Hi, folks. I’m ba-a-ack. It was a long 10 days, but worth every bit of pain to see the parts of the country that I did. Internet service was spotty in DC and non-existent in Utah, so I’m playing catchup today. One thing I’ve learned is to check for ‘Net access when I check out hotels, for which purpose Geektels fills the bill.

Now, here’s a bunch of stuff you should have been reading while I was incommunicado, instead of wasting your time clicking on this blog to see if I had posted anything new.

• Fight the Man – Disable AutoRun on your Windows machine. (Engadget)
• Very cool geek news: The next version of Safari – to be included with OS X 10.4 (Tiger) will include an RSS reader. (Boing Boing)
• Wired has more Tiger coverage here
• Tinted Lenz – INDUCE Act is crazy… like a fox! It’s also grotesquely stupid. (Boing Boing)
• Via Atrios, the dust continues to be kicked up in Iraq, yet the Right Wing apparently can’t wait to get their hands on North Korea.
• An excellent source of insight and analysis on Supreme Court decisions can be found at SCOTUSblog. Check out the two recent court rulings upholding pornography as protected free speech and obliterating the White House’s claims to unlimited war-time powers. (Eschaton)
• A new Trojan Horse can read your keystrokes while you’re online at one of 50 major banking websites. Lesson: Don’t open suspicious email. Better yet, don’t use Internet Explorer (CNet News). Better yet, don’t do Windows. (MacMove)
• Interesting fluff piece over at PC World takes down a few computer myths. (Engadget)
• Can we get Carole Coleman a job on CNN or something? It’s so refreshing to see a grownup interviewer, especially because it makes Bush look more like the desperately grasping, talking-point-spouting, featherweight of a political puppet that he is. His arrogance and condescension look all the more embarrassing when he faces a reporter who is ten times as smart, perceptive, and informed as he is. IMHO. As defensive as W gets when Coleman tries to engage in a discussion and not just a dumb show, it makes me think that he’s actually rehearsed these answers (!) and has no capacity for changing course midstream. What a surprise. (Boing Boing) Also, as Kevin Drum points out in this Washington Monthly post, the foreign press are used to treating their politicians as if they’re simply another citizen who’s required to account for [their] actions.
• The most excellent Brad DeLong gives us the following: a Campaign Desk excerpt that exposes the press for the high school clique they really are; a scathing Paul Krugman op-ed on the Iraq Occupation; an analysis of how to get ahead in the blogging biz without really trying; an (in my opinion quite excellent) hypothesis of why we have such a piss-poor press corps (shorter DeLong: they don’t know enough about what they’re reporting on and people lie to them); a philosophy test that asks us to consider whether Dick Cheney is a psychopath a perspective on war and the press and a musing on the disappearing economists of the Bush Administration.
• Watched the Daily Shows recorded in my absence (gotta love MythTV). John Stewart’s getting sassy with the guests. (The Poor Man) I like it.
• Kevin Drum has a post that shows just how this nation’s poorest benefited from Clinton’s economic policies. Also, there’s this about the torture memo, and this about HHS scientists being prohibited to participate in UN meetings unless they’ve been personally approved by the administration. Also, last week he mentioned Paul Krugman clucking his tongue at John Ashcroft, which can never be bad (NYT, registration required), and a couple more tongues clucking over the Failure in Iraq, and this great post on Leadership (I’m really starting to like Joe Biden).
• More Ashcroftian high-jinks by way of Atrios.
• Just watched the new Bush/Cheney campaign ad called Kerry’s Coalition of the Wild-Eyed. As The Poor Man points out, it’s pretty much a self-parody. Don’t know about you, but I get ill thinking that people actually buy this guff. (By the way, in case you don’t read The Poor Man, the Kerry-supporting ad comparing Bush to Hitler was not sponsored and has been denounced by MoveOn.org.)
• The Poor Man links us to what qualifies Porter Goss to replace George Tenet as head of the CIA.
• Adam Felber feels liberated by Dick Cheney’s F-Bomb.
• Whatever you think of Michael Moore, he makes a pretty good point here about the media’s utter failure in the run-up to the Iraq War. (Eschaton)
• The RIAA continues its relentless crusade to sue its customers out of their fun money. (CNET News)
• Slashdot has a disturbing tidbit about Microsoft-funded think tanks that purport to be independent but somehow only seem to bash Big Redmond’s competitors. Also, a post with links to some P2P-related articles and a bit about fooling fingerprint scanners
• Ariana Huffington highlights the problem with the Cheney Doctrine. Also, the utter failure of the Bush Doctrine.
• Some insights on blogging from PressThink to Bill Gates.
• Congress continues to consider crushing copyright law.
• The Nation’s Editor’s Cut tells us that the Speaker of the House should be brought up on charges without DeLay.
• The natural advantages of P2P to promote artists who don’t get airplay start bubbling to the surface. (Boing Boing)
• Bruce Schneier ponders the dangers of the police state. (Boing Boing)

Whew! See y’all tomorrow.

As much as I love Seattle, I do enjoy being back on the East Coast. I’ll have landed in or passed through some of the greatest cities in the country on this trip – Boston, Providence, New York, Philadelphia, DC – even Mystic, Connecticut!

I’m really settling into the trip now. I feel I’m in my element on a train, a welcome break from the off-balance way I’ve existed for the past few days. Providence is lovely, but the conference folks were definitely from a different world.

The Acela Express trains are not quite up to the standard of their European counterparts – France’s TGV and others – but they are respectably appointed, comfortable, and fairly quiet. Zipping along at speeds of up to 150 mph, the usual clickety-clack of the wheels turns into something resembling the reassuring whirr of a piston engine.

It’s an interesting way to see the world, on board a train. In Europe, I was disappointed in my wish to see the countryside, as the high-speed trains there travel – quite understandably – between view-obscuring berms. There’s some of that to be experienced onboard the Acela, and there are the usual gritty industrial zones and gray, run-down residential areas that coagulate around the rail lines. However, there are also significant stretches of waterside villages with their marinas and harbors and houses for the wealthy. I was even able to glimpse a fog-shrouded Manhattan skyline at twilight, just as the lights of the Chrysler building came on.

Twenty minutes later, the train left Penn Station and emerged from the subterranean rail lines into the tunnel of darkness. Now, with the cabin lights dimmed, the lights tend to be only occasional pinpricks or glowing orange pockets of the odd settlement. At high speeds, the WHUMP of a passing train rattles the windows and cures us of our hiccups.

The one tiresome aspect of the voyage – only partly alleviated by the new iPod – is the cell phone conversations. For my part, I’m terribly embarrassed to have my one-way conversations full-volume even in an empty car, much less with other passengers surrounding me. Heck, I didn’t even want to sit in the Quiet Car -where cell phones and loud conversations are banned – for fear that the light typing I planned to do might disturb someone. But I must have a disease or a syndrome of some kind because others seem perfectly capable of carrying on all sorts of inane gab fests without the slightest hint of regret.

At the risk of sounding sanctimonious, I worry that these folks aren’t taking advantage of the great benefit that travel offers – perspective. Seeing the world at 100+ mph, at the slightly elevated height of the tracks, is to my mind one of the great opportunities of our modern life. When much of our lives are lived in the canyons of city blocks or the caves of our various dwellings, it’s essential to occasionally see the world differently. Look here and see where our old cars are piled up. Look there and see people in rags sitting on the stoop of their ramshackle cottage, next to the burned out husk of a brick apartment building. Watch a bird hang motionless over the mast of a sailboat. Watch grand cities turn into graffiti-covered suburbs, turn into lush forests, turn into beaches and quaint little downtowns, and back again. Put the phone down. Does your wife really need to know for the third time that you’ll be in at 10:30?

Thanks to a recommendation from my good friend Jodi Chase, I had my first Del’s today. Del’s is a delicious frozen lemonade concoction, and it just so happens that I lo-o-ove frozen lemonade concoctions (or frolemcocs, as I call ‘em). The fella at the store showed me how to drink like a native Rhode Islander (hint: throw away the straw and squeeze the cup). When he claimed that a true native also dunks the SuperPretzels, I got a little suspicious, but he kept a straight face so I tried it and… well, it’s not too bad, actually.

Today’s list of stuff you should be reading instead of this lousy blog…

• Woohoo! SpaceShipOne takes the first privately-funded batch of M&Ms into space.
• Atrios points out that William Safire is spinning out of control.
• The Angry Bear smacks missile defense until it snaps into focus. (via Brad Delong)
• Kevin Drum finds out who’s recovering. Not us.
• Spinsanity clears its throat in response to the White House’s response to the 9/11 Commission.
• Babylon 5 meets Star Trek? I’d love to see this one happen. (Slashdot)
• Ars Technica has a couple of stories dealing with copyright threats from Congress and the usual suspects.
• This is why it matters who we elect, people. The High Court demands to see our papers.
• Now that’s a Killer Hand. (via BoingBoing)

Here’s two days’ worth of stuff you should be reading instead of this blog.

• Sister Machine Gun’s singer puts the kibosh on the idea that the RIAA is only looking out for the artists.
• Brad Delong’s head hurts. Bang, Bang, Bang. Wait. Ahhhhh… That feels better.
• TPM stand-in Spencer Ackerman passes on a bit of treasure from Trent Lott.
• The Poor Man plays poker with Dick Cheney
• The Nation asks why our dear leaders aren’t getting the Starr treatment.

When did television become such a freak show? For years I haven’t watched anything other than sporting events and Comedy Central (and decorating shows, of course, when Louise is watching with me). I wanted something to keep me company while I ate my food in the hotel room, and there are, like, 10 channels to choose from, so I’m spinning the dial. I can’t believe the miserable state of what passes for entertainment, much less news. Aaron Brown’s smirk on CNN is stomach turning. An ABC Health Watch report was three meaningless sentences. An NBC reporter was scraping away the emotional scabs of one of the air traffic controllers from 9/11. And now, on CBS’s 48 hours, Leslie Stahl is amazed at how twins separated at birth look and act so much alike. I couldn’t even get through the so-called dramatic shows on the other channels. Even ESPN is showing golf. Christ. What nonsense.

About the only entertaining thing I found was when I flipped through the list of porn movies offered by the hotel. The Naughy Nurses video attempts to entice viewers with the label “Dialog Free.” After what I’ve seen tonight, I actually thing porn dialog would be a step up.

Stuff you should be reading instead of this blog…

• Bill O’Reilly. Sheesh.
• Donald Rumsfeld. Double sheesh. Triple even
• Could we see the tide start to turn against the DMCA? If so, it’s thanks to those fine folks at EFF. Send ‘em some dough, wontcha?
• I must admit I haven’t read a Philip K. Dick book (that I know of), but I may have to start. Richard Linklater – only my favorite director ever – is directing A Scanner Darkly in the animated style of his last movie, Waking Life. I have a lot of respect for Linklater. He manages to work on neat and interesting projects both outside and inside the Hollywood system, he is in great measure responsible for the growth of the Austin film scene, and he continues to experiment and innovate. Apparently, the author’s heirs are impressed with the film so far. I’m looking forward to it.
• I may not keep up with this much over the next few days as I’m in Rhode Island for a Haitian history conference, but I’ll try to add a little something here and there. Rhode Island is charming and Brown University is quaint and quite impressive. And, in case anyone is interested, I know Cab Driver Jerry’s life story, so just ask.
• One more thing about Rhode Island. They’re running a big ad campaign here to encourage young people not to smoke. A laudable goal, indeed, but they may be a little out of touch kids these days. I saw a commercial tonight intended to make a young drummer who doesn’t smoke a role model. Somehow, though, I don’t think that making All-State Band three years in a row is the right thing to highlight. Band geeks don’t tend to be the social trendsetters in the school. If they were, my high school memories would have been very different.

Stuff you should be reading instead of wasting your time reading this.

• This post from The Poor Man is a couple of weeks old, but the lies are timeless.
• The Internet Storm Center monitors the Net for intrusions and outages. The Internet Traffic Report monitors the flow of data on the world’s networks.
• PC World has an article on the quality of CDs and DVDs, including a look at the myth of “CD rot.”
• Spinsanity looks at the slant in Slate’s Bushisms & Kerryisms. Unfortunately, the context they provide for the Bushisms, while they do clarify some statements, don’t generally do him any favors.
• Kevin Drum, among others, notes the increasing skepticism the press is showing towards John Ashcroft.
• A couple of quotes by Carl Schurz (I loved his Peanurts comic!):

“If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.”
“Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right, when wrong to be put right.”

As usual, Fafblog hits it on the head and makes it beg for more…

Everything is better when it is embossed with a vague smattering of God! Money is more trustworthy! Flags are more jingoistic! Supreme court buildings are more Law of Mosesy! Ceremonial God supersizes life. More importantly Ceremonial God is the American God. How do you know if that dollar or that oath or that national leader is trustworthy and American? It has the God™ seal of approval that is how!

Read more

Found this insightful and informed analysis of newspaper site registration on Slashdot.

Slashdot | Turning Up The Heat On On-Line Registration

by yelvington (http://www.yelvington.com/)

Others already have posted the obvious answer that newspapers make most of their money on advertising, not circulation. I’ll add some precision. (I am a strategist for a newspaper company.)

Three revenue drivers traditionally have been coequal for printed newspapers: Classified advertising, display advertising (the big ads on news pages), and circulation.

However, circulation revenues are rapidly declining due to market pressures, and circulation costs (a problem of print distribution, but not of Internet distribution) consume more than circulation sales brings in.

Display advertising has declined about 15 percentage points over the last couple of decades, largely due to retail sector consolidations and Wal-Mart (which does not advertise very much in newspapers). So newspapers are increasingly dependent on classified advertising … which happens to work extraordinarily well on the Internet.

The audience is moving from print to the Internet, so it is imperative that newspapers find ways to serve that audience online (and deliver advertising to it).

On the Internet, the only business model that has been demonstrated to work for newspapers is the open, ad-supported model. The typical paid site gets something like 1.5 percent of the audience of the printed newspaper, while an open site may actually exceed the audience of the print product. So successful newspapers have open Web sites and rely on advertising for support.

Successful newspapers have implemented classified advertising pricing strategies that harvest that Internet-generated value. The single most effective advertising program implemented by newspapers is the “Top Jobs” program originated at sfgate, [sfgate.com], which lets key classified advertisers pay extra for exposure on regular site content pages.

Regardless of what slashdot groupthink might dictate, the reality is that local retail banner and tile advertising also works. However, the Internet—because of its potential global reach—creates unique problems for local advertisers.

Consider the Washington Post. Its advertising base is local. Its Web reach is global. If you think about that for maybe five seconds, you can see why they have implemented registration. They have to develop two completely independent ad sales strategies - one based on a global audience (which is why they ask business questions of nonlocal registrants) and another based on a local audience. And they need to be able to target local advertising based on geographic information from registration and also national advertising based on the B2B questions from registration.

It is an article of faith on slashdot that “everybody” lies on registrations. My own data shows under one percent falsification. Perhaps most people are not as dishonest as slashdotters. :)

As for the whine about “inevitable spam” ... please demonstrate where a newspaper has abused the email addresses provided by its users. No newspaper shares those addresses with advertisers. Every news company carefully controls the use of those email addresses—even the Tribune Company, which requires that you consent to receive ad mail as a condition of site access, severely limits both the number and the nature of the emails. It would be bad business to do otherwise.

So explain to me, why do I have to register? Why not a portal page – local users click here; global users click here. Why do you need my street address?