Yesterday we introduced a new experiment on Current.com called Developing Stories. As expected, there has been some confusion around the concept, but we’re working to clear things up as we go, after all it’s an experiment. Ed. Note — If you’ve already read our intro post, please re-read it as it’s been updated with information about pitching stories for consideration as Developing Stories. Thanks!
This morning, we have our first scoop. WakeUpPeople posted a story titled, “Bachmann calls on protestors to use scare tactics against Congress.” This was considered a scoop because it’s a new development in the health care reform bill story, so current89’s story has been removed from featuring on the Current.com homepage, removed from the Current Developing Stories group, and placed in the Developing Stories Archives. Also note, both of these stories have been connected via links in their comments.
It will be interesting to see how this develops going forward. Kudos to both current89 and WakeUpPeople for getting Developing Stories off and running!
Got a scoop? Want to suggest a story for development? Here’s how!
If you want to get your story on our radar for consideration, please tag it with “Current Developing Stories” when you submit to Current.com. PLEASE NOTE: Tagging is not the same as adding to a group. The “Current Developing Stories” is a CLOSED group managed by the editors, so you will not be able to add stories there. Tagging, however, will allow you to be seen by our editors we will monitor that tag for potential stories to develop.
As you know, our community helps us find stories to feature on the Current.com homepage by submitting links, video clips, and voting/commenting on community submissions to increase popularity. We keep an eye on the discussions taking place on Current.com, and whenever one appears to be trending we feature it in Current Stories on the homepage.
Here’s a list of the top 5 discussions on Current.com right now, take a look.
The dollar is slumping, gold is on a steady rise, and Gulf states looking to replace the dollar as the currency for oil deals. Is an economic power shift on the horizon? [rawstory]
Zachary Christian is likely having a rough day, he’s facing 45 days of reform school for bringing his Cub Scout eating utensil to school. I’m not sure about you, but thinking back to my time as a six-year-old it was all my parents could do to keep me from bringing my cool new stuff to school. It didn’t matter that they could potentially get broken, the urge to show and tell was too great. I wonder what noted Eagle Scout, David Lynch, would have to say about this story? [boingboing]
And lastly, Current News online producer Andrew Fitzgerald posted this story on the Current News blog, and quite frankly I’m not surprised that it’s picked up steam.
“President Obama gave a speech at the dinner and promised (again) to end “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”. It was an important night for Obama, who’s commitment to the gay rights movement has been in question lately.
So that was Saturday night and then Sunday there was the big march. And meanwhile online, people were pointing out that the speech Obama gave was more or less a recycled campaign speech.
And so not 24 hours after the speech came this from CNBC Chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood who said the Obama Administration wasn’t worried about gay activists. He said:
“Barack Obama is doing well with 90% or more of Democrats so the White House views this opposition as really part of the Internet left fringe….For a sign of how seriously the White House does or doesn’t take this opposition, one adviser told me those bloggers need to take off the pajamas, get dressed, and realize that governing a closely divided country is complicated and difficult.”"
So what’s your take? Should approval rating factor in here? When is the right time to push forward on this issue? Weigh in here.[Current News Blog]
Over on the Current News blog, Andrew posed the titular question in response to news that the White House asked the Tibetans to ‘postpone’ a meeting with the President. My take? I don’t know what you’re complaining about, Andrew. Obama’s decision to postpone his meeting with the Dalai Lama only opens the door for you to spend more time with his Holiness. What are you waiting for? Weigh in on this story here.
In a shocking change of pace, this legalization story is picking up some steam on Current.com, this time from a UK perspective (e.g. the source article comes to us from the BBC). These days California is either seen as a trailblazer (as this article points out, should we adopt a legalization plan to profit off the legal sale of the plant), or a ripe candidate for the title of “America’s first failed state.” Tell us what you think here.
F.D.I.C. Chairman Sheila Bair told the Institute of International Finance:
“I believe that the new regime should apply to all bank holding companies that are more than just shells and their affiliates regardless or not whether they are considered to be systemic risks.”
Bair’s comments are striking a chord with community members who are tired of the “rewarded failure” approach, but we want to hear your thoughts, too. Add to the conversation here.
Okay, I agree with all of the unjustified lawsuit claims on the basis that Woolworths and Apple couldn’t be further from each other. On an unrelated note, whenever I read word “Woolworths” I can’t help but think of John McConnell’s mispronunciation of the store’s name in the Coen Brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou?, “And stay outta the Woolsworth!”
But, I have to say, if I were Woolworths I’d have to be loving this lawsuit. I mean, what better way to announce the five-and-dime’s return? Oh wait, this is an unaffiliated Australian supermarket named after the original Woolworths. Nevermind. WTF Apple? Let Apple know how off-base they are over here. jh6wcyrsf5
The first half of the day is coming to a close, but before you run off to grab lunch take a look at a few of the recently featured stories on Current.com.
The defections began when PG&E Chairman and CEO Peter Darbee sent a sharply worded two-page letter outlining why the privately owned utility, which provides gas and electricity to 15 million customers from Eureka to Bakersfield, is pulling out of the chamber, which represents 3 million large and small businesses across the country and has one of the most powerful lobbying operations in Washington.
Darbee, who has invited leading climate scientists to meet with PG&E’s board of directors in recent years, was particularly alarmed that the chamber recently requested a public “trial” to weigh the scientific evidence that global warming endangers human health.
“We find it dismaying that the Chamber neglects the indisputable fact that a decisive majority of experts have said the data on global warming are compelling and point to a threat that cannot be ignored,” Darbee wrote. “In our view, an intellectually honest argument over the best policy response to the challenges of climate change is one thing; disingenuous attempts to diminish or distort the reality of these challenges are quite another.”
The Washington Times has revealed that employee porn surfing is apparently out of control at the National Science Foundation. Here’s what you need to know:
6 out of 10 misconduct cases involve online pornography.
One Sr. Exec was found to have spent 331 days either viewing porn, or participating in XXX webchats with women via his computer.
The NSF received $6 billion in taxpayer funding in 2008.
Feel like chiming in about this? You can join the conversation on Current.com by clicking here.
It’s Wednesday, and on the west coast it’s the lunch hour. So if you’re looking for something to read, discuss, or share, I humbly offer a list of the top 5 stories the Current.com community is reading and discussing:
And certainly, at the moment, religious groups are far from standing united against the healthcare plans. Many more liberal Christians – and indeed Muslim and Jewish leaders – are also rallying to support the administration’s proposals. They are doing so on religious grounds themselves: that there is an ethical obligation to look after the weak and the sick. They are calling on their supporters to oppose the rightwing shock-jocks and commentators spreading untruths about the proposals and they have sponsored a television advertisement urging reform. The Rev John Hay of Indianapolis, featured on the advert, said current health provision “is no way for the most blessed country in the world to treat its most vulnerable citizens. This is as much a crisis of faith as it is a crisis of healthcare.”
We’ve had a week of sex scandals in schools. Now Terence Kealey, vice-chancellor of Buckingham University in the UK, seems intent on stirring things up on the academic front.
“Female students,” he declares,”are a perk of the job for male university lecturers – though they should look, not touch.”
With quotes like these, no wonder it’s stirring things up.
[ed. note: the misspellings below are copied verbatim from the source article on GlobalPost]
Venezuelan state TV today broadcast an exceprt from “Family Guy” as an example of how the U.S. promotes drug use. The clip features Stewie, the matricide-obsessed infant son of Peter and Lewis Griffin, singing a song extolling the virtues of smoking weed.
“We can observe how [the U.S. government] promotes and incites the population to consume that drug there,” said Tarek El Aissaimi, Venezuela’s Interior Minister. “There’s no subliminal message. It’s an animated cartoon where you can observe perfectly how they promote consumption and moreover they foster the legalization of marijuana.”
The heightened standard is designed in part to restore the confidence of Congress, civil liberties advocates and judges, who have criticized both the Bush White House and the Obama administration for excessive secrecy. The new policy will take effect Oct. 1 and has been endorsed by federal intelligence agencies, Justice Department sources said.
“What we’re trying to do is . . . improve public confidence that this privilege is invoked very rarely and only when it’s well supported,” said a senior department official involved in the review, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the policy had not yet been unveiled. “By holding ourselves to this higher standard, we’re in some way sending a message to the courts. We’re not following a ‘just trust us’ approach.”
In a break from its usual task of searching for distant cosmic explosions, NASA’s Swift satellite has acquired the highest-resolution view of a neighboring spiral galaxy ever attained in the ultraviolet. The galaxy, known as M31 in the constellation Andromeda, is the largest and closest spiral galaxy to our own.
“Swift reveals about 20,000 ultraviolet sources in M31, especially hot, young stars and dense star clusters,” said Stefan Immler, a research scientist on the Swift team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “Of particular importance is that we have covered the galaxy in three ultraviolet filters. That will let us study M31’s star-formation processes in much greater detail than previously possible.”
If China chose this route instead of adding more coal, it could prevent 3.5 billion tons of CO2 from being emitted.
Since China is already installing wind at a rapid pace, the researchers think it’s entirely possible that they could make these projections a reality. The major hurdle for the country would be upgrading and expanding their transmission system to handle new wind farms.
Insurance company revokes policy for teen with HIV…what do you think happened?
The South Carolina Supreme Court has ordered an insurance company to pay $10 million for wrongly revoking the insurance policy of a 17-year-old college student after he tested positive for HIV. The court called the 2002 decision by the insurance company “reprehensible.”
