The World in Transit

The teddy bear named Muhammad has probably had the last of his 15 minutes of fame, now that the British teacher jailed in Sudan for disrespecting Islam has been freed and sent home. The New York Times article on the subject gets straight to the point with this wrap-up article, getting the main facts in the lede. The article goes on to explain the reaction of the British prime minister to the decision and recap the story, before ultimately suggesting that the reasoning behind her release was a political one, given Sudan's current position with the West.

I hate news stories on the weather -- they just annoy me. Unless we are experiencing unprecedented conditions, I don't see the need to take up 20 minutes out of a 30 minute newscast with talk of the two inches of snow that are expected to fall in New England--as if that didn't happen every year. I am less belligerent, though, when I see news stories on weather in the paper. There, I have the choice of skipping them and usually do. Today, though, The Boston Globe provided me what I need to know before heading out with a brief article explaining the effects of the second snowfall of the season on traffic. It gets to the point by beginning with a summary of conditions, highlighting one fatal accident, and ends with the forecast for the rest of the afternoon from a meteorologist at the National Weather Service and expected traffic conditions.

And as everyone is in transit, The Washington Post offers the grim news that air travel is awful and only going to get worse. The article begins with a soft lede that everyone can identify with, describing a passenger's nightmarish experience trying to get to Washington after missing a connecting flight in Texas. It then turns to airline officials for the reasoning behind the crowded planes that eliminate the leeway for passengers experiencing delayed connections and often engender an uncomfortable flight. It ends by surveying passengers in flight and showing how they compensate with the less than ideal travel conditions.