MLNOTW.RVW   990218

"News of the Weird", Chuck Shepherd, 1994-, notw@nine.org,
%A   Chuck Shepherd Weird@CompuServe.com
%C   P. O. Box 8306, St., Petersburg FL 33738
%D   1994 -   (print version 1988 - )
%O   mailto:notw-request@nine.org?subject=subscribe
%P   ~ 3 pages weekly
%T   "News of the Weird"

As with another of the "odd news" trio, Randy Cassingham's "This is
True" (cf. MLTHSTRU.RVW), "News of the Weird" (or NOTW) is a
syndicated column, sold to local papers.  My community paper carries
it, and I actually saw it in print before I found it on the net.

The most straightforward of the three, NOTW carries validated stories
that have been printed in the print media somewhere.  Shepherd does
not editorialize, as the others do, being content to let the stories
speak for themselves.  Generally they do that just fine.  (The closest
to an opinion being expressed is the title given to the items, such as
"Thinning the herd" for nominees for the Darwin awards.)

Shepherd must be a prolific collector, since his posts contain the
largest number of stories, usually running to about fifteen items.  In
fact, a number of items are aggregates, containing two to five stories
on the same subject or theme.  A fairly regular feature is a
collection of a number of instances of stories formerly considered
weird but now too common to continue mentioning, a kind of "last call"
of oddity.

Shepherd's column is submitted to papers weekly, and so his postings
average a weekly distribution on the net.  All of the columns
submitted are released to the mailing list, although at least three
weeks after the papers get them.  Posting of the mailing list is,
however, subject to variation in timing.  Sometimes you will see
nothing for a few weeks, and then get three on successive days.

To subscribe to the list, send a message to notw-request@nine.org with
a subject line of Subscribe.  To unsubscribe send a message to the
same address with subject line of Unsubscribe.  A six month archive of
past issues is maintained at http://www.nine.org/notw/notw.html.  The
columns are also available, in hardcopy, through snailmail.

All stories in NOTW are authentic news stories, published in major
daily newspapers.  Interestingly, Shepherd does not solicit
submissions of any sort in his email column.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1999   MLNOTW.RVW   990218