The Grizzlies

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LZ Granderson on ESPN.com:

But if you live here, you know the Grizzlies’ rallying cry of “Grit and Grind” is not just some cool marketing catchphrase to sum up its magical season. It is the autobiography of Memphis, Tenn. If you live here, you know that resilience is the sound of the blues on Beale Street, and you know that long-suffering is the flavor of the barbecue that’s a Memphis specialty.

“That’s why it’s been so good to see so many people wearing ‘Believe Memphis’ T-shirts. It’s not just about believing in the team. It’s also about believing in each other and this city and all that it can become. It’s about believing we can turn this thing around,” said said Jason Potter, the Grizzlies’ director of promotion and event presentation.

I love basketball, and I love this city. I’m so excited I can love them both at the same time this season.

More of the Same

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The Macalope, on new Windows 7 tablets:

The Macalope is constantly amazed by how many of these analysts whose opinions we’re supposed to take seriously have Websites that betray their ’90s thinking. Of course people will pick the Microsoft tablet! Compatibility! A proven market leader! That Chumbawamba song will never go out of style!

Will some IT shops buy these things? Sure. Probably. A lot of them still really hate their users. But a slightly faster crappy solution is still a crappy solution.

On Depression and Thinking

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Bruce Bower:

Depression may have an analytical upside. People hospitalized for this mood disorder display a flair for making good choices when many options must be considered one at a time, a new study finds.

Depression may prompt an analytical thinking style suited to solving sequential problems, such as deciding when to stop a house hunt and purchase a property or when to stop playing the field and marry a suitor, say psychologist Bettina von Helversen of the University of Basel in Switzerland and her colleagues.

Fascinating.

On Grandview and Distractions

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Myke Hurley:

What I am enjoying about Grandview is the way that it’s getting me to concentrate on what I am currently writing. I know there is a web browser and a Twitter client behind these HUGE words, but I can’t see them. I mainly get distracted because I see a new tweet pop up or notice a tab I have yet to fully investigate and not having that visual distraction is quite useful to me.

Honestly, now I’m bummed I gave up my promo code for Myke to review this app.

‘Letting Ballmer Blow Money on Hookers and Skype’

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Ben Brooks:

Microsoft should be searching for a new CEO right now. The Skype acquisition damage can still be mitigated if the proper people are put in place to immediately leverage the Skype brand.

[…]

If Microsoft wants a chance and long term survivorship they need to make themselves appealing to young stars. You can’t appeal to this young crop of talent unless you offer compelling products. More and more job selection for the elite talent is less about money and more about job satisfaction. Microsoft’s best bet here is to start acquiring fresh young companies and keeping the talent that comes with it.

Real Journalism, in an Age of Blogs

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“Trojan Kitty,” on blogging and journalism:

So, let’s get this out of the way: a blog is something between a personal diary and a newspaper. It’s, entirely incidentally, published online, as it’s the cheapest publishing mass media available. And it allows anyone to join. That’s good in some aspects, but it also lets too much noise in. There is no filter or distinction between a diary and a newspaper online. And people who have online newspapers get confused, and treat their newspaper as an online diary, and launch into personal fights with colleagues from their company and other media.

[…]

I do have a problem with every single person with a blog on this planet being piled in with the greatest journalists of the 20th and the few remaining in the 21st century; people who uncover corruption scandals, report from places of conflict, people who have the self-control to spare you the fluff, and give you the real news; wise people, who not just inform you of facts, but teach you about how this world works. And I don’t pretend or want to stand up to all the scrutiny of being a real journalist, so I’m a blogger. So are millions more. And that’s good: we’re not journalists.

And sure, just as we have journalists online, increasingly, we have bloggers in print. It is a real problem.

This debate is tearing journalism schools and newsrooms apart right now. The question is this: where is the line? I would argue that there is no clear boundary between journalism and blogging. Yes, there are some blogs that are, without a doubt, journalistic. At the same time, there are tons of blogs that aren’t even close to producing real journalism.

While I do think I perform a journalistic service here at Forkbombr, it is different than publishing via a newspaper or magazine. Here, I can write with a personal tone, and take sides on an issue. Am I reporting news and events? Yes. Am I adding commentary? Yes.

Am I a working as a journalist as I type this? Hell if I know. I’m not convinced “Trojan Kitty” does either.

I’m not sure the question even matters, as long as I stay in the gray space between the two forms of writing.

[via David Chartier]

WordPress Tip: How to Send Posts to Instapaper With a Simple Link

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I get emails pretty often about how I added the “Send to Instapaper” link next to the date on single post pages here on Forkbombr.

First of all, there is a great WordPress plugin named Instapaper Read Later Links that will add a “Read Later” button to posts. This button’s placement can be adjusted via CSS fairly easily.

However, I couldn’t find a place where the button didn’t seem massively out of place with Forkbombr’s design. After digging through Marco Arment’s documentation for publishers and asking around a bit, I got the text links working.

The Code

Here’s the code, as a text file.

It works just like a normal link, with destination, title and rollover information. I’ve kept it pretty simple.

Adding the link is as simple as placing this in the appropriate WordPress template PHP file. Mine is present in the single.php file, so it is only present on individual post pages, below the date and category information. In my opinion, a link is a lot cleaner looking than a “Read Later” button.

How it Works

The link takes the reader to a new page, asking them if they want to add the article to their Instapaper queue. It then redirects them back to article on my site. While this isn’t a streamlined as Instapaper’s bookmarklet, it’s great for those who may be reading Forkbombr in a browser without their bookmarklet configured.

Happy reading.

A Sub-1:1 iPad Program

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Fraser Speirs, on replacing MacBooks with iPads in the classroom:

When looking at the iPad, it’s important to break out of the old mindsets. Replacing a cart full of laptops with a cart full of iPads will deliver a worse solution than the laptops. Here’s why:

Let’s call this model “thin slicing”, where each pupil gets to use an iPad for an hour or two a week. That’s how we used to share desktop computers and, with desktops and their multi-user operating systems, that was easy because each user’s files and settings were separated from every other user’s files and settings by the login system.

iOS has no such clear distinction. When you hand an iPad from Pupil A to Pupil B, Pupil B is able to raise merry hell with Pupil A’s files.

Speirs outlines a great solution he calls “chunking.” If you’re working with technology in school, this — and Speirs’ entire site — is well worth a read.