Michael Boyle — Page 333

John Robb

October 31, 2001 by Michael Boyle

of Userland Software believes that the USPS shoudn’t be saved. He writes, “Too many workers are in jobs that aren’t leveraged by computer automation” and later states that the postal service is resistant to automation.

According to recent data from the USPS and FedEx, the USPS looks damned efficient. They delivered 200 billion pieces of mail a year with, Robb cites, 300 thousand employees. FedEx delivered 526 million pieces with 215,000 employees. Even if all but 10% of the USPS traffic were addressed and unaddressed admail, that’s still a great deal more volume delivered than FedEx with only 85,000 more employees.

And the other Ed

October 30, 2001 by Michael Boyle

And the other Ed has been doing some truly inspired weblogging. “OK, maybe I’ve spent too much time with my face in someone else’s crotch, but I don’t find this offensive.” Yow. The picture is definitely worth a few thousand words.

Ed notes

October 30, 2001 by Michael Boyle

Ed notes that Byte Magazine is set to return in early 2002.

I have always

October 30, 2001 by Michael Boyle

been interested in the way that newspapers cover stories, not just the stories themselves. What’s the slant? Is a theme evident that is responding to a particularly important piece of news? What about bias (corporate or individual)? Things like that. The Organization of News Ombudsmen site looks like it might be a good addition to my media diet.

Jonathan Schell has written

October 27, 2001 by Michael Boyle

a brilliant article in his Letters From Ground Zero series: Annihilation and the Ways of Peace. “The world is sick. It cannot be cured with America’s new war. The ways of peace–adopted not as a distant goal but as a practical necessity in the present–are the only cure.”