Donating blood through Facebook. The political return of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. The sex hormones in tap water. These are the top stories making headlines around the world.
Technology & Internet
Even blood donations are getting Web-ified. A new Facebook application signs up blood donors by asking for their blood type and alerting them to blood drives in their area, according to cgull. Looks like Facebook apps do more than just satisfy your Scrabble itch or promote ecommerce.
Many other tech and Net stories made headlines: an innovative security camera can detect weapons or explosives hidden under clothes from 25 meters away, Fortunesfool reported; a free 411 service created by Google is now available in Canada, cgull informed us (and a DigitalJournal.com test revealed it worked relatively well); defective iPods in Japan have been seen shooting sparks thanks to faulty batteries, Maverick wrote; music lovers can soon use a Sony record deck to transfer their LP tunes to MP3s, momentsintime discovered (but the turntable can’t fix scratches or skips); and speaking of Sony, its 11-inch OLED screen technology is thoroughly tested to find out if it can trump LCD-plasma TVs. Short answer: yes. Long answer: watch the video.
Politics
You know a political scandal has reached its peak when an entire phraseology is based around it: According to UrbanDictionary.com, “spitzer” can either mean to have sex with a prostitute or to destroy your career after a single bone-headed move, as in “Bob was on track to make regional manager until he spitzered himself.” Joking aside, it only makes sense that we give kudos to the first two citizen journalists to pull together info on the Spitzer-prostitution scandal while the media began its week-long frenzy. Susan Duclos provided several updates on her original story, while also remaining active in successive comments. And momentsintime gets our respect for being first to report on Spitzer, beating Susan by a nosehair.
And no hooker scandal would be complete without an up-close-and-personal account of the main gal in the spotlight. Citizen Journalists dug deep to find info on Spitzer’s “lady of the night,” born Ashley Dupre, nicknamed Kristen. Other articles can be found here and, for all your Penthouse fans, here.
What other political stories (beside the Spitzer saga) garnered attention on DigitalJournal.com? Hillary Clinton addressed provocative comments made by her former aide, Geraldine Ferraro, Can Tran wrote (yes, she resigned); Andre Carson is the second Muslim to win a seat in the House of Representatives, Cyber Pastor discovered; Dr. Jack Kevorkian is back and more politically motivated than ever, vowing to run for U.S. Congress, Susan Duclos wrote (and if you like healthy debates in comment threads, don’t miss the debate in this article); and a groundbreaking book by Naomi Wolf focused on the “series of principles of democracy which she sees being destroyed in America by political subversion,” as Wanderlaugh summarized. He gave her respect for raising an issue most American authors don’t have the guts to discuss openly.
World
Those generous Brits — the U.K. has agreed to provide an extra 3 million pounds ($5.9 million US) to assist with food aid in Afghanistan. As Bob Ewing explained: “The extra 3 million pounds from Britain brings the total amount of UK humanitarian aid to Afghanistan to 124 million pounds since 2001.”
If you don’t read the “international” section of your daily paper, then just go over these worldly stories: Jews who were expelled from Poland during World War II will have their citizenship restored, Can Tran found; more than 1,500 Kenyans are sick after a massive chemical spill struck the port of Kipevu, Planet Janet reported; President Bush accused Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez of squandering his country’s oil wealth to foment anti-Americanism, jxtra told us; a progressive park in Amsterdam will let people have sex on its hilly knolls, Susan Duclos said (just as long as condoms are trashed); and Angelique van Engelen published majestic photos of striped Antarctic icebergs that could be straight out of a CGI sketchbook. Debra Myers summed up our immediate reaction when she wrote: “Too cool!”
TopFinds Awards
It was the health scare heard around the U.S., and a Citizen Journalist was on it days before other mainstream media outlets got around to posting it. Susan Duclos wins this week’s TopJournalism Award for her outstanding work on revealing the many pharmaceuticals polluting the water supply of 41 million Americans. Everything from sex hormones to angina medicine to anti-epileptic meds were found in U.S. drinking water, prompting an EPA spokesperson to say, “We recognize it is a growing concern and we’re taking it very seriously.” Susan not only touched on the human health concerns in the U.S. — she spanned her coverage to investigate international water concerns and how the toxic H20 will affect wildlife. For publishing a thorough and well-written report, Susan Duclos deserves our collective tip o’ the hat.
“All wars require some sort of evolution, military and political. The political evolution has been very slow.” Guess which war is being referenced? OK, that was easy, the Iraq War. But which Citizen Journalist offered his opinion into the mixed blessings of the U.S. going to war overseas? If you picked Wanderlaugh, the winner of this week’s TopOpEd Award, then you win a donut. Once again, Wanderlaugh infused a piece on the U.S. role in Iraq with impressive logic, insight and international military knowledge. Several phrases jumped out, such as: “The [American’s] absurd approach of trying to make combat soldiers turn into policemen created more problems than it solved.” He didn’t just gripe about the stalemate in Iraq; he proposed several solutions to fighting the “disease” of terrorism as opposed to fighting the patients.
Poet Walt Whitman wrote, “My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach,” but was he seeing the future of video games? As Nathalie C reported in her TopTech Award-winning story, voice recognition technology is increasingly finding favour in modern video games. To provide a more immersive experiences, games such as Rock Band and Rainbow Six allows players to use Fonix Speech’s VoiceIn system to issue voice commands or sing karaoke lyrics. Kudos to Nathalie for highlighting an up-and-coming technology destined to make inroads in gaming for years to come.
Buried under Middle East misery stories and war crime features, a new MSNBC photo gallery of fallen U.S. soldiers hovered under the news radar. Lucky for DigitalJournal.com readers malan was there to report on the Web tribute, earning himself the TopInternet Award. He informed us about the interactive feature that allows visitors to post information about soldiers killed in combat, “creating a thorough, one-of-a-kind glance at exactly who has been lost during these wars.”
Whenever art and religion meet in public spaces, lensman67 will be there to report on the issues. For his comprehensive article on religion-art debates in Oklahoma City and Ventura, Calif., lensman claims this week’s TopArts Award. Fuelling his piece with passionate views on America’s “strong puritanical undercurrent,” the Citizen Journalist also complemented his opinion with illustrative examples past and present. You may not agree with everything he says (although it’s hard not to) but you can’t deny that lensman throws himself into every story with all the zeal of an author researching a book-length project.
It’s not enough to avoid being envious, slothful, greedy and gluttonous. Now the Vatican has added drugs, pollution and genetic manipulation to its Seven Deadly Sins list, according to momentsintime. Her eye-opening piece on why the Vatican had to add these “social damaging behaviours” earns her the TopReligion Award. It deserves your attention for its pure “huh?”-ness, for making you wince in disbelief. Considering the list update, does a Se7en sequel now have to be called Too Many to Count?
Was it sexist when the Italian appeal court ruled that married women who commit adultery can lie to protect their honour? That intriguing ethical question is at the heart of the winner of the TopWorld Award, written by the wide-ranging cgull. The High Court of Cassation said “having a lover was a circumstance that damaged the honor of the person among family and friends. Lying about it, therefore, was permitted, even in a judicial investigation.” Throw out your opinion on this controversial issue in the comments section and see if you agree with karateblossom, Helena Handbasket, and Debra Myers.
There’s good reason to clean up our rivers and keep them healthy: they play a critical part in removing excess nitrogen caused by careless humans. That truism came to light in Bob Ewing‘s story on a healthy river’s contribution to the ecosystem. Winning the TopEnvironment Award, the article informed us on how vital a simple stream can be in stripping away dangerous levels of nitrogen. As he often does, Bob explained a complex environmental issue with clear language, allowing anyone to understand the importance of maintaining a strong and vibrant ecosystem.
