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Banning reporters is a totally Republican thing, isn't it?

That story was published by the Weekly World News. Compared to the WWN, the National Enquirer is serious journalism.

That was the Weekly World News , not the National Enquirer. They have completely different styles.

http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/50702/curiosity-kills-martian-cat/

Why now? Why this quarter, all of a sudden? Clearly half the country didn't wake up one morning and think, "I've always heard there was free porn on the Internet. Why don't I go look for it?" If it were simply Internet erosion, it would have been a continuous, gradual erosion, not a sudden drop in a single quarter.

In my experience, paradigm shifts have a trigger. Did Netflix suddenly get streaming porn, for example? Now, granted, Weekly World News isn't exactly a reliable source, but I'd be willing to bet that even if that story isn't true, something similarly catastrophic must have happened to suddenly cause such a shift in behavior.

Of course, cable companies would never admit that a competitor was cutting into their business, as that would make them look incompetent to their shareholders, so they instead must look for a scapegoat that they can semi-plausibly blame—a circumstance beyond their control, like piracy.

I just don't buy the "free porn on the internet cut into sales of PPV porn" excuse. Heck, it would be more plausible if they had said that people had a habit of buying PPV porn to relax after wrestling matches, and with fewer wrestling matches, they now view less PPV porn as well.

It originally comes from these guys, back when they still did print

The article is from The Sun, a newspaper known mostly for its page 3 girls(NSFW). The Sun is slightly more reliable than the Weekly World News slightly less reliable than most guests on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory.

Aw, come on. People trust in The Sun. Well, as much as they trust in The National Enquirer, Fox News, and The Weekly World News.

Informative? Ahahaha. Right. That's one _hell_ of a source you have there. Don't get me wrong, Dubya was a retard and a horrible President but seriously, that's not what you'd call a credible source.

On an entirely different subject...Oh my God, I just found out Bat Boy trapped Santa! Holy crap! I even have a source

.

according to the Military Channel's own documentaries

That's roughly as reliable as The Onion or the Weekly World News.

The implication of "when in Egypt...." would mean someone there. Obviously, at a hotel or resort, you would expect to find more people from out of town than locals.

    This whole thing can be taken as absolute BS though. The oldest publication I could find carrying this story was a polish paper, and they were citing thesun.co.uk. If anyone can make up their own news and publish it, it's them. They rank just up from the now defunct "Weekly World News", where the WWN stories usually included Bigfoot, Bat Boy, and various aliens. :)

At least they could have done more with the story. They must have just had a little space to fill, and were uninspired to make up a decent fictional story.

What's wrong with me? Have I really reached a point in my life where a subscription to national enquirer might be in order??

Bah don't read that bullcrap. If you want to read a reliable news source Weekly World News is where it's at.

was it the pitbull with lipstick that ate Bill Ayer's Acorns?

did the Pitbull belong to Joe Sixpack or Joe the Plumber?

Is Joe the plumber really Jeff Gannon?

http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/election-08/october-surprise-alien-endorses-mccain/

The lesson to be learned is that you do not rely on the popular media for scientific reporting.

Agreed. That's why I always get my scientific reporting from more reliable non-mainstream sources like this one.

Aren't these the same idiots who said SCO was going to win?
Forbes is like the Weekly World News but dressed in a suit.

"mob of angry News of the World readers brandishing pitchforks and flaming torches."

The same god that incited them to focus on their online activities.

Ok, so the world now understands. Some people don't like Microsoft. And hey that's fine, no really. You can please some of the people some of the time and all that. But seriously, I have read more accurate fairy tails in the Weekly World News. Not to put to fine a point on it, but there are *only* 244 Batboy sightings in China and the page three girl isnt wearing any clothes. Quick, find your horoscope! Your stuff is almost through the express line.

Nader is seen as the most viable third party candidate in recent years and he often writes for Zmag.

The best Nader ever did was 2.74% of the popular vote. Ross Perot got 18.9%. And that's why I get all my political news here.

Yes, it is. It is a salient addition to the discussion. You may argue which way certain mainstream media outlets lean, but when the source is particularly partisan (say, the Washington Times, or The American Prospect) it should be noted that there is celarly an agenda behind the outrage.

If /. ran a story about new scientific research that differences in language usage could affect the way you view food and the total amount of calories your body feels it needs, would you be curious? If the editor noted that the story was currently running in the Weekly World News, would that put the story in perspective? I think so.

I've been saying for some time that New Scientust is the Weekly World News of science.

All the news that's printed to fit!

You're thinking of The National Enquirer and its sister publication, Weekly World News

The Inquirer is a snarky though reputable UK-based tech news site.

It's sort of like accusing a congressman of creating and passing good legislation because he has a secret desire to get re-elected, or accusing someone of going to work to get paid. Imagine the nerve of some people!

There's a slight difference between writing a well informed, interesting article that sparks debate and draws reader and speading disinformation and making inflammatory statements to illict responses from others.

One type of writing is editorial journalism, the other belongs on the pages of Weekly World News

This is old news.

WAIT A MINUTE!

Are you saying the Weekly World News is wrong, and President Bush didn't approve a national chain of brothels to help finance the National Debt?

Say it ain't so!

In all seriousness... CHB is more reliable than Weekly World News, Fox News and the Wall Street Journal Opinion Page, but it is probably less reliable than the National Enquirer.

That's pretty cool, thanks for the link!

Yeah, as soon as I hit I had the thought that there were probably plenty of people who'd prefer their photo subjects to have glowing red (or green, etc.) eyes... though the only ones that come to mind immediately are the Weekly World News.

Dark Matter causing distortions on pioneer's path as it leaves the solar system? I knew it was true. http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/features/science/61 501

Here's another interesting article about Katrina.

"This is nothing like snopes. It is a satire/joke encyclopedia. You will not be able to forward anything authorative from here to your friends."

That's pretty funny. You know what, you can forward something authoritative from anywhere.

Once upon a time, this site (www.weeklyworldnews.com) wrote a story about Russia and China going to war with each other and one of the two nuking both their armies.

Many moons after that, I had somebody claiming they read form a reputable news source that this was true. I knew they were full of it, so I went and looked it up online. Guess what I found? Alas, the article appears to no longer exist, but it was clearly FAKE.

People are dumb, and there are enough people out there who will believe anything.

Bryan

Actually, Hell froze over in 1995. Proof:

1. The Devilswon the Stanley Cup.

2. Satan began playing in the National Hockey League. (For the Edmonton Oilers, no less, which shows just how cold Hell was that year.)

3. The Beatles reunited, even including the late John Lennon.

What happened today is quite different. According to reliable news sources, a new species of winged pigs has been sighted in the skies all round the world.

Do please keep your cliche calendar up to date!

Also, an image of the debris was posted.

Look at the shape of the debris... my first thought was that it might be Arthur Dent catching a ride.

Or for another interpretation... how long before the Weekly World News runs the headline, "Angel Photographed by NASA"?

Inquirer, Enquirer, bah!

While you argue, you are missing this:

http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/features/politics/6 1696

Here is the photo that Reuters released for this news story. It shows the worlds biggest hacker successfully getting into the Pentagon's secret UFO research labs.

He looks kinda feminine to me...

Agreed, and it's definitely working. I don't even know him, but if I was running a company in his line of business I'd bump his resume' near the top based on that alone.

Taking a principled stand against O'Gara's over-the-top shill work and credibility that rivals only the Weekly World News, I've wondered just why the heck LinuxWorld hasn't dumped her years ago.

Number of hits, you say? That's eating your seed corn. Short term hits at the expense of long term credibility isn't a good survival strategy in today's flood of Web-based alternatives.

No instruction required. They'll learn on their own.

I believe such distinction is lacking basis in case law. Specifically, I will note that correspondents for the dead-tree version of your favorite supermarket tabloid are considered journalists by the courts, with all the protections due thereto. (And pronouncing rulings like that is why judges need strong stomachs.)

It make their day more exiciting. The Weekly World News is never going out of business. Batboy will forever be on the loose. Jesus is coming back real soon now! Bigfoot was just seen, again, but the photo is grainy. A chupacabras ate a baby. Again!

Your talk of facts and implementation has no sway with these people, especially if they have an anti-Apple grudge to begin with.

People would rather talk about big evil conspiracies than just admit to boring old talk about badly written randomizing code or a poor random number generator.

This conspiracy would be funny if it didnt again expose the shocking lack of skepticism and critical thinking skills of so-called educated people.

Even more depressing, the last Weekly World News sports the title "Osama is dead." Again, wish fulfillment and conspiracies. Its just pathetic.

Because the Weekly World News covers a wide range of issues that Wikipedia simply can't cover.

Also, Weekly World News loads more quickly than Wikipedia.

Yes, any other journalistic source.

Weekly World News is a tabloid newspaper that routinely prints absolutely outragous stories. It is totally fictitious, though sometimes the stories are loosely based on famous people.

http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/

The Sun? You can't believe anything in that paper.

If you want the real dirt on NASA and what they are hiding, you have to check out The Weekly World News! If Martian Bacteria are found, they will be from The Butt on Mars. They know all about Mars

The Sun? You can't believe anything in that paper.

If you want the real dirt on NASA and what they are hiding, you have to check out The Weekly World News! If Martian Bacteria are found, they will be from The Butt on Mars. They know all about Mars

Traditional encyclopedia provide the proverbial "paper trail" by virtue of material durability, and (hypothetically) are further protected by the academic integrity of the scholars who maintain them. I can't help feeling that Wikipedia is more succeptable to the tyranny of the masses and the whims of political fashion. While wikipedia does permit the dedicated user to track all modifications, this ability is seldom employed by the casual user.

Certainly the naive user is at a disadvantage here, but that is a problem in more places than just Wikipedia (ever heard of the weekly world news?). For the serious researcher, there is far more information than in a mere static article. For example, here is the article on George W. Bush on January 2002.

As for durability, you can download the entire database if you so choose (and you have a fast internet connection).

In a bit of turnabout, the WWN is doing the Martha story this year. I suppose that means MSL will run a story on knitting a sweater for Nessie.

jamie writes, "The scientist's job is to discover truth about the natural world, and the journalist's is to report the world's events accurately."

The scientists job is to get hissef compensated in exchange for modeling observation in a consistant manner.
The journalists job is to get hissef compensated for words.
There is a wide range of accuracy in science and journalism. The educated and intellectual demand and pay for a high degree of accuracy, thereby supporting what might be known as 'good' science and 'good' journalism. Although on the journalism front our intellectuals seem just as willing to support the journalist who is clever in the use of language. At the other end of the spectrum we have the likes of Archimedes Plutonium who tells us that nuclear fusion will never work and The Weekly World News where I just learned that Osama's penile implant is stuck in the 'ON' position!

SO there you have it. Another /. bit of news coming to us with false premise

...ever bothered to pick up a copy of Infinite Energy magazine?

Let us not forget Irving Langmuir's symptoms of pathological science:

The maximum effect that is observed is produced by a causative agent of barely detectable intensity, and the magnitude of the effect is substantially independent of the intensity of the cause.

The effect is of a magnitude that remains close to the limit of detectability, or many measurements are necessary because of the very low statistical significance of the results.

Theories outside the field's paradigm are suggested.

Criticisms are met by ad hoc excuses thought up on the spur of the moment.

The ratio of supporters to critics rises and then falls gradually to oblivion.

Nicholas Turro has added:

The remarkable result is specific for a "special" system.

Some special technique or equipment is involved.

The result requires a stunning departure from the paradigms that fully determine results in all other comparable systems, including those studied by the authors.

Some of the common traits seen by the Infinite Energy crowd are summed up nicely by Martin Gardner:

He considers himself a genius.

He regards his colleagues, without exception, as ignorant blockheads.

He believes himself unjustly persecuted and discriminated against.

He has strong compulsions to focus his attacks on the greatest scientists and best established theories.

He often has a tendency to write in a complex jargon, in many cases making use of terms and phrases he himself has coined.

You don't see the last one, and you get only a taste of the first one, but I'd say your vitriolic comment is covers the rest rather well here.

I was going to add some other good tell-tale signs, but a little Googling has turned up a nice page.

Please note Bubba that it was over four months between when the DoE decided to look again at cold fusion and when Mallove was murdered. This may constitute "shortly after" in a cosmic sense, but your statment is ignorant and misleading. I assume you either spout it in a deliberate attempt to mislead, or you probably heard it secondhand and didn't bother to verify it (both qualities, by the way, the "infinite" and/or "free" energy crowd have in abundance).

By the way, did you know that Art Carney, the great comedian, died on November 9 2003: THREE DAYS AFTER THE DoE COLD FUSION MEETING!

Coincidence? I think not.

Think it's been done before. On a bus to summer camp a few years back, I saw an old guy on some suped-up wheelchair driving at least 60mph on the highway. No kidding. He even popped a wheelie! Between that guy and Giuseppe Cannella, I'm not sure who'd win at http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/features/chamber/59 478 wheel chair chicken.

So long as they avoid libel (which is a matter for the courts), then it's an issue of institutional choice.

If everything that's called news must be true, then you would deny me the pleasure of reading The Onion. It's a news parody site, but at first glance it's not obvious. The top of the page says, "America's Finest News Source (tm)," so it must be news. Yet the Supreme Court ruled to protect parody as a first amendment right. What's wrong with that?

What about the Weekly World News? It's the highest circulated paper in the US. I see nothing wrong with their editorial "fact" fabrication. Nowhere does that paper say, "Entertainment Value Only". People use it for entertainment though. What's wrong with that?

Basically, you can't hold these institutions under different legal standards than the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. They are all publishers. So long as they avoid libel, they are free to print whatever they want. Their accuracy beyond that is an institutional choice.

If you don't feel they are accurate, and you expect them to be, your only recourse is to spend your money elsewhere. If enough people do that then the advertising will suffer.

A good example of this is the New York Post. This is a paper that suffered under claims of inaccuracy for years. Now they report more "gossip" to keep readership up. How many respected newspapers keep gossip on the front page?

I, in a very humble opinion, see nothing wrong with any of this. It's publishing. It's there to sell papers.

Where I do see a problem, is when someone expects the government to keep someone's first amendment rights in check. Libel and Slander laws exist to protect when a first amendment right infringes on someone else's rights. You do not have the right to force someone to give you accurate news. You do have the right to investigate and find out the truth yourself. Our system, as it exists, is pretty good. What's happening is exactly what should happen. Lies and mis-spoken facts are getting out there, and then being found out. This is the way our system has evolved. And sometimes it doesn't work quickly, but it does work.

Bottom line, there is no way to force the truth onto those whom don't care. Those seeking the truth can find it. Until I can no longer find the truth when I seek it out, then I see nothing wrong with it.

I'm trying to keep a list of all the sites pulling pranks for 2004. Visit the site to see the up to the minute list and to submit new ones.

Current list:

www.urgo.org
mrtwig.net
southparkx.net
www.suprnova.org
www.cowsponge.com
Google
Slashdot
fark.com
www.thinkgeek.com
www.pimpworks.org
www.whirlpool.net.au
planetnintendo.com
Google Job
evercrest.com
www.heise.de (not sure if its a joke.. german)
www.homestarrunner.com
Weekly World News