Besides I passed biology with the coureagous help of Wikipedia contributors.

Isn't it true what they tell the new journalists of today? Crowdsourcing? Let's take a look:

"Are Wikipedia articles better sources of information than credible news sources? No, but they’re not worse, either. Wikipedia articles are an aggregation of news information sources to build a comprehensive picture. And having that information available along with news results provides the user with a different option for finding the information he or she is seeking."

via Wikipedia Articles Appear in Google News Results.

Agreed. Info coming from the masses is far better than that coming from any individual journalist.

According to Compete in the last month alone, traffic to Facebook.com grew 8 percent, reaching 82.9 million unique visitors. As TechCrunch points out, it's almost beside the point to compare that to the other quote-unquote social networking sites like Twitter and MySpace; at this point, we may as well hold Facebook up against the Big Three: Google, Yahoo, and MSN.

Amazingly, it's actually become a true challenger. Not only has Facebook usurped MSN in uniques, at the rate its traffic is climbing, it's poised to probably tie or overtake Google by the end of the year.

One of the other interesting take-aways: Facebook Connect sites accounting for 65 million of those uniques -- more than two thirds. In the coming months, I'd be shocked if just about every website (including this one) didn't incorporate some kind of Connect functionality.

via TechCrunch

"Media workers are the heaviest drinking professionals in England, consuming the equivalent of more than four bottles of wine or more than 19 pints of beer a week, according to government research."

via Media has heaviest drinkers, poll finds | Media | The Guardian.

Can't refute that. But what about the U.S. stats?

More on that in the weeks to come. In the mean time, we're still polishing up the site, and one bit of spit shine that would really help, I think, is a catchy nickname. I was kicking around things like "a hyperlocal state of mind," but, of course, nobody will have any idea what the hell that means. "Jonsing for Jersey" just sounds criminal. And "There is no 'i' in journalsm" is pretty funny -- but also stolen from a T-shirt.

So, dear readers, can you help us out? We need something funny, clever, and original. The only requirements: It should refence local journalism or citizen journalism or small-town awesomeness in some way or another.

To get the juices flowing, I saw this great article over on 10,000 Words, which mentioned some outstanding, yet lesser known, newspaper slogans:

You've probably heard the New York Times' famous slogan "All the News That's Fit to Print." But how about the Aspen Daily News' motto "If You Don't Want It Printed, Don't Let It Happen" or the Mason Valley News of Yerington, Nevada's proclamation "The Only Newspaper in the World That Gives a Damn About Yerington."

via 9 Things You Didn't Know About Newspapers

PHILADELPHIA - Convicted former news anchor Larry Mendte has filed a defamation suit against The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News and several of their columnists.

Mendte says he was defamed in coverage of what he calls a "romantic" relationship with co-anchor Alycia Lane.

The 52-year-old Mendte has recently served six months house arrest for illegally hacking into Lane's e-mails. He pleaded guilty in federal court last year.

The pair worked together at KYW-TV from about 2004 to 2007.

Lane is also off the air after a scuffle with New York police. She is suing the station for wrongful termination.

Lane, through a lawyer, denies any romantic relationship.

In other news, Mendte has 656 friends (and counting) on Facebook.

MediaShift takes a look at iffy fair use rules and the wobbly future of news copyright on the Web through the epic toils of AP's legal staff.

I've always tried to follow the fair-use-doesn't-exist rule. The Copyright Act stipulations take too long to translate and are a little behind the times. Example:

"The news aggregators have countered with the argument that making available an excerpt of a news story, accompanied by a link to the original source, is a "fair use" under copyright law. This is also the argument made in defense of bloggers that excerpt news stories, either with or without adding additional commentary."

via MediaShift . A Brief History of AP's Battles with News Aggregators | PBS.

Uh oh. Is this a news story? Don't sue me, MediaShift!

Circulation: Penguins?

Check out this list of nine things you probably didn't know about the news. My favorite:

"You've probably heard the New York Times' famous slogan "All the News That's Fit to Print." But how about the Aspen Daily News' motto "If You Don't Want It Printed, Don't Let It Happen" or the Mason Valley News of Yerington, Nevada's proclamation "The Only Newspaper in the World That Gives a Damn About Yerington."

via 9 Things You Didn't Know About Newspapers :: 10,000 Words :: multimedia, online journalism news and reviews.

"The Bulletin retained its predecessor’s famous slogan, 'In Philadelphia Nearly Everybody Reads the Bulletin'..."

via RIP Philadelphia Bulletin | Newspaper Death Watch.

Check out the Bulletin's website here. Will they make something of it? Doesn't look promising...

[Editor's note: Updated 1:15 p.m.]

Oooooh. Threaded comments.

Check out this all-you-could-ever-want-to-know-and-probably-more guide to this sexy social media item:

"This in-depth guide provides an overview of Google Wave, discusses the terminology associated with it, details information on Google Wave applications, (i.e. the Twitter Wave app Twave), and goes over ways to keep yourself informed. We know you’re excited about Google Wave, so here’s what we think you should know..."

via Google Wave: A Complete Guide.

Super sexy.