Incorrect or Sensationalist Headline?

Bit of confusion for one journalist it would seem. I can understand the confusion as airlines treat you as an adult when you turn 12 and so does the cinema. Teenage years are certainly 13-19 inclusive but girls become women, generally, about the the age of 13-14 years. These women become adults at the age of 18. So when one reads a headline regarding the kidnapping of a teenage girl you'd expect her to be between, say, 13 to 16 years of age. Nineteen is not a girl anymore.

Teenager - yes. Girl - no. Woman - yes.

Have we done away with editors to save a few dollars or are they just not doing their jobs anymore? Or was the journalist looking to sensationalise the story to generate interest?

News Stories

Here's a few news stories I saw during the week that I found to be interesting.

Sydney man stabs and kills intruder armed with stun gun

- It's time the government realised that anti-gun laws are having a detrimental affect on the lifespan of robbers. I thought that this country stood for a fair go for all.

Faster than light particles found, claim scientists

- Particles faster than light? Are they sure it's not a daylight savings error and that they didn't synchronise their watches?

'Decamillionaires' on the rise in Asia as wealth shifts away from Western nations

- Dammit, one list I wouldn't mind being on.

Julia Gillard TV sex scene causes outrage in Oz

- I hear that the diggers aren't happy at the image portrayed in the show, At Home With Julia, as thousands of men have died under that flag. I wouldn't be surprised if the guy playing her partner, Tim Mathieson, "died" also.

Amorous Squid Seeks Partner: Any Sex Will Do

- And to think they just spit in our eyes. It could be worse.

UK’s slowest broadband street revealed

- Sounds like snail mail is faster than broadband in West Sussex and Hampshire.

Nicole Kidman Heading To Jail?

When I first saw the picture associated with this news article I thought perhaps Nicole Kidman was heading to jail. Then I read the article headline, entitled "Actor Jailed" and I realised that there was no possibility that it was her. She's not an actor. She was previously married to a guy who wasn't an actor either.

Actor Jailed - Couldn't Be Nicole Kidman Then.

Something Strange Is Happening

As the summer transfer window nears its final stages, something strange is happening. Eurosport. Eurosport is happening. And it is strange. Very strange.

Methinks there's a little bit of content needed for this article. Or did they just decided to forgo the padding and print a full quality article?

As the summer transfer window nears its final stages, something strange is happening.

Has Ricky Nixon Had A Sex Change Operation?

Ricky Nixon, no stranger to controversy following the incident with the "St Kilda schoolgirl", has hit the headlines again. Months ago it was alleged that he was having an affair, and using drugs, with a teenager who had had sex with numerous footballers including a couple from Saint Kilda. The allegations tarnished his career as a football player manager, which led to his loss of a player manager licence, and the downfall of his marriage.

The headline, coupled with a photo of a woman, had me wondering - "Has Ricky Nixon had a sex change operation?" Probably not as the woman is none other than Christine Nixon, former Victorian Police Chief. The Google News aggregator has struck again.

Has Ricky Nixon had a sex change operation?

Growth Hormone Should Always Be Used Humanely

Those people against animal testing should also be standing up for the rights of humans. No humans deserve to be a used as guinea pigs. All growth hormones should be tested humanely - see Google News heading below.

Redefining Pathetic

I don't think too much of the regional TV news in Australia but prefer watching Channel 7 if the ABC or SBS are unavailable. Channel 10 is quite watchable but I refuse to watch theChannel 9 news even though they have the same stories as Channel 7.

Two nights ago I was most annoyed with the weather girl, Natalia Cooper, with her report from a drought-ravaged area of the state. Not so much the story was the issue but this weather girl made a heartfelt plea for rain in the area which appeared to be stage-managed. Ok, she doesn't have a science communications degree covered climate change, environmental subjects, geography and a bit of meteorology like her rival on Channel 9, Angela Tsun, but she does have a journalism degree. The fact of the matter is that weather is a science, not an exact science (I'm waiting for some teenager or American to comment "exact same science"), and this passionate display was quite pathetic. All she needed to do was report that rain was greatly needed. Pleading for it is not the way to go and unproffessional journalism. And this was after telling us that they need the rain next year so what's it got to with this year then? Not a very well managed weather report from a very dry area of Western Australia.

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh but the regional TV stations try to introduce too much heartfelt sympathy and I'm not buying it.

Joe Hockey Sporty?

Who, in their right mind, would call Joe Hockey sporty? He's a rather obese character and currently the Liberal Party's shadow treasurer.

It was funny to listen to Don Randall today, a Liberal backbencher, go on about "This is just another one of their, as I said lunatic fringe type ideas. But that's the problem that the Gillard Government's got now, they've got a Green coalition which is dragging them to the left of Australian politics with all these crazy ideas." when he heard about the idea of banks being regulated in the interest rates they can charge especially when the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) changes rates. The idea was that banks be punished, in legislation, if they move their rates up more than what the RBA does. Turns out that this was Joe Hockey's idea. Dumb.

Joe Hockey is considered sport?

What really amused me is that the Google News aggregator thought that this story belonged in both the business and sports sections.

Now he's likely to be a political football. At least for a while. And you don't think that the Labor Party or the Greens will let that go through to the keeper, do you?

If opening your mouth to change feet is considered a sport then I believe Joe Hockey does belong in the sports section.

Brothel Blaze - Glad To See Contraceptives Used

News story from yesterday with the headline of "Door kicked in at brothel blaze". What caught my eye was a line within the story that indicated that perhaps their whole stock of contraceptives were burnt in the blaze.

Burning rubber in a brothel.

Is Ricky Martin Really Gay?

One of the big news stories this morning is that Ricky Martin is gay. Is he for real or is this a publicity stunt?

He was so popular with the smash hit at France '98 with his World Cup song "Cup of Life". And then, bugger all. Maybe he just wants to create some controversy to get back in the headlines and sell a few million more records.

The news this morning was truly astonishing to read. Harder to believe. how could a man that good looking be gay? Next thing you'll be telling me that George Michael is gay.

What The Heck Is This Doing In The Sports News?

I love Google News. It's a fabulous news aggregator. It would be nice to be able to pick a little more than just the Australian news stories as I would like to add a few English Premier League articles. NBA results wouldn't go astray either. But I digress.

I understand that no human involvement, apart from coding the algorithm originally, takes place. Here's how Google News works, according to Google. It basically looks for popular stories and puts them together in a collection.

I read the sports and business sections regularly. Today I was quite surprised to see President Obama as the top sports story. How the heck did that happen? His health care story has nothing to do with sport. I can only think that the big high-five resembles a basketballer's celebration but you'd have to admit that it's a long bow to draw.

What about the third most popular story? Obviously the golf club is sports-related but the article is about an attack with a claw hammer. It took place in the guy's driveway, not a driving range.

Time for the algorithm to be updated, methinks.

What the heck is this doing in the sports news?

Not Long For This World

I read, aghast, a report today that if you have a baby face then you are more likely to live to a ripe old age. If that truly is the case then I don't have long on this planet.

I remember working as a 22 year-old in London at one stage and the foreman asked me how old I was. His guess was 36. Another bloke thought that I was 35 and about the closest was 30-odd. Obviously I didn't have a baby face back then and things haven't gotten any better. People were surprised at my age and the comment, "Gee, you must have had a hard life," was mentioned on a few occasions.

Actually, I don't think I look much older than just after finishing high school. And I was pretty gawky looking at school. Can't get over some of the old photos of me.

I Wish Newsreaders Would Check Their Stories

Whilst driving on Sunday we had the news on the radio. The newsreader informed us, at a tick after 12pm, that Australia, playing in the ICC Champions Trophy, had had a light training run this morning. Well, seeing as the Champions Trophy was being played in South Africa, and the fact that South Africa is six hours behind Perth, I seriously doubt that the Aussies had had a training run already.

I don't blame the newsreader entirely, as it is most likely that he didn't write the material, but think about what you are saying. If he read it again at the next news bulletin then he deserves some stick.

As George W Bush once said, "There's an old saying in Tennessee. I know it's in Texas, it's probably in Tennessee too. Fool me once, shame on, shame on... you. A fooled man can't get fooled again."

The Samurai Is Mightier Than The Burglar

There was an interesting news article this morning about how a student had disturbed a burglar, told him to leave, and subsequently found himself in need of defending himself which lead to him decapitating the burglar with his samurai sword that he just happened to have handy. I thought this was amusing especially as the article that I read went on to say that the burglar died. No shit, Sherlock! Decapitation is usually fatal. Unless of course you are able to stick the head in milk and race off to your closest surgeon skilled in suturing. Of course he died.

Strangely enough, when I recollected this story to discuss with colleagues after lunch we discovered that the story had changed somewhat. I'm sure that this was the story but it now says that a hand was nearly chopped off leading to death. If you look at the comments somebody else noticed that it had originally mentioned head and not hand.



Fair enough, wouldn't you say? In Australia we have a law that you are allowed to defend yourself but you also can only use reasonable force. If the burglar has a samurai sword then you can defend yourself with a samurai sword. Not a gun, that wouldn't be fair. And all this over two laptops and a Playstation?

Just goes to prove that the samurai (sword) is mightier than the burglar.

* Ed - A reader pointed out that decapitation is only for removal of the head and they are quite correct.

Deep Water - Air France Flight 447 Crash

I guess the biggest story at the moment is the Air France Flight 447 crash because 228 people have gone missing, presumed dead, and nobody really knows what happened to them. Just reading the news online this morning and I noticed a report from Australia's ABC News. The location of some wreckage is known but it appears that the flight data recorders are in 3000 to 7000 kilometres deep water. I think that that's a little deeper than the Mariana Trench which is considered to be the deepest point of the Earth's surface below sea level.

Can't wait to see this one on Air Crash Investigation.

Australian Parliament Advocates Reading News In The Toilet

In many households people relax in the toilet and read magazines or books. Even the newspaper. According to the UK Inquirer - Aussies plan to block P2P and Bit Torrent - if you want the latest IT information you must read it in the Broadband Minister's Department's toilet.



I thought that was most amusing. Perhaps they meant "blog" but one can never be too sure.