Breaking News: Something Happening in Haiti

Breaking News: Something Happening In Haiti —Breaking News: Something Happening in Haiti (The Onion (Satire)) Great commentary on the accelerated news cycle. Similar:My semester with the snowflakesInsightful essay from a US Military vet …AcademiaMaking a villain's lair in #Blender3D (this weekend's relaxation)AestheticsIt will be harder to leave Facebook than it was to leave Twitter It was…

Seagull becomes crisp shoplifter

“At first I didn’t believe a seagull was capable of stealing crisps. But I saw it with my own eyes and I was surprised. He’s very good at it.” —Seagull becomes crisp shoplifter (BBC) Very strange. My brother-in-law Robert sent it to me. Similar:Manti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend, The Most Heartbreaking And Inspirational Story Of The Colleg…Great…

Statetris

—Statetris (mapmsg.com) Like Tetris, but with American states. Similar:What is a CRT and Why Don't We Use Them Anymore?I remember when I started seeing politic…AestheticsAnother 10 sq cm of #steampunk control panel goodness. #blender3dart #blender3dAestheticsIncoming Seton Hill Students Pick Up Their MacBooks and iPads TodayI find it impossible not to be cheerful …AcademiaAbove the ready-room desk…

Beginning Reporting

As I see it, a good reporter is like a pinball in play, always gathering, writing, revising, gathering, writing, revising–until time runs out. The job is as simple, and as hard, as that. The advice here is based on the teachings of reporters I admire. It is also based on conclusions I have drawn during…

Famous Poems Rewritten as Limericks

There once was a horse-riding chap Who took a trip in a cold snap He stopped in the snow But he soon had to go: He was miles away from a nap. —Lore Sjöberg —Famous Poems Rewritten as Limericks (Bad Gods) Similar:Classroom Vignette: MLA StyleStudent (shouldering backpack and headin…AcademiaMultiple Choice = GoogleNo big surprises here, but…

Echochrome – the Escher Game

—Echochrome – the Escher Game (YouTube, Via Game Girl Advance) What a hypnotically simple interface! This is a PSP game. Since I’m not a platform gamer, I’ll have to admire this one from afar. Similar:Shakespeare portrait said to be only one made in his lifetime on sale for £10m A portrait said to be the only…

AFP

A string of publishers failed to spot blatant plagiarism of one of English literature’s most famous authors, in a cheeky test to see if she would have secured a book deal today, a report said Thursday. David Lassman, head of the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, sent manuscripts to 18 editors seeking a publishing contract,…

Adventures in ostrich suits….

I never thought that I would spend my fifteen minutes of fame dressed as as ostrich. —Megan Ritter —Adventures in ostrich suits…. (Megan Ritter) A member of Seton Hill’s College Republicans posts a brief reflection on her appearance on a Time.com front-page feature, as one of the 10 weirdest YouTube questions posted for the upcoming Democratic…

What do ombudsmen do?

Interest in ombudsmen has increased in response to all the polls showing that readers do not hold newspapers in particularly high regard. This problem is hardly a novel one. Similar circumstances led Ralph Pulitzer to establish a Bureau of Accuracy and Fair Play at his New York World in 1913. According to a 1916 issue…

They Just Don't Care

And as far as I know, no other news outlet in the world got this point wrong except the BBC — not even the tabloids. People often accuse the BBC of agenda-driven falsification of stories. Perhaps that’s sometimes true, I don’t know. But in the cases of science mis-reporting that I’m familiar with — and…