primer: May 2005

A new project from a blogging pioneer has upped the threat to Big Media from the internet.
Amateur bloggers have had an increasing impact on the news, from exposing faked documents in the last US election, to writing their own versions of events out of Iraq; now former journalist and author Dan Gillmor wants them to get organised.
Gillmor, whose blog boasts thousands of readers, has set up the "Bayosphere", an online space for authoritative versions of life in and around San Francisco Bay - no editors, publishers or printers required.
Tapping into the most wired community on the planet, Gillmor's plunge into grassroots journalism may make his fomer employer, the San Jose Mercury News, redundant, with the rise of what he calls "citizen journalism activists."

Note: Gillmor with no E is correct.

Stuttgarter Hofbraeu, a small German brand, has jumped on the Papal bandwagon with a claim to be the unofficial beer of the Vatican.
The then Cardinal Ratzinger had been photographed drinking the wheat-based beer, according to ..
So the brewery sent off 185 gallons of its foamy product to the new Pontiff - making sure to publicise its move at the same time.

The then Cardinal Ratzinger had been photographed drinking the wheat-based beer, according to ..

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imer 29/5/5

In a move sure to strike fear into the hearts of hoodie-wearing tots everywhere, a shopping centre in Kent, England, has banned outfits with hoods.
Described by BBC news as zero-tolerance approach to intimidating behaviour, the ban extends to baseball caps, and has been backed by local police.
The Bluewater shopping complex has its own dedicated group of bobbies.
Almost 400 cameras will track shoppers (described by management as “guests”) as they browse the aisles. Detection of a hood or cap will be swiftly followed by a polite request to leave the premises.
The architecture at Bluewater is based on English folklore, according to its web site; excluding Robin Hood, presumably.

A US$2 billion ($2.62 billion) financial flurry has taught gullible traders worldwide a hard lesson about believing what they read.
The US dollar dipped earlier this month, and traders rushed to cover themselves as a story of a revaulation of the Chinese yuan flashed onto their screens.
The story, from the respected Bloomberg news service, said that the yuan would be revalued upwards in a week’s time. Bloomberg had drawn the story from the web site of the People’s Daily, once considered the direct voice of the Chinese government.
Unfortunately, the People’s Daily story was a hopelessly garbled translation of an analysis story by a Hong Kong-based journalist, and just plain wrong, the Wall Street Journal says.
Eventually an experienced bank trader smelt a rat, and the word went out that everyone should just calm down – and double-check their information next time.

Urban jungle
New York fashionistas have always been a bit catty, and their latest status symbol confirms it.
The “Savannah”, a cross between a domestic cat and the long-eared, leopard-coated African Serval, has become the hottest pet on Manhattan.
Keeping them is illegal, but that hasn’t stopped New Yorkers from signing up to long waiting lists. The New York Times says the cats sell from $5000 for first-generation crossbeeds, but breeders still can’t meet the demand.
They weigh up to 15 kilograms each and, according to one pet-serval site, require their own bedroom. At New York real estate prices, that would add a hundred thousand or so to the cost of keeping one.