48 Tips in 48 Hours

... but people still think it's real!

Andy Borowitz, author of the crazy-hilarious Borowitz Report, closed out the day with some great laughs. At first, I thought to myself: "Wait a minute, this isn't very educational. How am I going to get a tip out of this?" Three jokes later: "Screw it."

Here's one thing I learned.

25 Watch, listen to and read fake news. "I've talked to college kids who say they don't get the jokes on the Daily Show," Andy said. "So, they start reading the news. Fake news drives people to real news."

And in some cases, it passes for real news.

Borowitz said he has received thousands of e-mail responses to fake stories he writes. Why haven't I seen that reported elsewhere? What are your sources?

Here are three stories lots of people thought were real:


Time for me to go scrounge up some grub. I still haven't eaten today. Also, I have to admit that things were made more hectic than I expected today by the fact that I can't get Internet access in the presentation rooms. Still, doing my best to get things posted as soon as I can. Unfortunately, all the running around has made it a little difficult to track down the folks I'm planning to do audio interviews with. I'll do my best to round a few of them up later this evening.

One other thing -- I got a cell phone charger! Just as I'd hoped, the morning crew came through for me. Tip number five stands.

Since I might not post again for a few hours, I'll leave you with this. It's funny, and at the same time, sort-of profound. It's one of the opening lines from Andy's presentation.

"People often ask me if I consider myself a news junkie," he said. "And the answer is no. Really, I consider myself a heroin junkie. But I only started doing heroin after watching too much news. News is really a gateway drug."

Coming soon >>> History lesson! Audio interviews? At least another 23 tips tomorrow!