New tool for mapping top stories

StumbledUpon this fascinating tool called Buzztracker that maps relationships between news stories and locations across the world. A map is generated each day using the top articles in global coverage and then in connect-the-dots fashion, shows viewers the proceeding web of interrelationships. Thus, for instance, stories about Gaza appearing in newspapers from across the world also saw associations with Washington, D.C., London, New York and seven other places. Connectedness with Washington, D.C., was at 29 percent as it relates to Gaza, while connectedness with Zahedan was only at 5 percent as Zahedan relates to Gaza. Confusing at first but when you see the map, it makes more sense.

Here is the map for June 20. You can click on each red dot to see related stories and stats.


buzztracker map -- 2010-06-20

Tokyo Jamshedpur Zahedan Durban Edinburgh Surat Dallas Nairobi Kigali Bloemfontein Panama New Delhi Hiroshima Pretoria Fuzhou Adelaide Moscow Milan Liverpool Pune Boston Cape Town Ottawa Srinagar Brussels Lima Los Angeles Shanghai Kabul Chicago Delhi Johannesburg San Diego Melbourne New Orleans Detroit Islamabad Bogota Naples Warsaw Dubai Stockholm Paris Rome Tehran Santa Cruz Bhopal Victoria New York Vatican Beijing Seattle London Baghdad Santos Gaza Washington

China one key to Afghan emergence?

Forget gold.

The real money is in copper. At least China seems to think so. As reported in The New York Times and elsewhere, Chinese workers are getting set to begin extracting some of the estimated $88 billion in copper deposits from Afghanistan on the site where al Qaeda operatives trained for the 9/11 attacks, the event which triggered the United States’ longterm presence in the region to begin with. The excavations are being prepared by the state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corporation (the official site) in the Aynak valley district just south of Kabul.

As it turns out, Afghanistan isn’t the only region in which China is bolstering its own economy, while in turn, apparently creating jobs and opportunity for destitute regions of the Middle East. It’s investing in Iraqi, gas from Iran and its also putting money into Pakistan and parts of Africa, according to the article. In the Aynak valley,

M.C.C. will dig a new coal mine to feed the plant’s generators. It will build a smelter to refine copper ore, and a railroad to carry coal to the power plant and copper back to China. If the terms of its contract are to be believed, M.C.C. will also build schools, roads, even mosques for the Afghans. — The New York Times, Dec. 29, 2009

Further, though the Chinese are obviously a world leader economically, they also apparently turn the idiom of a bull in a china shop on its head, and wear a plain, common man demeanor and dress when dealing with the local Afghans, which flies in stark contrast to the Yahoo-nature of many an American on foreign soil.

“The Chinese are much wiser,” said Nurzaman Stanikzai, a former mujahedeen and currently a contractor for the MCC. “When we went to talk to the local people, they wore civilian clothing, and they were very friendly. The Americans — not as good. When they come there, they have their uniforms, their rifles and such, and they are not as friendly.”

With the U.S. rightly focusing much of its attention on ousting the Taliban in the hills of Afghanistan and along the Pakistani border and, with Afghanistan’s rich trove of resources,

All the ingredients are there to build a modern society.

said Stephen Peters, with the U.S. Geological Survey, in an report from The Times of London. The Chinese, indeed, may be onto something in helping developing countries take new steps toward modernism. As Ibrahim Adel, China’s Minister of Mines, tersely said in the London Times article:

This is one way to control extremism.

See this story for another discussion of this topic.

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Note: For literary types, here’s a side project. Go back and study Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, comparing the Yahoos (possibly a predated picture of how some would come to view Americans in the modern world) with the Houyhnhnms (how many view Asian cultures, with their attention to detail, logic, cool-headed approach to life). I’m by no means implying that the analogies are rock solid — Swift was writing three centuries ago, after all — but it’s interesting to think about.

***

And yes, I’m aware that it’s been more than a week since I wrote anything. Hampered by a bout of bronchitis, I was down for the 10-count for a few days, mostly staring at the walls, pushing the dog away and eating chicken noodle soup. Then came the holidays and a much-needed respite from work and a return to frag-laden play in Counter Strike: Source. But I’m back and gnawing on multiple ideas for future topics.

I write things. And sometimes they make sense. If you got this far, I’ll send you a candy cane via parcel post. – js.

The newspaper crisis as I see it

As I said here, I like words, and I like information. While pictures and graphics can provide some level of information, I think solid reporting and well-crafted stories serve our communities the best. I think The New York Times’ traditional design is a beautiful thing. Newspapers such as that offer less filler and are teeming with information. As such, I would probably fit perfectly well in some 18th century London coffeehouse or pub reading the latest edition of The Spectator. But then again, and for better or worse, I’m not the average Joe.

Print media, as is evidenced by the recent demise of the Rocky Mountain News, the Detroit Free Press scaling back to only three days per week, Knight Ridder’s purchase by McClatchy, among others examples, print media is tanking. Perhaps sooner than later, the days of sitting in the local Huddle House or at your kitchen table reading the morning paper may be one and done. Today, at least among small to mid-size dailies, there’s this dire atmosphere, almost like a desperation, to sell papers. I saw it at a local daily I used to work for. The leadership wanted giant photos, “teasers” everywhere, sports cut-outs … basically as much crap as one could pile above the fold, the better, information and usefulness of such “elements” (as they called them) be damned. For a national example of this, see USA Today.

The problem with that model is that a publication could offer the most artistic, elegantly designed and well-photographed publication in the country, but if it missed the boat on content, it has failed in its duty to inform and educate the community it serves. After all, with all those “elements” flying around everywhere, something has to be compromised. And the content usually gets the ax, and at this aforementioned paper, that’s exactly what happened. Thus — and I know to the budget-minded publisher or editor this is unpopular territory — but the public is shortchanged when elements take precedence over content. The job of newspapers is to add to the intelligence and knowledge of the public, not take away from it or contribute to the general dumbing down taking place in other outlets like radio and television. Have we lost our muster when we simply can’t sell newspapers by compelling headlines and probing reporting? Have J-schools across the country failed us in producing a generation of editors and publishers who are OK with this nonsense? Can’t we be everything television and radio isn’t?

As an example, Stephen King’s name doesn’t jump out at you because he’s got lots of cool pictures and graphics in his books. In fact, it’s hard to find a single picture anywhere! His name jumps out at you because he does something with words and ideas that few others can. We are raising and educating a generation of journalism amateurs — or wimps — in this regard. What King does and what journalists do are polar, of course, but I’m arguing that words, in and of themselves, can be compelling and can make newspapers or books or whatever fly off the racks. Journalism is not for the bashful. True journalism doesn’t hide behind snazzy graphics or photos. It can be powerful, and it can change communities. I’ve seen it happen. But I’m probably arguing in 20th century, or even 19th century, terms.

Here in the 21st century, the Internet provides a literal free for all of information, thus rendering newspapers largely irrelevant, except only to a select few still enamored with their morning coffee-paper routine. I’m in that crowd, but admittedly, we must move on. Insomuch as small- to medium-sized dailies are going to continue to offer their daily fare of elements, giant photos, graphics simply for the sake of graphics and cartoon-sized headlines, they should just fold up shop and put all that time and effort into the Internet, as witnessed by this publication:

Whoever created this is probably quite proud, but this is a newspaper, not a graphic showroom. And by the way, to further illustrate why this is trash, where is the local news on the front page? Can you find it? Clemson Tigers basketball is local, but that’s sports. A local feature story about an artist is not local news. Photos and graphics have all but consumed this paper. I am sure local news in short supply can be found inside, but it should be found out front, and it’s not. (The paper recently reformatted to this tabloid design.)

Almost all of this paper’s readers — and millions more — are online, so why not scale back the effort, stop contributing to the trash heap and publish solid reporting and well-crafted writing on the Web site. And, the money saved from going virtual could be put into increased attempts to sell ad space on the Web through banners, specially-priced ads based on where they appear on the page, Web design, hosting and other ventures. In short, if the goal is to abandon the traditional model for newspapers as we know them, get on with the end game. Get completely virtual, stop publishing graphic-laden, information-less trash and give up the ghost. I’ll never read books online and if there is still a local or national newspaper still putting out quality work in print form, chances are I’m going to read it. But thankfully, books still have a market in print form. Of the former newspapers, I’m not sure. We are too enamored with the sound bites of FOX News and CNBC and CNN to care about newspapers anymore. And that’s fine. But it’s time some papers stop pretending to be relevant, if that relevancy means compromising journalistic integrity to en masse photos and graphics signifying nothing.

2012 Olympics go intergalactic?

l apologize in advance for adding yet another opinion piece to the already over-loaded annuls of writing on the Olympics. But I’m egged on, however, by the sheer colossal nature in which the Games rocketed into our living rooms.

Rarely do I keep track of all the heart-tugging stories surrounding the athletes and their families. We’ve heard them all before: How Gustavo trained for the javelin throw by launching carved Brazil nut tree branches heavenward on some sun-soaked South American coast. How Ludwig worked on endurance by carrying his trusty Bavarian mountain scenthound backpack-style high into the Swedish mountains. How John from San Diego biked into the Nevada desert only to be greeted by a pack of unsympathetic wolves. How he slew them with a miniature pocketknife, carved out a souvenir from one of the beasts and appeared at the Games sporting a wolf fang necklace. How folks have sold off their own parents to afford the plane ride to the far reaches of the earth to compete.

I jest, but rarely do I get so enthralled that I pay much attention to stories like these. This year was no different. I was terribly unenthralled. I did, however, catch the occasional swim meet, volleyball match and track event. Michael Phelps? He made the case as the greatest Olympian ever, and the split-second win against Serbia’s Milorad Cavic was a site to behold. Usain Bolt? He crushed the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

But as this is not the sports section, I’ll move on.

Most of the opening and closing ceremonies, for me, were spent with my bottom lip somewhere between my mouth and the floor, which presented a problem as snacks were often present. “They are going to blow up the Bird’s Nest,” I thought to myself, as a seemingly endless train of snaps, crackles and pops enveloped the TV screen. During portions of the ceremony, we saw a giant, unfurling screen depicting various aspects of Chinese fine arts; a living representation of the movable type press and various performances geared toward presenting glimpses into traditional Chinese culture.

Forward 17 days. The closing ceremony, which was a depiction of where Chinese culture might be headed in the future, was equally as explosive. Hundreds proceeded to beat drums in perfect synchronization; ride glowing circular, bicycle-looking things; flip; dance; sing; and form symbolically poignant circles. There were more drummers dangling from the ceiling, glowing people, unearthly gadgets being wheeled all about, and of course, that eternally catchy song, “Beijing Beijing, I Love Beijing.”

Was it just me, or did anyone else think the Death Star was going to touch down at any minute during this wild, phantasmic hullabaloo? Given the enormity of the scenes and imagery presented, the Death Star would have fit right in. Darth Vader would have beamed down, choked out the overhead announcer with his mind, breathed heavily into the microphone and said, “Yao Ming, come join … (labored breathing) … the Dark Side.” Then, Luke Skywalker, Master Yoda, Mace Windu and the gang would envelope the Bird’s Nest, save the basketball star from certain peril and strike up another round of “Beijing Beijing, I Love Beijing,” as the whole galaxy celebrated, just like at the end of “Return of the Jedi.”

Or at least that’s how I imagined it. In all seriousness, the competition part was good, but “spellbinding” doesn’t quite describe the beginning and end. Was China trying too hard to impress during its galactic, $100 million show? To some degree, yes. Case in point: The country actually tried to manipulate the atmosphere to prevent rainfall during the ceremonies, firmly pushing weather patterns, God or what have you out of the way. Will merry ol’ London attempt to top it? Not a chance. If it does, the land venerated land of Shakespeare and Milton would have to go truly intergalactic. I’m thinking: London/Moon 2012: A Space Odyssey. But I don’t see tea-sipping, bookish gents summoning the cosmos any time soon.

Regardless, NBC currently has DVDs of the opening ceremonies available, and my wife and I are actually considering coughing up the $30 in the near future. That way, we can visit Ming, Phelps, Usain, Gustavo, Lugwig, Luke, Yoda and the gang any time I like.