Digital Journal — Starting with world news, Citizen Journalists virtually toured the globe to find newsworthy stories. momentsintime was on top of overseas news early in the week, reporting on a new Alan Johnston video and a deadly monsoon in India. Giving us a stark reminder of Middle East turmoil, Wanderlaugh reported on Al Qaeda siding with Hamas in the Gaza conflicts. And Wanderlaugh delivered valuable news from Iran, where the rebel nation introduced oil rationing to ease the effects of UN sanctions. And you thought your gas lineups were long!
In light of China crowding headlines here and abroad, unusualsuspect introduced us to a timely book on surviving without products made in China. This writer does a good job of expanding the scope of the piece to include a statement relating to the book’s implications:
…the fact is that the flood of imports from China means much more than the loss of workers’ jobs. It means the loss of whole industries, a trend which has, over the last decade or so, resulted in the rapid decline of the United States as a producer of goods.
Turning to issues hitting close to home, many writers wrote on political affairs touching their lives. Lady Justice focused on the Senate’s determination to reform immigration, while BoVandy filed a news brief on a campaign to convince Al Gore to run for president (I bet he’s busy filming a follow-up documentary on public pressure to take over the White House). Thespian delivered a wakeup call for anyone denying the presence of Big Brother in the U.S.: White House and Cheney’s Office Subpoenaed Over Wiretapping. This is the kind of major news the mainstream media buries when it covers double-homicides and Paris Hilton’s unfortunate freedom.
Posting like a fiend high on Red Bull and political fervor, stevewsanson wrote about reinstating the draft in the U.S., even dropping anecdotes about his service during Desert Storm. His piece highlighted his views on pulling out of Iraq, stabilizing the Middle East and why he supports the war.
On the quirkier side, education stories were filled with stories that sounded too weird to be true — the Ottawa school board wants to sell naming rights to their new schools, raising the prospect of Taco Bell High or the Wal-Mart Public School, as GotTheScoop reported; the U.S. Supreme Court ruled free-speech rights were not violated when an Alaskan student set up a sign in his school that read “Bong Hits 4 Jesus,” according to momentsintime; and it looks like a two-year-old girl will be bored by school because she scored 152 on an IQ test, placing her in the top two per cent of the population, geozone wrote. I guess she’ll be the braniac her peers will ask for homework help — and for solutions on metaphysic equations.
Health news got serious love this week, and I’m not just talking about cgull‘s revelation on the 44 million Americans who are uninsured. There was skyangel5402‘s eye-opening post on the inhumane treatment of birds to make foie gras (I’m glad I’ve avoided that evil delicacy so far); there was Picasso‘s report on the FDA announcing all herbal supplement ingredients need to be tested; and cgull told us about the harmful link between aspartame and cancer. Sure, diet soda might have less calories, but it has more…murder!
Ringwraith also posted a piece on nasty food additives: Trans fat got a solid bashing when Ringwraith laid out the harmful effects of this “evil ingredient.” Useful summaries of each country’s reaction to trans fat helped readers who might not be familiar with all the backroom drama.
Whenever there’s health news, science stories aren’t far behind. Some of the highlights in this category include: a penguin preferred the beach life 36 million years ago, Planet Janet said, giving a nice tweak to the phrase “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”; still in animal news, franklin wondered how a female shark got pregnant in an aquarium with no males (you have to read the post to find out, sorry); and permafrog gave new meaning to “magic mushrooms” when he reported on genetically modified button mushroom that have the potential to create vaccines, insulin and other beneficial drugs. But in the comments, Wanderlaugh questioned whether the fungal toxins would interfere with the medicinal tinkering.
Looking to book a vacation in space? Then read momentsintime’s enlightening piece on Virgin Galactic and their mission to send citizens into orbit, for the introductory price of $200,000 (US). I wonder if Virgin will show a movie on the flight — and it better not be Apollo 13.
Tech stories hit the Top News tab through the week, with many writers doing their best to stay on top of iPods, robots and laptops. cruiseroo educated us on how iPods can interfere with cardiac pacemakers; MDee wrote about the strongest robot in the world (yeah, but can he beat me in Scrabble?); PeterH gave us his opinion on poor laptop battery efficiency, even letting us know about the buried news of Linux’s Laptop Mode; and Planet Janet (wow, she’s busy this week) told us not to move a muscle because thought-activated TV is on its way. She explains the tech by writing:
As well as deciding how much blood flows to create a physical reaction of a thought in the mind, the device sends tiny infrared lights into the brain which travel along optical fibres to a computer which then records the actions taken by the brain — the thoughts.
Looks like my deep hatred for all reality shows will activate my TV to instantly avoid that garbage. Sweet.
And this week wouldn’t be complete without cgull reporting on iPhone news, posting thorough pieces on the phone’s battery, its rate plans and the media scorecard from major tech journalists. The consensus? “Buy the iPhone if you can afford it,” cgull writes.
There wasn’t a flood of business stories this week, but one stood out for finding the needle in the haystack: Wanderlaugh discovered an in-depth New York Times’ piece on Rupert Murdoch and his proposed takeover of Dow Jones. It was interesting to learn Wanderlaugh’s position on the Wall Street Journal‘s editorial position and the implications of the largest media group in the world getting even more powerful.
From scary takeover to scarier crimes, Brandigal did some thorough reporting to break the story on wrestler Chris Benoit killing himself and his family. Brandi was journalistic enough to provide updates as more news leaked from the mainstream press. Also writing on nefarious individuals was kylalynn, who penned a piece on a Pentagon hacker and a piece on children killing children. And worthy of serious kudos is msemj‘s post on abortion agencies that scam couples by listing newborns at astronomical prices. To be honest, if it weren’t for msemj, I wouldn’t have known about this oft-ignored issue.
A couple opinion pieces are worth a second read. Ever wondered about bathroom etiquette? snugglebear tackled the topic with a wonderful lead displaying her penchant for personal journalism. And who knew her piece would spark a torrent of comments on everyone’s perspective on toilet protocol.
And GotTheScoop followed up a previous post on Will Ferrell’s foray into viral videos with a two-year-old co-star with another piece on the precocious baby. This time, Ferrell gets interrogated by the toddler in a good cop-bad cop theme, prompting GTS to call the video “moronic” and bid the baby farewell since this is her last video. For some reason, lensman67 steered the topic to religion but Posthappy and I unsteered (?) the comments to the discussion at hand — the intended humour within Ferrell’s short vids.
And finally in sports, for those obsessed with basketball, pbrite scored a double-double for not only listing what team got whom in Thursday’s NBA draft; he also added some intelligent commentary to the benefits and drawbacks of each player. Who needs ESPN when we got pbrite?
Finally, we reach those accolades worth boasting about to your friends, if they know about Digital Journal. And if they don’t, why not? Anyway, on with the weekly TopFinds Awards.
There must be something in a certain member’s diet, because she’s been on a rampage recently, and today she takes home her second TopJournalism Award in a row. Congrats once again to GotTheScoop for making us aware to the marginalized story of a military sweatshop that underpays workers, doesn’t provide them with retirement plans and disregards safety issues. This revelation may not come as a surprise to close observers of overseas sweatshops, but this is an American company on American soil. GTS did a fine job of using quotes, statistics and background to give us the full picture of this labour violation. GTS truly got the scoop with this story. (Oh, I slay me).
We’re introducing another award to show our appreciation to the talented science writers peppering Digital Journal. Winning the inaugural TopScience Award is franklin for her post on Saturday’s “moon illusion,” a phenomenon many of us would’ve missed if it weren’t for this post. On Saturday June 30, an inflated moon will hover in our sky at sunset, but it won’t truly be the moon, franklin writes. She offers a tip if you’re planning on checking out this fascinating illusion: “The best time to look is around moonrise — when the moon starts to peak in between the trees and houses, or over the mountain ridges.”
And another special mention goes to franklin’s piece on the Milky Way getting all Homer Simpson and eating other galaxies. Nicely complemented with photos, this story gave us a glimpse into “galactic cannibalism,” which also would have passed us by if franklin hadn’t dedicated her writing time to investigating overlooked areas of astrology. Thanks for choosing us over Discover Magazine, franklin!
It’s been awhile since we dished out a TopPhotography Award (franklin won it last), but a strong contender emerged just after North America’s Pride Week festivities. Taking home the honour is shutterbug lensman67 for his piece titled The Love That Dares. Filled with original photography of the San Francisco Pride Parade depicting “Dykes on Bikes,” queer war veterans and a dude sporting a leather thong, the post was an excellent photo essay on a topic that exhaustively covered. But somehow lensman gave us a fresh perspective to the Pride Parade. And the commentary that followed was also worth the price of admission.
Finally, we commend writers who take a reflective look into Digital Journal‘s inner workings, exposing the unseen side of this burgeoning community. Winning the first ever TopGossip Award is museinspiredart for the highly revealing post, Behind the Citizen Journalist. Interviewing various DJ members and exposing their skeletons in the closet, muse was able to make these writers come alive for readers who may only them by their user names. Here was a post filled with surprises (GotTheScoop loves dangerous sex?!), laughter (Picasso in toe rings…why not?) and emotional outpouring (skyangel tells us her son is in jail for a murder he didn’t commit). This must’ve taken muse hours upon hours to compile, so huge congrats for going the journalistic route on a gossipy post. We look forward to the next installment.
So ends another delicious week on Digital Journal, where readers tasted every flavour from the journalistic buffet. Be sure to check out the video post above on how the U.S. and Canada differ and how they’re the same. Enjoy Canada Day and Independence Day, we’ll see you next week.
