Journalist (SciAm, Smithsonian, Washington Post, others; where it started: Times-Picayune), author (Path of Destruction [Katrina], Tasty [science of flavor]), currently PhD candidate at University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism.
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Published at
2023-12-28T01:33:39+01:00 Event JSON
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Last Notes npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Aside from the obvious problem of fatally ethically compromised leadership, this makes clear that Lewis has no overall strategy at the Washington Post other than kitchen sink, pasta on the wall, etc. Maybe that's OK, since nobody knows what might work, but doesn't inspire confidence either – since core values appear under threat npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid The intention of the Washington Post's new leadership is to create something bold and innovative that will turn things around – but this sounds (unfortunately) like they threw a bunch of content monetization fads (including the already tried and failed "pivot to video") in a blender npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Democrats are hesitating to use Trump's felony convictions to attack him. Reflects a profound dysfunction. Isn't attacking an opponent's weaknesses (in this case being a convicted criminal) what politicians have always done, and do, and should keep doing, in order to win, in order to have access to power and patronage to carry out political goals, and to stop opponents from doing the same, etc. npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid ChatGPT does answer this question coherently. npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid @npub1pt3…j6kw Yes, the NYT hypes its own polls, which has a big impact (on other media, mainly) which is both inevitable and problematic as far as accurately informing audiences ... npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid I keep seeing comments that "polling doesn't work" because of some mix of recent misses and the Biden-Trump polls. But isn't it really context-specific? Individual polls have always been hit-or-miss, particularly for low-turnout primary races (MD Senate); presidential polls 6 months out have limited predictive value, etc. There are newer problems with using phone calls, internet alternatives, etc. – a separate issue. But none of that means all polls are now useless. npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid @npub1kkw…hfrq Now that you mention it, yes! npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid These are the days of influencers in the jungle npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Wondering when this shoe would drop, and it did, with a thunderous clomp npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid @npub17ha…t8va Seems to be a small family foundation that maybe has no idea what it's doing? npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid This seems of a piece with current Trump/Republican obsessions driven largely by memes circulating online and elsewhere on the right (e.g., blue checks and their ilk, & Fox) – yet have nothing to do with, well anything substantive, let alone the lived reality/concerns of most voters. Also included: the "Biden is senile" discourse (which many people now believe is just a fact full stop - if so why bother to vote, it's over). npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Trying to figure out exactly when and why a certain cadre of well-known comedians flipped from doing comedy to performances focused on "edginess" and "targeting" and insulting certain groups and people npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Does Twitter addiction corrode minds (Elon Musk, JK Rowling, Nate Silver, others too numerous to mention), or just reveal their true nature? npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid This is a strangely neutral way to frame this news – that is, that Majors was convicted on two counts. It's not like a tie, or a glass-half-full kind of thing https://www.npr.org/2023/12/18/1220040473/jonathan-majors-verdict-guilty npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Had a series of experiences lately in which someone is playing some kind of media (game, video) with sound turned on, no headset, in a public space. In one case, I was at the gym on a stair machine; the gym was relatively empty. A guy chose the machine next to mine, and began playing something on his phone. I asked him if he'd turn it down – at first he pretended not to hear me – then refused. Is "FU everyone, you have to listen to my device" a thing now, more than before or just my bad luck? npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Really extraordinary that there were no minimal legal, editorial, or even typographical or stationery standards imposed on the plea deal apology letters from Ken Chesebro and Sidney Powell in the Georgia election case npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Was never sure why Frank Bruni – formerly a political feature writer with no clear point of view – became an op-ed columnist, and this captures the problem. It both-sides a debate in which sure, each debater has his personality problems. But the political split between them is real, and the lack of civility Bruni laments reflects that reality – yet that reality does not interest him. npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid @npub1lea…zztp Taking what Trump says seriously presents tonal challenges for headline writers – it sounds so alarming, write a headline that doesn't sound like your hair is on fire – so maybe just easier to go the "shrug" route npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid @npub1lea…zztp Yes and I wonder if the fact that this occurred on a Saturday of a holiday weekend thinned out the review process. npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid What was the thought process behind this headline (later changed after universal social media criticism)? Despite its manifest thoughtlessness, there was one. npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid You can bet, Peter Baker is gaming out a version of this take right now; why are Democrats popular and Biden unpopular? Why does Biden's unpopularity – as shown by our poll – persist even in the face of D victory? Insiders fear Biden may be dragging down the whole ticket ... npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Tomorrow's headline: npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Why does Biden get no credit for an arguably strong economy – and blamed for a non-existent economic disaster? There are lots of press-public media theories, but one of the strongest empirically, tested by many studies and reams of data, is "agenda-setting" - that whatever the news media reports as important issues, the public tends to see the same way. So a drumbeat of "[Improving economic statistic] = more trouble for Biden" headlines will have an impact npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Both alarming and fascinating (in its way) how two stories today capture the present moment: npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Camping in the Walmart parking lot with the other regular Americans is so much pleasanter when the RV is free npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Thanks to the Dobbs decision, abortions have not fallen, only the locations have changed (generating a lot of problems that endanger women's heallth in the process). Essentially, Dobbs turned abortion into a NIMBY issue for the right – they can't get rid of it but don't want to be near it https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/24/upshot/abortion-numbers-dobbs.html npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Apple products + generative AI could be good or even great in some ways, but at the same time there's a clear "everybody is doing this, so we have to do it too" vibe to this, with no clear purpose or strategy https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-10-22/what-is-apple-doing-in-ai-revamping-siri-search-apple-music-and-other-apps-lo1ffr7p npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Of course, House Republicans are also mostly cowards who flip at the first sign of trouble, so the question is will they see the political reality or just get spooked ... I think I answered my own question, please disregard above post npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid No idea if this is working or not, but the idea that "Republican primary voters" care about Jim Jordan, or for that matter, who is Speaker of the House, and can thus be mobilized to flip Jordan opponents, seems like a major reach. Jordan is not Trump in other words npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Captures the current moment/problem. Twitter remains the place to go for information on the Israel-Hamas situation, including experts, news orgs, on-the-ground witnesses. Those are still impossible to find in any concentration together in the Fediverse (pls. correct me if I'm wrong), Bluesky or Threads. Yet Twitter is now injecting this firehose of pollution directly from the top... npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid @npub1kkw…hfrq I mean, they must know they already have a problem with trans coverage, or at minimum that the perception exists, so maybe think about how you approach these issues. Yet no one sees the basic inhumanity of this take? npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Misconceived story of the day: paralleling a family's decision to leave Iowa because their child can no longer get transgender care with a family's decision to leave Oregon because they're fed up with liberals, saying both are "political" decisions and this is why we are fracturing as a society. This framing flattens out so much relevant detail – mainly the existential threat of policies targeting trans people – that the story becomes meaningless, anti-informative https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/07/us/politics/politics-states-moving.html?smid=nytcore-android-share npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid @npub1lrv…tth9 The campaign "narrative" at the moment is so comically skewed/clichéd that you do have to wonder if political reporters are thinking "is it too much?" But no, they probably aren't npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid The #enshittification of frequent flier programs – Delta establishes what is essentially a caste system for elite status, place it out of reach for many more/most users, and if you want to keep trying, you'll have to book all travel through Delta sites https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2023/09/15/delta-changes-miles-lounges-status-hackers/ npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Also, the original account is now in doubt, at minimum he has to clarify which thing happened - did Musk not turn something on (a more passive act, even if the result is the same), or turn something off? npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid What Isaacson is trying to do here is also unclear. Is he trying to justify Musk's actions? He has no obligation to do so – the opposite, really. Or to justify his own actions being in the room with Musk? (But what would those be, did he say, yeah, sounds reasonable to me Elon? – that only raises *a lot* more issues.) npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Surprising that Isaacson, as experienced a journalist as there is, is cross-footing himself in this obvious, embarrassing way – and putting himself in the tank with his [credulous, incompetent, indefensible] subject npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid The letter "X" is interesting; Musk's juvenile fixation on the letter "X" somehow sucks all the interestingness out npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid @npub1zmq…3tue @npub1x7v…gxm8 PBS. Also ABC Australia has cut back but not stopped, which is a strange position to take https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/aug/09/abc-australia-leaves-twitter-x-elon-musk npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid From the standpoint of recent history, there is a new level of naked, public hostility of many Republican politicians, and state governments, directed at Black constituencies. The racism is not new, of course, but for a while GOP politicians were more circumspect in their public statements/actions; said one thing, did another, etc. Now – thanks to Trump mainly – open hostility towards Black people to win white votes is a key GOP political strategy npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Used an app to generate Mastodon follow recommendations based on your social graph. The vast majority of recommendations were for inactive accounts. Some were never active – created last November but not used; many stopped posting about 3 months ago (presumably returning to Twitter/X or going elsewhere). npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid @npub1lea…zztp It's absurd - they didn't publish anything, and even alerted the police themselves of the situation, according to the Reflector piece. Raises the issue of whether this is some kind of coordinated plot against the paper, and whether the PD itself might end up in legal trouble. npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid @npub1gl7…nsv3 Seems like there is a relationship between cringe and irony, in the sense of having distance from/being somewhat embarrassed by the floridness of youthful sentiments in this case ... and then a connection from irony to more straight-up satire npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid It's easy to see how the pattern of thinking Thomas followed here, given his childhood poverty, that having arrived at the pinnacle of the legal profession/conservative movement, he can do what he wants, and deserves all of it, and all his friends on the right believe it's just how things work, and should work. Another example (like Trump's co-conspirators) of how the conservative movement has corrupted the legal profession. npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Clarence Thomas's benefactor leaves a gap wide enough to drive a $267,230 RV through in his explanation that this was just a friendly loan npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Maybe the default situation for the U.S. is, "there is not going to be a unifying figure" rather than the other way around npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid If this is *the* existential threat to everything that is America, wouldn't the time to act have been in the 1960s-70s, the golden age of regulatory expansion - seat belts, Endangered Species Act, OSHA founded, etc.? npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid Interesting that Eastman and others backing the Trump insurrection are all charged up about the unique dangers of this historical moment from the left, which they say justify overthrowing the government – and among the worst offenses they can come up are some nonexistent regulations of stoves or chairs https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/eastman-reiterates-support-for-full-insurrection npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid In China, floodwaters were diverted to less-populated areas to save Beijing – reminiscent of in infamous incident from a century ago during the Mississippi River flood of 1927, when New Orleans plutocrats arranged to blow up a levee to flood rural areas downriver to spare the city. (Memories of this incident also fueled rumors that levees were purposely blown up during Hurricane Katrina to flood predominantly Black neighborhoods) npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid The combination of hardware and software in Tesla vehicles, per @npub1hyk…3p33, is a kind of smeared technological system in which corporate ownership rights (using DRM) are extended much further into the operations of the physical vehicle, and removed from the hands of its nominal owners, than ever before – in order to extract rents, feudal-style. Meet the new boss, same as the (very) old boss npub1p5h42c4hrf0d3zm6r84d574cu393rmytnzqsudrvq3qu6rf4l0ysw0qzct John McQuaid My Mastodon Android app keeps doing this, which seems really problematic
