And the Truth Goes Marching On

An update on the Hungarian corpse-rum drinkers: Reuters has printed something of a retraction here.

I like how they avoid any personal responsibility, myself. Way to go for journalistic integrity! I guess that the "Oddly Enough" beat doesn't have the same fact-checking requirements; after all, half the stories would end up not being printed.

So I have struck the tiniest blow for truth that it may be possible to strike. I think I deserve a government grant and an exemption from having to do anything difficult or morally upright for at least a few weeks. Goodbye, final grading...

I'm in a punchy mood, so forgive the choppy prose. There was little sleep for me last night, and too much time was devoted to filling out an overly long profile on MySpace (I feel geeky just typing that), 'cause Chris said that Devin was over there and some other Rim graduates and even a few folks from the camp we used to counsel at in our younger days. I figured if all the cool kids were doing it, I should, too. I hear that's the way to get really popular. We'll have to see if television is giving me that truth straight.

I'm Famous (Almost)

I know I owe an actual post here, and I intend to put one up soon, but I thought I'd pass on that my astute observation has lead to a minor change on another web page.

I guess that's not famous after all...

In any case, the deal is that I was perusing the Reuter's web service's Oddly Enough news section, and the first story listed today was from a Hungarian online magazine. It reported that workers who were renovating a house drank a cask of rum, but when they finished they found a corpse preserved inside. Read this fun and educational story here.

The only problem with this is that some version of this tale has been floating about for ages, and was reported on another news service (from the same Hungarian rag) a couple of years ago. D'oh!

So I sent word over to the folks at Snopes, sending also a few kind words about how much I enjoy their site. An hour later, Barbara Mikkelson (one of the founders of the site) wrote back with some thanks. And now, patient readers, you can see the update of the story here.

I don't know why this pleases me; it's about as minor a thing as a person could reasonably do. But there you go.

I also sent a note to the Reuters people, but they have not responded. The link to their story may disappear eventually, so read up while you can!

What? Writing? What writing?

Oh, that writing. Yes, it's going on. I'll post on that next time out. Really soon.

Really.