Yearly Archives: 2005

Blocking Fox

This entry was posted in Television on by

Television news is some of the worst of the poor material generally available around the dial. Is is usually devoid of adequate context, sophomoric in analysis, and biased. This is pretty much guaranteed by the limited time available to present any particular story or subject.
So, while the Foxblocker is entertaining when viewed from a partisan stance I’d carry Jazz’s suggestion “that you may want to get one if you have children” just a bit farther.
If possible, do not allow your children to watch any television news. If you can’t stop it entirely then make sure you are with them and that you discuss each story in detail. Treat it pretty much like any other X-rated material.
One caveat to the above: when there are major events that are given continous extended coverage most of the news channels seem to do a pretty decent job (the networks tend to go back to regularly scheduled programming too soon). It is best, even during extended coverage, to switch networks regularly. Spend 5-15 minute at each stop. You can learn from both the differences in commentary and camera shots and this can provide plenty of fodder for family discussions.

The Library Top 1000

This entry was posted in Culture on by

Compiled from 52,000 member libraries (all but 9,134 are North American) the Online Computer Library Center presents its list of the top 1000 library holdings:

we made a master list of all the items held by libraries around the globe. We tweaked it to bring together different printings and editions and translations, and then we counted the number of libraries that own each title. We ranked the titles in descending order by the number of items held by libraries. Then we provided some additional categories to create sublists of fiction, drama, children’s works, and so forth.
Reflecting the North American dominance Census leads the Bible 403,252 to 271,534 in the top two positions.

Friday Ark

This entry was posted in Friday Ark on by

Cats, Dogs, Spiders and ? every Friday.
I’ll post links to sites that have Friday (or shortly thereafter) photos of their chosen animals as I see them (no photoshops and no humans).
Leave a comment or trackback to this post or email me and I’ll add yours to the list.
Do remember The Carnival of the Cats every Sunday and hosted this week at Leslie’s Omnibus.
Archive editions of the Friday Ark.
Cats

DogsBirdsOther Vertebrates

Invertebrates

Didn’t Make It

Gerrymandering

This entry was posted in US Politics on by

Texas could use a dose of arnold:

Mr. Schwarzenegger proposed turning over the drawing of the state’s political map to a panel of retired judges, taking it out of the hands of lawmakers who for decades have used the redistricting process in a cozy bipartisan deal to choose their voters and cement their incumbency. He threatened to take the issue directly to the voters if the Legislature does not act on the plan in a special session he called for.
Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, noted that of the 153 seats in the California Congressional delegation and Legislature that were on the ballot in November, not one changed party hands.
“What kind of a democracy is that?” he asked in his address….
Well, the answer to the ending question seems to be as varied as the number of politicos who play the democracy card. Nevertheless, the proposal is certainly an improvement over redistricting practices in most if not all states.
Via Daniel Drezner.
Update (1/7): Kevin Drum is dead set against this unless Texas (see first sentence above)does it first. While he makes a strong point the dems may need to accept a brief setback to get this ball rolling. And, without a proposal in hand, it is not clear just how many seats the dems might lose in California. Perhaps strong candidates would be able to hold the line.