Whither Ars?

Ars Technica is one of the few tech news sites I read regularly. I can usually count on them to provide interesting articles on relevant topics about current and future technology. They aren’t as hardcore geeky as Tom’s Hardware or Anand Tech, and the articles are more thoughtful and informative than c|net or ZDNet.

At least, they used to be.

Over the last year or so, I’ve noticed the tone of the site has changed. There are new contributors, and pieces from the Old Guard (Stokes, Siracusa, Jade, Fisher) are harder to find. Not that new blood is bad, far from it. But with the new faces came a new style. The headlines are “clever” and have “bite,” while the articles are more “edgy” and “slick.” They are also “shorter” with less “information.”

I suppose this kind of change is inevitable, as Condé Nast works to get some return on its investment.

I could toss out a lot of sardonic hyperbole about the decline of news media, designed mostly to show you how clever I am. But I'll leave that to the professionals.

Instead I’ll just ask where I can find the Internet equivalent of The News Hour?

Twitter is an electronic cocktail party

No, really.

Entreprenerd

This evening Pat says, "You're not an entrepreneur, you're an entreprenerd."

I thought that was pretty clever, until I saw the domain was registered in 2002. All the good ones are taken...

Stuisms

You don't want to eat a skunk, because that would scare it and then he would spray you.

Bread bags in your boots

My sister sent me a birthday card in which she reminisced about sledding down Linden St. I had forgotten that mom put bread bags on under the boots to keep our socks dry.

Stuisms

“He's hurt.”

“How did he get hurt?”

“He fell.”

“How did he fell?” [sic]

“He tripped.”

“How did he trip?”

“On a rock.”

“Why did the rock trip him?”

The Romans

“Daddy, who were the people who killed Jesus and nailed him to a cross?”

“The Romans.”

“Thanks, Daddy. Stuart, we’re the Romans!”