Frolic

Hippo birdies to the inimitable beeform!

I warned you

From the Newsosaur via Romenesko: The newspaper industry shuddered last week when Bloomberg News warned that several publishers are in danger of default. And some are. But there are many degrees of defaultness and not all publishers are in equal danger of going down the drain.

So, I have created not only the word “defaultness” but also a simple tool called the “Default-O-Matic” to help you see at a glance the degree of financial peril faced by 10 of the largest publishing companies. I will update it from time to time, as events warrant.

The Default-O-Matic predicts a company’s risk of default by using ratings provided by Moody’s Investors Service, one of the three independent agencies hired by bond issuers to assess their ability to repay the money they borrow.

Journal Register Co. is the shakiest in the group of 10 publishers, with Morris Publishing in second place and a tie for third between MediaNews Group and Tribune Co....

Picspam, beeform birfday b'edition

Yes, I've been working on this, and it's mostly fixed. Mostly. And what better occasion to let it roar? (And immediately I realize that it can't handle images with spaces in the name. Will fix it when I move it to its permanent server....)

Edit: Script installed on permanent server. No more watermarks: the capacity is there, but this is about driving traffic to the other LJs, not about advertising the cache engine.

( 49 pics below.... )

For once, I'm impressed

I give ESPN a hard time -- and justifiably so -- but when they set their minds on it, they can be pretty impressive. Their piece on the late Len Bias -- a bit late, but I can understand why they didn't want to cloud the Celtics' celebration -- is an impressive online presentation. It's frickin' huge, and it really works.