Tag Archives: articles

Moving away from Flash: A look at JavaScript drawing libraries

Programming June 2, 2011 katdowns Leave a comment

Excerpts from a new post for WP’s @innovations blog: [Go to the blog to read the whole thing] When Apple announced early last year that it would not support Flash on the iPhone and iPad, a passionate conversation erupted in the world of web development: Was Flash dead? If not, how would it survive? When should it be used? News developers asked these questions as well, and, at least in our newsroom, the conversation inspired some thinking about how to approach interactive development. Over the…

Darfur & FFI

Multimedia November 28, 2006 katdowns Leave a comment

Two fun items on the agenda: Darfur: Who Will Survive Now? and FFI The Holocaust Memorial Museum had a special display of photographs on the outside of their building last week to raise awareness about the situation in Darfur. They projected enormous photographs onto the three walls on the outside of the building, which were accompanied by music. The images, which were taken by several photojournalists, were hauntingly beautiful. The multimedia presentation was incredibly effective. If you check out the links above, you can see…

Human Trafficking

Random Thoughts November 21, 2006 katdowns Leave a comment

Another good article:The Vatican on the Human Slave Trade. There is a Russian film called Lilja 4-ever, about a Russian girl who gets tricked into going to Sweden, only to become a sex slave. It’s a poignant introduction to the widespread practice of abducting girls and selling them, which happens to thousands of women a year all over the world-specifically from Eastern Europe. Protection Project said in 2001 that more than 2 million women and children were sold into the sex trade every year. Last…

Modern-Day Religion

Random Thoughts November 20, 2006 katdowns Leave a comment

This is an interesting read: There Is No God by Penn Jillette.I found it through: What Does Someone Believe? One Man Has the Answer from NYTimes.com.

Telling Stories - Interactive Edition

Multimedia, Photography and multimedia November 16, 2006 katdowns 1 Comment

Go to this feature and watch the Congo story. The photographs are wonderful. Props to Gabe. It’s interesting to think about the different ways that audio is integrated with photographs to make slideshows. Sometimes the effect is great (see above), and other times it seems like someone just said, “Let’s make a slideshow!” When there are no ambient sounds or subject voices, figuring out the best way to tell an audio story can be tough. Should the photographer talk about her/his images? Should the reporter…

Click -n- Kill

Random Thoughts November 15, 2006 katdowns Leave a comment

There is a guy who used to work in my office (before my time) who would spend his slow days hunting online. YES.. you heard me right. Hunting. Online. This revelation called for some investigating into this so-called sport. A guy named John Lockwood started an online hunting service so that disabled people could hunt. He hooked up a gun and a computer and all you needed was a mouse to get a big kill. That’s right folks, you can (or could) kill an actual…

A Menagerie

Photography and multimedia October 12, 2006 katdowns Leave a comment

This’ll put a smile on your face: Adorable! I should’ve turned my ideas into reality when I was in college…now I’d be a millionaire, too. And, I could stay in school. Nerds Rule. Love for free speech in Britain.

Wal-Mart, Moving, and Skillz

Random Thoughts October 3, 2006 katdowns 1 Comment

Here’s an interesting article about Walmart moving more people to part-time.

A Hot Dog Is Never Just a Single Tube of Meat

Photography and multimedia September 29, 2006 katdowns Leave a comment

For mothers leaving babies with their nannies, “a hot dog is never just a single tube of meat.” The NFL has barred local TV stations from NFL sidelines during games, according to NEWSPHOTOGRAPHER’s Mark Loundy. The Minnesota Vikings have also banned photographing players who are injured during practice. Get the hookup on some $1 makeup from E.L.F. This caused quite a stir among the ladies in my office, as you might imagine. Check out of some of the comments on NYTimes.com’s Reader’s Thoughts section for…

On Freedom of Thought

Random Thoughts September 22, 2006 katdowns Leave a comment

An interesting read:Campus Conscience Police? And an old story that I have always found very difficult:Man Gets Ten Years in Prison for Pornographic Diary Entries More on that: “The protections of the First Amendment do not extend to certain types of speech such as obscenity, child pornography, and incitement of illegal conduct. Recently, Ohio convicted Brian Dalton for creating and possessing a personal diary containing violent sexual fantasies involving children. He was found to have violated an Ohio statute prohibiting the creation or publication of…

Danielle

Random Thoughts September 21, 2006 katdowns 1 Comment

I was looking up something for work at the post.com when I found this post on the Celebritology blog. It talks about Maxim magazine’s list of “TV’s Least Appealing Ladies”. People wonder why women everywhere (even smart, interesting, and beautiful ones like the those in Maxim’s list) struggle with self-esteem issues. However, during a recent America’s Next Top Model marathon, one of the models, Danielle, was told by Tyra that she either had to “Close the gap, or go home” (in reference to a gap…

Modern-Day Evolution

Videos September 12, 2006 katdowns Leave a comment

I heard on the radio this morning that you can actually choose the sex of your baby. Here’s an excerpt from WAMU’s Market Morning Report’s piece entitled “I’ll Have a Girl, Please”: JENNIFER MERRILL THOMPSON: “I really, really wanted a daughter, and I knew that technology was probably the only way it was going to happen for me. And we didn’t want to keep having boy after boy. I didn’t want to have a huge family, so we were willing to spend the money to…

“The Book of Fate”

Reviews September 7, 2006 katdowns Leave a comment

Imagine a bunch of guys sitting around in a circle thinking of the best ways to bring down the biggest cities in the U.S. Writer Brad Meltzer was invited to be one of those guys.. a guy who brainstorms “out of the box” ideas for the government so they can get prepared for it before the terrorists can even come up with it. Meltzer’s newest creation, “The Book of Fate”, was featured on All Things Considered. The book was inspired by George Bush and follows…

A Million Little Pieces….and your refund

Random Thoughts September 7, 2006 katdowns Leave a comment

Today Random House and James Frey, the author of A Million Little Pieces, reached a settlement in the suit that was brought against them by readers who claimed they were “defrauded” because Frey’s book was labeled as a memoir, and it turns out that not everything in the book was true. Apparently, Frey was so cracked out he doesn’t remember huge chunks of what happened and dramatized a lot of things that weren’t that exciting. The most interesting part of the story is that the…

More on Facebook

Random Thoughts September 7, 2006 katdowns 1 Comment

Ironically, I found this article by Time about the Facebook Protest on the Facebook, through the news feed. It was on a new note by Steve Russell. Good job Steve. AND… I found last night (through the new homefront on Facebook) that you can join the group “Apple Students” and get a special playlist through iTunes, with 25 songs for FREE! And, you can get a new one each week for the next few weeks. And, the songs are good. Including Babyshambles, The Go! Team,…