Letters: Bly, Microblogging, Lions

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

Its time now for your comments. And first, some corrections.

MICHELE NORRIS, host:

Yesterday, we featured a letter about a story we aired before Halloween. It was about the search for paranormal activity in the childhood home of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

SIEGEL: Well, a listener in Maine didnt like the tone of that story, and she wrote this: While it would be okay to make light of the victims of, say, Nellie Bly or Jack the Ripper, whose mourners are long gone, those still grieving the murders of Dahmers victims may well have heard the story and been offended.

A reasonable point except for one problem.

NORRIS: Whoa, Nellie. Thats from Karen Bachs(ph) of Seattle, Washington. She asks: Nellie Bly, whos credited with inventing investigative journalism? Bachs continues: Im not sure who the listener meant, but you owe your fellow journalists an apology.

SIEGEL: Okay, Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, we are sorry. That was Nellie Blys real name. In the late 19th century, it was common for female newspaper writers to take pen names, and hers is from the Stephen Foster song "Nellie Bly," and no, she was not a serial killer.

NORRIS: In our story about job hunting using Twitter and other microblogging networks, we mentioned a network called Pownce. Well, Pownce is no more. It died last year. So if youre trying to find a job in 140 characters or less, dont try Pownce.

SIEGEL: We also said microblogging sites used to be mostly used by youngsters, but life on Twitter has changed, well, not true. According to the social media guide mashable.com, Twitter is aging in reverse. It was first popular among older users, but now, those under 25 are flocking to the network.

NORRIS: We also had a number of letters yesterday about Roberts interview with Justin Yeakel.

SIEGEL: Hes one of the researchers debunking the notion that the bloodthirsty Tsavo lions, now stuffed and on display in Chicagos field museum, devoured 135 railway workers in East Africa during the late 1890s.

NORRIS: Yeakel and his colleagues analyzed bone and hair from the lions. They think the number of people actually eaten is closer to 35.

Mr. JUSTIN YEAKEL (Researcher, University of California, Santa Cruz): Not only did we think that, well, perhaps they werent consuming as many humans as they reportedly did, but also perhaps the two lions had very different diets, according to our analysis, so only one of the two lions was gaining any significant nutritional benefit from humans. The other was obtaining its food elsewhere.

SIEGEL: Well, this did not satisfy Jesse Ward(ph) of Colorado Springs. He writes: Im not one to question science, but he asks: Is it not possible the lions killed as many people as originally recorded but did not eat them? Still, Ward wants to maintain the hungry reputations of the lions. He concludes: For the sake of the lions notoriety and pride, Im sticking with the 100-plus figure.

NORRIS: Well, we always enjoy hearing from you. So please stick with us. Send us your comments to npr.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.