Reading

Created
Wed, 03/05/2023 - 23:00
The rise and fall of digital pioneers Ben Smith is making the rounds to promote his new book, “Traffic.” The proprieter of the shuttering BuzzFeed News told MSNBC’s Alex Wagner Tuesday night he did not aniticpate, in its infancy, what digital media would do to legacy media and politics. The pursuit of clicks contained in the BuzzFeed name came to define the goal of social media. That business model was the digital equivalent of “if it bleeds, it leads.” I recall once sitting in a packed Netroots Nation workshop on writing clickbait headlines to attract eyeballs before clickbait was a word and swiftly became a four-letter one. Smith did not forsee in those days what the lefties’ tech tools that gave rise to Jezebel or Huffington Post would become in the hands of the radical right. I recall, too, that Right Online, the onetime conservative shadow to Netroots, was thought a joke by our younger attendees. Right Online seemed a collection or hopelessly unhip retirees in the digital age trying still learning to turn on a computer and manipulate a cursor. That was then.
Created
Wed, 03/05/2023 - 22:00

We were very disappointed when our Airbnb rental turned out to be just the space underneath a table at a Red Lobster restaurant. We’d been led to believe that our rental would be a stand-alone room, including a bed, walls, and a door. By the time we realized the true state of our accommodations, there were no remaining hotel vacancies in the area and we were stuck under the table for the duration of our five-day vacation.

Our stay was unsatisfying for numerous reasons, the lack of privacy being chief among them. Since it was our honeymoon, my wife and I looked forward to being intimate without an audience of strangers, but that proved impossible under the Red Lobster table. Most diners who noticed us seemed alarmed and not always receptive to sharing the space.

At one point, I was repeatedly kicked in the neck by a restless toddler. Another time, a diner spilled coleslaw in my wife’s hair and she had to rinse off with half-drunk water glasses from the table. Though it was never explicitly stated, we’d been under the impression that bathrooms with showers would be included in the rental.

Created
Wed, 03/05/2023 - 20:53
Paddington Station
Waiting for my train

I’m sat here at Costa Coffee in Paddington waiting for the 10:30 to Totnes.

I walked a good few miles yesterday exploring the back-alleys, greenways, footpaths and canal paths from Muswell Hill through Hornsey and down along the Regent Canal. I just love walking …

Created
Wed, 03/05/2023 - 16:23
2 cups fresh, cooked asparagus2 (7-ounce size) jars pimentos, drained½ cup skim milk2 raw asparagus spears, to garnish2 lemon slices Place first 3 ingredients in blender container; process at medium speed until puréed. Place puréed mixture in saucepan. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Pour evenly divided into 2 glasses. Garnish each serving with […]
Created
Wed, 03/05/2023 - 11:00

On 15 May 2023, Palestinians mark seventy-five years of the Nakba or ‘catastrophe’. The day will commemorate the events in 1948 that saw over 750,000 Palestinians driven into exile and over 500 Palestinian towns and villages erased from the map. But it will also recognise the reality of the ongoing Nakba — the process of dispossession, […]