Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Personal Equations

From wiki:
"The personal equation, in 19th- and early 20th-century science, referred to the idea that every individual observer had an inherent bias when it came to measurements and observations."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_equation

Those clever scientists decided the only way you could adjust for these biases was to take the measurements of several scientists, in order to find, for example, the correct location of that star you were all looking at.

That's my theory of journalism. Many stories, many sources, something closer to the truth. Where they overlap and intersect dwells something closer to the truth. I don't understand the religious attachment to the idea of journalistic objectivity. I don't believe that it exists. And I think it's silly to keep pretending that anyone can be objective. Really. Silly.

So, here you will also find my personal equations on whatever it is up i'm to writing about or listening to.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

quiet please, i'm listening

What I'll be doing here, mostly: listening. mostly to the radio. notes, reactions, observations, rants. Fewer rants than anything else, I hope.

Latest listening: too much NPR. Out of habit. There's a lot of stuff there I love, but there's more out there, as I was reminded last month, at the Third Coast Festival in Chicago.

What I meant to post last weekend:

Lately I have been listening to Speaking of Faith, a public radio program that has often annoyed me. Why? Because there really is something about the way that the host, Krista Tippett, handles it all. Of course we expect a certain handling, a certain honoring of the topic. It's faith, it's ephemeral, there are few facts to be had at the end of the day, it's not something to be held tightly to. I still don't really like listening 100%, and I won't become a regular, but I've been doing it more lately. just hold on to it a little more.

But here is the main thing: yesterday, she spoke with Studs Terkel. Legend. He was occasionally patronizing (or perhaps a touch forgetful at 90-something) when he asks her (the host of a show about faith), you know what an agnostic is, don't you? She says yes. He says: a cowardly atheist.

I'm sure that's an old little joke and I have just not heard it before, but it made me laugh.

(also, i think i am listening to ATC weekend as i write and someone has been asked to hold a slinky to the mic. it sounds like things, soft little metallic things, sliding around. it makes me happy. i believe this bit is all about the choices for the toy hall of fame, which included the cardboard box, which made me very happy as a kid and happy now to know that, as always, the most simple is the best, for toys and the rest).

Next time: personal equations