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Add one part satire to two parts sincerity. Sprinkle on a couple of rants. Stir liberally.
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Daily Blah FAQ
Who are you?
I'm the newly-appointed Future editor at Business 2.0 and the former San Francisco correspondent for Time Magazine.
Wow, so does this mean everything you write reflects Time Inc's opinion? Or do you perhaps have some sort of standard disclaimer to the effect that it doesn't?
Naturally, the opinions contained in this blog are not those of my employers. In fact, some opinions may be the polar opposite of my employers. Some may be the same, for all I know. Hey, it's not like I ask my employers their opinions about everything in the news, okay? Let's just say that if this were a Venn diagram with one circle marked "my opinions" and the other one marked "my employers' opinions", there would doubtless be some overlap. But neither I nor my employers are able to pinpoint exactly where that overlap is.
What is this Daily Blah thing?
An experiment for a column I wrote about blogging back in December 2001. All these years later, I haven't been able to kick the habit.
If it's called Daily Blah, how come you don't ... hey, wait, you're writing every day!
See? Told you I'd try harder.
Mister, you talk funny. Are you one of them furrners?
Why yes I am, as it happens. I was born, raised and educated in Great Britain. I've been living in the U.S. since 1996 and identify as British.
I say, old chap, you forgot the "u" in "colour."
No I didn't. I may identify as British, but I am also an American journalist writing for an American audience about mostly American issues. These two different sides of me are a constant source of tension. Nevertheless, Daily Blah will adhere to American English grammar and spelling.
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Daily Blah for... Saturday, July 19, 2003
Hey, Who Photoshopped the Bear?
What do you think? Photoshop, right? No polar bear in its right mind could possibly be that purple. Well, according to the UK's Ananova, this is a real story. Emily forwarded it to me this morning, and there went my Saturday afternoon. I just had to trawl the web in search of the truth (purple, after all, is by far my favorite color). Jumping on Nexis, I found a mere three newspapers -- all Canadian -- had printed the picture of the bear in today's editions. All offered Reuters as a source, and quoted some variation of the following caption:
I'VE NEVER SEEN A PURPLE BEAR . . .: Pelusa, a 14-year-old female polar bear, turned violet after veterinarians administered a medicine to treat her for a skin condition. Her doctors said her coat should turn a normal white again within a month. But for visitors on Friday to the Mendoza Zoo, 1,100 kilometres northwest of Buenos Aires, Argentina, she was quite a sight.
Trouble is, the story can't be found on the Reuters news feed. There is a Mendoza Zoo in that location, and Pelusa is a common pet's name (it means fluff or fuzz in Spanish, and is also slang for jealousy). But I'm thinking some bored Reuters employee thought he'd have a little Photoshop fun. Perhaps he or she had just read Purple Cow and wanted to pay homage to the idea. I'm still hoping against hope that it is true, however. Anyone have contacts in Buenos Aires? Better yet, frequent flyer miles?
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