GopherLink! Egyptian Law No. 100 and why it destroys press freedom. Read more here.

100 Confessions: My Five LEAST favorite books

(67) My Five LEAST favorite books:

(1) Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Reason: This Pultizer-prize winning story captures the dichotomy of beauty and death. Dillard writes this in first person as she spends years recording what happens in nature If anyone cried as much as Annie Dillard in that story, they would be on anti-depressants. She could have a spiritual revelation while taking a dump.

(2) The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
Reason: imagine reading Lord of the Rings if Tolkien was an awful writer and clearly ripping off other people's material. That's The Sword of Shannara.

(3) Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Reason: this is mainly principal. If you were a young aspiring fantasy writer, what would be your wet dream? Two parents in publishing. Paolini's wet dream was real. Both his parents were in publishing, and, we get the impression, kind of helped him through the process. Once it's finished, they have easy access to speaking engagements in schools, etc. to promote the book. And on a narrative note, the only author more derivative that Christopher Paolini is Terry Brooks.

(4) Living Dead in Dallas by Charlene Harris
Reason: After writing a blockbuster first novel Dead Until Dark, Charlene Harris writes a sequel that has none of the narrative mystery, flair or even sex appeal of the first book. Someone should tell her that there are other ways to bring sex appeal to book rather than actually having a sex scene every chapter. It's like 007 became a woman...and started sleeping with vampires. The sweet, innocent girl we fell in love with in Dead Until Dark kisses at least three different guys in this one and tries every position you can imagine in this one. And ones you can't really imagine. Because they're vampires.

(5) Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
Reason: I know it's a harsh thing to say about the second-most read book of all time (next to the Bible), but I really did think the book is awful. I left Pilgrim's Progress really hating Christian, the main character. And more than that, I was furious at having "Christian" represent my religion. He was an a**hole. I left the book thinking that I'd rather be left outside the castle than spend my life walking on eggshells with that dude. I know, I know. It was a different time period, but hey, so was the Bible. I can still read that and think Jesus was chill.

The Social Media Revolution

Is social media a fad? Or the biggest change since the Industrial Revolution?

Sony releases the "slim"

Sony just announced the release of their new "slim" PS3 with 120GB harddrive, less energy use and less space use.

I'm really regretting the ridiculous amount of money I spent on the 60 GB PS3. That said, it doesn't look like this will have the same reverse compatibility features of the 60 GB (which is why I got that in the first place).

It is however, cheaper than the "fat" PS3s and significantly smaller. Sony's still a contender, folks.

100 Confessions: Sad Things

(66) I like sad things. Sad music, depressing stories, mournful movies; all in a days work. My wife, the optimist who likes happy things occasionally has to sit through my media intake. Her brow furrows and she usually asks questions like, "Why do you like such depressing stuff?"

For my part, I think it's because my life's good. But I like to be reminded that it's better than other peoples. This is also why I read obituaries.

100 Confessions: Hurricanes

(65) I'm a hurricane pro. I grew in Florida. I weathered Andrews, Charlie, Frances, Jeanne, Wilma and all the ones in between. We got three or four a year and usually there was at least one every two years that really hit hard. But you have to remember "hit hard" is a relative term. There's a reason Florida houses are ugly--they're built to withstand hurricanes. We never had any real fear we'd lose our house, but we would worry about stuff falling on our cars and flooding.

For hard-hitters, we boarded up windows, gott water, ice, gas for the generator, etc. Many hit at night so you sat indoors with your family, playing monopoly by candlelight or reading books together. If they hit during the day, we would watch the wind whip around the trees and place bets on whose palm tree would crumble (never was ours).

It was actually a family and community building event. You knew that in the next day(s) you wouldn't have power, so people would empty out their freezers and throw the defrosting food on the grill. Neighbors you'd never talked to in your life suddenly became grill mates and you'd talk about the storm, the damage, etc.

It may sound crazy, but as a kid, I looked forward to them. The sheer force and magnitude of them is amazing. You get time off school. You party with people on block. Your family spends time with you that doesn't involve staring at TV screen and only talking between commercial breaks.

Review: New Media, New Politics: From Satellite Television to Internet in the Arab World

This semi-famous white-paper from 1999 confronts head-on the issues of censorship just hinted at in other publications (such as here, here, here, and here). There are three essential messages of this paper:

(1) New Media is still new and confined largely to the elite. But Internet is proliferation rapidly.
(2) Governments are struggling to exert censorship over new media.
(3) "The Internet holds the promise of allowing Arabs to dip into a vast sea of information that currently lies beyond their grasp" (Alterman xi).

Alterman could be accused of being overly optimistic that the new generation of Arabs, using New Media, will overcome any ills in their society. The internet certainly provided a great source of new information in America and many new tools for overcoming the ills in our society, but it also gave tools to pedophiles. Media is both glorious and fallen as Calvin would say.

Alterman notes the grounds for censorship in the Arab world. It is fascinating enough that I will quote it at length:

"There are generally four grounds for censorship in the Arab world today. The first has to do with the bounds of political debate. Whereas every Arab country has some degree of free debate, in each there are "red lines" that cannot be crossed. These red lines often have to do with Islamist opposition forces...The second and related taboo is criticism of a country's rulers or their families. From Morocco to Iraq, rulers may not be criticized by name in the domestic media (Alterman 46)

A famous example of the second taboo (that often results in censorship) was of the Moroccan leader Hosni Mubarak's sons. After a regional newspaper advertised an upcoming issue in which they would reveal details of the sons' personal corruption, the sons successfully sued the news organization to keep them from printing it. Then to add insult to injury, they sued the paper a second time for false advertising by promising a story they never delivered to the public (Alterman 46).

The third taboo has to do with writing of a religious nature that might cause undue dissension in a country. Islam is the majority religion in every country in the Arab world, but there remains disagreement within and between countries regarding what the proper practice of Islam requires. Within the generally acceptable bounds od discussion are debates over the nature of Islamic finance, cultural conflict with Western secularism and the role of women in the family and in the workplace. What are generally barred are discussions that seek to delegitimize Muslim groups or that incite violence against religious minorities. This is often a floating line, and it is most clearly crossed when Islamist partisans start tossing around the concepts of apostasy (ridda) or disbelief (kufr) to describe groups or individuals whose views they oppose. Whereas governments in the region often try to appropriate Islam to legitimize their own rule, they are vigilant in guarding against the possibility that some would use Islam to deligitimize either the government itself or groups in the general population (Alterman 46-47).

The third taboo is interesting because it relates so closely to the second. If the leader of your country IS your religious leader (ie. Iran), then what are you doing when you publish something that challenges that leader? Are you challenging politics or religion? In practice, it's often whichever has the worse consequences for the journalist (Doha Debates). Without separation of religion and state, a statement against a corrupt leader can be twisted easily into a statement against Islam.

The forth taboo has to do with social and sexual mores....The guiding principle seems in many ways not so much toban because of the nature of the materials themselves, but rather to ban those materials that are likely to cause (or have caused) offense among domestic clergy (Alterman 47).

But Alterman notes that censorship is perhaps a dying art. Because the internet proliferates and as literacy proliferates, people will be using the internet for information. "Censorship over the internet is ...perhaps the easiest to circumvent, becuase many of those who want to circumvent restrictions are more technically savvy than those who want to keep the restrictions in place" (Alterman 47).

Alterman predicts that transnational media is the future of Arab journalism because they can do hard-hitting reporting of multiple countries without having to answer to them. Off-shore media is large area of growth, with reporters on the ground in the Arab world, but supplying information to publications based in England and France, who are exempt from censoring laws (Alterman 73-74).

Review: Arab Mass Media

The essential message of William Rugh's updated study of the Arab world (he wrote the foundational book "The Arab Press" in the 1970s), is the government shapes the media and, to a certain extent, the media shapes the government. This is particularly interesting in the Arab world because, while the Arab countries share numerous similarities, the environments can be vastly different as a result of the government in place. (and I would add, it can also be different depending on the amount of internet penetration. Compare Lebanon and Saudi Arabia).

The mass media play a larger role than other forms of communication in the daily lives of people everywhere, but especially in the Arab world. These media are consequently regarded by politicians and governments as having great political importance. In fact, the acquisition and distribution of news has been seen for a long time as a vital political function in society because the news items may have political impact very quickly on large numbers of people...The way government and society deal with this institution (mass media) is significant for an understanding of that government and society as well as of the mass communications process. (Rugh xiv)

Rugh spends much the book updating the information he'd obtained for "The Arab Press." Whereas the press and the media were perhaps less developed at this time, the number of type of communications outlets has proliferated so that even the poorest Arab countries have television stations etc. By the late 70s all Arab countries not only had their own television stations but their own magazines and newspapers) (Rugh xiv-xv). As in his previous work, Rugh uses a typology unique to the Arab world to characterize the ways in which media operate. The four categories are:

(1) The Mobilization Press- (Syria, Libya, Sudan) The press system where "the ruling group is aggressively dedicated to revolutionary change, and it has managed to eliminate all real organized public opposition domestically, but requires active support from the media to help achieve its stated goals and combat its declared enemies" (Rugh 251).
(2) The Loyalist Press- (Bahrain, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE) is seated in countries where a "more traditional political system prevails; all are monarchies except Palestine, which has been dominated overwhelmingly by one man. No significant opposition exists, but the government, more satisfied with the status quo than intent on change, is content with passive acquiescence from the public and does not require the press to generate action" (Rugh 251-252).
(3) The Diverse Press- (Lebanon, Moracco, Kuwait, Yemen, Iraq) it takes place in a "political environment where the public expression of a variety of opinions and viewpoints, including criticism of the government, is possible, and where the regime does not intervene to suppress all open dissent" (Rugh 252). The government may occasionally take action against a news outlet, but it is rare and done primarily through the courts.
(4) The Transitional Press- (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia) this press system is a "mixed system in which the largest circulation print media are controlled directly by the government but smaller ones are owned by private individuals or parties, and they have some latitude to criticize those in power" (Rugh 252). The government does try to restrict them at times, but it uses the courts as well and relies on journalists' self-censorship.

These types of press systems aren't an accidental bi-product of political realities, but an object of political calculation (Rugh 254). According to Rugh, the biggest indicator in determining the nature of the relationship between the press and the government is the diversity of press publications. In every Arab country, some media will be in complete support of government policy (Rugh 252). The essential function of the diverse press which allows it to have the freest press in the Arab World (Morocco Lebanon, Kuwait) is the existence of a genuine opposition to the ruling party which can function openly. If no public opposition is allowed, it follows that the press will be in uniform voice (Rugh 253).

Interestingly, the most tightly controlled media (radio and television) are the media which have given the Arab public the most freedom. Because while the media in their country may not aire any news about local government, another country within airwaves may be willing.

Paper Towels!!

Come to think of it, Paper Towels are pretty cool.

GopherLink! Inside a Netflix sorting facility. The Long Tail in action! Read more here.

APA "repudiates" gay-to-straight therapy

The coverage of the new APA report on homosexuality is interesting in that it was well covered almost everywhere I looked. I've included some highlights of this coverage.

Here's the top three graphs of Associated Press:

The American Psychological Association declared Wednesday that mental health professionals should not tell gay clients they can become straight through therapy or other treatments.

In a resolution adopted by the APA's governing council, and in an accompanying report, the association issued its most comprehensive repudiation of "reparative therapy" — a concept espoused by a small but persistent group of therapists, often allied with religious conservatives, who maintain gays can change.

No solid evidence exists that such change is likely, says the resolution, adopted by a 125-4 vote. The APA said some research suggests that efforts to produce change could be harmful, inducing depression and suicidal tendencies.

The piece goes on to give fair coverage to thoughts of both liberals and conservatives on the subject. I think "repudiates" may have been too strong a word, but maybe that was in expectation that conservatives would be more frustrated with the report than they actually were. Some conservative therapists were actually pleased with the report. Take a look at The Wall Street Journal:

The men who seek help from evangelical counselor Warren Throckmorton often are deeply distressed. They have prayed, read Scripture, even married, but they haven't been able to shake sexual attractions to other men -- impulses they believe to be immoral.

Dr. Throckmorton is a psychology professor at a Christian college in Pennsylvania and past president of the American Mental Health Counselors Association. He specializes in working with clients conflicted about their sexual identity.

The first thing he tells them is this: Your attractions aren't a sign of mental illness or a punishment for insufficient faith. He tells them that he cannot turn them straight.

But he also tells them they don't have to be gay.
...
"We're not trying to encourage people to become 'ex-gay,'" said Judith Glassgold, who chaired the APA's task force on the issue. "But we have to acknowledge that, for some people, religious identity is such an important part of their lives, it may transcend everything else."

Even Baptist Press had an interesting take.

TORONTO (BP)--In a report that has resulted in widely differing interpretations, a 130-page paper from an American Psychological Association task force Wednesday concluded there is little evidence that "gay-to-straight" therapies work, but -- in a nod to Christian conservatives -- said religious individuals who desire to leave homosexuality should be assisted in doing so.

H/T Mollie Hemingway.

100 Confessions: Upstaging

(64) Apparently I have a way of making people feel inadequate. This is ironic since I'm usually plagued by my own inadequacies. But this came to my attention during the road trip my wife and I were on last week. In the course of our couch hoping, we ended up staying with a college friend on the Eastern seaboard and got a chance to meet her boyfriend. I really liked the guy. In my mind, my conversation with him sounded like this:

Dude: "Yeah, I'm really into creative writing."
Greg: "Really? Me too!"

Dude: "I've never published anything. I'd really like to develop my creative writing by going to graduate school at the local state university."
Greg: "Neat, I'm in graduate school myself."

Dude: "I think I might like to teach high school at some point."
Greg: "Cool, I'm in teaching as well."

My wife, upon later reflection, said the conversation went a little more like this:

Dude: "Yeah, I'm really into creative writing."
Greg: "Really? I just finished editing my fourth novel. I'm really proud of this one and think it will sell. I've got about four or five short fiction publications right now..."

Dude: "I've never published anything. I'd really like to develop my creative writing by going to graduate school at the local community university."
Greg: Oh community school huh? I'm at Georgetown right now. One year left on the Masters!

Dude: "I think I might like to teach high school at somepoint."
Greg: "Like 'em young eh? Yeah, I teach college students."

In my defense I can't help being awesome. Joking. And the above is a dramatic exaggeration.

Superhero, Barack Obama

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Review: Twilight

Okay, just to be clear here: I'm reviewing the book, not the movie. I haven't seen the movie, but I use the pictures because it brings more hits. True story.

Now, I approached this book with a bit of trepidation. After all, what would I tell people if I actually liked it? Twilight has earned the rap of being a girl's book and more specifically a tween girl's book. However, as a writer in the fantasy genre and some one who's been fascinated with vampire books for a long time (recent evidence), I thought it was worth a read.

So here are my thoughts:

(1) This book does for chicks, what a sword and sorcery book does for dudes. If you read any typical sword and sorcery book, it has some very typical elements: the young orphan raised in isolation; he discovers he is "special" and is sole person who can save the world; and in the process he will save damsels in distress, fight alongside buxom but ferocious female warriors and become unbelievably powerful (the late Robert Jordan is perhaps the epitome of this in his endless Wheel of Time series).

Now Twilight has some similar elements: a girl from a place things are boring and normal; she has an emotionally sensitive relationship with her parents that isolates her; she comes to a place where she is "special" and every boy at school wants to go out with her (including the boy genetically geared to destroy her); she will bravely, for love, put herself in dangerous situations where people fight for her because she is so special.

(2) Once again, we have secular vampires. The religious elements of vampirism have been taken out (the fear of the cross, holy water, etc) which leaves them as a sort of social group. In the book, they are balanced by a native Indian tribe who have been there for centuries (and who, I suspect, are werewolves). Thus the vampires become a marginalized part of society, largely through the actions of some bad apple vampires who hunt and kill people.

(3) The vampire elements are a backdrop for a romance story. Stephanie Meyer claimed that her inspiration for Twilight came from reading Pride and Prejudice. You can see the elements there: the forbidden love, the social danger, the major subplot of family relationships, and even the comedic elements (Bella can't play sports to save her life, and for someone who likes to hang out with bloodthirsty vampires, she tends to hurt herself a lot).

So to answer the broader question: "Did you like the story?" I liked parts of it, but then again, I wasn't the audience for this book. This isn't a book for people who like vampire/fantasy stories, it's for people who like romance stories. My favorite plot line was not the love relationship between Bella and Edward (which was the main plot), but the subplot of Bella's relationship with her father, Charlie. Neither Bella nor Charlie are good at expressing emotion yet throughout the story you see Charlie attempting to show his love for her in his own way (putting chains on her tires while she was asleep, etc.)

Ann Arbor loses the News

On July 24, the Chicago Tribune printed a mournful column, lamenting the death of the Ann Arbor News. Unlike many other cities, the death of the Ann Arbor News is the death of the only major news source in the area.

The News was not just a hometown paper for the 114,000 residents of this university town about 45 miles west of Detroit, it was the hometown paper. Ann Arbor has become the first American city of any size to lose its only full-time daily.

But perhaps understandably (less so for the many journalists sitting in the seats), they are starting from the ground up. The editors are trying a business model that has been semi-successful for other digital news outlets: small staff, small circulation, niche advertising (see AnnArbor.com--oh and the top story this morning is dead swans).

While this maybe the first "city" to lose it's full-time daily, there's certainly been documentation about what happens when a community loses it's daily. Want to make your palms sweat? See what happens to volunteerism, civic involvement and political participation when a local newspaper closes.

It's impossible for me personally to have a clear thought on the matter of a newspaper closing. On one hand, I've sat in the newsroom. I know what the loss of a colleague is like and I know the good that a skilled journalist can do. But I'm unfortunate enough to see where the market is headed. Will news survive? Of course. Will newspapers survive? Yes, in some capacity. But it means a new model with new strengths and a lot of new weaknesses. With that in mind, it's easy to understand how the columnist feels when he writes:

This radical reinvention looks ominously like a smoke screen for radical cost-cutting and wholesale firings, one that will be replicated in city after city where lone, moribund daily newspapers are so many dominoes waiting to fall now that this first one has toppled.

As I mourn the passing of the Ann Arbor News, I’m haunted by the fear that AnnArbor.com will succeed. Even more, I’m haunted by the fear that it will fail.

Is there a way to save these newspapers, that still attract millions online but don't charge for it? Some people think so. The LA Times on "Free Riding" and it's affect on newspapers:

Practically anyone can start a website and get software that snags fresh online
news from those who originate it. Website owners pluck the freshest, most interesting reports and quickly post condensed rewrites. That costs them little, and they then surround the rewrites with cut-rate ads.

When readers get to work in the morning, they can read fresh news on the newspaper's site or equally fresh rewrites on competitors' sites. The free-riders may link to the newspaper's report, but why click on the link to read the same story twice?

Take Newser.com, an "aggregator" of others' news reports. It boasts on its site: "We choose the most important stories from hundreds of U.S. and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7 -- you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters."

Competing with each other and newspapers for advertising, free-riders enter the market undercutting each others' ad rates until many of them can still profit, but newspapers, which bear the hefty labor costs of gathering the news, can't.

But on the other side, some journalists have, despite the obstacles, managed to make it in the digital world. But they're reporting on a beat, not on a city. Individual journalists can survive, but the industry?