Issues Hot Off The Press (Pun Intended!)

Say what you want about Rolling Stone's questionable stance on pop music (Mariah Carey? Are you kidding me?), the magazine is still killer when it comes to news journalism. Here are some items that popped out at me from their year in review RS 1016:

• In April, a man of Indian descent was traveling in a cab on the way to the airport and was listening to the Clash (London Calling) and Led Zeppelin (Immigrant Song). Apparently, the cab driver thought the man's taste in music was suspicious and phoned the cops. He was detained and questioned for three hours.
• Northwest Airlines slashed employee wages to stay out of bankruptcy, then distributed a booklet titled '101 Ways to Save Money'. The booklet suggested their employees to move to cheaper areas, cut the kid's hair themselves, and pick stuff out of the trash.
• The army has refused to give residents of the Everglades maps showing the best evacuation routes in case of natural disaster, due to the possibility that terrorists may use that information for their own means. A direct quote: "We just don't believe there's a great need for the public to have the maps."
• "At a press conference in April on soaring gas prices, House Speaker Dennis Hastert drove off in a hydrogen-fueled car to promote the use of alternative energy. But as soon as he thought he was away from the cameras, Hastert ditched the clean car and climbed into his SUV -- for the ride back to the Capitol, a few blocks away." There are pictures.
• America is not the land of opportunity. According to a study "it is easier for a poor child to become rich in France, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Norway and Denmark than in America, where a child born into a poor family has only a one percent chance of being wealthy as an adult."
• Princeton undertook a study in which 200 people played a custom-designed war game. The more confident the player, the more likely that he/she would make unprovoked attacks. The most confident had the lowest success rate. "This suggests that positive illusions were not only misguided but actually may have been detrimental to performance."