Miscellaneous: January 2009 Archives

Recently, I did a story about changes in Congressional rules, giving members of Congress more leeway to post online content. Now they can have their own Facebook pages, and Youtube has recently created channels specifically for the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Members of Congress aren't the only ones taking advantage of those opportunities. President Barack Obama, Queen Elizabeth II and even Pope Benedict XVI have recently created channels on Youtube. (Queen Elizabeth's is mostly footage of her playing "Guitar Hero." OK, I just made that up.)

Personally, I'm all for that -- simply as a matter of free speech. But as an added side benefit, I think it's going to be a boon for journalists.

I'll admit it. I started out as a cranky technophobe, but I've come to really like the Internet. Netflix and Amazon alone are worth the price of a computer, as far as I'm concerned.

I also love the opportunity to read newspaper articles from across the world. Unfortunately, the Internet is also a great source of misinformation.

Actually, "misinformation" is too mild a term for what I have in mind. I doubt my editors would let me get away with writing it, but I'm thinking about something that bulls produce.

In particular, I get really irritated with the practice of forwarding anonymous e-mails full of inaccurate information, which recipients accept as absolute truth and forward in turn. All too often, that serves as political discourse these days.