Some good stuff over the weekend. In no particular order:
Peggy Noonan had a good column on Saturday re: VaTech. She makes the point that there are days where it feels we have squeezed all the meaning out of our words. She notes:
I wondered about the emptiness of the phrases used by the media and by political figures, and how pro forma and lifeless and cold they are. The formalized language of loss hasn't kept up with the number of tragedies. "A nation mourns." "Our prayers are with you." The latter is both self-complimenting and of dubious believability. Did you really pray? Or is it just a phrase?
And this as opposed to the honest things normal people say: "Oh no." "I am so sorry." "I'm sad." "It's horrible."
Rolling Stone is out with their 40th Anniversary Issue, and it has some great interviews in there, not all of which are online. Bob Dylan has an interview, of course, and talks about the link between religion and faith and how his music plays into both. Jann Wenner conducts the interview. It is worth a read for sure.
The New Yorker has a super well written profile on Manny Ramirez, an athlete I knew nothing about and really didn't care about. A mark of great writing is that after reading the first two paragraphs I was hooked through the entire piece. Go Sox!
Coding Horror had a good piece up about the role of bloggers and journalists, making the point that accuracy is important. Shoot first and ask questions later doesn't work any better in the virtual space than it does in the real world. Everyone needs to slow....down... and get the facts as right as possible the first time out. The comments are worth reading too.