Jailing journalist undermines good government

Freedom of the press is intended to keep the government honest. The basic premise being that the government should not be trusted, as outlined in the many writings by our founding fathers -- and as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

One of the most fundamental tools of freedom of the press is the reporter's ability to provide source anonymity (albeit sometimes at the expense of credibility).

We shouldn't let the government prevent anonymity or we cannot maintain the free press as a watch dog institution. As Dr. Phil says, "Monsters live in the dark".

"Government whistle blowers face a brave new world. It is a world where champions of good government are silenced and reporters who speak truth to power are jailed." -- Joe Scarborough

Jailing journalist undermines good government - Scarborough Country - MSNBC.com

Google Earth is Life Changing

I was almost ready to tell you about Doug Cox's USA Photo Maps, a pretty cool mapping program that marries your GPS with Terr's aerial maps and USGS' topographic maps.

But I found something cooler (but not as mobile).

Google's Earth (a free download) lets us visually step through a trip on an unknown route. I can take a virtual flying tour of several locations, some preprogrammed into the stand-alone application.

High cool factor!

Google Earth - Home

G8 Summit Rocks

"Secret Organization group of al Qaeda Organization in Europe," claim responsibility in a Web site posting for detonating seven bombs in London's tube, resulting in at least 33 deaths and scores of injuries.

CNN.com - London�bombs kill at least 33 - Jul 7, 2005

Francis Fukuyama on Charlie Rose

The End of History. Francis Fukuyama (1992)

Levitt & Dubner on Charlie Rose

Authors Steven D. Levitt, Economist and Stephen J. Dubner, Journlist discussed Freakonomics; make references to Larry Somers, Gary Becker, Roland Fryer (Harvard).

Fryer is brought up to demonstrate racial observations with respect to econimics. He is Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows, Department of Economics, Harvard University. Ph 617-495-9592, rfryer@fas.harvard.edu.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner - William Morrow, 2005

Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times "Foreign Affairs" columnist and author of "The World Is Flat

Tom Friedman was a guest on Charlie Rose in April ('05) discussing a book he had begun in 1995.

He referred to Global Supply Chains and Geopolitics, explaining when a supply chin is disrupted by war, et. al., it's like puring cement down your oil well. Says Michael Dell can visualize his entire supply chain and he will adjust it as needed -- and not return to you for long time.

When you cn visualize your supply chain, it allows for demand shaping, when you see you're running low on 20 GB hard drives so you tell customer's "this is your lucky day, if you buy a 40 gb hdd, we'll throw in a printer or digital camera free".
Also suggested GWB read the book; needs an energy policy and we can't waste time.

Friedman refers to pivotal events, such as 11/9, when the Berlin Wall came down and Windows (MS) went up; 8/9/1999, when Netscape went public, fueling the "dot com" rush, fiber backbones were built.

Collaberative pivotal events, such as people beginning to connect with people; then pplications begin to connect with applications; outsourcing, off-shoring, open-sourcing; In-sourcing (UPS providing more than package delivery); Google; WiFi & VoIP. convergence: a) world became flat, b) adapted to flat world, c) 3 Billion new people now on the playing field.

Think in terms of the new global, horizontal process, where a dock builder in India is now on the same footing with IBM, subsequent to the above pivotal events.

Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times "Foreign Affairs" columnist and author of "The World Is Flat

Supposed breaking news is not necessarily

How's this for a tease? "We are following the breaking news out of Charles City. We have confirmed late tonight...Police blocking off a road near a river in Charles City and they say this is linked to missing Floyd County five-year-old Evelyn Miller."

Perhaps this sort of plastic drama reveals to the rest of us why Channel 13 is consistently a bridesmaid.

WHO TV - Des Moines: Home

A closer look at file sharing lawsuit

The Grokster case shed much needed light on the Betamax case, in which VCR makers were shielded from liability when users broke the law.

Grokster only lost that protection because there was compelling evidence that the software maker actually encouraged illegal sharing of protected materials. Authors of file sharing programs who practice a minimal amount of prudence appear to be unaffected by the ruling.

Betmax -- like the phone company before it -- claimed they could not be held responsible for content because it was up to the end users to obey intillectual property laws; or not, as the case may be. The government agrees.

USATODAY.com - Despite reports, Grokster decision is a win for file sharing

RSS / Podcast / Blog / Pings - Infrastructure Founder/CEO

The traditional broadcaster ought to be getting nervous, unless he or she has been living under a rock in the last two years.

As a veteral radio broadcaster for the past 22 years, I've always had a spcial passion for the business. At the same time, I've always been in touch with the technology of the future, and continue to envision "what will be" in the future of commercial radio. That notion is partly bourne out of laziness and partly of my innovative senses.

I've been Podcasting since 1995, but we called it something different back then (I say as if 1995 was a half century ago). We simply stuck an MP3 file out there and told people on the radio to go get it and listen to it. We even sold a small sponsorship for it and made it worth our efforts (for a while). Every broadcaster should be podcasting today because they're the ones best suited to produce the talent at the quality level needed to lure fans. No one enjoys listening to the muddy voice of Corey in Alta, Iowa ramble about his Anime DVD collection using his PC mic. People do, however, want a highly produced, commute-lengthed track of something entertaining or informative -- by professionals.

Yes, broadcasters have the tools and talent to produce Podcasts and the ability to sell their it to their audience, except for one small byte of information: they don't have a clue what Podcasting is. So we, the innovators, need to produce the tools they need to publish their poscasts.

How do we do it?

We begin by offering to take a radio station's current offerings (and a few podcast exclusives), edit them down to byte-sized chunks, and offer the 'casts to their listeners. That way they stay relevent and don't lose out to the indies vying for their marketshare.

Commercial announcements should be well place and imbedded into the content as a billboard and not a full-lengthed commercial no one will hear.

RSS / Podcast / Blog / Pings - Infrastructure Founder/CEO

Danny Bishop can be reached at Danny (the at symbol) Danny Bishop Media (dot) com or by calling five one five - seven oh seven - sixty-one fifteen.

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Immigrants want driver's licenses too

I think an immigrant in good standing should be able to obtain an Iowa driver's license, as long as the same standards I have to follow apply to them. For instance, I have to have insurance. So should they. I have to pay taxes. So should they. You get my drift. Illegal immigrants, on the other hand, are separate issue. They should not only be barred from driving in Iowa, but should be arrested and deported post haste. If the standards for immigration into the US are unreasonable, then the we should fix the standards. Breaking the law needs to be punished, not rewarded.

DesMoinesRegister.com

Selling human rights with bombs

I know things are tough in the Middle East. The whole notion of a holy war seems to me oxymoronic, to over-simplify matters slightly.

But what seems really odd to me is watching efforts to convince peoples that we're a peaceful nation and have deep-seeded beliefs in human rights, liberty and democracy, yet the government uses bombs and bullets to negotiate or sponsor a "peace process". I don't blame people of other lands and cultures for questioning the motivation of our leaders here.