The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Patch: AOL’s Expensive Failure

Posted on | December 16, 2013 | 27 Comments

Do you remember in February 2011 when AOL bought the Huffington Post for $315 million? Did that price tag come to mind in August when Amazon’s Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post for $250 million?

Do these numbers even make sense?

Huffington Post = $315 million
Washington Post = $250 million

Excuse me for suspecting that the brand Bezos bought was far more valuable than the brand AOL’s Tim Armstrong bought, and excuse me also for thinking Armstrong is one of the most clueless executives in online media.

AOL’s Tim Armstrong reluctantly lets go
of Patch as shareholder pressures mount

Maybe you don’t care about this little media industry story, but it’s fascinating how the failure happened, and how Armstrong was permitted to throw away money on this pet project:

Mr. Armstrong had a sentimental, and some would say debilitating, attachment to Patch. He helped create it in 2007 while a senior executive at Google. When he got the top job at AOL in 2009, he persuaded the company to buy it. Patch then proceeded to churn through leadership, business models and write-downs on the way to its reduced state.
The board of AOL, handpicked by Mr. Armstrong, authorized him to invest $50 million on the idea in 2010 and after that, it became a black hole for cash. By the end, it had cost an estimated $300 million. (AOL said the figure was more like $200 million.)

Well, $200 million, $300 million, what’s the difference? Either way, it was a lot of cash: At least $50 million a year for four years. And for a dollar amount similar to what Tim Armstrong pissed away on this experimental network of hyper-local news sites, he could have bought the Washington Post, but Patch was Armstrong’s beloved brainchild:

Mr. Armstrong is nothing if not a true believer. Even though Patch is being dismantled or perhaps sold off to various partners, he still believes that he had the right product in the right space, and that he just ran out of runway.
That runway ended because of a schedule he set. In May 2012, he promised restive investors on an earnings call that he would make Patch profitable by the end of 2013. That page of the calendar arrives this month while profitability remains on a far shore, so Mr. Armstrong is reluctantly throwing in the towel.
The theory was that Patch would use a single news person and a single advertising person, at least initially, to create a digital maypole in hundreds of communities at a cost of about $100,000 annually per site. . . .
The execution risk was large — Patch was all moving parts, many undermanaged. At its peak, some 900 sites employed 1,400 people.

This is from a 2011 interview with Armstrong:

Patch was something I started on a personal level that I funded and co-founded with another person who’s at AOL with me now, Jon Brod. Basically, Patch was formed because in my community [of Riverside, Conn.], we had a real lack in information. As the economy got worse, there was less and less journalism in my town and there was a lot of missing information online. So Patch started as a personal project to see if I could help solve the issues in my town. As we got going and realized it was broader and broader, we decided to ramp up and do a much bigger project. I think Patch is in about 800 communities across the U.S. It will go up to 1,000 communities this year. We’ve hired about 1,000 journalists. I brought Patch into AOL when I came to AOL.

So, what began as “a personal project to see if I could help solve the issues in my town” turned into a sucking chest wound that bled AOL’s bottom line to the tune of at least $200 million. By the way, Armstrong’s Patch co-founder recently left AOL:

Brod is one of the last AOL executives with longstanding ties to Armstrong. He was one of Patch’s co-founders, and joined AOL after Armstrong, an early Patch investor, bought the company in June 2009.
After that, he held a variety of roles: He first ran AOL Ventures, and at one point was in charge of “integrating” Arianna Huffington and her operation after AOL bought her company. Armstrong moved him back to Patch in 2011.

Also last week, it was reported that AOL editor in chief Cyndi Stivers, who was only hired in May, is leaving the company.

Rats, sinking ship, some assembly required.

At some point, AOL’s stockholders will either wise up and get a new CEO, or else they’ll sell off, but however it shakes out, Tim Armstrong will not be allowed to continue failing this way.

 

Category: Huffington Post, Journalism

18-Year-Old Beats, Rapes 85-Year-Old Nun Who Was ‘Advocate of Nonviolence’

Posted on | December 15, 2013 | 40 Comments

What a monster:

A nun who police in Beaver County said was raped and beaten so badly that her jaw was dislocated and she was unable to speak to police at the scene was expected to be released soon from the hospital.
The Sisters of St. Joseph in Baden called the 85-year-old retired nun “a passionate advocate of nonviolence, peace and justice, and each month she conducts a prayer vigil for peace in the chapel of our Motherhouse.”
Andrew Bullock, 18, of Aliquippa was arraigned Friday night on charges that he raped and beat the nun in the parking lot of St. Titus Church in Aliquippa around 11:30 a.m. Friday, according to court documents and Aliquippa police.

Because feminists are supposed to be anti-rape, I checked Amanda Marcotte’s site to see if she cared. Crickets chirping. Instead . . .

Why Is The Religious Right
Intensifying Attacks On Women?

Uh, Amanda, who is attacking women? Raped nuns evidently don’t bother Amanda Marcotte, but popular Fox News hosts?

Priorities. It’s all about priorities.

 

Category: Crime

A ‘Gay App’ for 12-Year-Olds, and Hey, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Posted on | December 15, 2013 | 46 Comments

Creeptastic software:

Some very clever Harvard types (are there any other kind?) believe that, when it comes to apps, the gay community hasn’t offered the full bloom of its most tasteful side.
So they’ve created Distinc.tt. This, they claim, is “the only gay social app approved by the iTunes store for 12-year-olds and older.” . . .
Distinc.tt “uses real-time collective knowledge to connect trendsetting crowds and travelers to the places and people that best reflect their distinct interests.” . . .
“With an emphasis on good taste, Distinc.tt is sleekly designed to easily lead users to the right event, restaurant, party, or vacation spot for the moment or upcoming calendar, where their friends are or plan to go soon.” . . .
In the iTunes store, Distinc.tt has a charming way of describing itself: “Finally, an LGBT app that you can bring home to Mom!” . . .
[CEO Michael Belkin] wants “the good-taste part of the gay stereotype to gain traction with advertisers and cross the mainstream divide.”

Oh, great: It’s time to “cross the mainstream divide” — with a gay-oriented software application approved for 12-year-olds.

 


Category: Gays

America-Hating Commie Punk Wanted to Kill Librarian, Had Molotov Cocktails

Posted on | December 15, 2013 | 57 Comments

Because he got kicked off the debate team:

Tracy Murphy worked as the librarian at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado but it was his role as the adult adviser for the speech and debate team that led to him being the target of gunman Karl Pierson’s rage.
Mr Murphy allegedly demoted Pierson or kicked him off the team earlier this week.
Pierson’s friend and fellow debate team member has said that he was upset about being demoted and his anger resulted in an even more serious suspension from the team.

Obviously, the Special Snowflake™ couldn’t cope with failure:

Karl Pierson, 18, fired six shots from a pump-action shotgun between the moment he walked into Arapahoe High School on Friday and the moment he killed himself in a library as a school security officer closed in on him, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said. . . .
Students and a teacher said Pierson was an Eagle Scout who finished at the top of speech competitions. He competed in extemporaneous speaking — in which students prepare short speeches on current events — in the National Forensic League’s national tournament in June in Birmingham, Ala.
“I think he (Pierson) really cultivated his speech and argument skills and really thought that was a big part of his identity,” said Steve Miles, an English teacher who taught Pierson as a freshman. “He probably thought it was a pretty crushing blow to get kicked off the debate team.” . . .
Pierson arrived at the school toting the shotgun and wearing the ammunition on his body. He had a machete and, in a backpack, carried three Molotov cocktails, the sheriff said.
Pierson fired a round down a hallway and shot [17-year-old senior Claire] Davis, who was sitting nearby with a friend. He fired another shot down the hallway, entered the library and ignited one of the incendiary devices. He fired a fifth round, ran to a corner and killed himself, just 80 seconds after entering the building, Robinson said.
Davis, the sheriff said, appeared to be a random target.

“A random target.” Let any parent imagine that: Your daughter gets shot in the head with a shotgun because she’s a random target. What kind of miserable punk would commit such an atrocity?

 As students were returning to the school to retrieve their vehicles on Saturday, one described Mr. Pierson, a senior, as an outspoken proponent of political views that were unpopular with others at the school. Chris Davis, an 18-year-old senior, recalled Mr. Pierson once wore a shirt emblazoned with the letters U.S.S.R. and described himself as a communist. “People definitely disagreed with a lot of that and gave him a hard time,” said Mr. Davis, adding that he didn’t think the criticism amounted to bullying.

Commies: Randomly shooting girls in the head, for the proletariat.

 

Category: Crime, Education, Terrorism

The Atheist Creep Lawrence Krauss

Posted on | December 15, 2013 | 50 Comments

Professor Lawrence Krauss on Australian TV, February 2013.

“Science is based on telling the truth, which is a really important ethical boundary. It’s one that I don’t think religion shares, in fact. . . . I think that science can offer a better world.”
— Lawrence Krauss

“Jen McCreight, who describes herself as ‘a liberal, geeky, nerdy, scientific, perverted feminist atheist,’ wrote a blog post in which she recounted several tales of alleged harassment. She then deleted some of those tales, which involved a prominent author and academic who threatened to sue her. McCreight said she had two sources who ‘are too terrified to openly speak out against him in’ public.”
— Robert Stacy McCain, “No Love for the Godless,” The American Spectator, Aug. 9

Chris Packham is an atheist who was offended by Dr. Lawrence Krauss in the new documentary The Unbelievers:

Krauss is an accomplished cosmologist and theoretical physicist who is capable of speaking eloquently on the areas of his expertise, such as quantum mechanics and, presumably, dad-khakis. But this isn’t a film about science; it’s a meta-conversation about unwelcome religious intrusions into science. The film documents a joint tour with Krauss and zoologist Richard Dawkins, who give a series of talks about the importance of rationality, skepticism, and atheism.
The difference between Dawkins and Krauss is that Dawkins can be funny. Krauss doesn’t use humor; he openly mocks people who disagree with him in front of audiences who do. Dawkins effortlessly demonstrates his expertise to his philosophical opponents; Krauss shouts his expertise at people he could be trying to persuade. Where Dawkins is cranky about the intrusion of superstitious religious belief into the public sphere, Krauss emanates wavy, cartoon stink-lines of smugness with his own superiority.
“While you mentioned quantum mechanics,” he sneers at a polite young Muslim scholar during a debate, “I actually understand it.” . . .
Krauss has the extremely uncharismatic tendency to view himself as a victim, referring to his “fight against evil” and describing his work as “under attack.” Let’s be clear: Krauss is a wealthy member of a highly educated and privileged class. . . .
So yes, he’s got the Boomer-defining lack of self-awareness; that’s obvious from his “cool” wardrobe and his open confusion about why people call him “strident.” But at one point — after stridently bitching about polls that show atheists are as unpopular as rapists — he draws a rhetorical parallel between believing in religion and believing it’s OK to have sex with animals.
I’m not saying he’s a villain, but he has a villain’s smugness. They’re always sure that their righteousness overcomes their unpleasantness. They lash out at straw men instead of regarding the human beings right in front of them. And they do things like invoke “science” to publicly defend their billionaire friends who confess to child rape.

Ah, yes, there is that, isn’t there? Vouching for the pervert:

“Jeffrey [Epstein] has surrounded himself with beautiful women and young women but they’re not as young as the ones that were claimed. As a scientist I always judge things on empirical evidence and he always has women ages 19 to 23 around him, but I’ve never seen anything else, so as a scientist, my presumption is that whatever the problems were I would believe him over other people. . . . I don’t feel tarnished in any way by my relationship with Jeffrey; I feel raised by it.”

Jeffrey Epstein, who molested girls as young as 12, is just a swell guy, says Professor Lawrence Krauss of Arizona State University. And what do atheist women say about Professor Krauss?

“When women come to me to warn me about what speakers to avoid at conferences or confide in me sexual harassment they’ve experienced, Lawrence Krauss is by far the most common name I hear.”
— Jen McCreight

Oh, we wouldn’t want to forget that episode, would we?

[W]hen atheist blogger Jen McCreight had the temerity to repeat what she said women told her about Krauss’s behavior, she had to delete those stories because Krauss tried to intimidate her:

Well, Famous Skeptic is vaguely threatening to sue me. Since Famous Skeptic is rich and I am poor, and since my two sources are too terrified to openly speak out again him (I wonder why), I have removed the part of my previous post that refers to him so I don’t go bankrupt with legal fees.

Creep. Not saying I want bad things to happen to Dr. Krauss. Just saying it would be terrible if anything good happened to him.

 

 

Category: Intellectuals, Religion, Science

Thanks to the Reader Who Bought the LG Electronics 32-Inch LED TV from Amazon

Posted on | December 15, 2013 | 19 Comments

 

Is anyone else old enough to remember when a 24-inch TV screen was considered top-of-the-line? Out of curiosity, I took a measuring tape to the home entertainment station in my office (purchased circa 2007) and found that the space for the TV measures 27 inches across.

Digital technology has made rapid advances in recent years, so that what once would have been considered a huge TV (and very expensive) is now commonplace and relatively cheap:  This 32-inch LED TV was only $240 in a holiday special at Amazon and, because a reader purchased it by shopping through our Amazon Associates links, we got a sweet commission on that sale. In the past week, we also sold a Kitchenaid 7-cup food processor for $102.99 and an Olympus E-PM2 digital camera kit (with two lenses) for $453.99.

 

 

Of course, high-end TVs, cameras and home appliances aren’t all you can buy — they sell everything at Amazon — but I occasionally like to call attention to some of these big-dollar purchases because, of course, shameless capitalism. Nothing like commission to incentivize enthusiasm with the sales team, and the great thing is, you save money at Amazon, and my commission doesn’t cost you a cent, so it’s a complete win-win, Adam Smith’s “Invisible Hand” in action.

There are only 10 days left until Christmas, but Amazon usually ships within 5 days, and special two-day shipping is available, so there’s no better time to shop our Amazon links than now.

RECENTLY:

 

Category: Amazon

FMJRA 2.0: Day Late & A Dollar Short

Posted on | December 15, 2013 | 16 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Were Vassar Students Who Perpetrated Hate Hoax Linked to Another Injustice?

Grabbing the Other End of the Rope

After Nine Long Years, Media Matters Declares Victory in ‘War on Fox News’

Ed Schultz Goes Way Off-Message

Transformation Complete, Charles Johnson Denounces Ronald Reagan

Rule 5 Sunday: Slow Turning

Taxpayers Lose $10.5 Billion on UAW Bailout; Does @DavidCookTFP Care?

Disapprove of Gay Sex With Teenagers? ‘In That Case Just Shut Your Mouth’

FMJRA 2.0: Drivin’

Flipping The Benghazi Bird

Rocky Horror Elementary School

LIVE AT FIVESIX: 12.09.13

Read @JosephCurl: Because Facts Matter

To Answer Your Question, Seth …

What, If Anything, Does the @MikeElk Meltdown Prove About the Left?

Harry Reid’s Game

Because @MikeElk Deserves a Reply

Now @MikeElk Calls @betsyscribeindc a ‘Racist,’ Because … Journalism!

Have You Forgotten?

LIVE AT FIVE: 12.11.13

A Scoop That Was Not a Scoop: The ‘Spying on Gamers’ Story Is Old News

Shorter Ryan: I’m Gonna Kick Tomorrow

Women: Is It Possible You’re Entirely Too Self-Conscious and Judgmental?

‘Misogyny’! If You RT This, Will @CCriadoPerez Report Your Account?

Anonymous Compares Bradley Manning to Nelson Mandela (Irony Alert)

LIVE AT FIVE: 12.12.13

Michigan Union: Teachers Still Have a Right to Benefits After Boning Teenagers

Cravers of Boy-Flesh: Yet Another Sad Example of a Disturbing Trend

‘Hundreds of Videos Depicting Underage Boys … in Sexually Explicit Conduct’

Christian Groups Ask Pentagon to End Connection to ‘Anti-Christian’ SPLC

World’s Youngest Blogger: #ObamaCare Metaphor? Dad, This Is A Fashion Atrocity

LIVE AT FIVE: 12.13.13

To the Troll at IP 178.20.55.18

Remember: ‘Climate’ Is Not ‘Weather’ (Unless Scientists Tell Us It Is)

Schizophrenic Criminal Faker Making Meaningless Gestures? Hmmm …

You Stay Classy, LGF

Homegrown Jihadi Caught in Bomb Plot; GOP-Hating Kid Is School Shooter

Top linkers this week:

  1. Batshit Crazy News 33+ (includes 13+ from EBL, mercy rule invoked)
  2. Dead Citizens Rights Society 23 (includes 2 from Dead Republican Party)
  3. Regular Right Guy 16
  4. DaleyGator 7
  5. (tied) American Political Blogs and Da Tech Guy @5

Thanks to everyone for their linkagery! Deadline to submit links for next week’s FMJRA is noon on Saturday, December 21.


Actually, the least stressful thing would be to let me deal with your taxes. 🙂

Category: FMJRA Award

Obama’s Millionaire ‘Green’ Ambassador to Finland Mocks Critics in Holiday Card

Posted on | December 15, 2013 | 44 Comments

Bruce Oreck is a lawyer who got rich from his family’s famous vacuum cleaner business. He is an environmentalist who gave about a quarter-million to Democrats in the past two decades and who “bundled” about a half-million in contributions to Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. Oreck was rewarded with the ambassadorship to Finland:

In 2003, Ambassador and Mrs. Oreck founded the Zero Carbon Initiative which is committed to implementing both experimental and off-the-shelf technologies in the built environment, not just to reduce but to offset greenhouse gas emissions.

Why Finland? Does the name “Fisker Karma” ring a bell?

“Green” parties are a major force in Scandinavian politics, and the Fisker Karma — designed in Denmark and built in Finland — was one result of such environmentalist enthusiasms. Unfortunately, the company burned through more than a billion dollars, built fewer than 2,500 cars, losing $35,000 on each one it built, and did so with the help of a huge loan from Obama’s Department of Energy:

In September 2009, Fisker won a $529 million loan from the Energy Department to develop the Karma and build a second model in the United States. The financing came as part of a broader Obama administration effort to shore up employment in the recession-ravaged auto industry and improve the fuel efficiency of the U.S. auto fleet by extending government loans to so-called green-energy initiatives.
A month later, Fisker agreed to buy an idle General Motors factory in Delaware for about $20 million. The government loan approval was a welcome relief for Fisker, which was hurting for cash by late that summer and eager to raise more money from investors, according to an email from [Fisker executive Barney] Koehler.
“We are oversubscribed in this equity round with the Energy Department support — and nowhere without it,” Koehler said in an August 2009 email to Energy Department officials.
The announcement triggered a flood of investor interest in Fisker. The company raised some $600 million before it ever sold a car.

Tundra Tabloids has provided extensive coverage of Bruce Oreck’s ambassadorship to Finland for the past four years, and has suggested that Oreck is exploiting his post to develop business contacts with Finland’s “green technology” sector.

So last Christmas, Oreck — who is, among other things, an amateur bodybuilder — sparked controversy by sending out a Christmas card in which he displayed his muscular left bicep. And this year, Oreck decided to mock his critics by sending a card with a photo of himself posing with four naked men in a Finnish sauna. Eric Dondero at Libertarian Republican says this is all over the news in Finland:

Alyssa Newcomb of ABC News says this is “hilarious.”

Perhaps you disagree. She’s @AlyssaNewcomb on Twitter.

 

Category: Corruption, Environmentalism, Finland, Scandal, Uncategorized
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