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28 March 2004  

On Hiatus

I have no time to devote to the blog these days, as you might have guessed. In fact, I'm barely reading blogs — or the newspaper, for that matter. I figured I ought to make the hiatus offical, though, as the next six weeks will be particularly busy as my final exam in Ancient Greek approaches. Unless something extraordinary happens, I won't be posting again until mid-May or early June. At that time, I hope I can find a way to institute a more regular posting schedule. Hope to see you then.

(For those into that kind of thing, the photoblog will still be updated daily.)

11:23 AM |

14 March 2004  

Due Diligence

I just discovered this from last Spring's Ryerson Review of Journalism in an article on innumeracy in journalism:

Consider this line: “Ottawa estimates up to 16,000 Canadians die prematurely each year from pollution caused by burning fossil fuels.” This appeared in a Toronto Star article concerning the Kyoto Protocol. Contrary to the article’s assertion, the Canadian Health Coalition statement being quoted made no direct claim that all 16,000 lives could be saved if Canada ratifies the agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions by one-third. A diligent reader informed the Star of the error and a correction followed, but the mistake demonstrates the danger of misinterpreting statistics. Credibility is jeopardized and the entire angle of a story can change.

Cool. Now, if I ever decide to put blurbs up here, I can use this:

"...diligent..." - Ryerson Review of Journalism

11:44 AM |

3 March 2004  

Gizmodo Returns, with Competition

You gadget freaks going through withdrawal because of Gizmodo's recent erratic posting and hiatus can breathe easy again. They're back, though no longer with Pete Rojas at the keyboard. He's gone off and started a remarkably similar site, engadget.com. From famine to feast in one day.

I'm glad there's competition in this area. For some reason I haven't fully identified, Rojas' writing style has always annoyed me. It may be a wholly personal thing, but to me, it stuck out like a sore thumb in the Denton stable of well-written blogs (e.g., Gawker, Wonkette).

Update: Jeff Jarvis has more.

05:35 PM |

That's Me: Weak and Lacking

Jeff Jarvis reports that the Toronto Star's ombudsman, Don Sellar, has a less than glowing evaluation of bloggers as a class:

I don't take bloggers very seriously. Their tradecraft is sometimes weak, or lacking. But they're part of the landscape, just as pamphleteers were in days of yore.

03:21 PM |