Media: Silent Coup (2#) -

Is he a former member of the Argentinian Junta?

Is he wanted on an Interpol arrest warrant?

Mystery Man To Control Local Newspaper . . .

The Tribune in Chicago has announced that Avido Khahaifa has been appointed the Director of Content for both the Orlando Sentinel and the Fort Lauderdale Sentinel newspapers. Editor-in-Chief Earl Maucker will report directly to Khahaifa.

A search query last night produced nearly zilch.

WHO HE?

*****************************

Clay Shirky has produced
another thought-provoking essay:

The Collapse of Complex Business Models

...

Mez: Whirlwind Machine -

Meredith Kercher Murder Case -

In a newly published excerpt from Angel Face . . .

Barbie Nadeau reveals some of the
machinations behind the Media coverage of the case.

Nadeau herself - originally, just an observer/reporter - got sucked into the fiery funnel cloud swirling around Amanda Knox's transit from person of interest to suspect and, finally, to defendant.

:: The Daily Beast ::

...

Memos & Memorials (4#) -

An Unknown Zone: The enduring urban legend of Teamsters Labor Union boss Jimmy Hoffa being buried under the end zone at Giants Stadium in NJ gets another look before that facility's demolition which is scheduled for this spring.

A Mile Marker Memorial: Many people, especially women, disappear every year in South Florida. Some of them end up in canals. Nelta Jacques disappeared 11 years ago. Her submerged minivan was just pulled out of a canal near Mile Marker 31 along Alligator Alley. Human bones fell out of one of its windows.

# Writer Margaret Atwood posts a chatterific entry at NYRblog announcing that she has joined the Twitterati.

"So what’s it all about, this Twitter? ... Let’s just say it’s communication, and communication is something human beings like to do."

# A quick but amusing rundown of some
of today's April Fools' Day Media pranks.

...

Mez: Ripple Effect -

Meredith Kercher Murder Case -

Word is already getting around
about Barbie Nadeau's book - even in Italy . . .

Riccardo Stagliano at La Repubblica conducts a brief interview with Barbie Nadeau about the circumstances which led to her new book Angel Face and asks Nadeau about what seems to be the ongoing hagiography of Amanda Knox by a company in Seattle. Was Knox afforded due process?

Amanda Knox told her interrogators in the Perugia police
station that she had taken drugs and was having visions.

What do you suppose would happen to you if you
said that to the police in an American police station?

:: Interview ::
-- google translated --

...

Inside Dope (4#) -

What happened when they made cigarettes much
more expensive than heroin in the New York City area:

"In fact, kids can buy a small
bag of heroin for as little as $5."

# Qaeda Cult leader Skippy Bin Laden has issued
another bloviation, but is anyone still listening?

# U.S. officials scoff at
Osama bin Laden's latest remarks.

# Jihadi Cool at NPR.

...

Bookish: Undue Influences (7#) -

In the Fifties, some Scottish children developed a fear of the Gorbals Vampire, prompting their parents to search for the origins of that urban myth. American comic books such as Tales From The Crypt were blamed, resulting in the introduction of new laws to protect children from their influences.

:: The BBC is planning to broadcast a program
about this story on Tuesday, March 30th.

:: Christopher Fowler also posted an entry
about this story and added some context to it.

# The paranoid style: Robert Birnbaum blogs about
The 1970's and Strange Days Indeed by Francis Wheen.

:: Peter Carlson at the WaPo on this book, too.

# Cartoonist Jules Feiffer has produced
a book of memoirs called Backing Into Forward.

:: The Atlantic :: - - - :: The Forward ::

# Sherman Alexie has won the
PEN/Faulkner Fiction Prize for his
collection of short stories called War Dances.

...