news. views. tunes.

It’s hard to understate how geeky-cool Colbert is. Rush to play on Colbert Show after 33-year American TV hiatus.

It’s also hard to understate that CLEVELAND IS UNDER ATTACK BY BEARS!

Colbert Nation: Bear watch

Today Now!: How To Pretend You Give A Shit About The Election

photo slideshow, individual photos

After listening this week to President Bush plead with mother earth for 17 more years to pollute, author Michael Pollan takes up an issue that has been gnawing at me for a few weeks: When it comes to changing your lifestyle to combat global warming, Why bother?

In one essay, Pollan not only effectively shows why each of us must take action to change how we live, he also illustrates why he’s one of my favorite writers.

In a word, Pollan says we must “garden.”

I’m a horrible gardener, mostly because I’m lazy. I’m also allergic to most of the outside world. In high school, I managed to kill most of the grass at my parish working a summer job.

Our current backyard vegetable patch is covered with leaves from 2007.

But, I know that Pollan is right: Without a personal connection to the food we eat, to the planet that gives us life, why bother?

So, the leaves will go next weekend, and time permitting, tomatoes will go in.

Read more: Why Bother?

This look at the 50 best comedy sketches led me to YouTube to find some old Kids in the Hall, especially the Dr. Seuss Bible.

Much more enjoyable than finishing taxes.

A repost from Eric Mansfield’s …

Soundbite from the Akron Mayor’s news conference Wednesday, talking about the possible consolidation of Akron Police and the Sheriff’s Office for operations that Eric wrote about here …

I wonder how long before news of the CBS cuts makes every reporter realize they need a blog. I certainly need to focus my energies on what I blog.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — After having a good laugh, Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection admitted Tuesday that their new “we campaign” was actually a massive April Fools’ Day joke.

“To think that humans can solve global warming is preposterous,” Gore told reporters Tuesday.

Gore was joined by fellow environmentalist Newt Gingrich, who also couldn’t get over news stories hopefully reporting that their was a solution to climate change.

“What, we’re going to have a ‘Contract with the Earth’?” Gingrich asked rhetorically.

But, for those who dream of a future for humans, there is another green web site you can visit: wecansolveit.org.

(I guess the news that Mother Earth is about to put humans on permanent time out just hasn’t reached policy makers yet.)

Here are some Black Mountain tunes … I caught them in March and figured I’d better write about this before I overdose on listening to this tasty brew of 70s stoner rock perfection.

Here’s a free Black Mountain tune, actually their second-best song to date: Tyrants

And, finally, a live Wucan performace:

So, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing $16 billion per month (Source), at the same time, society has decided that “If the news is that important, it will find me.”

As Terry Heaton points out, this means it’s up to media to find news consumers.

I guess that $16 billion a month news hasn’t found Americans yet.

As WebGuild put it: Important news will not find you.

This is especially true as newspapers crumble. Editor and Publisher writes: The newspaper industry has experienced the worst drop in advertising revenue in more than 50 years.

So, at a time when the need for being informed is great, how will the lower-cost, distributed methods of web journalism replace newspapers and TV?

Media employees think we’re figuring this out — but reports of our chances of living are greatly exaggerated.

Next superpower, you’re up. Newspaper’s replacement — it’s your turn, as well.

Some parting links:

For a great read on the death of newspapers, check out Out of Print: The death and life of the American newspaper

And, a poem: the news will find me soon enough

Kudos to Seth for showing up to work, thus making it into a Wired.com tour of Mozilla.

Seth “I’ve got a black belt in crazy” Bindernagel has come a long way from the Ed’s days of fitting insulting remarks into the newspaper.

I gotta hang a nerf hoop up at work.