Tech: Brace yourself, job slackers. Microsoft is seeking a patent for software that would allow a computer to monitor an employee’s brainwaves, The Times (of London) reports. Here’s my favorite quote in this story: “The system could also ‘automatically detect frustration or stress in the user’ and ‘offer and provide assistance accordingly’.” Man, don’t try using this software in a newsroom. Remember what happened to HAL…
Nation: Blue-collar workers join ranks of working poor as jobs dry up, according to New York Times.
Nation: On Jan. 10 I linked to the news story about an oil tanker stolen in Pennsylvania. It was recovered yesterday in Washington, D.C. with most of its fuel pumped out. Now comes the report that on Jan. 8, another fuel truck had been stolen from Lancaster County, Pa., WHP in Harrisburg reports. Is there a Robin Hood of fuel oil out there somewhere enacting citizen “justice”?
Journalism: Editor & Publisher reports that in the first 10 months of 2007, about 10,000 newspaper workers lost their jobs. At California’s Bee newspapers, at least 49 jobs were outsourced to India. Have any of you heard about this on the network news? Didn’t think so. Wish the presidential candidates would pay attention to this awful trend.
Election 2008: One of the underplayed stories of yesterday’s Republican primary in Michigan was that “Ron Paul, Dr. No-body, beats Rudy and Fred — again,” the LA Times’ Andrew Malcolm writes in the Top of the Ticket Blog.
O P I N I O N
The candidates played nice last night in the Democratic debate. Not so MSNBC which won an 11th-hour Nevada Supreme Court ruling to bar Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
Sen. Hillary Clinton had a commanding tone and confidence that pundits said sounded as if she was already the party’s designated candidate or heck, even already elected president. It was true and quite remarkable to see.
What was frustrating about the “debate” was that it took more than a half hour before the moderators asked questions about the issues. What a waste of time, beating the dead-horse race/gender story that the media were extending so they could fill air space.
♣ Nation/world news tally in my local paper today: 2 pages.
Feed me 5 Under the Radar
