That Would Be "Mr. Idiot" To You...

The Minuteman gets results!  While the rest of you have been off disarming Iran and sorting out the Presidential field I have been picking nits and taking names!

In my previous post I pointed out that David Niewert has a bit of a problem keeping track of time (he thought a Daily Princetonian story that broke on Monday came out the previous Friday) but offered this tepid defense of his slack research effort:

On the other hand, when I go to the Daily Princetonian today, the site still says it is Friday, Dec 14.  My guess is that they are updating stories but not being hyper-diligent about updating their timestamps.

That prompted this comment by a Barry Caro:

As an opinion writer for the Princetonian, just an update about how our date stamps work. Our last print issue prior to winter break came out last Friday. Therefore, our webpage lists the date as that Friday. However, the individual web-only updates to the story get their own timestamps. for instance, the story fo the asault only made it into the paper on Saturday, so it is listed as "web update dec. 15". Hope that helps clear up the issue of timing, because even a cursory glance at our main page would show that the articles revealing this to be a hoax weren't published until the 17th and 18th, and only an idiot would conclude otherwise.

Hmm.  I am not well placed to argue against the notion that Mr. Niewert is an idiot, but I had not been able to figure out the timestamps either, so honor calls!  And not just honor, but my optometrist - the Daily Princetonian website really does now have the dates as bright as day above the headlines, so how did I miss it?

Let me answer a question with a question - how did the Google webcrawlers miss those datestamps, too?  I checked the Google cache and there was the old familiar page I had been staring at in puzzlement earlier on Tuesday - before and after screenshots below.

Before:

After:

That is reassuring - in the "after" I now see

WEB UPDATE - DEC. 17
Nava '09 admits to fabricating assault, threat e-mails

where before the "WEB UPDATE - DEC. 17" was missing.

I hope Mr. Caro is enjoying his break, and I assume that some other alert editor at the DP made the changes without his knowledge.  Nice to know they noticed and cared.  Nicer to know I am neither blind nor an idiot.

Now, on the off chance that I can address the underlying story, here is a round-up of reaction from the Right Coast.  And Moe Lane is laughing as hard as I am.

Comments

[Yoews]

Who's deleting posts? It's probably not Tom, but he turned the blog over to one of the commentors.

All's I said was the real answers to the last two days. Why be afraid of an opinion truth? Tom, we need to check things..........

[Topsecretk9]

When I read the origninal post, the hoax played on Jim Henley (/sarcasm off) came to mind, so that was funny to see "Moe Lane" made the connection.

I'm still laughing that Niewert and T-rex think this whole hate crime hoax thing, predominantly by "effete" leftists, is a new phenomenon.

[Jason McClain]

While I do not support calling someone an idiot--it distracts from the substantive issues and gives the idiot a valid point as calling them an idiot is ad hominen attack--the web update time stamp is also evident in your "before" screen shot. Just not as the first story in the column. In the second story listed is says "web update Dec 15th" in your "before" screencap. So the technology widget they speak of is in play on both screen shots.

Although, I am both an idiot and need a new prescription from the optometrist, so view my observations with a filter of skewness.

[Topsecretk9]

While I do not support calling someone an idiot--it distracts from the substantive issues and gives the idiot a valid point as calling them an idiot is ad hominen attack

OK, they're just dumb. That work?

[Topsecretk9]

HAH - Blackwater killed our obnoxious dog befre Iraqi's who hat dogs had it for dinner

Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said the dog had attacked one of Blackwater’s bomb-sniffer dogs while a security team was sweeping the compound for explosives.

“The K-9 handler made several unsuccessful attempts to get the dog to retreat, including placing himself between the dogs. When those efforts failed, the K-9 handler unfortunately was forced to use a pistol to protect the company’s K-9 and himself,” she said in an e-mail to Reuters…

What kinda pussies work for the NYT's exactly, that they would make a story out of this? The kind that never leaves the pussified perch of the vodka zone, it seems.

[Evan Cowart]

If it bleeds it leads, guess they are a bit desperate for a bit of blood and guts to write about, had to settle for the dog.

Evan

[Evan Cowart]

If it bleeds it leads, guess they are a bit desperate for a bit of blood and guts to write about, had to settle for the dog.

Evan

[Bobbo]

Google didn't miss the timestamps. It's pretty obvious that news that day is marked with the hour and then changed to the day when it's no longer breaking news. Probably not even en editor, but software that did it.

[kim]

There is an interesting assymetry to the political hate, which explains that it is always leftists crying wolf. We see it on the net.
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[kim]

Oh, missed a step; it's projection.
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[Jane]

Putin is Time mag's man of the year.

What a bunch of fools.

[centralcal]

"What a bunch of fools."

Well, yeah! Published by fools. Written by fools.

"We are our choices, made and not made. Our choices define us." Certainly exemplified in the choice Time has made.

[cathyf]

If it bleeds it leads, guess they are a bit desperate for a bit of blood and guts to write about, had to settle for the dog.

Well, to be fair, it's kinda like the canonical "man bites dog" story, right?