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.
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
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.
Romuald shot a beautiful VR scene of an erupting volcano, from the air via an ultra light.
Interesting South Dakota blog platform on monopoly media reform.
The Wisconsin State Journal Editorial page has a useful summary of pressing economic priorities:
I generally agree with these issues, however, the #1 issue must be true, economical, 2-way broadband for all.
A useful interview with Craigslist Founder Craig Newmark.
I haven’t watched much of NBC’s Olympic coverage, but the few minutes I’ve seen have been awful:
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.”
Steve Clemons on an example of the structural corruption in government (Clemons cites an example of ex CIA director James Woolsey, whose wife is a director of Fluor corporation (recipient of $1.6B in Iraq contracts). Another example is Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, whose wife, Linda, is a lobbyist who mostly represents airlines, aircraft makers and other aviation-related interests ? all of which have a steady stream of issues before the Senate.
From Inc Magazine online: Notes and comments on a potential flat tax.
After his tax breaks, President Bush is toying with the idea of eliminating the IRS and income tax altogether. In lieu of this, a flat federal sales tax would be instituted
Our tax system is a mess and in dire need of a complete re-think. Let’s start the process.