Excellent article on medicine’s bell curve: why

Excellent article on medicine’s bell curve: why are some hospitals so much better than others?. The author visited an average hospital, was impressed by the level of care, but then went to a top hospital and discovered the average hospital wasn’t doing so well in comparison.

Forget the building, what about the art

Forget the building, what about the art at the new MoMA?. Verdict: still good.

William Safire on the slang that the

William Safire on the slang that the kids are using these days.

“Is Bigger Better? Corporate Clouds on the Organic Horizon”

“Is Bigger Better? Corporate Clouds on the Organic Horizon”.

Joe Gillespie, one of the Web design’s

Joe Gillespie, one of the Web design’s early pioneers, is retiring his influential Web Page Design for Designers site. Good luck in your new career, Joe.

Photos of New York, from today and the 1930s

Photos of New York, from today and the 1930s.

Timely article in the NY Times about

Timely article in the NY Times about journalism, weblogs, and the protection of confidential sources.

Jennings’ final appearance on Jeopardy was broadcast 4

Jennings’ final appearance on Jeopardy was broadcast 4 days early on WMAZ in Macon, GA. Seems the result wasn’t quite so secret after all.

Sony, Ken Jennings, and me

Things may be a little quieter around here in the short term as I deal with some stuff going on in the real world. One of the reasons for the silence is that my legal difficulties with Sony about the whole Ken Jennings thing have yet to be resolved. I can’t say too much about it (soon perhaps), but it sure has had a chilling effect on my enthusiasm for continuing to maintain kottke.org. As an individual weblogger with relatively limited financial and legal resources, I worry about whether I can continue to post things (legal or not) that may upset large companies and result in lawsuits that they can afford and I cannot. The NY Times can risk upsetting large companies in the course of their journalistic duties because they are a large company themselves, they know their rights, and they have a dedicated legal team to deal with stuff like this. In the current legal climate, it may be that the whole “are blogs journalism?” debate is moot until bloggers have access to a level of legal resources similar to what large companies have. I’m certainly thinking very seriously about whether I can keep this site going in this kind of environment.

Update: Thanks for all the support everyone…I’ve gotten many nice emails and various offers of assistance. Several people have asked if they can help monetarily, which I very much appreciate, but the process is not quite to that point yet (and might never reach it) and I don’t want to be responsible for refunds or anything like that. But again, I appreciate the support.