List of U.S. Hurricanes 1851-2005
-http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/ushurrlist.htm
The costliest hurricane to occur in the U.S. since 1900 was Katrina, which made its first land fall on the 25th of August in Hallendale Florida. From there Katrina continued on into the Gulf of Mexico, gained strength, and eventually caused extensive damage in Louisiana, Mississippi and surrounding areas. The total damage amounted to an estimated $89.6 billion. (Hurricane damage is measured in property damage. Including other damages, which can be difficult to calculate, the total would undoubtedly be higher.)
How to Prepare for an Earthquake
- http://earthquake.usgs.gov/prepare/
Plane Crashes in Colorado
During 2009 there were four fatal airplane crashes in Colorado and thirty-five non-fatal crashes. In the last two years there have been three fatal crashes involving a Cessna 182, however each of the models have been slightly different.
In 2000, the NTSB conducted a major investigation involving the crash of an SCHD Alaska Airlines Inc. flight which killed 88 people.
In 2006 there was a crash in Lexington, Kentucky which killed 49 people.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Rathergate
In September of 2004, CBS and Dan Rather ran a 60 Minutes Wednesday broadcast which featured memos known as the Killian documents. These documents, supposedly written by President George W. Bush's superior Jerry B. Killian, were critical of Bush's service in the Texas Army National Guard and suggested that Bush may have received preferential treatment. Without definite confirmation that the memos were not forgeries, CBS decided to run the controversial segment just two months prior to the upcoming election.
Chaos ensued during the weeks following the broadcast, and the both CBS and the memos in question fell under heavy scrutiny, especially in the blogosphere. While CBS continued to vehemently defend their position a review panel was convened, and reported serious defects in the September 8th segment of 60 Minutes Wednesday. While many experts continued to assert that the documents were forgeries, the absence of the original memos prevented a definitive answer from forensic examiners on the credibility of the Killian memos. Regardless, CBS eventually issued an apology for the mistakes made during the research and production of the segment, and many top executives within CBS were terminated or resigned.
As a journalism student I can understand the excitement of such a story and why CBS wanted to air its findings, however their timing offends me both as a consumer of the news and a voter. Surely CBS understood the enormity of their story and the implications it could bring once aired. It seems too obvious to me that when dealing with such a story, you would go to every length necessary to ensure that the facts you are about to present are absolutely true, for without a doubt your reporting will draw critics who will comb through every detail of your report. After spending years in research for the story (as CBS did), I see no reason to jeopardize the entire story by rushing to air it without proper vetting of facts other than the hope to influence political opinions.
Why not take the time to get a forensics expert to verify without a doubt that the memos are real and air the story in 6 months, or a year? I believe that Mary Mapes and other executives that were new to CBS, were more interested in making their presence known and producing a story with a huge political impact, than delivering what was most useful for the public.
As a voter and consumer of the news the fact that a news outlet may have a political agenda irks me the most. If there is one reason that I would make a point of following a CBS news broadcast or any other major media outlet over an individual's blog, it would be that in following a major media broadcast I have the assurance that I am receiving information that is both factual and completely fair. When slip-ups such as this are made, I have a hard time convincing myself that there is any source of news completely free of a calculated agenda.
Even if we give CBS the benefit of the doubt, and decide that their timing was coincidental and the story was aired because those researching it were absolutely certain that their facts were checked and could just not wait to get the story out to the masses. Even assuming all of this, why the aggressive defense of the story without further research? Why not give any merit to those who raise questions about your findings? Why not allow an independent team to do the follow up researching and news reports instead of assigning those attached to it in the first place? All of this makes it extremely difficult to assume that the utmost goal of CBS is to provide a fair account of the story. The ignorant defense offered by Dan Rather and those associated with the segment only contributes to the feeling that information is being forced upon us as fact.
Without a doubt, hubris played a role in the stubbornness shown by Rather and his associates after the story came under fire, however I cannot attribute all of the blame to their egos. Those in charge of researching and producing the show were determined to break a story with a severe political impact, and in their ambition to do so, overlooked basic journalistic principals and deceived their audience.
Even though CBS did some house cleaning and promised to avoid similar errors in the future, the damage is done and you cannot help but wonder just how deep political ideals are rooted in our major media outlets, CBS or otherwise.
Chaos ensued during the weeks following the broadcast, and the both CBS and the memos in question fell under heavy scrutiny, especially in the blogosphere. While CBS continued to vehemently defend their position a review panel was convened, and reported serious defects in the September 8th segment of 60 Minutes Wednesday. While many experts continued to assert that the documents were forgeries, the absence of the original memos prevented a definitive answer from forensic examiners on the credibility of the Killian memos. Regardless, CBS eventually issued an apology for the mistakes made during the research and production of the segment, and many top executives within CBS were terminated or resigned.
As a journalism student I can understand the excitement of such a story and why CBS wanted to air its findings, however their timing offends me both as a consumer of the news and a voter. Surely CBS understood the enormity of their story and the implications it could bring once aired. It seems too obvious to me that when dealing with such a story, you would go to every length necessary to ensure that the facts you are about to present are absolutely true, for without a doubt your reporting will draw critics who will comb through every detail of your report. After spending years in research for the story (as CBS did), I see no reason to jeopardize the entire story by rushing to air it without proper vetting of facts other than the hope to influence political opinions.
Why not take the time to get a forensics expert to verify without a doubt that the memos are real and air the story in 6 months, or a year? I believe that Mary Mapes and other executives that were new to CBS, were more interested in making their presence known and producing a story with a huge political impact, than delivering what was most useful for the public.
As a voter and consumer of the news the fact that a news outlet may have a political agenda irks me the most. If there is one reason that I would make a point of following a CBS news broadcast or any other major media outlet over an individual's blog, it would be that in following a major media broadcast I have the assurance that I am receiving information that is both factual and completely fair. When slip-ups such as this are made, I have a hard time convincing myself that there is any source of news completely free of a calculated agenda.
Even if we give CBS the benefit of the doubt, and decide that their timing was coincidental and the story was aired because those researching it were absolutely certain that their facts were checked and could just not wait to get the story out to the masses. Even assuming all of this, why the aggressive defense of the story without further research? Why not give any merit to those who raise questions about your findings? Why not allow an independent team to do the follow up researching and news reports instead of assigning those attached to it in the first place? All of this makes it extremely difficult to assume that the utmost goal of CBS is to provide a fair account of the story. The ignorant defense offered by Dan Rather and those associated with the segment only contributes to the feeling that information is being forced upon us as fact.
Without a doubt, hubris played a role in the stubbornness shown by Rather and his associates after the story came under fire, however I cannot attribute all of the blame to their egos. Those in charge of researching and producing the show were determined to break a story with a severe political impact, and in their ambition to do so, overlooked basic journalistic principals and deceived their audience.
Even though CBS did some house cleaning and promised to avoid similar errors in the future, the damage is done and you cannot help but wonder just how deep political ideals are rooted in our major media outlets, CBS or otherwise.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
ateanytasteofthesublime.blogspot.com
I chose to review ateanytasteofthesublime.blogspot.com, an easy-spirited blog by tea enthusiast Michael Trimboli. On his blog, Trimboli features personal reviews of a variety of teas and tea products, as well as posting stories, facts, recipes and the like on everything tea related. Trimboli pulls his content from a wide spectrum of sites ranging from a tea company's home page to overseas news publications. He does a great job of varying his content as some posts are entirely his own, some are just a copy of news stories, and some still are a medley of both, containing quotes from outside sources coupled with a bit of his own language. I particularly like the way that Trimboli links many of his more current blog posts back to previous ones which contain related content.
The author of this blog is a communications major who hopes to land a job with a major network, and for this reason I believe he writes his blog to stay current with new media practices and for personal satisfaction. In addition, Trimboli authors his blog to provide a hub of information for any one else with a penchant for tea. He must hope to serve only a small demographic, as the blog does not feature anything not related to tea. This however should come as no surprise ( given the blog address) and it provides a very interesting and comprehensive source of information for tea lovers.
One thing that Michael Trimboli does exceptionally well with this blog is match the appearance of the page with the overall tone of his blog. He uses various soft green colors for the background and subtle white titles for his posts that reflect the colors of tea as well as the relaxation one might enjoy while drinking one of the teas featured on the blog. The layout is simple and free of chaos, allowing his audience to peruse freely and without distraction through the content he has offered.
While I thought the blog was successful in serving its intended purpose, I would have trouble writing such a blog due to its narrow focus. I feel that i would find blogging about only tea related products or any other subject with such a select audience to become monotonous given time, and I would prefer to blog about a variety of topics, drawing attention from people with varied interests.
All in all, I found this blog to be mildly entertaining, even for someone with zero interest in tea. Should you be a fan of tea however, I suggest cruising around the page, as you may find this blog to be a gold mine for tea ideas.
The author of this blog is a communications major who hopes to land a job with a major network, and for this reason I believe he writes his blog to stay current with new media practices and for personal satisfaction. In addition, Trimboli authors his blog to provide a hub of information for any one else with a penchant for tea. He must hope to serve only a small demographic, as the blog does not feature anything not related to tea. This however should come as no surprise ( given the blog address) and it provides a very interesting and comprehensive source of information for tea lovers.
One thing that Michael Trimboli does exceptionally well with this blog is match the appearance of the page with the overall tone of his blog. He uses various soft green colors for the background and subtle white titles for his posts that reflect the colors of tea as well as the relaxation one might enjoy while drinking one of the teas featured on the blog. The layout is simple and free of chaos, allowing his audience to peruse freely and without distraction through the content he has offered.
While I thought the blog was successful in serving its intended purpose, I would have trouble writing such a blog due to its narrow focus. I feel that i would find blogging about only tea related products or any other subject with such a select audience to become monotonous given time, and I would prefer to blog about a variety of topics, drawing attention from people with varied interests.
All in all, I found this blog to be mildly entertaining, even for someone with zero interest in tea. Should you be a fan of tea however, I suggest cruising around the page, as you may find this blog to be a gold mine for tea ideas.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Assignment 1. Walter Lippman Quote
After a first reading of Walter Lippman’s quote, I am grabbed by his choice of words in the final sentence, specifically his describing the task journalists face as priestly. I do not intend to be overly cynical of the catholic church and some of the scandals of late, however upon the mention of journalists as priests, I could not help but draw a couple of parallels between the two. In 1920, when Liberty and the News was published, both journalists and priests found themselves on relatively secure platforms, that is what was reported or dictated by both was generally believed and not heavily scrutinized. Priests delivered the words of the Lord and it was assumed that someone of this stature was wholly good and free of error. Journalists were for the most part the only source of news, as many of the mediums we rely on today did not exist, and for this reason they were heavily trusted and and their work did not endure the extensive questioning that it does today. The part that I find ironic, which would not have occurred to Lippman as he penned the quote in 1920, is that in choosing the word “priestly” to describe journalists in an effort to describe the mighty and revered task they are presented with, he linked two professions which have since suffered numerous scandals and find themselves under the most watchful of eyes from society at large. While I may be exaggerating the public opinion of priests a bit, there can be no doubt that some people do not view priests in the same way they had prior to any of the abuse scandals. There are also with out a doubt, people who are more than skeptical of journalists following the cases of Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair and the like. Though I am fairly sure that Lippman did not have these scandals in mind when he chose to use the word priestly, I find his choice a bit humorous and quite fitting as I observe the evolution and public opinion of each profession.
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