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Al's Morning Meeting

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Al Tompkins
Story ideas that you can localize and enterprise. Posted by 7:30 a.m. Mon-Fri.
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A dozen sites
I'm diggin'


*1. For anyone looking for a year-end project, consider this one from the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y. The paper put a face on every person murdered in Rochester for the year. Stunning and simple use of multimedia.

*2. The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times produced a fascinating story that sheds light on how easy it was to defraud the banking system during the housing boom.

*3. Watch a simple but telling video essay about how immersed children can get while playing video games.

*4. The Rural Blog discusses what failing auto companies mean to rural communities.

5. Salon investigates "Friendly Fire" incident that leads to document shredding.

6. Seven key questions about a car company bailout.

7. The Flip Cam has gone HD with a customizable cover.

8. A fun video to help you with digital conversion.

*9. In a weird way, I dig this photo essay on abandoned Christmas trees.

*10. The Atlantic sits down with China's Gao Xiqing, who oversees $200 billion of China's $2 trillion in dollar holdings. The lesson to the U.S. is "shape up."

11. You thought sub-prime lenders were gone? No way! They are making FHA loans.

12. Planet Money is a really good blog about money and finance.

All of my Diggin' sites are saved on Poynter's del.icio.us page.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.


Graffiti Vandals Go Online
They were annoying enough when they just painted on bridges and walls. But the newest thing for taggers is to show their vandalism online.

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I am now updating my column throughout each weekday with new resources and ideas. Check back for the latest posts, or stay updated by subscribing to the RSS feed.

New since the last newsletter:

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That is what brought such infamy to an LA punk called "Buket" whom cops collared last week. The Los Angeles Times reported:

The arrest of a man authorities describe as one of Los Angeles' most prolific taggers underscores a growing phenomenon on the Internet: graffiti vandals who videotape their handiwork and place it on the Web for the world to see.

Detectives said they are increasingly dealing with tech-savvy vandals who use blogs, social networking and photo and video sharing sites to advertise their vandalism. Experts say the so-called "bombers" compete for the most outrageous tactics. "Buket" became an Internet star for tagging a Hollywood Freeway overpass, with cars zooming by 20 feet below.

See the YouTube video of "Buket" here. Here's another "bombing" video.

Notice the high-pressure paint sprayers these taggers use to paint big walls more than a story high. That is something I haven't seen.
Posted by Al Tompkins 12:05 AM
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