Monday, March 9, 2009

Monday News Roundup

Here's some crap that's been happening.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's publisher, the Hearst Corp., has decided to shut down the paper if no buyer comes forward by March 10. They do plan to continue as an online only publication. I work at a daily paper, and to see print editions disappearing is not a surprise, but still stirs up my mixed emotions. Lots of folks still love touching and reading the actual printed paper, but more and more, those people are going to die, and the newer generations could care less if they ever touch a printed paper. For people like me, and I hope to God you're not like me, who are in the middle area, not old enough to be die-hard print lovers, and not young enough to not have ever held a paper, we just have to get over it, and move on.


A new Japanese gadget makes it possible to change settings on your iPod by using facial expressions. Looks good to me.



In Paris,
Indian designer Manish Arora paraded out his latest creation; Clothes to make you look like a kitty.



High School sophomore Macie Morse
was born nearly blind, but underwent experimental stem-cell injection treatment in China, and now has her driver's license. I'm not a scientist, and do not claim to know much about this sort of research, but it seems to have a lot of promise, so why is it still experimental? Here's a link to the Stem Cell Research Blog. And if you're against stem cell research because of some high moral religious ground you're standing on? Then f**k off with 'ya.



It turns out horses
actually do gallop regally in formation in the wild, as these horses did in Germany in February. And it was not for a Budweiser commercial.



In St. Felicien, which Google says is in Quebec, researches have been busy teaching polar bears to wave. It seems they are getting pretty close...


2 comments:

Scott said...

Yeah, the P-I's closure is a pretty big deal. They were the left-leaning paper in town, even though they were corporate owned. The Seattle Times still gets all moist over W, though they're privately owned. I'm sad I'll only have the Times to do my local coverage.

It's crystal clear where both papers' revenues come from these days, as they keep falling over themselves month after month after month to tell us that, despite all that pesky data saying otherwise, house prices really are set to rebound IMMEDIATELY and if you're looking to buy a house then you'd better buy one right now or else be homeless for the rest of your life, so buy this paper now and then buy a house next.

Sometimes I think they really are run by the Realtors Association.

delia's dad said...

That's funny, because we get weekly emails about the housing market, telling us how it's turning around. And the find one tiny stat that hasn't been negative and go with that. I would cite one such stat, but honestly, I delete them as soon as I see the subject: Twin City Housing Update.

That's too bad that the Times will be your only option.
What do you think snide customers of that paper call them? We get called The Red Star, and I frequently talk to customers who like to joke about that. I'm not sure they realize that it's not that funny, but they seem to think it is, so I laugh, and then take their money.