Quote of the Day: “The Story Behind the Story”

From Mark Bowden’s “The Story Behind the Story” in the Atlantic:

“To his credit, Richmond is not what we in the old days called a “thumbsucker,” a lazy columnist who rarely stirs from behind his desk, who for material just reacts to the items that cross it. (This defines the vast majority of bloggers.)”

Guilty as charged, Mr. Bowden, guilty as charged.

If you have twenty-to-thirty minutes, “The Story Behind the Story” is highly recommended. Like its name implies, the story does what I’m trying to do here: investigate the sources behind major news stories. I knew such reporting would make a good read. Now I just need to write like Mark Bowden.

(Thanks to Cynthia Brouse for linking to this article on the TFEW list.)

Maclean’s Volume 122, Number 22

I’ve been ambivalent about Maclean’s for the past few months. Its most recent issue (Volume 122, Number 28), though, is a strong one.  As usual, Paul Well’s column is awesome. He translates his anger at the current state of Canadian federal politics into hilarious satire. After reporting about Ottawa for so long, it’s an appropriate response; it makes for a better read–and is much more effective at making his point–than serious, negative attacks. Keep it up Mr. Wells. You and Andrew Coyne are the reasons I may renew my subscription.

The cover story  “Why Balsillie Went Ballistic” is alright, too. I appreciate how the authors, Charlie Gillsi and Michael Friscolanti, got access to the public disertations of Jim Balsillie and Gary Bettman. Their effort in slogging through no-doubt-lengthy-and-boring court documents and turning said docos into a readable, succinct summary is appreciated. Some comments from Balsillie’s camp might’ve balanced things out, but perhaps the Balsillie crew turned down the opportunity to talk. Or maybe they couldn’t because it’s an ongoing trial. In any case, they’ll probably send a strongly worded letter that’ll appear in the next issue.

The thing that really made this issue for me, however, was Mark Steyn’s column. I usually strongly dislike Steyn’s work. It comes across as something he threw together at the last minute: he rambles, uses the same-old statistics and examples to support his same-old argument, and generally, seems lazy. This month all of these factors actually works in Steyn’s favour. His loose, almost stream-of-consciousness writing style matches his topic, the absurdity of Canada’s Human Rights Commission, perfectly. He also effectivly lampoons himself while simultaneously  skewering Canada’s culturual and political establishment.  A tour de force, Steyn.

Quote of the day, September 23

From the Globe and Mail’s “Toronto slips in financial ranking”:

“Toronto just feels underdeveloped,” says Mr. Czarnota, who found work as managing director of high yield and distressed debt at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe. “It’s a really great place to live and I’m sure it has a lot to offer to a lot of people who are washed out and can’t find work, but I’m not one of them.”

This quote is great. It’s such a general, sweeping statement that’s full of conceit. It has the double effect of making Mr. Czarnota–a highly appropriate name, no?–seem like a huge jerk, and pissing off the hundreds (thousands?) of financial services workers in Toronto. Ha.

If not for journalism, if not for a writer phoning this guy up, taping their conversation, Czarnota’s comments would’ve been lost forever.

They’d also be a hard  to fact check. Mr. Czarnota might posses some humility, and having the direct quote read back to him, he may have realized that said quote makes him sound like a douche. As such, the fact checker would have to be very careful about how they phrased the quote; a softer approach such as “Toronto is a great place to live and it has a lot to offer people who are near the end of their career and those having difficulty finding work. You are not in this stage fo your career, so you are not interested in working in Toronto.”  Much better, right?

In any case, it’s academic. This being an article for the Globe, it’s likely this article was not fact checked (as most newspaper articles aren’t fact checked).

Toronto Life, “Down and Out in Rosedale”

Questionable fact of the day: In “Down and Out in Rosedale” (Toronto Life, July 2009) Sonia Verma writes that one well-heeled Rosedale woman’s social circle is “abandoning their addictions to the Five Thieves and Pusateri’s, and clipping coupons.”

The article is about how Toronto’s rich have supposedly changed their ways during the Great Recession and are now frugal beasts. That generally may be true, but clipping coupons? That seems  ludicrous.

Do these women shop at stores that give out coupons? Hrm. Maybe. Whole Foods’ June/July “Whole Deal” flyer gives out over $30 in coupons. And All The Best Fine Foods touts its Italian sausage and sautéed peppers for under $4 per serving.

Do people who own a house that is likely worth over $1 million take the time to cut out coupons?  GlassDoor.com reports that a manager at Deloitte makes an average of $122,798, or about $0.23 cents a minute (not including vacation time, benefits, etc.). If it takes about three minutes tocut out a coupon, those ladies better be saving at least $0.75 cents.

The cost to fill up their luxury SUV is much more than any coupon could possibly save them. A Porsche Cayenne has a fuel capacity of 100 l, and the cheapest gas price in Central Toronto is currently 94.9/l, for a total of $94.9.

And so on. You could go on cherry picking examples that would make this fact either believable or unbelievable. That makes it hard to check. The buck ultimately stops with the journalist and their source. If the checker asks them if their friends cut coupons? and she answers yes, then consider that fact checked and true–even though that lady could totally be making something up.

National Magazine Awards 2009

The National Magazine Awards were given out on Friday, June 5.  Cynthia Brouse won the Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement. Currently Chatelaine’s copy chief, Ms. Brouse is a legendary copy editor and fact checker; she is often spoken about in a reverential, awe-struck tone by people in the business.

In her acceptance speech, she said that her win was a win for all copy editors and fact checkers, and in general, the editorial practices of magazines. She hopes that in the future these practices continue, even as journalism branches out into new mediums on the web.

These are ideas I fully support. Excellent speech, Ms. Brouse, and here’s to continued success.

For a full list of the winners, including a well-deserved Silver for Tom Watson’s “Hunter and the Hunted” and Gold for Chris Nuttall-Smith’s “The Curse of the Aluminum Crystal”, please visit: http://www.magazine-awards.com/index.cfm/ci_id/1235/la_id/1

T.I. Sentenced To A Year And A Day In Prison

Another story from MTV.com:

ATLANTA — A Northern Georgia District judge sentenced T.I. to one year and one day in prison on felony weapons charges Friday (March 27), calling the rapper’s plea deal “experimental” but a success.

T.I. was initially arrested on October 13, 2007, for “(1) possession of unregistered machine guns [and silencers] and (2) possession of firearms by a convicted felon.” His bodyguard got busted the week earlier trying to buy three machine guns and two silencers for T.I.; consequently, the bodyguard became the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives cooperating witness. T.I. was subsequently arrested in a sting operation that found not only the aforementioned machine guns and silencers, but three other guns. The police then got a search warrant for T.I.’s house and found a further six firearms: three rifles, two pistols, and a revolver.

The address of T.I.’s house is 429 Creekview Lane in College Park, Georgia. College Park , according to its website, is “one of the most exciting communities in the greater metropolitan Atlanta area in which to live.” The 2000 census cites a population of 20,000 people; close to  80% of them rent. It’s unemployment rate in 2003 was 7.8%, higher than the State of Georgia average.

The New York Times reported in 2006 that T.I. is just over 5 feet 6 inches. This height is too tall to apply the findings of Professor Abraham Buunk to the rapper. Buunk reportedly found that men under 5 feet 4 inches were more jealous than taller men. The mean height for Non-Hispanic Black males aged 20-39 is approximately 5 fee 8 inches.

His height must be good for finding well-fitting clothes. In their March 2009 issue, GQ named T.I. one of the ten most stylish men in America. Part of the tag line for this feature package was “No royals. No socialites. No pretty-boy actors–just real men with real style.” Men who buy machine guns, it stands to reason, are real men.

Post-arrest, T.I. released the album “Paper Trail.” This album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold 586,000 copies in the U.S. He also made a reality-TV series about his legal ordeals and community service entitled “T.I.’s Road to Redemption.”

Atlantic Recordings has done an awesome job with its PR campaign. To quote, T.I. “Big shit poppin, and little shit stoppin.”

Big Shit Poppin – T.I.

George Lucas reportedly casting Star Wars live action TV show

From the National Post via MTV:

Last year’s animated big-and-small-screen series Clone Wars brought the Star Wars franchise to TV for the first time since that Christmas special. But according to MTV, George Lucas has started casting for a new Star Wars live-action television series, which would take place between Episode III (Revenge of the Sith) and Episode IV (A New Hope).

Produced by Lucasfilm Animation, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” appeared on the Cartoon Network in the fall of 2008. Time Warner Co. owns Cartoon Network through Tuner Broadcasting Systems Inc.  The show is a success.

For the week of February 13, Clone Wars was the #1 show among boys 6-11 and the #2 program of the week among boys 9-14. Compared to whatever aired last year, Clone Wars increased kids viewership by an average of 242%. It would seem as though Star Wars has a new generation of fans. To quote the series creator, George Lucas, “”I felt there were a lot more Star Wars stories left to tell.”  I’m sure George, and his descendants, will have more Star Wars stories to tell as long as it’s profitable.

Forbes.com reports that George Lucas is 62-years old and worth US$3.6 billion.  According to a 2003 SEC filing, Mr. Lucas’  “principal business is the ownership of companies in the entertainment industry” and “production and distribution of motion pictures and “the licensing of entertainment intellectual properties related to certain motion pictures.” Nor has he, or none of Lucasfilm, and Lucas Licensing “been convicted in a criminal proceeding (excluding traffic violations or similar misdemeanors).”  Except maybe crimes against good taste.

George has three adopted kids, Katie, Amanda and Jett. Macheline Chau is CEO of Lucasfilms Ltd.

Mounties regarded stapler as a weapon

From TheGlobeandMail.com:

Vancouver — One of four Mounties involved in a fatal confrontation with Robert Dziekanski says he regrets the Polish immigrant’s death, but stands by the officers’ tactics and the use of a taser to subdue him.

The article goes on to say that Constable Kwesi Millington tasered Mr. Dziekanski because, in the opinion of his colleague, Gerry Rundel,  Mr. Dziekanski was wielding a stapler as if it was a weapon.

Staples, the office supplies retailer, sells  28 desktop staplers.  One of the options it sells is the X-Acto Redline stapler. It has contemporary styling and comes with a two year warranty. The X-Acto website does not mention the product’s ability to inflict damage on swarming police officers.

The Braidwood Inquiry, however, does define a Taser as a “Conducted energy weapon.”

It is Taser International who sells and owns the copyright to Taser; it markets 10 Taser and Taser accessories to law enforcement agencies.  One of its newest products is the Taser AXON, which “provides a full-motion recording of exactly what the officer saw and heard, from the officer’s visual perspective.” AXON, says the brochure, “protects the truth” from the “lawyers, administrators and jurors” who “second-guess [the police officer's] decisions.”

Nick Le, a limousine driver and witness to Robert Dziekanski being shot by a conducted energy weapon, testified on February 10, 2009:

And then I talk to one of the ladies stand 4749 behind me — beside me. I believe that lady is work for Horizon Air or something like that. I told her, I said, “This man is dying.” So the lady said, “No way.” I said, “He’s not breathing.” Okay. That’s all I saw. And then I walk away. The next day, 7:00 p.m. in the evening, I got home. I saw the TV. I saw the body, and I was cry. I cry and I swear, and I didn’t say anything. I didn’t eat that night.

NASA Satellite Fails to Reach Orbit

From the NYTimes.com:

A NASA satellite to track carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere failed to reach its orbit during launching Tuesday morning, scuttling the $278 million mission.

President Dwight Eisenhower created NASA in 1958; its mission is to pioneer space research and aeronautics. To this effect, its FY 2009 Budget Request Summary asks for an annual budget of  US$17.6 billion. (The crash of the $US278 million carbon-monitoring satellite, then, wastes 1.6% of this allocation of assets).  “NASA is also pursuing innovative partnerships with commercial companies,” says the Budget Request’s administrator’s letter, “that will better leverage private investment toward NASA’s strategic goals. “

One of NASA’s innovative partnerships is with Orbital Sciences Corp. (NYSE: ORB).  Its strategic goal is to make “space technology more affordable, accessible and useful to millions of people on Earth.” It has a backlog of US$4.2 billion over the next eight years. But its share price fell last Thursday because it reported a 17% drop in Q4 net income from 2007 (though its net income for the fiscal year of 2008 was actually up 14%).

BusinessWeek published an article in October 2008 titled “The Government’s New Economic Role.” You can listen to the podcast about it, here.

Battle is Close in Israeli election

From NYTimes.com:

JERUSALEM — Israel’s centrist Kadima Party led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and the more conservative Likud Party led by Benjamin Netanyahu were locked in a tight battle for leadership on Wednesday that left unclear the shape of the next Israeli government.

Tzipi Livni speaks English, French and Hebrew. She won the Champion of Good Government Award in 2004. While the Knesset website mentions that she won this award, it is not easy to find an explanation of what this honour recognizes. The Knesset’s house search engine finds only one exampe of  ‘good government’ on its website, UN General Assembly Resolution 181, 1947.

The Kadima Party website is available only in Hebrew (from what I can tell. I cannot read the language). Everyone can understand the language of music, however, and so there is a video of Tzipi Livni DJing at a Tel Aviv club.

Though Benjamin Netanyahu might not DJ, he does Twitter. He has 781 followers.