Yeah, That's an Iceberg All Right

David Ettlin on the slow dismantling of the Baltimore Sun.  (Quote is from the section about the killing of the Evening Sun.)

People who subscribed to both the morning and evening papers pretty quickly made the obvious move of canceling one of them – and some of the more stubborn opted to keep the evening paper. But its circulation dropped close enough to the magic number of 100,000 that the company could more readily use that as an excuse to cease publication.

It didn’t create any goodwill, just alienation. In the Baltimore area, many readers staunchly preferred The Evening Sun and resented the moves that first took away its personality and then shut it down. It would have died eventually. But its closing in 1995 was lacking in grace, in respect for the readers. It was a clumsy killing.

Unintelligible

Still poking around Dreamwidth.  Commenting here and there, keeping up with the new stuff, waiting for Thursday...  Also edited four words and saved.  Last time I did that, the words reappeared.  We shall see.  (I might have, y'know, goofed.)  (ETA:  I goofed.  Words are now gone.)

Also, if you save a 100-square pixel thing in Illustrator, it gets enlarged in Photoshop.  Why?

We Interrupt for a Brief Message

Posting is being light because my mother's here.

In Memoriam

Frankie Manning, Master of the Lindy Hop.

O break dancers, o swing dancers:  This is your ancestor.

Avedon Carol smacks the media around.

Deservedly.

Money quote:

What good reporting still remains - and there is still quite a lot, thankfully - may lure us into buying and sometimes believing the paper as a whole, but it remains buried deep in the pages, treated as a poor stepchild peddling an unnecessary luxury. One would almost get the feeling that, as Ettlin discusses in his recent post on dismantling print editions, it's the deliberate destruction of real news as a going concern. And maybe it is. Or maybe it's another example of guys in early middle-age imagining that they understand what young people really want just because they found out their nephew is on Twitter.

The Scourge of Young Adult Readers

John Scalzi, writer, on books marketed as YA *gasp* winning awards.

Uh-Oh.

What can be done with bubble wrap.

Mr. Silber Is On The Case

Arthur Silber, back from a 2 month absence, continues his series on the malaise that is American politics.

Yes, it is long.  Read it anyway.  American Idol can wait.

Money quote:

As I contemplate the continuing crackup of the American State and the American imperial project, a disintegration that occurs with a rapidity and comprehensiveness that few would have predicted as recently as a decade ago, it often occurs to me that we are to be spared nothing. On the domestic front, the authoritarian-surveillance state continues to expand its reach, destroying what small vestiges remain of the foundation of liberty identified by Brandeis, "the right to be let alone -- the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men." (In addition to the more recognized forms of the authoritarian-surveillance state, please always keep in mind other programs that escape notice and comment almost entirely. The InfraGard program is a prime example of what I mean; I still see almost no discussion anywhere of that monstrosity.) Simultaneously, the United States descends into unapologetic, full-fledged oligarchy-kleptocracy, as monumental debt piles up higher and higher, ensuring that this and future generations will be reduced to a desperate hope that a lifetime of debt servitude will be the worst fate to befall them.

ETA: Part II.

In Memoriam

Bea Arthur.

Moment

Turning my mother on to Tom Lehrer.

O-bla-di, O-bla-da, Life Goes On

Shark-fu on the talent/packaging thing:

No amount of hair color or lip-gloss can hide a lack of talent. Haven’t we learned anything from our extended exposure to Ann Coulter?

Our National and Outraged Treasure Speaks

Jon Carroll on the morality of clean, well-dressed torture apologists.

Quotable bit:

Maybe it is time to put the past behind us. Maybe it is time to close this sorry chapter of the Bush administration. I can see that rationale. But is it OK if I go into this closet and scream for 10 minutes?

A Thoughtful Moment

Book review of biography making the case for Helen Gurley Brown as the working-class mother of the second wave of feminism.  (Sex and the Single Girl came out before The Feminine Mystique.) 

In her entertaining new biography of Ms. Brown, “Bad Girls Go Everywhere,” Jennifer Scanlon, a professor of gender and women’s studies at Bowdoin College, charts her subject’s rocketlike rise out of the Ozarks. She also argues, convincingly, for Ms. Brown as a feisty, pivotal and too easily dismissed pioneer of the American women’s movement, one who dismayed more serious feminists with her breezy tone, her refusal to see men as the enemy and her belief that sex is not only great fun but also a “powerful weapon” for single women.

Wisdom of Living

Gotta love Margaret and Helen.

If you want to preserve Christian values you might start with living like a Christian and not some racist asshole who can’t stand how many Muslims have moved into your neck of the woods or what your neighbor is doing in the bedroom. And if you want to preserve American values then don’t elect a President who condones torture. But if you want to stop the globalization of nations and the blending of the world’s population then use a condom, support Planned Parenthood and legalize gay marriage. Because those are the only things I know that actually don’t add to the growing population on this finite planet we call home.

Now that's ju-jitsu.

Much too nice a day for this.

1. Stephen Hawking is in the hospital.
2. J. G. Ballard has died, not that you need me to tell you.  (Daisy's Dead Air links to several of the obituaries.)
3. Heeding the call to conserve means the price of what you're conserving goes up.  (I remember this little lesson from the energy crisis days.)

For Your Edification

A list of this year's Pulitzer Prize winners.  By way of Iron Tongue of Midnight, who was thrilled that Steve Reich won for music.  Me, I am thrilled that Eugene Robinson of That Paper That Calls Itself The Washington Post won for commentary, although I can think of Krugman other deserving columnists. (He was a runner-up.)

Write It Down!

There was an odd dream involving crossing a street and Orson Welles, but I've spaced the details. Sorry.

The Office of Navel Contemplation

1. Cleveland iced the Yankees, 22-4.
   
2. Don Henley is suing for infringement.
3. I've got the Tom Lehrer on.

Yeah, I know.  I haven't felt like it.

42

Jackie Robinson's legacy.

Not the money quote, but an interesting sidelight:

The idea of "unretiring" Robinson's number belongs to Ken Griffey Jr., back with the Mariners this season. Two years ago with the Reds, Griffey personally petitioned the Commissioner for the opportunity to wear it, and this year Commissioner Selig made the request that all uniformed personnel do the honors.

It's another way to show respect to the man whose legacy is so strong that the foundation that bears his name is helping not by the individual life, but by the generation.

In Memoriam

Judith Krug.  Foe of the Censorship Hydra in libraries and on the Internet.  A librarian's librarian. 

Notes

1. Yesterday, Nick Swisher pitched an inning and acquitted himself creditably.  (The Yankees were already losing the game badly.)
2. In a complete reversal of my normal anchorite tendencies, I set up a reading account on Dreamwidth.  (I keep wanting to call it Dreamscape.)  In the process, I discovered that a) it is best to preshrink the JPG to 1 inch before uploading it, because the program flatly refused to upload the (admittedly humongous) pictures I wanted, and b) at the moment I can't actually post entries (it's a read/comment-only deal at the moment).  But Live Journal is still not calling my name.  Go figure.

In Memoriam

Mark Fidrych, Detroit Tigers, pitcher.

Harry Kalas, Philadelphia Phillies, announcer.

Marilyn Chambers.  Not a ball player, but had a pretty good career batting average.

This Just In

Phil Spector convicted of second degree murder.  (The BBC has been following this all along; I haven't seen anything about the trial in American news outlets since the original case ended in a mistrial.)

ETA:  NYTimes caught up with this c. 7:42 pm.  Hello?

Termite Round Table

Weasels Experts explain why older workers don't get hired.

From the New York Times.

Commemoration 2

Story on the concert commemorating Marian Anderson's recital at the Lincoln Memorial seventy years ago (mentioned here). 

Reviews when and if they show up.

Oh, And...

Happy Easter!

Hallelujah!

And Speaking of Esa Pekka Salonen...

Skippy (who coined the phrase Blogtopia™ ) has posted a special 5-part set of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's rendition of Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) by Igor Stravinsky, Esa Pekka Salonen conducting.

Group Dynamics & Failure Modes

Another lesson in the workings of a community.

Money quote:  

It's easy, particularly as a leader or moderator, to feel betrayed by everyone when the crowd goes in a direction that you don't want it to. And the fear of the mob is a powerful motivator. The temptation is to lock everything down, pretend that there is no community ethos but the one you provide.

But people don't work that way. Clamp down on a community, and it turns sour; the community spirit becomes one of grumbling and nit-picking conformance to the stated rules. Spontaneous action for the common good, being unrewarded, goes away.

Goes with this lesson.

(From Evilrooster Crows, via Making Light's Sidelights.)

Music for a Friday Afternoon

Emanuel Ax on the departure of Esa Pekka Salonen from the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  Because I've been listening lately to rock singers who would not be out of place, rangewise, in opera.  And because I need a Scott Joplin fix.

In Memoriam (and an Injury)

Nick Adenhart, Angels' rookie pitcher, killed in accident.  

Additionally, Joe Martinez was struck in the head by a line drive and sustained a concussion.  [Update.]

Medical Overkill

Have I mentioned that Jon Carroll is a National Treasure?  (And would make a better movie.)

I Forgot to Wish People a Happy Passover, Didn't I?

Via Smofbabe, from The Onion: a dog objects to doing stupid human tricks.

(Ellos no quieren Taco Bell, either.)

There's Weapons-Grade Stupid Afoot

Fred Pohl, occasional collaborator with the late C.M. Kornbluth, author of "The Marching Morons," has a blog.

I don't know if he reads Shakesville or has seen this post there.

At the middle school level everybody's concerned about The Basics, Kids will be tested on The Basics. In these days of starvation budgets, there's no room for luxuries. Luxuries are anything not on the tests, because that won''t be reflected in the schools' bottom line. So. at least at many districts here in Southern California, the plan is to cancel science classes at middle schools.

Because if he has seen that, he's probably laughing and toasting Mr. Kornbluth's perspicacity.

If They Tell You "Lighten Up," It Wasn't Funny

Via The Curvature, a reaction to Seth Rogen's new movie (a so-called comedy) at Tiger Beatdown.  Frankly, I hope Roger Ebert slices and dices this.  Without anaesthesia.

ETA:  Mick LaSalle (SF Chronicle movie critic) liked it.  Did not mention problematic aspects.  I get to kiss off his opinion of movies.  La la la.

Commemoration

Tomorrow is the anniversary of Marian Anderson's concert at the Lincoln Memorial.

Why this matters.

The seventieth anniversary of the Easter Sunday concert arrives on April 9th, and various commemorations are under way. The mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves will lead a tribute concert at the Lincoln Memorial on the twelfth ... Last month, at Carnegie Hall and other venues, the soprano Jessye Norman curated a festival of African-American cultural achievement, entitled “Honor!,” during which Anderson was often invoked. (In 1965, Norman saw Anderson sing at Constitution Hall, which had by then dropped its exclusionary policies.) Yet Anderson’s legacy seems in some way incomplete. The Lincoln Memorial concert has lost much of its iconic status; many younger people don’t know the singer’s name. Within classical music, meanwhile, black faces remain scarce. No African-American singers were featured at the Metropolitan Opera’s recent hundred-and-twenty-fifth-anniversary gala. A color line persists, more often politely ignored than confronted directly.

From The New Yorker.

Fragments

A series of weird

dreams of which only fragments

remain to tease me.

In New York with the old gang, circa 1978, on a bus, which somehow involved a note requesting a table and some other output taped to my laptop screen.  A road underpass with a Cuban restaurant occupying half the road.  Parents were in there somewhere.

Context is the first

to go, followed by looming

landmarks.  And then sense.

And The Angels High-Five

Remastered Beatles due September 9, 2009.  (via Cara at The Curvature.)

Still No Flames

Sweden and Iowa and Vermont!  In the same week!

My, We're Busy Today

Digby on Republican blackmail (e.g. the threat to hold Obama's Justice Department nominees' confirmations hostage to suppressing torture memos):

Excuse me, but who the hell do they think they are? These are the people who put the Starr report on the internet. And now they are all about protecting privacy? I guess it makes some sense. What happens between consenting adults is everyone's business as far as they are concerned. War crimes, however, are private matters between the criminals and the people who ordered them.

Personally, I'm hoping for spine.

The Cost of Education

Very soon, a college education will be completely out of the reach of most American families, and that's assuming just a partial level of parental financial support. We've already reached the point where individuals can no longer manage to work their way through college in any reasonable time frame and pay for it from their earnings.

From Anna van Z at Mills River Progressive.

Monday, Monday

Citizen Carrie's favorite eleven cartoons, with links to the cartoons (with an exception, noted), because we can all use a laugh.  One of them I hadn't seen since childhood.

Play Ball!

In Memoriam

Ilyka has deleted Off Our Pedestals.

I don't know why.

It's like losing the voice and presence of a friend you never expected to find.  I have to hope that she now has the peace she needs, if that's what she needed to get it.

Good luck to you, Ilyka.

Is That a Flaw?

The curriculum on the perfectionism seminar.

Republic of T, faculty.

Seasonal Irreverence

Moses is leaving Egypt:  A Facebook Haggadah.  (In the style of Facebook.  Not actual FB.)

Swallow any liquid and set down any drink.

Via Starcat_Jewel on Live Journal.

Oh, And...

Iowa court threw out prohibition of same-sex marriage.

Iowa and Sweden in the same week.  And yet...we're all still breathing oxygen and unable to fly without being surrounded by an airplane.  The opponents to gay marriage are still trying to convince proponents with arguments that almost invariably boil down to 1) religion and 2) this is the way it has always been.  John Scalzi's comment thread is a perfect example.  

Oddly enough, conservative thinkers want the fruits and benefits of modernity, like fast and easy communication and transportation, but they don't like the concurrent social changes.  It would be a kindness to return them to their stone knives and bearskins.

Here, There, and Everywhere

I'm not much of a hockey fan (as in not at all), but Shark-fu is, and her team, the St. Louis Blues, are fighting for a playoff spot.  (Mind you, I know stuff about hockey simply by osmosis, and I've actually seen the Stanley Cup [it toured in 1993], but the only time it's interesting to me is during the playoffs, which go on for about five months and occasionally cross the basketball playoffs and March Madness.)  

I'm also not a fan of country music, but Charley Pride is a mensch.  And what is it with all this on-line ticket scalping, even by allegedly legitimate companies?  

University of Massachusetts/Amherst will put the papers of W.E.B. Du Bois on line.  Ooooh, RESEARCH!  

Decluttering proceeds.

Type Casting

Reflections on masculinity, from Republic of T.   

Next Week

1. Baseball season begins!  
2. Passover starts.  (Gluten-free Kosher for Passover recipes.)
3. I engage in non-Net personal journaling.

Get Some Sleep

Long-term sleep deprivation can mess you up.

Europe Not Engulfed in Flames

Via Politics After 50:  Same-sex marriages legal in Sweden next month.

(No, I didn't do an April Fool's post.  No, this is not a stealth April Fool's post.  In fact the Lutheran Church in Sweden, while individual pastors can opt out, has been ready to bless gay partnerships [although still not calling it 'marriage'] since 2007.)