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Why would the athletes need protection? It is not like the air quality has been worse than 12.1 times (Aug 10) the WHO limit of 50 micrograms/m^3. And it isn't like independent readings are tracking.

It is all just 'mist.' Does anybody think that China would ever consider cooking the books (on Aug 10 AP measured 604 micrograms/m^3, the BBC measured 278 in another location, and Beijings Air Quality Index which is supposed to be the highest of many different readings measured 82).

There's another thing to worry about as well. A major pipeline that delivers over 1% of the world's supply of oil (most of it bound for Western Europe) could be at risk. The pipeline flows from Azerbaijan (A major oil producer and non-OPEC nation), into Georgia and finally to the Black Sea. We need that pipeline to stay intact to keep the amount of oil we get from OPEC to stay at the level it is now. I'm sure Russia wouldnt mind "accidentally" destroying this or other oil related structures in Georgia. In fact they already have come close.

The Interior Ministry said Russian warplanes also bombed the Vaziani military base on the outskirts of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and struck near the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. The ministry said two other military bases were hit, and that Russian warplanes also bombed the Black Sea port city of Poti, which has a sizable oil shipment facility.

Seriously -- is there anyone other than this AP reporter who really believes their constitutional right to free speech applies to other people's private web sites? Are there people really this ignorant that don't understand the whole point of the Constitution is to limit *government* power to oppress speech?

Given this AP's reporter's surprise, I would assume that the AP's web site will allow me to post anything I want there, otherwise they're suppressing my "free speech rights".

I hate to point this out but has anyone ever clicked the copyright info on an AP web site. such as House of Lords Story from further up today. If you check the copyright link at the bottom you will see that the AP lets users post the entire story for free.

"Post this article on your website, blog, social networking page, or intranet for a limited time, free of charge, with ads. Includes the AP logo, copyright notice, and links. You can link to the article or display it using inline frames."

I think this is what they really want to make sure there logo and ADS are the real issue here. AP wants money for letting you use any part of its story probably.

I also like this option they give you.
"Excerpt for Web Use License parts of this article for republishing on your website or intranet. Pricing based on the number of words excerpted."

"words 5-25 $ 12.50
words 26-50 $ 17.50
words 51-100 $ 25.00
words 101-250 $ 50.00
words 251 and up $ 100.00"

I say its all about the money and nothing with fair use.

Turns out that not only was it a hoax, it was a hoax with a purpose. Police just arrested a couple for stealing some saddles from the man's garage a few days before the hoax, reselling them, and perpetrating the hoax to cover the theft.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/P2P_VERIZON?SITE=MITRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

...But the government is in a position to know more about certain things...

Only if you assume that they are halfways competent, intellectually honest, and not blinded by preconceptions.

The DoD fought tooth and nail to keep these documents arising from the captive's administrative proceedings secret. But they failed. There are about 2300 documents released under the freedom of information Act where you can read the actual "Summary of Evidence" memos, and the captives' testimony.

Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) and Administrative Review Board (ARB) Documents

Try reading them and I suspect you might find some of the stories surprisingly compelling. Try reading them and I guarantee your charming faith in your government shaken.

Here is a package of documents released around Abdullah Kamel Al Kandari's Combatant Status Review Tribunal. It is not the most shocking. But is the first one I read that really shocked me.

Note the three allegations on page 20. One of the allegations was that he was found wearing a Casio F91W digital watch. When I read that allegation in September 2005 I did what any of you would do. I spent thirty seconds doing a google image search, so I could see what a Casio F91W looks like. I recognized this watch. I used to own one. It is one of the most widely produced digital watches ever made.

I found it kind of shocking that this very weak allegation was being used to justify his continued detention.

But, it got worse. In his testimony, (pages 12-18) he expresses his distress at learning that the watch was one of the triggers for his detention. As part of this distress he gave a detailed description of his watch. Guess what?

His watch wasn't a Casio F91W. The F91W is an accurate, reliable, water resistant watch, with a stop-watch, a little light, a little beeper, and a daily alarm. It has no other features.

The watch he described was much more featureful. It was a watch specifically designed for observant Muslims. Observant Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day. This watch called out a call to prayers at the required times. Observant Muslims are supposed to bow down facing Mecca when they pray. This watch pointed to Mecca. It had a little magnetic compass. If the wearer was a world traveler, when they landed in a new city, they told the watch where they were, and the watch had enough computing power to do the spherical trigonometry to calculate the direction of Mecca. When the compass was pointing North an LCD arrow on the compass would point at Mecca. The wearer entered their current location either by picking a nearby city from a list of 200 cities, or by entering their latitude and longitude.

That is technically cool.

Well, thirty seconds to find the image of the F91W. About five minutes to figure out that Al Kandari's watch was the "Casio Prayer Watch". It looks NOTHING like an F91W. The Casio logo doesn't even look the same. And it costs about six times as much.

How competent can the JTF-GTMO staff be, how interested can they have been in determining who was an actual threat if any competent computer user can blow away one of the allegations in just a few minutes?

In March 2006 the DoD was forced, by court order, to release about a thousand documents. They showed that well over a dozen captives faced the allegation that owned a Casio F91W watch. In September 2007 the DoD released the second thousand documents. Almost two dozen captives faced this very flimsy allegation. The record shows only one courageous officer challenging the credibility of this allegation.

One of the other two allegations was that his "known alias" was found on a suspicious list on a suspected al Qaeda member's computer. This alias wasn't listed for him to challenge. But

You can listen to the music here. And going off CNN's picture of the cover of the book, which shows the notes, they don't look particularily well lined up, with things kinda offset this way or that way a little bit. Looks like they definitely had a margin of error they were working with.

north korea, china and most of the middle east actively filters what its citizens are allowed to read. china has imprisoned journalists for publishing information it does not want posted, and have frequently deemed things 'state secrets' to cover up goings on inside their borders.

Link to sound clip: http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_audio/davinci_music.mp3

I wasn't aware that Drudge or Breitbart had stated views with regard to file sharing. As far as I can tell, the story (including headline) was linked straight through from an AP article

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/RADIOHEAD_DOWNLOAD_STUDY?SITE=KYB66&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Interestingly, the LA Times (not exactly a right wing mainstay) reposts a Bloomberg article with essentially the same headline.

http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-radio6nov06,1,4894529.story?track=rss&ctrack=1&cset=true

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NORTHWEST_PASSAGE

L.A. Archdiocese to Pay $600M to Victims LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will settle its clergy abuse cases for at least $600 million, by far the largest payout in the church's sexual abuse scandal, The Associated Press learned Saturday. Attorneys for the archdiocese and alleged victims are expected to announce the deal Monday, the day the first of more than 500 clergy abuse cases was scheduled for jury selection, according to two people with knowledge of the agreement. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the settlement had not been made public. The archdiocese and its insurers will pay between $600 million and $650 million to about 500 plaintiffs - an average of $1.2 million to $1.3 million per person. The settlement also calls for the release of confidential priest personnel files after review by a judge assigned to oversee the litigation, the sources said. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CHURCH_ABUS E?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

From: suzanavy@web-mail.com.ar

Subject: LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU URGENTLY

Date: May 15, 2007 6:20:37 AM PST

MRS.SUZANA NUHAN VAYE

%BARR.OMENKA.P. WILLIAMS

TEL/FAX:27-11-507-6559

EMAIL:omenwilliams@web-mail.com.ar

ATTN: MD/CEO

Kindly accept my apology for sending my mail to you.I Am a true God fearing person, and I want you to trust me and help me out in this my condition. I believe you are a highly respected personality, considering the fact that I sourced your profile from a human resource profile database on your country in the Internet.

Though, I do not know to what extent you are familiar with events and fragile political situation in Liberia but it has formed consistent headlines in the CNN, BBC news bulletins.

My Name is MRS.SUZANA NUHAN VAYE from Liberia, a Country in West Africa. My late Husband is Issac Nuhan Vaye, Deputy Minister of Public Works in Liberia. My Husband was falsely accused of using open source software in his office. Without trial, Steve Ballmer killed him. You can verify this from some of the international newspapers posted in the web sites below:

(I)http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_ archive/2007/05/28/100033867/

(ii) http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MICROSOFT_O PEN_SOURCE?SITE=AZMES&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAUL T

Before my husband was killed, he moved out the sum of $21.5 million and large quantities of Diamonds through a diplomatic means, and deposited it with a Security Company Abroad.

All that is needed is for my lawyer to instruct the company to transfer the funds/diamonds to your account, I will remunerate you with 20% at the end, but most of all is that I solicit your trust in this transaction. I have been confined only to our country home and all my calls are monitored, So I will advise you contact my private Attorney on his contact stated below for onward proceedings: -

NAME:BARR.OMENKA.P. WILLIAMS (ATTORNEY)

TEL/FAX:27-11-507-6559

EMAIL:omenwilliams@web-mail.com.ar

Kindly include your Full Name, Private Telephone and Fax Numbers where you can always be reached, your Residential or Company Address to enable him send detail information/documents that will enable you receive the fund without any problem either now or in future as all modalities as been perfected.

Please your urgent response is needed.

Best Regards.

MRS.SUZANA NUHAN VAYE (WIDOW)

Why do you make such clearly dishonest statements? Are you privy to some esoteric information hidden from the rest of us??? Do you work at the Penta(costal)gon, perhaps??

To those of us with any data communications' background, the placement of sniffer programs and hardware at IXP sites around the country demonstrates THEY have the capacity to do whatever they like, etc., etc., etc. Speak truth, or speak not....

The engineer cited in this news article is frequently cited as the engineering expert for claims that the WTC Towers collapsed "normally" and from those two jets crashing into them.....What credibility rating would you give him?????

The commision ruled in 2004 that Microsoft broke European competition laws and directed them to release complete interoperability documentation on the protocols, MS pretended to not understand what the Commision was on about and released some source code. The Commision also said that MS acted to stifle innovation by tying Media Player to Windows.

The real question is whether a single company should get a lock in on PROTOCOLS, never mind what they should charge for them. Is this an example of the polluted protocols MS talked about in that Valloppillil email.

"By extending these protocols and developing new protocols, we can DENY OSS projects ENTRY into the MARKET."

'At what point has/will the EU overstepped its bounds'

At what point will MS realise it isn't dealing with the DOJ?

"One particularly scathing audit, released just as Campbell was taking over the agency, found CMS had paid improper expenses to contractors, failed to document the cost-cutting it claimed to have achieved and sometimes allowed contractors to start working before having a signed deal."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IL_CMS_DIRE CTOR_ILOL-?SITE=ILROR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAUL T

According to this, the office was a scandal. If anything, it's an example of how not to do things.

Central Management Services is the agency in charge of most state purchasing and hiring. Its influence over other agencies has expanded sharply under Blagojevich. State auditors repeatedly have found management problems there.

One particularly scathing audit, released just as Campbell was taking over the agency, found CMS had paid improper expenses to contractors, failed to document the cost-cutting it claimed to have achieved and sometimes allowed contractors to start working before having a signed deal.

Follow-up audits six months and one year later found continuing problems, as well as some improvement.

Blagojevich's hiring practices have raised questions, particularly from federal prosecutors.

Where there's corruption, expect M$ to be crammed down your throat.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IL_CMS_DIRE CTOR_ILOL-?SITE=ILROR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAUL T

Actually, DoJ reports state that most child sexual abuse is the non-violent "fondling" sort. The second most common is the non-violent "seducing/coercing" sort (aka "I slept with my teacher isn't that cool?"). The third most common is exhibitionism... where a guy exposes himself to a kid or a bunch of kids (and yes, that is recorded as "Child Sexual Assault" in most US jurisdictions).

Less than 5% of child sexual assault is the result of violence. Less than 15% result from the threat of violence.

An interesting aside that some researchers pointed out recently in a journal article is that studies show that kids who come from "bad homes" where they are subject to physical or emotional abuse, or simply left with fewer life ambitions and choices (hence, poverty generally) are TWICE as likely to experience sexual abuse. Interestingly enough, people who fall into this "bad homes" category have 20% higher rates of substantial sexual and psychological dysfunction and average 3-4 more sexual partners over a lifetime. Interestingly enough, if you isolate this variable ("bad homes" vs "good homes") in studies of sexual abuse victims, you find that there is a far stronger coorilation between psychological problems as an adult to "coming from a bad home" than there is to "was sexually abused as a child". The studies that show physical abuse maladjustment more severe than sexual abuse maladjustment are a bit of a paradox to most researchers, since they don't make sense in light of studies that show sex abuse victims having reasonably high rates of maladjustment as well. However, when you adjust for "family enviornment" you find that the sexual abuse itself has a relatively low coorilation.

In addition, on the topic, most recent studies of recividism amongst criminals show that Sex Offenders have the lowest rates of recividism amongst all classes of individuals. Since a few studies from the 1970s of high offender recividism are frequently used as the keystone for draconian "think of the children" legislation, these tend to be submarined by politicians. It is interesting to note the comments in the following AP article about a recent study from Alaska:

Study: Sex offender recidivism lowest among released convicts

This Department of Justice study shows that same-crime recividism of Child Molesters is around 3.3% (re-arrested for another sex offence on a child), whereas the same-crime recividism for most other classes of criminals is around 40% and sometimes as high as 80% in the case of robbery.

In addition, more than 60% of "recividist" (people re-arrested after being released for a felony) sex assault cases come from non-sex offenders. The one thing it points out is that statistically, sex offenders are more likely to be re-arrested for a sex offense, but their numbers are substantially lower than the class of all other criminals, therefore, the majority risk of sex offenders comes from people who were previously not convicted as sex offenders.

I'm wandering, so I'll just end it.

Remember, think of the children next time you vote.

Stew

Of course, MSNBC is just quoting the AP wire (you have to look at the copyright at the bottom to see this).

But even if Jobs is just doing this to get the EU off his back, you have to admit, this has made DRM a front-page issue. That's diametrically opposed to the approach Microsoft (with Vista) or the RIAA would prefer. They want to pull a fast one and sneak DRM into every part of Joe Sixpack's life without him even knowing it (until he gets his first C&D letter).

So whatever Jobs' motives, I think this is a good thing. Most of the articles I've read on the subject agree that DRM is a bad thing. The "public" is getting ready to kick out the RIAA, and I've got my front-row seat.

For those interested:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/APPLE_COPYR IGHTED_MUSIC?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAU LT

Frankly, I'm a little suspicious of the motives of the governments that are requiring Apple open its DRM to other stores and players. There are real examples of standardized copy protection (CSS, Blu-Ray / HD-DVD protection), and so far they haven't been too effective. It's clear from the article that the labels want some type of restrictions on their music. But if they want something that works, why would they ask that all their vendors can use the same technology? This hasn't worked in the past.

While the governments may be acting in the consumers' interest, the consumers haven't really been complaining that much. They want their iPods regardless of DRM / non-DRM. They'll buy their music from the iTMS because they can easily get it on their iPod. Even if their DRM is opened, Apple doesn't have to allow other vendors to sell music through iTunes. They have the brand name and a simple solution that people already use.

FairPlay does create vendor lock. The vendor lock, however, is between the record labels and Apple. The labels need access to the iPod to sell their digital music. They refuse to remove the DRM, thus they must play ball with Apple. This includes selling songs for no more than $.99, something they clearly want changed.

Didn't France start this whole debate? One of the big 4, Universal is owned in part by Vivendi. If they have influence on the French government that is anything close to what large corporations have on the government in the US, I'd suggest the government is probably acting in their interest more than that of consumers. With open DRM, corporations like Vivendi will have more options for who can sell their music. Other stores will be able to sell DRM'd music that will play on the iPod. And the labels will have more bargaining power when it comes to setting the price of their music. They've got to offset that 23.3 loss somehow, right?

Ultimately, he did break the law by copying music he didn't have a right to

His defenses to the industry's lawsuit include that he never sent copyrighted music to others, that the recording companies promoted file sharing before turning against it, that average computer users were never warned that it was illegal, that the statute of limitations has passed, and that all the music claimed to have been downloaded was actually owned by his sister on store-bought CDs.

Here is a bit more for you to consider: http://asap.ap.org/stories/1159211.s

PROVIDING ATTRIBUTION:
We should give the full name of a source and as much information as needed to identify the source and explain why he or she is credible. Where appropriate, include a source's age; title; name of company, organization or government department; and hometown.

If we quote someone from a written document - a report, e-mail or news release -- we should say so. Information taken from the Internet must be vetted according to our standards of accuracy and attributed to the original source. File, library or archive photos, audio or videos must be identified as such.

For lengthy stories, attribution can be contained in an extended editor's note, usually at the end, detailing interviews, research and methodology. The goal is to provide a reader with enough information to have full confidence in the story's veracity.

USGS reply

The USGS release seems to be dammage control. I lack the skills to understand if the new rules are a reasonable way to manage an agency full of scientists (Although it is clear that at least one scientist doesn't like them.)

Tenet's story sounds fishy to me. Why is he only able to recall this now?

It sounds like the whole story is made up:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/RICE?SITE=C ADIU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

I know this will probably disappoint the crypto-anarchists on here, and I'll be modded -5 flamebait, but it doesn't sound to me like the story holds any water.

Thanks god I am wearing my tinfoil hat today. Otherwise, I would wonder why the "irregularities" happened in three of the most Democratic counties in Maryland. Kerry carried the state in '04 based on Montgomery, Baltimore, Baltimore City and Prince George's county.

[13] Our discussion here has not been to minimize the
impacts of warming of the lower atmosphere due to
increasing greenhouse gases, we are simply placing Earth's
heat balance in perspective. The response of the Earth's
climate system to changes in radiative forcing is often cast
as the response of the Earth's surface temperature to these
forcings. This is understandable because we live at the
Earth's surface and there has been a lack of subsurface
ocean data with which to conduct Earth system heat balance
studies. Improved scientific understanding requires that we
study the response of all components of the Earth's heat
balance, of which the world ocean is the dominant term.

(from pg 3 of the pdf linked to in gpp, emphasis added)

BULLETIN ITEM: Dead Ocean Area Off Coast Of Oregon Continues

MWM: This is most likely caused by underwater volcanism along the Juan De Fuca Ridge, which is about 20% volcanic along its 500 mile length. Occassional volcanic eruptions occur along the Ridge (Rift) which can create gigantic megaplumes of hot mineral water. Could be there is very little oxygen in the plumes, it most likely would have reacted with the minerals, leaving dissolved oxygen at nil. If so, these is a hardbinger of what is likely to happen with greater frequency and magnitude as the Earth Changes accelerate.

(followed with text of an AP article)

Global Warming is unequivocably being caused by underwater volcanism which is heating the bottoms of the oceans which is changing currents and radiation and reflection characteristics of the oceans which is changing the climate regimes.

In March I could make strong claims related to such, but by spending more time slogging through the obscure sources of scientific information and reading between the lines, I CAN PROVE IT BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT. The oceanographers, bless them, for the most part do not undersand how the immensely important data they are sitting on adds up. I do and all of this is sitting in rough draft form in a new title, some 280 pages of text and graphs, called

Major World Trends 1875-2025: A Strategic Brief on Global Warming & The Eight Geophysical Changes Which Are Profoundly Altering The Earth

  I am VERY INTERESTED IN SEEING THIS BOOK TAKEN BY A MASS PUBLISHER, PRODUCED IN SEVERAL LANGUAGES, AND TOWARDS THAT END I WILL ENTERTAIN A RELATIONSHIP WITH AN AGENT. I VASTLY PREFER WEST COAST OR EUROPEAN RELATIONSHIPS, FRANKLY I AM ADVERSE TO DEALING WITH NEW YORK BUBBLEBRAINS.

Taylor dismissed a separate claim by the ACLU over data-mining of phone records by the NSA. She said not enough had been publicly revealed about that program to support the claim and further litigation could jeopardize state secrets.

Precisely, and the NPAA, the the AP and and the nyt (ok, perhaps a bad example ;) agree with you.

All of the above groups have instituted policies that prevent people from changing or editing the content of the photos. Unfortunately, we are now / have been seeing somewhat of a backlash and you have papers who ban all editing of photos beyond cropping. No color touchups, no levels adjustments, nothing. Termination offense too and some people have lost awards because of color corrections (minor ones) too.

What shocks me is that there are a great number of people who actually support these policies. I'm afraid that many of these apologists have little or no knowledge of RAW formats, HDR images (some cameras have basic hdr built in now), color casts, white balance, telephoto compression, the levels tool, or really, anything at all about the printing process or photography. I'm afraid that they are living in their own little dream world.
Now - I realize that you can do a lot with levels - like the oj time cover - but banning any color correction or minor edits on the part of the photographer is just plain stupid.

nice M$ buzzword tie-in there M$NBC!

Oh, twitter!! LOLOLOL!! Hey, by any chance did you happen to notice this was an AP wire piece? That's right, twitter! So you can also find the same story in places as diverse as PilotOnline and the Winona Daily News! Wow, talk about your little "M$" thing falling flat on its face!

But don't worry. Other than PilotOnline and the Winona Daily News I'm sure that if you use the search function in the AP site you can find a website with an 's' in the title so you can so wittily change it to a dollar sign to show all of us how hilariously clever you are! Shweet!

nice M$ buzzword tie-in there M$NBC!

Oh, twitter!! LOLOLOL!! Hey, by any chance did you happen to notice this was an AP wire piece? That's right, twitter! So you can also find the same story in places as diverse as PilotOnline and the Winona Daily News! Wow, talk about your little "M$" thing falling flat on its face!

But don't worry. Other than PilotOnline and the Winona Daily News I'm sure that if you use the search function in the AP site you can find a website with an 's' in the title so you can so wittily change it to a dollar sign to show all of us how hilariously clever you are! Shweet!

nice M$ buzzword tie-in there M$NBC!

Oh, twitter!! LOLOLOL!! Hey, by any chance did you happen to notice this was an AP wire piece? That's right, twitter! So you can also find the same story in places as diverse as PilotOnline and the Winona Daily News! Wow, talk about your little "M$" thing falling flat on its face!

But don't worry. Other than PilotOnline and the Winona Daily News I'm sure that if you use the search function in the AP site you can find a website with an 's' in the title so you can so wittily change it to a dollar sign to show all of us how hilariously clever you are! Shweet!

This AP story is all over the press, not just MSNBC

For example:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,193749,00.html
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/ 04/21/financial/f080720D78.DTL
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/lo cal/states/california/northern_california/14397469 .htm
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/tech/20060424-0 012-ca-applesecurity.html
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/APPLE_SECUR ITY?SITE=KFWB&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME= 2006-04-30-15-15-12

One might wonder why this (non-)story is featured on the front page of MSNBC... ;-)

"Institutionally, the presidency is walking all over Congress at the moment," Specter said. "If we are to maintain our institutional prerogative, that may be the only way we can do it."

Specter made clear that, for now, the threat was just that.

"I'm not prepared to call for the withholding of funds," he told reporters later.

The Thales deal, designed to answer French government concerns over sensitive military technologies, hit a snag when European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. intervened -- with the reported backing of French President Jacques Chirac -- to demand that its own Astrium satellite unit be included in the operation.

And keep off our lawns!

Especially if you live in Batavia, Ohio!

Try the AP search function , but I agree there is nothing new or wrong with people repackaging stories provided they give credit where credit is due.

The irony of your post, and its being rated to +5, Insightful is not lost on me.

As another poster mentioned, the purpose of the Associated Press is to exist as frontline reporters for the various news organizations that link from it. But don't take my word for it, read directly from the AP.

Papers have bought a service from the AP, that is, to provide content for them that would be prohibitive for them to get themselves. They expect, as part of that purchase, that the AP has error and fact checked the material.

People have to learn to evaluate what they read critically and decide how believable it is.

Yes, yes they do.

I'm not very optimistic about this happening on Slashdot.

Fixed for you.

Here is the current AP News Alert:

Jan 12, 5:10 PM EST

AP News Alert

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- The Green Bay Packers have hired Mike McCarthy as coach, general manager Ted Thompson says.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

I think the author overestimates the importance of the stories that the AP sends as news alerts. It's not always wars and elections, as he tries to suggest.

When I first started using RSS, I subscribed to yahoo, cnn (about 4 of their feeds), and abcnews news feeds. I was thinking, "I'll get multiple perspectives on major stories, and make comparisons". Ahh, the starry-eyed idealism of ignorance...

Then I learned the truth. The spin happens at journalist-time -- the talking heads (or the writers behind the talking heads, whatever) get their news from the same Associated Press feed, and spin it their own way. In internet-land, there's no talking head -- just the AP story (and inherently the bias of the original AP journalist).

If you're looking at AP news stories online, everyone is just reposting the same exact story verbatim anyway. And generally non-AP topics don't get covered by many different perspectives.

How does he survive there wearing red clothes? Potential prey would spot him from miles away.

And now this worm thing..

I don't know - there are just so many things that just don't seem right with this fellow.. - But not to worry: thanks to Bush there shouldn't be a problem finding what this guy is up to.

I ask the same thing about my local paper every time I pick it up.

The difference is, your local newspaper pays places like the Associated Press to reprint articles that AP editors have written.

I wonder how long it will be until teenagers and pirates start wearing earplugs or noise cancelling headphones to counter these non-lethal weapons.

The AP is reporting on this as well.

Link to original AP article