Don’t give up on traditional newspapers

Last night in my News Reporting class we were discussing how budget cuts have forced the Grand Rapids Press (the biggest newspaper in Western Michigan) to size down certain areas of their paper. According to my professor, who works at the Press on a part time basis, the sports section is expected to be sized down by an average of two pages.

That, my friends, is a travesty.

Yes, I’m a sports fanatic so the loss of two pages of sports angers me. The bigger issue, however, is that downsizing like this will eventually reach the rest of the paper. Traditional print news just doesn’t sell like it used to, and that’s too bad.

I personally do not like reading my news online. Blogs are okay, but I cannot bring myself to read The Holland Sentinel (my hometown paper) online. It’s just has no character. As a journalism major I’ve come to respect well put together papers. Though a web presence is undeniably important, I personally believe that tradition should be respected as well.

So I urge you guys to not give up on tradition. Continue reading all the real newspapers you can get your hands on and help pull the struggling newspaper business out of the hole.

Scary Facebook security warning

As of an hour ago I had a story almost ready to go for today, and then I got this strange e-mail that changed the topic of what I was going to cover today. The contents of the e-mail are posted below:

Facebook Password Security Alert
From: Facebook (password+mgayqqqn@facebookmail.com)
Sent: Tue 1/15/08 1:58 PM
Reply-to: Facebook (password+mgayqqqn@facebookmail.com)
To: Cody Eding (e-mail omitted)

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Hey Cody,

We have reset your Facebook account password for security reasons. You will need to use the link provided in this email to create a new, secure password for your account. In the future, please make sure that when you log in to Facebook, you always log in from a legitimate Facebook page with the facebook.com domain. To reset your password, follow the link below:

https://login.facebook.com/reset.php?... (link omitted for security reasons)

(If clicking on the link doesn't work, try copying and pasting it into your browser.)

Please contact info@facebook.com with any questions.

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

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At first I figured it was a hoax. So I went to Facebook and tried to log in. No dice, my password was incorrect. So I looked at the e-mail closer and saw that the link does indeed point to a secure site. However, I still thought the facebookmail.com domain was fishy.

Instead of resetting the password through the e-mail I received, I went to Facebook’s home page and reset it from there. Low and behold the reset message came from facebookmail.com as well. I reset my password and now I can log back in. Weird.

First of all, I never realized that all Facebook e-mails came from facebookmail.com. So if you do get this e-mail it appears to be legit. Why they sent it to me is unknown. I will be sending them an e-mail to find out.

My guess is that they think somebody hacked my account and is spamming the system. Why? Because today is my birthday (#19… whoo) and I’ve gotten 40 wall posts in the last 15 hours, which is much more than my usual rate. In addition, I bet I’ve written 40 or so posts back. So I guess the system has a reason to think that a spammer might have taken hold of my account. Oh well, it’s fixed now, but it definitely scared the hell out of me (i.e. virus lockdown mode with all anti-virus and anti-spyware on deck).

I will post the results of my e-mail to Facebook when I receive an answer.

Patriots have clear path to Super Bowl victory (and perfect season)

This weekend’s playoff games couldn’t have gone better for the New England Patriots.

Though the Pats took a while to warm up against the Jaguars, they did end up winning in fairly convincing fashion. But it was the outcomes of the other games that should make the Patriots fan extremely happy.

First in the NFC, the championship game will feature the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers. Though both teams are good neither team can hang with the Patriots. And you can hold me to it. In fact, if either team does defeat the Patriots (of course, assuming the Pats make the big game) you can publicly humiliate me in the comments of one of my posts. Brett Favre may be good, but Tom Brady is better (along with the rest of his team).

The Pats will face the San Diego Chargers in the AFC Championship game. Normally I would call this a good matchup for the Chargers. However, they are too nicked up to offer much resistance to the Patriot war machine. Philip Rivers, Antonio Gates, and LaDainian Tomlinson are not 100% healthy and to have a chance the Bolts would need these three guys to be spectacular. Plus, the Pats blew out the Chargers 38-14 in week two.

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that the Patriots are going to do it. I like them, but I personally would rather see the Chargers win it all. LT is a great player and is a joy to watch. However, as long as the Lions’ division rivals (Packers) lose, I will be happy.