News Bits!

-Some organization called Safe Kids Worldwide voted us the safest metropolitan area for kids. And proving why we're probably not the hippest metropolitan area for kids, the entire student body of Oak Springs Elementary celebrated ... by making 300 children walk two blocks from ACC to their their school. Back in our day we called that exercise. And in unrelated news, that assistant principal from Bastrop High remains under investigation for possession of child pornography.

-John Kelso has a silly commentary about the origins of the phrase, "If you wanted to, you could indict a ham sandwich"

-Apple Computer is set to launch yet another fabulous new product next week - and no one knows what it's going to be. They still have yet to address their iPod nano screen issues. UPDATE: And in fact, they have! Austinist solemnly apologizes for not following that story as closely as it deserved, and reminds our readers that we actually make up half of the news that appears here.

-Gadzooks! Miss Lohan plowed her Benz into a van in West Hollywood yesterday, the second time since May. She's blaming the paparazzi; we suspect it's the coke habit.

-Surely but the first of many to come, a man from Tyler has been accused of trying to cheat FEMA, claiming his wife and son were killed by Hurricane Katrina. As far as we can tell, they don't actually exist.

-The right wing is flappin' mad at Bush's recent Supreme Court nominee, Harriet Miers. We're still undecided on the whole matter, but initial accounts indicate she's pro-choice, vaguely pro-same sex rights, and Trent Lott doesn't seem to like her much. All good signs, thus far.

-Austinist congratulates all the 2005 Nobel Prize winners. We're still eagerly awaiting the naming of this year's Literature awardee, which they've postponed for a week - perhaps, like us, they're a bit behind on their reading?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Allen Y Chen in News on October 5, 2005 12:30 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Betsy Markum

I can't believe it, my co-worker just bought a car for $37218. Isn't that crazy!

ron mexico

odam seems like the lone voice of reason round these parts.

odam

i don't think people take themselves seriously enough. can we have a roundtable discussion about that, please.

Justin Cox

Hey Edward,

Thanks for the reply. I can understand that reasoning completely. I really dont think (i hope) you'll have to worry about "staff having the option to remove their comments." The majority of the staff wouldn't do so...and now I think the minority that would understand how it might be viewed. Anyway, I'll leave this topic alone now. Thanks for the honesty.

edward

Justin, this thread was beginning to address Austinist criticism so it seemed appropriate to give background here by pointing to a relevant ongoing discussion in another thread. Wasn’t meant to be troll or flame bait. Mea culpa if that’s not the way it was taken.
In retrospect, my statement here may indeed have been out of line, but unlike the staff, readers don’t have the option to remove their comments so have to take responsibility for them good or bad.

Justin Cox

Edward, as a casual observer to all this stuff, why not keep it in that thread? I completely agree that any type of censorship within these comments is something that needs to be addressed, and whether you believe me or not, contributors do communicate constructive criticism of each other offline. Things like this do come up in our discussions. While I can find understanding in removing a comment you've made yourself (maybe they agreed that their statement was out of line), I assure you that I (and most contributors) would never condone the removal of someone else's criticism. But at the same I don't think it's very fair to act like any of this has been a reoccurring issue. I don't really think it's EVER been an issue until this recent deletion. You have to understand that your point (which most of us agree with) gets lost when you start looking like a troll, posting complaints in threads with no relevance to your issue.

Anyway, I doubt any of that matters to you...but you're free to contact me directly if you'd like.

edward

Agreed. Let those idiot haytas drive up the traffic. Besides, the Austinist always has the option of revising history if there's something we really don't like:

http://www.austinist.com/archives/2005/10/03/merci_beaucoup_lance_et_sheryl.php#comments

sean

I agree with (this other) sean. However, haytas should keep reading and posting comments because all those clicks and time spent looking at this site drive up the CPM, no?

ron mexico

So what does that make you, Sean, for criticizing the criticizers? double secret lame?

Welcome to the internets.

sean

you people that spend all your time criticizing a blog that you read for free, and not at gun point, are hilarious. and by hilarious, i mean lame. a correction or pointing something out is one thing, but getting all high and mighty is just boring.