Other News Exists! Lessig, Lost, Lying and Loans

• "But while Lessig wryly notes that the RIAA and MPAA 'won't be excited to have an opponent of extremist copyright legislation in Congress,' he also stresses that a congressional run would not be some kind of crusading extension of his work on 'free culture.' For Lessig, the central policy question will be, 'Who ultimately controls innovation on the Internet? That's the net neutrality fight; that's the open spectrum fight.'" [Ars Technica]

• "Instead of addressing the central mysteries, the [Iraq War/"Lost"] trailed off on what appeared to many be red herrings. New mysteries developed, and the old ones were ignored, or obliquely referenced. When critics brought up these questions, they were either dismissed or assured that, yes, they would eventually be answered (although likely in a different way than initially promised), but anyone who expected answers to come so quickly was impatient, unwilling to see the story [of the Iraq War/"Lost"] through to its end. Appeals by devotees to stick with the [Iraq War/"Lost"] were made in large part on the basis of trust in its creators rather than on empirical, in-[war/show] evidence that it was moving toward a satisfying conclusion." [Daily Dish]

• "News shows often have an implicit bias that may motivate the portrayal of facts and opinions in misleading ways, even if the information presented is largely accurate. Nevertheless, by becoming familiar with how spokespeople can create false impressions, media consumers can learn to ignore certain claims and thereby avoid getting duped. We have detected two general types of fallacies—one of them well known and the other newly identified—that have permeated discussion of the Iraq War and that are generally ubiquitous in political debates and other discourse." [SciAm]

• "Before abandoning his bid to become president, Mitt Romney put in at least $42.3 million of his own money, a big chunk of the $97 million he spent on the campaign," [BG]