] Oprah's Book Club may help sell millions of books to
] Americans, and slam poetry may have engendered a youthful
] new breed of wordsmith, but the nation is still caught in
] a tide of indifference when it comes to literature. That
] is the sobering profile of a new survey to be released
] today by the National Endowment for the Arts, which
] describes a precipitous downward trend in book
] consumption by Americans and a particular decline in the
] reading of fiction, poetry and drama.

[ Lots of good statistics to chew on here and lots of discussion to be had... i hope everyone will read this.

I for one, know, categorically, that i read more now than i ever have in the past, even during school (where i was, granted, a physics & CS student). I read constantly and not a day goes by that i don't read for at least an hour. And I'm not talking about reading memo's at work... I read blogs and memes, aritcles and journals, and then i go home and read books, sometimes fine literture, but more often science fiction, or interesting non-fiction related to philosophy or computing or biology or physics.

It may be that my peer group and I are vastly different from the norm, but even among avid readers, i believe there's been a shift in the kind of materials they pursue. I think more people are driven to be "productive" with their time, even their "free time", and have demphasized fiction in general, or feel that they'd prefer to recieve their fictions in the form of movies, TV shows or video games (which get more immersive every cycle). Doing a quick mental survey of my closest friends, i'm confident that most of them spend a great deal more of their reading time on non-fiction, magazines and technical books than they do on fiction.

The more interesting, and harder, questions to answer are those regarding the level of civic involvement, or engagement with culture and society, that follows this trend. Are we cynical from reading blogs and news feeds all day, without the buffer of literary engagements of the very topics we still face? What are the consequences of focusing on "reality" over fiction, if that's what's happening?

I certainly have argued in favor of fiction many times in the past and i continue to hold strongly to that stand. I think a good novel can often convey more information, and in a more meaningful way, than a nonfiction work covering the same conceptual bases. Not always, but often enough to make it worthwhile. Addtionally, I strongly believe in not addressing everything in a purely pragmatic sense, and feel that escapism, in moderation, is every bit as important as ticking off accomplishments. The best literature, of course, is the kind that lets you do both simultaneously, and perhaps that's the real danger... missing out on the experience of being both enlightened and entertained.

In the end of course, it's all about choices... I prefer books, and my connection to them is as much experiential as it is functional... I still like the feel of the paper and the choice of type, size, weight, design and so on. I'll be interested to see other, similar anlyses, particularly ones which investigate the amount of non-fiction reading and levels of "new media" investment.

-k

p.s. anyone find it interesting/disturbing that religious texts jumped? i wonder what qualifies too, incidentally... does my copy of The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama (which i admit isn't religious, but certainly qualifies as spiritual) count, or only my bible?]

Fewer Noses Stuck in Books in America, Survey Finds

] Citing problems with truancy and youth violence, the Los
] Angeles City Council on Wednesday approved an ordinance
] restricting the hours during which minors can visit
] Internet cafes and requiring the shops to install video
] cameras for security.

I wonder how much of this is real and how much of this is the typical pattern of mindless news media sensationalism feeding back into a government which clamps down on youth activities because it has nothing better to do and no political reason to think twice.

Of the cyber cafes in LA, what percentage of them actual have a real problem with violence. Is this any different from the number of problems at video arcades, non internet coffee shops, or other youth hang outs?

"86 percent of the people arrested at cybercafes were juveniles and 93 percent were for truancy or curfew."

So in other words there is almost no problem here? All that this statistic tells me is that young people like to play video games. Curfew isn't illegal for adults. Personally, I don't believe it ought to exist at all. In any event, if you already have a curfew, which you are enforcing, then why do you need a new curfew law for internet cafes? What percentage of these cases were truancy?

In either case this is simply people hanging out at the cafe when ditching school or "when they ought to have been in bed." Oh please, please, nanny state, save us from this horror.

How many people hanging out at bars in Los Angeles have been arrested in the past year? How many for violence? Why don't you require bars to have closed circuit television?

Los Angeles clamps down on cybercafes | CNET News.com

"Pop-psych punditry about fragile male egos may cloud the real problem inherent in many alpha-alpha marriages. Psychologists agree that difficulties most often arise not because a man feels emasculated by his wife's star power ("No one can emasculate you except you," avows Pak), but because the woman grows disappointed with her partner...If a woman is powerful, smart and ambitious, her expectations for her husband, and for the relationship, rise," says Nando Pelusi, a New York City psychologist who has counseled plenty of alpha-alpha pairings. McCarthy says it's the primary reason that middle-class marriages fail in the first five years: The woman feels her spouse is not keeping his end of the pact"(Seigel).

[ interesting... -k]

The New Trophy Wife

] And so it's come to this. The American people -- proud
] heirs of a bold revolutionary spirit now marking the
] 228th anniversary of its fiery eruption into the world --
] have been reduced to thanking the robed Olympians on the
] U.S. Supreme Court for preserving a few crumbs of the
] nation's once-vast ancient liberties.

Damn...

[ Seriously. -k]

A Russian view of the Supreme Court Decision

] Mr. Hatch also said the induce bill - the name is short
] for "inducement devolves into unlawful child
] exploitation" - was intended to defend children, who he
] said make up about half of the users of file sharing
] software. "This for-profit piracy scheme mostly endangers
] children, who are ill equipped to appreciate the
] illegality or risks of their acts," he said.

[ Ooohhh, it's for the children now... i see. Please, everyone, think of the children! If we don't continue to prop up the business model of this behemoth RIAA represents, what will become of the poor, doe-eyed, children?

Fucking please. You want to come out and say 'We need to strengthen IP laws in this, this and this way, to the benefit of such and such.' then just fucking do it. Couching this issue in some kind of drug-pusher, corrupting-the-minds-of-the-youth bullshit is cheap and insulting, not to mention absurd. I guess saying 'I want to remove some traditional rights given to consumers and makers of independent products, for the benefit of these record companies.' doesn't sell too good. -k]

Bill to Curb Online Piracy Is Challenged as Too Broad

] WASHINGTON -- Digital radio broadcasts that bring
] CD-quality sound to the airwaves could lead to unfettered
] song copying if protections are not put in place, a
] recording-industry trade group warned on Friday.

Sigh ... here's the "broadcast flag" for digital radio...

Wired News: RIAA Moves In on Digital Radio

] by Kurt Vonnegut

[ I also wouldn't say I precicely agree with the conclusion, but Vonnegut's pretty much always entertaining, and he touches on a few of my most favorite issues, among them the increasingly black or white, liberal or conservative political/ideological environment and of course the way so many nominal christians don't seem to get Jesus, after whom they are supposed to model themselves, presumably. -k]

Cold Turkey

Fuck Texas.

[ for so many reasons. -k]

Mentally ill killer executed

] What we need are corresponding mechanisms to prevent
] abuse. This is the proper question: "Should we allow law
] enforcement to use new technology without any judicial
] oversight, or should we demand that they be overseen and
] accountable?" And the Fourth Amendment already provides
] for this in its requirement of a warrant.

[ Yeah, accountability is the most critical thing here. The judges need to be in charge of this, and if a warrant turns out bad and violates an innocent mans privacy, then the judge gets the smackdown. There's a bigger problem with this, however, which is that judges are already overworked, and finding competent judges is not that easy. Anyone who's had to go to court for anything knows just how backed up and inefficient the whole thing is... that's gonna have to get fixed too, or the accountability Schneier argues for will be hollow, applied to persons we can't afford to lose... -k]

Newsday.com - Opinion

Hijexx wrote:
] Decius wrote:
]
] ] Sinclair's statement on their decision to cancel the Koppel
] ] broadcast. I meme this because I prefer raw arguement to a
] ] journalist's summary thereof. Reach your own conclusions.

[ In support of Decius' call, here's the post I made on the initial story memed on this topic by Acidus : http://www.memestreams.net/thread/bid12512/blogid4004079

] I think his statement is reasonable. As the owner of these
] stations it is Sinclair's choice to make.

In the sense that all companies have the right to choose how to run their business, this is correct, and I can't necessarily offer a legal challenge to what they did, but as I tried to convey in my post, I believe they have an ethical obligation that should be paramount in their decision making process.

] I agree that ABC is going to use this to send a message. It
] is no coincidence that they are broadcasting this on the eve
] of the anniversary of the end of "major combat operations."
] That the insurgency happened this month and the news of
] coalition torture of Iraqis is hitting will only serve to
] soften where ABC was going to put the dagger anyway. I have
] no doubt this was planned for April 30th for a long time.

It's incredibly disturbing that soldier's sacrifices are used to political ends, by both sides of the debate, but they simply are. The right, the obligation i think, for the public to truly understand the costs of war outweigh the concerns of the relatively few. I don't believe enough people get it... they hear about soldiers dying and insurgency and they turn off their minds, or else the reports become an everyday background noise, which ceases to be meaningful in any way. Senator John McCain offered specific words about that in his letter to Sinclair (here: http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=NewsCenter.ViewPressRelease&Content_id=1276) :
every American has a responsibility to understand fully the terrible costs of war and the extraordinary sacrifices it requires of those brave men and women who volunteer to defend the rest of us; lest we ever forget or grow insensitive to how grave a decision it is for our government to order Americans into combat. It is a solemn responsibility of elected officials to accept responsibility for our decision and its consequences, and, with those who disseminate the news, to ensure that Americans are fully informed of those consequences.

McCain, of course, was before and remains now an ardent supporter of the Iraq war.

Also, I'd like to point out that I don't believe Sinclair's decision was altruistic at it's heart, though I'm not so cynical as to believe this was purely partisan. Publicly denying this show is just as political as ABC deciding to air it, and the execs know that full well. They're playing the same game.

I'll leave by addressing one mo... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

RE: Sinclair Broadcast Group: For the record