As part of my efforts to be more informed now that I am a resident of Das Capital, I've been doing lots of reading of BBC and the New York Times, as previously mentioned. I've also been trying to decide if it's the news that is ridiculous, or if it's me. I think, after much debate, I've come to the conclusion that we're both at fault. For example, I will admit that it's probably only me who wonders what Bill is up to every time I read a headline with the last name "Clinton" in it. Every single time I read a headline, like "Clinton Urges Russia Over Rights", I think to myself "What's Bill up to now? He's so sneaky.". But it's always about Hil. As it should be, since she is Secretary of State and all. I don't know why I always think it's Bill. Hil is pretty legit on her own. Maybe I think of Bill because he did all of Hil's campaigning for her presidential bid.
I also love the things that make the news on BBC.com and how different they are from the New York Times. Like so far this week, there have been two articles on BBC.com about facebook. There are never articles in the Times about facebook. One article was dumb, but apparently some international fraud suspect was caught because he kept updating his facebook status about how he was living it up and how he was totally awesome. And then he got busted. It didn't really say why, but I watch enough crime shows to suspicion that they traced his IP address, or something equally tricky. I think it's great when facebook makes the news. It makes me feel like all the time I spend snooping around on facebook might actually lead to something.
All this increased news reading makes me wonder sometimes what led someone to believe that the content of a specific article is news. Today's "are you serious about this shit?" news article can be found in the New York Times, "Hybrid Cars May Include Fake Vroom for Safety" (you can read the whole article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/automobiles/14hybrid.html?ref=todayspaper). Now, to be fair, I was so appalled by the premise of this article that I only scanned the second half, but here's the jist: hybrid cars are too quiet and drivers might hit people so we need to work with sound effects people in Hollywood to make sure people can hear the cars. I think this article raises two important questions. 1. What kind of idiots are running out into the middle of the street? The article specifically targets children and older adults. I recall as a young child being taught to look both ways before you cross the street. Which generally ensures that you see cars that may be coming your way before you step into the street. And if there are cars coming at you, make the brilliant intellectual leap to NOT walk into the street. To me, that seems a bit easier than having to work out how to put sound back into a quiet car. Call me old-timey if you will. I just figure basic common sense could cure this problem. 2. What kind of drivers are hitting people because their car is too quiet? I mean, I can think of a lot of reasons a driver might accidentally hit a pedestrian. (Actually, I can think of a few reasons they might intentionally hit a person as well, but that's neither here nor there.) But the car being too quiet is not really one that I can seriously entertain. Hence, I reject this as an acceptable news story.
My other favorite news story of today is that the creator of the World Wide Web is apologizing for the // found at the beginning of every web address. (Read the whole article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8306631.stm. It's super short.) Apparently, it really annoys some people. I'm not sure who those people are, because I generally just start typing web sites with the www part, which eliminates that whole problem, but I love that some people are worked up enough about it that this dude, Sir Tim, felt like he needed to apologize publicly. It's totally great.
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