Five at 8 – 4/7/09

Bob CollinsBob Collins Apr 7, 2009
2

It’s not necessarily the top of the news…

  • One of the hidden gems in the Twin Cities for radio fans is radiotapes.com. As you might expect, today it features a tribute to former WCCO host Steve Cannon, who died last night. Here’s his page at the Museum of Broadcasting site.
  • We’ll miss the Boston Globe when its owners shut its doors soon in a game of “chicken” with its unions, but before it goes we have to acknowledge the contribution The Big Picture has made to online journalism. This week it provides incredible photographs themed around the eruption of Alaska’s Mount Redoubt
  • When you get right down to it, there really aren’t that many good writers — columnists — anymore. One of the better ones has been relatively hidden in the pages of Flying Magazine. Lane Wallace, a former Minnesota resident, has started a new Web site about a different kind of passion — that should appeal to those of us whose feet are firmly planted on terra firma, but daydream about getting off the hamster wheel from time to time. No map. No guide. No Limits. Let’s just say this is ripe material for a public radio audience:

    We often think that paradise would be a day where we didn’t have to do anything. Lay on a beach and drink margaritas. And in an otherwise productive and busy life, full of purpose and meaning, that might even be true–at least for a couple of weeks. But take away the surrounding work and purpose, and a day with nothing to do suddenly takes on a whole different hue … especially if that one day stretches out toward the calendar’s horizon with no change of status in sight.

    Seriously, stop what you’re doing and read her work, start with her piece on volunteering.

  • One-hundred-thousand people are homeless after the killer earthquake in Italy yesterday. Find photos at laRepubblica.it.

    earthquake_map_apr7.jpg

    There have been more than 200 earthquakes on the planet in the last seven days, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

  • I knew it! Lake Wobegon is a hateful place. Someone tell Guy Noir to round up the usual suspects.

    WHAT WE’RE COVERING

    Midmorning – Have you heard? There’s a recount of the Minnesota Senate race going on. MPR’s Mark Zdechlik joins Kerri Miller for a look at the long-running saga. In the second hour, Judy Collins is the guest.

    Midday – Have you heard? There’s a recount of the Minnesota Senate race going on. Law and election experts join Gary Eichten for a look at the long-running saga. In the second hour, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former president of Finland Martti Ahtisaari speaks live at the National Press Club.

    On All Things Considered this afternoon, MPR’s Elizabeth Stawicki looks at the Senate recount (you’ve heard, right?), and Robert Siegel dives into the question of what is “the new normal?”

    WHAT I’M DOING?

    I’m working on a week’s worth of Future Tense episodes as I fill in for Jon Gordon. I’m working on the potential of a Twitter-Google marriage and today I’m also interviewing a U of M prof on an effort at Roosevelt High School where students use digital tools to master “critical media literacy.” The U has a good story on it here.