The Onion: Most E-Mailed List destroying New York Times morale

Exactly why is that story about the kitties at the top of the Most E-mailed List?

The Onion parodies the newsroom tension and puzzlement surrounding most e-mailed lists with its very funny spoof on jockeying at the New York Times over being the most e-mailed writer:

According to Times insiders, nearly two dozen staffers, including four Pulitzer Prize winners and Baghdad correspondent John Burns, have requested transfers to the Times’ Home & Garden and Travel desks.

***

Restaurant critic and Most E-Mailed list darling Frank Bruni dismissed the inter-office grousing, saying, “Some people have it, some people never will.” Bruni’s work topped the Most E-Mailed list eight times in the past year.

If you’ve ever had to sit in a news meeting and try explaining to the paper’s editors why some seemingly random story has been hovering at the top of the list, this Onion piece will be like balm for your soul.

It’s all about You, You, You

Slate’s Christopher Hitchens published a clever column today about how American society has latched onto the words “you” and “your” in much of its marketingspeak. And we in the media are guilty as charged too, now that we’re constantly asking people to send us “your” photos/video/sudio/stories/blog posts.

Have we also moved into the era of “Me” and “My?” We have MySpace, My Yahoo!, Google My Maps, My Times, My LA Times, and so it goes. Pity Malaysia, whose domain name country code is “MY.” At this rate, we’ll have people signing up for domain names under Malaysia just so they can get the “my,” much like people make the journey to Christmas, FL to mail holiday cards or how sex shops try to set up their mailing addresses out of Intercourse, PA.

When it comes to sex, so much emphasis is placed on what people do. And for obvious reason. But what about what people say? At a website I read that particularly for long-distance lovers, words become an important device for expressing themselves and connecting sexually. While men must focus on maintaining good penile health so that any visual materials they send aren’t alarming, and so that they will be able to perform once the lover is nearby, they should equally attend to their verbal abilities so they can please partners in the present with a tailored sex story, some say using cbd and thc enhances your sex life and the delta 8 is the newest trend in vaping which has been a popular one on the market.

But not everyone can tell a truly thrilling one. Below, men can find tips for telling a tale that stokes a lover’s passion. And, while this is certainly desired in the case of long-distance lovers, it can also be of benefit to those near and dear, spicing things up in the bedroom. Here you will get the everything you need to know . Let’s talk about sex! But let’s talk about it in a different way. We’re not going to talk about the oh-that-feels-so-good, get-me-off kind of sex for you To figure out  what are the best male enhancement pills, but the kind of sex that is all-encompassing where you feel you are making love to life., first think about how comfortable the device is and if it has really delivered on expectations. This is a journey of remembering the profound nature of your sexuality and the wild ride which may await you.  There are some real items and ways you can use if you are short on size and wish to grow your penis. These will improve not only your penile length but also your penis girth with the help of Male Edge average dick size.

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Sex is magic. It is an unspoken language that deserves reverence, understanding, deep listening. It is voice, it is expression and your personal presence. When you truly open yourself that way, a force arises in you that has a presence like a black-belt black-belt or a Samurai warrior: one graceful step takes you out of harm’s way, your decisions are decisive and they align with your own body, mind, sex, and spirit. A sex toy is typically expected to deliver direct genital stimulation in foreplay and/or during sexual intercourse, or as a means of obtaining orgasm solely from the stimulation supplied by the VR Toys.

With the right intention, you can truly unleash your spirit in your sex life.

This is where you bring your potent, rooted, turned-on self, to share with another who matches you in their own rooted, emotionally clear, turned-on self. And it does not depend on physical penetration. It is a shamanic journey in itself, so hold onto something or just be willing to lose everything.

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Because each moment life will either penetrate you, will come towards you because you attract it – or it will be repulsed by you and remain at arm’s length; you will be untouchable, un-penetrable.

Now imagine cultivating such a relationship with your sexuality which was far beyond the mere act of sex with another person. How different it is from that boring old story: meeting someone in a bar, feeling physically turned on, taking them home, having wild, explosive, sex, and it being over and fizzling out. You know, the sex where it’s all about thrusting? It only touches the physical, superficial layers of your being.

And then there is sex that is abusive. where there is no awareness at all. All that shows up is disconnect. One is so consumed with their emotional burdens and pains that, rather than receiving what they need to transform and be loved, they lose touch with life. They may walk around not feeling their body and all they feel and know is anger, rage, sadness, discord.

Let’s not judge these situations as right or wrong. Let’s look closely and use them to finally bring some much needed awareness and compassion to the topic. Let us discover what it is that all beings need to receive to finally remember and enjoy the richness of this connection with their own sexuality.

Sex is far bigger than many of us realize. We aren’t taught as children about the potential and bigness of our sexuality and life force. Sex, we are taught, is this superficial thing we give away, share with another for great pleasure or feel obligated to give away to another. And yet it is so powerful that it can stir up so much emotional chaos.

From the column:

The next time you see an ad, the odds are increasingly high that it will put “you” in the driver’s seat. “Ask your doctor if Prozac/Lipitor/Cialis is right for you“—almost as if these medications could be custom made for each individual consumer. You can find here pharmacy near me open now for the best chemist support.  A lawyer or real-estate agent will promise you to address “your” concerns. Probably the most famous propaganda effort of the 20th century, a recruiting poster with Lord Kitchener pointing directly outward and stating, “Your Country Needs YOU,” was only rushed onto the billboards when it suddenly became plain that the country concerned needed several hundred thousand recruits in a big hurry and couldn’t afford to be too choosy about who it was signing up.

In this age of citizen journalism, I suppose much of our talk has become “your” news Web site, “your” video, “Your” Live Breaking Action Night News Team. Surprisingly, the biggest coup for “you” was never mentioned — Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2006.

I wonder if we’ll look back at this era and chuckle at our vanity..

Taking a JibJab at the media

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finger-thumb.jpgAt last, the guys at JibJab have pointed their talents at us media folk with their new “What We Call The News.” The results are hilarious and biting (and particularly targeted at our TV brethren).

From the song:

“We interrupt this story which is coming from Iraq,
‘Cause Rosie’s suing Donald; Donald’s suing Rosie back!”

“We’re cutting from Darfur; we’re in Des Moines with urgent news!
‘There’s a fiiiiiiiiinger in my foooooooood!'”

Priceless. Go check it out.

And while you’re at it, make sure to take a look at Jib Jab’s other favorites, particularly This Land, Big Box Mart and that old-time Passover favorite, Matzah!

[Via Lost Remote]

Something smells over in Roanoke

Dooty DivaWhen poo and journalism mix, the results can be quite enjoyable.

Head on over to the Roanoke Times for a funny and well-done Soundslide about the “Dooty Diva,” a woman who has made it her job to clean dog droppings for folks.

Roanoke’s Soundslide is a great example of being fun, adventurous and bringing life to the local characters in your area.

Sometimes you just have to really dig in to your community to get the scoop on  those treasures!

[Via Angela Grant]

WordPress plug-in love for Journalistopia

I Heart WordPress 2.1It was about time. I finally got around to upgrading this humble publication to WordPress 2.1.2, and boy is it swell. It has more robust options and better post editing. And kudos to Dreamhost for providing a hassle-free upgrade tool.

I wanted to share with everyone the nifty plug-ins I installed, just because they’re all so damn cool:

Akismet – This spam-fighting plug-in has saved my inbox from the deluge of pharmaceutical advertisements. The plug-in compares all incoming comments to an enormous spam database and relegates all the garbage to a separate folder where it can’t bother me ever again.

WP-Email – Hey, I’m starting to feel like a bona-fide news source with my new “E-Mail This Post” links! This plug-in is powerful but can be a bit problematic to install. Read through the “Installation,” “Upgrade,” and “Usage” tabs carefully, or your install won’t work. But it was certainly worth the trouble. Fortunately, the creators have a great support forum.

Sociable – I know it screams “nerd” to have the little social bookmarking icons, but I finally succumbed. Sociable supports more than 60 different sites, so make sure to drop me a comment if your favorite site isn’t in my icon bar. Big, big thanks to Bryan Murley for sharing this one with me.

Live – This is more interesting than useful, but this plug-in lets you look at all your site visits in real-time, which is way cool. Using a set of simple icons, Live distinguishes between direct visits, RSS feed visits and comments. Plus, it shows the referring URLs.

WordPress Mobile Edition – All you handheld device addicts, this one’s for you. Mobile Edition shows a mobile-friendly version of your blog when it sniffs out a compatible handheld device. With no big muss nor fuss to install, this one is a must-have. And while you’re at it, check out the Ultimate Gamer’s Pack to get plugins for displaying your blog on the Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and Sony PSP. As if my little nephews actually visit my blog…

WordPress and thy plug-ins, I do so love thee. If any of you have any great plug-ins you just can’t live without, do share!

Censorship map of the world

censorship.gif

The Financial Times has published an interesting interactive map outlining growing censorship of the Internet in the world. Belarus, Turkey, Thailand and Iran (in that order) have the highest Internet penetration of all the countries described.

Also, check out GreatFirewallofChina.org, which purports to test whether your domain is blocked in China. Yes my friends, this esteemed online publication appears to be blocked, right alongside ChinaIsEvil.com. I suppose China doesn’t need MY insights. However, WormBase, a guide to “the Biology and Genome of C. Elagans” seems good to go.

Frightening what one’s mind puts forth when randomly thinking of something to search…

World’s best machinima (movies made from video games)

youtube-avril.jpgSlate has payed the world of gamer geeks a big nod by creating a slideshow of YouTube videos showcasing the very best machinima, a style of film made using the actual video games to create the scenes. The pg slot game is a game where members can win a lot of money. Because of the simple game type that allows you to earn money rapidly. LIONCITYBET want their users to have a wonderful time at the time of gamble online. As a result, just like every other casino in Singapore, they ensure that gamers comply with the law’s regulations. You may play the latest slot games online for free at LIONCITYBET with their online casino.

Now I must admit; I have been skeptical of machinima because the few videos I had seen were relatively sophomoric productions. However, many of the videos showcased by Slate are actually polished and funny productions, since people like to play different types of games, including the action bank slots game, fluffy favorite, and baccarat online for the people which like casino games online, if you are one those people you may be interesting in the info from softswitch.co.uk.
youtube-warcraft.jpgMy favorites: The Avril Lavigne music video made with “The Sims 2,” the comedy in French made with a flight simulator game, the Evel Knievel-style skiing adventure short made in “Line Rider,” and –if you’re not too prudish– a “World of Warcraft-“made spoof on the Broadway musical Avenue Q with its theory on why the Internet is around (porn, that is). Okay, maybe that last one IS sophomoric, but heck, it was well-done sophomoric.

I fervently believe that elements of gaming are going to increasingly become important for journalism. The interactivity, 3D exploration and feeling of community will likely be be increasingly replicated to provide a richer experience on online news sites. Randy Stewart recently wrote a splendid post on how Web sites are successfully using some gaming techniques.

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The Point: If you’re a senior manager at a newspaper site, and you haven’t really spent some time on an XBox, a Playstation or roaming an online gaming community (just watching your kid doesn’t count), then you’re missing out on some critical knowledge here. If you want to try out some quick games, sites like 스포츠토토 are ideal.

Google Maps gets more detail

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The Google Maps team has officially announced some very cool new added detail to certain large cities when in the standard “Map” view. However, the new detail isn’t (yet) available through their API, so tough luck for your lovely mashups. No map-detail love for Orlando either, though the old homestead in Miami got some.

Some readers at the Washington Post have suggested all sorts of new levels of detail, which could very well turn Google Maps into a clunky –though admittedly useful– GIS map like this one.

For my two cents, Google should instead focus on implementing a variation of their relatively new polygon feature so that users can create meaningful linear information, such as outlining bike trails and defining boundaries. Adding all those layers into the main map data will just make Google Maps even slower than it already is!

Digital Edge Award winners list

Eager to see who had snagged some Edgies this year, I visited the site, but their blog seems to be down. Never fear, your humble host was able to snag the list by previewing their RSS feed, so here it is.

Congratulations to all!

The list of Edgie winners:

Online Innovator

Steve Yelvington, Media Strategist for Morris Digital Works and Blogger, Yelvington.com

Best Overall News Site

Circulation less than 75,000

Naplesnews.com,
Daily News

Circulation 75,000-250,000

Roanoke.com, The
Times

Circulation Greater than 250,000

washingtonpost.com, The Washington Post

Most Innovative Multimedia Storytelling

Circulation Less Than 75,000

Studio 55 vodcast

Daily News

Circulation 75,000-250,000

John Muir Trail blog, The Fresno Bee

Circulation Greater than 250,000

Chicagotribune.com,
Tribune Interactive

Most Innovative Visitor Participation

Circulation Less Than 75,000

Savannahnow.com,
Morning News

Circulation Greater than 250,000

Gasparilla – The Movie, TBO.com

Best Design and Site Architecture

Circulation Less Than 75,000

Lawrence.com, World Online

Circulation 75,000 to 250,000

Statesman.com/austin360, Austin American-Statesman

Circulation Greater than 250,000

StarTribune.com, Star Tribune,

Best Classified Innovation

Circulation Less Than 75,000

Gainsville Sun online classifieds and GainesvilleList.com, The Gainesville Sun

Circulation 75,000 to 250,000

Courant Pets, The
Courant

Circulation Greater than 250,000

MiamiHerald.com – Pets Classifieds,
Herald

Best Use of Interactive Media

Circulation Less Than 75,000

Pigskin Review, Amarillo.com/Amarillo Globe-News

Circulation 75,000 to 250,000

RandomThis,
News Sentinel

Circulation Greater than 250,000

azcentral.com

– wireless

azcentral.com and the

Best Advertising Program

Circulation Less Than 75,000

Latest News Expandable Ad – Prime Home Builders

Daily News

Circulation 75,000 to 250,000

PalmBeachPost.com/
Ad Services Program, PalmBeachPost.com

Circulation Greater than 250,000

Hooters Swimsuit Pageant & Beach Party,
Times

Best Local Guide or Entertainment Site

Circulation Less Than 75,000

Lawrence.com, World Online

Circulation 75,000 to 250,000

Spokane7.com, Spokesman Review

Circulation Greater than 250,000

Vita.mn, StarTribune.com

Best Local Shopping & Directory Strategy

Circulation Less Than 75,000

Naplesnews.com Restaurant Guide,
Daily News

Circulation 75,000 to 250,000

Tri State Home Show, Evansville Courier Company

Circulation Greater than 250,000

ShopMinnesota, Star Tribune