Five at 8: May 26, 2009

Who's Bill James? The luckiest man on earth.

I thought of that while reading this article from the Washington Post by a reporter who covers funerals at Arlington National Cemetery .

They all follow identical rules and protocol, but no two can ever be alike -- it's always a different soldier, a different story, a different sacrifice, a different life and a different death.

Far from being intrusive, many reporters find families more than willing to share their stories about their loved one. By the way, since the weekend News Cut audience is comparatively non-existent, you might've missed this.

WHAT WE'RE DOING

Midmorning - How is the economy affecting news converage. NPR ombudsman Alicia Sheppard and Mark Jurkowitz of the Pew Center are guests. In the second hour: Author David Eagleman considers the concept of time and the afterlife.

Midday - The state of the auto industry with Paul Eisenstein, long-time Detroit auto industry reporter.

Talk of the Nation - Today the California Supreme Court rules on the Proposition 8 case, to either uphold last November's ban on gay marriage or overturn it. The opinion will be available here at noon, central time. Second hour: A birth control pill may soon be available for men. Presumably, it can be taken with a beer.

Oh, heck, why not, here you go, guys. Just the guys, please:

All Things Considered - Coverage of a court hearing in the Hauser case. Stephanie Hemphill looks at Xcel's desire to add storage and extend the life of the Prairie Island plant. If you close your eyes, it's the '90s again. NPR Washington will profile runpee.com, the latest indication that the end is near.

Comments (4)

Agreed on the "ick factor" in the Hauser story. We all presumed the mother took her son to southern CA to sneak into Mexico for "treatment."

Today one wonders if a "movie deal" was the real reason for the flight.

Feds, reconsider dropping that warant for Mrs. Hauser. Little this woman has said about the case has passed the "sniffed test." She took her son because she was afraid he would run away?

Please...

Posted by Bob Moffitt | May 26, 2009 8:07 AM

In no particular order - four responses:

I'll add my vote to the increasing "ick factor" on the Hauser story. I'm loathe to tread on a family's religious beliefs, but this has gone way beyond that. This poor sick kid seems to be stuck in a highly manipulated and manipulative situation - and not much is being done on any front to truly help him.

The baseball stats graphs are just plain old bad. They're unreadable - a good graph should be something you can scan and easily understand, which these clearly are not. I'm not a fan of baseball, really, and this sort of thing is more likely to make me run farther away rather than get me interested - but I doubt I'm the target audience.

Thanks Bob for the story behind the Edwards picture - it is a stunning picture and the story behind it makes it that much more powerful (along with the quote from the Arlington Cemetery column).

And, really, you'd think music folks would have their groove on much earlier than 5 minutes in to a Chuck Berry tribute. Even then it took a little encouragement. I mean c'mon - the guy rocks!

Posted by Anna | May 26, 2009 9:28 AM

I'll follow the lead and in no particular order - three responses.

Was that the king of Pop in the front row?

Been following news storys and asking my doctor about it for years: A birth control pill may soon be available for men. YES!

The baseball charts hurt my eyes, I think I need something to drink now. I second barring the Star Tribune from publishing "wild card" standings before August 1 (or when 1st team clinches a division title spot).

Posted by BJ | May 26, 2009 9:35 AM

Bob, those baseball charts are a bad implementation of a good idea. The line widths need to be thinner for one. But as the season progresses, these types of graphics can be incredibly informative.

I am 99% sure whoever made those graphics were inspired by this thread. Check out some better implementations there. You may also be particularly fond of the October 1, 2007 post.

Posted by JohnnyZoom | May 26, 2009 11:51 AM