BEST OF THE WEB: Cool Features from Newspaper Web Sites

By: Kathryn Blaze Carlson Each day E&P combs the Internet to bring you some of the best features that newspaper Web sites have to offer. Here are today's picks.

The New Yorker Cartoon: 'Times' Tells Obama to Get Over It
The Los Angeles Times
Online Poll
By Amina Khan

Apparently there's a fine line between satirical and tasteless and, as of late, The New Yorker is the prized champion to toe this blurry line. Political or not, you'll likely have an opinion on the mag's cover -- which depicts Obama as a turban-sporting Muslim and his wife, Michelle, as an Afro-donning gun-carrying terrorist. The L.A. Times has an opinion, and the consensus on the editorial board is for the Illinois Senator to "grow a pair." Agree or disagree? Weigh in with your thoughts at this L.A. Times online poll (scroll down and read past the short opinion piece).


Higher Transit Fares Don't Sit Well With Riders
Star-Tribune, Minneapolis
Online Feature
By Star-Tribune staff

With gas prices sucking the green from driver's wallets, public transportation has become green-friendly in more than just the save-the-earth kind of way. But the Star-Tribune reports that bus fares in Minneapolis-St. Paul may soon jump 25 cents, and riders are generally not on board with the move. Read the newspaper's main article on the issue, and check out this graphic portraying the regular off-peak cash fares in 15 metropolitan cities to see how your locale sizes up.


Resources For Worried Bank Customers
San Francisco Chronicle
Online Q&A
By James Temple, Kathleen Pender, and Chronicle staff

Customers lined up outside IndyMac Bank's Southern California branches, "anxious to withdraw their cash after the federal takeover of the Pasadena thrift stung by rising mortgage defaults," according to this San Francisco Chronicle intro to an online Q&A session aimed at appeasing the questioning minds of nervous bank customers.
Click on the photo at the top right of the page, and get a taste of what it was like for FDIC Ombudsman Robert Brown as he passed out forms outside a bank in Encino. Line cutting and long waits sparked tempers and violence, forcing Los Angeles police to visit two branches Tuesday.


Chicagopedia: Viagra Triangle
Chicago Sun-Times
Online Feature
By Chicago Sun-Times staff

As if text-messaging lingo, cyber short-forms, and the traditional English language weren't enough to satiate your vocabulary cravings, go ahead and add the Chicagopedia -- an online "dictionary" for Chicagoisms. Today's term is "Viagra Triangle," defined as:
"/ vy AGG ra / try ANG gull / n. / The triangle-shaped Chicago neighborhood where the men are men and their pills are blue. Bounded by Chicago Avenue, Rush Street and State Street on the Near North Side, the 'VT' is known for its pricey steaks and cocktails; its rich, older men on the make, and the dolled-up women trying to reel them in. Luxury-car valet parking is available." For a list of other Chicagopedia-worthy words, click here.


Fair-skinned Soul Sisters
The Dallas Morning News
Slide Show
By Dallas Morning News staff

"Amy Winehouse, Joss Stone, Duffy ? welcome to the new era of white soul-singing women, where color barriers and artistic parameters are all but erased," says the intro to this Dallas Morning News slide show. The photo gallery stars the above-named women, as well as other "fair-skinned soul sisters" like Teena Marie and Debbie Harry.