Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Information Stream: Downgraded from Information Blast

It's the summer. The stories are a bit thinner, so I can spend more time with them like one would when floating aimlessly down the stream. Anyway, we proceed.

  • Favorite target of The Daily Show Karl Rove retired yesterday from his position as Chief White House political strategist. As can be expected from those dirty hippies over at The Daily Show, there was a buzz of excitement at this prospect. This excitement was hilariously played on by John Oliver in a loving send-up of the classic Disney story Mary Poppins. Raw Story has posted the video.
  • In one of the less surprising pieces of news that I've read in a few years, corporations are taking advantage of the fact that anyone can edit pieces on Wikipedia, the public's encyclopedia. As can also be predicted, many corporations are re-writing their entries in a more company-friendly, personable tone. Wired has written about an action that has been taken against this policy: posting the fact that it actually happens. CalTech grad student Virgil Griffith has tracked down all of the IPs who have made changes on Wikipedia and posted them into a searchable database. So, if some entry seems to biased, you can check to see who has been working on it.
  • Trey Ellis, blogger at The Huffington Post, suggests that because Barack Obama is Black, all Black people will vote for him. I'd like to go on the record and say that I'm Black and not voting for Barack Obama. Unless he stops talking in dialetics and shapeless, optimistic language, he doesn't stand much of a chance of getting my vote. I would vote for him in 2012, but I refuse to vote for him now. He also talks about a Black person in power raising the spirits of Black America. I only have two words against that theory: Clarence Thomas. Done.
That's how slow of a news day it is. There's just nothing to be had discussion-wise. The only other news that has come out is that John from Cincinnati, the frustratingly genius television show that only debuted this summer on HBO, has been canceled.