Outfoxed and a general update

Last night dag29580863 and I saw Outfoxed together, but at different movie theaters (and with a 14-minute time difference). We SMSed each other throughout the movie and talked over the phone about it afterward. The Fox footage in the movie was quite shocking to me, since I've watched so little television in the last eight years. I've certainly seen tactics such as "muddying the waters," cheap sensationalism, and name-calling in print journalism, but not as blatant and virulent! ... It's not clear to me what Rupert Murdoch's motivations for his rightward sway are, though. In the beginning, they described him as a Reagan-lover, then they said that sensationalist journalism is just cheaper, and then they went on to say that large businesses naturally tend toward corruption and more consolidation of power. So is the conservative spin simply a reflection of Murdoch's own political views, or is it a matter or corporate greed, or both, or neither?

Today I've been following up on research ideas, reading some papers, and working on our new apartment, which is still pretty disorganized. I put up hooks for the bikes, did laundry (the washers at the place on the corner are almost twice the cost of other washers, but the dryers are free), re-potted houseplants, tidied up, and thought about where the furniture we're getting on Friday will go. dag29580863 advised me to do paper prototypes of the room layouts, but I think the mock-ups in my head will do. :~) darthabsinthe and bain_easag drive in tonight to visit us (and to go to SOLfest), so the place has to be at least reasonably clean.

( A couple of competition photos )