Snark Factor Tonight – Philly Edition

Listen live to the Snark Factor every Wednesday night at 1opm EST on FTR Radio where I will be joining Fingers Malloy, Irish Duke to bring news bites at the top of the hour followed by sparkling chats with invited guests. If you are a fan of my blog, you’ll know that I have an eclectic taste in news of the day.

On tap for Wednesday night:

Farewell Davie Jones –  I hardly knew you. I”m sure Fingers Malloy can fill us in on the history of the Monkees.

Moron Alert – Ohio teen arrested after posting threats and a photo of himself with a rifle on FaceBook.

Sounds like the Daily Mail is preparing for a loss in the 2012 U.S. elections.  Watch for the Guardian’s writing campaign to start up soon!

Sigh…I miss my evening cup of Maple-Bourbon gelato.

BlissDom 2012 Update

Hey y’all, I’m still in Nashville spending a few more days soaking up the music, food and beauty of this city.  I’m also taking the time to digest all that I’ve learned during the BlissDom 2012 conference.

 

 

Yes. the BlissDom conference was so much fun!

I’m looking forward to sharing the pearls of wisdom I gleaned from this conference, building upon the knowledge and nurturing an idea that formed at BlissDom.

For now, I’m just a happy-go-lucky tourist in Nashville. You can follow my exploration of the city and its surroundings on Instagram, Posterous and Storie.

Foo Fighters – Best of You

Epic. Song.

I’ve got another confession to make
I’m your fool
Everyone’s got their chains to break
Holdin’ you

Were you born to resist or be abused?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?

Tonight on The Snark Factor – Nashville Edition

Listen live to the Snark Factor every Wednesday night at 1opm EST on FTR Radio where I will be joining Fingers Malloy, Irish Duke to bring news bites at the top of the hour followed by sparkling chats with invited guests. If you are a fan of my blog, you’ll know that I have an eclectic taste in news of the day.

On tap for Wednesday night:

Cancer Sucks Success!!

Change: $6 per gallon of Gasoline.  Keystone XL anyone?

Please obey the ‘No Smoking’ rule on aircraft.

Nashville official tourist portrait:

Media Malpractice 2012 Election

The comment pictured above ‘I am a journalist – I will take sides‘ was found on an ‘idea’ wall at the former site of Occupation Philly last November. As of this blog post, I’ve yet to determine which Philadelphia Inquirer employee left their note of solidarity with Occupation Philly.  Remember, these employees take pride in their fair and impartial reporting. Clearly, the charade has been uncovered and readers will need to seek out other independent news outlets **cough**MidnightBlue**cough**.

A recent Beltway Confidential report claims 19 journalists and media execs have signed on to TO 2012. Although no names are listed, I’m quite certain if names were listed they would match those uncovered in the Journolist scandal.  As a blogger, I’m legally required to add a disclosure statement to my product reviews to inform readers of any type of relationship I have regarding the product or sponsorship. I believe this is a good thing for my readers to know what influences (if any) are bearing on my reviews. In fact, I’ve been adding a disclosure to my reviews long before it became a legal necessity. I want to cultivate an environment of trust with my readers and I’m happy to make these disclosures.

What is troubling about the Beltway Confidential report is not that journalists are taking sides, they have been doing so for decades. The problem is the lack of transparency on the identity of these 19 individuals. They have essentially signed on to promote a product and should disclose any relationship they have with the DNC or TO2012 within the body of their work going forward. This is important, as every piece they produce in reference to the Presidential campaign is essentially advertising for TO2012.  The  public should be provided with disclosure statements from these individuals in order to make the informed decisions regarding the product – the presidential candidates. Without such transparency, it will be difficult for the average American to determine if the opinions expressed by these media employees  are independent thoughts or paid advertising.

Is their journalistic credibility not worth a moment of honesty in their work?

Follow My BlissDom 2012 Nashville Experience

Curious about what all the fuss over a conference? You can follow along on my BlissDom 2012 experience in the following social media platforms:

Flickr – All photos from BlissDom will be collected into this set.

Storify – A platform to curate thoughts, images, perhaps video snippets from BlissDom into a free flowing story.

Posterous – A place to share Instagram photos from BlissDom.

Instagram – One of the best iPhone photo apps around and so very integrated into other photo sharing applications.

Storie – I like this app as it curates photos and a quick note into a cohesive story.

I am very interested to see how well these platforms perform in capturing moments at Blissdom and yet not being overly burdensome.

For my photo peeps, I’ve decided to take the Canon 40D with the following lenses: 50mm f1/4, Tokina 12-24mm, Canon IS 28-135 zoom lens. In addition, I’m bringing the Panasonic LX3 Lumix. Flash? Of course, with snoot.

Questions, comments, suggestions for good places to eat in Nashville – leave me a comment 🙂

Flickr Photowalk Meetup Philadelphia

Spent time on Sunday walking through Chinatown in Philly with members of Flickr, an amazing photo sharing website. Sadly, I did not have time to stay till the end of the photowalk as I had errands to complete and packing for Blissdom to finish that day. However, I did get to meet a Flickr representative, Markus Spiering, and meet the people behind the photostreams that I follow on Flickr.

I created a small slideshow with photos taken with my iPhone via Instagram:

I also brought along the Panasonic LX3 Lumix. Those photos will be processed and posted next week. I’m off to Nashville to attend the Blissdom 2012 conference tomorrow and will return next week with lots of photos, video and stories.

Opening February 24th – Act of Valor

Via ActofValor.com

An unprecedented blend of real-life heroism and original filmmaking, Act of Valor stars a group of active-duty U.S. Navy SEALs in a film like no other in Hollywood’s history. A fictionalized account of real life Navy SEAL operations, Act of Valor features a gripping story that takes audiences on an adrenaline-fueled, edge-of-their-seat journey

Opening February 24th – Don’t miss out!

Clearly it is best when the good guys shoot first and have superior fire power.
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First Amendment Protects Bloggers,too

With no legal codification of ‘journalism’, Federal Judge Marco Hernandez employed his own interpretation of what constitutes journalism in the recent libel trial of Obsidian Finance Group v. Cox.

This is a dangerously slippery slope for all bloggers and citizen journalists sharing news of events around them on their blogs.

Yes, this is as bad, if not worse than SOPA. An op-ed by Jason Stverak in the Washington Examiner gives a chilling look at the First Amendment implications:

Hernandez ruled that blogger Crystal Cox was not entitled to the same protection under media shield laws that other members of the press enjoy. This ruling made it easy for a jury to find her guilty of libel. That result threatens the First Amendment rights of all citizen-journalists.

With the Internet increasingly serving as the dominant source of information, a national debate has been taking place asking the question, who is a journalist? Legal scholars, journalism academics and First Amendment advocates all have their opinions and as expected, there is little agreement.

But why is this issue so complicated? Bloggers, like all citizens of the United States, have First Amendment rights. Has the definition of a journalist changed? Or has perception and therefore legal definition simply not adjusted to modern technology?

According to Professor Kyu Ho Youm of the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication, Judge Hernandez “ruled correctly” in the Cox case. But he also acknowledges that the ruling was based on his “textual interpretation” and that “pre-Internet law needs updating.”

Others blogging on this subject:

Marathon Pundit

The Mental Recession

Stand – Rascal Flatts

See you at Blissdom 🙂