Posts Tagged: Choices
The Way We ____ Now
20

Is Your Social Media Editor Destroying Your News Organization Today?

| April 19th, 2013

FALSE REPORT>>> RT@thematthewkeys: Just in: Suspect 2 on the ground at gunpoint.

— Mike Hayes (@michaelhayes) April 19, 2013

…perhaps if I was in a real newsroom with access to my work email, instead of shut out a month ago, I wouldn't be working out of a bedroom

— Matthew Keys (@TheMatthewKeys) April 19, 2013

"The important thing, I think, is to—as soon as you know something that you sent out is incorrect, you correct the record. And it's OK, I think, to make mistakes in these circumstances. You—everyone will make mistakes, and it's kind of almost impossible to avoid them." —Slate's social [...]

Asking for a Friend
54

Where Do Liberals Say They'll Move Now if Obama Loses?

| April 3rd, 2012

With the news that Monterrey is no longer a functioning city, with the police force literally controlled by organized crime, and Mexico City not much better, the old "I'm moving to Mexico if the Romney-Rubio ticket wins" is pretty much right out. And with the imminent collapse of the EU, moving to much of Europe—particularly Spain—seems like a not great idea. To what locale will disgruntled Americans (particularly those who can't take the cold of Canada or Berlin or Sweden) pretend they're going to relocate now in the event of a rightward turn in the White House? I guess Istanbul isn't a bad choice, unless Iran gets nuked? Is [...]

Opinion
34

The Census: "What Is Person 1's Race"?

| April 16th, 2010

When my German-American mother married my black-American Indian father, her dad and stepmom disowned her immediately. They would have been upset had she married an Irishman–"Those people kiss the filthy Blarney Stone," my grandfather would say–but a dark man was practically incomprehensible, like marrying an ironing board. "Race-mixing," as my grandfather called it, was an abomination.

The last thing my mom remembers her dad saying as she walked out of his modest Akron home is, "I never want you in our lives again."

Rashomon of the Skies
14

Someone On This Airplane Is Wrong. But Who???

| February 21st, 2013

Nothing makes my day like an upgrade clearing at the last minute!

— Matthew Klint (@LiveandLetsFly) January 26, 2012

This story has it all. Okay, first the facts, as we know them. (We know them, so far, from the account of just one party.)

Dude—Matthew Klint, a 26-year-old preppy white man and a frequent flier blogger—boards plane. (The plane is a United plane.) Dude takes a few pictures of his seat. Flight attendant says pictures are forbidden, points out printed rules. (Photography is disallowed on-board, say rules: explicitly any photos of other passengers, crew, equipment and procedures are banned, with an exception for "personal events.") Passenger says [...]

One Last Thing
84

Do You Have Garbage Taste in Music? A Quiz

| November 4th, 2011

1) Who is your favorite Beatle? A) John: +0 points. B) Paul: +1 point. C) Ringo: +0 point. D) George: +5 points.

2) Who is your favorite musical Jackson? A) Michael Jackson: +0 points. B) Janet Jackson: +0 points. C) Wanda Jackson: +0 points. D) Jackson Browne: +5 points.

3) How many members of the Indigo Girls can you name? For each one, +5 points.

4) Do you own any jazz records? A) Yes, many: + 0 points. B) No, none: +3 points. C) I own one jazz album, “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis: +3 points. D) Yes, I own several Kenny G albums: +5 points. [...]

The Way We Choose Now
16

Kurt Loder Renounces Google

| July 17th, 2012

I had one of those random two-hour talks with a friend in Union Square last night (New York City! IS IT THE BEST? Yes, discuss) and we talked a lot about where you draw lines. (He doesn't give his money to Whole Foods; I am lazy and will buy organic milk at the nearest available vendor. Just like I will buy things from Apple and Amazon at the drop of a hat. Also I'm STILL trying to get my domains off GoDaddy. :( But then I have a number of other seemingly random uncrossable lines in the political sand.) All this to say that: Kurt Loder only uses Bing, [...]

The Way We ____ Now
18

Don't Re-Elect the Internet

| June 7th, 2011

"I’ve never had any luck with publishing companies. Nobody has, really—discounting the handful of Famous Bestselling Authors you read about in the NYT. It occurred to me, a few weeks ago, that I personally know about forty people who have sold books to big or medium-sized publishers, and their experiences are all the same: Long after you’ve written it and long after you’ve spent the advance on food and rent, a forgotten little bundle of words with an inscrutable cover is released in the night, you might do a few readings in empty Barnes & Noble stores on a weekday, and then four or five years later you still [...]