jonesin' for brain candy?

...But then again, she's weird, and she knows a lot of bad people.

"I want to be
the girl with
the most URLs."

subscribe to poprocks.com

who?

Jess Barron
Los Angeles, California

I do web stuff

thoughts on the past and future of online journalism

Does Online Journalism Have a Future? -- share your thoughts

e a r c a n d y :

1. A guy who I don't know named Jeremy Abbate saw my website and wrote a song called "I Wanna Be As Cool As Jessica Barron". Another person in New York emailed the MP3 to me in Nov. 2004. The narcissist in me loves the lyrics and the song itself is pretty darn catchy. Don't you think?

2. In 2005 I had a weekly radio show on Pirate Cat Radio 87.9 FM in San Francisco from 6-8p.m. on Friday nights. You can listen online from anywhere in the world. Or just check out our podcast.

3. Also, listen to my LAUNCHcast station

Be my friendster?

Some accomplishments

Who's on Top in 2006?

Goodbye 'Portal Shortall'

Elex Success!

Turning Away from Jackson's Breasts for a Moment.....

The Politics of Searching...

Photos and Video -- Halloween 2006 in Los Angeles

Halloweens I Have Known

You Haven't Lived Until You've Seen a Very Pregnan...

That's Right, I'm Very Knowledgeable About Purses ...

New Year's Eve 2005 pics

Mici's pics from the Pirate Cat Party (12/04/04)

Los Angeles (11/27/04)

2004 U.S. Presidential Election (inside Yahoo! newsroom) (11/02/04)

London (11/15/04)

Allyson's photos from our London trip (11/22/04)

Halloween 2004

Oregon beach house weekend for Esther's birthday (10/22/04)

Simone and David's wedding at Fairytale Land in Oakland(08/01/04)

Owen's 30th birthday (05/01/04)

Mirror Project Gallery, "The Make-up Mirror"

Daniel's birthday suprise party (04/23/04)

live band karaoke at El Rio (04/10/04)

August's closing party at Ebb Tide(02/27/04)

valentine's day weekend in NYC(02/16/04)

nice day, new convertible(02/08/04)

nostalgia for the present (02/02/04)

my 30th birthday(01/04)

August's art opening at Ebb Tide (01/03/04)

Jeff's 30th birthday (12/20/03)

pics from Yahoo Holiday Party 2003 with The Flaming Lips (12/12/03)

Nathan's band, the cables(11/15/03)

pics from Burning Man 2003(09/03)

photos from Burning Man 2002 (09/17/02)

pics from Allyson's wedding(09/03)

Cali Convertible Adventures with Nemesis(ter)(07/03)

Allyson's bachelorette party(07/04/03)

Dogpatch Sunrise - There are some visual benefits to waking up at 6a.m. when you live by the San Francisco Bay. (04/11/03)

Kicking it with Frank the KJ (04/05/03)

Bad Pioneer weekend - riding horses in Hollywood and swimming with dolphins in Malibu (02/14/03)

Dat Ass - hip-hop and ghetto tech party, SF, CA (01/25/03)

Jeno spins at House Plant - Oakland, CA (01/17/03)

Halloween Costumes at Yahoo! and in the Castro (10/31/02)

pics from Portland (10/26/03)

the story I told at Fray Day 6 in SF (09/23/02)

What is YOUR Anti-Drug? (09/16/02)

ugly kids (08/19/02)

Save poprocks.com

Picking Blackberries (07/12/02)

she said, she said (06/28/02)

The Phoenix Festival (07/10/02)

Photos from my SXSW road-trip (05/01/02)

off-site:
Esther

Allyson

Lana

Mary

Jen

Leanne

Fruitcake Brigade

Sarah

re-runs:

love letter to los angeles (11/09/01)

pics from Scuba with Migual Migs (08/11/01)

robots and warehouses in my SF neighborhood (06/19/01)

My pics from Burning Man 2001

My pics from Burning Man 2000

My journal from Burning Man '99

Meeting Monica Lewinsky (11/15/99)

What was Diane Sawyer really like? (11/17/95)

Turkish Delights (09/08/95)

The Scatman in Greece's Modern Ruins (08/26/95)

Caught in a Mosh (10/94)

Montreal Stripped Down (08/01/94)

sophomore year spring break in Russia (04/08/94)

conversationskill: a real life mellow-drama of Vassar students abroad in Russia (04/08/94)

pics from the Russia trip (04/08/94)

sophomore year road-trip to Mardi Gras (02/12/94)

Take a Bite of Me:
3.18.2005

What goes through my head when I'm doing my job at Yahoo! and I put up the headlines about Terri Schiavo...

A few months ago, my mom asked me to sign some official papers saying that I am her health care proxy if she is ever unable to speak for herself in the hospital. She told me she doesn't want "to be kept alive by machines" if something happens and her health is compromised.

This document is helpful because it means my mom and I spoke about this topic, and that I "understand her wishes."

I agree with her that this is what I would also want for myself in such a circumstance. However, I also think it's easy to say that you believe in this as an idea or a concept; I can't fathom how difficult it must be to make these decisions when something tragic actually happens.

For instance, if my mom was ever in a coma and on life support systems from an accident, would I be able to tell the doctors to unplug her from the machines?

Further complicating the issue, the younger brother of one of my friends was in a coma after an accident a few months back. Several of the doctors at the time said that his prognosis for recovery was very slim. Months later, he has slowly been making progress -- though he still requires a ton of hospital care and rehabilitation.

I feel so terrible for all of these families involved in these rough cases.

I also feel terrible for Terri Schiavo who will be remembered by like this rather than by who she was in the photos that were taken of her before the brain damaging incident occurred.

Further complicating my feelings on Terri Schiavo, is that in the pre-1990 pretty photos of her -- she had been struggling with an eating disorder that some doctors say caused the very chemical imbalance that gave her this brain damage in the first place. So, was she ever really "OK"? And honestly, are any of us ever?

3.11.2005

Rules for Employees Traveling Together

In order to contain the potential loss and disruption associated with a catastrophic accident, Yahoo!'s policy is to limit the number and mix of key employees who travel together and are placed at risk. This applies to airline flights, trains, cars and any other mode of transportation.

No more than any combination of three (3) Executive Vice Presidents, Founders and/or Board of Directors may travel together.

No two (2) founders may travel together.

No more than three (3) immediate subordinates may travel with each Vice President or Board of Directors.

No more than half of a business unit / department may travel together.

No more than twenty (20) employees may travel together.

I'm about to jump on a plane to LAX with the entire Yahoo! Full Coverage team (except Molly). You have seen The Full Coverage team's handiwork if you ever view the headlines underneath the "In The News" heading on yahoo.com. Yes, as I have pointed out in the past many times, actual humans choose our news stories. It ensures that the news mix and relevance is better quality than than what can be found on computer-generated headlines found on some other competitor websites. Anyway, please do not tell the folks at Google News that we are all travelling together.

We will be spending the weeking at the Loew's in Santa Monica to see the new Yahoo! Media Center and to look for housing.

Luckily, there are no rules in the company handbook limiting how many employees may drink together.

3.10.2005

The Fear of Clowns

Today the Ask Yahoo! team tackled the question I sent them about my friends' fear of clowns. I think I first realized that this existed back in 4th or 5th grade when I would have slumber parties at my house, and all the girls would be afraid of my clown marionette hanging from the ceiling. Or maybe it was in 8th grade when my friend Kim and I were both reading Stephen King's 'It'. Anyway, pretty much everyone I know is afraid of clowns.

According to the gods of Ask Yahoo!:

3.05.2005

Very Important Commentary

As she points out in her blog, Allyson wrote a piece of very important commentary on a very important topic for the Yahoo! Buzz Log.

3.04.2005

Gavin, Give Us a Call

We're doing the radio show tonight from 6-8p.m PST. Tune in online or at 87.9 on your FM dial in San Fran-silly. Tonight's topics will include tales of hook-ups on waterbeds, Martha Stewart and male fantasies about women's prisons, and songs that made young girls cry in 1986. Also, we're hoping Jackson from SFist will call in again and tell us more stuff that cracks us up. And we're still waiting for our call from mayor Gavin Newsom. C'mon, if he's phoning Paris Hilton, he damn well better call us. Gavin -- call us on the studio line tonight: 415.401.7393. We promise we'll still respect you in the morning.

3.03.2005

Mongoose Posing as Ferret

Mindy posted her photos from our trip to St. Thomas the day she got back. It took me a little bit longer, but mine are also now available. We saw whales, wild donkeys, and a mongoose (which I incorrectly identified as a ferret!).

Are Blogs to Blame?

Tom Regan, who I met last month at Poynter, posted to his Christian Science Monitor blog called My American Experience a piece positing that Americans' news and information consumption is today largely made up of opinion pieces rather than actual reporting and that this has a very dangerous impact on public opinion. He points to a Harris Interactive Poll showing that 64% of Americans *still* think that Saddam Hussein had strong links to Al-Qaida. While I agree that Americans are consuming more opinion-influenced "news," and I do agree that blogs contribute to this somewhat -- I think that more of the blame in this case needs to be given to FOX News and conservative radio commentators. I just don't believe that any bloggers (right-wing or left-wing) have this huge of an influence on the opinion of the average American yet. For instance, is there any one blogger with readership over 1 million yet? (All the most influential newspapers in the U.S. have online readerships over 2 million). I would bet that the average American still does not read blogs regularly to get their news. Anyone agree/disagree? Add your comments at the end of Tom's post.

Last week I did also see an Op/Ed piece that editorial cartoonist Ted Rall wrote on "Bloggers and the New McCarthyism". Rall also focused on the danger of these right-wing blogs. It was interesting to me that Rall pretty much ignored that there are any non-right-wing blogs out there. Am I underestimating the "threat" of right-wing blogs?

3.02.2005

Lend Me Some Sugar (Ray). I Am Your Neighbor.

After all that smack I talked about Sugar Ray the other day, I hafta admit I had a good time, in spite of myself. The band had a sense of humor about the whole thing, and they put on a fun show.

As you can see, Bethany was *thrilled* to be in the front row. Melanie was pulled up onstage. Allyson and Rachana rocked out.
We were swooning like tipsy dot-commers from 1999. Eric even rapped onstage with Mark McGrath.
I was this close to Mark, but I fell for the bassist. The guitarist gave Melanie his guitar pick, and then we also got the bassist's shoe. (We returned it to him later.)

Dear poprocks fans, I'm really sorry if I let you down. I just sometimes can't resist having a really cheesy, silly good time. Your pal, Jess.

Go Yahoo!. It's Your Birthday.

Last night to celebrate Yahoo!'s 10th birthday, we launched an interactive "Netrospective" documenting the 100 most important moments on the web in the last 10 years. Go check it out.

Lucky you -- you get free ice cream and I get.. Sugar Ray. ;)

Speaking of which, I heard some gossip today at the office, that the entertainment planners were initially trying to book Pearl Jam to play at the birthday party. Now, that would've been interesting.

Finally, check out the online content blog Does Online Journalism Have a Future?, and post your comments.

She certainly has some crazy mixed-up:

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