Outro for Romenesko

Jim Romenesko's been the soul of Poynter for about a decade now — that is, until they decided to axe him. As per always, the story is a bit more complicated than its lede, and Romenesko gives his side here.

On centrism, action and Greece

Gene Lyons on how Bogus Centrists ignore reality in order to position themselves as above the fray. He notes that nearly all the positions advocated by the centrists are, in fact, the same as Obama's, giving the lie to the idea that it's both parties failing now. (There are genuine left critiques of Obama, but nearly none of the so-called Third Way proponents actually grasp them.

David Brin on Frank Miller's fascist fantasy of Sparta and how the #OWS kids are better for democracy. Brin outlines how Miller's become the Riefenstahl of comics, ignoring historical truths to cast ultimately caustic heroic myths. (It's good to know that I'm not the only comics fan who loathed that movie; the book was better but still requires a profound ignorance of Greece.)

MetaFilter's excellent post on the UC Davis debacle gives an interesting tidbit of information: Their chancellor, Linda Katehi, attended Athens Polytechnic during the 17N (or November 17) uprisings, which have become a national holiday. It's the date that students at the Polytechnic defied Greek tanks, and the spark that ultimately ended the military rule of Greece. That her shame comes on the same day hopefully has an ironic resonance for her.

"No, you're not!"

Karl Rove gets Mic Checked by #OccupyBaltimore and doesn't seem to understand math.

It's only when we fight back

CLASS WARFARE! from Tom the Dancing Bug.

interest in professional fasting has markedly diminished

A Hunger Artist, by Franz Kafka.

Short, and another reminder he wasn't a one-hit wonder. In maybe 1200 words, he manages to limn the popular reaction to poverty and still give a sensual, ironic portrait of starvation (and artists).

What's in your honey, honey?

A great piece of investigative journalism from Food Safety News finds that the vast majority of honey sold in the US isn't honey or has dubious origins. Lax governmental oversight and huge profits for Chinese honey counterfeiters, along with cagey anti-consumer stonewalling from "Big Honey" mean that unless you're schlepping to the farmer's market, you probably don't know what you're getting and could be sweetening your whiskey with heavy metals.

We're number one!

We're the top featured magazine one Magcloud's entertainment section! They like us, they really like us! Go pick up your back issues!

DEATH TO EVERYONE—NEW MEFI MAG!

The Death Issue, October 2011

By MeFi Mag in MeFi Mag

48 pages, published 31 OCT 2011

Death is universal. No matter what path any of us take through life, we all get there in the end. And along the way, most of us have to cope with the deaths of others. How we deal with those deaths is a big part of what makes us human. This issue spans the gamut from professional to personal observations on death, from sober to touching to humorous. Using words, photos, paintings, drawings and a graph or two, we explore the final journey.