I just had to turn in a horrible assignment where we went through Friday's New York Times and listed the sources for every article in the front three pages. It was frustrating because I should have done a great job but just got bogged down in other stuff and not having a computer. I think the aim of the exercise was to make us see the reliance of the press on PR people and overemphasis on Government type stories, but neither of those things really surprised me. What did surprise me was the extent to which things were reported as matters of fact without attribution, even when it seemed dubious they came from observation.

I thought this article was kind of silly: it quotes a bunch of guys from a newly assembled advisory panel talking about how great the people on the panel are. It did cite some interesting research about the use of Oxygen isotope signatures to identify the origin of anthrax-like bugs, but I can't tell if the scientists involved are on the panel.

I'm on a quest to find out about the war photographer Nachtwey. . .