HuffPost Detroit

[Wesley Mouch]

Simone, I'd love to, but in the meantime, I'd like to know if Detroit HuffPo will recognize the HuffPo writers who have joined the National Writers Guild. You can post it here, if union busting is afoot, you'll make many people on this board very happy [[as well as a few very unhappy).

And I'll just judge them on their writing. Welcome to Detroit -- there're a lot of great stories and people that have been viewed one-dimensionally for too long.

[JBMcB]

Some reading on this subject might be beneficial to you, instead of just deciding that you know the unknown -- the effects of thousands of untested chemicals. That, to me, belies ignorance.

You're missing the point. Citric acid is a chemical. It's found in all citrus fruit. Show me the studies proving that it's safe to consume citric acid. Should we ban consumption of lemons until it's proven that citric acid is safe?

And plenty have been studied and show a clear link to health problems. Just for kicks open your eyes and see what the studies say.

It's not enough to read a study. You have to understand it's context, target, data set, and it's relevance to the existing body of medical knowledge. You need analysis.

An example is the carbonation in pop. When transported on its own, the truck carrying the carbonation is required to display a hazardous material sign.

Are you serious? The hazardous material sign is because it's carrying pressurized gas. Containers that hold pressurized gas tend to explode if ruptured. Not a big deal if it's 12 ounces of pop in a can. It is a big deal if a 9,000 gallon tanker truck full of the stuff ruptures on the freeway next to your car.

And the carbonation in pop is now being linked to esophagus cancer.

You're dredging up that old canard? That was a population-based study *LOOKING* for *POSSIBLE* correlations for esophageal cancer. It was debunked years ago.

http://www.rxpgnews.com/cancer/esoph...cle_3094.shtml

[Downtown Lady]

You're missing the point. Citric acid is a chemical. It's found in all citrus fruit. Show me the studies proving that it's safe to consume citric acid. Should we ban consumption of lemons until it's proven that citric acid is safe?

I'm not missing the point -- you're just being ridiculous. I didn't think that I had to clarify that I wasn't talking about every single chemical on the planet. I thought you might be astute enough to infer that.

It's not enough to read a study. You have to understand it's context, target, data set, and it's relevance to the existing body of medical knowledge. You need analysis.

OK, you assume that these are things that I am not capable of?

You're dredging up that old canard? That was a population-based study *LOOKING* for *POSSIBLE* correlations for esophageal cancer. It was debunked years ago.

http://www.rxpgnews.com/cancer/esoph...cle_3094.shtml

You interpret the information how you choose, and I'll interpret the information how I choose.

Given the political climate in the United States, it’s perhaps not surprising that the study linking soft drinks and esophageal cancer came from abroad. In May 2004 researchers from India’s Tata Memorial Hospital, though, felt assured enough of their data to present a paper at the New Orleans conference. There, Dr. Mohandes Mallath pointed to a “highly significant correlation” between increases in esophageal cancer in white American males and the consumption of soft drinks.

Members of the research team reviewed U.S. Department of Agriculture data and found that while in 1946 Americans drank around 11 gallons of soda a year, by 2000 the rate had quadrupled to 49 gallons. The Indian team connected the dots between soft drink consumption trends and the huge rise in esophageal cancer in the United States over the past 25 years.

The vice president of scientific and technical affairs for the American Beverage Association, Dr. Richard Adamson, was on the forefront of criticism. Adamson said the study was highly flawed and speculative because it did not even determine whether the individuals who had the cancers were among the population that increased its soft drink consumption.

Dr. Mallath, however, countered that while the correlation could be coincidental, his team found similar statistics in a global comparison, and that esophageal cancers in general are rising in countries where people consume on the average of more than 20 gallons of carbonated drinks each year. Mallath also noted that because carbonation can distend the top part of the stomach it can be a predisposing condition for gastroesophageal reflux disease [[GERD), a problem that can lead to cancer of the esophagus.

http://www.reflux1.com/news/mainstory.cfm/62

As to the question of whether they're safe or not, I believe that history will show that they were not. I'll just drink water instead.

So check this out -- you live however you want and I will live however I want.

[p1acebo]

You have just dismissed the entire internet as an information-gathering source. Do you think I'm googling and pulling my info from TMZ? I don't know if you're aware yet but medical journals and scientific studies are also found through Google. [Sidenote: your condescension is incredible.]

Hehe, I thought you said you were done with this debate? We can just agree to disagree, but just to let you know you can't access most relevant medical articles unless you have a paid subscription to websites like Jstor or PubMed [[Or be enrolled in a university they usually allow you access, other wise you usually can only view the abstract of the article). So ya, I am dismissing the first thing that pops up when you do a Google search... and that is NOT being condescending I am just letting you know where I am coming from.

[Homer]

Please stop the madness

[oldredfordette]

I wrote to the union that represents Huffington Post writers and bloggers and they are adamant that the boycott be maintained. I am truly sorry, but a picket line is a picket line [[even if you can't see it, it's there).

[lilpup]

Is there any pre-screening of what HuffPost uses other than just grabbing what they think people will read? I'm seeing a level of retweeting and references to the Michigan Messenger that is misrepresentative of the role that source plays in the area. I don't believe many here would chose that to be an accurate representation of us for the national level.

[Hypestyles]

..just finding out about this.. definitely interested in contributing.. hopefully i'm not too late..

[detroittrader]

Just a heads up for those interested, the new Huffington Post Detroit page went up today. The previous thread was hijacked for 2 pages by an argument about chemicals or something, so I figured I would start a new one. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/detroit/

[antongast]

So, how 'bout them chemicals?

[Wesley Mouch]

Welcome Huffpost to Detroit. Glad to have you paying attention to a great city.

[begingri]

Arianna Huffington

Today marks the rollout of our latest local section: HuffPost Detroit, fresh off the assembly line.

We motor into the Motor City with a clear editorial mission: to provide an alternative to the knee-jerk narrative the national media love to tell about Detroit. We've seen it time and time again: a reporter helicopters in and scours the city for tales of grit and decay that reinforce the Detroit of popular imagination -- or the occasional oases of progress that defy it -- and then, just as quickly, heads out of town, conventional wisdom re-confirmed. Indeed, the passing, drive-by glance at Detroit has become a mainstream media subgenre. Not much has changed since 2009, when HuffPost's Jason Linkins called Detroit the "epicenter for a nation of journalists-turned-poverty-tourists."

HuffPost Detroit will cover both sides of the city's split-screen -- for Detroit, beyond the oversimplified myth of its past, and beyond the unimaginative visions of its future, is in fact a city of incredible contrasts.

On one side is a city for which the American dream seems despairingly out of reach. Michigan's unemployment rate was 11.1 percent last month -- two points higher than the national jobless rate -- and the situation is even grimmer for the Detroit metro area. Unemployment among African American men in Detroit is approaching 50 percent. Beyond jobs, Detroit struggles with decaying infrastructure, middle-class flight, drained municipal resources, political stalemates, and failing schools.

On the other side of the split screen is the recent influx of young people into Detroit. According to 2010 Census figures, downtown Detroit has seen a 59 percent increase in residents under the age of 35 with college degrees. Projects like "15X15" are looking to bring in more young people, with the goal of drawing 15,000 new residents to the Midtown area by 2015. And blogs like Margarita Barry's "I Am Young Detroit" are giving voice to this youthful surge, highlighting the city's young entrepreneurs, leaders, and creative personalities while providing insights into the city's political and cultural landscape.

Continued at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ariann...b_1098666.html

[rjlj]

Thanks for keeping us on the map.

Arianna Huffington

Today marks the rollout of our latest local section: HuffPost Detroit, fresh off the assembly line.

We motor into the Motor City with a clear editorial mission: to provide an alternative to the knee-jerk narrative the national media love to tell about Detroit. We've seen it time and time again: a reporter helicopters in and scours the city for tales of grit and decay that reinforce the Detroit of popular imagination -- or the occasional oases of progress that defy it -- and then, just as quickly, heads out of town, conventional wisdom re-confirmed. Indeed, the passing, drive-by glance at Detroit has become a mainstream media subgenre. Not much has changed since 2009, when HuffPost's Jason Linkins called Detroit the "epicenter for a nation of journalists-turned-poverty-tourists."

HuffPost Detroit will cover both sides of the city's split-screen -- for Detroit, beyond the oversimplified myth of its past, and beyond the unimaginative visions of its future, is in fact a city of incredible contrasts.

On one side is a city for which the American dream seems despairingly out of reach. Michigan's unemployment rate was 11.1 percent last month -- two points higher than the national jobless rate -- and the situation is even grimmer for the Detroit metro area. Unemployment among African American men in Detroit is approaching 50 percent. Beyond jobs, Detroit struggles with decaying infrastructure, middle-class flight, drained municipal resources, political stalemates, and failing schools.

On the other side of the split screen is the recent influx of young people into Detroit. According to 2010 Census figures, downtown Detroit has seen a 59 percent increase in residents under the age of 35 with college degrees. Projects like "15X15" are looking to bring in more young people, with the goal of drawing 15,000 new residents to the Midtown area by 2015. And blogs like Margarita Barry's "I Am Young Detroit" are giving voice to this youthful surge, highlighting the city's young entrepreneurs, leaders, and creative personalities while providing insights into the city's political and cultural landscape.

Continued at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ariann...b_1098666.html

[compn]

The Indian team connected the dots between soft drink consumption trends and the huge rise in esophageal cancer in the United States over the past 25 years.

i dont have a dog in this fight, but 10 seconds in google brings up the esophageal cancer statistics for the usa in a nice little graph. the graph says from 1988 to 2008, the rate of esophageal cancer has pretty much stayed the same. white people got a little more, black people got 50% less. http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/servi...esophageal.pdf . found on this page: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/esophageal . maybe these dudes have better cancer statistics? risk factors page lets you know exactly when and why you might get cancer: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/w...sophagus/page5. all that said, there is always this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzene_in_soft_drinks . of course, living near/downwind of an incinerator or refinery is worse for your health.

[lilpup]

You wanna talk chemicals? Just wait until Sarnia has a major accident...

[Lowell]

You wanna talk chemicals? Just wait until Sarnia has a major accident...

Yet another big Sarnia spill back in the early 90's made me decide to stop drinking our Lake St. Clair-derived tap water. Have had Absopure spring water from the Irish Hills delivered ever since. The growth boom in northern Macomb county with sanitary sewage overflows into the water supply every time there was a big rainstorm, closings of Metropolitan Beach and other pollutions of our water supply were also part of that decision.

[Wesley Mouch]

Yet another big Sarnia spill back in the early 90's made me decide to stop drinking our Lake St. Clair-derived tap water. ...

DWSD website indicates three [[3) inlets... no just LSC. Just for the record.

"Two intakes are located in the Detroit River: one to the north near the mouth of Lake St. Clair and one to the south near Lake Erie. The third intake is located in Lake Huron"

But let's start talkin' HuffpostDTW here. Enough about chemicals.

HuffpostDTW's edition looks and reads well. And at least they have a pledge to not be 'voyeurs'. [[Of course I remember a Jerry Springer interview on WJR when his show was being announced [[Focus w/ JP? Was it that long ago?) where he testified to the high intellectual goals of his show.)

[p1acebo]

So, how 'bout them chemicals?

Lawlz.

Your name should be agonist .

I don't think anyone REALLY wants to talk about "chemicals," but it is all in fun.

[p1acebo]

i dont have a dog in this fight, but 10 seconds in google brings up the esophageal cancer statistics for the usa in a nice little graph. the graph says from 1988 to 2008, the rate of esophageal cancer has pretty much stayed the same. white people got a little more, black people got 50% less. http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/servi...esophageal.pdf . found on this page: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/esophageal . maybe these dudes have better cancer statistics? risk factors page lets you know exactly when and why you might get cancer: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/w...sophagus/page5. all that said, there is always this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzene_in_soft_drinks . of course, living near/downwind of an incinerator or refinery is worse for your health.

+1,

and all statistical data should be taken with a grain of salt. I am really sick of people citing ONE study, or ONE article to prove their point of view. Especially if they don't have a background in what they are talking about, right? :P