Sic et non

sic:

At any moment there are 40,000 stories out there claiming to be the gospel truth. Many of them are good as gold, presented by people with the best intentions; many are lies and distortions sponsored by people with the worst. Most are muddle and nonsense. It takes years of experience or constant immersion in the news cycles, or both, just to begin to sort them out.

non:

"If you can't explain a stock or an investment principle in under a sentence to me, chances are you're not serving the audience. So clarity counts. Getting to the point counts. None of the on-the-one-hand, and on-the-other-hand stuff."

Newshole: Insert for August 11, 2007

MINNEAPOLIS

Divers took another body from the wreckage of a freeway bridge, shrinking to five the number of people known missing and presumed dead in the collapse. Meanwhile, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters on Friday pledged $50 million to help Minnesota with its recovery and rebuilding.

HUNTINGTON, Utah/PRINCETON, Ind:

Three men fell from a construction bucket Friday and plunged no word from the miners since the Crandall Canyon mine collapsed early Monday. A microphone lowered into a smaller hole yielded no sounds of life and an air sample taken through the 2-inch hole detected little oxygen.

There

The nation's biggest lenders may face a cash shortage because investors who buy their loans aren't bidding and bankers have cut off credit lines. The fallout has toppled at least 70 mortgage companies and half a dozen hedge funds that bought their loans, and stalled buyouts including MGIC's takeover of Radian Group Inc. Regulators in the U.S., Europe and Japan have responded by pumping money into the banking system.

"Any company that has products related to home sales is in trouble," said Ja...

foto

Open library, locked blog

I almost forgot to post what I was originally going to post:

let us build the Open Library.

I'm not sure whom Aaron is addressing here, but by all means, let us. via JOHO.

Whatever can be done to push back against the JSTORs, MUSEs, Comcasts, News Corpses, New York Timeses and other children of intellectual proprietary darkness.

Come sit in daddy's lap, little media corporation...

NEW YORK, May 1, 2007 -- Dow Jones & Company today confirmed that its Board of Directors has received an unsolicited proposal from News Corporation...WSJ #

It's a $5 billion unsolicited bid for Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal. The $60-a-share offer is roughly 67% above Dow Jones's recent market value.

The thought is it will trigger someone to buy it. Just last night in Tampa, the FCC heard why media consolidation "could be" a bad thing. Dumb headline and less dumb story here. Better story here, by the same person, oddly.

Long in the toilet, NY Times shares are up sharply at this hour - biggest move in years. Investors think RuMurd's dumb enough to buy it too?

See also this. And fairness and balance require we link the view from ClearChannel, which smells like ass no matter how clear.