Penny Arcade On NPR

This morning on the NPR shuffle podcast, they included a segment about Penny Arcade. Seems only fair since NPR did Achewood a few months ago. If they just get XKCD on there, then the universe can rest.

Comments

Someone actually listens to NPR?

[hittman007]

Amazing... I thought they went broke and collapsed...

I know I'm trolling... not something I usually do... I just had to say it...

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[jellomizer]

No they are still around. But their availability depends on local public radio stations. Much like how you have you local ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX channels which has their own stuff mixed with network stuff. Kinda the same with NPR (however it is more of a looser agreement) So if you have public radio stations in your area then they may choose to have NPR as well. However some Public Radio stations decide to just be Classical Music Stations and cover very little news, Other Jazz Music. Some Public Radio stations are owned by big broadcast companies and feed their own stuff in. Then there are News Stations Public Radio and depending on how much local and national news they do the amount that NPR is broadcasts varies. Oddly enough for a station that has a bunch of rather serious reporters their most popular show is Car Talk with Click and Clack, they were actually voice overs in Disney Pixar's movie Cars as the main characters sponsor, where they answer car questions and make fun of the people asking the questions... And themselves.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[hlovy]

I have lost all respect for NPR. Biased for the "good guys" is still biased. And I cannot stand to listen to the reporters' voices anymore. Plus, I'm a sci/tech journalist who once provided some information to an NPR reporter who then went and lifted my information, word for word, and passed it off as her own. Ethics, schmethics ...

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[hittman007]

Hmm a show about cars being the most popular. Amazingly that is not that surprising to me, the only show I listen to on the local talk radio station is the Car Talk every Saturday. I work most Saturdays driving from place to place to do various things so I usually catch some if not most of it. The ironic thing is I know almost nothing about cars, I guess the host is just that good as he holds my attention well (not the easiest thing to do).

I know I was trolling above, but honestly, I've seen so little with the NPR tag on it in the last year or so that I thought they had gone under...

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[AltGrendel]

That happens in all mass media. I had something similar happen to me with the local newspaper here, so now I just don't have anything to do with them from a story/source standpoint.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[hittman007]

I don't mind bias so much as long as the people putting it out openly admit it. If you claim that you are not biased but obviously are I tend to ignore you.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[postbigbang]

Not to defend NPR, but you can stream them, get local feeds, get them on XM/Sirius, and so on. Broadcasts aren't limited to 'radio' these days.

In terms of user-supported media (they get surprisingly little government funds as a percentage of overall revenues), they're pretty efficient in terms of their overall reach.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[jellomizer]

Well they did get some major funding cuts when the republicans took power. And NPR especially at the time was a very liberal news organization, they have toned down a bit. And are actually rather balanced at the Left seems to hate them and so does the Right... So I guess they are in the middle now if both sides thinks they are to far in the other direction.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[Dun Malg]

So I guess they are in the middle now if both sides thinks they are to far in the other direction.

I guess you could call it the middle. It seems to me all they've done was add some commentary by right-wing nutjobs to complement their traditional slate of commentary by left-wing nutjobs. You do get a wide variety of interesting viewpoints, though, so I continue to listen.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[postbigbang]

NPR has been cast as liberal by conservatives, but I find it pretty mainstream. Journalism when done correctly and honestly, gets criticized by all quarters.

The only time I had a problem with their coverage recently was when Mara Liasson started to fawn after the legacy of the Bush administration. The wool over her eyes damages her credibility.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[Anonymous Coward]

Once you get out of high school, you might start caring about politics, economics and the world around you too. Listening to the news is probably an age thing...

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[urbanriot]

Bias is a tough thing to determine... when you're against something, everything said for the topic seems like bias. When you're for something, everything said against the topic seems like bias in the other direction. Being Canadian, I listen with a fairly open mind and I find they wholly represent all sides of the political spectrum and I don't know that it's entirely the hosts fault if more people tend to be for or against something you're not.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[R2.0]

It really depends on what show you are listening to. Morning Edition and All Things Considered have a slight leftward bent, in my opinion, but it's very subtle - I tend to chalk it up to the individual views of the journalists. But some of the shows are just pathetic. My local affiliate plays "The World" every evening at 8:00, and it may as well be titled "The US Sucks Hour".

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[R2.0]

"they were actually voice overs in Disney Pixar's movie Cars as the main characters sponsor, where they answer car questions and make fun of the people asking the questions... And themselves."

And for the real insiders, the cars they played were ones that they owned and talked about on their show - a 1963 Dodge Dart and a smallish Dodge van (he actually owned a Dodge Colt Vista, but it wouldn't have fit into the time period).

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[hittman007]

When I get news I like hard news. Hard news is virtually impossible to get anymore, even the AP admits to putting opinion in their news pieces now.

I went to npr.org just to have a look, the very first thing I saw was a picture of Michele Obama and question "Oh, Mrs. O! What Will Michelle Wear Inaugural Day?". You know what, I don't care what she wears on inauguration day, or any other day for that matter. Its just not a big factor in my life, and its not hard news.

On the plus side, right next to the picture and article just to the right of that section that appear to be hard news. On reading the first article the first almost half of the article was hard news, then it went into opinion. Mind you the opinion of the current president and president elect were first, these were quotes, however I have not seen the press conference or speech or whatever the source of the quote is so I do not know about context.

I must say, not bad for a news source that is openly on one side of the political asile, honestly they did a better job than many of the major news networks IMO.

And to your remark of me getting out of High School, I graduated from High School many years ago. I am also a college graduate with a Masters Degree. It is good that I am through school already, some of the stuff some schools are teaching now a days makes me wonder at who is making these decisions. If I had kids I would home school them if I could, but thats getting off-topic...

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[HiVizDiver]

It's funny, I used to disdain NPR. The image of tatty-clothes-wearing hippies running a radio station always kind of turned me off. Perhaps not surprisingly, as I've gotten older, I find I listen to them almost exclusively. I can't stand regular for-profit radio anymore. It's all the same, a constant noise barrage littered with commercials and moronic DJ's. It's not that I don't like the music (although I avoid most bubblegum pop), my iPod is wide and varied (Metallica to Rammstein to Sigur Ros to Perfume Tree to Beethoven). But I find something very refined about NPR, and find all that they do well-thought and well-presented. Hell, I've even started listening to A Prairie Home Companion. Click and Clack are my weekend appointment, however, I try not to miss a show if I can help it.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[immcintosh]

I listen to NPR. At this point I think it's pretty much the one and only station of any value left on the airwaves. (No idea what you can find on satellite radio, so I reserve judgment there.)

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[altek]

I would just like to add to parent poster's informative post, since he/she touched on the local affiliates. Some are great, and some as stated, are maybe too narrowly focused or play too little NPR broadcast content to have wide listenership.

So I just wanted to throw in a plug for a superb local affiliate in the L.A. area based out of Santa Monica (from Santa Monica College), KCRW. They have a great selection of shows of all genres of music, excellent DJ's, and play a LOT of NPR syndicated shows.

They have a full online radio station, with streaming at: http://www.kcrw.com/

So you don't have to live in the L.A. area to listen to a great NPR station.

Personally, NPR is the ONLY thing I can stand to listen to in the car, literally. I just cannot stand having people yelling and screaming at me about sales on furniture and playing all kinds of horrible sound effects and bad pop music, with endless commercials and bad radio DJ's talking about garbage. Clear Channel needs to crawl in a hole and die.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[SputnikPanic]

Agreed. I'm middle-of-the-road politically and I would say that as a whole NPR is slightly left. I won't say the bias is willful and deliberate and diabolical and all of that, but I do believe it exists.

And when considering issues of bias, whether we're talking about left bias or right bias, it bears mentioning that often the issue of bias has as much to do with what's NOT reported as what is reported.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[garbletext]

NPR is great. Since I figured out how to rip the mp3s off of their flash stream of Morning Edition and All Things Considered, I barely listen to any other podcasts. It's like having 60 Minutes on 14 times a week. And that's intended as a compliment.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[MrNaz]

There is no such thing as unbiased. Objectivity is a myth. If you ignore biased media, you must live in a black hole.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[Anonymous Coward]

Can you provide any examples? I'm a far right leaning individual (in the classic economic sense, not the American political sense) and I found that the recent presidential run had massive amounts of coverage and representation from both sides. In fact, it seems they went far out of their way to have an unbiased 50/50 split.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean that you /think/ you're middle-of-the-road. I've had a flamewar with someone who claimed he was right on the middle, but he was actually rather socially & fiscally conservative. I suspect that many people think they're middle, but aren't necessarily.

Hell, /I/ think I'm centrist on some things, but I'm probably socially liberal and fiscally conservative-to-moderate, at least for the midwestern USA.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[Seraphim1982]

"The World" doesn't have anything to do with NPR. It's a PRI show.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[jandrese]

No, he listens to Fox News. Everbody knows they're unbiased because they remind you every 5 minutes.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[Anonymous Coward]

I second that. I listen to KCRW both online and on the move, and am very happy that their broadcasts cover LA area and surroundings!

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[Hillgiant]

I disagree. Even when I support an issue, I can tell when someone is veering a bit beyond reporting and entering into nut-jobbery.

I have encountered bias on NPR. Both left leaning and right leaning. But the amount I have noticed has been less than any other news source.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[Anonymous Coward]

Political bias in the media is mainly in the eye of the beholder I suspect. I've seen several studies that it is the reader's/viewer's perception of the media source that determines whether they label that source as biased. This election cycle I was very amused by the amount of accusations of "liberal" media bias on the part of the Republicans, especially the most partisan ones. I found this study that may help to explain such:

--
Why Partisans See Mass Media as Biased.
Kathleen M. Schmitt, Albert C. Gunther & Janice L. Liebhart
Communication Research, Vol. 31, No. 6, 623-641 (2004).

Partisan groups, highly important actors in public discourse and the democratic process, appear to see mass media content as biased against their own point of view.

Although this hostile media effect has been well documented in recent research, little is understood about the mechanisms that might explain it. Three processes have been proposed:
(a) selective recall, in which partisans preferentially remember aspects of content hostile to their own side;
(b) selective categorization, in which opposing partisans assign different valences to the same content; and
(c) different standards, in which opposing partisans agree on content but see information favoring the other side as invalid or irrelevant.

Using new field-experiment tests with groups of partisans who either supported (n = 87) or opposed (n = 63) the use of genetically modified foods, we found evidence of selective categorization and different standards generally. However, only selective categorization appeared to explain the hostile media effect.
--

Another article was very appropriate, from the abstract:

http://www.qjps.com/prod.aspx?product=QJPS&doi=100.00007010
--
We conduct an experiment in which participants evaluated the content of a news report about the 2004 presidential election identified as originating from CNN, FOX or a fictional TV station. Our results suggest that in an increasingly fragmented media marketplace, individuals not only distinguish between media outlets but, more importantly, outlet brand names, and the reputations they carry, function as heuristics, heavily influencing perceptions of bias in content. As a result, individuals sometimes create bias, even where none exists.
--

In other words if you think that Fox News or NPR are biased then you will find bias. If you think Fox not biased then you'll think its Fair and Balanced.

regards,
larry

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[griffinme]

The bias is subtle and I imagine unintentional. It is simple things like "the Republican senator from Alaska Ted Stevens has been found guilty...." vs. "The Illinois governor has been charged with....."
The most obvious case was when Bush was first elected and he and Clinton were at the same function. "President Clinton and Mr. Bush were at ....." It also shows up in story selection. Every Palin slip was replayed gleefully over and over. Biden slips were somehow never mentioned. I didn't vote for either but it was pretty clear who they liked and didn't like.

I should mention that I listen to NPR daily and thoroughly enjoy them. I just take everything they say and run it through my bias filter. I do find it irritating when someone claims they are unbiased. In a way Rush and Hanity are more honest. They never claim to be unbiased. I find it best to get your news from a variety of sources.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[postbigbang]

The problem is that Chris Matthews and others claim their journalists, and in fact, they're entertainers.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[R2.0]

Here's an example that really stood out for me. When the initial financial collapse occurred, NPR did a story on how both campaigns were handling it. The McCain piece, which aired first, had a subtle negative shading - his plans were referred to as "schemes", etc. All of the information was garnered from press releases, and the reporter told the whole story.

Then they ran the Obama piece, in which they intro'd Obama's spokesman, he said his prepackaged bit, they threw some softball questions at him, and it was over. No analysis, just "Here's what the Obama campaign says".

I know, and knew then, that McCain's "plan" was not really a plan, but having NPR dismissively treat it as a prima facie failure while swallowing Obama's (lack of a) plan in one gulp was just a bit much.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[TheoMurpse]

Isn't "The Sound of Young America" on NPR? I hear about it constantly, like it's the new sliced bread. I've been meaning to listen to it, but I do very little driving, and I choose to study on bus commutes.

Supposedly, it's very good.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[TheoMurpse]

Not to defend NPR

Is there some reason you're trying to make it clear you're not on NPR's site? The only people I've ever met who dislike NPR are very far right wing individuals who think anything other than Rush is a lie.

I ask only because, if there's some reason to clearly state your dislike of them, I'd like to know.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[HiVizDiver]

I'm amazed you got modded at all, you AC fuckwad. You obviously struck a chord with some other annoying halfwit in here. I'm trembling at your anonymous threats! I'm also glad that you hate my choices in music, because I don't listen to your friend's (singular) shitty garage band that no one has ever heard of or ever should.

I'd explain at how my life doesn't resemble at all what you seem think it does, but you're obviously a cowardly little shitbag whose mother didn't love them enough, so I'll leave it at the little bit that I already did.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[R2.0]

Your comment reminds me of polling done on journalists regarding the whole "is journalism slanted to the left" question. First they asked "Are you liberal, moderate, or conservative?"; then they asked opinions on specific issues - gays, abortion, the military, social welfare programs, etc. Then they compared the answers that journalists gave to answers from the rest of the populace, and a striking pattern emerged. While journalists overwhelmingly identified themselves as "moderate" (I think it was 75%), the answers they gave to the other questions closely aligned with those given by the general populace who identified themselves as "liberal" or "very liberal" - something like 95%. The explanation might be that journalists are basically lying to themselves, calling themselves moderates because it fits in better with the image of journalists as fair and unbiased. Or, they are so isolated in the bubble world of journalism that they have become entirely out of touch with what the rest of the country views as "liberal" and "conservative".

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[plover]

No, he listens to Faux News.

Fixed that for you.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[jellomizer]

Well I don't have full transcripts however I have noticed type of wording they used and the way they values responses. For example they were interviewing a spokes person for the Evangelical Christians, he was behaving quite well and responsibility, trying to give middle of the road answers to the question. But the questions were focus on trying to make him really speak out against Oboma and try to really make him seem like he is against popular opinion. However a while back when interviewing an abortion doctor she gave some statistics that most people would find to be way off (1 out of 4 women have abortions) unchallenged or unquestioned. In general they make the people who fit in the liberal plate seem more human, and they try to get the conservative plate people to seem more like monsters. They are much better then anyone else at trying to keep balanced but there is a slant, if you pay attention.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[Phaedrus420]

You got the day of the week right, but you say that the host is good and that he holds your attention? So, which one is 'the' host? Does his brother bore you?

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[postbigbang]

I'm generally on the side of NPR and its content, except that it only rarely touches on the needs of minorities. There's a lot of WASP-ish content that's focused to YUPpie types, rather than trying to reach out to a larger community.

In terms of news content, there's a lot of belabored discourse, some of which is good, some beats a dead horse... perturbative.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[FatdogHaiku]

That's your basic "everyone is fair and balanced in the own mind". You could sell tolerance at a Klan rally, as long as you let them define tolerance...

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[Mozk]

You could also take from that study that people in the general populace who identify themselves as liberal as actually moderate. These terms just get thrown around with little meaning. People should identify themselves by the individual issues and not have an overall label.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[JoshJ]

Without knowing specifically what the questions are that they were asked, it's impossible to tell whether this is relevant or the result of your usual right-wing persecution complex being fueled with a hackjob poll and repeated ad nauseam without any of the details (I've seen this sort of figure cited multiple times but never seen the original poll it supposedly came from) until everyone else believes it because it's been repeated so often.

Let's take the first one you listed- gays- and run with it.

Do you believe that homosexuality is an abomination?
Yes (Conservative)
No (Liberal)

Oh look, the media has a liberal bias! (We're not going to mention the fact that if you phrase the question like this the entire population would have a liberal bias.)

When it comes to something like this, always, always look at the original from the pollster; or else ignore it because there's no way anyone else can tell whether it's credible or not.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[StormyWeather]

Who would have thought it, the only entertaining show on NPR is also their most popular.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[dzfoo]

Actually, their most popular show is Morning Edition, which, at last time I checked, was the radio show with the largest audience in all the nation.

          -dZ.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[dzfoo]

I know that people like to make fun of them like that, and I know it's a bit funny, but I just don't get it: it's not a homonym, nor do they rhyme. Or do people really don't know that "faux" is pronounced "foh"?

          -dZ.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't want to step on your toes, but calling three metal acts and some classical music "varied" is pretty short-sighted. Every metal-head and their dog listen to Metallica, Rammstein, and Sigur Ros. This has no standing to the quality of NPR, of course.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd explain at how my life

Hi, different "AC fuckwad" here. WTF does that mean, please?

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[drinkypoo]

I can read an order of magnitude faster than the average speaker can talk on the radio so I don't waste my time on NPR (I need music, not boredom, when I drive anyway) but I do have to say that I'd rather have balance than mediocrity. It's far more interesting. I mean, I'd rather be a manic depressive and at least be happy sometimes than be on prozac and be constantly grey (or digging a tunnel to my neighbor's house with a spoon. or killing myself, like one of my teenage friends did while he was on it. yay!)

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[mcmonkey]

The most obvious case was when Bush was first elected and he and Clinton were at the same function. "President Clinton and Mr. Bush were at ....."

Sorry bud, your bias is showing. If by "when Bush was first elected" you mean between the election and Jan 20, it would be incorrect to refer to Bush as president. President-elect or Mr Bush is just fine, no bias required.

If you listen to NPR daily, you've probably noticed references to Mr Obama. He's not president yet, just as Bush wasn't president yet when first elected. Where is the bias?

I'm not saying the reporters for NPR are inhuman and have no bias. I am saying, to claim some liberal bias because they treat democrats and republicans the same way, says more about you than about NPR.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[IchNiSan]

Perhaps the McCain campaign simply declined to be interviewed for that story. I don't know, but perhaps it is easier to be favorable to someone who helps you out by agreeing to an interview.

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[R2.0]

Actually I heard about this poll when it was reported on...wait for it...NPR. So yeah, I guess it was a right wing nut organization...oh, wait...

Re:Someone actually listens to NPR?

[R2.0]

NPR's pretty good about saying that "XYZ refused our requests for an interview, stateemnt" etc. This time they didn't.

Grats!

[Lifyre]

I love seeing Tycho and Gabe (Jerry and Mike if you will) getting the recognition they deserve. Penny Arcade has broken ground in success and shown how it is possible to build a business model providing a primarily free product. The key is having a product people want. I just wish the great works they've done such as Child's Play and PAX had gotten more than just a mention. Perhaps some people who listen to NPR will branch out and look at the seedy underworld of online comics now.

Re:Grats!

[Drakkenmensch]

These guys don't get half the recognition they deserve. They've built from scratch a gigantic charity organization that gives thousands of kids a ray of sunshine in a time of their life that would otherwise be dark and bleak. That alone needs to be given the props they deserve to get, and that's not even scratching the surface here. It's most probably because of the success of PAX that E3 is rethinking its closed-doors invitation-only no-booth-bunnies rebranding failure. (That, and the stockholders weren't too crazy about their latest idea, the "First 1000 attendees get gouged with an icepick" promotion)

Re:Grats!

[jellomizer]

How is this model different... They have adds which bring in revenue for their site, also they sell merchandise based on their brand. So by creating a site that caters to pleasing many people they have created demand for their crap, and their popularity has became a profitable spot to advertise. That seems the same as Hasbro's 1980's money making method. Sell toys advertise by making a TV show about them and also collect advertising revenue from the TV show.

Re:Grats!

[rob1980]

That seems the same as Hasbro's 1980's money making method.

Which would make sense, because most of the folks I know who read PA (myself included) were the target audience for Hasbro, Kenner, etc. in the 1980s.

M.A.S.K. ruled so much.

Re:Grats!

[Anonymous Coward]

Replying to your own post as AC? ZOMG SO POWERFUL

Re:Grats!

[NVP_Radical_Dreamer]

Thousands? Try MILLIONS! http://childsplaycharity.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child's_Play_(charity) To date they have raised over 4 Million.

Re:Grats!

[Dun Malg]

How is this model different... They have adds which bring in revenue for their site, also they sell merchandise based on their brand. So by creating a site that caters to pleasing many people they have created demand for their crap, and their popularity has became a profitable spot to advertise.

Well yeah, I think that's exactly the point. Too many 'tards out there think there oughtta be a way to put up a web site, wave a magic wand (google ads), and get rich, and then complain that providing free content doesn't pay the rent. PA demonstrates that nothing about making money via the internet is substantially any different than real life.

Re:Grats!

[Anonymous Coward]

He's talking about kids, you're talking about dollars. (As video games and consoles cost more than $4 a piece, $4 million = thousands of kids. Maybe tens or even hundreds of thousands, but that is still covered by the word "thousands".)

I don't know how could have you misunderstood him, unless "kids" is a new slang term for money I haven't heard yet.

Re:Grats!

[PriceIke]

Agreed. Jerry and Mike not only know their audience but they are both fountains of talent, and their lifelong friendship gives them such a depth of knowledge about each other that they can play to each other's strengths. The result is an authentic, insightful and usually hilarious window into gamer culture and lifestyles. They've taken their wildly successful online product, which they disseminate for free, and leveraged it into not only an immensely popular (and probably highly lucrative) gamer convention but also started an eyebrow-raising global charity which has brought smiles to thousands (if not millions) of children the world over.

I think of these two people as examples of the kind of rare but wonderful success that can be found when one simply does what s/he loves, and chooses to embrace what s/he is. That mixed with healthy doses of dedication and luck can have alchemical results beyond the wildest expectations.

Toast to Jerry and Mike!

Re:Grats!

[philspear]

Penny Arcade has broken ground in success and shown how it is possible to build a business model providing a primarily free product. The key is having a product people want.

Geez, you must be new here. Put in the correct format.

1. Make a great product
2. Give it away
3. ???
4. Profit!

Re:Grats!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well yes...4 million dollars/O($100) per child gives you 40 thousand kids =).

Re:Grats!

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Now we just need to convince NPR to put the rest of their shows on the web in podcast form. I am not at my computer when I listen to audio shows, my time doesn't work that way. Their local FM station doesn't tune well either, static and dropouts galore.

Re:Grats!

[slapout]

I think it's great what they've done for the kids. But I think part of the problem is that the comics themselves aren't exactly kid-friendly. It's like they go out of their way to include the F word in every strip.

Re:Grats!

[Anonymous Coward]

You can use a batch-capable download manager like Firefox's DownThemAll or wget to snag the raw mp3s for any of the shows NPR makes available flash-only, which is nice since it enables story-skipping. The format is

http://download.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/$SHOW/$YEAR/$MONTH/$DATE_$SHOW_$SEGMENTNUM.mp3

where $SHOW=(me|atc|day|fa|wesat|wesun|totn|tmm) e.g. for the interview in the story, which is the 8th segment of Dec 28's Weekend Edition Sunday:

http://download.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/wesun/2008/12/20081228_wesun_08.mp3

Today's Morning Edition can be got by inserting the following into DownThemAll:

http://download.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2008/12/20081229_me_[01:18].mp3

More information on finding out the URL to any particular segment available here.

Re:Grats!

[Avogadro65]

Thousands? Try MILLIONS!...To date they have raised over 4 Million.

So you're saying they've raised over 4 million kids? Impressive.

Re:Grats!

[Anonymous Coward]

But I think part of the problem is that the comics themselves aren't exactly kid-friendly. It's like they go out of their way to include the F word in every strip.

I doubt most kids are overly bothered about the F word anyway, so I'd hardly say it wasn't "kid-friendly". More like it isn't "parent-friendly". :)

Re:Grats!

[centuren]

I think it's great what they've done for the kids. But I think part of the problem is that the comics themselves aren't exactly kid-friendly. It's like they go out of their way to include the F word in every strip.

That's sort of part of the point of Penny Arcade doing Child's Play. The strip isn't for children, just like a huge portion of video games aren't for children.

It's a site for adults, and a partial motivation behind Child's Play was to show that there's more to the demographic of adult gamers than the stereotype of slackers who sit around playing violent video games.

Penny Arcade has been so successful, I think, because they have managed to serve as representatives for this community so well. Gamers identify with them as gamers, and they've always been vocal in their defense of gaming as a hobby for adults, versus the traditional idea of video games being just for kids.

I see nothing wrong with a site that's central to an adult gaming community helping bring child-appropriate games and support to children's hospitals. It's adults donating to Child Play, just as it's adults that Penny Arcade is targeted at.

That's win-win; after all, adult gamers are people too. We can enjoy Penny Arcade, donate to Child's Play AND decide when the strip is appropriate for our offspring.
 

Re:Grats!

[jellomizer]

Well it generally goes down to you need to work for your money. If you offer a technology that is self running, then you may perhaps get a quick boost but then other people will copy the idea and you go down the tube as you can't be price competitive. The thing is if you want to stay in business and make money you need to work for it. Even if you are based on adds you better make sure that you are creating content that people want, and you have to keep it up. Just as installing Slashcode and allowing general users to post the content probably won't make money. But if you keep it running well and work on weeding out the negative user and pumping up the positive ones, and help control the chaos (a full time job) then you modest salary will get paid with a 40+ hour week job.

Re:Grats!

[Sasayaki]

Firstly, not everything has to be kid friendly. In fact, I'm happy if most of the world isn't kid friendly- and I had that opinion when I was 13, too.

Secondly, they've heard it all and worse before... yes, irrespective of what ages they are. They've heard fuck before and know what it means- trust me.

Re:Grats!

[mattack2]

I don't know what percentage of their shows are available as a podcast, but simply searching for 'npr' in iTunes showed almost 3 full pages of podcasts. (Ironically, I couldn't find _this_ specific story in a quick search, but I was looking for 'weekend' in the podcast title since the date line also says "Weekend Edition Sunday".)

Re:Grats!

[Inthewire]

Ads, you dolt. It's short for advertisments. "their popularity has became a profitible spot to advetise?" I hope you're doing this on purpose.

Re:Grats!

[drinkypoo]

I think it's great what they've done for the kids. But I think part of the problem is that the comics themselves aren't exactly kid-friendly. It's like they go out of their way to include the F word in every strip.

You should have heard me at the age of 13. For that matter, about the best kid I know was allowed to cuss at home from earlier than that so long as he didn't do it at school, and there has been nary a problem.

These days, kids are bored with porn. Which I guess is why you can get such longevity out of a meme involving two girls and a cup.

Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe I'm one of the few on Slashdot who "don't get" their cartoons. I do enjoy a few that relate to games I like. But I always thought they were a bit overhyped in the past. (The art is kind of meh IMHO. Topics sometimes too trendy.)

I respect them a lot though. They have been around like a decade. They survived the "eFront.com fiasco" and Internet Bubble. (Which took a lot of backbone.) And after that they set up a nice deal with "Child's Play" charities, conventions, etc.

Call me dumb, but I never really cared much for the comic strip. The creators however are amazing human beings.

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not so much a fan of the strip itself either. To me, it's always taken sort of a back seat to Tycho's often hilarious news posts.

Captcha: apogee

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[Anonymous Coward]

Obligatory

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[samkass]

Well, no humor appeals to everyone. You're allowed to dislike their comics. I'm allowed to think libertarianism would never work. You're still allowed to post. :)

The point is that they were one of the first independent internet comics that managed to make a living at their work, and have used their success for good instead of evil. Kudos to them.

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[Anonymous Coward]

Your opinions are wrong. Sorry to be the one to break it to you.

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[Anonymous Coward]

1/10 on the troll, good effort sir.\, but trying to make the case that xkcd is bad is like trying to convince /. that Windows is a secure operating system.

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm, so what you're saying is that xkcd is bad, but we can't convince you of it? I don't like your logic, because I kind of like xkcd :(

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[Anonymous Coward]

Your opinions are wrong. Sorry to be the one to break it to you.

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[feepness]

What's the -ism for your belief system so I can quickly brand it as unfeasible? Thanks...

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ohy man... I was afraid for a second there that that was going to turn into one of those scrotum enlarging trolls...

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone touched a nerve I see.

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[religious freak]

Sorry it's too complex and doesn't have enough flair for you... maybe I'll toss you a shiny button for you to gaze at instead.

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[blitzkrieg3]

Actually, I think this is actually more in the spirit of the poster's complaint.

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[drsquare]

Well, at least he knows he's shit. Shame the same can't be said about the Ctrl+Alt+Del creator.

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[Anonymous Coward]

Realism ;)

I kid, I kid...maybe.

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[elrous0]

I shall disagree with you, sir, by questioning your sexual orientation and mocking your mother's girth!

Re:Posted Anonymously for Obvious Reasons.

[Anonymous Coward]

Realism.

Re:NPR sucks my bunghole

[dmacleod808]

That statement in itself is overly pretentious.

when the planet/population rescue completes

[Anonymous Coward]

then, the universe could rest a little.

NPR is not government funded.

[urbanriot]

Citations on the 'major' funding cuts please? They recently had a one hour discussion with their ombudsman discussing media bias based on funding, and it was discussed that NPR hardly receives any government at all, and hasn't since the 70's. Not that it's an official source, but Wikipedia would agree, and puts the number at 2% from government grants and progrmas.

Re:Perry Bible Fellowship

[jandrese]

The guy who did it decided to take a break from the strip. His last strip even provided some meta-commentary on how he felt about the strip.

Re:Perry Bible Fellowship

[Ihmhi]

The Author stopped updating the comic and said he would only update "occasionally". According to a Google search the site has been down since around the beginning of December. (I can't reach it either.)

Re:NPR sucks my bunghole

[Dun Malg]

They are a bunch of pretentious bourgeois twats who love imperialism and the CIA.

Seize the means of production! You have nothing to lose but your chains, brothers!

Seriously, are you for real? I'd have thought your type died out in the 90's--- if I didn't hear them regularly featured on NPR, decrying imperialism and the CIA. I think that's the beauty of NPR: they run the gamut of opinion to thoroughly, everyone thinks they're propaganda mouthpieces for "the opposition".

Link?

[kingcool1432]

Would it be too much to expect the summary to actually link to this Penny Arcade comic? Or should I go crawl back under the rock I've been living in? :) Anyway, for the too-lazy-to-google set, here's the link http://www.penny-arcade.com/

Re:Link?

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a link in the "Web Resources" column on the right side of the page.

Re:Link?

[rk]

Yeah, and while we're on the topic of mysteries, can any of you guys tell me what this "Linux" thing is you all keep talking about? It keeps getting mentioned, and I hoped I'd be able to figure it out from context, but I've had no luck so far.

You can live under rocks? Why doesn't anybody tell me these things!?

Re:Link?

[Anonymous Coward]

To be fair, Penny Arcade has been one of the quick links on the main Slashdot page for a very long time.

Re:Link?

[Anonymous Coward]

That comic is about 7 times worse than anything I've ever seen.

Re:Link?

[Anonymous Coward]

I would have figured that the 24/7 link to PA on the Slashdot frontpage would be enough.

Re:Perry Bible Fellowship

[Fallingcow]

Jesus, yeah, that last strip.

Thanks for making me feel like a jackass for hoping you keep making awesome comics.

Punch in the stomach, man.

Sucks that the site's down. I'd saved a bunch of them, but I think they were on a hard drive that died a couple months back.

Question

[diskofish]

Am I the only one who doesn't find these comics funny? I just find it to be an uninspired commentary on videogames and geek stuff.

NPR Versus The Pods

[fm6]

It's interesting that the submitter didn't think that the radio show that aired the story was worth mentioning. (Weekend Edition Sunday, which I used to listen to a lot before the podcast glut took over my headphones.) Apparently NPR now has a lot of listeners who only know them through their podcasts.

That's beginning to include me, even though I've been listening to NPR since most of you were still in grade school. I used to be fanatical about their content. They seemed to cater to people with more intelligence and longer attention spans than a lot of competing media. But now, public radio networks in Australia, Canada, and the UK have gotten into podcasting in a big way, and their product actually makes NPR look just a little lame. The Aussies in particular excel at science reporting and serious audio documentaries, two kinds of reporting that NPR doesn't really care for.

Qualification: NPR does have some good science reporters, but they rarely get enough air time to cover anything in depth. And they also have some really bad ones.

I'd probably listen to more NPR podcasts if they had more. They've strongly resisted podcasting complete shows, afraid of antagonizing the member stations who pay the bills. Of the shows I listen to, only Fresh Air offers a complete podcast, and that one is not carefully edited for online consumption, and material is often missing. (Some of this may be for copyright reasons, but I think it's mostly sloppiness.)

What podcasts they do offer are mostly except shows, like the Shuffle Podcast. They do have an interesting new feature that allows you to mix your own keyword-driven podcast.

I am going to sound like a jerk here

[BennyBigHair]

I enjoy all 3 of the comics mentioned in the summary, but why does XKCD get so great of reviews? I mean I understand that it makes some really good science/math/computer/nerd puns, but there is no artistic direction, and the way it deals with love/relationships reminds me a high school Thespian Club. That being said, Achewood has some of the best writing in (ha ha funny) comics in any medium, and Penny-Arcade has created a massive charity from donations from people who are supposed to care about society.

Re:NPR sucks my bunghole

[CorporateSuit]

It'd be more accurate to say that NPR are the wikipedia editors of broadcasting stations. The very premise of their channel (National PUBLIC Radio) is foreshortened by those who have taken upon themselves the reins of content, editorial, and command. Now it's more like National People-who-must-hear-the-sound-of-their-own-voice-reading-the-news Radio"

At least they haven't made up their own goofy language. Reading the discussion[citation needed] tabs[citation needed] on any given[citation needed] wikipedia[citation needed] page is like trying read the comments on a Lolcats! page -- enough to drive any sane observer mad.

Just a little disappointing...

[John Pfeiffer]

Just a tad under three minutes, and it's some random guy talking about P-A. I was hoping they might be interviewing the duo themselves. :( Their interviews are always quite hilarious. Then again, I guess the point was to convey what P-A is to 'normal' people, which I don't think those two can do, lol.

Mehh...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm a hardcore gamer, and I've never found these comics even remotely entertaining. I guess I just missed the bus, as usual, but I've never understood what all the hype was about concerning these guys.

Re:Perry Bible Fellowship

[TheoMurpse]

Fallingcow, you should know that every comic he ever did (I think) is available in book format here.

Interesting to note he's apparently got another one coming out this coming February.

Re:Perry Bible Fellowship

[TheoMurpse]

No idea, but there's a forthcoming second volume of PBF coming out February 2009.

Electric Retard?

[Anonymous Coward]

When are they going to interview that guy?

Most redundant tag ever seen on slashdot

[Seriousity]

"youguysaregeeks"

Seem?

[copponex]

To me, neo-conservative people are monsters.

They are anti-abortion, pro war. They believe violence is alright, as long as it's directed at people who "deserve" it. When innocent people die in the wars they start, it's called an unfortunate reality. They defend torture. They pervert Christianity to be exclusive instead of inclusive. They go out of their way to harm the environment to protect their "lifestyle." They promote brutal mythology, and try to discredit science, but only when it's used to heal people. When it's making weaponry, it's never questioned.

And they do all of this for money. It really is pathetic, and they really are monsters.

Car Talk

[IchNiSan]

Car talk started on WBUR in Boston, which is a great public radio station, one of the very few things I miss about living in the Boston area.

And so it ends

[Anonymous Coward]

But the legend will NEVER DIE!