After weeks of national unrest, Jacques Chirac finally got tough on the
car-broilers: he proposed job training for 50,000 of the unemployed malcontents.
That’ll teach ‘em. Of course, job training is one thing; actual jobs are
another. Given the French economic performance – regularly described as anemic,
which might be apt if the body had any blood left - the chance of 50,000 jobs
materializing for the rioters is rather slim. But you can see the point. “My
father in Algiers,” the rioter may think, “he was unable to find work as a taxi
driver. But here in France, I am unable to find work as a medical technician. I
dream that my children will grow up unable to find work as doctors.”
Perhaps a new UN JobCore program is needed. Or they can all go to work at McDonalds. When it opens a franchise in Fallujah.
And, not really on, but related to, the mixed feelings here vis a vis the Pajamas media revolution:
In any case, newspapers are dead, the experts assure us. Pity, but these things
happen. Media rise and fall. People move on. Why, once upon a time, millions of
Americans got their news and opinions by listening to the AM band of the radio.
AM radio! Really.Who could imagine such a thing today?
Yes media culture is changing in many ways. But I'd lay every dime I've got (looks like about $3.60 in change in the desktop beerstein that is my retirement account) that the New York Times will exist ten years from now, with some changes large and small. Odds on Pajamas Media lasting a decade as a going concern? Less certain.
I guess I'm less turned off by the PJM venture than either of you, but I'm less concerned with what it does to blog culture than with seeing whether they've figured out a viable business model based on a new trend. Eno's criticism is salient on that point. What are they really offering? Not too terribly much right now, since aggregating content on the internet hasn't exactly been the road to value many hoped. Just ask Time Warner.
Eh, we'll see.
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