPD. There is a shortage in funding, right?

Fifty-seven year old white man, retired, household income $97,000, post-graduate degree.

But I still can’t figure out how to get the tag thingies to work their magic.

Mary McCurnin @ 148

LAPD has always been nasty and mean.

And don’t forget Rodney King.

emptywheel @ 77

A couple of points.

First, note that Sreenivasan is only responsible for the following:

the effectiveness of Web sites and blogs as political tools may only go so far: “It’s still a small percentage of people using these technologies.”

Most are young and what Sreenivasan terms “early adaptors.” And, as he concludes, the impact of young voters “is notoriously hard to predict.”

Much of this is paraphrased. I’m curious exactly what he said about youth. But we ARE early adapters (you’d think a fairly sharp journalist might consider the way early adapters can swing elections, but then…). But the quoted information is not far off.

It’s the rest, the “bored people” quote, that is remarkable. That comes from the “journalist,” the one no doubt espousing objectivity. This is a person making a remarkably ill-informed comment from her personal perspective in an article on blogs. I’d point out the irony, but I suspect she’d miss it.

As to demographics, I’m thinking of starting a line of fine blogging pajamas (silk? linen?) tapping into the affluent demographics of blogging and giving me something to wear in public when I go out as a blogger. Any takers?

I have thought of the idea of blogging pajamas many many times. I also thought that we could raise money this way. We could also order popcorn packed in custom firedoglake collectable tins and sell them to help keep the costs of the website down.

I don’t know who got your ages but I do not think that the age average is correct. I am 65 yr old male and I get my news from the blogs. I hardly ever read a major newspaper anymore, simply because you can not believe what they write about any subject. Especially about the Bush adminstration! So keep up the good work and let me tell you that we (I) really appreciate all that all of you do!!!

johnSwifty @ 149

Hugh @ 128

Two groups that don’t get blogs are the media and academia.

At the risk of offending the fine educators in the audience, of which my wife is one, there is the possibility of the old cliche, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach,” which might account for academia in relation to blogs, in a nutshell, the academics can’t do it.

To that admittedly flimsy logic, I’d like to add the corollary, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach; those who can neither do nor teach, criticize.” This would account for the modern MSM.

Ok, as usual I’m late in popping in to see what’s up here at FDL, but this academic (3 post-grad degrees currently employed at a university) would like to clear up a bit of a misrepresentation that people appear to be adopting as conventional wisdom. Many of us academics love the blogs. It was a guy I work with who first got me started reading Buzz Flash, Daily Kos, and Crooks and Liars a couple of years ago. With the Libby Trial, I discovered FDL, the Next Hurrah, and most recently with the USA scandal, I spend time reading TPM Muckraker. Many people I work with have turned to the blogs out of sheer frustration with what passes for news these days.

It might be interesting to see how blog readership varies by department. Perhaps journalism departments are threatened by blogs and so don’t read them. But I know in other departments, such as mine, the blogs are very well thought of.

43-$90,000-some college-15 hrs.-The only reason. T watch the tee-vee news is to see what they are spewing to the masses. Oh, and to get pist off.

phred at 336 — That’s my understanding from the number of academic e-mails that I get in any given week. Although I did get a few kudos e-mails from journalism department and editorial types who were following the Libby trial here. *g*

Christy at 338 — you deserve every one of those kudos! Don’t know what those of us who read news would do without those of you who are writing it… you Jane, Marcy, Josh, etc. etc. etc.

Thank you all so much. And yeah, my moniker is a play on my Ph.D. and red hair (with a tip of the hat to Garry Trudeau for you old timers out there ;)

phred @ 339

And yeah, my moniker is a play on my Ph.D. and red hair (with a tip of the hat to Garry Trudeau for you old timers out there ;)

Black Pajamas all around!

And one 15 yr old with no income except summer baby-sitting jobs.

This MFA with few computer skills turned to blogs out of the frustration that the MSM wasn’t reporting what I was seeing with my own eyes. I do believe people underestimate the influence of the progressive blogosphere, but they do it at their own peril and this ignorance won’t continue forever.

The MSM will do what it can to denigrate political bloggers because, of course, we’re a threat to their influence. For instance, why isn’t our emptywheel on cable news ALL THE TIME?? She’s indisputably the nation’s foremost expert on several topical controversies. If the MSM had any real desire to get to the bottom of issues, she’d be their go-to expert.

As for the important facts about moi, yes, I am in my pajamas most of the time when I’m reading FDL, but it’s either before or after I spend the day at my full-time job. And, yes, I contribute to campaigns and volunteer for local candidates. In fact, I just finished writing a Strategic Plan for my local Democratic club. We’re going to use it to apply for funds from the national party to better train our local Precinct Committee people. So watch out, Arizona Repugs!

Mutant Poodle @ 340

phred @ 339

And yeah, my moniker is a play on my Ph.D. and red hair (with a tip of the hat to Garry Trudeau for you old timers out there ;)

Black Pajamas all around!

After seeing the demographics posted earlier, I figured some folks would remember Phred ;) Thanks Mutant Poodle, you made my day!

Mutant Poodle @ 340

phred @ 339

And yeah, my moniker is a play on my Ph.D. and red hair (with a tip of the hat to Garry Trudeau for you old timers out there ;)

Black Pajamas all around!

Where’s BD?

Former newspaper reporter, graduate degree in journalism, found FDL very early – reference is lost in the mist of time.

Became alarmed in 2002 when the MSM wasn’t questioning.

76 Thursday – do I win the prize? I read 10 blogs daily.

I started blogging early in 2000 because I was fed-up with the MSM!

phred @ 343

After seeing the demographics posted earlier, I figured some folks would remember Phred ;) Thanks Mutant Poodle, you made my day!

A touch I do confess it, I fear I breathe my last (hee).

Anybody that isn’t blogging is an ostrich. The MSM is no longer the Fourth Estate but merely an institution For the State and anyone that relies on the MSM for their source of info is clueless. I have a graduate degree, a busy professional practice, involved in local civic orgs and am busy also but as a citizen of a supposed democracy I recognize my responsiblity of being an informed citizen. For some, ignorance is bliss but how long can a democracy survive when the “people” are just too busy to do their civic duty of being an informed member of society?

Monzie @ 345

Former newspaper reporter, graduate degree in journalism, found FDL very early – reference is lost in the mist of time.

Became alarmed in 2002 when the MSM wasn’t questioning.

76 Thursday – do I win the prize? I read 10 blogs daily.

Well, You got me beat. I’m a 57 year old right handed Lefty guy. I read about four blogs a day but FDL mostly.

The thinking process goes like this: it’s a young medium ergo the “early adapters” must be young, too.

In fact, the mainstream media have increasingly beamed their ‘infotainment’ (designed to sell advertising space) at a demographic thought to have the most disposable income — i.e., the young. It is the more educated and better informed who have been shut out and forced to turn to blogs for information about what is really going on.

Bionic @ 256

emptywheel @ 77

A couple of points.

As to demographics, I’m thinking of starting a line of fine blogging pajamas (silk? linen?) tapping into the affluent demographics of blogging and giving me something to wear in public when I go out as a blogger. Any takers?

I think this could be a real winner but wouldn’t recommend pure silk or linen especially if you want to get out of the basement from time to time. A blend would be better, perhaps a summer weight silk/wool blend that wouldn’t wrinkle. All those lap wrinkles look so messy.
A stylish housecoat might work as a cover up. ;o)

Yeah and something you can also go to the convenience store in and then hop back into my blogbed.

Just turned 65, female, masters degree, I do read blogs in my pajamas, and much more than 10 hours a week. (One reason that it takes so long is that I live in Bali, and the connections are slow here.)

I have no need for newspapers now, other than those articles I can read online, from links in my blogs. And thank G-D there’s a place to get real news today. I found FDL in the early Plame era and have been totally grateful and addicted since then. Keep up the good and important work, Jane Christy and all…….

many thanks

Texas Betsy @ 328

John H. Farr @ 325

How do I get in on that $80K median income action???

i am bringing that median income way down.

i earn a half time teacher salary. late 30’s with a masters of education

Then marry me we can live in glorious poverty together.

julia @ 347

phred @ 343

After seeing the demographics posted earlier, I figured some folks would remember Phred ;) Thanks Mutant Poodle, you made my day!

A touch I do confess it, I fear I breathe my last (hee).

You folks are the best :) Now I must go and find a hamlet to raze…

I wish I could say the the Columbia SOJ’s stance on blogging and new media was an anomaly, but I found the same attitude in my southern university’s communications department.

I, like Mr. Sreenivasan, used to read seveal newspapers a day, but gave up that habit and TV news habit in the months before the war. I started reading blogs as a substitute and began incorporating a brief history of blogging and a taxonomy of blogs in my mass media lectures.

Over time I became known as “the blog guy” in my department and looked upon with suspicion by some journalism faculty. My chair told me point blank in a meeting that “I don’t understand blogs and really don’t care about them.”

When a new media person was hired, the term was molded to fit somebody who could teach advertising, public relations and news media “convergence.”

The problem in my world was generational. All the skeptics were well over 50 and had an investment in newspapers. None that I knew read blogs.

The one prof who liked blogs and discussed them with her students saw them as a luxury; blogs were something students could indulge in after they learned “fundamental journalistic writing” not tools for helping young journalists develop their voices.

Until blogger replace retired newspaper and TV reporters as teachers, I’m afraid they’ll be way too much of Sreenivasan’s attitude, which is a shame, because the students are interested in blogging, once they learn how many there are and how powerful a motivated blogger or bloggers can be.

I just sent the below brief email to this Sree person:

I’m not trying to be a scold, but before you float misinformation about the popularity and influence of blogs (your comment about the majority of bloggers being “young … or bored”), could you please at least do some research so you’ll know whether your point is valid or defensible? Your comment was barely out before it was thoroughly and widely discredited.

This kind of thing makes you, a “new media” journalism teacher of all things, look like the majority of lazy or clueless mainsteam journalists who don’t understand the paradigm shift occurring in news consumption, or like someone who mistakenly assumes the majority of people share their personal habit of reading several newspapers a day. Not true. Look at the figures on newspaper circulation drop sometime; they’re getting quite desperate.

Please try to get current on the blogosphere and its increasing importance. The thought of you passing on your “conventional wisdom” (not!) to students is frankly distressing.

Ha, I almost used that exact same image for an unrelated post today, but ended up with another zombie black-and-white pic,

I think what Sreenivasan meant to say is that blogging, i.e., reading or writing blogs, keeps you young. It also makes you more intelligent and well-informed, improves your sense of humor, enhances sexuality, and helps in weight loss. Claims that blogging cures cancer have not yet been confirmed…. -:)

i’m a lefty and a lefty; sixty three and slightly below that income level; in sweat shirt and pants, have two graduate degrees, AND
read blogs for the investigative journalism that back in the seventies was actually IN newspapers!

oh, and forgot to say:

i am a left handed artist, as well, and came to FDL from crooks and liars plus i use a mac and donate to political campaigns, time and money.

With an income of $70,000 plus, Master’s Degree, wife who’s an R.N. with a Master’s, and two kids under the age of 8, I don’t fit the concept of ‘young blogger’. Especially when you throw in that I turn 70 this fall. I read FDL religiously (especially liked the Lamont pre-election times), as well as Boing-Boing, Bartcop, TPM, Cannonfire, Joe Bageant, etc. I never dreamed of the amount of information available to me, and spend about 3 hours daily sucking it in. I, too, contribute online to progressive causes. My point is, there are a great many diverse bloggers/readers. Many more than most can imagine. It certainly has renewed my spirit and interest in politics in America.

They keep using the “early adapters” line but blogs, not necessarily political, have been popular for about 7 years.

Snark ON:

I used to be 14 year centigrade man, and i’ve got the requisite notches on my bed to prove it. But after reading Jane’s take on the “male” view of the HRC visit, i’ve decided to become a blogging young woman, because i want to continue learning from FDL. Pies and Pixels!.

Snark Off.

Seriously Pups, there’s lots still to be learned from the various views in the Off Topic discussion regarding a candidate’s appearance here.

I am 73 years old and read several blogs almost every day. I do not trust the print media to give a true picture of the facts and the only TV news I watch is from The Daily Show and Colbert Report. Don’t count us tough old women out.

SteveAudio @ 5

From a 57 year old man in that income group, who reads far more than 10 hours of blogs per week, and writes his own blog as well, my only comment is:

You got it exactly right!

Bingo! I’m 45, income at about 85K (apply a 10% discount for CDN dollars though) and lurk around FDL and smirkingchimp.com almost every day (don’t tell my boss).

- M

I’ve been exposed to Sree via the American Society for Journalists & Authors workshops…he’s the farthest thing from an out-of-touch Ivy League professor that you’d ever want to meet.

I don’t believe that was HIM saying ‘it’s too much trouble to read blogs’ – his LIFE is reading blogs & developing web technologies.

Just saying – don’t knock who you don’t know.

No offense, but the blog survey is pretty much crap. Surely you have evidence of your claims, and the reporter does not. However, you can’t be sure that those who took the survey are representative of blog readers. It has the inherent flaws all survey research has: extremely poor external validity. Evidence is on your side (poor evidence, but better than none) but ethically you should describe the inherent flaws in survey research when making such generalizing claims.

Not to mention….you’re quoting the median of the results, not a very good index of central tendency.