Michael Bates: February 2018 Archives
Interactive map shows uploaded activity routes of fitness-trackers users who share their routes socially through the Strava app. Popular pedestrian routes and jogging paths show up, as do cut-through streets, commuter routes, and even ferry routes. Over a billion activities have been aggregated in the map, which is controversial because western outposts in otherwise primitive or uninhabited areas (like US military bases in the desert) light up rather conspicuously. Here's how Strava processed the raw data to make this map. Close to Tulsa, the map highlights popular walking and jogging paths, like those around LaFortune Park and Lynn Lane Reservoir. Paths around popular tourist attractions like Australia Zoo and Hobbiton are relatively faint, but the Te Waihou Walkway, a path that leads to New Zealand's Blue Spring is white-hot. This may just reflect that people are likelier to be running their fitness apps when exercising than while on vacation.
So You Want To Be A Conservative Writer? - Kurt Schlichter
Advice from a popular columnist who came out of seemingly nowhere just a few years ago.
"Narrow your focus. Tie the concept to an event happening right now - be topical and save your evergreen think pieces for when you have a following that will indulge a more leisurely take. Be fresh, even on a subject that everyone is writing about. Take Hillary Clinton, who I often refer to as "Felonia Milhous von Pantsuit." (Advanced Tip: Catchphrases can help set you apart from the pack) You might almost think that there is nothing left to be written about that dizzy diva and her epic flameout, but she's always coming up with some embarrassing new scheme to steal back a sliver of the limelight she so desperately needs. Find one little aspect of her horribleness, like her toleration for abusers on her staff even as she poses as The Champion of Womyn, or how Democrats are terrified she might try to make it a failure trifecta by running in 2020, and zero in. Be clear. Be focused. Be different from all those writers who submit a wet noodle when the editors are looking for a cold steel scalpel."
