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Dear Abby readers are still sending service men and women abroad letters of encouragement, more than 30 years after the advice columnist’s campaign began. These days, though, they’re doing it via the internet. More than 500,000 email greetings have been sent to the armed forces through OperationDearAbby.net over the past few weeks. That brings the total number of online messages sent through the service to 2 million since its December 2001 launch. The practice has its roots in the Vietnam War, when then-Dear Abby writer Pauline Phillips encouraged readers to send notes of encouragement to young troops abroad in 1967. Last year Jeanne Phillips, Pauline’s daughter and the new Dear Abby, began the web site in the wake of the anthrax scare, which spooked military officials into canceling the old letter-writing campaign.
Sina.com becomes Chinese search site sponsor
Considering that every few months the government seems to find a reason to block AltaVista or Google, Chinese citizens are in need of a federally acceptable search engine. Sina.com has decided to help the cause. The company has joined a group of 200 internet portals that currently reach just 10 percent of the Chinese audience in a government-okayed search engine alliance. The addition of Sina could expand user numbers to 60 percent of Chinese residents, putting it in a much better position to compete with Google and the like. Demand for such a product has risen in the wake of government censorship of foreign sites. The search alliance denied allegations of a government plot to replace the disliked Google. The group is aiming for a 20 percent domestic market share by this fall, a year after launch.
MSNBC.com remains top news site for March
MSNBC.com was the top-ranked news site during March, according to Nielsen//NetRatings data released this week. It was the fifth straight month that the site has held the ranking. The site recorded more than 24.3 million visitors last month, with many of them using MSNBC.com’s streaming video. The site set a record for video streams, serving 87 million of them from March 19 to April 8, more than after Sept. 11 or the 2002 Olympic figure skating scandal. MSNBC.com served an average 4.1 million streams per day, with a high of 10 million on March 21. The site’s at-work audience ballooned by 38 percent during the first week of the war to 8.3 million.
Anger and outrage over Sony game's title
Call it inappropriate timing. Video game giant Sony had planned to release a new computer game titled “Shock and Awe,” named after the U.S. military campaign’s defining description. The Japanese company went so far as to attempt to register the phrase as a U.S. trademark on March 21, days after it was first uttered to describe the war. But Sony was barraged by complaints characterizing the attempt at commercial gain an insult to the 5,000 soldiers and Iraqi citizens who have died. Sony reneged on its plans Tuesday and promised to exercise better taste in the future. The game was to be used for computer, video and broadband games for PlayStation2.
Pay a few bucks for Paul McCartney cooties
First there was the piece of French toast partially eaten by a member of ‘N Sync. Then came the wad of gum allegedly chewed by baseball player Luis Gonzalez. The latest weird and wacky bit of celebrity memorabilia to show up on eBay is a Beatle bug. A man who came in contact with Paul McCartney when the singer had the flu is auctioning off McCartney flu germs on the British eBay site. Ian Mears said he, too, got sick after a meeting with Paul and so they must share the same bug. According to the auction, Mears will cough into a bag and send it along to the highest-bidding fan who wants some second-hand McCartney germs. So far, bids have only hit 1.2 pounds ($2). Mucus is also available upon request.
April 17, 2003© 2003 Media Life
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