] It's sad to say, but I've become addicted to blogs. And I
] guess that if I'm going to become addicted to anything in
] college, a blog - no matter what you think it sounds like
] - is one of the best things to become addicted to. So
] what is it, you ask?
]
] Look up the term in most English dictionaries, and you
] won't even be able to find it. In fact, my spell check
] doesn't even recognize the word.
]
] Turn to the Internet, however, and you'll find an
] abundance of blogs. The website marketingterms.com's
] definition of blog is "a frequent, chronological
] publication of personal thoughts and Web links." It
] further says that it "is often a mixture of what is
] happening in a person's life and what is happening on the
] Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there
] are as many unique types of blogs as there are people."
] In simpler terms, it is a web log.
]
] My blog of choice is LiveJournal. On that host, I have
] found many interesting people. But the catch is, I don't
] really have to know them. I can peruse through days and
] days of people's inner thoughts and daily happenings with
] just the click of a mouse.

Online journals give people chances to vent feelings, catch up with friends

] Japanese electronics giant Sony has taken an
] extraordinary step to cash in on the war in Iraq by
] patenting the term "Shock and Awe" for a computer game.
]
] It is among a swarm of companies scrambling to
] commercially exploit the war in Iraq, which has killed
] more than 5,000 soldiers and civilians in the space of
] three weeks.
]
] MediaGuardian.co.uk has learned that Sony is set to
] launch a computer game called "Shock and Awe", having
] registered the defining phrase of the coalition's
] military campaign as a trademark in the US.

Sony leads charge to cash in on Iraq

] LONDON (Reuters) - Last week's daring midnight rescue of
] 19-year-old American soldier Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi
] hospital has become one of the few feel-good stories of
] the war for Western media outlets.
]
] For George Paine, a technology consultant-turned-amateur
] war correspondent, it was a headache. Before the dramatic
] rescue of the injured young woman, Paine wrote a short
] update for his Web site http://www.warblogging.com/
] mistakenly reporting that Lynch was among the soldiers
] presumed dead.
]
] Paine, part of a growing community of online diarists
] called "bloggers," awoke the next morning to irate
] e-mails from readers and fellow bloggers.
]
] "I was exhausted. I didn't make clear Jessica was only
] MIA," the New York-based war watcher said afterwards.
]
] In the annals of journalism, Paine's mistake had minimal
] impact. The responses led him to quickly correct the
] error and move on.

LiveWire: for Bloggers, War Is No Cakewalk

] Television messages recorded by Tony Blair and George
] Bush have been broadcast to the Iraqi people on Thursday.
]
] Downing Street said the messages, recorded during their
] summit in Northern Ireland, were among five hours a day
] broadcast by the coalition's new "Towards Freedom" TV
] channel.
]
] The broadcast came as Mr Blair warned his cabinet that
] victory was not yet complete in Iraq, after scenes of
] joyful Iraqis celebrating in Baghdad.

Blair and Bush TV broadcast to Iraq

] An action-packed trailer for the long-awaited sequel to
] The Matrix has been released by Warner Bros.
]
] The minute-long series of clips from The Matrix Reloaded
] offers a glimpse of the action sci-fi feature, due for
] release on 23 May.
]
] It mirrors the first film's combination of acrobatic
] martial arts fight scenes, high-octane car chases and
] spectacular special effects.

Matrix sequel trailer released

] Rep. Lynn Woolsey wants peace to have a better chance.
]
] In ambitious legislation re-introduced in Congress this
] week, the Petaluma Democrat and 46 congressional
] co-authors have proposed the creation of a Department of
] Peace, a kind of counterbalance to the Department of
] Defense.
]
] The primary author of the bill to create the
] Cabinet-level department is Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio,
] who is also an announced candidate for president.
]
] With American tanks and airplanes pounding Iraq, the
] chances of a U.S. Department of Peace may seem more
] remote than ever. But Woolsey isn't worried about being
] drowned out by the din of war.

Woolsey backs Department of Peace bill

] The hotel is well known as the unofficial Baghdadi centre
] of international press. A large number of foreign
] correspondents covering the war stay there.
]
]
] Ménard, RSF's secretary-general, said that all
] independent evidence on the U.S. attacks against the
] hotel shows that the firing was deliberate.
]
]
] %u201DFilm shot by the French television station France
] 3, and descriptions by journalists, prove that the
] neighbourhood around the hotel was very quiet at the hour
] of the attack, and that the U.S. tank crew took their
] time, waiting for a couple of minutes and adjusting its
] gun before opening fire,%u201D Ménard said.
]
]
] %u201DThis evidence does not match the U.S. version of an
] attack in self-defence and we can only conclude that the
] U.S Army deliberately and without warning targeted
] journalists,%u201D Ménard added.
]
]
] Caroline Sines, a French television correspondent
] covering the war in Baghdad, confirmed Ménard's
] accusations against the U.S. troops.
]
]
] %u201DI was at the Palestine Hotel at the moment of the
] attack, around one pm, Baghdad time, and my crew filmed
] everything,%u201D Sines said. %u201DOur films shows that
] the U.S. tank took its time at targeting the 14th floor
] of the hotel, where many journalists are hosted, at a
] moment of complete calm,%u201D Sines said.
]
]
] Menard urged the %u201DU.S. forces to prove that the
] incident was not a deli

IRAQ: U.S. Govt Accused of War Crimes against Journalists

] Our vanguard entered Baghdad soon after nine o'clock this
] morning. The city is approached by an unmetalled road
] between palm groves and orange gardens.
]
] Crowds of Baghdadis came out to meet us: Persians, Krabe,
] Jew, Armenians, Chaldeans and Christians of diverse sects
] and races. They lined the streets, balconies and roofs,
] hurrahing and clapping their hands. Groups of
] schoolchildren danced in front of us, shouting and
] cheering, and the women of the city turned out in their
] holiday dresses.
]
] The people of the city have been robbed to supply the
] Turkish army for the last two years. The oppression was
] becoming unendurable, and during the last week it
] degenerated into brigandage. I am told that the mere
] mention of the British was punishable, and the people
] were afraid to talk freely about the war.

British welcome in Baghdad

] In Baghdad, an Al Jazeera reporter is fatally wounded at
] the TV outlet's office, and two cameramen die at
] Palestine Hotel.
]
] By John Daniszewski
]
] Times Staff Writer
]
]
] April 9, 2003
]
]
] BAGHDAD -- The slender illusion of safety for journalists
] in the Iraqi capital was shattered Tuesday as a reporter
] and two cameramen were killed -- all by American fire.
]
]
] There have been a range of fears for journalists here
] since the beginning of the war, from U.S. bombs to the
] wrath of hard-core Iraqi loyalists to the chaos that
] could erupt in the event of a power vacuum. But the
] Palestine Hotel, on the east bank of the Tigris River,
] had been seen by journalists as a sanctuary.
]
]
] And because of that, the erratic elevators and the
] absence of hot water and electricity in the rooms -- not
] to mention the occasional cockroach -- were endured as
] nuisances in covering the Iraqi side of the war. With its
] seedy demeanor, it was much like the old Commodore Hotel
] in Beirut, where journalists flocked in the 1970s and
] '80s because they believed they would be safe even in the
] face of civil war and Israeli attacks on the Lebanese
] capital.
]
]
] Journalists working in wartime often concoct rationales
] to convince themselves they'll be safe. They make rules
] such as not going out after dark and always wearing a
] flak jack

'Friendly Fire' Kills 3 Journalists

] Add to the Iraq war death toll three more
] journalists%u2014Taras Protsyuk, Jose Couso, and Tarek
] Ayoub%u2014killed yesterday by the U.S. military in
] downtown Baghdad. A tank round fired by U.S. forces slew
] Protsyuk and Couso as they observed the action from the
] 14th- and 15th-floor balconies of their rooms in the
] Palestine Hotel, where most of the foreign press corps is
] staying. And an American strike cut down Ayoub, an Al
] Jazeera reporter, as he prepared a live broadcast from
] the top of the network's Baghdad headquarters.
]
] The Committee for the Protection of Journalists
] immediately protested the killings as violations of the
] Geneva Conventions, specifically Article 79, which
] extends the protected status as civilians to "journalists
] engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of
] armed conflict. %u2026" The Palestine Hotel was
] well-known as a journalist domicile, CPJ wrote in its
] letter of protest, and Al Jazeera had informed the
] Pentagon of its Baghdad location prior to the war's
] beginning.

Johnny Dead Line - Laid bare, the true risks of covering war.