this is my niece. well, pseudo-niece. i'm awfully proud of her, so i thought i'd share this little bit of her with all of you. click the photo above to see more.

don't worry, i won't be using this venue to just post photos of her and make you all sick. just thought it's a nice change from me complaining about things all the time.


--jb--

interesting how news and sensationalism are so close together some times.

tonight, discussions about responsible journalism went on circling around a video of an elected official apparently laying hands on a cameraman. with no charges filed, can we call it a crime, can we call it an attack. we know that the guy behind the camera is calling it an attack. we know what the tape shows. well, we know what the clip we were sent shows.

i think as journalists it is best to give the readers (and viewers) as much raw information as we can scrape together and present it to you in a responsible manor and let you make the decision.

we tried with our main story here on the website and in thursday's paper. i think it's a good story pieced together by half of our writing staff.

stan talked about it, so check out his take on it at his blog.

also, gordon's blog is about ready to go live so check out his musings real soon on our blog central spot on timesherald.com.

--jb--

best news story i've seen all day


"Troupes of monkeys are out of control in India's northeast, stealing mobile phones and breaking into homes to steal soft drinks from refrigerators, lawmakers in the region have complained."

amazing. it's kind of reminiscent of the deer problems we have around here, but the deer don't steal sodas and cell phones. i see it as nature's way of telling us we're taking over too much. too many people in the world.

--jb--

there has been a lot of disussion of the blog medium at work this week. i think the best example of how it becomes an art form is right here: at val's new blog.


there is a lot of crap out here on the internet, my personal blog not excluded, but then we get to share a gem like this with the world. i'm glad our site gets to host this mad adventure. we've got more to come as well. not to ruin suprises, but the blog central part of timesherald.com is gonna get a little more crowded.

hope everyone enjoys it as much as i do...

--jb--

i recently watched "dan in real life" at the movie theater. i can't believe how great mr carrell was. i know of his comic prowess being a fan of the office and of course of his humble beginnings at the daily show, but i was wary of him as a serious lead actor. he did a fantastic job in little miss sunshine, but that was a supporting role. he completely blew me away in this one. as many of my friends will attest to, i am notoriously cold and detached, but i actually felt for the guy during some of the more wrenching and emotional parts of this movie. i'd give it four and a half stars out of five if i were some sort of movie type person who rates things like that. i'm just a movie junkie who happens to have a crappy blog that no one reads.

--jb--

the associated press has a story about a toy recall because beads on the toy metabolze into a date rape drug when swallowed...
"WASHINGTON (AP) _ Millions of Chinese-made toys have been pulled from shelves in North America and Australia after scientists found they contain a chemical that converts into a powerful "date rape" drug when ingested. Two children in the U.S. and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the beads."

that is beyond bizzare to me. what kind of safety checks are in place at toy companies that would allow that to get through??? i think i'm going to let my kids only play with toys made pre-1980, when the toys were only metal and heavy kind of dangerous.

--jb--

another one down, it's always interesting covering the elections. being out at the party headquarters with the movers and shakers. except this year most of the movers and shakers just hung out behind closed doors. i understand they want to watch the numbers come in and all, but it might make sense to be out with the people who gave you the chance at winning that office. this is one area where both parties are both guilty.

just in case anyone is interested, i voted. i did what i always do and i voted for some republicans and some democrats because i am a firm believer in voting for the most qualified person regardless of which side of the ballot they are on. this is especially important at the local level.

my friends gordon and stan will disagree, but that's why i get along well with both of them... i agree with the left some times and with the right other times.

--jb--

i figured that i might want to join the modern world and create a blog. before you start in on my grammar and punctuation, rest assured, that i don't really care. i've been a photographer all my life and just started in on this web editor thing, so grammar and i are not the closest of friends. i can usually spell okay because i am a scrabble nerd, but structure and capitalization are like foreign language to me. so i apologize and if it really bugs you, there are other, more informative blogs out there...

so i think i'm going to leave you with my favorite link of the moment. this is a fan site for my favorite writer.

--jb--