
Not long ago, I wrote an article about obtaining Press Passes. My goal was to spark an interest in original reporting from some of our more prolific authors, or those who would like to be more prolific.
IPhone Futures Prove to Be a Bad InvestmentSource: The New York Times
Across the nation, people looking to make a quick and easy profit bought one, two or as many phones as they could by recruiting friends to stand in line with them. Many of them were the first to get in line, camping overnight outside the stores.
Stamford teen posted entry on death of wrestler's wifeSource: stamfordadvocate.com
STAMFORD - The Wikipedia poster who flummoxed investigators by announcing the death of wrestler Chris Benoit's wife before police discovered the murder is a 19-year-old Stamford man and wrestling fan, authorities said.

16 Newsviners met in Columbus, Ohio.
7 of them traveled from out of state.
4 of them have been awarded the Random Act of Vineness.

It's not much of a secret that some of the users at Newsvine are technically challenged. Hmm, there's not even any reason to pretend, for technically terrible, yours truely comes instantly to mind. It is probably a safe bet, that few could be worse than me.

I spent much of last year focused on things outside the Vine. But this year, I turned to my column with renewed excitement and vigor, ready to light up the Vine with dazzling articles and inspirational stories.
College Invites Viner to Speak on Online JournalismSource: bandmonline.com
From Muskingum College's newspaper in Ohio:
The Society of Collegiate Journalists will be holding a discussion panel moderated by Jessica Marshall, Secretary of SCJ, to discuss online media.

Ahh yes, it's Friday the 13th once again. Nobody is quite sure what the exact reason this day is so vexed, but it seems to boil down to a mixture of Christian lore and pagan holidays.

I've never been a real big history buff... or (until very recently) too keen on amusement parks, either. However, there's something oddly nostalgic about combining the two.

My newspaper - they keep sending me on these wacky assignments. Not only did I have to get really, really high for work yesterday, they paid me for it as well.

It goes by many names: soda, pop, soft drink, and sodie pop. Starting today, it's the nectar of the devil for me and I'm done with it.
An Eye for Cool, and CashSource: The Washington Post
Corey Spring has a college student's dream job: He gets paid to surf the Internet.

When you were growing up, did you ever have a great teacher...

I've been an active participant on Newsvine since January and enjoy all the features and the community interaction. But, I must admit, I get curious to see what the other sites have to offer from time to time. So I decided to check out Netscape.

I like Newsvine.
First and foremost I like the interface as an easy way to follow news on subjects I am interested in. It is logical, attractive, and easy to use.
But recently a couple of things have dampened my enthusiasm.

When I first heard that Jason Calcanis was going to offer $1000 dollars/month to the top contributors on the major social networking sites -- I dismissed the topic because I thought it was nothing more than an idea.

Wednesday I was to drive down from Columbus, Ohio to Cincinnati to interview the two guys from the Clerks films. Instead, everything that could have went wrong, did.

Many from my generation (and the one before it) are avid Kevin Smith fans. Let any 'fanboy' talk long enough and he will tell you all about 'Clerks,' the black and white cult film that follows clerks Dante and Randall during the course of one day in their New Jersey lives...

In its first few weeks of testing, the new system of Vineacity has proven to be a better model than the previous Positive Feedback %. We think that most would agree that the six measures of Vineacity create a more well rounded image of a user's conduct around the site.

I can't decide whether to be flattered or insulted.

*** After consulting Newsvine, I am putting this back up, please also see Natalie's article***

(4/04 - I have uploaded the audio from this piece - you can get it here. Also, as a bonus, I uploaded the audio from the interview I had with director Michel Gondry, who directed Block Party as well as Eternal Sunshine ofthe Spotless Mind.