Ye Olde Journalist Pay Walls Alone Won't Save Newspapers - NYTimes
The newspaper industry is once again making noises about making customers pay for content: even Grand Poobah Richard Murdoch claims free online papers are a "malfunctioning" business. That may be the case, but as Eric Pfanner points out, that doesn't mean people will pony up if pay walls are reinstated - as was found back in the day when all online papers were paysites (remember that?) most people just went elsewhere for news. Pfanner argues that newspaper might want to take a page from the music industry playbook, which is now packaging song catalogs with broadband and mobile phone services. Could newspaper content be packaged with other tasty delicious incentives and thereby make a buck or two?
I say maybe, but those incentives and those packages are going to have to be pretty bitching awesome to get people to shell out for them. If papers are able to band together with magazines and other media outlets to create cool, attractive, and valuable content that can be packaged as a whole, then more power to them - but I currently have little faith in these old media outlets ability to recognize what new media consumers actually give a rat's ass about. Special subscriber-only photos of Paul Krugman's nose-hairs aren't going to cut it.
Still, the prospect of the internet being turned into a pay-to-play service is a really distressing one. What I (and I presume most people) adore about the internet is its totally egalitarian nature -the internet handily allows anyone with a computer and a connection to access the vast majority of the species knowledge, news, and entertainment nearly instantly. This is absolutely revolutionary, a mind blowing boon in human history (indeed, I think we do not appreciate it enough,) and I believe the preservation of this freedom and openeness must be preserved at all costs.
Will this freedom come at the price of the old media outlets, who (despite their antiquity) produce good, professional content? Hard to say and difficult to answer. The optimist in me hopes we can find a solution that will preserve both. The pessimist hopes that citizen journalists will be able to fill the gap the newspapers will leave - and I don't have a hell of a lot of hope in that, either.
The Human Marvels
Have you ever found yourself wondering, secretly and perversely, what it would be like to attend one of those circus-freak shows of long ago? What it might be like to tweak the curling mustache of the Bearded Lady and compare your own height to that of Tom Thumb, to pretend to be aghast beyond belief at the Elephant Man (rendition 300) and ply the Fat Lady with salami? Was that only me?
I am exceedingly embarassed. In any case, if you do share that particular affection, you must visit the Human Marvels website, which provides interesting, skillfully writing, and fascinatingly human profiles of the circus freaks that populate our history. Many of the so-called freaks lived rather epic lives: Mademoiselle Gabrielle, the "half woman" married three men and led on many others with her shapely half-a-body, while the one foot tall plus change Pauline Musters became an acrobat, accomplished performer, and fashionista toast of New York for a glittering (if brief) period.
Perhaps most impressive of all was the career of the midget Lord Minimus, member of the court of King Charles - a tough as nails little bastard whose exploits included capture by pirates, killing a man who impugned his honor in a duel, and commanding cavalry in raids orchestrated by Prince Rupert.
Check out this video of the magnificient Viking Giant, once the world's tallest man (and a dude with a more robust constitution then poor Mr. Robert Ladlow).
Also: Most Spiders on a Human Body.
Industrious Aussie child Thomas Buchanan lies in a box and has 125 golden orb spiders put upon his bare chest. I am, admittedly, more impressed that such a record category as Most Spiders on a Human Body exactly exists, but props Tom, all the same. I kind of would like to break the record myself however since I happen to really quite like spiders, even the huge ones that eat birds and wayward toddlers.
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