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September 15th, 2006
10:35 am - Stan!'s Coloring Albums
Stan!'s in town, and I got to see him last night. We chatted about all the creative things he's been doing down in San Diego, especially the cartooning. He's put together some of his fantasy cartoons in a couple of coloring books:
What Color is Your Dragon? and Paint Your Face with Runes
Both of which would make excellent presents for kids or gamers. You can contact him for ordering info at his homepage.
Media
Also up for discussion was the media and what we read. Janice pointed out she goes to BBC for her world perspective and the stories that aren't covered here. I find that the BBC repeats a lot of what I've read elsewhere, so I go to Guardian Unlimited's World News for the British view. I think the bigger story is more that all of us present understand that you need to go beyond the reading the US media to truly try to understand what's going on in the world.
We uniformly trashed CNN for most of its coverage in recent years, which I find routinely thinks giving people on both sides of an issue is giving us information, rather than actually reporting on what the facts actually support.
I found myself in the unusual position of defending USA Today, which about ten years ago I wouldn't have believed. Partly, because it's trying to actually deliver real news and break real stories, like the telecom's turning over private info to the feds without a warrant. Partly because it has insightful essays with actual facts as opposed to just rhetoric, many of these essays I read first by clicking through Yahoo. Partly because it covers practical articles like in the Money section. But mostly it's my way of trying to not wall myself in a liberal enclave of NPR (while bemoaning right wingers who only watch Fox like our ill-informed Prez); USA Today is a good pulsepoint of what the general public knows.
News and the Citizen
The time-consuming tracking down the true news also points out why too many people don't know basic facts like how Bin Laden was not behind Iraq and why people necessarily make informed voting decisions, either. Both staying informed in general and on elections/elected officials in particular then moving oneself to action at least through voting is what I feel is the minimum amount true patriots of a democracy do. We are all collectively responsible for the world we end up living in.
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