If there was anyone likely to endure the bloodbath at the Washington Times, it seemed like the award-winning religion writer Julia Duin would be that person. At a paper once considered the house organ of the social conservative movement, Duin has a Rolodex full of social conservative movers-and-shakers and her coverage was seen as especially friendly to traditional Christians.

Here’s a trick, for those of you flying on those quaint old-fashioned airlines that still don’t have wifi: Make sure your Tweetdeck is locked and loaded with all sorts of juice before you get on a plane, and then spend the next hour or so catching up with the 140-character brilliance of those you follow. That’s what I did this morning as I flew back home from Toronto (and boy are my arms tired! Wa-wa) – and as I found myself making mental notes to retweet a few when on the ground, I thought, why not a group retweet?

At the end of last week, Washington Post reporter Ian Shapira wrote a profile of a niche consultant — a “generational guru” — who teaches clients to communicate with members of different generations. Later that day, Gawker’s Hamilton Nolan picked up the story, snarked it down, added a few links — one at the top, one at the bottom — and posted it. Business as usual, right? Wrong.