Year: 2005

NEW POPE ELECTED

 

11:37 AM – AP, Reuters / Flash from the Vatican, Pope John Paul II is dead.

For more coverage, go to Pope Watch – Day 2

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Live Video from St Peter’s Square 

Via Drudge: VATICAN SAYS POPE’S CONDITION HAS WORSENED. POPE SUFFERING FROM HEART AND KIDNEY PROBLEMS. Breathing ‘has become shallow’ and his kidney function is deteriorating. Suffering low blood pressure.

UPDATE: POPE HAS LOST CONSCIOUSNESS…

MORE: Italian media gave contradictory reports about Pope John Paul’s vital signs on Friday, first saying his heart and brain activity had stopped and then reporting this was not true… Developing…

AP: The Vatican has denied reports that Pope John Paul II has died…

Meanwhile, the tribute sites are starting to come up. 

1:21 PM PST: Still no word on condition of Pope John Paul II

Cardinals: Jockeying for position

Latest from CNN, ABCNews, MSNBC, CBS News, Fox News, Yahoo News Full Coverage, Google (Up to the Minute) News

2:00 PM PST: Vatican – Pope John Paul II is near death

The Guardian: Thousands gather at St. Peter’s square

CNN: Vatican can run smoothly in trouble times

TV Networks scramble to provide coverage

Pre-Obit

Vatican procedures upon the death of a Pope

Grade schoolers express concerns for Pope

Pope transition FAQ

MSNBC Video Coverage

Fox mistakenly reports death of Pope

The Fox News Channel reported — wrongly — that the pope had died, before backpedaling several minutes later.

Reporter Shepard Smith explained later that a Fox sister company in Italy had been listening to an inaccurate report, and it was transmitted to Fox. He apologized for the mistake.

Cable news grisly deathwatch

Papal Politicking?

Top church officials make one last visit

Among the top church officials who gathered at his bedside was Archbishop Paolo Sardi, the Vatican vice chamberlain. The chamberlain runs the Holy See between the death of a pope and the election of a new one.

Another visitor was Cardinal Edmund Szoka, the governor of Vatican City and former archbishop of Detroit, who said the pope was being given oxygen.

“As soon as he saw me, he recognized me,” Szoka told the CBS’ “Early Show.” “I blessed him and as I did, he tried to make the sign of the cross. So he was perfectly lucid, perfectly conscious, but was having a great deal of trouble breathing.

“And I don’t know how long he can continue with that. They were giving him oxygen and all that sort of thing, helping him,” Szoka said.

Cardinal Marcio Francesco Pompedda, a high-ranking Vatican administrator, visited the pope Friday and said he opened his eyes and smiled.

“I understood he recognized me. It was a wonderful smile – I’ll remember it forever. It was a benevolent smile – a father-like smile,” Pompedda told RAI television. “I also noticed that he wanted to tell me something but he could not. … But what impressed me very much was his expression of serenity.”

Trey Jackson with John Paul II tribute video.

Vatican: the Holy See

WaPo: Breathing is shallow, kidneys are failing

Via MSNBC: Pope and Catholic blogs and Exceptional encounters with the Pope

Helped overthrow communism in Europe

The Pope of Popes

Questions of succession carries huge impact

Vatican announces new bishops

8:54 PM PST – Pope condition “very grave”

Cardinals head to Rome to cast votes

Faithful look for signs of Pope’s passing

Vatican press office closes | 12:14 a.m. ET

The Vatican press office, which stayed open throughout the night as several hundred people remained in St. Peter’s Square to pray for the ailing pope, closed around 10 p.m. ET. The office was to open again at 3 a.m. ET.

Rumors of possible Vatican statement | 2:14 a.m. ET

Word of a possible statement from the Vatican at 3 a.m. ET is coming from a Romania-based TV station. The press office reopened at 2 a.m. ET.

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan: “There is no more hope.”

Pope John Paul II was near death as dawn approached Saturday, his breathing shallow and his heart and kidneys failing, the Vatican said. Millions of faithful around the world paid homage, many weeping as they knelt with bowed heads, others carrying candles in prayer for the 84-year-old pontiff.

The pope “is on the verge of death,” Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, head of the Vatican’s health care office, told the Mexican television network Televisa. “I talked to the doctors and they told me there is no more hope.”

Fox News TV: Pope’s death is imminent

See Pope Watch – Day 2

It’s the PodShave.

PodGear™ PodShave
A crisp white shaving clip on for iPod™ 3rd & 4th Generation, iPod mini™ (PodShaveLady) and iPod™ Photo.

No battery required – simply plug and shave!

The launch of the PodShave enables iPod users to free their stubble whilst listening to their favourite music, not only this but as the shaving device runs directly from the iPod battery, hairy friends are able to shave almost anywhere – be it in the high street, on the Tube or just relaxing at home. PodShave’s superb design simply clips on to the top of the iPod and gives instant shaving delight, not only this but it collects all loose hair via its vacuum like stubble collector!

Also available: PodShaveLady ­ exact specifications as above, but for iPod mini™.

Those Apple guys are soooo cool.

Why not try Google Gulp?

Think fruity. Think refreshing.
Think a DNA scanner embedded in the lip of your bottle reading all 3 gigabytes of your base pair genetic data in a fraction of a second, fine-tuning your individual hormonal cocktail in real time using our patented Auto-Drink™ technology, and slamming a truckload of electrolytic neurotransmitter smart-drug stimulants past the blood-brain barrier to achieve maximum optimization of your soon-to-be-grateful cerebral cortex. Plus, it’s low in carbs! And with flavors ranging from Beta Carroty to Glutamate Grape, you’ll never run out of ways to quench your thirst for knowledge.

Jeez. Those Google guys are sooooo cool.

I can’t even begin to think about the amount of work that went into this. If you’re a regular reader of boingboing, you’ll marvel at the detail of this parody site, done up in time for April Fools Day.

Update: Awesome.

The media is doing it again.

A week ago it happened with Jeff Weise. Today, they’re doing it with Terri Schiavo. Look around the web, and you’ll see what I mean.

Drudge has this picture…

Yahoo news has this…

MSNBC heads their main story using this picture…

And still others, with this…

Yet, the reality of what Terri Schiavo has been the past decade is this.

…and this.

Is the media purposely displaying a young, healthy, attractive Terri Schiavo to emphasize a life snuffed out too soon? Are we more outraged when we see the “before” pictures?

If the Pope dies, will we see more pictures of him from the late ’80’s and early ’90’s than pictures of the past couple of days? Jerry Falwell has been ill lately – if he passes, will we see today’s bloated, fat version of Jerry or the 1970’s skinny hipster edition?

I wonder.

If you were running a news organization, which photos would you choose and why?

If you visit, browse and read as many websites as I do, you probably have a short list of places that never fail to enrage you. It might be a militant left wing wacko blog, an MSM news site, or a bulletin board filled with whiners. Have you ever secretly wished you could simply click a button and immediately launch a missile attack, a meteor shower, or even nuclear holocaust on every square inch of that cursed HTML? Well, now you can, from anywhere in the world, muster God like powers to smite the blog, or vaporize the annoying columnist.

Look no further than Netdisaster.

Type in the “soon to be annihilated” URL, choose your catastrophe, and the level of destruction. Control the burn yourself or sit back and let NetDisaster do your bidding. It’s up to you.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

UPDATE: I believe I’ve found a new site to smite. I’ll be “pushin the button” in your honor Jeff.

Congratulations Arthur.

RIP

There are so many things wrong with this that it’s hard to know where to start.

The same day that the prestigious Washington, D.C., journalism organization plans to present a lunch talk by former Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee, it will also allow the former White House reporter/escort to be on a panel discussing bloggers and online journalism.

Gannon, whose real name is James Guckert, resigned his job with the conservative Talon News last month after it was revealed he had used a pseudonym, had little journalism background, and had ties to male escort Web sites.

Gannon said he always considered himself a legitimate journalist, and “perhaps their invitation is recognition of that.”

Actually, it’s not recognition at all Jeff. This invitation is akin to inviting a turkey to Thanksgiving dinner. 

Press Club President Rick Dunham, who also covers the White House for BusinessWeek, called Gannon “a figure in the news” who is involved in an important journalistic issue.

“The panel came together because we wanted to discuss some issues that came about from the Gannon case,” said Mike Madden, a Gannett News Service reporter and a member of the Press Club’s Professional Affairs committee, which is organizing the free event. “So we thought, why not try to get him?”

“Why not try to get him…” Uh huh…exactly. Like any good horror movie, the victim is always the last person to know what is going to happen to him. Only this time, I don’t think there are any people yelling at the screen, saying things like, “Watch out!”, “They’re setting you up!”, and “Don’t go in there!”

“The idea was talking about these issues and who should be allowed to set up shop [as a legitimate journalist],” Madden said. “It is not intended to be a forum for [Gannon] to present his side unchallenged. It is going to be moderated and there will be others on the panel.”

Unfortunately, the “others” on the panel won’t include Ace or Goldstein. (There’s still time guys!)

Press Club president Rick Dunham said “journalists should be given a chance to question him.” Reminded that many reporters had interviewed Gannon in the past month, Dunham still believed his presence would be good for the event. “I want us to be on the news,” he said. “I think it is better to have people ask any question they can ask.”

Oooh yeah. Unvetted questions, no holds barred, free-for-all. And a special guest appearance by Wonkette! You suppose there will be a happy hour with half price well drinks before the show?

Gannon said he “thinks it is a good opportunity for me to speak to issues related to bloggers.” He also added that he was, “trying to stay out there where people can see me.”

There’s a phrase that describes “staying out there where people can see me”. It’s “Self Flagellation”, and apparently Jeff Gannon doesn’t own a dictionary.

The circus comes to town on April 8th. Mark your calendars.

Via Bloomberg.com: Asian Governments Raise Tsunami Alert Using Faxes, Local Media

Asian governments relied on phone calls, faxes and the media to alert citizens of a possible tsunami after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck near Sumatra, in the absence of an alert network they promised to build.

 “After we received the readings on the earthquake we contacted all government institutions by fax and by telephones, but we couldn’t contact officials in Nias and the other affected islands because communications were cut,” said Budi Waluyo, an official in Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency. “From then on, we only heard and read from the media.”

Oh, and there’s that bit about the quake hitting in the middle of the night, when no one would have been around anyway. And another thing…what happens if someone forgets to load new paper in the fax machine?