News Cut: November 1, 2007 Archive

What would you do?

Posted at 1:09 PM on November 1, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

I've watched Saving Private Ryan, it seems, hundreds of times and people who were there -- D-Day -- say it was a realistic portrayal of events. Knowing that, I don't know how anyone can keep from asking themselves, "what would I have done?"

The American Spectator today -- and let's leave aside the politics of it all for the occasion -- has an article on a particular day in Iraq, with a very small group of U.S. soldiers.

As Moser fired into the door from his corner in an attempt to suppress the enemy assault, he saw Morley appear to stumble and go down, his weapon skidding across the rooftop toward the stairwell door. His first thought was that the team leader had tripped and fallen; a moment later, his brain registered the truth: Morley had been shot. A burst of gunfire from the southern stairwell across the dividing wall had scored a direct hit, with one round striking Morley directly in the forehead. He was dead before hitting the ground.

It was a four-man team, that had just become a three-man team, that now faced some seriously cruddy odds.

Comment on this post

If a tree falls on the Internet...

Posted at 4:03 PM on November 1, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

A couple of days ago -- I was away -- MPR's Tim Post ran a story about the problems newspapers face with allowing users to attach comments to news stories. Apparently, the concern in newsrooms is, people can attach some stupid comments.

This led to a discussion in our own newsroom today about whether user comments that might be racist or otherwise uncomfortable, compromise the journalistic integrity of the organization that produced the original journalism.

On the other hand, if the job of journalists is to take a snapshot of a community -- is the racism part of that picture?

It may be a moot point of an effort succeeds to create a filter that will rid the Internet -- or at least what you see -- of stupidity.

The StupidFilter Project is the creation of "an open-source filter software that can detect rampant stupidity in written English. This will be accomplished with weighted Bayesian analysis and some rules-based processing, similar to spam detection engines. The primary challenge inherent in our task is that stupidity is not a binary distinction, but rather a matter of degree. To this end, we're collecting a ranked corpus of stupid text, gleaned from user comments on public websites and ranked on a five-point scale."

Yes, well, I'm not at all sure that using the sterling success of spam filters is a proper depiction of a utopian online universe.

But what is stupid and, more important, are we better off not having it? Racism, one might -- and should -- argue, is stupid. It is certainly ignorant. But if we don't see it in its most naked form, is it not there?

Comment on this post

One small step for man

Posted at 5:33 PM on November 1, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

That PC -- or laptop or iPhone or whatever -- you're reading this on, can be traced back to the space program.

But NASA didn't stop there.

It has funded research that has paid off again, working with the University of California Berkley to develop a device to help you avoid the headache you get when you drink red wine. The device can "easily detect chemicals that many scientists believe can turn wine and other beloved indulgences into ingredients for agony."

Oddly, this research came as part of an effort to find new technologies to sustain life on Mars.

The chemicals, called biogenic amines, occur naturally in a wide variety of aged, pickled and fermented foods prized by gourmet palates, including wine, chocolate, cheese, olives, nuts and cured meats.

Prepare for a round of late-night jokes.

Comment on this post