The Daily Loper – August 11, 2006

Today’s links of interest:

• Gender-bending popular in video games
  Just like real life…
• Mike Douglas, Former TV Show Host, Dies
  ‘Loper Kirk will be dropping by later with a fond rememberance of the time he saw Patti Smith on the Mike Douglas show. He loves to rub that one in our faces. RIP Mike.
• Most people are missing the point about YouTube
  Dvorak finally gets something right. This may be a first.
• 8 Changes I Experienced After Giving Up TV
  Imagine what would happen if you gave up TV for 30 days?! Our research indicates only one in four Lopers could actually meet this challenge.
• The sad, painful death of Dennis Miller
  It’s not even so much that he went far far away, it’s just that he forgot to pack the funny. Or maybe Airport Security wouldn’t let him take it on the plane . . .
• Down with self-referential navel gazing! Or, Wikipedia and me, Part 2. And did I mention me?
  Salon’s sports columnist, the great King Kaufman, watches as an offhand joke about his pathetic Wikipedia entry spurs a flurry of activity, resulting in something more substantial.
• Who flamed Roger Rabbit?
  Because the best subversive acts happen right in front of you.
• For years I have been deeply committed to TV of the trashy variety. Now it’s sighing its last – and the culprit is cable
  Apparently there’s a limit to how low you can go when it comes to trashy television. Who knew?
• Ofcom confirms old media fears
  Yet the recent LAT survey found that a surprisingly large number of youth still pay attention to traditional media. The only solution is to poll every teenager in the universe.
• Growing By Leaps And Googles
  Jon Fine looks at the growing Google juggernaut. We’re wondering when world domination ends and death by a thousand paper cuts begins.
• Grudge Match
  Sirius and XM: the battle to end all battles. Until the next one.
• Western Internet firms "act as censors" in China
  Of course, if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be in China at all. It’s hard to figure out the right and wrong here, which probably means it’s so incredibly gray, we’ll be debating this for years to come.
• Wary of FCC rules, CBS sets updated ‘9/11′
  Because only the FCC would find "indecency" in real-life events.
• 2 Editors Resign at Web Site Linked to Journalism Review
  Staff and funding cut. Efforts put into direct (snail?) mail campaign to increase circulation of print magazine. Hmm. This is the modern world?
• Girls Just Want to Be Plugged In — to Everything
  The finale episode in the series. In this installment, girls move ahead of boys on the tech front.
• Cable and Satellite TV Providers to Bid Aggressively at FCC Auction
  Because everybody wants to offer everything. But will they be able to offer anything well??
• MySpace Befriends "Earl"
  Ah, the commercialization of MySpace continues unabated.