China

China gets all the perks. First it was announced that they would play host for this year's Olympics. If that weren't enough they also got the total solar eclipse.

You can go here to check it out in case you missed it. They have a few videos recapping the amazing event. Totality occurs a little after 51 minutes in the telescope-only video.

I will always be amazed by the cosmos. I do recall a solar eclipse when I was in elementary school that was truly amazing.

Patch Print Problems In Three Easy Steps

I'm a parasite.

A leech.

According to this article in the Maui Time Weekly I am part of the problem, not the solution. Ted Rall makes some interesting market-based points about how to remedy the tanking print industry. Among them, all newspapers should pull the plug on their online offerings.

Other suggestions included copyrighting every article and cease participation in wire services.

Other key points:

• "The New York Times or the big city daily has better news, but how much better?" said San Jose State University business professor Joel West. "If it's $20/month (or even $10 or merely requires a login) will readers bother? Most won't. As with other commodities, better loses to 'good enough.'"
• "A reader of The New York Times' print edition generates about 170 times as much revenue as someone who surfs NYTimes.com. (This is because print readers spend 47 minutes with the paper. Online browsers visit the paper's website a mere seven minutes)."

Be Gabriel Almeida

Attention journalists: You may recall introductory lectures from your journalism classes instructing you on a story's legs and newsyness. Well, Gabriel Almeida is getting the press all of our professors foreshadowed.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - An 11-year-old boy is enjoying a flash of fame in Brazil after biting a pitbull that attacked him as he played in his uncle's back yard, local media reported on Thursday.

Gabriel Almeida, who lives on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte in the state of Minas Gerais, broke a canine tooth when he bit into the dog's neck to fend off an attack. Since then, he has been pampered in the studios of several TV stations, where he has been recounting his ordeal.

And what do we all know class? Dog bites man isn't a story, but Man bites dog certainly is.

"I grabbed him by the neck and bit," he told O Globo newspaper. "It's no big deal. It's better to lose a tooth than to lose your life.

"He was freed when bystanders pulled the dog off him and needed four stitches in his arm.

What's Wrong With 'Sex Fruit'?

From the AP wire/Yahoo! News:

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A family court judge in New Zealand has had enough with parents giving their children bizarre names here, and did something about it.

Just ask Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. He had her renamed.

I don't see many problems with Talula, perhaps the problem arose due to the 'does the hula' part. It sounds more like an instructional video than a name. Using verbs as middle names is inventive. At least we know the girl's parents took something from school. They can form simple sentences. Subject. Verb. Object.

The story continues saying the judge listed other odd names that were prohibited. I wonder if the recent celeb baby names were on the list. Among some of the nixed names were: Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit.

• Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin take note; naming your kids after food = not cool.
• Everyone knows Detroit sucks.
• I'll take a guess that Keenan and Lucy were the parents.
• Frankly, I see no problem with Sex Fruit. I was planning on attaching that moniker to my first born.

According to the story, allowed names include "Number 16 Bus Shelter" and "Violence."

Prez Candidates' Reps Discuss Media

TV Week posted this article yesterday regarding McCain's and Obama's views on media ownership and access.

Candidates’ Differences on Media Outlined

Barack Obama would more closely examine broadcasters’ public-interest obligations, while John McCain would ensure that the government doesn’t take steps to interfere with the Internet’s growth, surrogates for the candidates are suggesting.

At a forum Tuesday sponsored by the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council, former FCC Chairman William Kennard, speaking for Obama, and former Assistant Secretary of Commerce John Kneuer, speaking for McCain, offered sharply different views of the Federal Communications Commission’s future under their candidates.

This was an interesting point refuting the Web as an equal alternative to traditional broadcast.

Mr. Kneuer, now senior VP of strategic planning and external affairs for Rivada Networks, also said proponents of consolidation wrongly cite the Internet and new media as providing competition, when most Americans still get their news and information from traditional broadcast and cable media. Advertisers too spend most of their media dollar on the traditional media.