Via bliss that worldings can’t understand,
A must-have for J-school students and those who are interested in news media of U.S.A. The State of the News Media 2005 is the 2nd annual report by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, an institute affiliated with Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. A veriety of mediaare covered: newspapers, magazines, network television, cable television, local television, the Internet, radio, ethnic and alternative media. Six areas in each of the media forms examined include content, audience trends, economics, ownership, newsroom investment and public attitudes. Also, an overview of methodology is present–you’ll never find such transparency in a marketing report. The list of parters are pretty impressive: the Pew Charitable Trusts, Rick Edmonds, the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Michigan State University, the University of Alabama, and Princeton Survey Research Associates International.
Five major trends revealved in the report might be an appetizer.
1. There are now several models of journalism, and the trajectory increasingly is toward those that are faster, looser, and cheaper. The journalism of verification–to be or not to be?
2. The rise in partisanship of news consumption and the notion that people have retreated to their ideological corners for news has been widely exaggerated.
3. To adapt, journalism may have to move in the direction of making its work more transparent and more expert, and of widening the scope of its searchlight.
4. Despite the new demands, there is more evidence than ever that the mainstream media are investing only cautiously in building new audiences.
5. The three broadcast network news divisions face their most important moment of transition in decades.
You just can’t miss it. And also its 2004 edition.

Inside Higher Ed reports a study regarding the role of marriage in the completion of graduate study. Joseph Price, the author who is a married graduate student per se, finds out that married male students are more likely to finish their Ph.D. programs. Moreover, over average they spend less time (0.43 year indeed) approaching caps and gowns than their single counterparts. Significant results were not found in examination of female students.
The possible explanation for marriage advantage to men Price proposes is that “similar to the explanations for why marriage helps men generally. Married men tend to be more productive (across professions), stay in better physical and mental health, and are less likely to engage in ‘risky behaviors.’ Women are more likely to work hard and avoid risky behaviors than men, regardless of marital status, so marriage doesn’t change the equation for them very much.”
The research might work as a stimulant for male students thinking of marriage and also a comfort for females who are concerned about drop-outs due to burden of marriage. However, some commentators point out that is not the case in real life. It is hard to isolate marriage as a standalone factor accounting for faster progress toward a degree–age might play a role since generally elder people are more mature and more likly to be married. Also, such good characteristics regarded to be associated with marriage as being productive, physically and mentally healthy, and responsibe might be reasons why people get others say YES. So it might not be the case that those people get their degrees because they are married. Instead, they are excellent enough to win degree and marriage at the same time.

近日忙于搬迁，无暇顾及这一亩二分地，已是荒草萆连天。接连被飞猪和蚂蚁点名要自曝怪癖，惶恐之余，好似几近腐烂的草莓突遭顾客垂青，不禁几分沾沾自喜。不过被飞猪扣上“留学女博士”的大帽子，颇为不爽，顿觉面目可憎起来——怕是在世人眼中，“第三类人”的常态亦是怪癖，怪癖也即常态吧。Sigh…我只是在上十九年级而已，其实小着呢……
1. 虽平时不施粉黛对镜贴花黄，桌上还是必备一面小镜以便随时顾影自怜。至于每日在穿衣镜前搔首弄姿个十遍八遍更是家常便饭。昨天在埃文斯顿一通乱逛，发现这是个巨适合我居住的城市：市中心全是小店餐厅咖啡馆，通通都有橱窗！慢着，本人可不是购物狂——这些橱窗充分满足了远比血拼更加高尚有品的精神需求。睁着因度数加深而明显无神的双眼，故作兴致勃勃状望进一个又一个橱窗，欣赏自己“纤细”的身影掠过家具店的双人床垫，饰品店的非洲花瓶，理发店的棕色假发。天哪，何德何能，生活干吗要这么善待我！
2．每次给老妈打电话，手边必备烂纸一张秃笔一支。谈至兴起，定会欣然提笔落字若干，至于内容，多是与话题风马牛不相及的梦呓——或称“意识流”。此等涂鸦最后必以无意义的线条覆盖所有文字告终。最终结果：笔的寿命缩短百分之二。
3.对菠菜的热爱可与大力水手媲美，尤喜水焯菠菜。清水煮沸，投入菠菜，静待十秒，沥水装盘，拌盐少许即可食用。此物每周摄取若干，尚未厌烦。
4。行事必虎头蛇尾，此文即是明证。
5．记性差，脾气坏，哎哟，想不出来了，俺去睡也……
还要发展五个下线？怎么这么麻烦，媚娘，朕的头又疼了……

John Resig offers a super-cool delicious bookmarklet. By typing “d tag1 tag2…” on the location bar, one can add a URL to his/her del.icio.us collection directly. Click here for the bookmarklet and a mini tutorial to use it.
Some other functions include:
A block of highlighted text on the page will be added as decription of the link automatically.
The window is automatically closed after the link is posted.
I don’t like the automatic-close function so I hack the javascript a little bit to keep the window open.
1. Right-click the bookmarklet and click Property.
2. Locate “?jump=doclose&tags=” in the location field [I haven't found a shortcut to search "?jump=doclose&tags=" so you have to look for it carefully].
3. Delete jump=doclose& so the code reads “?tags=”
4. Click Ok to save the change and you are done!

Some of us might be thinking about how to get things done, while someone has been doing one thing for 24 years. And it’s never gonna be done.
I came across Rion Nakaya’s photoblog [one of my favorites] and found the touching series of “the president’s neighbor: marks 24 years of protest.” These pictures depict Mrs. Concepcion Picciotto, a fortitudinous woman who, along with her friend William Thomas, has been demonstrating for the White House Anti-Nuclear Peace Vigil since June 3, 1981. Connie’s makeshift vigil camp is on the sidewalk in Lafayette Park, right across from the White House gate. It’s her home. It’s her battlefield.

Read the rest of the entry…

Wisconsin State Fair is one of my favorite summer activities in Milwaukee. Chickens, ducks, cows, sheep, rabbits, pigs, and cream puffs!!! I’ve been totally fed up with staring at frozen chicken thigh, breast, beef, pork in supermarket. I want to see something LIVE!!!

Via Marketing Vox:
Do Internet users still “surf” the Web? A recent survey by Burst Media finds that more than 56 percent of 13,000 repondents get to websites by using search engines. 28% of them type URL of websites directly or use bookmarks. Only 14% follow links from other sites or ads to get to new sites. The interesting result indiciates that web user’s informaiton retrieval might be a more purposive behavior than a random activity.
Respondents in different age groups exhibit various browsering patterns. About 61% of those 25-64 years old say they use search engines to visit sites while less than half of those in younger and older groups claim so. Instead, younger and senior users visit websites regularly–they prefer to use URLs and bookmarks.
I have no access to the original report so can’t find more about the survey design, sampling, and other details. But a more thorough scale on measuring the extent to which people rely on search engines for information might offer better explanation of the phenomenon. It’s also interesting to figure out what websites poeple visit regularly and for what reason they stick to those sites.
According to Marketing Vox, Burst Media is “an online network of publishers and advertisers of some 2,000 websites delivering more than 4 billion monthly impressions. It also markets AdDesktop, an ASP ad management solution.”

Can PowerBook or iBook before 2005 scroll with two fingers on touchpad? With iScroll2, yes!

image©apple.com

One of the renowned universities I’ve ever applied to sent me a note saying that a possible compromise of their online application database had occured. The hack was committed, according to a reporter, by an individual who was attempting to apply to that school. The good news is that only a small portion of applicants were affected. The bad news, you might have guessed out, I’m one of those “lucky dogs.”
I’m totally mad. The university claims to “provide one of the most advanced computing environments in the world with sophisticated workstations running windowing environments and the most advanced programming languages and support tools.” What an irony!!! I trust the school so much before but it totally turns me down. Shall I believe privacy policy any more?
Just some rants. Blog is such a good place as a vent. Time to remedy my privacy crisis.
Some useful links on identity theft:
Guidlines from Federal Trade Commission
Tips for victims by the California State Attorney General
Three major credit bureaus:
Equifax - www.equifax.com
For Fraud Alerts, call: 800-525-6285 and write:
P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
Experian - www.experian.com
For Fraud Alerts, call: 888-EXPERIAN (397-3742) and write:
P.O. Box 9530, Allen TX 75013
Trans Union - www.transunion.com
For Fraud Alerts, call: 800-680-7289 and write:
Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92634