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I never get tired of hearing excerpts from the I Have a Dream speech. King's words, his voice, and the crowd's reaction are so moving. If you feel similarly, you might like this musical remix, which I found via Jessamyn West's Abada Abada. Not sure if it's legal for this guy to do a remix, since I know the King family holds onto that copyright pretty tightly, but it's worth hearing, if only to remind yourself why we don't get any mail today. 

When I was a kid, I used to read the USA WEEKEND magazine each week. It came with the Sunday paper — in my case the Detroit News. It seemed fluffy in the late 80s and early 90s, but I think it's really taken a turn for the worse in recent years. I get it now with my Sunday Burlington Free Press, but I almost always recycle it, unread, along with the ridiculous pile of glossy ad fliers. This week, I dug it out for a look.

What did I find? On a page with the word "Science," in bold type in the upper left hand corner, an article entitled "Newly Charted Territory." The subhead reads: "With the discovery of a new 'planet' in our solar system, some people may wonder: Will this affect my horoscope?"

No, this is not an ad. It's actual editorial copy! From the nut graph: "Astrologers, the practitioners behind your trusted weekly horoscopes in the newspaper, are abuzz about how this new heavenly body could affect their craft. Would the addition of a new planet debunk traditional horoscopes and predictions? Could you think you're a Scorpio today, then learn tomorrow that Xena [the new planet] ruled your chart all along? Some of astrology's brightest minds weigh in on these questions and more for USA WEEKEND, and their answers may surprise you."

I pity the poor hack who had to write this and pass it off as "Science." Shame, shame, shame!

In case you were curious, Friday Coffeeblogging's own "special blossom" Matt G. Paradise riffs on the difficulties of being a single Satan worshipper. In a post entitled, "Women who shouldn't be attracted to me, Matt, 37, describes the various types of girls he's encountered in recent years. This is interesting and entertaining window onto this particular subculture, which I confess I know little or nothing about.

Here's Matt on "the Satan Chic Appeal," which I never even knew existed:
To the chagrin of all of those harried housewives and uptightgod-fearing men, the human representation of Satan often gets thegirls. Regardless of the times, it still serves as societal Spanish Flyto select women.

I never knew! And Matt on the "Mysterious Guy Appeal":
Oh, please, gals. Get over your Tim Burton movie-garnered andmedia-derived fixations, and find yourself some complimentarilyuninspired and subculture-obsessed boy toy, posthaste. Maybe you caneven dress him up like The Crow. And wouldn't that be fun?

Yes, ladies, Matt takes his Satanism seriously. So what does it take to win his heart? I asked him Friday, and he essentially said he's not telling. One of his friends overheard my question and asked, "what heart?"

BusinessWeek Online reports on a columnist sacked for taking money from Monsanto. Michael Fumento, who wrote for the Scripps Howard News Service, received $60,000 from the agbiz megacorporation. He apparently had a lot of kind words for the company, and failed to disclose his compensation. Fumento is also a senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute.

Link via Romenesko.

Derek Rose, a reporter who covered the Sago mine explosion, explains what happened in his own words on his blog. This is long, but illuminating, especially if you don't know much about how the media works to cover a disaster.

I sympathize with this aside. Rose is explaining why he wasn't concerned about waiting for official confirmation that the miners were alive:

(As a side note: I have an anti-authoritarian streak a mile long. Idon’t believe in waiting until “the authorities,” give my stories somemagic stamp of approval by saying “this story has been OfficiallyConfirmed.” That just makes the media another government cog. As we sawduring Katrina, the authorities can be just as wrong as anyone else.Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a conspiracy theorist, and often governmentofficials can be more neutral and knowledgeable than others. Butthey’re all only human, with their own motives, just like everyoneelse).

Rose interviews other reporters, too:

“Reporters were tired, and print reporters, who were burned the worst,were up against very tight deadlines and had to write on very shortnotice,” says Langfitt, who worked at the Baltimore Sun for a dozenyears. “They were under tremendous pressure. It’s too simple to saythis was a case of the media being sloppy or loose. Reporters shouldhave hedged their ledes, but I’m a radio reporter, I did not report onthis ’til 5 a.m., I feel lucky."

This is interesting — via USA Today, 12/29/05:

A California man who was a passenger on the Alaska Airlines flight thatlost cabin pressure earlier this week is now being both praised andscorned online for taking photographs and posting an account on hisblog.

Here's the blog. 
I have to admit, whenever something interesting happens to me — something that other people might find interesting — I take photos, if possible, and blog it. I get where this guy's coming from. I think every reporter does.