Clipmarks | grimmy's 'lazy media' clips

Muslims don't hate the USA

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:25:23 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: More worried that Americans hate them

The Muslims I know are more resigned than angry. Many are convinced that the West is making war on Islam, but after decades of American support for dictators in their part of the world, and centuries of having their religion misunderstood, they don’t expect much.

Far from hating America, my friends are more likely to worry that Americans hate them. They see how Muslims are portrayed in our media. We see angry men burning flags, raising rifles in the air, throwing rocks and blowing things up. In Morocco they refute this with warmth and candor, and exaggerated shows of hospitality.

Yet they worry about us. Is America really a democracy? Are we morally lazy? How we can accept what has been done in our name? They wonder how could we have invaded a nation that was no threat to us. Why haven’t we challenged our leaders? Are we really that spoiled? Are we so concerned with our own comfort, that we tune out what is happening just because it is far away?

Tags: islam, muslims, war on terror

Lazy People In Bad Moods Get The Most Creative Spark From Video Games

Sun, 25 May 2008 10:07:40 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.scientificblogging.com

Video games that energize players and induce a positive mood could also enhance creativity, according to media researchers. However, the study also finds that players who were not highly energized and had a negative mood, registered the highest creativity.

"You need defocused attention for being creative," said S. Shyam Sundar, professor of film, video and media studies at Penn State. "When you have low arousal and are negative, you tend to focus on detail and become more analytical."

"Video games are not just for entertainment alone," says Sundar. "We are trying to figure out how they can aid in education as well."

"We looked at two emotional variables: arousal and valence," said Hutton. "Arousal is the degree of physical excitation -- as measured through skin conductance -- and valence, which is the range of positive or negative feeling."

the study appears to indicate that after playing the game, happy or sad people are most creative, while angry or relaxed people are not.

Tags: creativity, video games, emotions

Imagine All the People, Loving in 3-D

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 11:09:34 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.wired.com

How many times have you heard people utter contradictory convictions in the same breath without their noticing they were doing so?

My favorite is the ridiculous, "We have to stop those lazy immigrants from taking our jobs." Another common one is, "Lawyers are slimy, evil bastards. I hope my kid goes to law school (or marries a lawyer)."

We have a lot of funny-but-not-ha-ha-funny oxymora in sex, too, and a recent study by professor Juan Carlos Sierra Friere of the University of Granada has reminded me of one of the most common misconceptions we (still!) cling to about sex and technology.

"An active erotic imagination -- sexual fantasy -- is key to a great sex life," say the sexuality experts.

"People who play out sexual fantasies online are weird, perverted loners who can't maintain healthy sexual relationships (or even get laid) in real life," say the media and the masses.

Curiously, people who have actually involved themselves in some form of sex online rarely subscribe to that belief

Tags: internet, sex, online, contradictory convictions, people

The Cavalry Isn’t Coming

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:10:03 GMT

clipped by: papananook

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

There is no short-term fix. In the long term, we must put more money into more people’s pockets. That means higher wages and lower taxes for the poor and middle class. Some of what is needed is easy to see: a more progressive tax code, repealing laws that allow employers to harass and fire those who try to organize unions, nationalizing industries run by vampire capitalists

Banks encourage predatory lending while stifling saving. They ought to be re-regulated. What madness permits them to charge 30 percent on credit cards while paying one percent on passbook savings accounts?

More — much more — is necessary to prevent the wholesale collapse of the U.S. economic system. A maximum wage should be imposed — the highest paid American should earn no more than ten times the lowest paid. I know, I know — none of this will happen. There will be nothing but Band-Aids and lazy rhetoric as we plummet into the abyss.

the media is corporatized, and we the people are dull and apathetic.

Lazy, Stupid and Evil Webdesign - Jakob Nielsen

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 17:07:33 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: technology.guardian.co.uk

Lazy, stupid and evil design

Jack Schofield
Thursday June 23, 2005
The Guardian

"Evil design is where they stop you from doing what you are trying to do, like putting an advert over the top of the page. That's the wrong way to do it. Google has made billions by putting the ads where people do want them, rather than where they don't want them."

Evil design is perpetrated by people who are deliberately doing the wrong thing, and this harms everyone. Nielsen cites pop-up windows as an example. Users now expect pop-ups to be unwanted ads, and close them without looking at them. As a result, good designers can no longer use pop-up windows even when they would be a good solution.

"Stupid design is where companies are doing things that are known not to work. We now have 12 years documented experience that certain things work and certain things do not work," says Nielsen, "and companies are still doing things that do not work."

One example is the Flash intro. "Almost everybody knows that doesn't work, but every so often, a new website comes along and makes that mistake. That's stupid."

"Lazy design is where people just don't bother," says Nielsen. "That's actually quite common."

One example is the search facilities found on websites: "it's amazing how often they barely work," he says. Search is complicated, and even if sites buy search software, it has to be installed and tweaked to work correctly. Many companies just can't be bothered.

Putting up PDF files is another example: "it's the lazy way out," says Nielsen.

The answer to lazy design is often to convince the people who control the budgets that it is worth producing material specifically for the web, just as they do for print media, radio and television.

Links

www.useit.com/alertbox/

www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html

Guardian Unlimited ; Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

Tags: webdesign, webdevelopment, usability, jakob nielsen, web usability, design

Republican authoritarianism

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 15:27:11 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: Longing for a king...yikes

Clip Source: www.lewrockwell.com

Republican Authoritarianism

by Charles H. Featherstone
by Charles H. Featherstone

First, Thomas Sowell, in one of his lazy columns of disconnected anecdotes, considers the fate of the country:

When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can’t help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.

And then swathing the Wall Street Journal opinion pages, Harvard professor of government and political philosophy (and "manliness" advocate) Harvey Mansfield waxed long and lovingly on the need for a strong executive and "one-man rule" to save the Republic:

There is a streak of authoritarianism in Conservatism in the United States, and there always has been. I and others have written at length about it at this web site, and I hope we continue to do so. However, that streak is getting wider, taking over much more of the Conservative Republican soul.

Tags: authoritarianism

Mushroom Clouds A-Popping

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:07:12 GMT

clipped by: AtlLiberal
clipper's remarks: Is the Republican romance with fear ending? It's served them well for seven years now. Could we be seeing a turn to a more rational and sane policy? They're going to attempt to use it during the coming election. Are we going to sit by and let them?

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

Oops Nation
A Superpower of Lazy Slobs

For seven years, the Bush Administration, the Democratic Congress and its media allies have denied “unlawful enemy combatants” (or, as Dick Cheney called them, “the worst of the worst” terrorists) the right to habeas corpus, the centuries-old right of persons arrested by the police to face their accusers and the evidence against them in a court of law.

Thanks to a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, America’s latest flirtation with fascism is coming to an end. Parts of the infamous Military Commissions Act of 2006 that eliminated habeas corpus have been declared unconstitutional. Prisoners at Guantánamo and possibly other American gulags, will now be allowed to demand their day in court. Since the government doesn’t have evidence against them, legal experts say, most if not all of “the worst of the worst” will ultimately walk free. “Liberty and security can be reconciled,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority.

Tags: politics, fear, republicans, democrats

Contrary to the Bushie Propaganda

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:46:16 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Not surprisingly the truth about Iran's nuclear programs is distorted and lied about...read further to get the real deal

Clip Source: uk.reuters.com

There's some seriously dishonest and/or lazy reporting going on in the Western media about Iran's nuclear program and the IAEA report yesterday.

Iran has expanded its capacity to enrich uranium and now has 3,000 centrifuges operating — enough potentially to produce an atom bomb within a year — the United Nations nuclear watchdog reported yesterday.

Every single one gives the implicit impression that it is the IAEA itself which has warned Iran could suddenly produce a nuke in a years time.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

What the report does say is that all of the enriched uranium produced to date "remains under Agency containment and surveillance" and that the centrifuge cascades themselves are subjected to an annual audit by the IAEA and surpise inspections - seven have been carried out since March.

That means - it is impossible for Iran to use these 3,000 centrifuges and their product to secretly make a nuclear weapon.

You'd think honest reporters might actually mention that.

Tags: iran, nuclear weapons, dishonest reporting

The Truth about Wal-Mart, continued

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:25:03 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Since that long thread of differing opinions about the 'Merikan Dream and Wally world where I was attacked as being a non-productive, lazy Hippie (untrue--I was a semi-productive, Happy Hippie), I found this interesting, informative Anti-Wally site....see if you can defend these charges about Wally's relationship with Communist/monopoly Capitalist China and the US consumer rip=off, Willie, Esundby, and the rest of you bozos who think I was some non-productive lazy Hippie all my life.

Clip Source: www.wakeupwalmart.com

[Video]

Learn more about Wal-Mart's cozy relationship with China and take action

Tell Congress that Wal-Mart "just isn't American anymore."

Read our report "Wal-Mart & China: The Ultimate Joint Venture", and watch the related video



2	Spread the Word Tell your friends about our campaign
3	Adopt a Wal-Mart Become a leader for change
4	Donate Fund the campaign
5	Take Action Fight Wal-Mart in your community

Conservative: media no longer biased

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 20:01:32 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks: Via Kevin Drum

Clip Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

March 13, 2007

Partisan Press Parity?

By Bruce Bartlett

In my view, the media did have a strong left-wing tilt for many years. But over the last 20 years or so, I think that has mostly disappeared. Major newspapers like the Post and New York Times are now fairly evenhanded in their news coverage.

The problem for those on the left these days is that during the long period when there was a pronounced liberal bias in the media, they got lazy. They just assumed that the major media would automatically take their side, do hit jobs on conservatives and basically do their job for them. By contrast, conservatives have always had to contend with an adversarial media and thus learned better media skills and techniques in order to compensate.

I would advise my liberal friends to stop whining about media bias. You had a free ride for a long time, and now it's over. Get used to it, and learn how to use the media.

Tags: politics, media, journalism, conservatives, liberals, via: washington monthly

Wesley Clark on Face the Nation: CNN accuses Clark of “Swiftboating”

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:13:29 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: So how does CNN characterize this tête-à-tête? That Wesley Clark was SWIFTBOATING John McCain!

Rick Sanchez’s lead-in to his next segment just now on CNN:

“Wesley Clark tried to Swiftboat John McCain today.”

I’m liveblogging. He goes on to say:

“It will reverberate for weeks. Wes Clark tried to diss McCain’s military record, that his service doesn’t qualify him to be president.”

Rick Sanchez is mad.

No, not mad…just a huge partisan hack. Now that “swift-boating” has entered the vernacular, let us remember that the original SwiftBoat Veterans for “Truth” were for the most part neither in their hope to take down Kerry’s candidacy. Has Wesley Clark in some way made any untrue allegations in saying that being a POW and a non-combat era fighter pilot does not necessarily qualify you for the highest elected office in the land?

Clip Source: www.crooksandliars.com

[Video]

Unbelievable. Wesley Clark just destroys the media narrative that being a prisoner of war is somehow the “experience” necessary to be Commander in Chief, much to the dumbfounding of host Bob Schieffer. It’s a fantastic appearance–much like this earlier one that Jesse at GroupNews recounts:

The media simply couldn’t argue the POINT, which Clark made clear without saying word one directly about them to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear, that they have been lazy goof offs who are brutally biased for McCain, against Obama, and are not doing their damn jobs. Or they would already have reported this obviously well-grounded assessment/interpretation about McCain’s national security ability — “Largely Untested and Untried” — over which Clark was taking them to school. They couldn’t argue the actual point. It was that clear, that obvious, that elegant a takedown. In effect, Clark’s hit on McCain took out two targets with one shot.

Damn Silly ... but just the way I like It!

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 01:47:21 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: The title says it all

Clip Source: www.anxietyculture.com

Regulars:
News – The latest stories overlooked by the mainstream media.
Diary of Distractions – Our media diary/blog.
Rant – Short, topical, opinionated pieces. Regularly updated.
Newsletter – Our free monthly email newsletter. The latest news, reviews and notifications of website updates. Subscribe now...
FAQ / Contact Details – Background info on Anxiety Culture.
Lazy Person’s Guide to Power – Our 200-page ebook is available to download when you make a small donation.

Amusement Arcade:
Propaganda Gallery – Large collection (50+ pages) of designs for stickers, posters and postcards. High quality images – for printing.
Family Values Generator – Randomly generates the tender, caring environment of a stable family upbringing. Well, not quite.
Zombie Plus Loyalty Card – Shopping for the undead, with our all-purpose loyalty card. Get yours here now! Genuine plastic.
Jokes – This week: jokes about radio show subversion, how to sack people, 10 things not to say to the police, and more.
Are You Moral? – Try our quiz to see if you’re "morally correct".

Propaganda
Gallery

Crap Work

Tags: humour, humor

The case of the angry (or phony?) colonel

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 22:47:31 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: From the article:

"During the past couple of days, variations on these questions have rattled through blogs on the left and the right. The buzz began on Sunday, when Glenn Greenwald, a political blogger here at Salon, received a long, invective-fraught e-mail that bore Boylan's return e-mail address, steven.boylan@iraq.centcom.mil. Boylan serves as chief spokesman for Gen. David Petraeus, who heads all coalition forces in Iraq. Among other things, the e-mail labels Greenwald a "propagandist" who's "too lazy to do the research on the topics to gain the facts." Greenwald posted the letter."

Clip Source: salon.com

Oct. 31, 2007 | Is the military's top spokesman in Iraq a loose cannon who routinely fires off angry, impetuous e-mails to bloggers who criticize the war and the spin surrounding it? Or is Col. Steven Boylan, instead, an innocent victim -- an online wallflower whose identity has been hijacked by a pro-war hacker who has managed to break into the most well-fortified space on the planet in order to taunt lefty critics? Neither scenario paints a comforting picture of the situation in Iraq -- and even though the e-mails in question are coming from military servers in Iraq, the military seems strangely uninterested in solving the mystery of who is writing them.

Tags: iraq, media, blog, blogs, blogging, pr. propaganda

Photographer Fired: Overkill?

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 07:11:35 GMT

clipped by: slothraspet
clipper's remarks: Yesterday, Al-Jazeera published the photo (orginal and "doctored"), but now I can't seem to find it. Basically, it looks like Hajj got lazy with the photo and did a one-step photo fix or automatic saturation adjustment. The colors are all just much more present.

I'm not saying that makes it okay or that the photo shouldn't have been pulled, but is this a legitimate reason to fire a photographer who has been reliably producing photos for 10 years? Or is this another blogger witchhunt?

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Reuters, the international news agency, has dispensed with the services of a freelance photographer after discovering that he had doctored a picture of the aftermath of an Israeli air attack on Beirut and other events in the conflict.

The photo, by Lebanese freelancer Adnan Hajj, had been altered so it showed more smoke than was in the original. The image was published on news websites on Saturday, but withdrawn after a number of bloggers suggested it showed signs of being doctored using Photoshop software. Reuters withdrew the altered image as soon as it became aware of the alteration.

"This represents a serious breach of Reuters' standards and we shall not be accepting or using pictures taken by him," Reuters spokeswoman Moira Whittle said in a statement issued in London.

"The photographer has denied deliberately attempting to manipulate the image, saying that he was trying to remove dust marks and that he made mistakes due to the bad lighting conditions he was working under."

Reuters has decided to withdraw all photos taken by Hajj after discovering that he also altered a photo of an Israeli F-16 warplane in action over Lebanon and supposedly firing missiles on August 2. Hajj has supplied pictures to Reuters for more than 10 years.

Tags: lebanon, media, israel, photography, war, press, reuters, blogging, bloggers

Sioux secede from US? Says who?

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 01:38:40 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: newsbusters.org

Here is the kind of story that really proves how little the MSM bothers to research things, how they often simply print glorified press releases without doing any real "journalism," and how the defective end product gets picked up and regurgitated like it is suddenly a "fact."

Take this report from USA Today: Lakota withdraw from treaties, declare independence from U.S

Wow, it sounds momentous, alright. But, who says that "the Lakota Sioux Indians" have abandoned their treaties?

said Russell Means, a longtime Indian rights activist

And who is the Russell Means? He is a long time Indian activist who does not officially represent any tribe, that's who.

He does not represent American Indians except as a tangential, activist.

So, since this story wasn't reported correctly, foreigners are imagining that all American Indians are trying to leave the USA and become a new nation. The truth is less shocking, that Russell Means does not represent "the Lakota Sioux Indians" at all.

Tags: sioux, treaty, usa, msm, media, bias, lazy, reporting