by Ethan Johnson
November 22, 2008

The older I get, the more intellectual kinship I feel with people like Dave Rogers, who says "technology doesn't change what we do, just how we do it." Actually, I am finding that the older I get, and more to the point, the busier I am with other concerns, the less interest I have in whatever purports to be "world-changing". I suppose this is why a blog post titled 5 Ways Social Media Will Change Recorded History caught my eye and inspired me to respond publicly.

by Ethan Johnson
September 8, 2008

If nothing else came out of this year's Republican National Convention, it was the chant of "drill baby, drill!" Because nothing solves an energy crisis like drilling for a finite resource. Incredibly, a writer for The Economist agrees:

by Ethan Johnson
August 21, 2008

Marlena and I were watching the seven-part miniseries about John Adams a few months ago, and I had a stupidly obvious realization: Lots got done before the advent of electricity. The pyramids were built, aqueducts made, castles constructed, iron forged, wars waged, and so on. I have been wanting to investigate when the notion that UFOs built the pyramids entered the collective consciousness. Off the cuff, I suspect it was after the advent of electricity. Because in these times, it seems that we are collectively convinced that no major undertaking is possible without automation (or other-worldly intervention). Pshaw.

by Ethan Johnson
August 9, 2008

It's time for the "silly season" in US politics, which means this year the candidates are spewing sound bytes and similar bumper sticker-ese in hopes of swaying the voters. An example of this is direct from a recent bumper sticker sighting around town: "Drill here, drill now, pay less." Sure, maybe in 10 years, assuming that the oil/gas market mirrors current conditions, rather than being a last-ditch effort to placate "demand" with "supply". This is apparently a new Republican meme. On the "eco" side of things, which tends to skew left, a common refrain is "[whatever] will save the planet." Cut/paste/replace with any of the following: CFL bulbs, "green" grocery bags, wind power, solar power, geothermal power, SIGG™ water bottles, etc etc ad infinitum. I don't disagree with the assertions that many (and more) of these things can be good decisions, and yield positive benefits, but "save the planet"? What is this, Marvel Comics?

by Ethan Johnson
August 6, 2008

There are days I hover over the "unsubscribe" button for a blog called PressThink, as I'm not in the journo biz, and can probably read Romanesko if I really want to stay abreast of how many layoffs are happening domestically at the big newspaper outlets. Jay Rosen tends to be flogging his latest "citizen journalism" experiment, and I just don't have the calories for that stuff anymore. Have fun, I say, to those who do. But I keep the feed in my rotation because items like this one come along once in a while: Three Vital Questions for ABC News About its Anthrax Reporting in 2001

I have one vital question: Where has everybody been?

by Ethan Johnson
July 6, 2008

The New York Times went two-for-two this weekend with stories about high US gas prices and what is being done now to cope with them, and what could have been done to minimize their impact. Fair warning: NYT online articles tend to require free registration.

by Ethan Johnson
June 17, 2008

Whenever I would subject myself to a friendly game of chess with my father, I knew I was in deep trouble when, after a long, stonefaced silence, he would exhale and murmur, "okay, I'll be a sucker." Checkmate was sure to follow in short order.

by Ethan Johnson
June 16, 2008

The facts are these: The Dallas Morning News is a conservative newspaper. The op-ed section features a conservative columnist. I am not a conservative. But I check out the Sunday "Points" section whenever possible, as the DaMN does a pretty good job of taking a snapshot of the political mood locally/nationally, despite the unabashed rightward slant. I will note here that I'm not one of those people who requires layers of virtual bubble wrap to isolate me from differing opinions, unlike some on the left or right who hyperventilate at the first sign of a link to the National Review Online or the Huffington Post. But I freely admit that the political right wing is too far to the right for much hope of me finding much to agree with. Which made this most recent edition so shocking: I agreed with Rod Dreher!