Sunday, September 28, 2008

In my few years of learning what Journalism is, I've stumbled upon this truism that works for both Journalism and Science. Journalism, and Science, is the search for truth. Science being the truth in the natural world and Journalism the truth in everything. Why, if they are so closely identifiable, do they not work well together?

The controversy most famous in the last few years, that made my heart bleed from the journalistic incompetence shown by many in the media (which is a bloated term I hate using), is Global Warming. While liberal and conservative pundits, politicians and people on the street argue over if its real, scientists know for a fact that it is. Conservatively its not as clear cut if it was our fault or if we can do something about it. But the constant debate over weather or not Global Warming is real spreads the untruthful idea that it is a matter of opinion.

Recently, another debate raged around the scientific community and I had a conversation with someone that made me think about this issue. A few weeks ago the Large Hadron Collider was turned on. The debate over mini-black holes made national news. The conversation I had was with someone who worked in the Media for a long time. We started to talk about the LHC during class and he said something about how it could destroy the world. I raised my hand and said "But to be fair, no Scientists actually believe that will happen." And he said that I should listen to NPR. This made another student question why turn on the LHC if there is even the possibility of a problem. To answer her, there is no possibility. The black holes are too small to do anything and the reaction happens naturally anyway.

The idea that a Scientific debate needs two sides sounds right, but can be very wrong. Science is always right according to the evidence available and an opposing opinion can be only based on faith. While its not wrong necessarily, faith is not science.

No one is really at fault here, everyone is just using the same flawed information. But if the idea of Journalism is to spread truth, then any non-truth ultumitly destroys Journalism.

This is a bit text heavy and sounds a little conspiracy theory-y so here is the cutest thing ever.

Friday, September 26, 2008

WaMu Buy Out




I live catty corner to a WaMu bank. This morning I walk out and see this. I thought "Aw crap. WaMu failed didn't it?." I took this picture at about 10:40a.m. At 1:00p.m. people were still there.

JPMorgan Chase bought there assets for $1.9 Billion from FDIC, said Chicago Tribune.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

It's almost like I'm a real Journalist.

I wrote an article for my School newspaper. It's right here if anyone wants to read it. I wouldn't mind if you did.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Cartoons

I love cartoons. I'm talking something different from Animation, which I also love. Cartoons are animations specifically made for children to enjoy. A good cartoon makes me feel like I felt when I was a child. That's a good feeling to have on occasion, so some Saturday mornings I just want to sit down and watch what ever comes up. A few Saturdays ago I did. These where some of the worst cartoons I have ever seen.

I feel like I need to repeat myself.

These where some of the worst cartoons I have ever seen.

These where awful, even worse then the commercials for toys everyone seems to like to say they loved. The stories where bad, the animation was bad, the songs where god awful which sounded like they took 5 seconds to write.

I realize that these arguments could be placed on cartoons from my childhood, and ones before that, and before that. But there was some good original cartoons, and there are some made now. But I feel like these where particularity bad.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Some TV I watched the other day

I watched a few shows the other night, to relax before my busy day that is today. Two made me really excited.

Dexter Season premier:
This made me jump with joy. I think I'm starting to understand the people who get excited about shows I don't care about, like Gossip Girl perhaps. This show is essentially the soap opera about a serial killer. It's not really the story, it's the characters that attract me. (Which is essentially the argument for Gossip Girl I believe)

It started by recapping the last season which made me very happy. And they did a good job starting the story and ending on a huge plot point. So excited to start watching this again.

Sons of Anarchy series premier:
This show let me down so much. For the last few months a friend and I have been watching the Sopranos. It's going a little slow, just about done with the first season now. It is an amazing show. I love the characters and the story and the idea of good vs. evil (which doesn't exist) I also love that my friends and I talk about the characters like they are real people.

I wanted Sons of Anarchy to be the Sopranos on motorcycles. I'm sure the creators wanted this too, but they did not deliver at all. The characters seem to be very flat. Everyone is bad except for the main character who wants to get out of the life.

There doesn't seem to be much based on reality story-wise. People let things happen that probably wouldn't happen.

With S of A there is nothing new. The same with Dexter but in a good way.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

History of Food

This class was even better then I could have thought. The only problem, it made me incredibly hungry.

First Day of School!

I just got out of my first class of the semester. Pretty good: Law and Ethics of Journalism. Now I'm waiting for my next class at 2. This is what I'm really excited about. History of Food. This seems right up my ally. I like food; I like history; I like the history of food.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

My last few hours of summer.

Tomorrow I start classes again. This is going to be my first semester past my four years normal people go to college. I'm kind of glad this summer is almost over. When I go to classes I feel like I'm at least doing something productive with my time. But this last summer has been the biggest wast of time. Soon I will do stuff and that feels good. Hopefully I will learn new stuff.

Wired is doing something that makes me incredibly excited Storyboard is a blog devoted to complete openness for a story they are writing. It's meant to be an experiment and a nod to the topic, screenwriter and brand knew director Charlie Kaufman, but to me it's a way to learn the workings of a magazine. They will post email conversations, notes, and interviews; anything that gives a little information about the writing of the article. And I get to use it as a way to learn how to be a real journalist. Which is missing from my school teaching.

With these two things, maybe I'll make it.