Tumblr users awoke this morning to find the blogging platform experiencing another round of unanticipated downtime. Was server maintenance to blame? Perhaps an errant Tumblebeast  loose among the mainframes? No. Tumblr is rolling out its new Explore pages, designed to group Tumblr’s huge amount of wide-ranging content into a highly visual page that match’s the blogging network’s signature sleek design. “It’s hard to organize Tumblr blogs by topic. A single one of your blogs may include your personal updates, your art, your opinions and a YouTube video of a cat speaking Japanese, all in a single day. This has been a real limitation of the current Tumblr Directory,” wrote product director Joshua Nguyen on the Tumblr Staff blog at the end of February, introducing the feature to the community. “So, for the last few weeks we’ve been experimenting with some brand new tools for exploring Tumblr. The new Explore page organizes and filters posts by tag. This means that every tagged post has a chance to show up in front of an audience of millions that might not otherwise see it. Think Tumblr Radar by topic.” The Explore pages are a natural evolution from Tumblr’s tagged pages , which began with News, Fashion and Long Reads and quickly expanded to cover myriad other topics. Tumblr’s  Egypt channel, launched shortly after the outbreak of the January 25 protests and curated by members of the community (including The Atlantic ), garnered praise as an on-the-fly channel for organizing the torrent of images, video and reports coming out of the country. A similar channel was developed to cover the unrest in Libya . Tumblr’s new Explore feature serves an alternative purpose, apart from providing easy navigation through the site’s ecosystem and a injecting a journalistic sensibility into Tumblr’s easy curation model. Business Insider’s Pascal-Emannuel Gobry  speculated during Tumblr’s initial roll-out of its channel pages in December 2010 that the company’s new channel page could form the basis of a new advertising network, although Tumblr’s channel pages remain prominent primarily to frequent users of the community. Navigating Tumblr’s vast network of blogs isn’t entirely intuitive, especially to outside users who may be introduced to the site through a single-serving Tumblr like Hungover Owls  or The Lisa Simpson Book Club  (which i happily edit, for full disclosure). “Most Tumblr blogs, like most people, aren’t so easily categorized in the way you presume — we’re interested in sports, and robots, and shoes, and the Middle East. Tumblr blogs display a wide range, one that’s not so easily put into a particular box,” wrote Mark Coatney, Tumblr’s media evangelist, on his on Tumblog in Feburary in response to a complaint from a community member. “What the new Explore/Curated tag pages are designed to do is to introduce people to the most interesting items. The Explore page sorts by popularity because we think that’s a useful lens on this; we could just as easily sort by activity on a particular tag, or alphabetical order, for instance (which is how the old directory is sorted).” As of the time of this writing (10:30 a.m. EST), Tumblr is still experiencing persistent outages, making a thorough evaluation of the new feature’s functionality difficult. Building on the success of it’s channel pages, Tumblr’s new Explore pages seem to be the next logical step for the expanding company. Turning a one-stop page into a one-stop portal could allow Tumblr to expand it’s readership to even more non-regulars.

Read more here:
Tumblr Rolls Out Explore Pages

by Mark Bernstein Lots of people think that the Internet has ruined today’s kids. They don’t read , it seems. Google has rewired their brains and stunted their attention spans. Are attention spans deteriorating? Forty years ago, the length of Marcel Ophüls’ The Sorrow and The Pity (at 4 hours 11 minutes) or Andy Warhol’s Empire (6 hours 36 minutes) was a sign of extreme seriousness. Today, popular entertainments are vastly longer. J. M. Straczynski’s Babylon 5 was conceived as a single story told in more than 100 hours of film. Joss Whedon’s Buffy, The Vampire Slayer is a coming of age story meant to be viewed over a period of seven years. Harry Potter comes in seven volumes, none of them short, and when the children have finished those, they enjoy Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials , J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings , and the 20 volumes of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin stories. If our attention span grows short, one wonders where those mythic Victorians found time get anything done. Technology does change the way we read. In time, the hypertext link — that invaluable new punctuation popularized by the Web — will transform everything. We’ve taken some important steps , but progress has been slower than I hoped. Electronic books have encouraged new kinds of illustration and interaction. (A great deal of nonsense is written about ebooks; for thoughtful analysis based on research, see Cathy Marshall’s masterful Reading and Writing The Electronic Book ). For the moment, though, the great change is the transformation in how we get books and how books find us. Lamentations for the bookstore are the background music of our time, but the picture is far more complex. Bookstores and their discontents are at the center of Jo Walton’s stunning new novel, Among Others. It is the story of Morwenna Phelps, a Welsh girl who, having been crippled in a domestic accident in which her twin sister was killed and for which her mother may have been at fault, is sent to boarding school. She is very lonely, and finds refuge in reading. We hear about each book she reads and what she thinks of it. If you have read a lot of fantasy and science fiction, you’ll have read these books too. You and Morwenna can compare notes. Morwenna has a terrible time getting books. She reads everything in the school library, she reads everything in her uncle’s study. On Saturdays, she’s allowed to walk into the village where she haunts the small library and the indifferent bookstore. Finding a new book by a favorite writer takes enormous time and effort. That used to be the way books worked. If you lived in a great city, you might have a great bookseller and that was a fine thing indeed. In Fargo or Abercwmboi, where Morwenna grew up, things might be dicier. Even great booksellers have real limits:  Stuart Brent  built a fabled Chicago store around literary fiction, art books, and psychoanalytic texts, but if you were looking for differential geometry or electronic design, that wasn’t going to be much help. Now, Internet booksellers make it easy to grab a book as soon as you hear about it. Electronic delivery can put the book onto your Kindle or iPad in moments. Browsing used book stores is great fun, but if you want a specific book that’s out of print, Alibris and AbeBooks have no peer. The second great change in the literary economy is short-run printing. The distinguishing fact of the literary economy is that books are numerous . You can’t find a feature film about the lifestyle of lemurs or the Diels-Alder reaction, but there’s no problem writing (or finding) books about them. To make a book, all you need is a year or two of hard work, some dozens or hundreds of readers, and a modest sum of money. Short press runs reduce the necessary investment. With less at risk, specialized books can find their natural readers, and quirky and experimental works might find the right audience. Photographer Richard A. Chase just assembled a fascinating collection of photographs of Frankie , extending his earlier Web photo-essay . Chase pursues unusual subjects and  normally works with huge prints and polyptychs. His photography doesn’t always fit comfortably on the Web. His images aren’t always easy to talk about, they don’t fit nicely into a sales meeting pitch. That matters less, now: if you can find a way to let your audience know about your book, you don’t need to squeeze it into every shop window from Albuquerque to Bergen. Short press runs and electronic books are also ideal for specialized and technical publishing, such as Jeffrey Zeldmam’s specialty press for digital designers, A Book Apart . Short runs also help keep books in print. When books were only visible while they were in store windows, a book had to find readers fast or it would vanish without a trace. Now, short runs and Internet delivery let publishers keep books around without unmanageable inventory costs. Short runs and Internet distribution also mean that books don’t need to sit on the shelf, which might make it practical (for the first time in more than a century) to sell shorter work on its own. The most important part of a book need not be the its spine. The business interests of publishers and booksellers would be better served if there were not quite so many books, if our attention could be focused more tightly on a few best sellers. Readers, on the other hand, benefit from access to a vast range of literature. The Internet helps with publicity and distribution, but can you discover the reading you need? A first step, I think, is to think more carefully about what you ought to be reading. This requires knowing what you do read. I’ve kept book notes in Tinderbox for several years, which makes them easy to share and which opens the possibility for analyzing what I’m reading and thinking more systematically about what I might read. I keep separate lists of things I hear about that I might want to read. Short reviews, like the gems that Phoebe-Lou Adams wrote for The Atlantic for so many years, are a wonderful resource. Book blogs and commonplace books for the Web can be invaluable. The Times Literary Supplement talks about wonderful books of which I’d never hear. Laura Miller has been  wildly wrong about hypertext , but yesterday she wrote about The Last Ringbeare r , Kirill Yeskov’s reimiagination of  The Lord Of The Rings  and its aftermath from the perspective of Mordor. It’s a probe of the former Soviet Union and an examination of memory and of history, and if the rest of the book lives up to its opening chapters, much may be forgiven. Mark Bernstein is chief scientist at Eastgate Systems , where he crafts software for new ways of reading and writing.

Read more here:
The Other Book Revolution

Stephen Hebron talks to Will Gompertz about the story behind the writing of Mary Shelley’s horror classic Frankenstein.

Link:
VIDEO: How Frankenstein was created

Well surprise, surprise. We were all ready to award Justin Bieber with an imaginary trophy full of awesome for having the most anticipated film for all of February, but then Fandango readers threw us a curveball by voting for another film instead. Yesterday we introduced what will become a monthly poll that takes a look at all the big films for that specific month and asks you which one you’re anticipating the most. While Justin Bieber: Never Say Never had a clear advantage over the others due to the singer’s massive fanbase, it’s actually the sci-fi flick I Am Number Four that pulled in the most votes with 22%. In fact, Justin Bieber came in third place (as of this writing) with 11.28%, with the Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston film Just Go With It coming in slightly… Read More Read Comments

See original here:
‘I Am Number Four’ is Your Most Anticipated February Movie!

I don’t have much to say about what happened this weekend other than the obvious: it’s a tragedy, and I hope we are making adequate provision to care for victims who may now face decades of disability.  But as to the rest–we still don’t know why he did it.  Many of the people who rushed to blame this on their political opponents made themselves look like first class jerks, an impression that was not improved when we got more information, and they doubled down rather than simply admit that they had perhaps jumped to conclusions.   At this writing, it seems as though the violent rhetoric this guy was listening to came from the voices in his head, not the radio or cable TV.  There is no evidence that his ideas were significantly influenced by anyone, left or right, or that saying mean things about Gifford made his fixations worse; we’re talking about someone whose main grievance seems to have been that she wouldn’t address his concerns about a conspiracy to control the grammar of American Standard English.   This never looked much like an assassination, which usually targets a single politician, not nine-year-old girls who happen to be standing near them.  And after reading his ramblings, it’s pretty clear that he was some kind of crazy, and that his community turned away from his craziness rather than trying to intervene.  But even that judgement may be premature.  And anyway, it’s not enough to say that he was crazy–even paranoid schizophrenia does not elevate the risk of violent behavior by that much.  Most mentally ill people do not attack other people. I’m not sure why it is so necessary that we identify a culprit in all of this.  What good does it do us to know that he is, say, a paranoid schizophrenic?  It may matter in his sentencing, of course.  But it’s far from clear that this knowledge would let us do what we want, which is to prevent this sort of thing from happening again.  We are not going to prophylactically lock people up, and there is no “seems a little, well, off ” list to which we can add people we don’t want to have guns.  Even extended magazine bans wouldn’t have done much good, as he was carrying lots of spares.  As I understand it, he was essentially stopped because one of his spare magazines malfunctioned, something which may be more likely to happen on larger capacity magazines.  Anyone who practices a little can swap magazines faster than others can notice and decide to tackle them. Blame is a way of simulating control: if we can just identify who was at fault, we can stop it.  The problem is, when we can’t identify any very plausible target, we too readily go after implausible ones: Freemasons poisoning the wells, or Federal Reserve bankers plotting to monetize the national debt.  At worst, this tendency is dangerous, corrosive; at best, it leads us to make unproductive policy choices. A terrible thing happened.  We live in a universe in which terrible things happen.  That’s no one’s fault–or maybe, everyone’s fault.  Either way, I don’t see much in the way of solutions coming out of this–only terrible, terrible sadness.

Here is the original post:
Tragedy in Arizona

It’s a Friday afternoon and Jane Flotte is getting a little tired of spa treatments. “Today I’ve written a lot of salon deals,” the Groupon employee said. “And I’m getting kind of sick of talking about facials.” If today is bad, though, yesterday was even worse. “I had to write a cupcake deal, and it was really late [in the day] and I was so hungry,” she laughed. “It was terrible.” But Flotte isn’t actually complaining. She, like the rest of Groupon’s army of twenty-something writers, is eager to churn out prose and study the craft. She may be in the best possible place to do it. With a team of experienced editors, a new program called Groupon Academy, and a vigorous — but rewarding — recruiting process, the Web-based coupon company is investing significant time into teaching and training its writers. “Groupon functions like a newspaper and that’s really invigorating. There are teams focused on making sure things are factually accurate, transparent, and funny.” And it’s paying off. Business Insider recently listed Groupon as one of this year’s most innovative alternative storytellers alongside USA Today , the Los Angeles Times , the New York Times , and other traditional news outlets. “Groupon isn’t a news website,” they explained. “But as Thrillest CEO Ben Lerer said, ‘The most well-read publication now might be Groupon.’” Forty percent of Groupon’s writers have prior journalism experience, 70 percent were creative writers and 20 percent wrote marketing or business copy. As of this writing, there are 59 writers, 16 editors, 15 image designers, 24 fact-checkers, 11 copy editors and four editorial recruiters. They’ve hired 40 writers in the last six months. “We have this insatiable need for writers,” Managing Editor Brandon Copple said. And if you’re hired as a writer at Groupon, you will be writing. All day long. Writers churn out anywhere from six to ten blurbs each day. For many Groupon staffers, the promise of a heavy writing load was what attracted them to the company. Each attended Groupon Academy, a training seminar on the Groupon voice — now infamous for its sarcastic wit — as part of the preliminary recruitment and hiring process. Applicants attempt a write-up, and then get feedback on their sample. “It helps would-be writers see how seriously we take the craft,” Copple said. It also illuminates the company’s focus on teaching. “I was really excited to work for the company because it seemed like they really wanted to train us,” said Katherine Banich, a graduate of Columbia University’s journalism school, reflecting on her experience in Groupon Academy. “They were very interested in making us into better writers.” The intensive editorial oversight continues long after a class “graduates” from the Academy. Groupon Editor Eddie Schmid, a 2009 graduate of the journalism program at Loyola University in Chicago, worked for a fantasy baseball website after graduating where his writing was “self-governed.” When he started writing for Groupon in April, his superiors gave him with a copy of Strunk and White’s famous writing guide, The Elements of Style , and plenty of constructive criticism. “Groupon really functions like a newspaper,” said Schmid, who worked briefly at the Chicago Sun-Times . “And that’s really invigorating. There are dedicated stages, and teams that are really focused on making sure things are factually accurate, transparent, and funny.” But unlike most newspapers, Groupon is expanding rapidly. This year, the site expects to bring in more than $500 million in revenue. It might be the fastest growing company in the history of the Web , sending a clear sign that there’s a market for creative writers — and the type of hybrid journalism-advertising prose Groupon has perfected. It took Flotte a few weeks to get comfortable with the Groupon voice. Recently, she wrote about a Mexican restaurant in the Chicago suburbs. “Spicy sauces are great for deterring children from licking frozen poles, substituting lost winter coats, and swiftly ending staring contests,” reads the Groupon. “Six pages of dinner options ensure that no appetite exists with its former owner, and a Mexican hot chocolate offers the perfect transition back into frosty thoroughfares and the cocoa-less monotony of everyday life.” The bottom line? It’s time for creative writing and journalism majors to rejoice: Your degree may not mean a lifetime of ramen noodles and coupon-cutting. Unless, of course, they’re Groupons.

See the article here:
Forget Journalism School and Enroll in Groupon Academy

In case any Democrats were still having trouble reading the writing on the wall: A new Gallup poll shows Republicans leading by 15 points among likely voters on the generic ballot in Tuesday’s election. Asked which candidate they prefer, 55 percent of…

Read this article:
Huge GOP Lead Going into Midterms

Private corporations that own and operate prisons were intimately involved in the writing and passage of Arizona’s strict new immigration law, according to a new report from National Public Radio. Through an enigmatic organization called the American…

Read more from the original source:
Private Prisons Behind Immigration Laws

Kids back at school? Make the transition a little easier with these fun crafts that are sure to make learning fun!

Redefining the pictogram, these Japanese characters transform to the animals they describe by Meghan Killeen Transforming Japanese letters into a playful creatures, Bandai ‘s line of shape-shifting animals inform while entertaining. Called Mojibakeru (Moji is the Japanese word for “character” and bakeru means “to change”), the collection of six plastic toys represent 犬(dog), 虎(tiger), 魚(fish), 馬(horse), 鳥(bird) and 龍(dragon). Each character is available in black, white, yellow and blue, maximizing your language-bending skills. Each figure sells online for $9 from White Rabbit Express .

View post:
Mojibakeru