Mercury has contaminated more than 300 U.S. streams. Bernie Madoff’s mistress talks sex in her tell-all book. Is a female gold-medal track athlete really a woman? These are the top stories around the world.
Always on top of tech and Web news, Digital Journalist Brenton Currie explains the mission statement behind Pixorial, a new online service transferring VHS videos to the Web.
His interview with the founder alerts us to the precautions take by admins on how to prevent abuse, and why integration with YouTube could be on the horizon.
This could be a useful site for people who want to transfer old wedding or birthday tapes into online files for easy sharing. Just be careful what you put online, you don’t want that embarrassing wedding dance to end up on YouTube. Another stellar interview, Brenton.
Vancouver recently installed a light-rail transit line to allow people easy access from Vancouver International Airport to Vancouver or Richmond. There to capture the opening day festivities is Julian Worker, our man from B.C. He explains the different lines and prices available, and outlines his impressions of the service. Do you think your city should install this transit line to connect the urban centre to the airport?
What would be entertainment news without some Jay David Murphy? This tireless reporter from Las Vegas gives us a peek into the upcoming Twilight conventions, ideal for fans of the Stephenie Meyer vampire novels. His interviews with personnel from Creation Entertainment provides great insight into what the conventions will offer lovers of the book series. Look for more Murphy-bylined entertainment news in the coming weeks.
A selection of other notable stories include:
• Police discover who’s behind the Obama Joker Posters: It was one of the mysteries affecting both sides of the political spectrum — who created that poster featuring Obama as Batman’s nemesis The Joker? As Patrick McMahon reports, the artist has been identified by police and “has confessed to putting up roughly 500 of the posters throughout the central Florida area.” One commenter thinks the President would approach this photo tweak light-heartedly. skeptikool writes, “I see Obama getting a bit of a chuckle over that.”
• Woman at town hall yells ‘Heil Hitler’ at Jewish man: The health care debate continues to make news on DigitalJournal.com, but not the kind you’d expect. At a recent debate in Las Vegas, a Jewish man was talking to a reporter when a woman yelled “Heil Hitler” at the man. The camera tracked the inevitable confrontation, which makes for uneasy watching. Why can’t the protests just simply stay on message? They could learn a lot from politicians.
• Texas to Include the Bible in Regular School Curriculum This Year: Carol Forsloff tells us about a new law in Texas that states all public schools must offer information relating to the Bible in their curriculum. She adds some great context, explaining “The National Council for Social Studies rejects the practice of bringing the Bible into the classroom to teach creationism or social studies in general.” A must-read for anyone interested in education or religion.
• PETA wants Nova Scotia Lobster freed: The very busy Kevin Jess writes on the animal-rights group PETA and their plea to a Nova Scotian fisherman to free a lobster who’s been around more than a century. The fisherman is trying to sell the lobster, and he’s got some interested buyers, but PETA hopes the Nova Scotian will change his mind and return the crustacean to his watery home.
• Russian Fighters Crash In Air Show Practice: A sad story out of Moscow, Christoper Szabo relates the disaster of two Russian Air Force fighter jets crashing into each other. The elite Russian Knights aerobatic display team were performing some of their moves, but then the fighters collided. The Knights still plan to perform for the public though.
• Bernie Madoff’s Mistress Releases Tell-All Book: Nothing like making a buck off the swindler who stole your money. Ponzi schemester Bernie Madoff slept with a woman who is now revealing details of their affair, warts and all. Check out this article to find out about Madoff’s, um, sexual shortcomings.
• All Fish Caught in U.S. Streams Have Mercury: It’s not the best news for food lovers — a new report found that mercury contamination was found in 300 streams across the U.S., giving rise to the fear that fish Americans eat could contain the harmful chemical. The article included some hope for the future: “The Obama administration said it would begin crafting new regulations to control mercury emissions from power plants after a federal appeals court threw out plans drafted by the Bush administration.”
• Cat Earns GED Online, Internet Diploma Mills Exposed: An incredibly popular story on DigitalJournal.com looks at the quirky story of a cat nabbing a GED online, as M Dee Dubroff reports. “a Better Business Bureau scheme to expose Internet diploma mills has revealed that a two-year-old tuxedo cat named Oreo has received a diploma from Jefferson High School Online following a test and a $200 fee paid for by her owner, Kelvin Collins.” Nothing like using a cat as an undercover investigative reporter. Where’s The Smoking Gun guys when you need them?
• Gold Medal-Winning Female Athlete Faces Gender Test: Imagine you won the race of your lifetime at an international event. You won gold! But now rumours are surfacing that aren’t the gender you say are. That’s the scenario facing Caster Semenya, whose femininity is being disputed after she won gold at the 800m race at the athletics World Championships in Berlin. This isn’t the first gender problem facing sports authorities — German tennis player Sarah Gronert, born with the genitalia of both sexes, was also questioned but tests allowed her to compete as a woman.
• Manchester United Humbled by Burnley, Liverpool Hit 4 in Win: No, it’s not just another sports score — Chris Dade writes about the massive upset when Burnley beat Manchester United, the roaring favourite. Nothing like a win for the underdog to have us smiling.
Digital Journal is also pleased to announce some ground-breaking news: we are hosting a new speaker series in Toronto called The Future of Media, taking place on Sept. 24 at The Drake Hotel (1150 Queen Street West). We not only have illustrious panelists taking part in this conversation about citizen media, but we are giving away 14 incredible prizes to attendees. Find out more about this free event by joining this Group. Also, follow us on Twitter by checking out twitter.com/djfom.
TopFinds Awards
The honourees of this week’s TopFinds Awards attracted impressive attention and widest readership. Digital Journal thanks the following Digital Journalists with Awards for their passion for covering the top issues of the day: KJ Mullins, Patrick McMahon, Brenton Currie, Carol Forsloff, Bob Ewing, Kevin Jess, Thom W. Conroy, Cynthia Trowbridge, M Dee Dubroff, Chris Dade, Jay David Murphy, Julian Worker and Christopher Szabo.
The Top Blog Post of the Week is awarded to Cynthia Trowbridge for her delightful and tender post about living life fully. The “law of the garbage truck” deserves a more thorough explanation than what we can summarize, so check out the post for a nice story on dealing with regrets and loving the people who treat you with respect.
