July 2010 Archives

"The first comes from James Madison at the end of the 18th Century. In a republic, he said, where the people not the government possess the absolute sovereignty, the press must be free to inform the people about the merits and measures of public men." The second came from Alexis de Tocqueville: "The hallmark of the American journalist is a direct and coarse attack without any subtleties on the passions of his readers. He disregards principles to seize on people, following them into their private lives and laying bare their weaknesses and their vices,"

From an Anthony Lewis lecture

My wife sent me a text the other night "not sure if I can get a can." She meant cab (though to be sure, can is in short supply in this economy). It was the latest in a series of auto-correct mild amusements. When I try to respond "yay" to an email or text message, my Blackberry steps in and sends "gay" which makes me seem very 1940s.

Ages ago,  I asked people working the Twitter to offer some of their auto-correct nightmares. Here are some of the responses:

 

@kscincotta: @jdickerson - My phone keeps trying to change "Yankees" into "wankers". #correxmenot

@nancyscola: iPhone changes my mom's nickname, Joojee, to "Hooker"

@thenote: Kagan is Jahangir on my Droid

@ sacca My iPhone corrected "AT&T" to "Ayatollah".

@ zachroth92 'yeah' being changed to 'yeshiva'!  

@JonHenke I once had this happen "you should turn that room into a murderer". Or a nursery. Your pick.

@JonHenke: My Droid used to change "fyi" to "dying"

@Sutebia   I live you. 

 Tmerrifi congatulating a Duke grad on their win I wrote "Dulles!

derektixx once typed "in a loud bar need me?" ...to "in a loud bar need men".

@andylevy iPhone changes OMG to IMF.

@FeistyShelia  iPhone also corrects to "ducking" "Cynthia" which adds to my grouchy.

My colleague Farhad Manjoo wrote a piece about how the cell phone's autocorrect software works and why it's getting better.

A little Slate contest. The president gets so much advice on everything he does, this seemed only fitting.

The Amazon page for my book:

 

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Blue Lizard Australian Sunscreen Daily Moisturizer Face SPF 30+ (3 oz) by Blue Lizard$11.49 

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Nieman writes about Slate's efforts to engage readers with long, well-reported pieces. Also known as our Fresca initiative. My risk series is mentioned.

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

General Mattis will replace David Petraeus. My story about the announcement here.

My profile of Mattis, as a part of my risk series here.