For those who don’t know, I help run a nation-wide community website for swing dancers called Yehoodi.com. Among our many services, I co-host a podcast with my pal Manu “Spuds” Smith featuring news and talk about the national (and increasingly international) swing scene. You can hear us clowning around if you download episode 315 of…
Democracy Player: Roll Your Own TV Channel
I have been playing around with the Democracy Player, a nice little program that aggregates various online videos into “channels” that you can easily surf through, view and subscribe to. They bill themselves as “a new kind of browser for watching videos– grab webpages with video and video RSS feeds (including podcasts, video blogs, and…
Green.tv: the first broadband TV channel on the environment
Today was the launch of Green.tv, the first "broadband TV channel" on environmental issues. Sponsored by the UN Environment Programme and a host of other sponsors, the site will carry films from around the world produced by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community filmmakers, public sector bodies and companies with a firm interest in protecting the environment….
My new favorite blog: Re-imagineering
I am unashamedly a diehard Disney theme park fanatic, having visited all of them at least once (Walt Disneyland, Walt Disneyworld, Eurodisney and Disneyland Tokyo). I get totally immersed in the Disney magic just like I was nearly 30 years ago when I went to my first Disney theme park. For me, it’s an irony-free…
My cat’s scarf obsession deepens (video)
My cat Mole Negro continues to attack all knitwear in my closet. Is he telling me it’s time to move on from wool blends? Is he acting out some psycho-drama with the scarf representing his mother abandoning him as a kitten? Or is he just nuts? Maybe if you watch this video you can tell…
Send us your interns and research requests!
The media and democracy project I coordinate "Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Public Sphere" is about to launch its online "Media Research Hub." To get folks ready, we are asking groups that are looking for graduate student interns to email us their needs for this summer. And we also want media justice groups to get…
Hearings today on House Bill on Pay-TV
The House Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet has scheduled a hearing today to consider the "Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006." According to the Benton Foundation, the bill would prevent regulations from slowing the entry of new competitors into the pay-TV services market. Specifically, the bill would 1) create a…
webconferencing < teleconferencing
So after researching pretty extensively the webconferencing offerings of all of the main providers on the market (webex, webconference.com, webdialogs, elluminate, centra, net meeting, etc), I have come to the conclusion that none of them can provide yet the kind of fidelity of a traditional teleconference. Multi-party, full duplex on all webconferencing services I have…
Common Cause exposes telecom Astroturfing
Common Cause has just released a damning portrait of a number of "astroturf" non-profits funded by telecommunications corporations to give the impression of public support for their views. Entitled "Wolves in Sheeps Clothing" the report profiles nine fake grassroots groups that are bought and paid for by telecom companies. These include: Consumers for Cable Choice…
Videos of me lindy hopping
Some people have been asking about this “swing dancing” cult that I’m involved in. Sometimes called “jitterbug” or just “swing,” those in the know call our dance the “lindy hop,” since that’s what the original dancers in Harlem in the 40s used to call it. Here are a couple of clips of me dancing lindy…