A La Carte cable is a good idea
It is -- in spite of what certain religious broadcasters such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Paul Crouch are saying.

These guys are just trying to preserve their audience at the expense of everyone else. Their concern is that if the cable companies unbundle the stations -- that is, if you get to pick which channels you're going to pay for -- most people will not pick the religious (and I use that term loosely) channels. That means fewer people won't be surfing by Paul Crouch pleading for money to open another transmitter site.

The lunatic fringe has every right to broadcast. But they can't expect everyone to pay for them to do so. Bundled cable functions as a form of subsidy.


Four down
Betsy finished her online applications to the University of California last evening (today is the deadline). She applied to Berkeley, UCLA, UC Irvine, and UC San Diego. She is going to make some applications to a few out-of-state schools, too.


Recipe for newspaper survival in an Internet age
Robin Miller has a great article on Slashdot. He's on the mark -- especially on the aim local thing. That is one of the things I've appreciated about the Turlock Journal. It used to be a daily which was a bit of a community joke because they couldn't keep up with their own deadlines. Quality suffered. Ever since they've gone to twice a week they've been transitioning -- drawing in more community input -- community columnists. And community interaction with the paper is higher. That's the formula for survival when so many papers are in decline -- interaction.


Free wireless for NOLA
Only 10% of New Orleans has returned to the city -- but at least anyone who returns will have free highspeed Internet because of corporate donations.