Monday, March 07, 2005

Links, part II

A few more sites I tend to drop in on regularly added to the right-hand side:

Curmudgeonly and Skeptical is a fun blog, snarky, completely unfair and usually dead-on accurate blog full of wry observations on life in general and the left-wing in particular. Ditto SondraK - both of them are fun reads and cheer me up when I start taking politics too seriously.

Kim Du Toit and The Smallest Minority are both interesting and clever writers who focus on weapons ownership, training and use by the general public. I always find it a bit offensive, after having gone through some pretty intensive combat marksmanship and close quarters combat training, and having been trusted to drive around in a vehicle that sported more firepower than most small-town police forces could muster, to be told that I shouldn't be trusted with a gun for self-defense because I don't have the background a law enforcement officer has. I recognize that most people don't have the training I've had - to be honest, most soldiers haven't either - but I don't think that lessens their inherent right to defend themselves against unwarranted aggression. These guys do a good job of exploring that point of view, and they're fun to read besides.

Jay Rosen is somebody I discovered recently - he's a journalism prof at NYU, and I suspect he and I would disagree on just about every substantive issue out there. But, he's a fascinating read with a deep insight into what's going on in journalism, and he's really good at fostering intellectual debate on his blog. I'd love to take a class from him sometime. On a personal level, I've been interested for awhile in what happens to journalism when technology changes decouple information gathering and analysis from information distribution. Back in the bad old days, it took a ton of cash to buy a radio transmitter or printing press - now, the Internet makes it free to low-cost to get information and opinion out there. About ten years ago, I did some technology work for a company that was around newspapers when they started asking themselves those questions, and its interested me ever since.) Prof Rosen explores where journalism is today and where its going - excellent reading and excellent discussion.

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