• What Americans should fear is the possibility of an increasingly illegitimate regime continuing to control one of the most strategically important countries in the Mideast.
• Phoenix resident Max Mattern • In an article talking about his time in Egypt in the wake of the recent protests. Mattern was there studying as a Fulbright scholar, but the situation in the country has complicated those plans and put him in the middle of a major crisis zone. Mattern, writing in a piece for the Arizona Republic, says that the people of Egypt want change, but the protests are taking a lot out of them. “Although a sizable majority dislikes Mubarak and his policies,” he writes. “after a week of fear and violence they have had enough.” Mattern says that the protesters are sincere and have no evil plots to bring theocracy to the society. The current regime, however, troubles them. (thanks missmaestra, who has been covering her friend’s situation on Tumblr) source

• When we read yesterday that Newsday had a total of 35 subscribers to its paywall-riddled Web site, we wondered how this could be. How could only 35 people who weren’t subscribed to Cablevision or the print product say, “I’m paying Newsday $5 a week for some of the best damn journalism to be found on Long Island!” So, we decided to find out why. ShortFormBlog is now Customer No. 36.

Subscription notes:

• one They don’t bill you right away or ask for your credit card. Instead, Newsday.com staff contacts you afterwards. This is stupid.
• two You have to give them your phone number. And the registration thing is written as if you live in New York state. We live in D.C., dudes.
• three Newsday gives you a huge list of ways you can receive news from them. This includes e-mail and SMS alerts. We signed up; hey, we paid for it!

Review of Newsday’s signup process:

• C- it clearly doesn’t understand how online commerce works source

• A home run practice ball gets hit into the stands, and this guy with a camera conveniently catches it. Man, we wish we had that kind of randomness happen to us.source

• It happened so quick. The floor smushed up. It was lifted up. I saw the debris flying toward me. I was choking on the smoke.
• Brianna Milstead • A 17-year-old high school student who was in the colliding train’s front car when it crashed into a train held up by traffic. The train crashed spectacularly, raising the car Milstead was in on top of the other one and tearing out its floor. Another survivor in the center of the storm, Marcie Bacchus, 30, put it succinctly: “The front of the train just opened up.” • source