one of the comments on digg and in an email was basically hey it just started give em a break, especially since apparently the technology at 1600 penn isnt all that.
and this is what ive gotta say. gone are the days of excuses in the white house yo.
get it done, fist bump, go to the next impossible panic.
its 2009, weve got a remote control car on mars, the last thing that should be half assed in a black white house is the blawwwwwg.
that is the one place where you can strut your stuff in a badass way for free to gazillions.
let people flip phone interview people inside the white house and explain why this happened or what that change is all about. show us the computers with windows 95. lay out the myriads of challenges going on and what the plans are. youre the ones bragging about how transparent youre gonna be – then bust with the multi-daily quick cam youtube blog posts and tell us whats up.
also show some of that little girls pictures of beyonce at the we are one concert.
since my post yesterday the blog has been updated three times. i looked at my reader and once again it showed that several posts had all been published at the same time. i wondered, what was the delay? dont make people think that. and dont have the google reader say things were published at a certain time but your blog says they were spread out.
i dont know whats going on there but its gotta get fixed.
My guess is that they have a fancy new site in the works, but it’s not ready yet, so they are stuck using the old infrastructure from the Bush administration and just don’t know how to make it all work. The current site is based on ASP.NET, meanwhile the campaign was built on more open tools with Blue State Digital. It’s my understanding that BSD turned down the job to run whitehouse.gov because of all the legal restrictions placed on it. And Obama still has not announced his Chief Technology Officer, so they may be lacking solid leadership in this area.
in other online publishing news. friend of the busblog howard owens is part of a sorta historic online lawsuit. he works for a publishing group called GateHouse who is calling foul at the way the Boston Globe is agrigating their content. while most people, including howard, and myself, believe that taking a headline a few paragraphs from a website or blog and putting it on your site is fine if you link back. but GateHouse thinks that because the Globe takes all of their headlines they are making their section front (and possibly some of their content) less valuable. dan kennedy has a great post on it:
Seen from GateHouse’s point of view, a [Boston.com] Your Town site – for instance this one covering the town of Needham – links not just to a few stories, but scoops up every item of interest from GateHouse’s Needham Times, making it unnecessary for anyone to visit the Wicked Local Needham homepage. By republishing the headlines and ledes from GateHouse stories, Your Town, in many cases, is making it unnecessary even to click through. The Times may have grabbed only a small part of each story, but, so this line of thinking goes, it’s grabbed the best part.
this is one of those weird times when i originally thought omg how can they even be suing? and now i think they have a totally interesting case. i really hope theres a lot of discussion about this because aggregation is really important to web 2.0
ps, happy 24th birthday lindsay, thanks for buying the cubs.
your man for ham, porn star to the stars, the next black president of the united states, the fifth cylon, the inventor of the pocket knife, the guy in the tv that changes the channels, the voice of simba, ted lilys long lost cousin, photog of rocka, lindsay lohans new bf, paris hiltons new bff, sarah palins new running mate, your american idol, chuck norris’s worst nightmare, a secret surgeon, a designated driver, soulja boys choreographer, feminist, pepper.
BobD: How did people back in the old days, like 52 B.C. for example, cut their toe nails? I assume toe nail clippers are a fairly new invention.
tiny dinosaurs.
Chris Carnaghi: Blog problems at the White House already? Can someone help a brother out? Tony would you consider managing the white house blog? I believe it is a paid gig? It seems you have a lot of connections with the Prez. You have both lived in Chicago, LA and DC. Dig Pizza and round ball. Love the Bears and the Cubs. I would think with your connections (Isn’t Welch in DC now?) you would jump at this opportunity. Do you want me to submit your candidacy? I will campaign for you dude. I signed up for and I am an offical white house liaison.
although it would be an honor to serve my country, im currently in my dream job. also, didnt we just experience ten 80+ degree days in a row… in january? i am the opposite of the replacements’ “unsatisfied”
American Apparel is planning to open a store on Valencia Street here in San Francisco’s Mission District. Some prominent local business owners and media personalities have come out against it, saying that if the city allows one formula retail outlet onto Valencia, surely others will follow.
Thing is, there’s a McDonald’s and a Skechers store and a Walgreens within a few blocks, but those are on Mission Street. Valencia is lined with retro furniture stores, boutique coffee shops, and upscale restaurants; Mission is all taquerias and stores where you can buy Dickies and Latino cowboy gear.
What would an American Apparel store really do to the neighborhood?
ive spent a lot of time in the mission. i lived on folsom and 23rd, i lived on 24th and potrero, and i lived next door to the old yellow levis building on clinton park. that place had a dishwasher, a washer dryer, a fireplace, and… a garage. i have much love for the mission. especially around 16th and valencia of which you speak. and trust me, im not crazy about ben n jerrys or the gap on haight ashbury but i liked amoeba plenty when it was a bowling alley. therefore i believe that we should just let business happen the way its going to happen. noone would be complaining if they wanted to be on mission and 16th. therefore its not that they wanna come to the mish, its that they want to come into the funky part. control is an illusion. let there be socks.
Mike: Do you think closing down Guantanamo and all the other CIA interrogation facilities around the globe is the right thing for Obama to be focusing on?
we are in a global economy and its in crisis. not only is it the right thing to do, but it buys you some international street cred, and it saves you money. you dont get all that many chances to hit all three of those goals in one swell foop.
jon: Trib to sell Cubs….Does that mean that you and Geovany Soto won’t be sitting in the same corporate dugout next season, so to speak?
or in my outlook address book.
adrienne: what’s going on with artie lange these days? i just finished too fat to fish and even though i’ve never heard a stern show before, i am absolutely in love with the man. geeze, i hope he’s doing ok these days.
artie is easily the most lovable guy on radio. but i dont think hes doing ok these days. he fell asleep on the show again this week. but if you love artie and you dont listen, youre missing your window. howard is half way through his half billion dollar contract. the company’s stock is eleven cents, and even though he has a (paying) audience of 14 million people the media pretends that hes not relevant because many of them dont want to admit that the effer just pulled off something even oprah never could do – make em pay. yeah she had/has a show on xm but its a half hour and its taped. howard does five hours a day. and when the contract is over, lets pretend he has $100 million in the bank. if you were in your 50s, you have done it all, you are three years into a marriage with the nicest six foot blonde model ever, would you retire or would you keep yucking it up with midgets, stutterers and hookers?
i think this is the end days of howard and artie by himself is fine but hes perfect on that show. he compliments howards cautious, dull, healthy private life beautifully. the other day he talked about doing a comedy show in atlantic city, then playing high stakes poker set up by the hotel of the show, which he won tens of thousands, then getting a limo ride back to manhattan, also there are two hookers in the car with him, which he found attractive. also somewhere along the ride he asked the limo driver to pull into a 24 hour drive through burger place and woke up one of the girls and bought everyone food including the driver and the other girl fell asleep and the one who had woken up messed around with artie some more on the way back to the city. when he dropped them off he tipped them both extravagantly. im not gonna wanna hear those stories on some other guys radio show like adam carolla. it just wouldnt be the same.
missc: If I was talking the language of LOVE during Lost.. would you kick me out? LOL
yes even you baby. i love that show so much i think im gonna rewatch the two hours again right effing now!
lily: what do you do when you find out that someone you really like is engaged
i tell them that my ex gf jeanine has made almost all of our friends’ wedding rings cuz shes amazingly talented. there are literally too many fish in the sea.
Matt Welch: Hey! Did you know that Angel blogs are stone cold ranchin’ on the LAT for Angels coverage and analysis, particularly in recent days? Check out Halosheaven, and Three Days of Cryin’, and 6-4-2, and Angelswin, and the OC Register’s Angels page, for starters. You’d think the house of Ross Newhan could compete a bit better….
tell em they’ll have something of actual value to cold ranch about very shortly.
yes and he loves food and he loves booze and he loves cigarettes and classic rock and gambling and being the funnyman on the funniest radio show on the air. unfortunately he’s not in love with a girl, which makes him hate himself, and fuels his recklessness. it wasnt until i got the rolling stone that you linked to did i know that he makes less than a million off the radio show but makes three million a year off stand up. doesnt that seem backwards to you?
flick: How do you stay so positive? How do you look at the world the way you do?
it was hard at first, but then it became easier, now its automatic and magic happens.
Unsilent Majority: Should journalists only ask the president questions at the press briefing, or should they be able to ask at any time?
i think you’re talking about this video of President Obama meeting the press corps yesterday:
and if you are, id say journalism is an art and one of the skills is how to ask questions in a way that people answer them honestly. life is context, and in that context when the new president is basically shaking hands with his opponent before the opening bell, you dont try to sneak in a jab. be patient, your time will come, and certainly hes going to explain why he hired a lobbyist after he said he wasnt going to hire any lobbyists into the administration.
yes journalists should be able to ask questions at any time, but pick the right ones for the right time. at the time above is a great time to ask a cocktail party type question that youd never ask in the briefing room – talk sports, iphones, hamburgers in air force one. be david gregory jr when hes at the podium pointing at people.
and this is a new feature where almost every night i will link to some la times blog posts that i found interesting or informative or funny. or outrageous. or cute. or crazy. or amazing. or just good.
“OFF SOMALIA: U.S. Navy, Marines patrol for pirates, like the old days” – babylon and beyond
Toyota has sold 30,000 hybrids through their Certified Pre-Owned program, yet no one at the dealership knows about it yet because it’s “new”? (this is the type of reporting in a blog that most bloggers dont do) – up to speed
just cuz its a depression doesnt mean you shouldnt learn about money, in fact now is probably the time to figure it all out. todays lesson is on dividends, example A: MSFT – money & co
“Clinton’s Senate successor is Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand: NY station” – top of the ticket
kevin rose and jay adelson answer the tough questions about Digg (a post rose submitted to digg today)- tech blog
president obama flew in air force one today for the first time today and he ordered a hamburger. i didnt know muslins could eat hamburgers. – daily dish
dark knight snubbed in best picture race – hero complex
happy and adorable two legged dog gets an equally lovable two legged puppy brother – unleashed
After nearly two years of intrigue, the billionaire Ricketts family has emerged as the winning bidder to purchase the Chicago Cubs from Tribune Co. for about $900 million, sources close to the situation said this evening.
The family will now complete negotiations with Tribune Co.
The family edged out Chicago real-estate investor Hersch Klaff and New York private-equity investor Marc Utay, a Chicago native, for the chance to follow Tribune Co., the Chicago-based media conglomerate, as owners of the storied yet hard-luck franchise.
The Ricketts family effort, led by Tom Ricketts, who lives in the Chicago area, still has a number of hurdles to cross before taking ownership of the Cubs, including receiving approval from 23 of the league’s 30 owners.
Cubs officials have said they hope to have sale completed by the start of the new season in April.
The deal would represent a return to family ownership for the Cubs. Before Tribune took control of the team in 1981, the Wrigley family, founders of the chewing-gum company, owned the Cubs for 65 years. The clan sold the team and Wrigley Field to the media company, which owns the Chicago Tribune, for $20.5 million.
In Chicago, the Ricketts family is hardly as well known as the Wrigleys, or any of the current owners of the city’s major professional sports franchises, but certainly that would change quickly for the new custodians of one of the country’s best-known teams, as well as one of its most storied stadiums. Along with the Cubs, the Ricketts are buying Wrigley Field, and a 25 percent stake in a regional cable sports network.
when i was a lad i used to think, “one day i will have $20 million to buy the Cubs.” nowadays i wonder if kids are thinking “one day i will have $900 million to buy them”? either way. i hope lindsay ricketts, above, will let me have some free bleacher seats whenever im in town, seeing as her family now has the keys to the friendly confines.
pretty girl came over last night but i had to kicker out cuz she kept talking through Lost. not the new lost but the recap that preceded the new episode/season. i was all baby you look good in my pajamas but youre gonna have to peace out if you dont focus up.
she i swear said, wait are you saying that a tv show is more important than this. and she started vogueing. at first i thought she was kidding but she wasnt kidding and i said you have read my myspace and my facebook and even the busblog you know that Lost is my favorite show and ive waited eighteen years to get to season five and all the answers being answered.
long story short i paused the tivo, removed her from my old man pajamas, got her a little bottle of water, and showed her the way to the corner where a cab was waiting for her and clearly i wasnt meant for this world cuz even the cabbie was all dude this girl is all sorts of hot are you nuts. and i was all i pity that you dont get to see Lost in 2 minutes the way im about to.
ran into the house, unpaused and watched the pregame (which was rad) and the new episode and the other new episode and the whole time i was all THANK YOU GOD FOR INSPIRING A FEW PEOPLE TO REALLY UNDERSTAND HOW TO MAKE QUALITY TELEVISION!!!!!
i was patient with lost when nothing was happening. i was patient when everyone bailed. i was patient when things made no sense. i was patient because just like watching baseball, sometimes its about the nuances. sometimes its about character development. sometimes its about the journey and not the results.
and last night so many pieces fit together and now we know how a dinosaur and a polar bear got there. now we know why Ben was so important. now we know why this show is so much different than Gilligans Island. its because Anything can happen and Anything should happen and keep watching cuz its only gonna get better.
but what i love the most is rivers cuomo is so vital to all of this and that was a character they gave us like last week! whoooo hoooo!
when people want to remember things, theyd rather pay three quarters
than hundreds of dollars for framed “art” or $20 for tshirts
across the street from the lines at our building they were selling anything they could with Obama’s likeness, even foreign papers like the ones from NYC
but today the local papers were doing big biz. the daily news, the press-telegram, and the times were all sold out at newsstand and at corner boxes, so everyone came to our building to get their memorabilia.
some are complaining that the new prez got 35 times the coverage for his inaugural than the former prez.
for what its worth, im pretty sure that if sarah palin ran for president, and won, there would have been a ton more attention on her compared to the w. but what do i know. i just take pics of newspapers via my iphone.
the funny thing about that is, you can buy the paper today at any newsstand or newsbox, but people want shopping carts filled with them.
they want whats called “bundles”.
besides the people waiting to buy our papers and the replica plates are folks selling buttons and tshirts. across the street at the corner is someone who i believe is from the long beach press-telegram, because she is selling long beach press-telegram papers to people.
and for once, theres a market for long beach press-telegrams.
good for them.
yesterday we had a big day at the web site, a big day on our blogs, and it looks like today will be a huge day selling the print edition too. i cant say i like the fact that he’s a White Sox fan, but he sure is helping our macro-economy here on spring street.
but first, the least loved vp ever silently rolls off into the sunset limo
DCist’s Amanda Mattos reports from the “orange” ticketholders entrance at the Swearing-In Ceremony, which is near C street at the entrance to the Rayburn HOB. She says she was shuffled into a long, winding line that was supposedly leading to the security entrance, but when she actually reached the gate, there was nobody monitoring the entrance to the security tent, and it seemed like people could have cut to the front of the line without anyone stopping them — except, as it turned out, the angry mob. A family did try to cut in line, and Amanda says the crowd responded by calling them “Bush”! Apparently shouting “Bush!” is the official insult of Inauguration Day – DCist
thats a relief. after hearing the poem after the big speech i was worried Freeverse Poet! was going to make a comeback as the biggest slur ever.
the 
