davidconnell.net

Fred Wilson nails it:

We are crossing a huge chasm from an industrial society to an information society. And there is immense pain in that transformation. Obama can’t solve the problem nor can any of his opponents. Time will solve this problem as new industries get built, people learn new skills and new jobs, and we dismantle entitlement systems that are not sustainable.

That is what is going on. I’d love to hear Obama tell the country that. But I doubt he will. But someone should.

via A VC: What Is Going On?.

Meet Goldendale, a small town with a population of about 3,000 that has seen economic growth and education opportunities from wind power. The dirty fuel industry likes to talk about how they create jobs and that every coal plan that gets shut down puts men and women out of work. So, it’s good to remember that there are energy sector jobs out there that don’t involve being killed in a mine explosion where it takes 22 hours for anyone to even know you’re missing.

***
TechCrunch’s MG Siegler has been all up in Facebook’s grill this week. He’s written about the social network’s photo sharing app; it’s not-so-secret plans/hopes and dreams — Code Name: SPARTAN! — to move away from native mobile apps in favor of the more open (ie, Facebook-controllable) space of HTML5; and the fact that it is finally rolling out a damned iPad app. Then he wrote about how annoyed and pissed Facebook’s PR people are at him for writing all this stuff and called it a war.

Say what you will about Siegler — and people have a lot to day about him, just check his comments — but the dude is a good blogger. He comes at you with an upfront point-of-view and when he gets his teeth into something he goes after it and covers every minute detail. He’s done this with Apple and Google (sometimes to the point of absurdity) and it looks like he’s getting into Facebook now. For those of us who care about this sort of thing, we’re well served by the parislemon.

***
In news from the big city, New York City police stopped and nearly ticketed a Dutch girl (seriously, she was) for riding her bicycle in a skirt. Washington DC is the most sexually active city in the country according to a study by Trojan. However, it turns out that DC residents aren’t enjoying all of that sex. The Trojan survey reveals what much of Congress already knows: Washington is full of self-loathing pervs.

In related news, New Belgium Brewing Company will be bringing its signature Fat Tire beer and lesser-known Ranger IPA to DC before Labor Day. And there was much rejoicing.

***
Finally, as we gear up for the do-or-die US v. Jamaica Gold Cup match today (I’ve got a bad feeling about this one) you can rest assure that Major League Soccer is doing all it can to bring high-priced, over-the-hill Europeans into the league at the expense of less-expensive players with more upside. The latest: AS Roma legend Francesco Totti to Los Angeles Galaxy (of course).

The Bin Laden/Obama memes flew fast and furiously this week. The subtle velociraptor version above happens to be my personal favorite. Time and The Atlantic have the rundown on some of the more popular memes this week.

In other Bin Laden news, he was apparently growing some pretty sick weed in his million dollar (or $460,000) compound right next to his cabbages and potatoes. But The Huffington Post assures us it was probably for medical purposes only.

SHOCKING! Fox News produced a misleading piece about climate change, weather and tornadoes, taking clips out of context and not including all the facts. The Wonk Room has the takedown, and The Nature Conservancy’s Sarene Marshall gives an inside view on what happened in Cool Green Science (see comments).

Starbucks or a hot meal? Coffee prices hit a 34-year high this week, meaning it’s going to cost you more to get that morning fix. Planet Green says heavy rains in South America, coupled with increased demand are driving up prices. I’m blaming the Trenta.

And finally, Clean up Your Mess! Daniel Higginbotham of Flying Machine Studios has a great eBook as website (or website as eBook) guide to visual design that is a must-read for anyone who cares about that sort of thing. Must-read for the awesome Aikido example he uses if for nothing else.