July 21, 2012

Vast aquifer found in Namibia could last for centuries

20 July 2012 Last updated at 05:15 ET
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18875385?splash
Vast aquifer found in Namibia could last for centuries
By Matt McGrath Science reporter, BBC World

Pressure from the aquifer means the water is cheap to extract

A newly discovered water source in Namibia could have a major impact on development in the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa. Estimates suggest the aquifer could supply the north of the country for 400 years at current rates of consumption.

Scientists say the water is up to 10,000 years old but is cleaner to drink than many modern sources. However, there are concerns that unauthorised drilling could threaten the new supply.
For the people of northern Namibia water is something that they either have too much of or too little. The 800,000 people who live in the area depend for their drinking water on a 40-year-old canal that brings the scarce resource across the border from Angola.

snip

July 21, 2012

The Information Skills for the 24/7 News Cycle Age: An Analysis of the Reporting of #theatershooting

good article written by a teacher

http://geekreflection.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-information-skills-for-247-news.html?spref=fb
Friday, July 20, 2012

The Information Skills for the 24/7 News Cycle Age: An Analysis of the Reporting of #theatershooting
Abstract: an analysis of high-impact news stories and the 24 hour analysis-reporting cycle as it impacts the teaching of communications and information literacy.

I think the best description of the news-commentary-begets-more-news cycle I have heard came from Jon Stewart on the daily show. I looked (lightly) for the specific clip, but could not find it. If I do, I will be sure to link to it. Essentially: News Channel Reports factual data During the commentary/analysis period, the data is interpreted to draw a more meaningful/slanted conclusion to the benefit of the station, political bias, commentator, ratings, etc. During the next NEWS period, the conclusion is reported as breaking news about the original story citing experts, sources, etc.

This is one of the examples that we use in #digcit to discuss PLN bias and the need to be more savvy about news in the modern era than ever before.

Tragic News Reporting in a 24/7 World
When I woke up this morning, I had every intention of working on a blog post ranting on the House committee hearings to give "Highly Qualified" designation to Teach-for-America graduates or finish up my #bbw12 posts with thoughts on the last keynote...


but, when it rains, it pours.

The first item on my news-reader described the tragedy of the Colorado shooting at the premiere of "Dark Knight Rises" midnight showing -- details are still coming in about this awful event (which is part of the point) and I will leave it to others to assign blame and find meaning...that is for another day and more ambitious people than me.

snip

July 20, 2012

For all the people offering help to the victims in Aurora.

How about a special fund set up for the many injured who may have no health care to cover the cost?..ans for direct donations to the families of the ones who perished. Unexpected funerals are very expensive, and many people let insurance go when times get tough.

July 20, 2012

The Most Orwellian Voter ID Ad You've Ever Seen

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/07/10/the_most_orwellian_voter_id_ad_you_ve_ever_seen.html?wpisrc=obnetwork

By David Weigel

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Posted Tuesday, July 10, 2012, at 10:07 AM ET

&feature=player_embedded

On Sunday, Daniel Denvir broke the news that a Mitt Romney bundler, Chris Bravacos, had secured a contract to promote Pennsylvania's new Voter ID law. On Monday, the bundler's company, the Bravo Group, pulled its demo ads off of Vimeo. You should go and read the rest of Denvir's story for the details, and to understand the crooked veins of connections between donors and third-party groups and legislators. In the meantime, you can watch the first ad, rescued by a local Occupy group.

A law that builds a new hurdle for 9.2 percent of Pennsylvania voters is just like the Voting Rights Act that allowed disenfranchised blacks to go to the polls. It makes so much sense now!

July 20, 2012

How This Guy Lied His Way Into MSNBC, ABC News, The New York Times and More

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/07/18/how-this-guy-lied-his-way-into-msnbc-abc-news-the-new-york-times-and-more/


7/18/2012 @ 10:28AM |71,551 views
How This Guy Lied His Way Into MSNBC, ABC News, The New York Times and More

Ryan Holiday could be called an “expert.” As head of marketing for American Apparel, an online strategist for Tucker Max, and self-styled “media manipulator,” he can talk social media and modern advertising with the best of them – he’s done so both online and in print on countless occasions. He is not an expert in barefoot running, investing, vinyl records, or insomnia. But he is a liar. With a little creative use of the internet, he’s been quoted in news sources from small blogs to the most reputable outlets in the country talking about all of those things. Holiday, 25 years old and based in New Orleans, mostly wanted to see if it could be done. He had been getting blogs to write what he wanted for years, and had developed a sense of how stories were put together in the internet age. He thought he could push the envelope a bit further.

“I knew that bloggers would print anything, so I thought, what if, as an experiment, I tried to prove that they will literally print anything?” he says. “Instead of trying to get press to benefit myself, I just wanted to get any press for any reason as a joke.” He used Help a Reporter Out (HARO), a free service that puts sources in touch with reporters. Basically, a reporter sends a query, and a slew of people wanting to comment on the story email back. He decided to respond to each and every query he got, whether or not he knew anything about the topic. He didn’t even do it himself — he enlisted an assistant to use his name in order to field as many requests as humanly possible. He expected it to take a few months of meticulous navigation, but he found himself with more requests than he could handle in a matter of weeks. On Reuters, he became the poster child for “Generation Yikes.” On ABC News, he was one of a new breed of long-suffering insomniacs. At CBS, he made up an embarrassing office story, at MSNBC he pretended someone sneezed on him while working at Burger King. At Manitouboats.com, he offered helpful tips for winterizing your boat. The capstone came in the form of a New York Times piece on vinyl records — naturally, Holiday doesn’t collect vinyl records.

snip

Lying to journalists is nothing new. People have swindled newspapers for free publicity long before tools like HARO even existed. Holiday is probing just how easy it can be in 2012. HARO Founder Peter Shankman notes that anyone abusing the system can be flagged and banned, and ultimately, the service is just a tool, and should be subject to all the same old rules of journalism. “As a journalist, it’s always been your job to do your research and check the source, whether you find that source on the street, on Craigslist or on HARO,” he says. “If you’re not doing that, you’re not doing your job however you find the source.”

snip

Holiday does it for the attention, the opportunity to point out some of the excesses of the modern blogosphere, and the lulz. Empires will not fall because he claimed someone once sneezed on him. Still, it gives one reason to stop and think about what the quest for traffic and eyeballs does to news. Depending on how you look at it, stunts like this either erode the trust a reader has in a publication, or point out that it may have been misplaced to begin with. It’s not a big leap to imagine somebody using those same tools for more nefarious purposes. “A well made article and a poorly made article both do clicks the same way,” says Holiday. “There’s no incentive to do good work. We know that quotas make cops do sh***y things, or academic admissions offices do sh**ty things, and they make bloggers do sh***y things too.”

July 19, 2012

Republicans, Democrats Can't Even Agree On Coffee

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/republicans-democrats-agree-coffee/story?id=16581674#.UAhbBaCG5ac








By AMY BINGHAM (@Amy_Bingham)
June 18, 2012

Trying to escape the partisan bickering and political pandering that is dominating this election season? Good luck. Those party lines may extend much farther than you think.

From choosing where to get that morning coffee fix to which car you bought to get you there, your political party association may be driving those purchase decisions.

Republicans, for example, are more likely to head to Dunkin' Donuts for their daily cup of Joe, while Democrats are more inclined to get their caffeine fix from Starbucks, according to a study released this week by the neuro-insight firm Buyology.


snip

July 19, 2012

What could possibly go wrong?..One from the Super-Fail file

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/07/17/woman-tries-to-ride-motorized-scooter-up-mbta-escalator/
BOSTON (CBS) – A woman on a motorized scooter fell down an escalator on the MBTA last week.

On Friday, the 56-year-old woman from South Boston was attempting to ride her scooter up an escalator at the Broadway MBTA Station, but flipped over a couple times and fell down.

Surveillance cameras showed other passengers and MBTA workers rushing to her aid.

She managed to walk away from the incident.

The MBTA is installing more surveillance cameras throughout the system to help passengers and alert them to accidents like this one.

Officials hope that adding more cameras will also help cut down on crime.

July 19, 2012

Border patrol applicant admits to molestation, bestiality in job interview..(Arizona)

http://www.wlsam.com/Article.asp?id=2495715

Posted: 7/18/2012 7:11:54 AM
Updated: 7/18/2012 8:21:38 AM


Border patrol applicant admits to molestation, bestiality in job interview

YUMA, Ariz. - Cody Slaughter may have been a little too forthcoming while interviewing for a job with the border patrol. The 22-year-old from Somerton, Ariz., was arrested last week after U.S. Customs and Border Protection notified the Yuma County Sheriff's Office (YCSO) that during a July 2 "pre-employment screening" Slaughter admitted that he had molested a 2-year-old girl eight years ago, had sexual interactions with a dog, horse and pig, and had a history of drug use. Slaughter later confirmed his statements to sheriff investigators, YCSO Maj. Leon Wilmot said in a police report.

Slaughter was arrested on charges of one count of criminal sexual conduct with a minor when he was 14 and three counts of bestiality between 2004 and 2012, but he was released on July 10 because the Yuma County Attorney's Office had not yet filed criminal charges against him.

snip

The state has one year to file a misdemeanor charge and up to seven years to file other charges, Lozano said, according to the Sun.

Slaughter did not respond to multiple calls placed on Monday and Tuesday.

July 19, 2012

Denied Nickelodeon, DirecTV’s Youngest Clients Find Substitutes

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/business/media/dispute-with-directv-aids-viacoms-rivals-in-childrens-programming.html


By BRIAN STELTER
Published: July 18, 2012

Threats of television programming blackouts have become begrudgingly accepted by adults who know what these financial fights are all about. But children accustomed to their daily dose of SpongeBob SquarePants are proving to be a bit more restless. For the second week, Nickelodeon and its two smaller siblings Nick Jr. and Nicktoons, owned by Viacom, have disappeared from DirecTV’s lineup, affecting would-be viewers across the country. The two companies have not been able to agree on the amount of money that Viacom should receive from DirecTV for a bundle of its channels, including Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central. For the Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, the Hub and Sprout, it is the equivalent of a baby boom after a hurricane or a snowstorm. After all, while adults may have 500 channels at home, children only have a handful to choose from.

“The first two days were rough on my toddler,” Mary Pedone Howard wrote on the Facebook wall for Viacom, where hundreds have posted angry rants against the company (and against DirecTV). Now, though, when it is TV time, she said her daughter asks for the Disney Channel instead. “Leave it to a 3-year-old to show mom that adaptation is a great thing,” she wrote. It will take months to determine whether there are long-term effects to this “forced sampling,” as another irritated parent, Brian Chisholm, called it on Facebook.

First, the blackout has to end, and on Wednesday, there was no new sign of light. On Wednesday afternoon Derek Chang, an executive vice president of DirecTV, said that “we’re exchanging ideas” with Viacom in “multiple calls every day.” But Denise Denson, his counterpart at Viacom, said in a telephone interview a few minutes later that the two companies were at an impasse. Her daily calls with Mr. Chang, she said, are short and insubstantial. “We don’t see an end in sight to the blackout,” she said. Blackouts of cable channels are rare, and when they do happen, they tend to be resolved within hours, not days.

“I’ve never seen a situation like this. The outage has lasted so long and it’s so broad,” said Sandy Wax, the president of Sprout, a channel for children backed by NBCUniversal and the Public Broadcasting Service. DirecTV made Sprout, which was already available to most of its subscribers, available to all after the blackout started. “We don’t relish this happening to anyone,” Ms. Wax said in an interview. But “the idea that more customers are going to be able to sample us,” she admitted, “that’s a positive for us.”

She added, “Hopefully they’ll come back after all the dust settles.”

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July 18, 2012

"When he came to the US...."------Sunununnununununun-nu

When Obama came to the US, he was a NEWBORN.......born in the yoooooooessssaaaay

When he was a little boy he TRAVELED abroad with his mother, and then came BACK to his home country (Hawaii IS in the yooooesssaaaay).. He was an elementary student...NOT a "socialist community organizer"...