Now it's official

We all know how the vote went, but it isn't official until it crosses the wire.

Cool inauguration stories

Just a quick post to link to a couple cool stories about the inauguration.

First, THIS STORY from Politico (written by Michael Calderone about the different considerations the networks are having to take into account for the big day.

also, THIS STORY (referenced by a producer friend of mine, Deanna Siste, as well as Lost Remote) from the New York Times about CNN.com's new mission - to create fans who LOVE the site.

Have you seen any interesting stories? Let me know...post something in the comment section below!

The Ghost Map

Steven Johnson's The Ghost Map, a story about an 1850s Cholera outbreak in London surprised me in a couple of ways.

Initially, I expected the story to somehow surprise me in a very fundamental way...but that's not really what Johnson was going for here. WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get), it's the story of how a disease outbreak unfolded, and the two men who ended up cracking the code of its cause and cure.

Once I got past the let down of failing to find a mind-blowing surprise waiting for me (Johnson does little to hide the cause or resolution during the telling of the story - this is no mystery novel) I grew to enjoy the clear way in which he describes the approach and thinking of John Snow and Henry Whitehead. The book allows you to understand the way in which they approached the problem and the (assumed) thought process they undertook.

The epilogue of the book brought me to the kind of writing that I really enjoy from Johnson - multi-threaded contemporary commentary from a scientific and cultural bent. The reason for the meat of the book is a bit more personal.

Johnson's undergrad thesis was on epidemiology, and his graduate work in literature focused on Victorian society...so the intersection of those tow ideas in this book made for a natural confluence of interests. Though the amount of detail in the book is substantial, it's not overwhelming, and it is explained in Johnson's usual fashion of approachability without condescension.

That said, though I appreciate the reasons for his departure from his (in my view) traditional style...I certainly appreciate the final chapter of the book where he returns to the style for a few fleeting moments. His fascination with the topic grows on you as you read it...but I personally have a rough time trying to practically absorb the problems and world-view from so long ago and let it color the way I now see the world.

It's that adjustment of the way I now see the world that separates good books from those that truly fascinate me, and sadly I didn't find this book to cross that line.

An interesting segue

The Segway personal transporter is an invention that encourages all the worst characteristics about the U.S.: laziness, useless technology, and conspicuous consumption. It takes the worst stereotypes about our culture and bundles them all up in one machine.

The inventor of the Segway (Dean Kamen), however, has taken his profits from that invention (and his other, more medically beneficial inventions) and decided to use them in a way that could actually help humanity. He's developed the Slingshot water purifier and the Stirling engine generator.

These two boxes, each about the size of a washing machine can take any source of liquid (in Kamen's words: 'anything wet') and turn it into purified drinking water. The other can use anything flammable (cow dung, for example) and turn it into enough power for a small village (about 70 low-energy light bulbs).

The invention was announced last year (Newsweek wrote an article, as did Wired on their blog) but I'm just now getting around to hearing about it. There's a mention of it near the end of the book The Ghost Map by (you guessed it) Steven Johnson. Expect a review of it in the coming days...

O'Reilly producer

Its Friday, so it's time for something fun!

The tape of Bill O'Reilly cursing and yelling during a taping of Inside Edition came out in the middle of last year, and by itself is very entertaining, but the guys at barelypolitical.com did something that made this thing much, much more creative and entertaining.

They imagined what his producer was saying to him as this meltdown went on...here's their take on what might have happened:

Why are faxes still around

Lots of madness in work today around the plane crash into the Hudson river. It's an amazing story, likely to be titled "Miracle on the Hudson" by a made for TV movie in the near future.

A close friend of mine, Devon Sayers, noticed that the newsworthy beginning and end to President Bush's career may, in fact be plane crashes (9/11 and today's crash on the Hudson)

That said, I'd like to point out this interesting piece from Wired about something I hadn't thought to wonder about until I read it: why are fax machines still around?

I mean, we have email and teleconferencing and PDF files...so why would there still be a need for such antiquated technology? Read this brief piece to find out their answer.

Radiolab

Radiolab is a radio show from WNYC, New York Public Radio, that deals with science and technology...but to couch it in that way makes it sound like NOVA or some other super-boring public programming. By their own definition, however:

Radiolab is a show about curiosity. Each episode is an investigation - a patchwork of people, sounds, stories all centered around one big idea.

The show is primarily produced by two people - Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich. I'd first come across Robert Krulwich when I was learning about how TV works. I'd gotten my first job at WOFL in Orlando, when I'd started shadowing the people in the different parts of the newsroom. Throughout this self-imposed training, I'd learned how hard it is to write stories, shoot video, and craft words and pictures together into something poignant and useful.

After realizing how hard it was to do such a thing, I sought out places on TV where news was presented in a clear, intelligent, and entertaining way. The search led me to two places: Frontline on PBS (which is some of the most amazing television being created right now...almost without equal) and Nightline. This is Nightline several years ago, when they would take one issue and focus on it in depth for the entire half-hour.

Robert Krulwich did a story about the 2004 election and how political parties had shifted their focus from trying to convert people into die-hard party members (and make them vote) and instead to focus on people who were leaning towards their party and bring them solidly on their side. He told the story with interviews and personal stories, of course, but also with the use of animation to explain exactly what was meant by a "wobbly two" (essentially someone who is leaning in favor of a party, but neither die-hard nor neutral). I was hooked.

Krulwich has a way of distilling the very complexities that make up human existence in a way that not only make them clearer, but let you feel like you've been in on the joke the entire time.

Jad Abumrad is a radio producer...though he doesn't care so much about news as he does about SOUND. Abumrad is an audiophile in the purest sense. He isn't the guy who spends $40,000 on audio cables, but he's the guy who lives to expose people to sound in a way that tells a story they would have never expected to notice or appreciate.

The first time I came to truly appreciate the way Jad thinks is when I was exposed to the opening of Radiolab's Morality program in which he asks two questions:

First scenario: There are five men working on a railway, and a train is bearing down on them - they don't see it, and you can't shout to them to warn them. If you do nothing, the five men will die. However, next to you is a lever, and if you pull the lever you will make the train shift tracks onto a track where one man is working. He will be killed, but the five other men will be saved. Do you pull the lever?

Second scenario: Ok, same thing, the train is coming, and five people are working on the tracks...however this time, you're not standing next to a lever, you're on a bridge overlooking the tracks. Next to you, though, is a large man, and if you throw him off of the bridge, the conductor of the train will see him, and stop the train, saving the five men.

Most of the time, the people who are asked if they should pull the lever say they would pull the lever, but they also say they would not push the man off of the bridge. Why? It's the same accounting, right?

The way this is presented got me hooked on the combination of the talents of Krulwich and Abumrad. There's really nothing else like it. Other amazing introductions he's crafted are for the show on Emergence (a topic now close to my heart, thanks to this show and Steven Johnson), Choice, and this week's episode Yellow Fluff and Other Curious Encounters.

I can only ask (if I could beg you in person, I would) to take 3 minutes of your life, to listen to the introduction to the show, Time.

This intro gives me chills and hits me in a way that lets me know there are brilliant people who see the world in a beautiful way...and can convey it to you in a way that may improve the way others see the world.

A second amazing thing about these shows is how they stand up to repetition. In the book "Everything bad is good for you" (again with the Steven Johnson stuff) Johnson points out that the shows that have a lasting imprint on contemporary culture (Simpsons, Seinfeld, Family Guy, even) stand up to multiple viewings. They each have such an amazing attention to detail in the crafting of the show that on the second and third go-round you absorb more from the show than you did the first time. Radiolab has this endearing characteristic as well...so that even if you like it the first time, you'll like it even more on each successive listen.

Radiolab - what can I say about it that hasn't already been said about Leonardo da Vinci?