The human impact on oceans. The Pentagon assassinating satellites. Texas lifting its ban on sex toys. These stories and more are the top issues affecting the world today. Here is your synopsis of everything that matters.
Technology & Internet
Sneaky Crackbook, uh, I mean Facebook. According to news this week reported by momentsintime, the massive social network retains customer data long after an account has been deleted. Looks like Facebook can “poke” a lot of holes in your person info.
With so many people being concerned with how companies handle personal information, this could very well end up being another thorn in the social network’s side.
Many other tech and Web culture made headlines: Amazon’s Kindle hasn’t sparked eBook sales, cgull wrote; Polaroid is finally ushering in the digital age by announcing it will halt production of instant-camera film, ashley.woods4 told us; Apple may be venturing into the gaming world, if a recent trademark extension filing means anything; and CNN is patting itself on the back for launching a “completely unvetted” citizen journalism site called i-Report, malan reported. Hmm, sounds familiar. I’ll give Susan Duclos the last word on this: “The fact that they can even claim to be the ‘first to do this,’ should show people that THEY themselves hold no credibility.”
Science & Environment
Oh humans. Always so…disastrous. It looks like human activity has been hurting the oceans tremendously, mirrorwarp wrote.
Large scale fishing and careless pollution has negatively impacted close to 40 per cent of the world’s marine ecosystems. Way to go, us.
Science and environment stories gave our brains a good workout: Brazil is attempting to reverse intense deforestation in the Amazon, Bob Ewing found; Hewlett Packard is making print cartridges from recycled cartridges and water bottles, Angelique van Engelen wrote (but will they still cost $80 a pop?); Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli scientists can at least agree on one thing — working together to study earthquakes in the Jericho region, Knight Shield uncovered; and an insightful op-ed courtesy of Wanderlaugh taught us about America’s changing demographics and how a rich nation is beginning to reflect its wealth in the disparity between rich and poor.
World
The Pentagon is gunnin’ for the sky. Literally. As cgull reported, the Pentagon will shoot down a wandering satellite before it crashes onto Earth. Pieces may scatter over hundreds of miles so when the satellite assassination takes place, duck and cover.
A bevy of other worldly stories caught our eye: Venezuela reportedly stopped sending oil to the U.S., cgull reported (yeah “holy crap” is right); Kenyan authorities will investigate a case of hate speech heard over the radio, Can Tran wrote; the FBI has charged four people on charges of spying for China, according to jxtra; a South Korean man has been arrested for burning down a 600-year-old monument, Emily January informed us; and Amsterdam’s Red Light District will soon be a tourist hotspot of the past, as city officials have decided to close down 450 prostitute windows, as well as peep shows and sex shops. Well, at least there’s always Thailand. What? Too much?
TopFinds Awards
When news breaks fast, Citizen Journalists are quick to report the event, complete with context, details and updated info. Giving us the first scoop about the shooting at Northern Illinois University is the winner of the TopBreakingNews Award. Congrats to malan for delivering succinct information without any fluff, and being vigilant on any updated news. The outpouring of emotion in the comments, and the praise heaped on malan, should be reward enough, but we thought a nice badge of honour would be a decent addition to malan’s collection.
Are you frustrated with FEMA’s incompetenance? Then you’d likely relate to the TopOpEd Award winner, Wanderlaugh‘s scathing criticism of the Katrina’s “toxic trailers” and how “dangers may have been seriously understated.” Filled with poetic language we’ve come to expect from Wanderlaugh, the opinion piece gave us such memorable lines as:
And so the saintly fellows went about their errand of mercy, asking for no more than a government job and little stocking caps with bells on them to wear, to add that air of authority so necessary to good government.
Also worth mentioning is the excellent profile of Wanderlaugh (aka Paul Wallis), which gave readers additional insight into one of DigitalJournal.com’s top-rated Citizen Journalists. If you’re looking for a hell-of-a life story, it’s worth reading.
Always keeping us posted on the combative protest at Berkeley city council, Susan Duclos once again netted the TopPolitics Award for her follow-up about the council rescinding the “anti-Marine vote.” She added some nice colour and details to the article, allowing readers to actually see the two protesting sides setting up camp outside the offices. Also a special kudos to Susan for complementing the piece with illustrative photos.
It’s easy to just glance over articles that blare, “Six men arrested in connection with 9/11.” But do those reporters dive deeper to reveal the lives behind the prisoners? momentsintime did just that, which nets her this week’s TopCrime Award. She wrote about the arrested individuals with short mini-bios that gave us a look behind the names; we learned how each terrorist contributed to 9/11 and what background they had in their areas of expertise. Great job.
Heard of Carlos Slim? Neither did I, until I found out he is one of the richest men on Earth, valued at $70 billion. News about Slim’s control of Mexico’s telecom market was brought to light thanks to the TopWorld Award winner, written by ocean. The feature piece about Slim’s price gouging through phone company Telmex gave us new insight into a topic rarely shared outside Mexican borders. Thoughtfully written, thorough, and extremely fascinating, ocean’s contribution taught us about market domination, greedy monopolies and the high cost of making a collect call from Mexico to Canada. A half-hour call costing $150? Who knew?
When a hockey player as famous as Mats Sundin is rumoured to be traded, you can always bet a whirlwind of news will follow. The winner of this week’s TopSports Award is DigitalJournal.com’s resident sports nut, Navin Vaswani for his coverage of the trade buzz. Sundin hasn’t been sold to the highest bidder quite yet, but Vaswani weighed-in on this hefty story with incredible speed, getting it through the pipes way before most mainstream media. This story will be worth keeping our ears to the ground, er, ice, for more developments.
Pamela Jean wins the TopSex Award for her intro alone: “If you’re passing through Texas tonight and detect a distinct humming sound in the air, it might just be a lot of the gals celebrating Valentine’s Day with BOB, (their battery operated boyfriend).” That hilarious opener began her article on the feds legalizing sex toys in Texas, a piece that made me realize, “Wait, Texas banned sex toys?” The clincher line also showed off Pamela’s penchant for humour:
Cucumber sales, however, have no doubt plummeted.
