Changing Morals

New Gallup poll charts the change in what people say is moral between 2001 and now....look at this chart and see if you agree with the shift! The numbers show the percentage who say the activity IS moral.

The Great Gatsby's Iconic Cover

     The Smithsonian has an interesting background story about the blue eyes cover of the book, which has been replaced in the most recent edition with a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio.
     Really.
     The F. Scott Fitzgerald Society is meeting in Montgomery in the Fall (He met Zelda here), and their website includes the only thing left of the very first film version of the book...a trailer. Fun to watch, but sad to know that film, like so many others, is lost to time. 

 I talked with Martin McCaffrey at The Capri about that very topic this weekend. With all of the films now being treansfered to digital format, how long will they last? 

Poor in the Burbs

     L.A. Times reports there are now more poor people living in the suburbs than in the country's cities.

MMMM #380 -- Citizen Journalist On Board

•      NPR reported last week about American Airlines enforcing a no video or photos rule on their planes...including journalists and "citizen journalists", i.e. travelers who know what makes a good story and start taking video of events on board planes.

     If that's the best they can do to prevent all of those YouTube pilots/passengers-behaving- badly videos, they need to go back to start. The bad PR isn't worth it.
     We've reported about police departments doing the same thing on public streets. It's all about control, and freedom. The 1st Amendment specifically refers to "freedom of the press", but it really applies to everyone. If I have the right to shoot video of an event in public as a reporter, you have the same right as a citizen.
  

• The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the IRS scandal involves not just Tea Party groups, but fledgling journalism organizations too. The Columbia Journalism Review points out the journalism groups had a better argument for non-profit, non-political, non-tax status than The Tea folks, yet were rejected by the IRS even more broadly. 
• And on the other scandal of the week, the liberal-leaning Media Matters for America group takes down the FOX news bragging about being way out front with coverage of the "cover-up" into Benghazi.

A Headline to ponder

Yahoo is Buying Tumblr.

You don't have to go very far back for a time when that headline would have produced lots of head shaking. WTF?
Here's the NY Times version of the story.
Tumblr's founder is 26 years old!
Yahoo is paying $1.1-Billion.

Around Montgomery Town

An empty shop in Cloverdale,
A new Irish Pub will occupy it and the space next-door.