Popular Elsewhere
14:23 UK time, Tuesday, 20 September 2011
A look at the stories ranking highly on various news sites.
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A cautionary tale about anonymity on the web tops the New York Times most read list. But this one has a twist - everyone on an online forum full of abuse most likely know each other. That's because the forum on the Topix website is for a small rural town called Mountain Grove. New York Times describes typical forum entries as descriptions of neighbours as drug dealers, "homewreckers with herpes", and "preggo by her mommy's man". Topix used to delete negative comments but found that gossip gets more people visiting the site.
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Pensions aren't a big pull for readers normally. But mentioning an has unsurprisingly caught the attention of Guardian readers. The paper says Ilona Staller, better known as Cicciolina, has found herself at the centre of a row about Italy's former politicians' pensions. Cicciolina used to be an MP for Italy's Radical party between 1987 and 1992. Although she only served one term as an MP she gets a €39,000-a-year (£34,000) pension. Now, the paper says, there is criticism against politicians receiving such a large amount.
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Telegraph readers are also being lured to a story with the promise of porn. But, rather poetically, the story itself is actually about luring people onto sites which they think are porn sites. That's because the animal rights group - that's the new domain name for porn sites. But instead of showing explicit sexual scenes, they plan to campaign to porn seekers by showing scenes of animal cruelty.
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The world of has long been a subject for fiction. But a popular Washington Post article says automatic drones, which can work together without any human guidance at all, are already technologically possible. In case you can't picture them, the article tries to help: "imagine aerial 'Terminators,' minus beefcake and time travel". There are some stickling points though - fears of mistakes and creating a clinical approach to war. But the article even finds researcher, Ronald Arkin, who believes software can be created that would lead machines to return fire with proportionality and even recognise surrender.
