papsrus

On order: Luis Russell -- "1929 - 1934" (challenge) Fletcher Henderson -- "The Harmony & Vocalion Sessions, Vol. 1" (timeless) Fletcher Henderson -- "The Harmony & Vocalion Sessions, Vol. 2" (timeless)

And for the record, the current state of the newspaper industry has to do primarily with the emergence of the internet and the preference of young people to speak in tongues to one another while networking on their PDA's rather than "read." It also has to do with the industry itself taking on way too much debt, which the overall decline in the economy has exacerbated. The ever-shifting ideological tilt of the readership one way or the other surely has had some impact, but that is at the very least a two-way street, and it is but one piece of a much larger puzzle.

Perhaps. If so, and it was just opinion, that's not good. I had always thought the News & Observer had a pretty good reputation. But I don't read it. EDIT: And apologies, GA, for popping off a bit. I didn't have all the facts, only the facts as you presented them -- which were, "an Associated Press obituary."

It continues to amaze me that people will claim factual reports are somehow biased because the facts don't comport with their worldview. The CDC is characterized on another thread as a dishonest advocacy group because some stats they compiled on gun deaths from around the globe don't agree with someone's position on gun control. Here, the mere mention of Falwell's setbacks, controversial utterances or his position on social issues is magically transformed into "(he is) someone whom they were glad to be rid of." No where in that obituary do I get that message. No where. Consider that maybe, just maybe, the biases lie somewhere else.

Here's the leftist obituary. Judge for yourselves:

Do you have a link to the obituary? I'd like to see exactly how "they" characterized him. He was a controversial figure, so if that's what came through, it's not inaccurate. If they said "they were glad to be rid of" him, that's a different story. But I doubt they did.

Judging by those poll results, most people view themselves as being either moderate or liberal. You misrepresent the results by saying the poll indicates people are conservative. My god, that's a silly response. A larger majority describe themselves as being moderate or conservative. You're misrepresenting the results to a far greater degree than GA Russell. Bullshit. I said very clearly either or. I did not say and, and therefore did not lump moderates and liberals together, except as to distinguish that they weren't conservative. The statement that people are conservative based on 40% is incorrect. And the term you're looking for is "plurality." The "majority" of people, according to this survey, in fact do not identify themselves as conservative. I left that part of it alone. But yes, to a degree. I doubt the "status quo" would always (or even a "majority" of the time) agree, however.

Judging by those poll results, most people view themselves as being either moderate or liberal. You misrepresent the results by saying the poll indicates people are conservative. There are newspapers that are unabashedly conservative. Are the trends in their circulation numbers any different from newspapers at large? If not, strike two.

Try playing it in your computer, if it plays fine then just rip and re-burn that disc and keep it in the same case, problem solved. Shawn, I finally got around to following your suggestion and it worked. Played and copied fine, so now I have a lossless copy of the disc that plays flawlessly. Thanks!

...

You are right. You have to feel bad for the fellow. He soldiered on, and that's hopefully serving him well now. Youtube should have a where-are-they-now feature. I work at the same place where the weatherman freaked out over the cockroach -- a Youtube sensation a year or two back. He took it all in stride and was very good-natured about the whole thing, even though it was a pretty embarrassing tape.

Is it possible to post a target and a running count, or periodic updates? Some would be able to kick in more if there's a shortfall. edit: nevermind ... I see the target in the initial post now.

Seems to be a slight lack of preparation here. Either that, or the teleprompter was scrolling sanskrit. Feel bad for the guy though, especially in the age of youtube. The tape will probably surface at his retirement party 44 1/2 years from now.

Don Imus

I've had to reboot my DTV receiver three times tonight in the span of about an hour. I think I'm ready for rabbit ears.

Original Memphis Five (timeless) Original Dixieland Jazz Band First Jazz Recordings (timeless) The Jelly Roll Morton Centennial: His Complete Victor Recordings (bluebird)

It doesn't surprise me that there was no call on that play, mouthpiece boy was moving and they owed the Lakers about 25 whistles. We can go through the laundry list of muggings they let Howard get away with--including shoving Gasol in the back which was called a foul on Gasol, reaching across Ariza's body with a virtual bear hug for what should have been his 5th foul but instead was called a jump ball, and setting more blatantly moving picks without getting it called than anyone since Chris Webber and the Sacramento Queens. Add to that the fact that Turkoglu pushes off on every single jumper to create room, uncalled touch fouls when Kobe gets hit on the arm by Pietrus, and the phantom whistles on Bynum... The Lakers shot zero free throws in the 4th quarter to the Magic's 13 attempts. Well, the other stuff aside, it was an elbow to the head. Seems like a foul.

Missed the game. Turned the old boob tube on just in time to see the Penguins passing Lord Stanley around. Surprised. Good for them, though.

Watched the game last night. Magic repeatedly gave it away, IMO. They simply don't have the killer instinct. Don't know how to finish. If they did, they could just as easily be up 3-1 in this series. They should have fouled Fisher as soon as he crossed half court, yes? They shouldn't have double-teamed the ball on the inbounds, right? Nobody should have been defending inside the 3-point line, correct? Only through a series of defensive meltdowns on that one play does Fisher even get off a clean shot. They gave it to him. Literally. But aside from that total screw-up, they should have made some free throws down the stretch and the whole thing would have been moot. And what was that dude -- Pietrus, I think -- what was he doing just standing next to Kobe and giving him that 3-pointer? I mean, just standing beside him, not even in front of him, let alone with his arms up. wtf? Did he think giving him the stink eye was going to unnerve Bryant? Is that some new defensive tactic we haven't seen before? This is a good, solid -- but not great -- Laker team facing a Magic squad that doesn't have the killer instinct, IMHO. Fisher, now he's got the killer instinct. And Kobe is making all the right plays, even if he does whine too much when he doesn't get every last call. That's just his competitiveness. Amazing player. Speaking of calls, I thought the officiating was weird. What seemed like ticky tacky calls in the early going put the Lakers in a real bind, then a blatant elbow to the head by Bryant when he threw that pass out to Fisher doesn't get called? What's the deal with that? ... Having said that, it seemed like a pretty physical game, especially in the paint, so probably a no-win for the officials no matter how they tried to control it.

Somehow missed this earlier. PayPal on the way. Thanks for providing a great place to hang.

I agree. I'm frankly glad it's unfolding the way it is right now. The company was trying to squeeze $20 million in concessions from the paper, and the paper is projected to lose roughly $80 million this year. Doesn't take a genius to figure out this would not be good for the rest of the company.

They've made some bad business decisions. Not alone there. Buying the Globe was one. Building a new office tower in Manhattan was another. Feasting at the credit candy store a third. Accelerated decline in the newspaper business in general coupled with the tanking economy put them in a bad spot. Not as bad as some other companies, but dicey nonetheless. Selling the Globe is absolutely the right thing to do, even though they're certain to take a huge bath. They need to maintain the flagship and, hopefully, hang on to and invest in assets that are profitable instead of using them to absorb the Globe losses. I'm frankly a little surprised anyone out there is willing to buy the Globe. I guess at some price it's attractive. But you're basically buying the privilege to lose $80 million a year.

Probably best for all concerned. Indeed. My first reaction after hearing they had rejected salary cuts -- severe though they would have been -- was: "Selfish bastards." This paper's endless flow of red ink seriously impacts operations at other NYT newspapers, resulting in large job cuts and salary cuts at (nonunion) papers that are profitable. Trickle-on effect. The sooner they unload this albatross the better, IMO. ... Speaking selfishly, of course.

No. Well, I've tired of Chris Berman's routine. He doesn't announce a baseball game so much as he pontificates his way through it, rambling away with all sorts of self references and other musings on a variety of well-worn topics while his bewildered partner tries to follow along. It's rambling and ... oh by the way, there's a beautiful double play! We'll be right back.

Lighten up, Dan. It's one series. In JUNE! Out of how many series in "twelve years or something?" The Rangers play the Sox two more series this year. IF by some miracle the Rangers manage to go over .500 on your club this year, THEN you may have a legitimate gripe. And even then it won't matter if your boys are on top and mine are finding their usual way to mid-season mediocrity. But until that happens (and I'm not holding my breath, just enjoying it for as long as it lasts), spare me your charity and stop acting like the Red Sox deserved to win these games more than the Rangers. They're 4.5 games ahead in first place! Same record as the Yankees. Tied for the third-best record in baseball! ... cheer up! I'm loving what the Rangers are doing this year. You gotta get that Hamilton guy back on track and cranked up again!! Meanwhile, the Rays blew it today, giving up a 3-run eighth to NY. Blech. Sonnanstine (7.07 era) v. Pettitte on Monday.