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| If you're a glutton for punishment... |
| 2004-09-22 |
| Dr. Steve, Emily and I had dinner last night, and ended up closing the restaurant. If they hadn't closed down, we might still be there chatting. One of the things we discussed was the way the front page closes up when the comment count goes over over 300. I do that to cut page load times, which for a dialup connection can be horrendous when loading 100 articles and 500 comments, all of which have to be retrieved and sorted. But some people have fast connections and they're data gluttons, and we confess that we look at everything at once on the editors' page. So I've put a link to the PHP version I've been toying with for the past couple months on the front page. It'll give you all the articles — WoT and non-WoT — and all the comments, but for the current day only. It's laid out bass-ackwards from the .asp page, and articles continue on Page 49, but other than that it works approximately the same as the .asp version. Keep in mind that it's still full of bugs, because I've been busy with other stuff, but use it if you want. One of the bugs is that when you comment, it'll take you back to the .asp version. The server should handle the load, and if it doesn't, I'll let you know before taking it down. Another thing we talked about was an editorial page. I think I'm going to build that as a second page — I've got a site I started for someone who backed out of the deal that I can rearrange and drop in. It'll have its own comments and such. Should be ready in a week or so, if I don't get sidetracked into something else. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #13 Robert, Phil - thanks for the insights. The key, I think, is to move beyond the blog format and create a parallel or alternate linked media that sifts and edits, as the legacy media do, but with far greater reach, 24/7 coverage and without the ridiculous pomposity and pretentiousness. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-09-22 11:23:41 PM |
| #12 Lex: I had suggested earlier, in another thread a while ago (but please don't ask me to find it, searching comments is difficult here), that the editors at Rantburg do a once-or-twice a month radio show about recent events in the WoT. The more I think about this, the more sense it makes; it would be much easier to actually get voice reports from American military and Iraqi bloggers in Iraq, for example. Streaming audio by itself ought to be easier to handle than streaming video, too. |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2004-09-22 9:32:03 PM |
| #11 lex - Check out the vlogs links (video-blogging) on Jarvis' BuzzMachine... Mebbe we hire Ugly George in NY to work for Fred... |
| Posted by: .com 2004-09-22 9:02:45 PM |
| #10 Fred - you are a saint. And a god. (And your fellow editors are godlets, of course. :-p) |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-09-22 8:35:25 PM |
| #9 Yay! Thanks! I've been secretly wanting this feature for a while, and here it is. It's no wonder why Rantburg is my favorite site on the web! |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2004-09-22 8:30:50 PM |
#8 Q: What would be required for your average Rantburger or blogger to create, via streaming video, alternative newscasts and live interviews? In other words, create our own realtime, 24/7 rival to Russert, "60 minutes" etc? Basics: video camera, editing software, basic audio equipment The camera doesn't need to be great, since you're looking at streaming, but it needs to be reliable. A good miniDV camera goes for around $600. Figure two in case one breaks: $1200. Editing software: Best value for functionality out there is, IMHO, Vegas. About $800, though you can get it for $600 on the street. Their stripped-down Vegas Movie Studio might work, and it's $100. Basic audio equipment: If you're interviewing, you want to get the questions and answers the first time, and you want it CLEAN. You can get a good audio card for, I think, around $200. Microphones are a different matter. Good wired lapel mics start at $300; for streaming you might get away with a cheaper mic, or with using a boundary mic for both sides, but sound is generally more important than pics. For streaming interviews you really need a solid color backdrop and good lighting. A basic 3-point lighting kit can be had for about $100; a cheap chromakey backdrop goes for around $100. You wouldn't really key out the background, but a solid color makes the subject stand out better and compresses better. Bandwidth? Dunno. $$$$$ I'd imagine. Lots of $$$$$. Video, even compressed for streaming, takes up a lot of disk space, and lots of bandwidth. Both of those things take $$$$$ to host. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-09-22 7:52:47 PM |
| #7 Disregard. Sheesh, amazing what spammers can do. The email header points to Korea, and the mailer was cough**OutLook**cough, so I guess that explains a lot. |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-09-22 7:35:42 PM |
| #6 Hey Fred: Check your email. Not meaning to clutter your day but maybe you should be seeing the attachment. |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-09-22 7:18:19 PM |
| #5 Yes, I'm serious about this. Anyone with comments/thoughts/queries please email tom_p_mclaughlin@yahoo.com |
| Posted by: lex 2004-09-22 4:55:18 PM |
| #4 [borrowed from another thread] Q: What would be required for your average Rantburger or blogger to create, via streaming video, alternative newscasts and live interviews? In other words, create our own realtime, 24/7 rival to Russert, "60 minutes" etc? Bandwidth, investment needed-- anyone know? |
| Posted by: lex 2004-09-22 4:54:30 PM |
| #3 You da man Fred (& co.)! and I mean that in a non-sexist, all-inclusive sort of way;) |
| Posted by: Spot 2004-09-22 4:51:31 PM |
| #2 Yeah, the comment thing annoyed me, I wished there was a way to turn it off. Someone want to link to "the php page"? |
| Posted by: gromky 2004-09-22 4:28:30 PM |
| #1 Will there be an editorial board? he asked in a concerned voice. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-09-22 3:42:35 PM |