Jim Romenesko over at Poynter forums explains how to “reenergize readers” — that is, how to fix your newspaper, including: Go out in street, see news, write it up. Yank all columnists who write with the word “I” or cutesy variation thereof; run no column that contains not an ounce of new reporting; hold public …
Author Archives: paulschreiber
Banana bread
Ingredients 1/4 cup butter 1.5 cups sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp. baking soda 1/4 cup sour milk (3/4 tsp. lemon juice in a 1/4 cup measuring cup and add regular milk to fill it to top) 1.5 cups flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1 cup mashed ripe bananas Directions Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease …
Like a fish needs a bicycle
You may have heard the old phrase “…like a fish needs a bicycle to describe something ridiculous. I’m proposing a new meme — write it on your blog or LJ and link back here: come up with the best simile you can for something, well, completely ridiculous. Totally implausible. Not gonna happen. Here’s mine: …like …
Free Macworld Expo admission
Free admission to Macworld Expo in San Francisco, January 9-12. Use priority code E-SFVA.
Writing the DMV
I emailed the director of the California DMV to see why new license plates take so long to arrive. Let’s see if he writes back: From: Paul Schreiber Subject: DMV’s great (and terrible) efficiency Date: September 27, 2006 9:09:18 am PDT To: George Valverde <gvalverde@dmv.ca.gov> Security: Signed George, A few years ago, I moved to …
Who Killed the Electric Car?
I had the privilege of seeing Who Killed The Electric Car alongside the director back May at the Tribeca Film Festival and was very impressed. There are several good stories here, and I was particularly disappointed with the actions of the California Air Resources Board. Who Killed The Electric Car is now the 60th highest-grossing …
Vote for my SXSW interactive panel proposal
I’ve proposed a panel for SXSW interactive 2007, “Getting to Consistency: Lessons Learned from Big Cats.” The panels will be decided by an online vote. Head over to the 2007 SXSW Interactive Panel Proposal Picker and vote for me. :) Here’s the description: Making software predictable and consistent makes it much easier to use. This …
Continue reading “Vote for my SXSW interactive panel proposal”
Free Kendall Payne Concert
Theresa Ballin writes in to let me know Kendall Payne will be performing a free concert as part of St. Joseph of Cupertino School‘s “Family Fun Festival.” She’ll be on from 1-3 pm on Sunday, October 8.
best.review.ever?
So the idiots at Sprint send Joel Splosky an LG Fusic phone to review, thinking he will promote their service. Phone companies, as Joel points out, have a history of bad decisions: And it’s 2006, and I almost can’t believe I’m writing this, because way back in 2000 I wrote almost exactly the same thing …
Mixing your metaphors
One of my favourite mixed metaphors—which I had somehow internally misattributed to David Johnston—was this one, from University of Waterloo registrar Ken Lavigne: Admissions is a crap shoot, and this year we won in spades This week, Peter Lewis of Fortune may have topped it: Apple is making applesauce out of the old canard that …