hello NYT, who does your marketing?

I remember when I first read the New York Times online. I thought to myself that it was far more convenient to view the news during my breaks at school than it was for me to go out of my way to buy a paper and then find a good place to read it. I enjoyed sharing interesting stories with friends and family as well.. something that I probably wouldn't have done before.

Stating the obvious, environmentally speaking, reading the news online makes a lot more sense.

From a financial viewpoint, I'd like to think that there are just as many people, if not more, reading a given paper day to day over the internet. What then, has prohibited these companies from coming up with a way to profit from their online news source? I find it rather odd that if I choose to read the NYT in print, that I have to pay for it, and if I read from the internet, most of it is free. Doesn't it stand to reason that you would create some sort of online subscription?

I suppose some obstacles that newspapers would face in charging people to read their materials, is that there are so many news sources out there writing about the same thing. I subscribe to several news feeds, and it amazes me how each one reports pretty much the same exact story and headline when it comes to the bigger topics. If NYT charged, and Reuters didn't, well then I guess you'd just go find your news there?

At the end of the day, I'm wondering how these huge media moguls will continue to provide us with news coverage if subscriptions just continue to dwindle.

reflections of modern society

get someecards

it's about questioning yourself

When I started this blog, it was just my 4th attempt, and moving from Belgium back to NYC to embark upon a new and exciting life seemed like a good time. Up until December of 2008, my posts were just as random as my ideas. Now that I'm making an effort to post more, I have to question with frequency, should the topics be more consistent? I go through phases when it comes to the sorts if ideals that I want to share, and they range from personal, to political, to DIY, to art... the result is that there's nothing streamlined about this blog. Sometimes I question the direction that I've taken by posting something out of sync (creepy pope, for example) and I wonder how that reads to people who look at this. I'm then left questioning if I shouldn't think about my audience and focus my posts on one idea or topic, or should I just post a mess of different topics? I could say, well this blog is for me so who cares. On the other hand, if it was just for me then I could write and save files on my hard drive rather than putting them up on the Internet. So is this blog for me or for you and if it's for you, what do you want? (I write this as if I'm famous even though I rarely ever break 20 views per day)

the pope is creepy looking

In a country where sex ed is not compulsory and many aren't even able to get a proper education, where rape and abuse of young women is all too common, and the plight of these victims with a condition known as a "fistula" is still swept under the rug.. and where the epidemic of the AIDS virus that is wreaking havoc on Africa's people... I find it difficult to understand how the Pope can say that distribution of condoms is not the answer, or even a contributing factor that could help improve the situation.

Instead he predictably calls for abstinence.

Life would be a lot easier if with the virtuous belief in god that one may be able to abstain from rape, incest, murder, and whatever terribly disgusting behavior people have been known to engage in, however, just last week I read an article how the number of cases being brought against the church for molesting children has skyrocketed.

How can the Pope sit there and preach that religion is the answer in Africa, when the people who stand inside the church that represent him and the entire belief system of Christianity are guilty of such abominable behavior themselves? This self righteous ideal that spreading the word of god will cure the world despite seeing before your eyes that life is a lot more complicated than that saddens me... with archaic ideals like this preventing even the notion of responsible sexual behavior, I believe people will continue to suffer and their situation will not change. People aren't going to stop procreating, however, if they are offered the education and resources to prevent unwanted pregnancy and disease, something valuable is offered and this knowledge can be passed on to the younger generation. Abstinence is black and white and life is not but education and self value is essential.

the not so distant past, when life was far less technically saavy

LIVING WITHOUT CONNECTION ~ August 6, 2004

I was thinking that by having to visit the library to get online, it would curb my web abuse. And it has. However, I believe I reached a low point in my addiction the other night when I tried to access my space via my cell phone's web. Much to my chagrin, it did not work. Leaving me wanting it all the more.

(I obviously wrote this long before the iphone)

cat pee

on my clothes. Not cool.

I've decided

Hell should go like this: you are doomed to eternal damnation, which involves you trying to sleep on a couch that is too short for your legs, and you never - ever- succeed in sleeping... not even for 5 minutes.

Spend 7 hours straight trying, and it sure feels like hell to me.

music makes life ok

I hate to say something like that, because I know it isn't always the case, but when I walk out my door with my ipod on, my walk to the subway is pretty good... and at the end of a long night, when I'm exhausted and I just want to get home.. I find myself waiting on the platform for 20 minutes watching people, listening to a favorite song.. and I get lost in that. Experiencing moments in life to a "soundtrack" can make the most arbitrary things seem a little more meaningful :)

p.s. Be warned, listening to depressing music may have the opposite effect