* There are no doubt employees of CNN.com whose sole job it is to write the bullet points for news articles.
* Some of them probably view their jobs as the first step to a big career in journalism, and others among them likely consider their jobs to be a living hell.
* I hope the latter group do not own handguns.
* Edward Tufte is spinning
* In his grave
* He's not dead, though.
2 is funny, though i have no idea who is he
if i knew would it become funnier?
may be should look up who was/is he
"They think we're idiots."
well, you are reading CNN.
2. The author of The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
* Tufte is a critic of the practice of reducing ideas to bullet points.
* He wrote a whole book about it, The Congitive Style of PowerPoint
* He blames it for the Challenger disaster.
* "There's no bullet list like Stalin's bullet list!"
* The logical conclusion of this is to extend it to the op-ed pages;
* People who write op-eds like to appear clever and serious;
* Therefore all op-eds should be framed as though they were syllogisms.
i looked up, an influential statistician they say
it is becoming funnier and funnier
keep them coming, bullets
well, you are reading CNN.
I have no idea when they started doing this -- it could have been a long time ago. I never read CNN. They had the quickest-updating election returns so I read them for the first time in ages last night.
* What a great idea!
* Someone should add a bulleted summary of comment threads to the end of each post.
* This would help me filter out which ones to read.
I have been paid before to reduce a philosophy book to a similar bullet-pointed summary. Both hard and boring.
a bulleted summary of comment threads
*I think this.
*That's stupid and sexist.
*Cock cock cock.
12.
* Pwned!
* B is trolling
* You're all racists
(applies to all threads)
• Bullets simplify arguments.
• Guns shoot bullets.
• Guns simplify arguments.
*I know it's a lame gift, but Merry Christmas anyhow.
*OH NO, WAIT!
*Goddammit.
I have no idea when they started doing this
A while back, maybe even a year.
8 is great.
12:
* Food.
* Sex.
* Doctor, I'm afraid.
Why is this practice bad? Summarization has a number of problems, but has benefits too. What's so bad, e.g., with this CNN summary:
Story Highlights
# Obama takes Democratic caucuses with 38 percent, trailed by Edwards, Clinton
# Obama: "Change is coming to America; Clinton "ready for rest of campaign"
# Freshman Illinois senator wins among woman, young voters
# Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware, Chris Dodd of Connecticut drop out
20: they don't specify which woman he won among.
* What if bullet points
* became a new artform
* Like Haiku
(Do the asterisks count as syllables?)
Because I can shape an entire election narrative more easily with bullet points?
*Obama edges out Edwards, Clinton, in tight three way race
*Edwards looking ahead to New Hampshire
*Freshman Illinois Senator dependent on youth vote; trounced 3-1 by Clinton among elderly
*Richardson continuing to fight; Biden, Dodd drop out
7: In Soviet Union, list bullets you !
Nuance? Complexity? We don't need no stinkin' analysis!
Nuance? Complexity? We don't need no stinkin' analysis!
* Nuance?
* Complexity?
* We don't need no stinkin' analysis!
Powerpoint snobs like Tufte have obviously never had to sit through what happens when the same sort of person who gives a bad powerpoint presentation is forced to give a presentation without powerpoint.
*Iraq reconstruction
*Was planned
"On powerpoint slides
*My company
*Is considering
*"No PowerPoint Days"
* One joke
* Three bullets
* Are we part of the problem now?
* Mindless, dehumanizing tasks cited as increasing workplace stress, say experts.
* Handgun sales sharply up in metro Atlanta area.
* Fuck you, clown.
*Three bullet points walk into a bar
*Bartender says
*
*I like CNN's bullets.
*I don't think I'm an idiot.
*I could be wrong.
* What 28 said.
* Tufte is a clown.
* Damn beautiful books, though.
24:
*Guns don't kill campaigns
*Bullets do
*"Edwards loses Iowa"