gawker stole ian shapira's story.

i loved this article in today's washington post.

at first glance, it seems like another "how will newspapers survive in the internet age" sort of story. but i think the point made is valid:

Current law basically allows the Gawkers of the world to appropriate others' work, repurpose it and sell ads against it with no payment to or legal recourse for the company that paid me while I sat through two hours of a generational seminar.

Marburger compared my article and the Gawker posting and concluded: "This is what in our opinion is a huge contributor to the demise of those who are originating news reports. If you don't change the law to stop this, originators of news reports cannot survive."

i don't pick up near the traffic a site like gawker does. at least not yet. but i like to think there is a responsibilty on the part of the blogosphere to give credit where credit is due. but i also think it's interesting how newspapers and aggregators both need each other in order to survive, yet the former is faltering financially while the latter is cleaning up. a good read and thought-starter, for sure.

new rule

bill maher did a great segment ending his show last night. if you missed it on HBO, it's written up in the huffington post.

the vatican says something not stupid.

carla bruni need not get upset this time.

the vatican newspaper has called oscar wilde a "lucid analyst of the modern world."

indeed he was. he poked fun at marriage, gender roles, and societal norms. i wonder what the vatican liked best?

* A man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love her.

* Genius is born--not paid.

* I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability.

* The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.

*Work is the curse of the drinking classes.

* It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.

* Scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.

* I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.

* The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself.

* There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.

* There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel that no one else has a right to blame us. It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.

* Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience and rebellion that progress has been made.

the recession claims more victims

in one of the saddest states of the economy i've seen yet, the los angeles times reports that more and more people are leaving the bodies of their dead in the custody of the state because they can't afford to collect the remains.

i can't imagine what it must be like not only to have to deal with the death of someone, but to then be burdened with the guilt of not being able to honor them with a ceremony, burial, or even an urn.

it's kind of a sick, sad reason that i wish six feet under was still on the air. the show dealt several times with bodies going unclaimed, but never for a monetary reason. there was a memorable episode when david tried to upsell a family on a casket. i don't think funeral homes are inherently evil [ not all anyway ], but in a bit of macabre irony, they, too, are just trying to ride out the economic tide.

someone more thoughtful than i... go make a show about this.

in the year 2000... in the year TWO THOUSAND!

buzzfeed feeds us a 1985 issue of ebony, where they predict what stars will look like in 2000.

in ebony's defense, it's not like anyone could have predicted what would actually happen. that might be more frightening than what actually happened.

[ much respect, michael, but cmon ]

palin's resignation speech: the good version.

vanity fair takes a stab at making sarah palin sound cohesive. nice try, guys. notice not a single thing was stetted.

people in pizza slice costumes becoming pizzas

i post this only because, well, first and foremost, it's wacky. but also because back in 1999, when i was at my very first ad agency internship in dc, i, too, donned a pizza costume. specifically "slice," the unofficial papa john's mascot.

maddow v. buchanan

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

via huffington post, rachel maddow argues with pat buchanan about racism and affirmative action. though rachel tells him that he's dating himself, she pretty much sits back and lets him look the silly old uncle we're ashamed to invite to our bbq's. enjoy.

NYT banners

i remarked on my facebook* today how dismayed i was by a scientology.org banner on the new york times's website. but that damned gawker beat me to it.

it also brings up this shingles ad which is prominently displayed today, and that is just completely nasty. whatever happened to escapism during hard times? sheesh.

i will say in my defense, however: i am on west coast time. check mate.

* also, note: i'm not sure what compelled me to link to my facebook. maybe because i have a vanity URL now. but i don't want to be your friend. i mean, really. yes, even you.

malcolm gladwell and the moral hazard myth

as debate over national health care rolls on in congress, i am reminded of one of the most poignant and memorable articles i have ever read. it was published in a 2005 issue of the new yorker but is still [ if not more ] relevant today.

i thought about bullet-pointing the striking parts of the article for those who don't wish to read it, but i truly feel it would be doing gladwell [ and the uninsured ] a huge disservice. if you don't believe in "socialized medicine" and don't think we need reform, you need to take a look. and even if you do, some of the facets you learn in this article are too critical to pass up.

** if you're curious as to what prompted this entry, it was the drudge report's cover story labeled "TAX THEM!" with this picture: