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Al's Morning Meeting

Home > Al's Morning Meeting
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Al Tompkins
Story ideas that you can localize and enterprise. Posted by 7:30 a.m. Mon-Fri.
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A dozen sites
I'm diggin'


*1. For anyone looking for a year-end project, consider this one from the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y. The paper put a face on every person murdered in Rochester for the year. Stunning and simple use of multimedia.

*2. The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times produced a fascinating story that sheds light on how easy it was to defraud the banking system during the housing boom.

*3. Watch a simple but telling video essay about how immersed children can get while playing video games.

*4. The Rural Blog discusses what failing auto companies mean to rural communities.

5. Salon investigates "Friendly Fire" incident that leads to document shredding.

6. Seven key questions about a car company bailout.

7. The Flip Cam has gone HD with a customizable cover.

8. A fun video to help you with digital conversion.

*9. In a weird way, I dig this photo essay on abandoned Christmas trees.

10. Planet Money is a really good blog about money and finance.

11. You thought sub-prime lenders were gone? No way! They are making FHA loans.

12. You thought sub-prime lenders were gone? No way! They are making FHA loans.

All of my Diggin' sites are saved on Poynter's del.icio.us page.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.


Tsunami Warning Issued for Japan

In a story posted by CNN.com just after 7 a.m. today, the Associated Press reports from Tokyo:

Japan's meteorological agency has issued a tsunami warning and told Pacific coast residents to flee to higher ground after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 8.1 hit near islands north of the country.

A tsunami about 2 meters (6.5 feet) tall or higher could hit the Pacific coast of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido and main island of Honshu after 9:10 p.m. (1210 GMT), the agency said.

An official from the town of Shibetsu on Hokkaido, Kiyoshi Takimoto, told public broadcater NHK that about 4,000 of the town's 6,100 residents lived along the coast and had been told to flee to higher ground.

Here are some basics on tsunamis:

What is a tsunami and How Does it Happen?

How do Scientists Forecast a Tsunami?

A site for kids from FEMA 

Resources from the University of Washington:

Tsunamis in History

Additional resources:

(Asia/Japan) ADRC: Asian Disaster Reduction Center
(Japan) Earthquake Research Institute
(Japan) Institute Studying Disasters
(Japan) National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED)
(Asia/Thailand) Asian Disaster
Earth's Crust
Earthquakes
Latest Earthquake Info
Tsunami and Earthquake Links
Pacific Disaster Center
NGDC: Tsunami Data
USC Tsunami Research
Tsunami Information Resource
Tsunami Forecast Offices
Pacific Tsunami Museum
(UK) Tsunami Risks Project
USGS: Tsunamis & Earthquakes

Posted by Al Tompkins 7:28 AM
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