Interview with Gene Expression

Razib Khan runs the weblog “Gene Expression,” for SEED MAGAZINE in the Science Blog consortium. Additionally, he also cofounded the stand alone weblog “Gene Expression“, which has been commenting on genetics and related fields for the past 4 years. Razib has a background in biochemistry, but has been working in the IT industry of late, though he plans to return to science in the near future …

Should ABC News reveal its anonymous sources?

In 2001 the news organization referenced “three well-placed but separate sources” in a story that later turned out to be false. Is it still obligated to protect these sources’ identities?

brian rossAfter the story broke last week that Bruce Ivins — a government scientist who the FBI claims was responsible for the 2001 anthrax attacks — committed suicide, virtually every news organization scrambled to find out more about the man and …

The Sideways offensive: Will Merlot sales ever recover?

The scene lasts no longer than a few moments.

Thomas Haden Church’s character, frustrated and looking to get laid, tells Paul Giamatti’s character that if the two women they’re about to meet want to drink Merlot, they’re all drinking Merlot. “No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving,” Giamatti responds. “I am not drinking any fucking Merlot!”

The scene is humorous but fleeting, yet after the movie Sideways was met with …

HuffPo blogger pulls down post claiming Palin is trying to spread “retardation”

After Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announced today that she would step down the news made front page headlines and quickly spread online. But another story concerning Palin also cropped up: A Huffington Post blogger named Erik Nelson, whose bio states that he has “written for several comedy websites and published short fiction while living in the deep South,” published a “satirical” post claiming that Palin was trying to spread “retardation” …

Reversing the advertising trend: Will newspaper classifieds ever fully recover?

Steve Outing asserts that Craigslist is not the enemy. He says this despite the fact that his new site, Reinventing Classifieds, is focused on reversing trends that Craigslist and its ilk have caused.

“Enemy? No, I wouldn’t use that word,” Outing said in a phone interview today. “If Craig [Newmark] wouldn’t have come along with this idea then someone else would have. The nature of what the internet makes …

Did the White House Correspondents’ Association really snub World Net Daily?

Yesterday, the Washington Examiner reported that Arianna Huffington was extremely displeased with the White House Correspondents’ Association, the reason being that in its first year attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner the Huffington Post had requested three tables for its guests and only received one. Huffington was so sure she’d receive the requested tables that she had invited 14 “celebrity” guests. But the Huffington Post wasn’t the only news organization …

How a law student used Twitter to pressure dozens of Glenn Beck’s advertisers into dropping their support

twitterAngelo Carusone says he didn’t start his campaign to pressure advertisers into ditching Glenn Beck’s radio and Fox News show as an opposition to his politics — though he admitted that their views significantly differ — but rather he saw Beck’s rhetoric as distinct from other commentators. “For me, the real motivator was what he had been doing to the political process, which was really feeding it into a frenzy,” …

The ACLU defends anonymous newspaper commenters

Maggie McLetchie, a lawyer for the ACLU in Nevada, is defending four people whose names she does not know. Her boss knows their names, she said, but she doesn’t, and it’s her goal to make sure nobody else does either.

The ACLU was approached recently by four people who left anonymous comments on a story about a tax evasion trial in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. A subpoena has been issued …