The End of the Newspaper

Its no secret that the print industry is attempting to emulate the T-Rex, carbon paper, betamax, and the Go-Go's. What on earth you might say? I know! I was shocked about the Go-Go's too. I did buy tickets to their last show, which is in Austin, Texas July 27th. I digress...The print industry is going to be extinct in the next 20 years. I'm sure of it.

And who is to blame? As The Buggles' famous song Video Killed the Radio Star said, "In my mind and in my car, we can't rewind we've gone to far". The print industry has held on too long to an outdated business model and today I'm afraid its just too late for them.

What happened? 

Its what happens to every industry that fails, profit margins dictate the business model. When the margin drops the first thing the dinosaurs do is cut costs. And the first thing in the print industry to go was? Smokin' hot secretaries, expensive perks for executives, writers quality editors. Yep, quality editing is missing. What does an editor do? Simply put they are responsible for content. Which stories you run and the quality of those stories.

Check out this image of the Miami Herald from today.

This time, it wasn't the story. Which is relevant for today, with Connecticut attorney general and Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal's embellishment of his service record. Fox ran a piece during Hannity last night. So you can't fault them for running this story today.

Okay seriously? How do you miss that? epople I'm just stunned. According to Wikipedia they have 69 copy editors, 69 editors, 48 editorial specialists. That's 184 editors. They have only 144 reporters and 11 columnists. So the columnist missed this. The copy editor missed this. And finally the design staff missed this.

So in a few years when you can only get news from your personal communication device or PC, remember back to this event and the dozen others that happen everyday in the print industry.

UPDATE: Here it is Friday 12:45pm CDT and it is still not fixed. My guess at this point is NO READS the IN OUR INBOX feature. 
Well I read it. And you should too, in this case failed headline be damned.
Henry Allen, who won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2000, was a Post editor and reporter for 39 years. Oh yeah he served our country as a Marine in Vietnam too.

Scientists Create First Synthetic Cell, Opening New Era in Biology

Heralding a new era in biology, scientists for the first time have created a synthetic cell, completely controlled by man-made genetic instructions, which can survive and reproduce itself, researchers at the private J. Craig Venter Institute announced Thursday.

"We call it the first synthetic cell," said genomics pioneer Craig Venter, who oversaw the project. "These are very much real cells."

Created at a cost of $30 million, this experimental one-cell organism opens the way to the manipulation of life on a previously unattainable scale, several researchers and ethics experts said. Scientists have been altering DNA piecemeal for a generation, producing a menagerie of genetically engineered plants and animals, but the ability to craft an entire organism offers a new power over life, they said.

This is pretty cool. Hopefully they will use this for good. Oh, hell who am I kidding, they'll probably fund the next level with Pentagon Black Budget money and use it to create viruses that only kill certain races of people. I'm just hoping that before they do all that we figure out how to grow organisms that make human livers. That way I can enjoy beer and have a new liver installed every few years.

Some people just can't hold their liquor

MAY 17--Meet Jessica Halter. The Ohio student, 18, was arrested Saturday night at her high school prom after she drunkenly assaulted a policeman, tried to kick a paramedic, and spewed a "bloody ball of spit" at one cop.

What a sweetheart. Next stop, anger management and alcohol abuse classes. I have a strange feeling we will see her on The Smoking Gun again.

Rapping your order WILL NOT BE ALLOWED

From the Consumerist.

A Utah teenager who was arrested after rapping his order at a McDonald's drive-through was found not guilty of disorderly conduct,after a judge ruled that his behavior was not threatening and didn't create any unreasonable noise. The judge didn't rule on the skills of the teen, who was attempting to imitate the YouTube classic "Fast Food Freestyle" (aka "The McDonald's Drive Thru Rap").

How did this EVER go to trial? Are you kidding me?

Maybe the manager was just tired after a day working with Bon Qui Qui who knows?

My oldest daughter worked at McDonalds and said she worked with several women from the halfway house and they were just like Bon Qui Qui.

Rude!

Stepped over the body to pick up their order, Unbelievable

TULSA, OK -- Tulsa Police say out of numerous potential witnesses, only one person had any information to offer in a shooting overnight Sunday at the Chicken Hut restaurant, 1500 E. Apache.
The shooting victim, 27-year-old Valentino Verner, later died of his wounds at a Tulsa hospital.
Restaurant patrons even shoved past emergency workers, stepping over the victim to get their food.

They say when they arrived at the Chicken Hut, they found Verner lying on the ground in front of the restaurant's pick-up window.
He had been shot multiple times, according to Tulsa Police Sergeant Mike Eckert.
They had a difficult time getting through the crowd to provide aid to the victim, and no one was trying to help the injured man, Eckert said. People were instead stepping over Verner to get to their food orders.
Eckert said customers even shoved past emergency personnel as they went to the take out window.

Police said that although a lot of people in the parking lot were talking on cell phones, only one called 911.

I wanted to make a joke about this, but the more I read the more I am just dumbfounded. 

And only one person was willing to talk to the cops? 

What has become of our society? Stepping over a dead body to pick up their order. Seriously?

Why did the business keep selling chicken?

Why would a citizen tolerate this? I wouldn't and I won't. 

How can anyone be so callous? We are all doomed.