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Apr

1

Kudos to The Point, nice review from Cleveland Free Times

Filed Under Announcements, Blogging, Debates, Media, Ohio, Politics, Tech, Wide Open, Writing | 2 Comments

The Point has reached a few milestones and so the blog-MSM collaboration history is furthered, at least beyond the Wide Open.

Anastasia Pantsios writes up a nice review here in the Cleveland Free Times about the lefty-righty political blog:

One of the hardest things to find these days is a partisan political discussion that doesn’t involve distortions, exaggerations, lies and personal attacks. That’s why the Akron Beacon Journal‘s political blog, The Point, started in January as part of its newly launched politics.ohio.com[/url] Web site, is so refreshing. Bloggers Kyle Kutuchief and Ben Keeler – the former offering the liberal point of view, the latter, the conservative – trade insights on topics of local, state and national interest, free of condescension, cheap shots and name-calling. Their joint posts on topics such as the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War and Barack Obama’s speech on race are thought-provoking, whichever side you’re on. And their views are anything but knee-jerk. Keeler, for instance, agonizes over the “murkiness” of the Second Amendment and the value of sane gun control.

I’d urge you to read all of Pantsios’ piece, as well as The Point and Kyle’s blog, The Chief Source (he’s the lefty) and Ben’s blog, the Keeler Political Report (Ben is also one of my three co-editors for the Carnival of Ohio Politics and I’m still trying to figure out just how to get back at him for the terrible picture he posted of Nancy Pelosi last week).

Mazel Tov, fellas.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:55 pm April 1st, 2008 in Announcements, Blogging, Debates, Media, Ohio, Politics, Tech, Wide Open, Writing | 2 Comments 

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Apr

1

Orthodox Jew in UK gives away nearly $4million hours before he dies in car crash

Filed Under Announcements, Jewish, Judaism, Religion, RIP | 4 Comments

I vehemently disagree with Bizzy Blog‘s name-calling tactics and find it ironic that right next to stories that use Tom Blumer’s acronym for Barack Obama, we’ll find excellent Positivity stories.  I’ve read Tom’s explanation for why he purportedly can sleep at night feeling that Obama himself has said the use of his middle name is just fine, but Tom’s a smart guy and that’s a very weak excuse.

Regardless, I cannot tell a lie and as soon as I saw this story about Benzion Dunner, I immediately thought of the great service Tom provides by always posting something positive, each day.  I really, really, really wish he’d stop with the name thing but he and I have had this conversation before.  So, it is what it is.

I couldn’t find any US media covering Dunner’s life and death yet but maybe tomorrow.  In the meantime, here’s one from The Independent.  I’ve never heard of Dunner before but he really sounds like he was something else completely:

Two days before his fatal road accident, Mr Dunner opened his home in Golders Green, north London, to any member of his community who had been hit by hard times. According to one witness, thousands joined the queue. Every one was received with a smile and an attentive ear – including a few, it is said, that Mr Dunner knew and did not like, but who were treated courteously all the same. He stayed up until 4am, so that no one went away empty-handed. By then, he had distributed cheques totalling about £2m.

The occasion was Purim, the Feast of Esther, when Jews celebrate their escape from Persian captivity. One of the commandments attached to the occasion is to get drunk. Most of the Dunner family spent Purim at the Normandie Hotel, in Bournemouth, while he stayed at home to use his chequebook to brighten the lives of fellow Jews. The next day, he observed Shabbah, the Jewish Sabbath. He had to wait until Saturday until he could get ready for his car journey to Dorset.

On the A338 spur road outside Bournemouth, his £150,000 Bentley Arnage collided with a Toyota Celica and plunged into woodland. Two of his children, aged 20 and nine, and a 77-year-old friend of the family emerged from the wrecked car with minor injuries. So did the two men in the Toyota. Initially, it was thought Mr Dunner had suffered a heart attack at the wheel, but his inquest was told the cause of death was multiple injuries resulting from the collision.

May he be of blessed memory.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:39 pm April 1st, 2008 in Announcements, Jewish, Judaism, Religion, RIP | 4 Comments 

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Apr

1

[update] Techgrl.com debuts – written by…two men?

Filed Under Blogging, Culture, Media, Tech, Women, Writing | Comments Off

Even though one of the men is Steve Outing, whose work and columns (see here at Poynter) I admire, why not women? Outing has two daughters, so that’s cool. But there are no women listed on Techgrl.com either as contacts, partners, sponsors or otherwise contributors. (I learned about Techgrl’s debute from one of Outing’s tweets.)

I believe Outing to be a smart, savvy, aware guy from what I’ve read. I’m going to e-mail him to say, okay – I’m asking the obvious – where are all the, you know, techgrls?

Update: here’s Steve’s response (thanks, Steve):

Jill: Despite the name, the comic is not just about “techGRL.” “Lexi” is our 15-year-old main character (coincidentally the age of my oldest daughter), but her dad is a David Pogue-like tech reviewer who brings a lot of technology into the household, and he’s an equally important character. So we think it’s broader than being “just” a teen girl comic. We’ll have both teen and technology themes.

Soon we’ll be introducing a young woman as the Lexi character, so you’ll hear her voice periodically, and she’ll get added to the site. And of course we hope that the participatory nature of the strip and website (and social network components) will attract lots of girls.

Actually, there is precedent for comic creator “oddities” like this. The comic strip Luann, for example, is by a man. Girls & Sports is by 2 men. A few years ago I rented an office and my next-door neighbor was a guy in his late 20s who was doing a comic strip about seniors. Seems to be a long comics tradition. 8^)

As techGRL progresses, we hope to do some stuff that will encourage girls to become more interested in and skilled at technology. That conference sounds great.

Here’s the relevant part of my reply:

Hi Steve – thanks. You are definitely right about the precedent. The syndicated strip Flo & Friends is about seniors and I know the illustrator and co-writer, Jenny Campbell well – she’s far from senior-age and was much younger when the strip began several years ago. In fact, she did the cartoon icon I use around the ‘net from time to time. It’s on my Twitter account actually.

As part of a few different groups related to women, the media and tech, I probably notice this kind of oddity as you call it more than others might, but still – it does make me wonder, why didn’t two women with daughters come up with it!? :)

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:09 pm April 1st, 2008 in Blogging, Culture, Media, Tech, Women, Writing | Comments Off 

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Apr

1

The State of Blog Relations: from the PR perspective

Filed Under Announcements, Blogging | Comments Off

Here’s the press release.  Here’s the site with all the information about the study and from it.

Blog amongst ourselves.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:12 pm April 1st, 2008 in Announcements, Blogging | Comments Off 

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