Browsing Tag: news

    Miscellany

    Online journalism: still getting sources wrong in 2018

    October 1, 2018

    A radio station tweeted tonight about a story discussing how young kids are avoiding Apple’s “Screen Time” restrictions and spending more time on iPhones/iPads than their parents want them to.

    I clicked the link in the tweet. It took me to the radio station’s website where I read the article. At the end of the article, it listed Mashable as its source and linked to that version for more info.

    I clicked the link to read the article on Mashable. That article cited its source as The Next Web and linked to their version of the story.

    I clicked the link to read the article on The Next Web. That article cited Yahoo as its source and linked to their version of the story.

    I clicked the link to read the article on Yahoo. That article’s byline says it was sourced from Business Insider, but it didn’t link to the article on BI’s website.

    I went to BusinessInsider.com and looked for the article. It wasn’t on their home page but a quick search located it. Turns out this is where my hunt ended … I’d found the original article.

    To sum up, Business Insider published an article that spread across the internet, but a chain of other news sites that re-published their own versions of the story failed to cite the original source and gave credit to the sites that were just re-purposing the story.

    Ugh. This happened to us a lot when I was at Search Engine Land/Marketing Land/Martech Today, and it always frustrated me. We did a lot of original reporting and other sites did their own versions of our story. But then the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and other levels of coverage didn’t cite us as the source, but instead cited some article that had rewritten ours.

    It’s been going on for years like this. Wouldn’t it be great if there was some tool or service that made it easier to locate and credit the original sources of stories? A guy can dream, right? 🙂

    Miscellany

    Meteors Hitting Russia? WTF?

    February 14, 2013

    There are meteors hitting Russia right now and we’re somehow just finding out about it.

    Hey Science, this is the kind of sh** that I expect to know about months in advance. #fail

    Check out this one at the :12 mark when a meteor starts coming in view up in the sky.

    This one is similar, with the meteor coming down 10 seconds into the video. I’d have to pull the car over and start running the other way.

    Check out this one at the :27 mark. Holy %$#!!@#$!!!!!!

    I think the same explosion happens in this one right when the video starts.

    Incredible…….

    Tri-Cities, WA

    Entrepreneurial Idea #718: Make Crime Pay

    December 26, 2008

    In tough times like this, it seems some of our fellow Tri-Citians have found a novel way of making a few extra bucks: by turning in criminals.

    So far this year, Crime Stoppers has paid out $3,800 in rewards to 20 people, with $1,400 given just in October and November, said Mike Blatman, the law enforcement coordinator for Crime Stoppers.

    “It kind of fluctuates, but it is up,” Blatman said. “It’s largely because of the economy and the holidays.” …

    This year, reward money paid is about $1,200 above the average of $2,667 a year, Blatman said.

    Depending on your outlook, that’s either really creative or really desperate. Or maybe a little bit of both. 🙂

    Full story at the Herald web site.

    Miscellany

    Mortgage Crisis Didn’t Happen Overnight

    December 22, 2008

    From the New York Times in 1999:

    Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

    In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers.

    I think the problem actually goes back to the ’80s and the Reagan Administration, but have never seen any old articles referencing that.

    Tri-Cities, WA

    Pasco Pet Store Sells Sick Puppies

    July 30, 2008

    How does something like this happen?

    There’s a story in our local paper that talks about a Petland store in Pasco that recently sold four puppies that were sick with Parvo. Two of the four have died. Yikes!

    Here’s the part I don’t get:

    It’s unclear whether the puppies were infected at the store or before arriving in Pasco from a Midwest supplier, Washburn said. The local Petland no longer will take puppies from that supplier, she said.

    A Midwest supplier? I guess I never thought about it much, but … a Midwest supplier? So, like, there are dog factories and distribution chains just like we have with food, toys, furniture, auto parts, and everything else? Do they ship these dogs in big 18-wheelers, too? I’m not one of those animal freaks all of a sudden, but that just seems strange to me. But I suppose pet stores need (animal) inventory just like any other place….

    Still, when all of the animal shelters in the Tri-Cities are overflowing (wish I could find that link) with unwanted pets, what on earth are people doing buying dogs at a chain pet store that come from the Midwest?

    This whole thing is bizarre … maybe it’s just me?

    [where: 5109 N Road 68, Pasco, WA 99301]

    Miscellany

    Deja vu…

    February 15, 2005

    Today I discovered an absolutely fascinating article about Princeton’s “Global Consciousness Project”, and how a little, black box supposedly sensed the 9/11 and Asian tsunami tragedies before they happened.

    Yes, it sounds “far out”, and it is. Only a passing mention is given to the other side of the story — the “skeptics” as they say in this story.

    But this line toward the end got me thinking:

    “They might help provide a solid scientific grounding for such strange phenomena as ‘deja vu’, intuition and a host of other curiosities that we have all experienced from time to time.”

    Deja vu. Yeah. I get that. Not a lot, but once or twice a month probably, which I assume is about normal. Deja vu. The feeling that you’ve already experienced something. Sometimes my deja vu is SO VIVID that I know I experienced it already.

    Deja vu.

    And I can’t help but think: How do we, as a society, explain the concept of deja vu? How is it possible? Why do I not hear more about studies into the concept of deja vu? When we experience deja vu … what’s happening inside the brain?

    Not sure about the black box, but I’m fascinated by deja vu at this moment….