Net neutrality

You may have heard of Net Neutrality, a concept that requires service providers to keep the Internet free and open to all information providers. In other words, service providers would not be able to block access to sites they don't agree with or those of competitors.

Not surprisingly, service providers don't like being told what to do.

Bullet in the Brain

Here's a link to that short, short story, by Tobias Wolff I talked about today. The link takes you to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog post. Don't read the blog post (actually, you can if you like, it's interesting too), just click on the "Bullet in the Brain" link in the first sentence of the blog. That takes you to a PDF of the story.

It's short, only four pages. But it is very good. Sorry, there are a couple typos in the PDF file. You'll need to buy the book and load it onto your Kindle if you want a mistake-free version.

This has nothing to do with news writing. But I promise you if you can ever craft a paragraph as brilliant and as perfect as the one that ends this story, you will go far as a writer.

Cheers,
Rob

More on quotes

Here's a timely piece on quotes from he New York Times public editor involving the use of blog quotes in a story. Actually, the reader comments are more interesting than the column.

Free speech or hate speech?

This week the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protects the right to protest at military funerals. Members of a small church in Kansas travel the country staging protests at military funerals, claiming that the reason our soldiers are dying is because God is punishing the United States because we tolerate and promote homosexuality.

Read the news story

Read a discussion by legal scholars