Category: Media

This news headline on local TV channel CBS8 proves the OB Rag is not the only news site that needs a proof reader. (The Rag is notorious for needing its posts proof read.)

This headline says Councilmember Cabrillo wants something to happen. Trouble is, there is no councilmember named “Cabrillo”. We do have a Cabrillo Monument and numerous other things named after the Spanish explorer and conquistador. But no one by that name on the city council.

Surfer Today / December 19, 2023

Progress and technology are often associated with quality of life and happiness, but they sure come with more or less various downsides.
Throughout the history of surfing, beach surf cameras have always been the subject of love-hate discussions and some serious attacks on private property.

By beach cams, we mean video cameras installed near beaches and surf spots seldom pointed toward the best wave peaks.

Back in the day, in the pre-Information Age (roughly before the 1950s), apart from tides, surfers knew little about what to expect from the ocean.

Here’s San Diego Magazine’s Neighborhood Guide to Ocean Beach – “Where to shop, eat, and play in the bohemian beach town,” (unedited) by Lili Kim.

Ocean Beach is the quintessential laid-back, free-spirited California beach town. While much of its retro culture has persisted through the decades, OB has also welcomed many modern restaurants, bars, and shops, attracting a new generation of food lovers and sandy surfers.

Here’s where to chow down, hang out, and gear up next time you’re wandering Newport Avenue and its nearby streets.

Part 1

By Frank Gormlie (Updated version of original published 10 years ago)

It’s been 60 years since the end of Camelot and we are told it was the end of the “idealism of the Sixties”.

Well, it has been sixty years, and it’s been 60 years of the Big Lie – the Big Lie that Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman, and that Kennedy’s killer was then killed himself – which wraps it all up rather nicely, – case closed. The Big Lie is the Warren Commission Report – and all its apologists and defenders.

I could be imaging things, but today’s — Monday, Nov. 13 — San Diego Union-Tribune was the slimmest I have ever seen it. (Actually, I view the U-T online, so it was “short”.) 32 pages online.

Now, it’s true that the Monday edition is slimmer than most days as it follows the blockbuster Sunday edition. But still … it’s a sign that it’s getting bad.

Other San Diego media outlets have raised recent concerns about the future and direction of the U-T after its purchase last July by the New York-based hedge fund Alden Global Capital from biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong.

About a week ago, the San Diego online news platform, inewsource, announced that former San Diego U-T cartoonist Steve Breen was joining its staff.
In its announcement, inewsource stated:

Steve worked for the San Diego Union-Tribune for more than 20 years, practicing an art form that explained, questioned and poked fun at newsworthy occurrences, from local to global. He left the paper as part of the exodus when Alden Global Capital bought it a few months ago.

 Only one thing can save us from predatory AIs: our own data

by John Robb and Jacob Siegel / Tablet / Sept. 25, 2023

As Hollywood recycles comic book remakes with funding from China, the once-great cultural capital appears to be in a state of steep decline. But in one area, at least, the movie industry is offering a bold and inspiring vision for the future. The writers and actors who went on strike to prevent studio owners from using artificial intelligence (AI) to exploit and expropriate their work are on the front lines of a new data war triggered by the explosive growth of AI. This past July, Fran Drescher, former star of the popular sitcom The Nanny, and now president of the SAG-AFTRA union,

Beginning today, Friday, September 29, OB Rag administrators will enforce the Comment Policy that has been on the books since 2010. We hope this will keep out the trolls. Commenters who’ve been making comments here for weeks, months or longer will not be affected.

By Charis Johnston / LomaBeat.com / Sept. 20, 2023

Warning: The following contains spoilers for “Barbie”

Among the millions of moviegoers who attended a screening of director Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” were Point Loma Nazarene University political science professors Lindsey Lupo, Amy Nantkes and Linda Beail. The three viewed the record-breaking film together on July 25.

“The fact that Greta Gerwig is now the first woman director to have a billion dollar movie is so huge; it’s just incredibly important,” said Linda Beail, professor of political science

The OB Rag fundraising campaign which we began on Friday is over three-quarters to our goal of $1500!

Help us make the rest today.

And help us hold San Diego politicians accountable. Somebody has to keep pushing for transparency in our city government. And county.

It’s August which means it’s the OB Rag’s annual summer fundraising campaign!

Help us reach this summer’s goal of $1,500. We do have bills — we have a yearly $600 server payment and we pay many of our reporters and writers a small stipend.

And, of course, with the recent sale of the San Diego U-T to a hedge fund, local journalism is all the more important.

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