Before I launch into this week’s links, I have the pleasure to announce a new contributor to our site! Eric will be joining our ranks this week with what we hope will be the first of regular contributions. Eric spends his workday in the venture finance world, but his passions run the gamut from obscure pop culture trivia to Czech food and beer. We’re really pleased to welcome Eric to Tropophilia, and we know you’ll enjoy his posts. Here are your links:
- The Triple Bottom Line blog highlights this piece from the Columbia Journalism Review: “Five Inconvenient Truths of Environmental Journalism.” The piece discusses tensions that ultimately weaken mainstream environmental reporting, like the need for definition of scientific terms and the over-use of buzzwords:
A reporter covering, say, baseball doesn’t have to define a home run in every article, but a reporter covering climate almost always has to remind readers what greenhouse gases are [...]
Buzzwords like “inconvenient truth”, “green”, “clean coal”, and “tipping point” can be misapplied and abused, rendering readers cynical and numb to actual news.
It’s a good piece and worth thinking about.
- The Democratic National Convention in Denver this August will feature an incredible blogger palace called The Big Tent, thanks to help from Google, Digg, and YouTube. Sounds awesome [emphasis on drunken bloggers is mine]:
We’re creating a 9,000 square foot, two-story structure that will house the work space for journalists, bloggers and new media, a Digg Stage with prominent national leaders, as well as a Google Retreat with a YouTube kiosk where you can make your own YouTube videos. [...]
In the New Media Lounge, your pass will be a ticket to to enjoy all the benefits of the blogger / new media lounge, including free WiFi, work space, television-coverage, as well as free food and drinks. [...]
The Big Tent will host sponsored happy hours each day from 4 to 5, followed by live coverage of every minute of the Democratic National Convention until 9 p.m. each night. When the Convention ends each day, the Big Tent will still be going with late-night entertainment, including concerts and films.
- When I first encountered Cooking for Engineers by way of the 37Signals blog, I thought their format for recipes (example below, a recipe for Ratatouille) was insane. But after giving it a closer look, I think it’s genius.
- Here’s a brilliant ad campaign: wrap a sample of laundry detergent in a plain white t-shirt; let the postal service stamp directly onto the shirt, and let it absorb dirt along the mail route; then, instruct the mail recipient to simply wash the shirt with the detergent to remove all the stains from the journey. Final step [unconfirmed]: sell an enormous amount of detergent.
Funny you should post that Gantt chart recipe today: my boss just asked me to prepare a couple of those things for some upcoming fund-raisers.
As the democratic convention approaches, many potential out-of-town visitors are finding that housing is not as readily available as initially anticipated. We have found a source for both luxury and more affordable housing in downtown Denver and along the light rail corridor. If you have yet to find adequate lodging for the convention, I would try http://www.democraticconventionhousing.com , a company out of Denver and Vail that specializes in corporate and short term rentals. They put our group up in the Glasshouse condo building, a few blocks formt the Pepsi Center and we are stoked!!
Major dittos on Wall*E. Best movie of the year (so far).
Also, I’m heartbroken that I can’t go to the convention. Especially with the Beer Tent.
@ Chris: let me know if any of the recipes are tasty…their methods might be great, but there’s no telling what recipes for engineers taste like.
@ Sam: you should start the momentum now for a bloggers’ beer tent at the next NC Dem Party Convention. I’m thinking NC beers…Carolina Blonde, Red Oak, Highland Ale, it’d be great.
We actually already have something set up by the Beer & Wine Wholesalers of NC. We don’t, however, have the microbrew angle.