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POPSGoogling American Values Great story -- gotta read through to the kicker. I wonder if they read about this court case and decided to write about it immediately, or only committed to the story once somebody came up with that pun.
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POPSThe last, best day for newspapers I used to work at the Post and it was exciting to walk by the office yesterday and see a line of people clamoring for the paper. But I think it's the last, best day for the printed paper. I wonder if the Post will ever sell so many copies again? People like souvenirs of history, but how often does history happen? Before deadline? And able to get on the front page of the paper? It's just not that often. When it happens again in 10, 15, 20 years, will the lines be as long? I'm optimistic about the future of journalism. But I think the physical printed project, though probably not destined to go away completely, is still set to decline in numbers for very many years.
3
POPSObama mocks DC's inability to deal with snow I'm reminded of the old quote from Andy Rooney about how different cities deal with weather. This was his take on DC. "Washington, D.C., does the worst job with what weather it gets. Washington keeps thinking it's a Southern city, and it isn't. Three or four times a year, it gets snow, and everyone goes around talking about how unusual it is for them to have snow. It isn't unusual. Three feet doesn't bother Vermont or Minnesota; an inch and a half brings Washington, D.C., to a standstill. The Government shuts down." I was thinking about this as my Metro was delayed an hour this morning due to some ice 10 stations away.
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POPSBailout More Expensive than World War II? Now Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed chair Ben Bernanke would be quick, I think, to dispute that $4.6165 trillion dollars is a cost. A lot of apples and oranges (and grapes and berries and pomegranates) to get to that figure. The point that either way we're talking about a lot of fruit, howvever, is an important one.
2
POPSThe Surprising Success of the Associated Press There are relatively few success stories in early 21st-century journalism, especially in the newspaper sector. It's interesting--and, to someone who cares about reported journalism, something of a relief--that the Associated Press is still doing so well.
2
POPSThe Return of Reading Hey, maybe this is why former Washington Post Executive Editor Len Downie retired in September and started a new career publishing fiction (his novel is out this week, and apparently it's good).
2
POPSThe Importance of Computer Solitaire Question: Which is worse? Playing solitaire when you should be working? Reading a story about playing solitaire when you should be working? Or clipmarking stories about playing solitaire when you should be working? Slate has a huge and amusing package about procrastination. But I can't read the rest of it, I have to go call some airline analysts! Seriously.
2
POPSWashington Post editor to step down Okay, I know a lot of people probably don't care, but I used to work there so I do. Downie is probably the best currently serving newspaper editor, and I think that no matter what anybody says this is a big blow for the Post. Downie says, "I'm ready to do this, because so much further change now needs to take place at the newspaper and Web site, and someone else should be tackling that." I dunno. Before the Internet age, when Downie became editor, the paper was barely available outside of the Washington region. It's become one of the most powerful newspaper brands on the Internet and I think a huge reason for that is because Downie was always out there insisting on the absolute highest standards of quality. Now, the Post is not a perfect place, and newspapers are definitely in a lot of trouble (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/business/media/23paper.html) but Downie's shoes will be extremely tough and maybe impossible to fill, imho.
2
POPSAmerican housing: Map of misery The Economist looks at Ben Bernanke's new color-coded map of where the housing crisis is hitting. Looks like some regions are quite a bit less stressed than others. Hey! That reminds me of a look that somebody (wonder who?) here at Forbes.com did on America's Recession-Proof Cities: http://www.forbes.com/realestate/2008/04/29/cities-recession-places-forbeslife-cx_jz_0429realestate.html Our results line up nicely with these (think it's because of the overwhelming role housing prices are playing in the economy?) with the notable exception of San Jose.
2
POPSA Butler Well Served by This Election I think it's probably a fair criticism that there's been a little too much talk about the historic nature of this election. It's no doubt historic -- it's just gotten a little bit too breathless at times. Lots of journalists have been grasping at a story that captures the history, but a lot of the stories have just relied on repeating "historic". Now, if you agree with my premise, that it is historic but it's been a bit overblown, then you probably wish there was one, really great story, that captured it all, right? Here it is -- the story that everyone else wishes they'd written.
2
POPSBehind the Chevy Volt A behind-the-scenes look at General Motor's pursuit of the first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. For $20,000 I want one... not so sure about $35,000.
2
POPSSpitzer's New Column It's interesting that Eliot Spitzer is writing a column for Slate. An interesting topic too, that doesn't seem to be talked about enough: Why do we allow the creation of firms that are too big to fail? Is that a rational free market policy to allow the creation of firms that, if they fail, require massive government intervention? Would a superior "free market" policy be to actually disallow the creation of firms of such size?
1
POPSThe Recession-Proof Repo Man That lead paragraph just about sums it up. Another reminder that there's always a recession-proof job out there. I want to focus, however, on a claim in the middle of the story, that "No one grows up aspiring to be a repo man." Is that true? It seems that I've met a lot of people in life who kind of have a chip on their shoulder and would really love to take people's boats away. I'm not suggesting that real repo men have chips on their shoulder. I'm just saying... I knew some kids who took any opportunity to snatch away my Legos, and surely, as adults, they would love to snatch away my boat. If they could do it legally. Well, and if I had a boat.
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