Sharp Tools

Cory Doctorow is a tit again

Boing Boing has a post up about a Guardian poll concerning the Pirate Bay verdict. Cory says that the poll shows an 'abject failure' at making the public feel that downloading music is illegitimate.

Um, except the poll shows 86%+ in favor of the Pirate Bay verdict when I look at it.

Cory? Earth to Cory?

Now, if you're trying to tell us someone hacked/stacked the poll, then say so. Even if that's your argument, though, it's a pretty weak follow on to your conclusions.

Update: Fair's fair. Cory posted a mea culpa explaining he misread the graph due to 5:30am posting. Fair.

The NYT achieves new levels of condescension

I flip to the NYT homepage just now, and am greeted with the following:

Moment of Heroism After a Blast in Iraq
By SAM DAGHER
The rescue of a baby from the wreckage of a bombing that killed eight seemed to be proof that Iraqis were still capable of extraordinary acts of humanity.

I mention this to some friends, and we all groan - and when I reload the web page, guess what! It's gone.

Lovely.

Update: The article (not the front page lede, which is gone) contains the following phrase: "Their actions seemed to be proof that despite six years of numbing violence, Iraqis were still capable of extraordinary acts of humanity." This isn't nearly as bad. I can't tell if this is live damage control editing, or just a mistake.