Blogcritics Author: lklawless

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Fraud, Stolen Elections, And Politics As Usual

lklawless — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 17:47:23 EDT

An in-depth analysis of the "anomalies" that occurred during the 2004 presidential election by Rolling Stone magazine offers a chilling account of wide-scale fraud. According to the author, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (whose four-page article includes more than 200 citations), the problems were widespread: millions of Americans overseas did not receive their ballots in time, voting machines failed in New Mexico, and Democratic voter registrations were shredded in six states! In Ohio, every shenanigan you can imagine (and some you couldn't) took place: voters were removed from lists, registrations were not processed, reports of impossibly high voter turnouts in Republican counties (98%, anyone?) were turned in while there were unbelievably low ones in Democratic strongholds (7%). The list goes on and on. So basically, what this means is to hell with democracy. Why not just get together with your friends, decide who should be president, and do everything conceivable to make that happen? Is this really what those oft-quoted Founding Fathers meant, or is it every man for himself as long as he has the money to lie, cheat, and steal his way to the top? What really scares me is that as angry as this makes me, I still don't see any way to fix it or prevent it from happening again. If our ballots, supposedly our most powerful tool, are worthless, what can we do?

Laura K. Lawless
LKL's blog
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Riots in France: Interview with Elders

lklawless — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 08:42:21 EST

Not everyone who lives in embattled French neighborhoods like Clichy-sous-Bois is participating in the riots that have been raging for more than a fortnight. In fact, there are some people known as elders who live in the same conditions as the rioters, but are actively trying to end the riots peacefully. In this interview, two elders explain their thoughts on why the riots started, what factors contributed, and how to end them.French audio: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3English translation: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3Related: The Language Behind the Riots - While the deaths of two youths were the catalyst to the violence, other factors are involved, including the language used by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to describe his plans to fight crime.Edited: nd

Laura K. Lawless
LKL's blog
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e Learn English Language
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"Gastronauts"

lklawless — Sun, 9 Jan 2005 16:58:03 EST

The New York Times has coined a new word - gastronauts - in reference to people who plan their vacations around food. That description does not do justice to the extent that gastronauts research restaurants, cafés, and food markets, nor to the amount of money some of them spend flying to the best restaurants in the world, no matter where they happen to live.Article: Gastronauts, Shooting for the (Michelin) StarsI recently happened across the book Feeding Frenzy, which is the story of two friends who bet that they can eat in every Michelin 3-star restaurant in Europe - on consecutive days. Though it's billed as fiction, the mouth-watering descriptions of menus and dishes are detailed enough to convince me that a lot of the book is autobiographical. A sub-plot of the book has to do with restoring and getting from restaurant to restaurant in a 1965 Mustang, with all the trials and tribulations that entails. I give it 3 Michelin stars.

Laura K. Lawless
LKL's blog
Learn French at About
e Learn Spanish Language
e Learn English Language
The Veggie Table