Cox Crow

Adrian Holovaty has an excellent post on a fundamental way all newspaper sites need to change, in which he suggests they need to think about restructuring their data into more reusable chunks than stories. I have a suggestion for the sites that doesn’t involve wrapping their heads around data chunks. Could we have some sort of date-based navigation? It shouldn’t be so hard for me to find something from yesterday’s paper.

Constitution Day is little observed. But The Poughkeepsie Journal reported today that the Trinity Episcopal Church in Fishkill, New York, will, as part of its 250th anniversary celebrations, host this weekend “A Publick Debate between Mr. Patrick Henry of Virginia and Mr. James Wilson of Pennsylvania on the Choice of Whether to Ratify the Constitution of the United States.”

According to the Journal, Mr. Henry and Mr. Wilson will remain in character.

“These are professional actors who portray these characters for a living and have thoroughly researched them,” said Villforth. “They come in authentic costumes, and will always stay in character. They will not refer to the current time period or discuss current events.”

Although the debate consists of a rehearsed performance, the actors are prepared to make impromptu remarks, as well. They treat the audience as if they were from the 18th-century press, and questions are welcome.

Mr. David Hume of Scotland suggests in his “Idea of the Perfect Commonwealth” that Liberty is better preserved in a large Republic.

At the same time, the parts are so distant and remote, that it is very difficult, either by intrigue, prejudice, or passion, to hurry them into any measures against the public interest.

During the recent dispute with Great Britain, Committees of Correspondence were formed to coordinate like-minded citizens in the diverse Colonies. Do either of the gentlemen think that, if we ratify this large Republic, there may be any hazard to Liberty from improvements in the postal service which may permit the measures against the public interest to be hurriedly enacted?

I’ve begun to read All the Shah’s Men, after hearing Stephen Kinzer’s speech on the 1953 coup on WAMC the other day. All was fine until I reached the second chapter, in which Mr. Kinzer recounts the history of Iran. It contains inaccuracies such that I fear the remainder of the book will be untrustworthy.

Which is really too bad, since the Greco-Persian Wars are not undocumented.

We purchased some foaming hand soap the other day. Unfortunately, it stains our white laminate countertops. Then I noticed that after dispensing the soap, it drips. So I called the manufacturer, method®.

The lady who answered the phone was very nice, apologized for the stains, and provided us with a recipe for cleaning them. She listened to my concerns about the dyes, and the drips, and penchant of this other bottle to dispense soap on my stomach and not my hands. More importantly, she took notes, and remarked that they are redesigning the bottles based on my feedback — and changing the dyes they use.

What an unexpected surprise! Wow!

You can buy method’s products online, or from any of these fine retailers.