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Digital Journal — This week felt like an education in, well, everything: We learned how iPods can improve healthcare, why we should avoid work-at-home scams, and how to parent our kids effectively. It’s all in a week’s work of intriguing news as we review what made headlines in the past seven days on DigitalJournal.com.
There’s nothing like starting off the week with a bizarre crime story: A woman killed her husband and fried his body parts. Even though unicorn5‘s post was a surefire appetite suppressant, it gave DJ members lots of opportunity to flex their funny muscle — Planet Janet quipped, “She must’ve run out of eggs” and phree gave us a giggle with, “What happened to the good ol’ days when wives would just hit their husbands over the head with frying pans?”
From cannibalism we move to healthcare (nice segue, right?), where cgull delivered a good find with his post on how iPods can help doctors identify abnormal heart sounds. Since DJ is known for showcasing how technology intersects with everyday life, cgull’s story was a perfect example of how gadgets can be used for more than part-time recreation. The story also brilliantly highlights the excuses doctors come up with to convince management they weren’t goofing off with their iPods!
The knowledge-dropping (to borrow a hip-hop term) continued with timmack‘s service piece on avoiding work-at-home scams. The much-needed information was especially useful to our many DJ members who may work from a home office, and also helpful for anyone looking to bust scam artists. I smell a 60 Minutes special brewing.
Also worthy of a newsmagazine feature was the topic introduced by gohomelaker in Harvard Students Say They’d Rather Be Chaste Than Chased. Focusing on two students who started a group to promote abstinence, the story sparked a flood of controversy and even a lengthy comment from the usually sports-minded Baseball in a Cubicle. Most importantly, the post and comments gave us food for thought in an era where “slut” has become the latest taboo four-letter word.
That same day we also learned about a Wikipedia rival, courtesy of cruiseroo, and gohome’s well-researched piece on toxins found in kids’ toys. A rubber duck could be poisonous? Only last week that same duck was a saucy sex toy.
But the news wasn’t all scary this week. Hockey Girl gave messy folk some hope with her post on the hidden advantages of clutter. “Those of us who aren’t completely neat are more creative,” she wrote. Might be true, but you’ll be hard pressed to convince your boss that countless stacks of paper, an apple core from two weeks ago and three hundred post-it note reminders are good for business.
The cheery news kept coming with kml‘s find titled Pizza – the Next Health Food? Researchers were able to boost antioxidant levels in pizza crust, giving fast-food munchers more reasons to scarf down $2 slices. Now they need to make pizza crust stuffed with cheese healthy.
Users are always on the prowl for unusual but fascinating news, which exemplifies mirrorwarp‘s The Aesthetics of Wheelchair Sex. Often ignored, the issue of sexuality in a disabled person’s life became a topic worth discovering. And who knew we’d come across a headline pairing the words “wheelchair” and sex”?
Other stories that educated us on many levels were: wolfman2001‘s musings on TV shows that were cancelled abruptly; a geozone artcile on an eco-friendly racing car that’s amazingly biodegradable; rob13 shocked us with the headline that said it all (PETA Thinks Burger King is the Greatest); and cruiseroo proved why she’s an excellent writer and analytical thinker with a story on how children have changed in the past few decades. This week’s editorial range was impressive as these four articles alone made us feel as though we’d swallowed a magazine rack. It felt as though we were in an editorial meeting of Newsweek.
Flying under the radar was a story that should get the straight-edgers and drug czars up in arms: Pot is safer than booze and tobacco, declared Competetant414. Besides being a buried medical story this week, this announcement will no doubt boost sales of potato chips, rolling papers and DVD sales of Cheech and Chong flicks.
And now presenting this week’s TopFinds Awards for articles that deserve attention and recognition.
Giving us a wealth of top-level journalism was the winner of the New DJ Member of the Week, CTZenObserver. He’s posted pieces on the minds of news watchers everywhere, such as Will Britain Attack a Potentially Nuclear Iran? and Organ Shortage in South Korea as Execution Rates Drop in China. Relying on credible news sources such as BBC and Der Spiegel, this new user is bringing to the site a worldly scope on ideas that can impact us globally. With a dedication to breaking big news, it won’t be long until Reuters comes looking to poach our best writers.
Winning the TopJournalism prize are two recipients this week, GotTheScoop and it is me Leah. They both reported on a groundbreaking story concerning the responsibility of local pharmacies, in light of news that a four-month-old baby was mistakenly prescribed medication that resulted in the child suffering brain damage. Congratulations, ladies, for shedding light on this overlooked topic. It makes all of us wonder who we can trust in a society where we have to let authorities dictate what we eat and drink.
Another TopFind this week belongs to a citizen journalist who complements his or her stories with relevant visuals. This week we give the TopVid Award to phree for posting breaking news on the British soldiers captured by Iran, complete with video footage of captive Faye Turney. Nicely supplemented with updates, the article gave anyone living under a rock a succinct summary of this hot news story. Phree deserves kudos for getting the scoop on the video before many other news outlets, proving the power of this growing community of citizen journalists.
Lastly, let me remind you that we’re nearing the end of the month and thus another chance for you to earn some cash from DigitalJournal.com. A heartfelt congrats to the top-earning five users this month (so far) — cgull, museinspiredart, gohomelaker, Brandigal, and Jishpar. I’m sure new members want to know: Do you ever eat or sleep? Welcome to the club.
And a quick note to all members: Look out for another DJ Block Party next week on DJ’s Live Chat. The festivities start Wednesday, April 4, at 9PM (EST) and a link to the chat can by found by clicking on ‘My Account’ at the top of your page. Not registered on DJ yet? Join now and join the fun!
And so wraps up another week of breaking news on DigitalJournal.com, where brain food is delivered to us with a simple click of “Submit.”
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