Perhaps Six Apart wasn't quite prepared for the responsibilities of a website of this size?
Last time I checked, LiveJournal wasn't experiencing 503 Service Not Available error downage for 1 - 2 hours every day (unlike certain other web sites).
They've already found mountains of conclusive evidence that Saddam had WMDs...they're just buried somewhere in the desert...or hidden in Syria...or Russians Black Ops stole them right before the war...something...
Yeah, pretty much all I read besides/. is NewsMax and the Washington Times. Why do you ask?
I really like you highlight his attacks on the bloggers but not any actual *evidence* that his charges were true.
Booooring...
In order to understand "Memogate," you need to understand "Haileygate." David Hailey, a Ph.D. who teaches tech writing at Utah State University -- not a professional document examiner, but a former Army illustrator -- studied the CBS memos. His typographic analysis found that, contrary to widespread assumptions, the document may have been typed. (He points out, meanwhile, that because the documents are typed does not necessarily mean they are genuine.) Someone found a draft of his work on a publicly accessible university Web site, and it wound up on a conservative blog, Wizbang. The blog, citing "evidence" that it had misinterpreted, called Hailey a "liar, fraud, and charlatan." Soon Hailey's e-mail box was flooded. Anonymous callers demanded his dismissal.
Hailey is more restrained in his comments than other document examiners more widely quoted in the press. Of course, cautious voices tend to be quieter than confident ones.
Wow they sure demonstrated journalistic integrity!!!11oneoneone. But wait! There's more:
Hodges's doubts about the memo rest mainly on military terminology, and he has a list of twenty-one things wrong with the terms used in the CBS documents. He says he came up with the first ten in a couple of minutes. For example, he points to the use of "OETR" instead of "OER" (for Officer Effectiveness Report), and the use of the word "billets" instead of "positions." This helped close the case for some, but probably shouldn't have. Even preliminary digging casts some doubt on the evidence. For example, Bill Burkett was quoted in a book published last March using the term "OER," suggesting he would've known better had he forged the documents as Hodges and others implied in interviews. And newspaper stories and Air Guard documents indicate that the term "billets" was indeed used in the Air Guard, at least in the mid-1980s. Such small points don't prove anything about the memos. But they do suggest that the press should never accept as gospel the first explanation that comes along.
I find it interesting that you curtly dismiss Pein's thorough and well-researched article as "debunked" without providing any details or links of your own. Let me guess...a little blogger told you?
Yes, CBS screwed up badly in 'Memogate' -- but so did those who covered the affair
By Corey Pein
Bloggers have claimed the attack on CBS News as their Boston Tea Party, a triumph of the democratic rabble over the lazy elites of the MSM (that's mainstream media to you). But on close examination the scene looks less like a victory for democracy than a case of mob rule. On September 8, just weeks before the presidential election, 60 Minutes II ran a story about how George W. Bush got preferential treatment as he glided through his time in the Texas Air National Guard. The story was anchored on four memos that, it turns out, were of unknown origin. By the time you read this, the independent commission hired by the network to examine the affair may have released its report, and heads may be rolling. Dan Rather and company stand accused of undue haste, carelessness, excessive credulity, and, in some minds, partisanship, in what has become known as "Memogate."
But CBS's critics are guilty of many of the very same sins. First, much of the bloggers' vaunted fact-checking was seriously warped. Their driving assumptions were often drawn from flawed information or based on faulty logic. Personal attacks passed for analysis. Second, and worse, the reviled MSM often followed the bloggers' lead. As mainstream media critics of CBS piled on, rumors shaped the news and conventions of sourcing and skepticism fell by the wayside. Dan Rather is not alone on this one; respected journalists made mistakes all around. Full article...
Why aren't these bloggers doing the noble thing and shutting down their blogs?
Had this event happened ~3000 years ago, it probably would have become a major chapter in some religious text, if not the foundation for a completely new religion (ocean worship?).
Next Up: Dark Knight Returns ?!
on
Sin City Trailer
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· Score: 1
Watching this trailer, I'm imagining a movie version of Miller's timeless The Dark Knight Returns done in the exact same style.
Holy shit...if Sin City is a blockbuster...it just might happen!
Consider: the upcoming Batman Begins was inspired by the Batman: Year One graphic novel / series. I'll bet the inside story is that they wanted to adapt Dark Knight first, but decided the public might not "get it" (they're still living in Adam West-Bataman land), so they went with Sin City and Batman: Year One instead.
Everyone here seems to be discussing various noise reducing headphones in scary detail. However, wearing headphones is not an option for be, as I work in a "conservative" work environment, and doing so would be "unprofessional."
Given that, what are my other option?
[Despite the supposed conservative culture, I still have to contend with co-workers obnoxious phone conversations and loud (sometimes lewd) gossiping]
If we don't measure somehow tragedies (body count is a hell of a good estimate, since at least is measuring the human impact) then we can't know the size of the necessary response.
Good point, but I was addressing attacks on personal grief - not impersonal responses by Relief Organizations (which certainly do need such scales for *internal* purposes).
People die so often and in such great numbers in so many varied disasters that ranking them is all we can do to set the scope of one disaster over another. Get over it.
I suppose if you were producing VH1's 100 Greatest Disasters EVAR!, this might be a true statement.
However, consider that some of those you've spoken to might have been comparing the amount of grief shown for the 9/11 attack in contrast to the perceived apathy for other (worse or otherwise) catastrophes.
Good point...too bad that's not what they have been saying (follow the link in my original post).
They haven't been saying: "United States, your tragedy sucks...so does ours...let's all mourn for each others's tragedies."
Rather, it's been: "United States, stop being such fucking babies, other peoples have it much worse than you."
The equivalent is somebody deriding a weeping mourner at a funeral: "How dare you cry?! Others have it much worse!" (this happens too, btw).
The point is: somepeople are just insensitive assholes:-\
But it's also okay to critisize the news media in our country for disproportionally covering events that affect Americans, playing on our fear and sorrow for ratings.
Great point with which I agree 100%
It's definitely ok to criticize the media for glamourizing the grief of September 11th, the tsunami, or any other human tragedy.
The problem I have is with people that tell other human beings they have no right to their own emotions.
Finally a human tragedy I'm allowed to get upset about.
Before you click "Troll," please hear me out:
On each anniversary of September 11th, I've consistently encountered people who asserted that our grief was selfish and unjustified because "worse disasters had happened elsewhere" - that is, had a higher bodycount.
Where were you on Jan 26, 2001? Do you remember any news that happened that day at all?
On that date, an earthquake hit India, leaving 13,000 people dead.
thirteen thousand. More than four times the amount killed in the World Trade Center. Think about that for a minute. How much coverage of it did you see on CNN? Maybe a day?
This seems to be the prevailing attitude among many: the scale of a human tragedy is directly proportional to it's bodycount. It's an attitude I've encountered multiple times in Real Life as well as on/.
Well, I'd like to write now what I wrote then, over two years ago...someting to keep in mind while you're reading this coverage:
The very notion that the relative significance of human tragedies can be "ranked" by their respective bodycounts is itself sickening.
Back in '94 as a teenager, I remember standing in the back of a CompUSA inspecting a new PowerPC and thinking the 3D Graphics Calculator was the coolest thing I had ever seen on any computer, ever.
You really could see the love on the screen - and this story reveals that it was really there. They didn't just "ship a million units" - they changed millions of lives.
They should team up with a good tech author like Robert Cringely and make this story into a book - it would be a best-seller.
This entry is probably an attempt at "payback" for all those "My Windows Installation Nightmare" anecdotes populating the 'web. However, his story seems just a *bit* contrived. I've installed firefox on multiple PCs and multiple windows versions and experienced 0% of the problems he's describing. Huh?
Slashdot Mirror
...my wife's charge card on payday!
(Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week!)
Howard Stern rules!
Perhaps Six Apart wasn't quite prepared for the responsibilities of a website of this size?
Last time I checked, LiveJournal wasn't experiencing 503 Service Not Available error downage for 1 - 2 hours every day (unlike certain other web sites).
My point still stands! ;^)
Who ever modded me "troll"...why don't you take a peek over at the "news" sources I mentioned and see how they're playing this story (if at all).
;)
Wingnutz have been crowing the "discovery" of WMDs for the past 1.5 years...but this time I'm sure they'll accept the truth....RIGHT?
PS - See ya in the M2
False. Barbara and Jenna are livin' large in the DC party circuit while kids their age are getting maimed in Iraq.
Jenna (supposedly) is going to teach while Babs "hasn't announced any career plans" (really putting that Yale degree to good use, huh?).
They've already found mountains of conclusive evidence that Saddam had WMDs...they're just buried somewhere in the desert...or hidden in Syria...or Russians Black Ops stole them right before the war...something...
/. is NewsMax and the Washington Times. Why do you ask?
Yeah, pretty much all I read besides
The author goes into detail about how the evidence was (willfully) misinterpreted by the bloggers.
Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for data to back your assertion that the CJR article was "thoroughly debunked."
Booooring...Wow they sure demonstrated journalistic integrity!!!11oneoneone. But wait! There's more:
I find it interesting that you curtly dismiss Pein's thorough and well-researched article as "debunked" without providing any details or links of your own. Let me guess...a little blogger told you?
Please buy Slashdot's User Journals.
That way, we can have some actual features.
Signed,
The Slashdot Journal Community
Yeah I caught that...instant classic.
When True Fans are working in the Industry - good things happen!
I was thinking about something the other day...
Had this event happened ~3000 years ago, it probably would have become a major chapter in some religious text, if not the foundation for a completely new religion (ocean worship?).
Watching this trailer, I'm imagining a movie version of Miller's timeless The Dark Knight Returns done in the exact same style.
Holy shit...if Sin City is a blockbuster...it just might happen!
Consider: the upcoming Batman Begins was inspired by the Batman: Year One graphic novel / series. I'll bet the inside story is that they wanted to adapt Dark Knight first, but decided the public might not "get it" (they're still living in Adam West-Bataman land), so they went with Sin City and Batman: Year One instead.
Everyone here seems to be discussing various noise reducing headphones in scary detail. However, wearing headphones is not an option for be, as I work in a "conservative" work environment, and doing so would be "unprofessional."
Given that, what are my other option?
[Despite the supposed conservative culture, I still have to contend with co-workers obnoxious phone conversations and loud (sometimes lewd) gossiping]
If we don't measure somehow tragedies (body count is a hell of a good estimate, since at least is measuring the human impact) then we can't know the size of the necessary response.
Good point, but I was addressing attacks on personal grief - not impersonal responses by Relief Organizations (which certainly do need such scales for *internal* purposes).
Well, SP2 may be a bust, but at least Microsoft has the art of the slick headshot down pat...
Are those project managers or aspiring actors? I can't tell which!
People die so often and in such great numbers in so many varied disasters that ranking them is all we can do to set the scope of one disaster over another. Get over it.
I suppose if you were producing VH1's 100 Greatest Disasters EVAR!, this might be a true statement.
However, I find emotionless sarcasm in your message. Why is that?
You tell me.
However, consider that some of those you've spoken to might have been comparing the amount of grief shown for the 9/11 attack in contrast to the perceived apathy for other (worse or otherwise) catastrophes.
:-\
Good point...too bad that's not what they have been saying (follow the link in my original post).
They haven't been saying: "United States, your tragedy sucks...so does ours...let's all mourn for each others's tragedies."
Rather, it's been: "United States, stop being such fucking babies, other peoples have it much worse than you."
The equivalent is somebody deriding a weeping mourner at a funeral: "How dare you cry?! Others have it much worse!" (this happens too, btw).
The point is: somepeople are just insensitive assholes
But it's also okay to critisize the news media in our country for disproportionally covering events that affect Americans, playing on our fear and sorrow for ratings.
Great point with which I agree 100%
It's definitely ok to criticize the media for glamourizing the grief of September 11th, the tsunami, or any other human tragedy.
The problem I have is with people that tell other human beings they have no right to their own emotions.
Before you click "Troll," please hear me out:
On each anniversary of September 11th, I've consistently encountered people who asserted that our grief was selfish and unjustified because "worse disasters had happened elsewhere" - that is, had a higher bodycount.
Here's just one example: This seems to be the prevailing attitude among many: the scale of a human tragedy is directly proportional to it's bodycount. It's an attitude I've encountered multiple times in Real Life as well as on
Well, I'd like to write now what I wrote then, over two years ago...someting to keep in mind while you're reading this coverage:
The very notion that the relative significance of human tragedies can be "ranked" by their respective bodycounts is itself sickening.
Back in '94 as a teenager, I remember standing in the back of a CompUSA inspecting a new PowerPC and thinking the 3D Graphics Calculator was the coolest thing I had ever seen on any computer, ever.
You really could see the love on the screen - and this story reveals that it was really there. They didn't just "ship a million units" - they changed millions of lives.
They should team up with a good tech author like Robert Cringely and make this story into a book - it would be a best-seller.
Microsoft actually acknowledges that an Open Source competitor exists! Film at Eleven.
I've noticed a pattern of behavior from MS marketing: they don't seem to want to acknowledge linux, firefox, et. al. as actual products - and so a wry smile crept onto my face when I saw the image referencing the Mozilla Foundation as "Unknown Publisher."
This entry is probably an attempt at "payback" for all those "My Windows Installation Nightmare" anecdotes populating the 'web. However, his story seems just a *bit* contrived. I've installed firefox on multiple PCs and multiple windows versions and experienced 0% of the problems he's describing. Huh?
I mean...geez!