The Awl http://www.theawl.com/ Be Less Stupid Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:20:05 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.2 "Some Experts Say" http://www.theawl.com/2011/12/some-experts-say http://www.theawl.com/2011/12/some-experts-say#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:20:05 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2011/12/some-experts-say A wonderful example of the dying art of "newspaper objectivity." Gosh, it's a conflict! Some people think that staring at a screen instead of the road while driving might be less safe; some other people think that the number of accidents won't change if your state outlaws texting and emailing while driving. Thankfully we have been presented with both opinions and can now just sit here in silence.

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]]> A wonderful example of the dying art of "newspaper objectivity." Gosh, it's a conflict! Some people think that staring at a screen instead of the road while driving might be less safe; some other people think that the number of accidents won't change if your state outlaws texting and emailing while driving. Thankfully we have been presented with both opinions and can now just sit here in silence.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2011/12/some-experts-say/feed 17 What Replaces Newspapers (Literally) http://www.theawl.com/2011/09/what-replaces-newspapers-literally http://www.theawl.com/2011/09/what-replaces-newspapers-literally#comments Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:10:41 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2011/09/what-replaces-newspapers-literally "Genting"—the world's largest purveyors of casinos, cruises, biotech and plantations—"has revealed its plans for the giant resort complex they plan to plop down on the current site of the Miami Herald building."

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]]> "Genting"—the world's largest purveyors of casinos, cruises, biotech and plantations—"has revealed its plans for the giant resort complex they plan to plop down on the current site of the Miami Herald building."

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2011/09/what-replaces-newspapers-literally/feed 7 Horrible 'Times' Spam Farm Gets What It Deserves http://www.theawl.com/2011/07/horrible-times-spam-farm-is-toast http://www.theawl.com/2011/07/horrible-times-spam-farm-is-toast#comments Thu, 21 Jul 2011 09:50:47 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2011/07/horrible-times-spam-farm-is-toast About.com, the content farm owned by the Times and one of the worst things on the Internet, looks like it's finally in trouble, due in large part to Google taking action against the Garbagenet. (These outfits depend on search results.) And also: advertisers realizing there are better ways to spend money than advertising against an empty void. In the second quarter of this year, About.com shed staff and now their real operating costs are $13.1 million; their operating profit is down 24% from last year, to $11.6 million. (That's less than $4 million a month.) To be fair, this is still a "real business": The About Group had revenues of $59 million year-to-date, so hey, I'd take it, but the writing is on the wall for this as a visionary business. It's not. It's bad for the Internet and not even that great for your wallet. There's a number of not-so-great numbers at the Times, just released today for the second quarter, but let's look at the interesting numbers: who subscribes online?

"Paid digital subscribers": 224,000.

"Paid e-reader subscribers": 57,000.

Free digital subscribers ("paid for" by a sponsor): 100,000.

"Home-delivery subscribers with free linked digital accounts": 756,000.

So that's 1,037,000 people paying, in one way or another, to access the Times online, though the vast majority of them are actually paying for the physical newspapers, and getting the digital version for "free." (And what's more: a number of those are paying for just the weekend paper, not the daily paper.)

And "circulation" is down from 2011 to 2010. The Times puts it this way: "the rate of home-delivery circulation declines slowed moderately, as we observed an uptick in new home-delivery orders and a decrease in attrition following the launch as print subscribers of all frequencies receive all digital access at no additional cost." The use of the word "uptick" is funny there, given that the number of subscribers is, you know, on a decline. The point being: only a slightly fewer number of people actually stopped getting the paper, and also some started getting the paper (*raises hand!*), just so that they could get the paper "for free" online. Not terrible; this seems according to plan! The Times Company as a whole would technically be (or, you know, in the real world, "is") making about $28 million a month—if it weren't for all those pesky write-downs that dragged it way into the hole this quarter.

But saying, as the CEO did, that digital subscriptions will provide the company “with a significant new revenue stream in the second half of this year" seems like a pretty grand over-statement. 224,000 people at $15 a month is $3.36 million; at $35 a month, that's $7.8 million. You apparently can't even pay for the staff of About.com with that—and it costs ten times that last number to actually produce the physical paper.

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]]> About.com, the content farm owned by the Times and one of the worst things on the Internet, looks like it's finally in trouble, due in large part to Google taking action against the Garbagenet. (These outfits depend on search results.) And also: advertisers realizing there are better ways to spend money than advertising against an empty void. In the second quarter of this year, About.com shed staff and now their real operating costs are $13.1 million; their operating profit is down 24% from last year, to $11.6 million. (That's less than $4 million a month.) To be fair, this is still a "real business": The About Group had revenues of $59 million year-to-date, so hey, I'd take it, but the writing is on the wall for this as a visionary business. It's not. It's bad for the Internet and not even that great for your wallet. There's a number of not-so-great numbers at the Times, just released today for the second quarter, but let's look at the interesting numbers: who subscribes online?

"Paid digital subscribers": 224,000.

"Paid e-reader subscribers": 57,000.

Free digital subscribers ("paid for" by a sponsor): 100,000.

"Home-delivery subscribers with free linked digital accounts": 756,000.

So that's 1,037,000 people paying, in one way or another, to access the Times online, though the vast majority of them are actually paying for the physical newspapers, and getting the digital version for "free." (And what's more: a number of those are paying for just the weekend paper, not the daily paper.)

And "circulation" is down from 2011 to 2010. The Times puts it this way: "the rate of home-delivery circulation declines slowed moderately, as we observed an uptick in new home-delivery orders and a decrease in attrition following the launch as print subscribers of all frequencies receive all digital access at no additional cost." The use of the word "uptick" is funny there, given that the number of subscribers is, you know, on a decline. The point being: only a slightly fewer number of people actually stopped getting the paper, and also some started getting the paper (*raises hand!*), just so that they could get the paper "for free" online. Not terrible; this seems according to plan! The Times Company as a whole would technically be (or, you know, in the real world, "is") making about $28 million a month—if it weren't for all those pesky write-downs that dragged it way into the hole this quarter.

But saying, as the CEO did, that digital subscriptions will provide the company “with a significant new revenue stream in the second half of this year" seems like a pretty grand over-statement. 224,000 people at $15 a month is $3.36 million; at $35 a month, that's $7.8 million. You apparently can't even pay for the staff of About.com with that—and it costs ten times that last number to actually produce the physical paper.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2011/07/horrible-times-spam-farm-is-toast/feed 12 Man's Screed About Internet Stupidity Mocked on Internet http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/mans-screed-about-internet-stupidity-mocked-on-internet http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/mans-screed-about-internet-stupidity-mocked-on-internet#comments Wed, 18 May 2011 15:30:56 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/mans-screed-about-internet-stupidity-mocked-on-internet

Important Editor: I Hate The Internet But Love Trolling. What Do You Think?less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplySeth Colter Walls
sethcolterwalls


"He just rolled up and trolled. He went into a venue where people have elected to be, and told everyone that their presence there makes them stupid. He then laments that he did not receive more positive responses from within that forum itself."
—Well, yes, here you go. As someone said earlier today, if Times mag editor Hugo Lindgren really wanted to be a big man, he could probably kick it up a notch by firing his boss and columnist, Bill Keller.

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Important Editor: I Hate The Internet But Love Trolling. What Do You Think?less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplySeth Colter Walls
sethcolterwalls


"He just rolled up and trolled. He went into a venue where people have elected to be, and told everyone that their presence there makes them stupid. He then laments that he did not receive more positive responses from within that forum itself."
—Well, yes, here you go. As someone said earlier today, if Times mag editor Hugo Lindgren really wanted to be a big man, he could probably kick it up a notch by firing his boss and columnist, Bill Keller.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/mans-screed-about-internet-stupidity-mocked-on-internet/feed 15 From Local Crime Report, "A Portrait Emerges"¹ http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/from-local-crime-report-a-portrait-emerges%c2%b9 http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/from-local-crime-report-a-portrait-emerges%c2%b9#comments Thu, 05 May 2011 10:20:46 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/from-local-crime-report-a-portrait-emerges%c2%b9 Do you know what the McKenzie River Reflections weekly paper has, besides the delight of being located in McKenzie Bridge, some ways inland from Eugene, OR, right in the middle of the Willamette National Forest? Yup, a really awesome crime blotter.
April 7: 9:27 AM: Suspicious Conditions ­ 55000 block, McK. Hwy. Complainant is upset because a female put a flyer in his mailbox. Caller is unsure if she tampered with his mail but is worried because he is expecting a tax refund. Citizen self report.
Heh. Also really good: "Caller reports hearing someone shooting guns in the air. The noise is upsetting caller's dogs." We all make so many assumptions.

¹ Yes.

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]]> Do you know what the McKenzie River Reflections weekly paper has, besides the delight of being located in McKenzie Bridge, some ways inland from Eugene, OR, right in the middle of the Willamette National Forest? Yup, a really awesome crime blotter.
April 7: 9:27 AM: Suspicious Conditions ­ 55000 block, McK. Hwy. Complainant is upset because a female put a flyer in his mailbox. Caller is unsure if she tampered with his mail but is worried because he is expecting a tax refund. Citizen self report.
Heh. Also really good: "Caller reports hearing someone shooting guns in the air. The noise is upsetting caller's dogs." We all make so many assumptions.

¹ Yes.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/from-local-crime-report-a-portrait-emerges%c2%b9/feed 10 Edgewood, New Mexico Joins in America's Fight Against Skittling http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/edgewood-new-mexico-joins-in-americas-fight-against-skittling http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/edgewood-new-mexico-joins-in-americas-fight-against-skittling#comments Tue, 03 May 2011 09:50:01 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/edgewood-new-mexico-joins-in-americas-fight-against-skittling Edgewood, New Mexico—30 miles east of Albuquerque—has a skittling problem. Yes. So to combat this epidemic of pill-popping, they participated in the national drug take-back program, according to their weekly paper, The Independent. You can just go down to the pharmacy and give them your pills! I have no idea why someone would do this. At least gun amnesty programs get scary illegal things out of your house. But pill amnesty programs just take away your fun pills! I don't really get it?

Elsewhere in the Independent, there are jobs available for sheep herders. You live in "an isolated camp/bunkhouse," are on-call 24-hours a day, and you get paid $750 a month. Just three months experience required!

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]]> Edgewood, New Mexico—30 miles east of Albuquerque—has a skittling problem. Yes. So to combat this epidemic of pill-popping, they participated in the national drug take-back program, according to their weekly paper, The Independent. You can just go down to the pharmacy and give them your pills! I have no idea why someone would do this. At least gun amnesty programs get scary illegal things out of your house. But pill amnesty programs just take away your fun pills! I don't really get it?

Elsewhere in the Independent, there are jobs available for sheep herders. You live in "an isolated camp/bunkhouse," are on-call 24-hours a day, and you get paid $750 a month. Just three months experience required!

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/edgewood-new-mexico-joins-in-americas-fight-against-skittling/feed 15 Tech Micro-Boom 2.0 Comes to Quincy, CA http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/tech-micro-boom-2-0-comes-to-quincy-ca http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/tech-micro-boom-2-0-comes-to-quincy-ca#comments Wed, 27 Apr 2011 09:00:54 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/tech-micro-boom-2-0-comes-to-quincy-ca Five years ago, according to the editor of the Quincy Valley Post Register, the town went a bit crazy in a near-shoring boom. Microsoft and Yahoo! both were building data centers in town (hey, eastern California is much closer than Utah, America's favorite near-shoring zone (Mormons are so honest and industrious!)) and property values went up and everyone got a little nuts: "We all know what happened. The construction workers eventually left town, the data centers didn’t bring thousands of new people to live in Quincy and we’re still waiting for a movie theater," he writes. "And sadly, I know of several people who were busted when the boom was over." Now Dell and Sabey are building data centers there too. Here we go again! Meanwhile, up the road a piece in Greenville, you can buy a "3200sf, historic building on Main Street" for $99,000. Be right back, I'm off to start over in Plumas County!

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]]> Five years ago, according to the editor of the Quincy Valley Post Register, the town went a bit crazy in a near-shoring boom. Microsoft and Yahoo! both were building data centers in town (hey, eastern California is much closer than Utah, America's favorite near-shoring zone (Mormons are so honest and industrious!)) and property values went up and everyone got a little nuts: "We all know what happened. The construction workers eventually left town, the data centers didn’t bring thousands of new people to live in Quincy and we’re still waiting for a movie theater," he writes. "And sadly, I know of several people who were busted when the boom was over." Now Dell and Sabey are building data centers there too. Here we go again! Meanwhile, up the road a piece in Greenville, you can buy a "3200sf, historic building on Main Street" for $99,000. Be right back, I'm off to start over in Plumas County!

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/tech-micro-boom-2-0-comes-to-quincy-ca/feed 13 Citizen: Big Government is Taxing Our Texas Dogs! http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/citizen-big-government-is-taxing-our-texas-dogs http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/citizen-big-government-is-taxing-our-texas-dogs#comments Mon, 25 Apr 2011 09:00:48 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/citizen-big-government-is-taxing-our-texas-dogs The Malakoff News serves (part of) Henderson County—county seat, Athens, Texas—overall home to almost 90,000 28,000 households. And just like the fictional town of Dillon, Texas, Henderson, if those fatcats in the Texas House have their way, will be redistricted into two districts. Henderson, says the paper, is the only county in the state to be butchered up in such a fashion, and the locals are ticked off. Then the robocalls started, blaming their (Republican) state representative for it all, and asking citizens to call him up. Unfortunately, the freshman is actually not on the redistricting committee. Meanwhile, closer to Malakoff? They are trying to tax everyone's dogs!

A local dog owner writes to the paper:

I recieved my letter from the city stating that I could be fined up to $2,000 dollars if I didn't register my dogs within 10 days. Let's forget for a moment that gov. feels it has a right to make a buck off peoples everyday lives...how do they know I have dogs? Must be from vet records. What of those who don't take their pets to the vet? Does the city know about them? I hope so, otherwise only the responsible folks will get these letters and that makes the ordinance discriminatory. Someone please answer my questions so I can feel secure that this ordinance will be enforced on EVERY pet owner in Malakoff.

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]]> The Malakoff News serves (part of) Henderson County—county seat, Athens, Texas—overall home to almost 90,000 28,000 households. And just like the fictional town of Dillon, Texas, Henderson, if those fatcats in the Texas House have their way, will be redistricted into two districts. Henderson, says the paper, is the only county in the state to be butchered up in such a fashion, and the locals are ticked off. Then the robocalls started, blaming their (Republican) state representative for it all, and asking citizens to call him up. Unfortunately, the freshman is actually not on the redistricting committee. Meanwhile, closer to Malakoff? They are trying to tax everyone's dogs!

A local dog owner writes to the paper:

I recieved my letter from the city stating that I could be fined up to $2,000 dollars if I didn't register my dogs within 10 days. Let's forget for a moment that gov. feels it has a right to make a buck off peoples everyday lives...how do they know I have dogs? Must be from vet records. What of those who don't take their pets to the vet? Does the city know about them? I hope so, otherwise only the responsible folks will get these letters and that makes the ordinance discriminatory. Someone please answer my questions so I can feel secure that this ordinance will be enforced on EVERY pet owner in Malakoff.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/citizen-big-government-is-taxing-our-texas-dogs/feed 10 Brit Tourists Die Daily: The 'Daily Mail' Monster Business Model http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/brit-tourists-die-daily-the-daily-mail-monster-business-model http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/brit-tourists-die-daily-the-daily-mail-monster-business-model#comments Tue, 19 Apr 2011 09:25:56 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/brit-tourists-die-daily-the-daily-mail-monster-business-model The internet is agog with the news that the Daily Mail gets more traffic than the Huffington Post—some 40 million uniques in a month now. (This is sort of like saying that bacon "gets more traffic" than sausages, in a way: people just like breakfasts meats, just as they adore celebrity nipples.) The Daily Mail, unlike the HuffPo, also sells 1.9 million newspapers a day—astounding numbers to American newspaperpeople. (That's extremely close to the total daily circulation of the Washington Post plus the LA Times plus the New York Times. For real.) Still, almost 2/3rds of their web traffic is from outside of the UK. Their secret isn't just celebrity nipples though, to be fair. It's also old-school, small-town newspaper-style death and disaster. The magical thing about the UK is that their tourists are constantly being murdered in Sarasota or plunging to their deaths in Thai waterfalls. It's like the whole country is the cast of a Final Destination movie. As long as the UK's number one export is woe-begotten folks on holiday, that's cash in the bank.

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]]> The internet is agog with the news that the Daily Mail gets more traffic than the Huffington Post—some 40 million uniques in a month now. (This is sort of like saying that bacon "gets more traffic" than sausages, in a way: people just like breakfasts meats, just as they adore celebrity nipples.) The Daily Mail, unlike the HuffPo, also sells 1.9 million newspapers a day—astounding numbers to American newspaperpeople. (That's extremely close to the total daily circulation of the Washington Post plus the LA Times plus the New York Times. For real.) Still, almost 2/3rds of their web traffic is from outside of the UK. Their secret isn't just celebrity nipples though, to be fair. It's also old-school, small-town newspaper-style death and disaster. The magical thing about the UK is that their tourists are constantly being murdered in Sarasota or plunging to their deaths in Thai waterfalls. It's like the whole country is the cast of a Final Destination movie. As long as the UK's number one export is woe-begotten folks on holiday, that's cash in the bank.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/brit-tourists-die-daily-the-daily-mail-monster-business-model/feed 17 The Best Newspaper Staff Game in Town http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/the-best-newspaper-staff-game-in-town http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/the-best-newspaper-staff-game-in-town#comments Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:30:52 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/the-best-newspaper-staff-game-in-town There is something going on that is totally awesome but that none of us will ever really know how it ends, and so it is also sad. New Observer editor Elizabeth Spiers not long ago assigned her staff to report profiles of a coworker, as an exercise (or as an evaluation?) and many people there are taking it dead serious, which is great. Like, people are asking their coworkers about finances and grilling their friends and acquaintances and basically calling up their parents. And reading everything they've ever written. This has the opportunity to tear the office apart and/or unite it! Or both, and likely in a good way! So fun, so dramatic, so living on the edge. You can learn so much about people by how they behave in this situation. It's like a game of Clue! Or a little like that Stanford prison experiment! Best idea ever.

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]]> There is something going on that is totally awesome but that none of us will ever really know how it ends, and so it is also sad. New Observer editor Elizabeth Spiers not long ago assigned her staff to report profiles of a coworker, as an exercise (or as an evaluation?) and many people there are taking it dead serious, which is great. Like, people are asking their coworkers about finances and grilling their friends and acquaintances and basically calling up their parents. And reading everything they've ever written. This has the opportunity to tear the office apart and/or unite it! Or both, and likely in a good way! So fun, so dramatic, so living on the edge. You can learn so much about people by how they behave in this situation. It's like a game of Clue! Or a little like that Stanford prison experiment! Best idea ever.

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