greenthinks

Russell Beattie:

Infinite Loop – I caught the West Wing on television for the first time in a long time (since the election, I think, I stopped watching it since then really). It dawned on me how ridiculous it is to focus a television show on such a unique individual as the President of the U.S. And now they’re doing another one with Gina Davis? So wacky. I was thinking after this morning’s Apple keynote that Hollywoood should create a show loosely based on Apple computer, no? It’d have a enigmatic, yet complex leader, various VPs with ranging agendas, crisises would not involve asteroids hitting the earth or Norht Korean terrorists, but blogs leaking confidential product plans and competitors launching similar products, IP theft, etc. You could have cameos by luminaries in tech. You’d have a picture-perfect antagonist in a Gates-like Billionaire of a competing company, etc. Quirky programmers and French-born directors of Engineering would add a light element. How much more drama could you want?

Terrific.

Not that it should be much of a surprise, but Boing Boing’s coverage of the Katrina disaster has been absolutely stellar. Anyone remotely interested in a slightly techy perspective on what’s going on down on the gulf coast should really head over there and check out their archives for the last week or so.

It began on August 31:

And the incredible Xeni Jardin kept it up, posting great piece after great piece, pointing us at content from the MSM, as well as the individual stories that were coming through the internet and cellular networks.

She provided background and informative analysis from experts, like in Civil Defense in Cuba and Disease Threat Analysis.

There was the anonymous message from the relief worker and the updating on the state of the New Orleans nuclear power facility.

She chronicled the horrible responses from Barbara Bush and the Army Times.

She also followed the FCC’s attempts to restore some kind of infrastructure.

Last, there was the heart-wrenching video from the president of Jefferson Parish, and the applause-earning statement from MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann.

This is the new media. When the Lusitania was sunk, Americans read about in the newspaper. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, they listened by their radios. When JFK was shot Americans watched it on the Broadcast News. We tuned in to CNN and Cable News as the Towers fell on September 11. Let history now show that when the levees broke in New Orleans, Americans turned to the internet and to a new breed of journalist – a journalist who has as much heart as she does guts, and a journalist who isn’t afraid to publish something controversial, but is equally unafraid to correct her reports when new facts are brought to light.

We are living in a bright new age of technology and communication, all the while the world around us becomes darker and more dangerous. Let us continue to build this new transparent communications network as it makes weathering the gathering storm just a little bit easier.