Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness

NY Times: Nails in Coffin?

by AW

Rarely does a single piece of analysis showcase the end game. This post by Michael Arrington of Techncrunch on the morality of process journalism nails the opinion-driven pieces of NYT shrouded as factual reporting. Arrington's view of NYT journalistic process:

Pretending that you’re writing one story when you’re really writing another, and then twisting what your sources tell you to fit whatever it is that your editor told you to write isn’t ethical journalism. It may check all the boxes that were laid out for you in journalism school, but it isn’t anything other than op-ed with nothing real to back it up.

Information on a "must see" documentary

by Reena Kapoor

If you don't know about this riveting documentary film (Indoctrinate U: Our Education, Their Politics) making the rounds these days, take a look at their very informative website about how /where you can see it.  Thes subject is explosive and the film's documentation of what goes on in colleges and universities -- even for those of us who've always known the sway that Marxist ideas hold in academia -- is simply shocking! American academia's intellectual corruption is so abject and so complete that even libertarians like me suspected this documentary was concocted by some right wing whacko. But I was wrong.  This film was conceived and created by a bunch of liberals (and I hate that word because it's come to mean something quite different - but you know what I mean). The intolerant, illiberal and anti-liberty ideology being preached and practiced in American colleges today should cause any reasonable person - no matter where they stand politically - to protest this. Fortunately it's getting some coverage because Lou Dobbs picked it up and gave it top marks!

Corporate Governance: Views from Different Planets

by Anurag Wadehra

Once again, the recent adventure of Carl Icahn at Yahoo has brought to fore the discussion on corporate governance. Regardless of one's take on Carl's specific tactics at Yahoo, it is fascinating to observe how far apart are the two competing views on the role of such corporate takeover artists. Almost from different planets.

We Feel Fine: Plumbing Emotion Repositories

by Anurag Wadehra

In the new, on-line connected world, there are art forms emerging that are hard to anticipate.

Here is an example of a curious study: collection of on-line statements containing the text "I feel...". http://www.wefeelfine.org/ Stripped of full context and cloaked in anonymity, this collection can make you pause and reflect on slivers of feelings confessed on the Internet.

Another new experiment by the same creator Jonathan Harris is captured in his talk as well.

One may argue endlessly whether such collage is art - or merely a laundry list of human feelings plucked out of ether. What is certain is the possibility that plumbing repositories of on-line communications can lead to rich, fascinating study of the human condition.