Boston 'n Bits
A few quick things from Boston and the Democratic National Convention that have nothing to do with online news:
It's been unbearably cold in the two-story "media pavillion" in which Squared and his colleagues are holed up. The pavillion is a big temporary building with a tent top and the A/C is just howling. "Greetings from the meat locker," Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn weblog said on Saturday. Squared is feeling a twinge of guilt about this; the Boston-based construction company for which his brother-in-law is a manager apparently built the chillers that are trying to freeze us. (A little warmer today, by the way. Not that you probably really care).
When the media isn't whining about the chill in the pavillion, it has been abuzz about the lack of "facilities" for those in the tent. An inelegant line of 20 blue porta-potties is set up for us -- a purported ratio of 60-1. The Boston Globe has written about this ("tongues clucked when they saw the restroom facilities"); a New England Cable Network reporter declared "The Central Artery won't be the only thing clogged this week;'
and Squared's wife even mentioned this last night in a call back home. We can report that the reality is there was no waiting at any point yesterday. By the end of the day things weren't exactly perfume-scented inside those puppies, but for the squeamish, there is actual indoor plumbing a few steps away in the Fleet Center.
Things you can't bring into the secure area around the Fleet Center: "sharp sticks" (makes sense, right) and umbrellas (makes no sense, r ight?). Paul Muth of the Shared News staff figures this somehow involves security trying t foil an evil plot by The Penguin.
For the record, the Fleet Center is named after a bank, not the enema product, Charles Madigan of the Chicago Tribune discloses.
Shhhh. Don't tell Brigid or Gerry this. "The fact that 15,000 journalists are going to the convention is the best evidence that their bosses have absolutely no news judgment." (Jeff Jarvis on Buzzmachine.com)