T&G site architecture for nerds
I just noticed something interesting about the design/function of the Telegram and Gazette website. On the top of each comment page for a story they have a ‘bread crumb’ link designed to take you back to the story that particular comment page is a child of. It looks like this:
What’s interesting is that link is actually a script that tells your browser to go back one page in its history. So if I link to a comment page on the T&G directly and you then click that link, instead of going to the T&G story it relates to, as you would expect, it takes you back here to RadioBall. Kinda nice bug feature for a little site like mine. I enjoy pointing out how ridiculous the T&G commenters are but don’t necessarily like loosing the traffic.
Try it here:
link to a T&G comment page
For what it’s worth [...]
Original post by Brendan
Local Press remains silent on Glodis firings
Two days ago Zoback over at WoMag wrote up preliminary details of a mass firing in the sherrifs department where a full 25 employes lost their jobs. The interesting part was the ultra douchey thank you note from the New England Police Benevolent Association, to Glodis for not including any union members in the cut. Apparently part of a deal reached with the dept earlier this month. Now a full two news days have gone by with not a word from the T&G.
Obviously, they’re busy with important stuff like Turkey News and Christmas Tree News. But you would think with all the attention given to local politicians personal lives as of late, maybe a few lines could be donated to Sheriff Glodis’ professional life. I can’t be the only one waiting to hear this story.
link
Original post by Brendan
How many nails does it take to shut the T&G coffin?
Amazing numbers coming from the NYT today with advertising revenue slipping another 16.2 percent. But as seems to be the case with every financial release from the Times, it’s the New England media group, which includes the Telegram, that’s sucking hardest.
The company’s flagship The New York Times paper had 15.3 percent lower ad revenue. At its New England media group, which includes The Boston Globe, July ad revenue dropped 24.5 percent.
link
Original post by Brendan
77.6%
So a good friend who happens to catch all the things I miss in the daily T&G just shot me this nugget from yesterdays NYT wire.
White minority is likely by 2042
Census projections see speedup in switch to new proportions
Ethnic and racial minorities will comprise a majority of the nation’s population in a little more than a generation, according to new Census Bureau projections, a transformation that is occurring faster than was anticipated just a few years ago.
The census calculates that by 2042, Americans who identify themselves as Hispanic, black, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander will together outnumber non-Hispanic whites. Four years ago, officials had projected the shift would come in 2050.
The story itself is forgettable, scaring the ‘native’ population has been a pastime in the US since a few hundred thousand of my closest relatives piled onto a boat off the coast of Ireland and [...]
Original post by Brendan
A barroom full of nonsense
Here are just a few of the completely nonsensical arguments laid out in todays Telegram and Gazette by Worcester Police Chief Gary Gemme regarding the cities new and ‘improved’ police detail policy for drinking establishments.
A bar or club may pay a couple of hundred dollars for one police officer to work a detail for four hours, but the city can face hundreds of thousands of dollars in liability if the officer has to use force to subdue an unruly patron and/or is injured while doing so, the chief said yesterday. The new policy should address that issue as well, he said.
So the obvious and immediate result of this policy will be either rebate checks to city taxpayers or increased funding to other city services? I can’t wait to see the savings during next years budget hearings.
“Think about it from this perspective; an officer is hired for $200 and the [...]
Original post by Brendan
Fridays news today
It’s Monday, but I’m just noticing a story that ran in the Telegram on Friday. My own fault to be sure, I’m always playing catch up on local business news. I’m confused though, how this story didn’t get front page, above the fold placement? Check this headline:
Condos’ developer wants to liquidate
Foreclosure hits University Park
Many of us who spend too much time online have been watching this drama unfold via the University Park Lofts blog. It would stand to reason if the developer of a 37 unit condominium project, 25 of which were foreclosed on, files for Chapter 7 it would be more worthy of front page real estate than this follow up piece on arson in Northboro.
Who is the Telegram writing for again?
Original post by Brendan
A blunderbuss for Breault and Babs
Recently I’ve been critical of the kid gloves writers the T&G have used to handle William Breault, Barbara Haller and the (nonexistent) Main South Alliance for Public Safety, hopefully todays commentary by Robert Nemeth is a sign those gloves are coming off.
The latest display of astonishing callousness in the face of a public health emergency came from City Councilor Barbara Haller and William Breault, a self-appointed community activist who uses demagoguery and intimidation to get his way. Under the pretext of protecting public safety, they have led opposition to measures designed to help people endangered by drug addiction, mental illness, homelessness and related problems, causing considerable harm over the years. But this time they went too far.
Excellent.
link
Original post by Brendan
Traffic cameras are about money, not safety. Fact.
Today, Clive McFarlane jumped into the T&G private/public PR partnership with the city of Worcester and boy, does he sound silly. Clive, here’s the thing, when the keystone to your premise is a quote from some guy, which just happens to be a logical fallacy your argument starts to look shaky.
As Blackstone Police Chief Ross A. Atstupenas said, “If people are abiding by the law, then you don’t have to worry about it.”
See Clive, the problem with that line of reasoning is People like Ross are in a position to constantly be changing the definition of what is and is not legal. Clearly Blackstone Police Chief Ross Atstupenas is not concerned with the rule of law, he himself has been found in violation of Massachusetts ethics code in his role as Blackstone Chief. This is not the guy we want deciding what we should be worried [...]
Original post by Brendan