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Story ideas that you can localize and enterprise. Posted by 7:30 a.m. Mon-Fri.

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A dozen sites
I'm diggin'

*1. You thought sub-prime lenders were gone? No way! They are making FHA loans.

*2. Salon investigates "Friendly Fire" incident that leads to document shredding.

*3. Just in time for Thanksgiving, PETA posts a video of turkey abuse on a poultry farm.

*4. Seven key questions about a car company bailout.

*5. The Flip Cam has gone HD with a customizable cover.

6. A fun video to help you with digital conversion.

7. ProPublica's investigation into air marshals gone bad.

8. An awesome storm chaser photo blog.

9. Planet Money is a really good blog about money and finance.

10. ESPN's "The Journey of Richard Jensen" -- the comeback of a wrestler -- is an extra good video.

11. You can lay subtitles or text bubbles on video -- any video. I will be using this to teach about storytelling.

12. I now use Utterz to file audio reports. You can use your computer's mic or any phone. It's simple and would be a great reporter's tool.

All of my Diggin' sites are saved on Poynter's del.icio.us page.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.

Land Temperatures Worldwide Hit New Records

As USA Today puts it, Earth is still running a fever. Land temperatures worldwide hit new records last month, while in the U.S. temperatures were about average.

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration news release says:

The global land surface temperature was the warmest on record for March, 3.3�F above the 20th century mean of 40.8�F. Temperatures more than 8�F above average covered much of the Asian continent. Two months after the greatest January snow cover extent on record on the Eurasian continent, the unusually warm temperatures led to rapid snow melt, and March snow cover extent on the Eurasian continent was the lowest on record.

The global surface (land and ocean surface) temperature was the second warmest on record for March in the 129-year record, 1.28�F above the 20th century mean of 54.9�F. The warmest March on record (1.33�F above average) occurred in 2002.

Although the ocean surface average was only the 13th warmest on record, as the cooling influence of La Ni�a in the tropical Pacific continued, much warmer than average conditions across large parts of Eurasia helped push the global average to a near record high for March.

Despite above average snowpack levels in the U.S., the total Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent was the fourth lowest on record for March, remaining consistent with boreal spring conditions of the past two decades, in which warming temperatures have contributed to anomalously low snow cover extent.

Some weakening of La Ni�a, the cold phase of the El Ni�o-Southern Oscillation, occurred in March, but moderate La Ni�a conditions remained across the tropical Pacific Ocean.

Posted by Al Tompkins 12:01 AM

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