Circling the Drain » media http://www.circlingthedrain.com this is the way the world ends Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:19:14 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Words of Power http://www.circlingthedrain.com/2010/06/03/words-of-power/ http://www.circlingthedrain.com/2010/06/03/words-of-power/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:19:14 +0000 Klaus http://www.circlingthedrain.com/?p=146

Just look at the individual words which we have recently co-opted from the US military.

When we westerners find that ‘our’ enemies — al-Qaeda, for example, or the Taliban — have set off more bombs and staged more attacks than usual, we call it ‘a spike in violence’. Ah yes, a ‘spike’!

A ‘spike’ in violence, ladies and gentlemen is a word first used, according to my files, by a brigadier general in the Baghdad Green Zone in 2004. Yet now we use that phrase, we extemporise on it, we relay it on the air as our phrase. We are using, quite literally, an expression created for us by the Pentagon. A spike, of course, goes sharply up, then sharply downwards. A ‘spike’ therefore avoids the ominous use of the words ‘increase in violence’ — for an increase, ladies and gentlemen, might not go down again afterwards.

(via Robert Fisk)

]]> http://www.circlingthedrain.com/2010/06/03/words-of-power/feed/ 0 Murdoch-Microsoft deal in the works http://www.circlingthedrain.com/2009/11/23/murdoch-microsoft-deal-in-the-works/ http://www.circlingthedrain.com/2009/11/23/murdoch-microsoft-deal-in-the-works/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:55:32 +0000 Klaus http://www.circlingthedrain.com/?p=43 The Financial Times is saying that Microsoft is ready to pay Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. to remove its news content from Google (no one tell Fox about robots.txt, please). The fact that this is a user-hostile strategy — users don’t keep track of which companies may be listed in which search engine — is right up Microsoft’s alley. Still, this doesn’t bode well for users who just want to find stuff.

(via Boing Boing)

]]> http://www.circlingthedrain.com/2009/11/23/murdoch-microsoft-deal-in-the-works/feed/ 0 Beginning of the End of America http://www.circlingthedrain.com/2006/10/19/post-title/ http://www.circlingthedrain.com/2006/10/19/post-title/#comments Fri, 20 Oct 2006 07:31:58 +0000 Klaus http://www.circlingthedrain.com/archives/2006/10/19/post-title/ Keith Olbermann identifies the beginning of the end of America

]]> http://www.circlingthedrain.com/2006/10/19/post-title/feed/ 0 9/11 Flagellaniversary Broadcasturbation http://www.circlingthedrain.com/2006/09/11/911-flagellaniversary-broadcasturbation/ http://www.circlingthedrain.com/2006/09/11/911-flagellaniversary-broadcasturbation/#comments Mon, 11 Sep 2006 22:15:33 +0000 Klaus http://www.circlingthedrain.com/archives/2006/09/11/911-flagellaniversary-broadcasturbation/ The ad-sponsored memorial orgy reached its annual frothy peak today. One and all were invited to relive our most celebrated national tragedy, complete with theme music and flying logos.

Slow-panning retrospectives (somber horns and violins accompany) lovingly presented every detail before cutting to the advertisement chaser: life insurance, banking, and indigestion.

Then we were treated to the falling twins (rhythmic bass line, synth arpeggios accompany) before another cluster of ads: political campaign, car insurance, and indigestion.

So why were the ads suddenly more relevant than the editorial pabulum the networks served up?

No link love this time. The media have had enough to eat already.

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