WHY DO PEOPLE DEVOTE SO MUCH TIME TO WIKIPEDIA? Wikipedia is a calling. That’s the impression I got from the Wikipedians I interviewed last weekend at the WikiMania 2012 conference, who had both a remarkable, singular passion for information, and a similar sense that their editing and administration – tirelessly, into the night – was […]
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My Global-Posted look at Jessica Ghawai, Aurora shootings, social media
Jessica Redfield (Ghawi), killed at Aurora theater, had narrowly escaped Toronto mall shooting last month – GlobalPost “Jessica Ghawi, who was killed early Friday at the Aurora theater shooting, was a sportscaster, a native Texan, and an eloquent writer. And she also appears to have presciently foreseen her own death via social media while reflecting on a June […]
I Went to Wikimania And Wrote About it For the GlobalPost
I attended WikiMania 2012 this weekend and had an interesting time. I wrote about it for the GlobalPost. My thoughts? A veritable sea of deep nerdery. Geeks motivated by a sacred mission – which is always interesting to see. Gathering together in pursuit of free knowledge instead of a deep-seated love of anime. (There is, […]
Zombies, Sanjay Gupta, and the Great Cambodia Mystery Disease of 2012
I’m writing for the GlobalPost now, and I apologize for recent radio-silence. I’m also still in DC, which is actually about 50% hotter than Cambodia, Xinjiang, or Calcutta, or at least that’s how it feels to me. I am spending my weekend with a loaner-dog (she belongs to my housemates, and she is awesome) trying […]
I Saw the President, But I Still Don’t Quite Believe He’s Real
I have never really believed in the corporeal reality of the President. As a child, I knew that the President was real in theory, but it was an awfully abstract concept: a single person wielding the power to destroy the world in a small black briefcase carried by a beefy Secret Service agent was almost […]
Fighting for Potty Parity and the Right to Pee – UN Dispatch
You’ve got a lavender-scented bathroom down your hall, a relatively clean bathroom at work, and you can be reasonably sure that that dodgy gas-station will have somewhere for you to go if you drank one cup of coffee too many before you left the office. What we in the West often fail to realize is […]
5 Places Where Internet Access is Really Expensive – UN Dispatch
Reposted from UN Dispatch: Denizens of the developed, Western world may take cheap and easily accessible Internet service for granted—and according to recent International Telecommunications Union data, prices for communications services just keep dropping from year to year across the world. But that’s not the case everywhere. In some countries, Internet access still comes at […]
Guisados Tacos in Los Angeles: Photo Safari
“Guisados? They have the best tacos in town.” I heard this from a number of Los Angelenos when I was in town recently. As the people of Los Angeles have roughly the same rabid affection for their tacos as North Carolina natives do for BBQ pork, or New Orleanians do for crawfish, I decided to […]
Times Picayune Lays Off Brett Anderson: No, Really, Not Everyone Can Be a Food Writer
The Times Picayune wants to “enhance its award-winning food and dining coverage” – and it’s doing that by laying off James Beard award-winning food writer Brett Anderson. Great strategy, guys. Not like anyone in New Orleans cares about food! Today marked a round of brutal cuts at the Times Picayune newspaper, as 200 staff members […]
Complaining About Young People Is Nothing New
We are young in 2012. We are told on a regular basis that we are degenerate creatures who waste our time with frivolities like the Internet, hyper-realistic X-Box games, and mysterious designer intoxicants. The world is descending ever more rapidly into hell, and it is at least partially our fault. How are we, as young […]