BuzzMachine... by Jeff Jarvis

February 16, 2004

Live, from Iraq
: Adam Curry has a great post from Iraq, where he is broadcasting his radio show. And he has pictures. On technology:

I'm planning a separate post about all the technology, since it *is* some pretty advanced stuff which enables us to broadcast live to the netherlands, VoIP with 4 phonelines which provide a local dutch dialtone and ofcourse broadband internet access. We also shoot a daily video report to the bird for dutch television, all on the same dish.
The show went off without a hitch, we interviewed several personnel, including the camp's chaplain. We also got a chance to revive my pirate radio roots by installing a 50 watt fm transmitter to broadcast our show and the stations 24 hour signal across the base.

And on Iraq:

I also learned something very important today: context.
Ever since the war broke out I've been following the news, like anyone else, but there is a large disconnect in the BigPub press about the mission the dutch troops have here. As a part of SFIR (Stabilization Forces IRaq), they are responsible for supporting and guiding the population in rebuilding their country. An important note here is that the damage done in As Samawah (the area we are in) is mainly due to 35 years of supression by the saddam regime....
We drove into town and queued up to cross the pontoon bridge across the euphrates river to the northern side. The original bridge was [strategically] bombed in 1991.
That's when I announced I was going to walk across. No problem, I hopped out, flanked by our translator. While crossing I spoke to lots of people, all very happy with the work SFIR is doing, especially the schools, medical facilities and infrastructure. They are teaching the locals to build and maintain. A school teacher showed me photos of his class and school and complained to the troops, who had by now joined us, that the city council wasn't making enough funds available for him to draw a salary. This money comes from CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority] Paul Bremer's group basically. To this I suggested that he could join the city council and help change things. This was a totally foreign concept to him. Join the city council? Huh? I guess 35 years of dictatorship does damage to the entire concept of democratic process. Lots of education needed in that area.

Too bad I don't speak Dutch and can't listen; glad he's blogging in English.

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BBC chopping block
: Instapundit sends us to a report saying hat in the wake of the BBC's many scandals, the British government is thinking of breaking up the company into regional entities.
That's the wrong way to do it, I say.
The BBC should be spun off to the public. Sell stock in it. Take the money to pay for worthy government programs. Accept advertising to support the service and get rid of the BBC tax. Let the market rule. That's what should happen to the BBC.

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Intern? What intern?
: Here's hoping that the Kerry intern meme is dying or dead.
She alleged affairmate has denied it, as has Kerry.
On NBC Nightly News, Tom Brokaw danced around it like a tap dancer on tacks: The story we're not going to tell about about regarding a candidate who says he didn't do something a rumor says he did now is denied by the other person involved in that rumor we're not going to tell you about. Got it?
But I want to say this for the record:
: I could not care less if John Kerry had an affair.
: I could not care less that Bill Clinton did.
: I could not care less if George Bush got light duty in the National Guard or got out early.
: I could not care less if John Kerry threw away his medals or wore them or was next to Jane Fonda or wasn't.
: I could not care less that George Bush used to drink.
: I could not care less if either of them burp or belch or masturbate or pick their noses or leave the seat up or have dandruff or pass on the right.
I only care if they can do a decent job running the government and keeping us safe. That's it. Even the presidency is just a job and I want someone who will do it well.

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Ratings
: Jason Calacanis creates a rating scheme for blogs. I would add volume -- not voluminous posts but the volume of them; I check Instapundit all the time because I know he's constantly updating.

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Leaner, meaner
: Well, I hope I didn't screw things up. I just switched to daily archives instead of monthly, which should mean that when you link to an individual post, it should be much quicker. I hope.

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Exceptional America: What you say
: Go read the comments under this post on what makes America exceptional. It's a magnificent thread of comments from you all. Hearing no objections, I may try to turn it into an op-ed.

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Heathen Europe
: God is losing Europe. The latest: Edinburgh University will disallow prayer at graduation ceremonies. See also the posts below on German Easter and English atheism.

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Fear of sneezing
: I hadn't had a cold -- even though many around me did -- in more than a year. But then I take a cross-country flight and -- zap! -- I'm a mucus trooper.
That's why I prefer the social interaction of weblogs: no germs.
And that's another reason why I hate flying.

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Mel Gibson's movie won't be selling big in Germany
: PapaScott put up a link to the handbook to Germany (teaching immigrants how to acclimate) and I clicked randomly on German customs to find this about Easter:

The Easter festival is the most important Christian festival but it’s religious importance has declined. The festival is now dominated by non-Christian customs. The central figures of Easter are the Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs.

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Big-time blogger
: Scott Norvell, European chief for FoxNews, explains how he started his blog (bad timing: on hiatus for a week) and why he likes bloggers:

I was an early supporter because I liked the tone and politics of some of these Webblogers. Some are really great writers, and philosophically, many fit the mold for what I wanted to turn the foxnews.com Views pages into – a slightly sarcastic bunch that doesn’t take themselves too terribly seriously and is neither knee-jerk conservative or liberal. I think that’s one of the main problems facing American journalism now – reporters and editors take themselves far too seriously....
I think blogging is one of the best things to happen to journalism in decades. It has spawned a whole new range of new and different voices. Despite all its talk of diversity, big media in American tends to be something of a closed shop. Sure, they lack ethnic diversity, but they also lack ideological diversity....

[via Tim Blair]

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The future of radio
: Fred Wilson has a post this morning about cell-phone-radio combos and I have a long comment. Go there to see it.

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How to conference
: Loic sets the rules.

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The making of a nut, 2004
: Micah Sifry predicts that Nader will run. He's pure ego, Ralph. But this time, I don't think anyone will be fooled. Kucinich is getting more votes that Ralph will. Says Micah:

And then there's this: I also think he's living in the past. Today, he's quoted in the New York Times as saying that he wasn't bothered by the fact that as of Saturday, he only had 375 people registered at Meetup.com, against 188,000 for Dean, 45,000 for Kerry, 23,000 for Kucinich and 9,000 for Edwards.
In response, he says, "I really don't deal with the Web. There isn't enough time in the day to go into virtual reality."
That quote should lead Nader's political obituary.

: Doc wins the headline award: Ralph nadir

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