(sigh) This just sucks. I mean I know times are changing, the economy is tanking and we should embrace new technology and whatnot. I just hate to see a good paper go down like this. Really, really hate it.

Watch the video The Rocky staff put together to document the paper’s last breath. Be prepared to tear up and to be very impressed with how pretty their newsroom is/was:

The only issue I take with this is the blog-bashing. I mean seriously? Blogs are NOT the only reason newspapers are dying, folks. Craigslist, sure. Bloggers, not so much. Just say’n.

You like it, you love it, you want some more of it:

• A Newspaper Refuses to Die Quietly (readwriteweb.com)
• Rocky Mountain News to close, publish final edition Friday (dvorak.org)

Saw this Cult of Mac post about a Blackberry Storm ad that was rejected by RIM.  Though the gun message and copy claim is clearly misguided, I still find it rather clever.

Of course, you already know how I feel about the Storm after my brief time throwing it against the wall trying to figure it out. (sigh) Bless ‘em.

You like, you love it, you want some more of it:

• BlackBerry advert sticks it to Apple (reghardware.co.uk)
• The BlackBerry Storm ad that might have been (engadget.com)

I fully realize that when you read that headline you IMMEDIATELY thought, “Oh sure, Margie, I’ll get right on that blog thing in my spare time.” Here’s the deal – I’m not telling you to start blogging because I think you are bored. I’m suggesting it because of its social, emotional and educational value. Plus, blogging is a skill you can add to your resume. Bonus!

Before you roll your eyes and mutter about what a nerd I am (A.T.) just read my argument. THEN you are free to roll your eyes:

Chic Geek | BLOG IT TO ME (March 2009)

If you are a woman with an opinion … about anything … I’d like to challenge you to start a blog. I’m serious. Read More…

NashvilleZoo Next week we start introducing some new animals. Think black & white and stay tuned…er twixed…er tweeted.

sallykent mucinex is the best stuff ever

nashvillest Your commuting editor reports that traffic is even backed up past Cool Springs. We can haz detour?

KarenRussell Sorry, Phil Collins, had to skip you on Pandora.

hotdogsladies Hooters should do a Sadie Hawkins Day where chickens get to gnaw on fat guys while skanks pretend to like them.

BrazenCareerist Corporate Blogs That Get It: Sharing Mayo Clinic http://tr.im/gNSE

csledge I am man enough to admit that I thought my phone was messed up this week … only to find it was disconnected from the wall. I am a man.

If you like FlackRabbit, you’ll love this:

• Mayo Clinic launches new culture blog (tissuepathology.typepad.com)

Image by Laughing Squid via Flickr

Let’s play Find the Bias in this “news” story where neuroscientist Susan Greenfield swears that Twitter, Facebook and the like are making us all self-centered idiots. Come on! It’ll be fun. We’ll start with this one:

More than 150million use Facebook to keep in touch with friends, share photographs and videos and post regular updates of their movements and thoughts. A further six million have signed up to Twitter, the ‘micro-blogging’ service that lets users circulate text messages about themselves.

Did you see it? That part where the ONLY thing you can do with a Tweet is talk about yourself? Holy crap! I’ve been using it wrong this whole time!

Oh! And here’s Greenfield talking about how she’d rather be hunting and gathering for her supper, you know, just like we did before Twitter. What?

‘I often wonder whether real conversation in real time may eventually give way to these sanitised and easier screen dialogues, in much the same way as killing, skinning and butchering an animal to eat has been replaced by the convenience of packages of meat on the supermarket shelf.’

I’m so sick of this either/or crap.  Why can’t we see some value in both Twitter and Text Book? Don’t get me wrong, I fully believe in limited TV and video game time for the under five set.  I wholeheartedly support the notion that all humans – tiny and fully grown – should appreciate and nurture interpersonal, face-to-face relationships.

Here’s the deal: you don’t have to pick just one! You can read a great book and then blog about it. You can hear about an interesting blogger and go buy her book. You can Twitter a meet up and find yourself face-to-face with 200 fabulous strangers.

Children should still learn to read, write and communicate in full sentences. Adults should, too. But, IMO, they should also feel free post to a Facebook wall while they’re at it without fear of being called a selfish moron.

Agree? Or am I just blinded by the geekish glow of my laptop?

Related articles by Zemanta

• How to give up Facebook for Lent and keep your friends (news.cnet.com)
• Caution: Facebook and Twitter Give You Da Cancerz (montysmegamarketing.com)
• Google brains made safe from Zombies (inquisitr.com)

No worries! We’ve got your Thomson Twins right here: 

I LOVE how the percussionist is wearing iPhone gloves!

Happy birthday TT! We love you and your shedding facial hair

Posted via email from margienewman’s posterous

Image by kopp0041 via Flickr

jpostman Got notice from Amazon that my order was being canceled because my billing info needed to be updated. 24 hours after I downloaded the album

paigepresley At the parents’ house. Sanity is 97% gone.

junger Guys meet Shaq over Twitter. Awesome story, plus pics http://is.gd/kfx7

microblogbuzz 10 Celebrity Twitters Actually Worth Following | Cracked.com http://is.gd/kovm

xmasonmars Curio http://twitpic.com/1mbwl

KikiValdes World Adult “DRUNKEN” Kickball Association http://tinyurl.com/c47drl

newmediajim i just caught a mouse in my house!

ev I wonder why they chose 911 for 911

groovysoup My wife just got great overhead footage of the Polar Bear swim at Encore. Check it out at Vidalicio.us when you can http://urlzen.com/6nn

- Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MargieNewman -

So I’m sitting in the Metro Courthouse tonight watching Meg get her job back when I get this Tweet:

This is fabulous for two reasons: A) Meg got her job back, and B) I’ve been trying to meet @thinktrain for quite a while now and kept missing him at events like the Nashville Twestival — then there he was sitting two feet from me and I had no clue!

Great meeting you, dude!

Oh, and his name is Rob, by the way. He’s a Nashville flack who does great work.  Follow him on Twitter: @thinktrain.

Do you have an interesting Twitter story to tell? Share in the comments!

Time released its 2009 Best Blogs list today. If reading and commenting on blogs is new to you, I highly recommend you check it out. However, if geek has always been your primary accessory, skip it.

I’m a Top INSERT NUMBER AND TOPIC HERE List freak.  I would marry a top 10 list if I wasn’t already married to a GroovySoup.  I squealed with delight when I first saw Time’s list in hopes of finding some newly discovered web wonder, but  it turns out their Top 25 is just another slide show of the good, but usual suspects like Zen Habits, Lifehacker, Mashable, TechCrunch and Seth Godin.

Really, Time? I mean I dig all of those blogs and was delighted to see Dooce make that list because, as we’ve discussed, she rocks my face off but come on.  Are you serious that these 25 blogs that have ALWAYS been the best are STILL the best? That’s it?

(sigh)

Next year, please give the world a best-of list that sheds some light on folks other than the people who practically created the Internet.

The only new-to-me blog I’m excited about digging into is DetentionSlip.org, which promises to “mock the school system because we love the idea of quality, free, public education… in an effort to help promote a solution.”  The rest are great, but you already knew that.

On a positive note,  I’m THRILLED to see Gawker and Perez Hilton sitting atop Time’s Most Overrated Blogs list.  I know many of you are most are fans. I’m just over those two, sorry.