BritNews RoundUp will return next week. Instead, I bring you this Italian video. It was produced by RAI, Italy's public television station, on the occasion of Wednesday's launch of its new Citizen Report citizen journalism Web site. Since citizen journalism is what I studied during my boondoggle year in Oxford, they asked me to comment on the new project. Anyone out there speak Italian and can tell me what I said? The folks who interviewed me (via Skype, over my Web cam!) are young and full of energy. And if the pace of that video is any indication, full of double espressos, too. Ciao!
The blood was on the footpath, three red splotches evenly spaced across the asphalt. At first I thought it was juice, the contents of a sippee cup scattered on this popular suburban path by a toddler in a jogging stroller. But it was too red, a bright crimson. Then I noticed some to the right of path, down a bank and ending at Sligo Creek, red splotches every few feet in the leaves. My eyes traveled across the creek to the other side. There was blood there, too. It must be an animal, I thought--a fairly big one given how much blood there was, each splotch the size of my hand. There's a golf course across Sligo Creek Parkway and the deer are numerous. But what if it wasn't a deer? What if it was a person? Injured, shot, fallen off his bike, confused and stumbling through the woods? I
Today: Delivering the mail through the ages. These images from The Post's photo archives show various advances in mail-delivery technology. This photo, by the Harris & Ewing studio, is captioned: "Motorcycle postman (1912)." That looks like it's a Washington street, but which one? The date is missing from this photo but from the car in the background I peg it at late 1920s, early 1930s. According to a handwritten note on the back, it's a railroad mailcar in Chesapeake Beach, Md. Note the carving on the building: Seat Pleasant Bank. This International News Photo is from 1956. The caption: Arlington, Virginia...Under a new vehicle program, the Post Office Department is purchasing 1,000 scooters; 6,000 golf caddy-type carts and 2,000 more bicycles to speed mail carriers on their appointed rounds. Mailman Joseph Adams wheels an 85-pound load on one of the caddy-type carts designed to take the load off the carrier's
Of all the problems our Metro system has had, here's one we haven't experienced: X-rated moans and groans broadcast over the PA system. That's what happened recently at an Underground station in London. According to the Daily Mail, "Transport for London confirmed that a broadcast of 'sexual noises' was heard through the speakers. It said the sounds had nothing to do with any of its staff and came from outside Tube property." Said one commuter: "It was definitely a couple doing it there and then. He was grunting loudly and she sounded like she was having a great time. The driver must have heard it too, as the doors stayed open longer than usual." Officials think their loudspeaker system must have inadvertently picked up audio from a pornographic film someone was watching near the station. (Of course, this could happen on Metro but the PA is so awful, we'd never
The next time you're stuck in a backup on the Beltway--which will probably be this afternoon--think back to Aug. 13, 1964. That's when this photo of a blissfully traffic-free Beltway was taken: The photo was taken by a Post staffer named McNamee. The caption info on the back reads: Neil Moyer, 17, and Jimmie Hoffsinger, 17, pedal along the Capital beltway near a railroad overpass west of the Wash-Balt parkway. Official cars, construction workers and many bicycle riders are the only vehicles allowed on the road prior to its official opening. The Beltway was officially opened four days later. There was a traffic jam.
