Newsweak

Girls Kissing
Originally uploaded by .Ward.

WBKO, Bowling Green, KY: "A security camera captured two girls kissing... The dean of students said he saw two girls kissing. He checked the surveillance tape then shared what he saw with the parents of one of the girls. They then pulled her out of school, which then pulled the peninsula school district into a big controversy."

Wired Magazine: Despite the Web, Americans Remain Woefully Ill-Informed. "A new study from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press shows that Americans, on average, are less able to correctly answer questions about current events than they were in 1989." I'd have to see the actual study. I mean, this color-coded graphic is pretty, and the overall trends don't speak well of us, granted. But my eye zips straight to the one anomalous datum, which is unmentioned in the article itself: In 1989 only 14% or respondents could name the Speaker of the House, and in 2007 49% could. Given how often the media bludgeon us with the history-making aspects of the current occupant of that position, I guess the surprise really is that, even so, the number should be bigger.

American Chronicle: "Now here's a pickle of a predicament: I was stark naked at 6:15 in the morning with no house key and standing next to a locked rental in the garage of someone who was 2,000 miles away."

American Journalism Review: What the Mainstream Media Can Learn From Jon Stewart. "The stock-in-trade of 'The Daily Show' is hypocrisy, exposing hypocrisy. And nobody else has the guts to do it. They really know how to crystallize an issue on all sides, see the silliness everywhere." Of course, there's also the fact that Stewart can have his cake and eat it too: Most current students consider what he does to actually be journalism, but when Stewart does get facts wrong, he need only shrug and smirk, "This is a comedy show, what do you expect?"

Canoe: "The 2 1/2-kilometre barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border was designed to keep cars from illegally crossing into the United States. There's just one problem: It was accidentally built on Mexican soil. ...A routine aerial survey in March revealed that the barrier protrudes into Mexico by as much as two metres." Wow. Two whole meters. And we know how much the strict letter of the law matters to our guest workers from Mexico.

Neomeme: Nine Cool Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do With Wikipedia.

C|net News: One company has come up with a way for your new printer to lock-out third-party and remanufactured ink cartridges. Of course, it's intended to put a halt to pirated ink-tank technology, and would never be used to interfere with legitimate recycling business.