The Wisconsin State Journal Editorial page says that it’s time for a new baseball commissioner. No doubt, he should have left long ago. Additional background.
America, Afghanistan & Pakistan
Steve Coll’s excellent book, Ghost Wars, is featured on NPR’s All Things Considered this week.
Organic Farmers
Stephanie Hemphill discusses the growing demand for organic food and the implications for farmers:
People are choosing organic food in a big way. Sales of organic food have been increasing steadily. You’d think having more demand for your product would be great. But for people who grow organic food, it’s a mixed blessing. When you can’t supply as much as the customer wants, it can be difficult. Some farmers are trying creative ways to fill the demand.
Big “O” on American Basketball
NPR’s Robert Siegel talks with NBA legend Oscar Robertson about the future of American basketball and if individual skill, rather than team cooperation, is detrimental to the sport
Indoor Air Quality
These days, the air inside many homes is more polluted than the air outside. That’s because everything from pets to gas appliances to paint and cleaning products contributes to indoor air pollution. Most homes contain an alarming number of chemicals, and modern homes are built so tightly that they tend to trap the bad air inside.
Stunning Volcano VR Scene: Reunion Island
Romuald shot a beautiful VR scene of an erupting volcano, from the air via an ultra light.
Old Media Reform – Dakota Blog Alliance
Interesting South Dakota blog platform on monopoly media reform.
Wisconsin Economic Priorities
The Wisconsin State Journal Editorial page has a useful summary of pressing economic priorities:
- Overburdened Highways
- Inadequate telecommunications
- Aged Electrical System
I generally agree with these issues, however, the #1 issue must be true, economical, 2-way broadband for all.
Craigslist Founder Interview
A useful interview with Craigslist Founder Craig Newmark.
NBC’s Olympic Armageddon
I haven’t watched much of NBC’s Olympic coverage, but the few minutes I’ve seen have been awful:
- Opening Ceremony sophmoric dialogue between Katie Couric and Bob Costas (this discussion, in a nutshell, tells us all what the old media types think about the general public). The BBC provides some useful photos of the ceremony here. Russell Beattie responds to Costas/Couric’s antics (very rough language, but some useful comments/links on this blog post)
- Sunday morning, rather than broadcasting events (Wimbledon is broadcast live on weekend mornings), NBC is talking about feta on their Sunday Today show. Truly embarrasing.
- Here are some useful sites: BBC | France2
I left a voice mail for NBC Chairman Bob Wright on Friday expressing my substantial disappointment in their Olympic coverage plans (including a complete devoid of thought internet strategy). NBC is owned by conglomerate GE.
Joshua Brauer offers up some suggestions for NBC…. (via scripting news)
UPDATE: Ann Harrison on the futility of NBC’s internet censorship (live internet video streams are available in other countries).
“Ultimately it will fail,” said Len Sassaman, a privacy-technology researcher. Once the American Internet viewing public realizes that U.K. Web surfers are watching better Olympic coverage than they are allowed to see after forking over their credit card, said Sassaman, they will look for better ways to access those images. “Bandwidth has gotten a lot cheaper over the years, so it is not so far-fetched to think that someone will set up proxy servers in Britain that would do this.”