8/02/2008
Urban legends, rural paper
As a person who began his career in community journalism, your correspondent does not romanticize the standards and practices of the average small-town paper. That's why he enjoys looking in on The Old Word Wolf as she scans her local newspaper, the DeSoto Sun (also serving Hardee Co.), and indicts it for chronic journalistic misdemeanors. In her most recent post, the sharp-eyed editrix catches it passing on an obvious howler of an urban legend, one that had already been exploded in snopes.com.
Labels: blogs
6/10/2008
Another blog heard from (nepotism edition)
+ Rachel Lane blog -- Dark humor, observation, poetry, photos and travelogue from my daughter. But hey, she really can write. She's pursuing her MFA in creative writing at FSU.
+ Articles of Faith -- Social theory blog just started by my son, Nathaniel Lane, an economics major at UMAss/Amherst. He does way-cool web design.
+ Articles of Faith -- Social theory blog just started by my son, Nathaniel Lane, an economics major at UMAss/Amherst. He does way-cool web design.
Labels: blogs
5/20/2008
Not dead
Oh good! Abstract Appeal is not dead. And here I was all set to take it down from the blogroll.
4/24/2008
Blog fight! Blog fight!
In a not-terribly-shocking development, House Speaker Marco Rubio is telling the press other people are to blame for his lack of effectiveness , Democrats are whiners, and by the way, Goc. Crist is a policy lightweight who doesn't do his homework.
The Orlando Sentinel, feeling left out of the e-mailing and airing of the grievances, demands copies of the missives saying they're public records. The Herald folks responds that this is no big deal, contrary to what the Sentinel says, the e-mails were strictly on-the-record, so just read them on our Web site and by the way, correct your damn blog post.
The Orlando Sentinel, feeling left out of the e-mailing and airing of the grievances, demands copies of the missives saying they're public records. The Herald folks responds that this is no big deal, contrary to what the Sentinel says, the e-mails were strictly on-the-record, so just read them on our Web site and by the way, correct your damn blog post.
Labels: blogs, Legislature, Marco Rubio, Media
3/30/2008
Blog listed!
Flablog is has made Chris Cillizza's Best of the State Politics Blogs list. Along with longtime faves Naked Politics, The Buzz and FLApolitics.
We are quietly proud.
We are quietly proud.
3/19/2008
Redesigned
Florida Today launches a new site design this week. It uses the Gannett template just like Tallahassee Democrat's site.
The sites' designers assume you are using MS Explorer. Some features, like the blogs, come up blank in Firefox (a browser that accounts for 17 percent of the market and a third of Flablog readers). Doesn't matter; you will use the Microsoft browser if you want to come here. No soup for you! Next!
Personally, I think the Web 2.0 stuff on newspaper sites is way overhyped and will not be much used. Real Web 2.0 sites do this sort of thing better and faster over a bigger network. (Plus they actually allow you to use Firefox.) It's just not what people want from their local newspaper's site. They want news -- especially breaking news -- and don't want to navigate a lot of drop-menus with tiny print to find it. No surprise, then, that the reaction in the comments ranges from disgust to outrage with lots of complaints about type size.
The sites' designers assume you are using MS Explorer. Some features, like the blogs, come up blank in Firefox (a browser that accounts for 17 percent of the market and a third of Flablog readers). Doesn't matter; you will use the Microsoft browser if you want to come here. No soup for you! Next!
Personally, I think the Web 2.0 stuff on newspaper sites is way overhyped and will not be much used. Real Web 2.0 sites do this sort of thing better and faster over a bigger network. (Plus they actually allow you to use Firefox.) It's just not what people want from their local newspaper's site. They want news -- especially breaking news -- and don't want to navigate a lot of drop-menus with tiny print to find it. No surprise, then, that the reaction in the comments ranges from disgust to outrage with lots of complaints about type size.
12/17/2007
The Palmetto exit
So I get back into town and on-line only to find that Stuck on the Palmetto is calling it quits.
A pity, I always liked that site. It proved the omniblog -- a general interest blog not devoted exclusively pop culture, politics, personal mediations or local matters, but a mix of all of them -- is still alive and kicking.
Good luck with future projects, guys.
A pity, I always liked that site. It proved the omniblog -- a general interest blog not devoted exclusively pop culture, politics, personal mediations or local matters, but a mix of all of them -- is still alive and kicking.
Good luck with future projects, guys.
Labels: blogs
10/09/2007
Another blog heard from
Marilyn Tarnowski, down in Arcadia, writes the Old Word Wolf, a blog about Florida, DeSoto County, words and dead-on, but not meanspirited, media criticism focusing on target-rich environment afforded by her local edition of the Charlotte Sun.
Labels: blogs
9/22/2007
Another blog heard from
Wow, a tremendous number of links relating to Florida's springs can be found at the Florida Springs blog. "PC," a librarian, has been doing this since August last year and I had no idea. Lots of photos, too. It's in my bookmarks.
Labels: blogs
9/12/2007
Politico profiles Flablog
The good folks at The Politco have been running a series, called BlogJam, about blogs and bloggers around the country. Today, BlogJam profiles this blog.
I am quietly proud.
I am quietly proud.
6/01/2007
Blog fight! Blog fight!
There's snark and counter-snark in the newspaper-based blogs today.
The St. Pete Times' Buzz noted that the Times sent a reporter to cover the governor's trip to Israel while the state's former No. 1 paper just ran a report from a politician who went along. The Herald's Naked Politics took offense and replied that the reports really weren't all that different. And they weren't. But had real news somehow broken out, I think they might have been.
The St. Pete Times' Buzz noted that the Times sent a reporter to cover the governor's trip to Israel while the state's former No. 1 paper just ran a report from a politician who went along. The Herald's Naked Politics took offense and replied that the reports really weren't all that different. And they weren't. But had real news somehow broken out, I think they might have been.
Labels: blogs, Charlie Crist
5/11/2007
State-by-state bloggery
Stateline.org is a wonderful stop for the state-level policy wonk. And, what's more, they have a good list of state political blogs from around the country, listed by state. Yes, FlaBlog is included. I am quietly proud.
4/30/2007
Almost famous
In the aftermath of that whole awful Kathy Sierra thing, The Washington Post ran a piece about women bloggers being hassled on-line. On the jump it mentions and quotes longtime Sarasota blogger Kat Cooper of My Single Mom Life. (One of the oldest links on Flablog's Select Bloggers list.) Now, Good Morning, America has come by to talk with her.
Labels: blogs
12/01/2006
Another blog heard from
. . .Smashed Frog in Brevard County. Mostly politics, but humor and Floridalia, too. This week, she does the public service of giving the words to the jingle Be a Friendly Floridian, a bit of state propaganda from which nobody could escape in the '60s.
Be a friendly Floridian.
Put on a sunshine grin.
Take your best step forward and back again,
And make every stranger a friend.
Be a friendly Floridian.
Put on a sunshine grin.
Take your best step forward and back again,
And make every stranger a friend.
Labels: blogs, floridalia
