prepossessing

Bronx Bodega

A rare hot San Francisco day yesterday briefly yielded some chilly wind off the Bay at sunset, but then settled sweetly into a balmy Bay Area night.  The perfect kind of night to sit on a pier just off the Embarcadero and watch a series of citizen-produced news pieces at the last NewTeeVee pier screening of the summer.  After a brief discussion of the pros and cons of citizen journalism by panelists Josh Wolf, Andrew Fitzgerald, and Sue Kwon, each of six short segments was projected onto the side of a warehouse and critiqued by a trio of local judges.  Aimee and I both voted for the above video which hilariously breaks down the phenomenon of the Bronx bodega, but the Alive in Baghdad video that ended up winning was also inspiring, in a more heart-rending sort of way, depicting the aftermath of a sectarian mortar attack in Iraq.  Like one of last-night's panelists I'm looking forward to the day when video on the internet is as comprehensively searchable as text documents are now, so that citizen news done right is easier to find and doesn't get buried by this week's viral video.  Though there will always be a place in my heart for cute cats on YouTube.

Science Thursday:
iPhone hacked by teenager — duh | Newsweek | BusinessWeek |
Strap on goggles, step out of body | ABC News | Scientific American |