Although I still don't have the time in my life to invest myself in such a way as to call myself a "news junkie", there is more and more evidence that I am becoming more and more interested in the world around me:- I have taken to taping two news shows nightly. Although it is very rare that I watch both of them, I usually watch at least one at the end of the day. Forwarding through the commercials and the human interest stories about new animals being born at the zoo, I can watch an hour news program in a half-hour. And if you were wondering, the two shows are the local 10pm Fox news program, and the Fox Report with Shepard Smith.
- Lest you think that I listen too much to the "right-wing" Fox network, the CNN channel has now become the thing you're most likely to see on our TV at the store now. After I've had SportsCenter on in the background for a few hours in the morning, I usually switch it over to CNN for the rest of the day.
- I have watched 8 of the Democratic debates during the current campaign, either live or on Youtube after they took place.
- I have 7 different RSS feeds for news outlets, both national and local.
- I have 5 news blogs that I check regularly, and that doesn't include the website for Rasmussen polling.
RSS feeds are just the greatest. If you're not familiar with this technology, and you often boot up the internet and get done checking your e-mail and think, "what should I do now?", you really need to get into some RSS. It's a handy way of surfing the subject lines of most blogs and news sites, right from your bookmarks, to determine if there's anything there you want to read. It also saves you a trip to your favorite blogs, only to discover that there's been nothing new posted. For example, I have an RSS feed for the cultural taproom.
Half the time it can save you even reading the news story. For instance, one of my RSS headlines right now reads "Bush says US not headed towards a recession". Don't need to read that one... I've already determined that my President is not all that bright, and I don't need any additional reinforcement.
Not much else to say today. Eric Vitz sent me a great picture that I should post, but I forgot to upload it to a permanent server, so I'm going to save it for another post. Here's a quick "culture check" for me if anyone is curious.
Currently watching on TV: Eli Stone and the Terminator Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Currently watching on DVD: Studio 60 and The Practice.
Currently playing on Xbox: Halo 3 and Mass Effect.
Last movie seen in the theater: Be Kind, Rewind (give it a 6).
Last movie seen at home: Click (liked it a lot more than I thought, give it an 8).
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3 comments:
Nice to know you're trying to stay on top of what's going on, Tom. I avoid watching TV news altogether. I prefer printed word or a live broadcast of an event. C-SPAN was my friend stateside. Now, it's BBC News because that's the only international news source I get on my TV box. I'd also recommend getting US news from non-US sources, such as The Times of London, Guardian, heck, even al Jazeera's English service, for example. They tend to provide a different perspective even on the presidential elections. As a side note, Billary's picture has been all over Latvian newspapers. So the whole world is watching. Someone with a right to vote ought to watch some of that big world. Even if through RSS feeds.
I've used Feedburner to create feeds and Bloglines to keep up with the favorite blogs. Saves time and energy.
Tom, as always, thank you for your investment of time and thought.
Speaking of RSS feeds... I just added yours to my google reader.
I'm addicted to RSS feeds, if any of you also use google reader, please share with me your shared items!
Here's mine:
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/16221141525913105620
These new internets things are making it easier to keep in touch with old friends. If any of you get on twitter be sure to let me know: http://twitter.com/thepet
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