csberry: (normal completely different)
For the sake of load times and such, I've divided this in two and hiding behind a cut.

Close your eyes and make a wish! )
csberry: (What The Joel)
I've been watching more cable news lately and have been quite disappointed with the amplification of opinion over fact on all of the cable networks. It is obvious from the cable news networks that the ratings success of Fox News has been clearly been interpreted by the competition as a green light to focus on Crossfire-like battles of opinion without any pretense that there is a truth behind the opinions that is more important than political perception. Some presenters are not only biased, but openly show distaste or favoritism and clearly stamp their shows as forums for opinions where the opinion that differs from the presenter is given just enough time for the other panelist(s) and the presenter to treat that person and their opinion as a pinata.

Most of the anchors/presenters I've seen seem to have been hired for an ability to look good on camera and speak relatively clearly when dealing with the general chaos of 2-4 panelists, out of studio reporters, and producers talking into their earpieces. Ignorance of the news and policies by these folks is fairly evident as you watch and hear the person's questions. Then there are a growing number of presenters that embrace offering their own opinions and hypothesis on the air. The Fox News folks are definitely the ones that have jumped head-first into the willingness to offer their own what-if's and hypothetical ideas on what may happen, what the unknown facts may be, or the motivations of those in the news. Such willingness to speculate is very likely the cause why repeated studies are finding Fox News watchers scoring poorly on quizzes about current events.

But, I must state, and remind myself, that even Fox News has some presenters and reporters that don't rattle off ignorant statements. While it is easy to paint with a wide brush that all of Fox is conservative and all of MSNBC is liberal, that honestly isn't the case. There are oases of some objectiveness on these channels.

What is Objective Journalism?


Like perfection, objective journalism isn't entirely possible to achieve, but should be a goal nonetheless for journalists claiming to report the facts as they are and not a single perspective on current events. Bias can be introduced in every step and in every aspect of news and one must make an effort to battle against that. Unfortunately, this era of pretty presenters also have abandoned any professional desire to research and know the news. Lazy reporting results in presenters going with their gut or relying on the talking points of the two parties (or their preferred political party). How much work must one do to fight bias?

You must consider the bias possibilities for all of the following questions involved in "creating" news: What is a news story? Is there a victim and is there only one? Are pictures of the "victims" or "perpetrator" included? Who do you interview on the story? What questions do you ask those being interviewed? How long and where in the series of stories presented does this news story go - front page with picture or brief mention? How do you tease that news story? Do you tie an individual story to a larger news trend or other events?

But objectiveness doesn't mean that a reporter doesn't ask tough questions. It means the reporter asks tough questions no matter the interview subject (except for the obvious soft stories about child inventors and such).

So, what the hell are you rattling on about, Cory?


I've been making mental notes and have had an urge to start documenting my observations. I am creating a new tag for my journal - objective watchdog - where I'm going to sporadically post some moments that jump out to me of particular presenters on the various channels and how they either demonstrate an attempt at being objective or flagrantly demonstrate an utter disinterest in seeming unbiased.

I hope that, over time, I'll start creating a report card on the various presenters and reporters to indicate a scale of objective reporting and their willingness to cite their own opinions. Which shows can someone turn to and get multiple opinions and what shows are guaranteed to promote a particular opinion...and are there any shows that really do strive to give "just the facts?" Hopefully there are some and objective TV journalism isn't extinct.
csberry: (Dance-YoGabbaGabba)
Ok, the meme where I had a different music post for a month butted right up against to where I've been doing my Music Week of playlists on my journal. Wanting to take a breather from non-stop music posts, I pushed the Music Week to now. This year, I'm going to go Sun-Sat with a different playlist each day. Tomorrow/Sunday I start things off with a selection of CCM songs I enjoy.

If you are reading this on Facebook, you can go to my LiveJournal blog at csberry.livejournal.com to see these posts and the embedded music videos.
csberry: (Default)
My LiveJournal paid account will be expiring in a couple of days. I've looked over my journal and the only aspect of the paid account I use is that I have about 35 userpics. Otherwise, I don't use any of the other Paid features that exceed what Plus folks get. With that in mind, it just felt silly for me to let the account automatically renew for $20.

My apologies to those that may see ads on my pages once I've gone off of the Paid account.
csberry: (Default)
I had a good lunch with [livejournal.com profile] chris21718 at Thai Garden. We usually get together every 2 or 3 months for lunch, but JD and I have been working really hard on our fiscal discipline this year and I kept procrastinating contacting him about lunch. Thankfully, he asked me out to lunch last week and I took that as my justification to set aside $10.

After being excited this weekend about getting together, I was disappointed with myself during lunch. I just couldn't get my conversational juices going. My mind would come up blank when I would go to it for the next topic. I will admit that I felt particularly guilty about my poor conversation skills when Chris twice declined getting his tea refilled as we chatted after eating. It is silly I know, but I feel bad that I wasn't doing a good enough job holding up my half of the conversation to make him want to sit back and drink some more. :/

Anyways, I did leave Chris and Thai Garden happy. As we were getting ready to leave, I decided to share the brain teaser from the Car Talk that aired a couple of weeks ago. It had to do with a number, so I was certain that Chris would either already know it or would entertain himself while trying to figure out the unique attribute of the number 8,549,176,320 (try to figure it out without Googling the number, no calculator needed either). As we parted in the parking lot, he had yet to figure it out.
csberry: (DW-Please)
I really need to hunt/make some icons for my music and playlist posts. Animated ones are a top choice. Oh, to have one of Elaine from Seinfeld dancing. Hmmmmm...
csberry: (pumaman)
[Error: unknown template qotd]

Well... I was introduced to LJ in late 2001 by [livejournal.com profile] bluevinylangel, a friend since high school. LJ was primarily a journal for me but it also served as a way for us to stay in touch as I was in St. Louis and then Dallas while she was in Alabama.

I soon found [livejournal.com profile] outherelistenin, who was actually a friend of JD's that I met...what?...once in college.

Sometime in 2003 (best as I can tell from comments left on my journal), I met [livejournal.com profile] auronsgirl. She is the best and longest internet relationship I've had. We finally met in the real world last year and unfortunately had to postpone plans to meet this month due to general chaos and scheduling obstacles.
csberry: (Not Naughty)
[Error: unknown template qotd]

My first post on Sept 28, 2001 was about JD and her friend in St. Louis, procreation rehearsals, and my cat, Ernie.
csberry: (Default)
Who comments the most on this journal? )

It's been a few years since I've done this. What gets me each time are the LJ folks that have comments listed that I haven't the foggiest idea who they are. Some users I recognize from communities but others leave me scratching my head after I look at their user info.
csberry: (Default)
Before going to Miso House, I heard great things about the place. When I went online, I read several reviews about how good the food (esp sushi) was there, BUT that even though there was only a couple of tables with customers during reviewers' visits that the service was lousy.

1. Yes, the food was fantastic.
2. I think there was one table with folks at 11:30am. By the time we left at 12:30pm, there were a couple of guys at the bar and two more tables with folks.
3. Maybe it was the kid, but our waitress did a good job.

Calvin ordered a bowl of ramen soup. It was HOT! With some help grabbing good portions of noodles on his fork, Calvin ate some of the noodles. He actually spent the bulk of his time fascinated with the carbonation in his Sprite pushing his straw up than eating. So, food consumption-wise, it was an okay lunch. But Calvin was on his usual superb public behavior. Despite eating little and my offering numerous foods for him to try, he remained patient and nice.

Taking the kids with me to stuff is a guaranteed distraction, but I think Calvin has matured enough that I was able to hold a decent conversation with [livejournal.com profile] chris21718. While Chris's sushi platter looked appetizing, my chicken teriyaki was quickly gobbled up and I lost whatever guilt I had immediately after placing the order on "playing it safe."

The food was good. For what you get, the price was very good. I don't know if it is the lack of a buffet or how Miso House sits back from Jordan Lane, but the restaurant really should have been much busier than it was during lunch. If you are in Huntsville, like Asian food, and don't try Miso House...you are doing yourself and the community a disservice for not supporting good, local restaurateurs.
csberry: (Default)
There have been some inactive and deleted folks that I've been meaning to drop as "friends" in LJ. Please let me know if I accidentally knocked you off my flist or you do read but just don't post.
csberry: (DonnaOMG)
I'm used to checking my flist using a filter during the weekend. The MST3K community can get a bit post-tastic, but it is nothing compared to the posting that occurs in [livejournal.com profile] doctorwho the weekend a new episode airs. I swear, I had more than 5 pages of nearly nothing but Who posts when I checked online yesterday.

In addition to the posting frenzy, I decided to wait until eps air on Sci-Fi and the torment of seeing posts about the series finale while I'm four or so episodes behind has been frustrating. Differing from last season, I've decided to do my best at avoiding spoilers. I've used a non-communities filter in the past, but I missed a few recent posts in [livejournal.com profile] huntsville and decided that I would have to create a new filter. Thanks to all of these reasons, I've actually created a "NoWho" group and bookmarked that filter for my flist.

Whew! All the speculating going on in the Whoniverse and I'm somewhat anxiously ignorant.
csberry: (Default)
Today I spent some quality time doing a GIMP Image Editor tutorial.* It really helps me to learn in a "lab" setting where I get to try out things as I go along. I can learn factoids via reading, but practical stuff requires exercises. After going through the basics on the interface and some definitions, I dove into working on layers. As the day progressed, I had gone from just scribbles and doodles to putting together my new default icon. That would be the Misters Partridge and Moulding of XTC accompanied by their autographs on the booklet for Apple Venus (which I bought from Phonoluxe in Gnashville the other weekend).

I think I'm going to switch back and forth between coming up with ads for the website and icons for LJ when I continue the tutorial. Now that means I've gotta spend some spare time tonight (oh, probably during Survivor) looking for some good screenshots/pics/graphics to use in my kit of artistic goodies. It also seems that I can do animated gifs with GIMP, so I'll warn you now that I already have an idea I want to try with doing a Doctor Who one where the sonic screwdriver blinks (but hopefully fading on and off and not the ON!/OFF!/ON!/OFF!).


*I'm the "marketing" guy and so I'm expected to do graphics and stuff. While I've done some graphic work, it was something I did to illustrate my ideas to people who could actually make it look really good. So, in an effort to create more refined graphics, I need to get to know the tools of the trade.
csberry: (Default)
I've come to te point where nearly all of my icons are MST3K themed. I'm starting to itch from the confining selection. Since I'm not switching to Paid LJ any time in the foreseeable future, it's time to clear most of them away.

The Puma-inspired Pumaman isn't going anywhere soon. Are there any fav icons which you would like to see stay?

I need to go on the hunt for XTC, Doctor Who, and NASCAR icons for certain.
csberry: (Default)
This post is merely to show that I've had the urge to post something personal over the past 36 hours. I'd love if there was something from my life that I was sharing here, but every time I sit to put something in, my brain comes up blank or I think of things that actually require more effort than available at the time to type up for posting.

Sick of pulling up the Post an Entry page while doing household chores and then leaving when nothing flows from the fingertips have driven me to this silly entry.

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Cory Berry

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