Photo
May 15, 2013
44 notes
jcstearns: New Yorker Launches New Whistleblower Submission System, With Code Written by the Late Aaron Swartz (via Introducing Strongbox, a Tool for Anonymous Document-Sharing : The New Yorker) I’m actually surprised it has taken this long for a major media outlet to roll out its own Wikileaks.

jcstearns:

New Yorker Launches New Whistleblower Submission System, With Code Written by the Late Aaron Swartz

(via Introducing Strongbox, a Tool for Anonymous Document-Sharing : The New Yorker)

I’m actually surprised it has taken this long for a major media outlet to roll out its own Wikileaks.

Photoset
May 08, 2013
1,090 notes

propublica:

Federal data released for the first time shows the wildly different amounts hospitals are charging Medicare to perform the same procedure.

See how hospitals near you are charging with this New York Times interactive.

This chart from the Washington Post lets you compare the highest and lowest averages in your state. 

I’ve been wondering about the cost of healthcare ever since Steven Brill’s amazing piece on healthcare costs for Time Magazine.

(via ilovecharts)

Video
May 02, 2013
113 notes

newsweek:

blankonblank:

Beastie Boys on Being Stupid

“Can you think of a stupider name than the Beastie Boys.” - Adam Yauch aka MCA

It’s Episode #4 from our new series with PBS Digital Studios

Interview by Rocci Fisch for ABC News Radio | 1985

Subscribe for more animated interviews: www.youtube.com/blankonblank

This is rad.

Blank on Blank is easily one of my favorite things on the Internet right now. Check it out.

Photo
May 02, 2013
Today in Awesome Images: Horses + lightning = bring it on, life! Creative Commons via Flickr

Today in Awesome Images: Horses + lightning = bring it on, life!

Creative Commons via Flickr

Quote
April 29, 2013
5 notes
"Our intention was to create a website that provided a place for Chicagoans to find worthwhile news, interesting online projects and cool events. At the time, the city’s mainstream media — and even the alternative media — had terrible websites. The Tribune’s site required you to log in, the Reader didn’t publish articles from the paper online, and let’s not even talk about the Sun-Times. Meanwhile, the existing events calendars, Metromix and the Reader’s listings, were a nearly unusable compendium of everything, often mixing drink specials and weekly DJ nights in with more noteworthy events.

Naz and Andrew invited around 15 local bloggers whose writing they liked and who we thought might share our love for Chicago and our enthusiasm for sharing it with the world and our neighbors. Happily, about a dozen agreed. Gapers Block launched on April 25, 2003, and garnered national attention from the blogosphere."

—

Gapers Block is 10 Years Old - Gapers Block Chicago

(Happy birthday, Gapers Block!)

(via neighborhoodr-chicago)

Quote
April 29, 2013
674 notes
"Every dollar spent at a locally owned business generates two-to-four times the economic development impacts as a dollar spent on an equivalent non-local business."

— Forbes piece on the amazing power of spending locally.  (via poptech)

(via bbbrad)

Link
April 28, 2013
16 notes
How A Talk Show Host Found Out The Hard Way There Are Some Things Bob Costas Won’t Joke About

This interview was going so well, and then the host said something that set NBC’s Bob Costas off. Big mistake. 

(Source: upworthy)

Video
April 25, 2013
1 note

teamvocalo:

Full audio: Chicagoans react to school closings proposals at scores of public meetings

By: Linda Lutton

Chicago is holding more than 190 community meetings and public hearings this spring—all required by law—to gather feedback on its proposal to close an unprecedented 54 schools. The district also has proposed six school turnarounds (complete re-staffings that also turn the school over to the private nonprofit manager Academy for Urban School Leadership), and 11 “co-locations” where 23 schools would share space in 11 buildings. See a list of all proposals here.

Chicago Public Schools contracted with a vendor to record public meetings that took place between April 6 and April 15 in affected communities. Through an open records request, WBEZ obtained those audio files and has posted them to this site. Additionally, WBEZ is recording public hearings held at CPS headquarters (April 16-May 2) on the proposed closings, turnarounds and co-locations and posting that audio here as well.

We encourage our listeners to help flag the most interesting moments in these hearings by “commenting” directly on the audio. (It’s cool and helpful for other listeners!)

Photo
April 24, 2013
The Windy City blushes

The Windy City blushes

Quote
April 22, 2013
"News became a little less of an industry and a little more of a living, breathing organism Thursday night. It’s not a new direction. For more than a decade now, ever since anyone with a thought and an Internet connection could so easily provoke his species, news has become less controlled. More vulnerable. More, well, human."

— Lesson from the manhunt: We’re all journalists now