courtarro

Last night I watched a 2.5-hour commercial, known popularly as The Transformers. After the first 10 minutes of noticing several glaring product placements I started making a list, with the bold items being particularly egregious.

• HP
• Cisco
• eBay
• USA Today
• Yahoo!
• Panasonic
• Washington Redskins
• The Strokes
• Burger King
• Chevy Camaro
• Cadillac, Hummer
• GMC
• Pontiac Solstice
• CBS
• PIAA
• Taco Bell
• Apple
• Nokia
• Energizer Bunny
• Radio Shack
• XBox360
• Mountain Dew

Searching these out was fun! The movie was absurd and a lot of the script was downright awful, but it was made passable by watching for in-movie brand placement. The Chevy/GMC/Pontiac stuff was through the roof absurd, with numerous camera movements based on slow pans across the front grills of various GM vehicles. eBay's obnoxious place in the storyline was also overboard. I suppose I can ignore Cisco since it was merely their phones plastered all over every government office, rather than their actual brand name ... but these offices had some serious phone technology! Some of those phones had multiple 14-line attachments, but does anyone really need access to more than 30 phone lines at once?

So I'm working from home today with the TV on in the background.

It amuses me how TV advertisements during the holidays are not adjusted to match the altered demographics of vacationers. They're still catered to the unemployed, injured, or elderly.

"Do you need a job? Get a degree in just 2 months from Shady Online University!"

"Did you ignore your boss's rules and hurt yourself at work? You can still sue someone!"

"Are you having trouble getting your meds from the store? Sign up to have them mailed to you with no startup cost! (only $20/mo. afterward)"

Must resist urge ... to do this to every photo ... on CNN ...

Sing it with Merkel: "Fie dollah footlooooooong"

I got my taxes done this weekend with the help of TaxAct. For those of you still procrastinating, I recommend it; it's free for Federal, but with a few extra fees for State and for state e-file, I spent about $21 to get all my taxes done and submitted electronically.

Of course, this was all after I spent a few days attempting to do everything by hand. I've always filed a 1040EZ in the past, because it really is pretty "EZ". However, this year I had a 1099 that made things complicated, so I had to do a normal 1040. The actual 1040 is a piece of artwork. I believe this 2-page is actually a dimensional portal, whereupon you can look through a single line-item and discover two or three additional forms required to determine the actual value of that item. If my meager salary and simple income structure requires 6 pages of forms, I imagine that the return of, say, Bill Gates consumes about 2 trees' worth of paper and must be shipped to the IRS by private jet.

Reporting my 1099 (which constituted 3.6% of my income) required two additional forms. By the time I had downloaded and looked over these additional forms, I knew that I'd be willing to pay some of that hard-earned money not to do any more by hand. Luckily I stumbled upon TaxAct, which saved the day for a reasonable $21.

My parents, on the other hand, got a notice from the Uncle Sam the IRS had not received their FY2001 tax return. Since my parents usually get a refund, this was not a big deal; they wouldn't have to worry about late penalties, interest payments, and all that. This year being 2008, however, meant that they were now beyond the 7-year deadline to re-file and receive the refund due to them from that year. This means that the IRS sat on their refund for 7 years until it expired, then notified my parents that their return was missing. Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy (and patriotic) inside?

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Went to Europe in May; took on a full-time job in June; moved to my own place. I guess I can't say "finished school" because I sorta did that back in 2005 as well.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I stopped making them because the hardest self-commitment to keep is one that society expects to you to break.

3. Did someone close to you give birth?
We're not terribly close any more, but I loved looking at photos of high school-friend Megan Williams' (now Davidson) baby Layne, who was born this year.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Fortunately not

5. What countries did you visit?
Finally I have a good answer for this one: Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
A closer friendship with fellow photographers, a functioning website ... is a girlfriend too much to ask?

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 7-28: my first trip abroad, and it was awesome.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Planning and executing, with Julia, our trip to Europe, with no help from a travel agency except to purchase our IDs and Eurail passes.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Keeping my weight down, visiting the gym, meeting new people. I get so bored at the gym, and my favorite way to socialize is over good food, so it's hard to stay/get fit.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I got pummeled by a Boston College football player. Video proof. The result was a hyperextended right knee that bothered me for months, but it made for a great story.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My Sony flatscreen TV. I get giddy every time I watch it. I don't think any electronics purchase has ever made me so instantaneously happy, and that's saying a lot.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Julia, who did a great job on our Europe hostel reservations. We stayed in some really cool places.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Is it too cliche to say that George W. Bush continues to do so on a regular basis?

14. Where did most of your money go?
Food and gas tend to nickel and dime me, except that instead of nickels and dimes, they're usually fives and twenties.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Both my TV and my new speakers. Nothing gets me tingly like watching an awesome movie with great video and sound. Do I sound like a Circuit City ad? Crisp, clean bass is to die for.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
Meat Loaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light", which I sang at karaoke, only to forget how terribly long it is and how long it takes to get to the funny part.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or hardened? Happier.
ii. Thinner or fatter? Fatter.
iii. Richer or poorer? Richer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Work on personal projects, such as my website and mofoto, and take more artistic (rather than journalistic) pictures.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Wasting time when I get home from work.

20. How will you be spending (did you spend) Christmas?
As is the tradition, Christmas Eve was at my mom's mom's house in Kennesaw, and Christmas Day was spent in Carrollton with my dad's parents.

21. How will you be spending (did you spend) New Year's?
Having over lots of cool people to my tiny apartment. Hopefully everyone enjoyed themselves.

22. Did you fall in love in 2007?
Naah.

23. How many one-night stands?
Zero.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
The Daily Show, or possibly Mythbusters since the writers' strike began. I don't really watch that much TV.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nobody.

26. What was the best book you read?
1984 ... again. I have a bad habit of rereading books rather than reading new ones.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Arcade Fire, thanks to Matt's suggestion. I can't wait until they come back to Atlanta.

28. What did you want and get?
My HDTV, a full set of real speakers, an apartment with a useful kitchen, real cookware, a job.

29. What did you want and not get?
Not much - I'm looking at a Canon 40D, but I can wait. I've had my Digital Rebel for more than four years now, and it's served me incredibly well, but I'm ready for some new features that I've wanted for some time.

30. Favorite film of this year?
Either Hot Fuzz or Ratatouille. I just watched Ratatouille in HD (someone ordered it On Demand), and it was so beautiful that I cried.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 25 and I had a few celebratory dinners with friends and family.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
This one's hard to answer - winning the lottery? Getting married to the love of my life? The question is a little too wide open.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Jeans, an undershirt, and a golf shirt. When it's cold, a long-sleeve shirt.

34. What kept you sane?
Having several friends move back to Atlanta after extended trips or time abroad. I thrive on spending time with friends.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Either Zoe Deschanel or Maggie Gyllenhaal.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
I have rarely been as angry as I was when I watched Frontline's "Cheney's Law", primarily because I know how helpless I am to change any of it.

37. Who do you miss?
Javy. That kind of distance (Atlanta to Hong Kong) is really hard to handle.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Julia and I met an Australian girl named Fran at a full restaurant in Prague. I saw her looking around for a table and something inspired me to ask her to join us (Julia had gone to the restroom), which is pretty out of character for me. She turned out to be a really fun person, and we had lots of cultural stuff to talk about.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007:
See #38 - be more outgoing around strangers, take small risks that have great potential rewards.

Ouch - I just watched a video from the "Center for Science in the Public Interest" (whatever that is) showing the calorie and saturated fat content of certain items at the two popular Italian food chains. Don't do it!

Belly-ssimo!

I'm writing this instead of working out. Take that, personal health.

This weekend saw Wii with Technique alums, HD football and Michael Clayton with Sixth-street alums, and Frisbee with Colonial Homes alums. I can't help but feel that I'm an alumnus of so much these days.

On the way from Amazon: the soundtrack for Michael Clayton (excellent work by James Newton Howard), Hikki's Ultra Blue, and Alright, Still by Lily Allen ... I'm going for variety points. As I write this I've been listening to the scores for Dances with Wolves and Out of Africa. John Barry rocks.

It's a pity that I'm always so zapped, mentally, after getting home from work each day. I feel like I could be doing so much more with my evenings. Anyone have any suggestions on how to stay motivated in one's hobbies and workout schedule? It would help if I had a regular racquetball partner, as well as some accomplices in my other interests.

This paragraph left intentionally short.

Many of you know that I recently purchased a new TV: a Sony 40" XBR2 LCD HDTV. Let's just say it's the wasp's nipples.

Matt and I set it up on Friday afternoon, then let the TV do its autoprogramming to find as many cable channels as it could. In addition to the typical analog channels, I was pleased to see it find the major networks in HD as well. Strangely enough, there were a ton of extra digital channels up in the 80's, 90's, and beyond that seemed to be standard-definition (480i) mirrors of the normal cable channels below. We put it on the list for future exploration and spent the weekend enjoying the Tech v. Clemson game in HD, as well as watching a few upscaled standard-def DVDs. The TV was everything I thought it would be, and more.

Fast forward to yesterday evening. After channel surfing for a while, I found myself back in the strange 80's and 90's channels. There were channels like 89.1, 89.3, 90.2, 111.809, etc. etc. As I passed 90.10, I noticed that it had the HBO logo, then went into an episode of Sex and the City. At first I wondered if I was watching a rerun on TBS, but since the show was starting at about 11:15, that didn't make sense. I watched for a few minutes and sure enough, they used several terms that were definitely not kosher for network TV.

This got me wondering if I had stumbled on some unencrypted feed for HBO. It wasn't terribly surprising since I have been receiving HBO as part of my introductory cable package, but as I looked through the TV listings on my cable box, none of the normal HBO channels were currently showing Sex and the City. Weird.

I went ahead and watched the episode since it was actually pretty funny, and then it ended. Blackness. The channel just went dead. Okay, that's strange. I surfed around the neighboring channels - some were black, some weren't. I saw movies, other TV shows, and bam - another episode of Sex and the City was just starting on another channel. Hmm ... I surfed a bit more and was surprised to find a movie playing ... in fast forward. I watched for a minute as this movie continued to play at high speed with no audio. On another channel, Chris Rock was doing standup. Then I ran into a channel that was showing explicit porn.

Then I realized it. It all came together. I had stumbled upon the digital feeds for the neighborhood's On Demand service! I laughed for several minutes, moving around the channels, exploring my neighbors' movie and TV selections. One movie was HD, though most were SD. Some were English, some were Spanish. I continued to giggle for several minutes as I thought of the implications.

After I pointed out this revelation to Elizabeth, she sent me a July article on Slate that described the author's own discovery of this wonderland of accidental voyeurism. You can read the article, which explains some of the technical aspects, as well as Comcast's response.

Personally, I like the author's idea of a "random movie night". Set up a Saturday evening with popcorn and snacks, invite some friends over, and watch whatever random movies come on, ordered by my neighbors. "Oh look! The second half of Hitch! Let's watch."

In case anyone was wondering, Comcast has been confused about my service transfer and they disconnected my internet yesterday, so that's why Hydrous is down. Their customer service has been friendly though ineffective so far, but hopefully I'll get a good discount when it eventually starts working properly.

Anyway, I'm planning to move Hydrous away from a daily photoblog model to more of a text-and-photos model, once I have some time to do a good redesign. I've been neglecting the photoblog because I simply don't have enough to photograph on a daily basis, and I've always missed having the ability to write articles. I'm not sure what the new site will bring, but my idea is to have a "half and half" design where photoblog entries and text articles are separated by a virtual divider, but neither is given priority.

My experience with Wordpress on the Europe journal has been generally good. Does anyone have any insight into other content management systems that might be better?

"I'll have a Baconator with extra bacon and a Diet Coke"

For those of you curious about my lack of photoblog and Europe journal updates, I wanted to let you know that I've been in the process of moving during the past week. I'm now in Post Woods up near Cumberland Mall, which is just enough close enough to keep me from being labeled OTP :D

If anyone feels like paying me a visit at the new place, just gimme a call.

Hobbes (www.hydrous.net and its other hosted sites) will be offline starting Saturday the 30th until I get my internet transferred to the new place, which is supposed to happen on the afternoon of the 4th. It's gotta suck to be a cable guy working on July 4th.

Check out my Europe 2007 journal. I will be updating it regularly with the events of my May trip with Julia.

A quick post from Barcelona. We took the night train from Paris and got into Spain in the late morning, yesterday. We visited the area near our hostel, including the Cathedral of Barcelona, where we took the elevator to the top (much easier than Notre Dame, but not as high). Back at the hostel's free dinner, we met another Tech student (Jae Soh), who recently graduated. Today we'll be visiting Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, and several other hot spots.

Adios!

News from rural France.

Turns out it's much harder to find reasonably-priced internet access than we expected. I am, however, not missing it as much as I'd expected. I am typing from my cousin Alexis' apartment in rural Epinal, France, which is to the southeast of Paris. It's very quiet here, and we're being spoiled by the great environment, free utilities, and lack of worry about security for our belongings.

After the original post, we visited plenty of big English points of interest, including the war bunker and Churchill museum, which was very interesting, if not simply for the cool, interactive museum elements. We sat in on the House of Commons (made famous by the wildly popular show on C-SPAN) and listened to a debate about handling deportees, with roughly 15-20 representatives in attendance (Tony Blair was not in).

Flying from London to Paris was not exactly fun. Our carrier was EasyJet, which is one of Europe's budget carriers. They fly out of Luton Airport, which is not one of England's big airports. We ended up arriving pretty early but couldn't check in until 45 minutes later, then had to check our big bags (rather than carry them on as Delta allowed). The flight itself was only slightly late, and pretty straightforward. Once in Paris (at around 11pm), we took a regional train into the Latin Quarter for our hostel. This hostel also had only 2 roommates, which was nice. In Paris we visited the Louvre, the catacombs, Notre Dame (including the 370-stair climb to the top), and a shopping district opposite the Louvre. While two of our Parisian meals involved generally pointing at things on the menu (in small cafes), we also ate at Quick, which is the European equivalent of McDonald's. While it was short on culture, I can't describe to you how good that fountain Coke tasted, and after only 5 days in Europe. With ice, too!

We took a train from Paris to Nancy (after watching a building fire outside the Paris train station, waiting for our train) and met my cousin Alexis, who then took us out to eat and walk around Nancy. We then drove back to Epinal (about 45 minutes away). Today in this area we visited a castle in Epinal, a lake, a waterfall, a tiny zoo (next to the castle, actually), the top of a mountain (more than 1km up), and a sparsely-populated kids' playground. It's great to spend time here, since it's much quieter and the air is so much more fresh than it is in the cities. Most of the places we visited seemed to be populated with only French tourists, but language hasn't been a problem since we have Alexis to translate.

Tomorrow we leave Epinal for Nancy, then return to Paris to catch a night train to Barcelona. This is a change from our plans to take a train from Zurich; even though Zurich is closer, Paris is a much more direct train route, so it's faster. There are separate night trains leaving both major cities for Barcelona.

I found out that Delta credited me with 10,000 Skymiles due to the Atlanta flight delay, which is pretty awesome. Hopefully that means I'll be able to visit all you California friends sooner than would otherwise have been.

Also, feel free to check out Julia's version of the events at her Europe blog: http://juliatravelseurope.blogspot.com/

For now, au revoir!

Quick post from England. Our "real" flight left Monday at 10:30pm after the first flight took off and immediately landed due to an overheating engine. We arrived in London at about 11am UK time. At 6pm we met Nadine (for those of you who know her) and had dinner at a Japanese place, discussing differences in culture and our uni experiences. We visited London Tower in the evening, then got to bed around 11pm. The hostel is pretty nice; we have a 4-person room with 2 quiet roommates, but there are tons of younger kids running through the halls most of the time. Today we met Amanda and Fede, so we'll soon head for coffee and/or lunch, then off for some more escapades around London before hopefully visiting a pub this evening.

These posts will likely be short and sweet until I get back (in the US) and embellish them with details :)

Cheers!

Here it is, my final editorial, which will run in the Technique on Friday:

In the world of amateur photography, images range in quality from well-exposed landscapes and well-timed action images to the worst snapshots, complete with redeye and motion blur. We have all taken our share of each, and thanks to online sharing services like Flickr and Facebook’s photo sharing, it is easier than ever for others to view and critique our work. Eventually we wonder how much of this variation comes from the equipment that each person uses and how much can be attributed directly to skill.

At this point, most Tech students have probably owned at least one camera, and many of those have since upgraded to digital cameras at least once over. Some of us prefer the convenience of digital, while a few stick to the nostalgia of film. No one can name a true victor in the interminable war between film and digital, but at this point the relative convenience of digital makes it the choice of the majority. Thus, the digital camera purchasing decision typically comes down to a tradeoff between cost and quality, with the cheapest point-and-shoots hovering around $100 and the better consumer cameras running upwards of $1000.

When I admire the work of professional photographers, I cannot help but wonder how much of their product’s quality is simply the result of their photography equipment. Many of these photographers own expensive digital cameras whose costs rival Tech’s annual in-state tuition. Pro photo equipment is often capable of very high resolution, greater sensitivity in low light, and capturing many images within a short period of time, which improves the photographer’s ability to catch action at the right moment. When you look at the photos of a professionally-photographed wedding, you are often seeing the result of these camera improvements, as well as the benefits of custom lighting and expensive lenses.

So are professional photographers cheating? Are they only getting better results because they can afford more expensive cameras? Consider the opposite situation. Can a rich CEO replace his point-and-shoot with a collection of pro cameras and lenses and see a vast improvement? Likely not. On the other hand, could a pro photographer travel to Hawaii with a point-and-shoot and achieve the results he normally achieves? Again, probably not. Good photo equipment simply makes it easier to translate a clear photographic concept into reality; it does not help the user create those concepts. Much like an Atlanta Symphony violinist produces the best quality on a great violin, a good camera can only raise the glass ceiling of a photographer’s potential; it does not turn the 2nd-year violin student into a virtuoso.

The beginner photographer should choose a camera like the budding rock musician chooses a guitar. One’s money is wasted on a camera that offers too much power for one’s skill, even more so because digital cameras are always rapidly improving in quality and value. Once a person has improved such that he is bounded by the camera rather than skill, that is the best time to upgrade.

Okay, so we have clarified that the photographer makes the camera work, but the camera cannot make the photo. What about post processing? This issue is a bit more controversial. From Google’s Picasa to Adobe Photoshop, software has made it easier than ever to turn a weak photo into a piece of art. With so many built-in enhancement filters and easy adjustments, an absolute beginner can open a photo and automatically make it pop. Software has yet to reach the point where it can improve more subjective attributes like composition, and it can hardly tell you what to photograph in the first place. However, Picasa can easily turn a poorly exposed, out-of-focus, redeyed image into a decent photo.

Through these products we have given beginners the tools to repair certain mistakes that were previously only solvable through practice and acquired skill. Is this cheating yet? I am sure there are those out there who would love to keep these skills under lock and key, to be accessed only by those who have paid their dues. These are the same people who scoff at digital images, instead choosing to shoot black-and-white film processed in their own darkroom. There is certainly something to be said for the happiness of controlling your photography’s entire workflow, but it does not necessarily make you a better photographer. Do we offer more respect to writers who insist on using a typewriter rather than a computer?

It seems only fitting that we should give everyone access to every tool available, so that everyone can enjoy the thrill of seeing their work achieve all it can. While we would all like to know that other people appreciate of our work, everyone takes photos for their own enjoyment, and it is good to see that improvements in camera technology and image-processing software have allowed more people to experience the joys of photography.

Today I discovered MediaMan, a Windows-based direct ripoff of Delicious Library (which is for Macs only). I have to say, though, that it's probably one of my favorite ripoffs of all time. I have occasionally drooled over Delicious Library whenever it has come up in the news of the past, almost to the point of installing the demo on my old Mac G3 just to play with it.

Well today I did a bit of Googling and found this PC-based gem thanks to fellow Techie Paul Stamatiau. Of course, Paul is hesitant to promote the software since it is such a blatant copy, but since the producers of the Mac-based product have shown no interest in creating a PC version, I can only say bravo to the MediaMan developer. If Delicious Monster knew any better, they'd buy this guy out and make MediaMan the basis of a PC port of their flagship software.

If you own a PC, you should check out MediaMan immediately. If you own a Mac, you should check out Delicious. Both have demos, and both are offered for sale at $40. I've already loaded in all my CDs and DVDs with a CueCat that I got years ago, and for which I now finally have a use. Check out my library of DVDs and of CDs.

A few weeks ago I sent yet another email that was meant to have an attachment, while forgetting to attach anything. I realized that, since I usually mention the attachment in the body of the email, it ought to be simple to create a plugin for Thunderbird that would look for words like "attach" and remind me that I have not actually attached anything (if that's the case). I figured that I could learn how to write this simple extension with a bit of research, but I hadn't had time so far. Turns out, this is a good thing.

This evening I was casually reading Eric's blog when I came across an entry describing exactly what I needed. It turns out that this extension already exists, and in the exact same form as I had described to myself. It's called AttachmentReminder, and it's awesome. If you use Thunderbird, you should get it now!

It's editorial time again! This is my editorial for the 'Nique that will run on Friday:

Say it ain’t so! It sounds like Brit Brit has been dumped by her latest beau, Isaac Cohen. K-Fed would be celebrating, but he’s too busy firing up his Grammy-prospective music career.

Each time I wrap up my biweekly trip to Publix, standing in line to add my frozen dinners to the checkout conveyor, innumerous tabloids scream in my direction with the latest happenings of the Hollywood universe. “Norah Jones: I Was Told to Lose Weight for Movie,” says People magazine, and “Britney Spear’s On-the-Go Wardrobe Change.” Rarely do I fail to chuckle at the absurdity of the bold, capitalized text, but not because the content itself is humorous. Instead, I ponder why people lend that sort of “investigative journalism” any value.

While some people may find it fascinating that Lindsay Lohan was caught wearing conflicting colors while filling up her car, I can only wonder how there was no other news of greater importance. Why do people trouble themselves with the intimate details of complete strangers? Perhaps they do not consider such celebrities to be strangers; after watching Geraldo Rivera’s E! True Hollywood Story (THS as the hipsters now call it), I would probably know more about his past and present than I know about my lab partner.

I would guess that this infatuation is not the fault of the general populace. With such a huge media machine covering news of the rich and famous, it takes an active effort not to keep up with the latest status of Brangelina’s relationship. When Anna Nicole Smith’s death was covered in excruciating detail nonstop this past weekend, Congress could have declared war on Switzerland and we would all be none the wiser.

Sometimes I wonder if celebrities deserve the sort of treatment they get from the press. Most actors and musicians make an active decision to enter a world that has no secrets. They must know to expect a bit of stalking and candid photography once they reach a certain level of fame. It seems that the most extensively covered celebrities actively pursue their place in the news, and they surely realize that there is no on/off switch within the press. If a celebrity wants everyone to know what she does in public, she must be willing to let them find out what she does on her own time.

I’ll admit that not all celebrity news is worthless. It matters when music artists announce a tour schedule, or when a new movie trailer is released. This is information that has the potential to affect me directly, whether it means beginning the search for concert tickets or making movie-watching plans. On the other hand, if Scarlett Johansson starts dating Justin Timberlake, does that mean I should change some aspect of my life? Should I start dressing differently to get her to notice me?

Perhaps we lend more credence to this sort of news because it truly does represent some of our media’s best efforts to produce investigative journalism. While many bash the media (and rightfully so) for covering stories based purely on sound bites and buzzwords without getting to the meat of a story, celebrity news proves to be an exception. How else would we know that Julia Roberts has given birth to twins but for the relentless pursuits of People magazine, who were likely stalking around every nearby hospital for weeks in advance, waiting for any sign of such vital “breaking news.”

What offends me is not the fact that celebrities are stalked for tabloid headlines, nor am I bothered at being given more information about the world in general. What offends me is how so many man-hours and other resources are wasted to bring me information like this. For the most part, the articles that appear in such tabloids provide no benefit to humanity except to keep curious minds busy, while much more important information goes unrecognized and unheard by the masses. What if the checkout lines contained headlines like, as Slate.com recently put it, “Bush’s Korea Plan Is Surprisingly Clintonian”? How much more effective would our democracy be if all those muck-rakers spent their time studying policy, then translating it into terms that we can all understand? We would certainly be much more educated voters.