Google news in ATOM and RSS

August 9, 2005

Dave Winer takes a look at Google News support for Atom and RSS feeds of their categories and reaches a different conclusion than I do. I've greedily subscribed to the Google News feeds and dropped several others. The problem is that with popular stories where the BBC, New York Times, Washington Post and everybody else covers the same story it ends up in my aggregator many times.

There are places where I'd like to see the individual feeds from different sources and compare them. But as a part of my stable of information consumption having Google concatenate several stories about a topic into a single post is a huge help. This is not to say I'll give up reading the feeds from some of these other great publications all together. Rather, in my scan of the up-to-the-minute happenings around the world and what matters most in my corner of it the Google News Feeds are a huge help. More editors!

Cowboy faker

August 4, 2005

The amazing tales of Richard Fipps continue to unfold. In the coming week we'll have a lot more to say about the so-called cowboy who faked a charitable ride this summer and took advantage of several people's good will in the process.

Please feel free to comment if you have information about Fipps or Richard Handy. If you would prefer your comment not be posted indicate that in the body of the comment and if you wouldn't mind talking to a member of the team investigating these tales and documenting the truth.

One fraud or two?

August 3, 2005

That Richard Fipps made up the tale of his ride from Mexico to Canada earlier this year has been well established. Along with neighbor's accounts of Fipps at his Las Vegas home during the supposed trip the Las Vegas Sun reported last week that the owner of the stable where Fipps' horses are stabled stated they hadn't been gone for more than a long weekend during the ride.

Three years ago Fipps also claimed to have made an epic trip. Much of the documentation of that trip has disappeared from the web but The Cullman Times has an article from the following summer with extensive quotes from Fipps.

When he reached Colorado, Fipps had decided to rest a couple of days and enter a rodeo. He ended up winning the rodeo and staying for a week.

He helped a local rancher push cattle. He helped a patrol officer herd escaped cattle off a road.

When he neared Grand Junction, Colo., Fipps experienced the only scary part of the trip.

"I had packed for four days and told my rig to go on ahead of me, I'd meet it in Grand Junction," he said, planning to ride across some mountains.

Riding for the Children trail diary

August 2, 2005

This is the compiled trail diary from July 16, 2002 to July 26, 2002 for Riding for the Children as published on www.ridingforthechildren.com

Trail Diary - July 26, 2002 - Vernal, Utah - The Ride Ends!

Riding for the Children's Richard Fipps and other riders rode into Vernal, Utah to complete his 1,900 mile ride to bring awareness to the problem of hungry children in America, today, about noon amidst a flurry of reporters, cameras and cheering well-wishers.

Every restaurant offered food, there were endless celebrations planned, radio interviews and from Richard, relief that the ride was finally through and the satisfaction that he had filled food banks in many, many towns across the country and that there were children who were being fed a hot meal.

He wishes to thank everyone who contributed in any way to making this ride a huge success and a special thanks to all his sponsors.

He is already talking about making another ride so if you regretted not saddling up and riding with him you will need to keep checking with us as we plan a date and a route.

Trail Diary - July 25, 2002 - Jenson, Utah

Raised lots of food in Rangely yesterday and donated back to the Rangely Food Pantry. Rode into Jenson, Utah today, crossing the Utah line. Crossed the Green River (very dry and just a stream due to the drought) and followed it for a ways. Rode to the welcome center at Jenson and stopped there for cold drinks. Read more about Riding for the Children trail diary

Richard Fipps long ride?

August 1, 2005

The Las Vegas Sun has an article from July 27th about the thousands of dollars local businesses put into sponsoring Richard Fipps "trip". The supposed ride from Mexico to Canada appears it may not have happened. According to the Sun article the owner of the ranch where Fipps kept his horses during that time reports he said other riders made the trip. That, however, conflicts with the account posted on his weblog via cell phone calls to the hosting provider.

Misjudgments Led to Latest Shuttle Woes

July 30, 2005

The New York Times has an article on NASA's "normalization of deviance". For more than twenty years NASA has accepted the failure of the safety features of the Space Shuttle. It's akin to driving a car with seat belts that have been cut in two for twenty years. Having not had an accident one lulls oneself into the belief it's not a safety problem. What the New York Times misses, though, is that this is the same problem that caused the Challenger incident two decades ago.

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