Freyburg

Amazon has hit the decade mark, which is pretty notable for a web company. The NYT has a good (and long) article about the rise, wobble, and rise of the online bookslinger.
I know Amazon’s had at least one life-changing effect in my family. We all live in different cities, so for birthdays and other celebrations we just send Amazon gift certificates to one another. Keeps everybody happy and takes the onus of figuring out what to buy off the gift-giver.

Phrack, the preeminent hacker’s magazine, is calling it quits. I was never smart enough to take advantage of the high end hacking tips and screeds against the phone company, but it was still part of the background noise of my thieving Apple II days. 🙂

The NYT has a good article about how England became a magnet for Islamic jihadists over the course of a decade.

In order to clear up possible confusion, I should probably explain the rather mixed-up events of the last few months.

I was working in Osoyoos as a reporter from March 2004 until the end of January 2005, and towards the end of last year a friend of mine informed me she was quitting her job as the english editor at Incheon International Airport outside of Seoul, South Korea. She told me to apply, and put in a good word.

So, like an ambitious fellow, I did just that. I went through a video interview, did the usual job-application hoop jumping, and then forgot about it for a month or so. Then they hired me.

Darren Barefoot is a blogger in Vancouver who’s decided podcasting ain’t all that. He makes some good points, though it still won’t stop me from fomenting a Dr. Who podcast with I Am Steven, and maybe doing a one-man podcast based on whatever I’ve posted on Freyburg this week.

I meant to post something about the bombings yesterday, but never got a chance to do so. But the Guardian has one columnist’s impressions of being in London after the bombings that does a good job of putting you in the middle of the chaos, or at east little off to the side of it.

Here’s a fine list on what one LA Weekly writer would do if put in charge of Hollywood. It’s not only pretty funny, it’s also a fair assessment of what’s wrong with Tinseltown.

So somebody explain to me how a reporter who didn’t actually report on something that another reporter did means she goes to jail.

Judith Miller, who admittedly dropped the ball on her coverage of Iraq, is getting packed off to the slammer because she refuses to give up a confidential source. But from what I can tell, conservative pundit and occasional journalist Robert Novak was the first to actually out Valerie Plame as a CIA agent. But for some reason, that ain’t the way it’s working out.

Well, it was nice to know you, freedom of the press. You had a god run, but I guess it’s time for the War on Terror to step up.

The pictures speak for themselves, I think. Ah, to be in grade 6 again…

The first blog completely devoted to horse hatred. I very rarely laugh out loud at something I read on a blog, but this is a notable exception.