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.”
Structural Corruption
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.
Inc on a flat tax
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.
Wisconsin Voters
Monica Davey talks with some Wisconsin voters on the upcoming presidential election:
“Honestly, I don’t know what to do,” Ms. Zavala said as she wandered near Lake Michigan clutching the hand of her young granddaughter. Ms. Zavala voted for President Bush in 2000 and says her relatives still adore him. Never far from her thoughts, though, is that her son-in-law is a soldier, and so her uncertainty keeps growing.
“Now, when I look at it, I think Bush misled the people about Iraq, and I feel sad for all the families, for all these soldiers that had to die,” she said. “But then I don’t really know what Kerry would do about it either.” Ms. Zavala stopped, then finally said, “I guess I can only wait and see what happens.”
There lies a central complication for the campaigns as they fight for a state that gave Al Gore just an ounce more support than George W. Bush four years ago. From working-class neighborhoods in Racine in the southeast to the pine- and fern-covered hills near Lake Superior, voters speak of factories that have closed, schools short on money and health insurance beyond reach.
Remembering Julia Child
Scott Simon remembers Julia Child (Audio)
Saturday in the Sun – Monona Terrace
A very Madison scene, from Monona TerraceMap
12th Century Swedish Church VR Scene
Jonas Carlson shares a beautiful Quicktime VR scene of the convent church of Varnhem in Sweden.
Interview with Grateful Dead Lyricist John Perry Barlow
Reason posts a useful interview with John Perry Barlow (currently vice chair of the EFF):
Every existing power relation is up for renewal with cyberspace, and it was only natural there would be an awful lot of fracas where cyberspace met the physical world. EFF has been the primary mediator on that border. We have been very successful at protecting against excessive government encroachment into the virtual world.
Copyright and intellectual property are the most important issues now. If you don?t have something that assures fair use, then you don?t have a free society. If all ideas have to be bought, then you have an intellectually regressive system that will assure you have a highly knowledgeable elite and an ignorant mass.
Healing Garden(s)
Susan Fornoff writes about Topher Delaney’s healing gardens:
Lavender flanks an antique French urn that serves as a fountain in one corner; lemons climb on the two antique French gates that delineate the garden’s three “rooms,” each with a terra-cotta colored bench designed by Philippe Starck.
There are tomatoes growing; bay, rosemary, a rose bush, nasturtiums, too. Aloe and opuntia elaborate on the medicinal theme, and jasmine surrounds the base of the visual centerpiece, an Italian fountain surrounded by a shelf of Haifa limestone.
“This is very beautiful stone, from Jerusalem,” Delaney says. “You see it in very lovely homes; you never see it in a hospital.” She looks around. “This is as good as it gets in the most fancy house you could ever find. This is as good as it gets.”