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Twitter Buys Summify, Gives Everyone a Reason to Use It
Mike Davidson on the Summify acquisition — but more importantly, on the future of news delivery in general. A great read.
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Men from Georgia say they have Bigfoot carcass
I’m definitely skeptical, but this is exciting. A guilty pleasure of mine lately has been The History Channel’s MonsterQuest, and I now know more about Bigfoot and other such animals than I ever wanted to know. Apparently, these men — longtime ‘Squatch hunters — found the body of a Bigfoot along with several live creatures, and took the carcass. They will reveal it tomorrow. Interesting!
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More than 100,000 rare gorillas found in Congo
> An estimated 125,000 Western lowland gorillas are living in a swamp in equatorial Africa, researchers reported Tuesday, double the number of the endangered primates thought to survive worldwide.
If 125,000 huge gorillas can live undetected by humans for however long it takes to spawn 125,000 gorillas, I have no reason to doubt a species like, say, Bigfoot, could do the same thing. Just sayin’.
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CNN: Obama clinches nomination
> Sen. Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination for president, according to CNN estimates, making him the first African-American in U.S. history to lead a major-party ticket.
With apologies to Sam Cooke: It’s been a long time running, but I know a change is gonna come. Yes, yes it will.
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Alaskan Way Viaduct options expands to 10
The state of Washington is now juggling 10 possible options for replacing or rebuilding the Alaskan Way Viaduct along Seattle’s downtown waterfront. The usual suspects — tunnels, surface street, and elevated roadways — are present, but so it an option I hadn’t heard of before: a bridge over Elliot Bay.
Apparently this was previously considered, and is now back on the table. Check out some ideas here, here, and here. It’s an intriguing idea. I can’t decide if the thing would be a total eyesore or an iconic landmark (a la bridges in San Francisco, Sydney, etc.). Either way, it’s interesting to consider.
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U.S. surfer dies in shark attack in Mexico
Second fatal shark attack in a week. This is bound to cause a ridiculous, over-the-top media frenzy that will piss me off.
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Dolphins will draft Jake Long with the No. 1 overall pick
St. Louis, you’re on the clock.
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In the Shadow of Foreclosures
A beautiful New York Times infographic showing the percentage of foreclosures on sub-prime loans in metropolitan areas. Indicates that the crisis isn’t nearly as bad here in the upper left as it is in most places.
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Obama: I’m the one to beat McCain - CNN.com
> Despite the heated back-and-forth over the last few months, Clinton Wednesday hinted that she would be open to a Clinton-Obama ticket in the fall. “Well, that may, you know, be where this is headed,” Clinton told CBS Wednesday. “But, of course, we have to decide who’s on top of the ticket…”
Glad to hear it. I’d hate to see the two beat each other up so much over the course of the primaries that they can’t work together in the end. I’d definitely vote for a Clinton/Obama ticket (though I’d be much happier voting for an Obama/Clinton one).
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Washington Gov. Gregoire: ‘Watch me’ tear down the viaduct (in 2012)
Unfortunately, by 2012, we’ll all be in our cars under a pile of concrete. Seriously, though: I’d love to see a tunnel built where the viaduct stands right now, but I do understand it’s very expensive. A street-level road seems like it would either be not big enough to handle all of the viaduct’s traffic or so big that it would further separate downtown/Belltown from the waterfront. A tunnel could really bring the waterfront and downtown/Belltown together, which would be awesome.
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Virgin America now services Seattle
Booyah! I know who I’m flying next time I go to CA.
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Young women drink, party, post
This is a story about young women who post photos of themselves performing silly, drunken acts like peeing on a waterfall or dancing on a table. Predictably, the old fart who wrote the story — as well as several who were interviewed for it — seems incredibly concerned that these young ladies are not thinking about the consequences of showing themselves in this state in public.
I, however, have a theory, which says there will actually be no consequences at all. Why? Because everybody is doing it.
I’m just realizing theory might be worth a blog post of its own, so I think I’ll stop there, and go into more details in a more fleshed out post in the future. :)
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Dutch natural history museum unable to locate elusive crab louse for its collection
Save the lice! End pubic shaving!
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Online couple cheated with each other
C’mon — you have to admit, this is freaking hilarious.
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Seattle traffic the 19th worst in country
Not bad, not bad. I figured it would be higher. I believe we’re the 14th most populous metro in America, so being 19th in traffic is pretty respectable, I think.
The study says that Seattle drivers must multiply the drive time in optimal conditions by 2.06 to guarantee an on-time arrival. Thankfully, I almost never have to drive on the Interstate here.
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NFL fines Belichick, takes Pats draft picks
Ouch — The Pats lose their first round pick next year if they make the playoffs, and their second and third if they don’t. That’s a huge penalty — and there’s also $750,000 in total fines to go along with it. Wow.
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P-I: Overweight? Blame your ZIP code
The P-I compared obesity rates to Seattle zip codes and found the two directly related: what neighborhood you’re in, and it’s level of affluence absolutely plays a part in your potential to be overweight. More expensive neighborhoods neighborhoods — such as Freemont/Greenlake, Queen Anne, and Capitol Hill — have much greater access to healthy food and safe, inviting places to exercise. Interesting, because it’s a bit counter-intuitive.
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CNN.com: Men want hot women, study confirms
Wow, I had no idea.
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USA TODAY: China8 project boxes up grand ad plan
The Blue Flavor shipping container makes a brief, obscured cameo in USA Today. Awesome.
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ESPN: Vick agrees to plead guilty in dogfighting case
“Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick accepted a plea deal Monday and lengthy prison sentence to avoid additional federal charges in a dogfighting case that has driven his NFL career to a halt.”
Word on the street is that the sentence is likely 18-24 months. Ouch. I think this pretty much seals the deal: Vick will never again play in the NFL. How quickly the mighty have fallen. Two years ago, he was a poster boy for the NFL. A month ago, he was the starting quarterback for an up-and-coming NFL team. Today, he’s a criminal with no future to speak of.
I’ve always liked Vick — he’s an incredible talent and a joy to watch on the field. But, he’s made some really stupid mistakes. Between flipping the fans off, the whole water bottle incident, and (apparently) executing dogs with his own two hands, he definitely deserves this sentence. Even though i’ve been a fan of his, I can’t say I feel bad for him, at this point.
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Oakland Crimespotting
It doesn’t have quite the breadth of options for viewing crimes as ChicagoCrime.org, but it definitely does have some pretty mps. Love that UI. Well-done!
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Citizen Rain: Man bit by decapitated rattlesnake head
Dude chopped a rattlesnake’s head of with a shovel, and the damn thing bit him for it. That’s awesome.
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Seattle Center to get skatepark in 2009
Sweet (I live three blocks from Seattle Center).
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Undercover NBC Dateline reporter bolts from DEFCON 2007
By now, everyone’s seen the video and heard bits of the story, but this is the best big picture description I’ve seen of what happened. Her ruse is once again proof that most TV news is over-dramatized shock media on par with Howard Stern. Is your child safe?
While I’m here, I’ll say also that I find her references to “people in Kansas” pretty insulting. Does she really think those of us from Kansas are stupider than the rest of the world? Does she really think that people in middle America, in a day and age where we have a global network for instant communication, are any less aware of what DEFCON is than people in coastal cities? On behalf of Kansans everywhere: screw you, lady.
I do feel bad for her on a personal level, though. She’s going to be eaten alive for this — and all because some wanna-be producer unwittingly sent her into the worst possible circumstance in an effort to shock and appall “people in Kansas.” It’s not her fault — it’s the fault of pathetic journalistic institutions like Dateline NBC who insist on purveying this kind of crap. And, it’s also the fault of each and every American who watches it.
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Forbes: Best cities for young professional
NYC and San Fran top the list — Seattle is number seven. Kansas City is number 37.
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While Seated: The Jena 6
Advice to anyone who thinks racism is no longer much of an issue: read this.
Update: And read this, for more details.
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Some interesting stats on how Americans feel about evolution
53% of those surveyed said that evolution (when defined as “the idea that human beings developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life”) is either “definitely true” or “probably true.” However, 66% said that creationism (“the idea that God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years”) is true. That seems contradictory, to me. I believe creation and evolution can co-exist, but not when they’re framed with those definitions.
38% said “man developed, with God guiding,” and 43% think “God created man in present form.” Only 14% think “man developed, but God had no part in (the) process”.
24% of Americans believe that both the theory of evolution and the theory of creationism are probably or definitely true. This also proves that 24% of people are either idiots or didn’t read the definitions of evolution and creationism the survey uses. Again, I do think it’s possible for one to believe in both evolution and creationism, but you would have to define creation differently than they have done with this survey.
Finally, I find it astonishing that 19% of those who don’t believe in evolution chose “I believe in Jesus Christ” as their justification for it (this was the most popular response). I don’t think much of anyone, including evolutionists, doubt the existence of Jesus Christ. Believing in Jesus Christ is no reason to not believe in evolution. Every other choice on the list is reasonable, but “I believe in Jesus Christ” is just a laughable response to “Why don’t you believe in evolution?”
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TIME: The Last Temptation of Al Gore
TIME says: “Al Gore has fallen out of love with politics. But friends, moneymen and an army of green activists are begging him to run.” A really compelling piece on the former Vice President who both won and lost the election in 2000. Good stuff.
By the way, TIME is one of the few news websites whose design makes me really enjoy reading it. Clean, crisp, bright, simple, elegant. I like it. Of course, I would like to get in and put “Helvetica Neue” before Arial in their stylesheets… :)
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James Cameron may have found tomb of Jesus — plus his son and wife.
The burial site of Jesus has been found and suggests he had a wife and son, according to highly sensitive claims in a documentary by “Titanic” director James Cameron and Israel-born Simcha Jacobovici. If this is accurate (and it’s really hard to tell at this point), it basically puts forth a real-life Da Vinci Code situation, challenging the basic tenants of Christianity as we know it. Interesting stuff.
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Volkswagen recalls nearly 800,000 cars - CNN.com
Around 800,000 Volkswagen vehicles have been recalled Monday because of faulty brake lights. My 2005 Jetta GLI’s brake lights got stuck permanently on several months ago. I guess this explains it. Wow, 800,000 cars is a lot. Bad, bad news for VW, PR-wise.
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Mistrial
In a big murder/arson case in Lawrence, a last-minute witness is found in — get this — the comments section of our site. The Journal-World was subpoenaed for information on the commenter, and a mistrial was forced.
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MyFox Milwaukee: Nintendo Hand-Held Child Molester Target
Unbelievable. TV news can be so absurdly sensational, man. This station did an entire piece on how the Nintendo DS could be used by “child molesters” to communicate with your kids. They don’t mention a single instance of this actually happening, but they do have the police on hand to discuss the matter, anyway. They do blame Nintendo, because they don’t adequately warn parents about this risk, even though the DS’s manual instructs parents to talk to their kids about the possibility of strangers starting “Pictochat” conversations with them. It’s incredible this can even make it on air. How is this news? Is this really an “investigative report?” And even if it qualifies, was there any good reason to do said report? Ridiculous. Honestly, I hope someone hangs bird-flipping moonites on these guy’s building. Via Nathan.
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Media: point the finger at yourself
Wil Wheaton speaks my mind in his post about the Moonites in Boston. It’s freaking absurd that media are still trying to call this event a “terrorist hoax” or a “bomb threat,” when it’s been proven that is was neither. The media and city officials that totally overreacted here just need to own up to the fact that they overreacted and move the hell on.
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Verizon Rejected iPhone Deal Due to Apple’s Terms
The most interesting deductions from this are that Apple obviously wanted the iPhone to be 3G and that Apple considered making the iPhone CDMA (which would seem like an odd choice, since it would limit it to America).
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CNN: Rare shark captured on film
The Frilled Shark, a species of rarely seen alive because its natural habitat is about 2,000 feet under the sea was captured on film by staff at a Japanese marine park this week. Cool stuff.
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ABC News Video: TV 2.0
Despite having the number 2.0 in the title, this short piece is actually interesting an entertaining, thanks in large part to the presence of media maven Jeff Jarvis. You know, it would be cool if I could watch these little news clips on my couch…
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Richard Dawkins: Executing Saddam Hussein was an Act of Vandalism
Dawkins believes that to kill Saddam was to destroy a vital resource for scientists, psychologists, and the like. He makes some really good points.
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Faces of the Dead in Iraq - New York Times
One has to give credit where credit is due — The Post did this many, many months ago. Still, the Times’ take on the idea is nice — I especially love the UI and information display in the “Analysis” section.
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100 Things We Didn’t Know Last Year
Awesomely fun.
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Researchers catch and film giant squid
Only a year ago, the existence of these giants was believed by many to be a myth. One was photographed last year, and now a live one has been filmed. The say the elusive creatures may be more plentiful than previously believed, to boot. Very cool.
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Jeff Croft
I’m a digital product designer and developer in Seattle, WA. I currently work with nGen Works, and recently co-founded Lendle, a Kindle book sharing service.
Some of my clients include Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Copious, The New York Review of Books, The Lawrence Journal-World, and the University of Washington.
I’ve authored two books on web and interactive design and spoken at dozens of conferences around the world.
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