Princeton Grad Student And 'Brilliant' Programmer, Dies In Apparent Suicide
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Re: Princeton Grad Student And 'Brilliant' Programmer, Dies In Apparent Suicide
#2Just FYI, here's another HN thread:
Re: Princeton Grad Student And 'Brilliant' Programmer, Dies In Apparent Suicide
#3Just FYI, here's another HN thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2074109
Be sure to mind BigZaphod's comment in that thread about the suicide note.
Re: Princeton Grad Student And 'Brilliant' Programmer, Dies In Apparent Suicide
#4Is there any doubt it was suicide, or is the word "apparent" in the article heading unnecessary?
Re: Princeton Grad Student And 'Brilliant' Programmer, Dies In Apparent Suicide
#5Why the quotes around the word brilliant in the title? Am I missing something?
Re: Princeton Grad Student And 'Brilliant' Programmer, Dies In Apparent Suicide
#6Why the quotes around the word brilliant in the title? Am I missing something?
Because it's quoting a comment from Anil Dash. (More of the comment is quoted in the body of the article.)
Re: Princeton Grad Student And 'Brilliant' Programmer, Dies In Apparent Suicide
#7Why the quotes around the word brilliant in the title? Am I missing something?
Not sure, but I think it's a journalistic convention. Since the person was not generally well known, the quotes indicate that it's something others who do know him say. They're not being sarcastic.
Re: Princeton Grad Student And 'Brilliant' Programmer, Dies In Apparent Suicide
#8Is there any doubt it was suicide, or is the word "apparent" in the article heading unnecessary?
The use of such qualifiers bother me, rather the inconsistent use of such qualifiers. The media often misses those when they are needed the most. For instance regarding Sherrod / WMD...Edit: Though I believe the examples will make my comment unpopular.
Cable news particularly abuses this trick to insinuate something that they can deny later when questioned.
Re: Princeton Grad Student And 'Brilliant' Programmer, Dies In Apparent Suicide
#9Is there any doubt it was suicide, or is the word "apparent" in the article heading unnecessary?
It might be for some legal reasons until there is an official statement on the matter. In a similar way that journalists always have to say "allegedly" when talking a case that hasn't been closed. (IANAL obviously, neither a journalist)
Re: Princeton Grad Student And 'Brilliant' Programmer, Dies In Apparent Suicide
#10Why the quotes around the word brilliant in the title? Am I missing something?
Not sure, but I think it's a journalistic convention. Since the person was not generally well known, the quotes indicate that it's something others who do know him say. They're not being sarcastic.
Yep. Newspapers have developed a kind of shorthand to deal with the tight space constraints on headlines. Putting a description of a person in quotes is short for "who has been called…".