It's all about me

This is one of the best pieces I've seen on the chatoic state of journalism -- appropriately titled "Not an upgrade -- an upheval." No one can predict what's going to happen -- as this piece notes -- but the writer does a good job of describing the forces that are in play and so lets us imagine some of the possible contours of change. "The news," he observes, has always been subsidized. Of late it's been by advertising, sports fans and coupon clippers.

Well, a lot of us could have told the researchers this:

You should be able to find Opening Arguments at this new address. We're still working on some things, such as getting the archives moved, so posting will be light today.

News-Sentinel blogs are moving to a new service on Monday, which means there will be a new address for Opening Arguments. If things go as planned, there should be a post here sometime Monday that provides a link to the new site. All the archives are supposed to be transferred as well, so you should still be able to find all the stupid things I've written over the last two years that you might want to beat me up over. As a bonus, I'll have control over the sides of the blog, where the blog roll, among other things, goes (it's a long story; don't ask).

The only reason for this post is that is No. 2,500. Whew! If you have read all of them, thank you, but shouldn't you get a life?

Somebody sent me this short quiz, "A test for professionals," that's been making the e-mail rounds. Bet you don't get one of the four right.

This is just sad:

Linda Pelzman appreciates the beauty of the outdoor world, sometimes pulling her children into the yard to gaze at a full moon or peer into a dense fog. An educator and founder of a summer camp, she only wishes her enthusiasm was fully shared.

This is just wrong. Someone who doesn't know what she's talking about rates candy and says Skittles are the best. And she even puts circus peanuts and candy corn on the list. Yeech. There is a tie for the best candy: York Peppermint Patties and Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, and they MUST be put in the refrigerator so they can be served cold. I await dissent from the unenlightened loony liberals and rightwing Christian nuts.

I have missed a typo or two in my writing life, and there have been consequences, but usually involving only the derision of friends and the scorn of English teachers. Nothing like this:

WASHINGTON — It was a $100 million mistake, and a federal judge said Friday he doesn't have the power to fix it.

How could we get through life these days without sites like snopes.com, which verifies or discredits various urban legends, or The Straight Dope, which has a record of meticulous research and reliability that is unmatched? I went to Straight Dope to find the answer to one of those nagging things that popped into my head a few days ago.