Post-post

Post-pet photo contest:

@DailyFreeman @PreviewFreeman thank you! Cuda's smile recently changed. Unless Scott's does too, no more contests pic.twitter.com/KFOuJUcWU9
— Cuda the Pit Bull (@CudathePitBull) February 17, 2015

'Post-processing':

About 20 percent of photos considered for prizes for the World Press Photo competition were disqualified for excessive "post-processing."

I don't know why. They're just as real as anything else. Look, I post-processed this video:

New York Times compares area to Brooklyn, Part ILostCount

Remember that time(s) when the New York Times compared some area in the Hudson Valley or The Catskills or anywhere else anywhere to Brooklyn even though c'mon srsly again? It got so bad the Gray Lady's standards editor told his peeps to cut it out.


But that was waaaaaaaaaaaaay back in November of 2014, so long ago it's already been forgotten obvs idk lol?




So in the latest installment of "OMG THIS PLACE IS LIKE BROOKLYN YOU GUYS!" the venerable publication compared the town of Phoenicia to Williamsburg North, which prompted this most hipster reply from the Watershed Post good jorb. At least the interactive feature was very nice.




But let's not be unfair to the Times. This is standard modus operandi for a bunch of publications— online and in print— travel sites, Escape Brooklyn, shameless marketing listicles that I refuse to link to because they're terrible, Sari stahp, Hudson Valley Mag you too don't think I didn't notice.

I did a huge list of this four years ago and I'm still updating the abomination. It's as terrible as hipsters.

Or hipster quizzes. But seriously, "when I grow I I want to write about hipsters" is not what I was thinking when I went into journalism.




So when The New York Times asks, "what did we missed in the Catskills?" I. CAN'T. EVEN.




At least the Times is not this guy. Or this guy.




One artisanal cat: Felix Salmon is not a cat or a fish but a noted financial journalist I noticed he noticed that in Ulster County, pedestrians get tickets when they're hit by cars. Take that, Brooklyn.




One reclaimed Google Glass photo:



Yesterday's Internet, Today! is a random experiment in which I throw in a bunch of links I tweeted, faved or saw the day before or in the morning or the weekend in the case of this post because you don't seriously expect me to write every single day, do you? Today, the newsletter welcomes one new subscriber so you get one Internet. Don't spend it all in one place.

Random post is random

The Freeman published its Year in Review and here's a random goat. 

Other randomness:

Random New York Times:

Here's a candid Q&A with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin and here's a quote:

"You know, I’ve never sexted anyone in my life except Anderson. I can’t resist. I just know he’s going to be so ——"

Camel racing with robot jockeys is a thing.

Brunch Hate Reading the New York Times also is a thing. The Gothamist is being silly, of course, because BRUNCH IS FOR JERKS.

Random people:

Meet Officer Timothy Zoll, master of foot in mouth statements.

Meet Emerson Spartz, terrible entrepreneur meme person . 

Random social media:

People are not sharing their marriage problems on Facebook. I wonder why.

Man Likes Twitter. People share Man Likes Twitter on Twitter.

One random cat:

.@ivanlajara Local Cat Likes Christmas pic.twitter.com/FhFPEHm6he
— Dave Lucas (@davelucas) December 28, 2014

One random Google Glass photo:

Yesterday's Internet, Today! is a random experiment in which I throw in a bunch of links I tweeted, faved or saw the day before or in the morning. I also post a cat and a Google Glass photo in case I've got nothing so at least there's a cat and a photo.

How to 'snowfall' your stories with no coding and for free

When Kevin Nguyen wrote about 'The future of the feature' over at Nieman Lab last November, I began to think about how small newsrooms could use web tools to produce a similar effect.

Then came the New York Times' 'Snow Fall' and that really got me excited about the possibilities, and I imagine others did too, if this wonder by the Washington Post is any indication. Reading about how 'Snow Fall' came to be (same deal with Wapo's cycling feature) was very enjoyable but — being in a small newsroom and all— it also became a permanent exercise of thinking how I didn't have time, or staff, or developers, or a good content management system. You get the idea.

I had started plotting using different web applications in unconventional ways to reach my goal: Produce an enjoyable web experience that also had responsive design AND for no money AND fast AND with no coding, so it could be replicated when needed and scaled up to other newsrooms.

SO, my first try was a vertical add-on sidebar using New Hive.

The Catskills according to New York City dailies, as told through tweets

DFM chat Invaders!

As shamelessly stolen from this New York Times story.

OMG! More cliches from New York City dailies

Huffington Post launches paywall for New York Times employees

Writes Arianna Huffington: "Today marks a significant transition for The Huffington Post Media Group, as we introduce digital subscriptions for employees of The New York Times."

Fake newspaper ads are the best

Remeber this?:



Now there's a fake New York Post ad. So if you are at work, turn the volume up, because this video has a plethora of profound profanities.

How not to tweet

I once tweeted (sorry New York Times) five simple rules about "why nobody follows you" on Twitter. It bears repeating, in light of this:



That crazy bloodied nose guy not looking at the road while he's driving with a manic laugh is none other than U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colorado, breaking rule No. 5.

Thankfully, Hudson Valley politicians who tweet behave much better. Sometimes.

Oh, yeah, the rules. Here they are:

1 Why nobody follows you: You post irrelevant info. Also, I like cheese.less than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®Ivan Lajara
ivanlajara

2 Why nobody follows you: You insult your followers, you stupid person!less than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®Ivan Lajara
ivanlajara

3 Why nobody follows you: Your post is a reply that makes no sense. why did you do that, @leeroyjenkins?less than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®Ivan Lajara
ivanlajara

4 Why nobody follows you: You post four or more tweets in a row.less than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®Ivan Lajara
ivanlajara

5 Why nobody follows you: TMI! http://twitpic.com/1slffaless than a minute ago via TwitpicIvan Lajara
ivanlajara

@&*#$%@ tweets!

I was informed by a friend of mine that my tweets are incomprehensible because of all the "RT"s, "@"s and "#"s that I put in my #@#@ing tweets - and because I don't make any sense anyway.

Upon reading an incomprehensible tweet about this, Crazy Person Derek DeFilippo, who is not crazy, suggested I use this:



That's just crazy - like avoiding the conjugation of "tweet," as the New York Times has debated recently:

“Tweet” may be acceptable occasionally for special effect. But let’s look for deft, English alternatives: use Twitter, post to or on Twitter, write on Twitter, a Twitter message, a Twitter update. Or, once you’ve established that Twitter is the medium, simply use “say” or “write.”

Sure, gray lady. Tweet this.

I think (I'm going to blog), therefore I am (writing something nobody's going to read)

Here's the pulse of the Hudson Valley, in blogs, courtesy of http://www.dailyfreeman.com/blogs.

* Ulster County Legislator Michael Madsen talks about the most important issues to county residents: Parks, mixed martial arts and something called "RACIING"



* Ulster County Comptroller Elliott Auerbach reads the Freeman's police blotter.

* City of Kingston Alderwoman Andi Turco-Levin learns that you don't mess with Crazy Cat Lady.

* Kingston Main Street Manager Nancy Donskoj highlights some local organic dead animal parts.

* Over At The Farmer's Market, Grilled Romaine Salad. It goes great with local organic dead animal parts.

* The Ulster County Development Corp. notices that The New York Times wrote about Rosendale again, because it's like Brooklyn, but without the hipsters.

* A Study Abroad SUNY New Paltz student is in Wales, so he talks about some TV shows.

...

PERSONAL NOTE: The three of you who follow me on Twitter already know that I'm spending some time at the newsroom of the New Haven Register - where you can read "Hooters waitress files lawsuit - says she lost weight." I'm pretending that I'm helping upgrade the Daily Freeman's editorial system as we enter a new era (did you know there's a thing called The Internets? Wild stuff).

Anyway, here's a present I found at the New Haven Register's mailroom.

Sings of the Times

The New York Times' ridiculously popular slideshow, "A Sampling of Chinglish," above, which accompanied an interesting story but still was a completely original ripoff of "Engrish Funny," below, prompted the gray lady to ask readers for photos of strange signs from around the world.



The feature, "Strange Signs from Abroad" showcases some of the weirdest and funniest signs I've seen in a long time.



Yet, I can't help but feel the the New York Times' is turning into the LOLCat Network.

Oh, well.

NYT discovers Rosendale, theater

The New York Times' David Applebome "discovered" Rosendale and wrote about it in his "Our Towns" column today, more than a year after discovering Woodstock., because, you know, they're that far apart. Applebome focused on the Rosendale Theatre Collective.

What words do you think were used in the column?

* Quaint
* Artsy
* Creaky
* Woodstock
* Rosendale Rocks
* All of the above

Here are both articles, in cloud form:

2010 Pulizer Prize winners, animated!

Did you noticed that the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartoons went to a self-syndicated ANIMATED series of cartoons by Mark Fiore?

The Pulitzer Board sure is moving ahead.
This means that:
* The editorial cartoon winner for this year can not be published in a print newspaper.
* And the Flash animations won't work with your iPad, either (Apple doesn't like Adobe). Or your smartphone.
* HAHAHAHAHA!


Winners via www.pulitzer.org

2010 Pulitzer Prize winners:

Journalism

Public Service - Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier

Breaking News Reporting - The Seattle Times Staff

Investigative Reporting - Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman of the Philadelphia Daily News and Sheri Fink of ProPublica, in collaboration with The New York Times Magazine

Explanatory Reporting - Michael Moss and members of The New York Times Staff

Local Reporting - Raquel Rutledge of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

National Reporting - Matt Richtel and members of The New York Times Staff

International Reporting - Anthony Shadid of The Washington Post

Feature Writing - Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post

Commentary - Kathleen Parker of The Washington Post

Criticism - Sarah Kaufman of The Washington Post

Editorial Writing - Tod Robberson, Colleen McCain Nelson and William McKenzie of The Dallas Morning News

Editorial Cartooning - Mark Fiore, self syndicated, appearing on SFGate.com

Breaking News Photography - Mary Chind of The Des Moines Register

Feature Photography - Craig F. Walker of The Denver Post

Letters, Drama and Music

Fiction - Tinkers by Paul Harding (Bellevue Literary Press)

Drama - Next to Normal, music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey

History - Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed (The Penguin Press)

Biography - The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles (Alfred A. Knopf)

Poetry - Versed by Rae Armantrout (Wesleyan University Press)

General Nonfiction - The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman (Doubleday)

Music - Violin Concerto by Jennifer Higdon (Lawdon Press)

Special Citations

Hank Williams

press release on the Special Citation awarded to Hank Williams