802 Online

Yes, I'm still on vacation, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to point out this column  from the July 18 Newsweek. Texas Republican Pete Sessions is pushing a bill in Congress that would outlaw municipal broadband initiatives like Burlington Telecom, the one that's up and running  — and about to expand — in Burlington. Sessions, incidentally, used to work for the telecom industry, which opposes municipal investment in broadband.

I blogged about the bill when I first heard about it earlier this month, and I'm excited to see a mainstream news source writing about this issue. Because of the technical nature of this debate, it's far too easy to tune it out. But banning municipal broadband would have a serious impact on Burlington and other communities who want to follow its example. We are literally deciding who will build and own the digital infrastructure that we'll be using for the next 100 years. These questions are far too imporant to be settled by a handful of lawmakers and lobbyists.

Apropos of Cathy's article last week about online gambling, this site invites you to "put your money where your mouth is!" on political and current events. There aren't regional sections, but that doesn't stop forum questions on statewide elections — the race for Virginia's governorship figures in a few wagers. No bets on Vermont politics are up right now (anyone care to guess which Rebublican will end up going head-to-head with Bernie for senate?), but  there is this item re:  whether or not Vermont's Supreme Court will rule that Howard Dean's gubernatorial records can be unsealed. (The case was heard back in March, but there hasn't been a decision yet, as far as I can tell.)

In general, this seems interesting, if only from a sociological perspective, because it forms a national index of hot-button items that people are willing to stake something on. Sort of like the ultimate in water cooler eavesdropping, though I guess direct opinion polls would be more accurate.

Howdy, all!

Many thanks to Cathy for trusting me with the keys while she's out of town. I'll try to be as on top of things as she always manages to be. Any feedback will be sincerely appreciated! I'm looking forward to a fun week, since 802 Online tends to cover topics I find fascinating — particularly the development of new media, and the exploration of "Vermont-ness." On that note:

Last week I visited Rural, Vermont. You won't find this burg on the list of the 251 Club (joining info here, courtesy of Dohiyi Mir's NTodd) — it's an online version of a complete yet entirely fictional Vermont town. The site is pretty darn involved, and very "Newhart"-esque. A full cast of characters with made-up names, occupations and photos serves as the starting point for pages of chat rooms, recipes, a literary journal, a bookstore, and links to statewide business associations, events listings, and pending legislation. It hasn't been updated since 1997 or ’98, but when it was first launched it won some community site awards. I thought at first it might have been a gimmick by the VT State Department of Tourism or local chambers of commerce, but it seems to have been fashioned out of whole cloth by Advantage Type & Graphics, a design firm in West Pawlet (now defunct?). They explained why they created the site, and seemed to have big plans for future development. But that was seven or eight years ago. I wonder what happened?

Anyway, this sort of thing strikes me as somewhere between cool and really weird. I mean, it's neat that someone cared enough about what makes Vermont such a nifty place to try to distill it into an online community, but this sort of treatment risks glossing over the real problems of the real people who live here by enveloping visitors in a fog of apple-cider nostalgia. I imagine that if Rural, VT ™ (yup, the phrase is trademarked) had been chartered today, it would have taken the form of a blog.  What do you think? Does anyone know of fictional/marketing blogs in Vermont or elsewhere that walk the borderline of the reality-based community? I'm taking bets on how long it will be before Cabot, Ben & Jerry's, or another Vermont-based brand jumps on the bandwagon.

I'm going out of town for a wedding, and 7D calendar writer Meghan Dewald is taking over the blog until I return next Wednesday. Be nice to her! She rocks.

Each summer, my family spends a week at Garden City Beach in South Carolina. For the past 40 years, my mother's folks, who live in Thomasville, North Carolina, have rented beach houses there to accommodate all of their kids, grandkids, and now great-grandchildren — 29 people in 2 houses this year. That's 2 80+ folks, their 5 kids, their 5 spouses, 11 grandchildren, 4 spouses/significant others of grandchildren, 1 foster baby, and 1 great-grandchild. In other words, a lot of people, representing Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, and Vermont.

And that was just in our 2 houses. Most of my father's family was hanging around, too. They still live in Michigan, in the suburbs around Detroit, where I grew up. About 20 years ago, they started making the trek to Garden City whatever week the Doretys would be there. This year, my dad's 3 siblings and their spouses — along with some of their kids and grandkids — showed up. One of his childhood friends from Detroit and his son tagged along, too. On July 4th, we had a party and invited everybody — 45 people in all.

This is a diverse crowd — Southerners, Northerners, white collar, blue collar, straight, gay, Southern Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Unitarian, flag wavers, environmentalists, soccer moms, autoworkers, latte sippers and Bud Lite drinkers all under one roof. And we had a great time.

As usual, I used the opportunity to take the pulse of our great nation. Here's what I found:

• Even conservatives have soured on the war in Iraq. Though many in my family (on both sides) can be loosely described as "socially liberal," nearly all of them voted for Bush in the last election. I try not to talk politics with them when we see each other, but they often insist. This time, when they got going, I asked about the war. All of them — from my crusty old grandfather to my uncle the autoworker — think it was a mistake. They're sharply critical of George W. Bush for leading us into this war. My step-cousin says her best friend's husband just came back, and he's a mental wreck after having to shoot at gun-toting kids.

• The adults are terrified of outsourcing. The Michigan contingent is especially fearful. My uncle Ken told what sounded like a preposterous story about outsourcing at McDonald's. He said they want to route the orders at the drive-through into operators in India, who will then relay the orders to the kitchen in the states, so that customers in their cars will get their orders faster. Not sure how true that is. Bottom line is that they all hate outsourcing, and think it will dramatically decrease the quality of our lives. They think none of the politicians addresses it adequately.

• Southerners aren't as intolerant as Northerners would sometimes think. My Southern Baptist aunt and uncle had a long discussion with me and my partner about a doctor in Winston-Salem  who decided to transition from male to female. They were very supportive.

• The kids don't read newspapers, and most of the adults don't pay a lot of attention to the diminishing amount of actual news in newspapers. I picked up the Living Section of the local paper, and it had 5 different advice columns. FIVE! There were 2 stories. The only person who seemed nearly as concerned as me was my grandfather, a former account and fighter pilot, a member of the "greatest generation" who has discovered a taste for books about the "greatest generation." He confided that he's disturbed by media consolidation and downsizing. Finally, common ground!

• All of us are excited about Harry Potter VI, but most of my family will buy the book at Wal-Mart ($16+)rather than at a favorite indy bookstore ($32).

All that polling and such aside, I had a great time. Can't wait to get back again next year.

The picture shows my dad, his friend Gene, my Uncle Ken, and my Uncle Jim — native Detroiters — talking on the 4th of July.

It was a fun week in Myrtle Beach, as evidenced by this photo of my dancing dad. I'm headed home, posting via complimentary wi-fi from the MB airport. A more detailed update of what I learned about America on my vacation when I return.

Saw this NY Times article on the Drudge Report this morning, about Vegas casinos expanding their operations. Apparently some of them are planning to allow gamblers to use wireless devices to play the slots while relaxing poolside. The gizmos, which would be available at hotel/casinos, may be in use early next year.

The devices wouldn't actually be connected to the Internet, so technically it's not online gambling. But it's close enough that I can justify pointing out my article  in this week's paper, about online poker. Writing this story was fun. The central conflict is very sharply defined. Online gamblers say that what they're doing is legal. Law enforcement officials say it's not. And yet the gaming industry continues to expand. It's a curious situation.

Haven't gotten any negative feedback on the story yet, which may be proof that it was balanced, or might simply mean that no one's reading it. The guy from PokerStars did email, though. He said he liked the story, and offered to send me some shwag. "Not to recruit you in the criminal element," he writes, "but if you'd like a PokerStars fleece or jacket, pls reply with
size and address and I will send you one." Tempting, albeit unethical.

And don't forget, you can bet on poserFish starting Monday, if you dare.

I just heard an interesting segment on soaring competitions in Vermont  on the National Public Radio show "Only a Game." You can listen to the story on their website. I particularly like the part where one of the guys says he landed in a farmer's field once, and was immediately put to work baling hay.

I heard the story in my car, and stayed there to listen to it until it was over, even though I was already home. NPR calls this a "driveway moment," even though I parked on the street in front of my house.

VT Politics  is closing shop. For six weeks or so, the anonymous scribes, known only as "we are insiders and you'd never guess," served up sometimes stale but often salacious gossip about statewide politics. Honestly, I'll miss 'em. They gave me something to write about — you can access the VT Politics flame wars via the 802 May archives .

As for why they've chosen to depart, they offer only this explanation: Due to a threat made against one of our family members, we feel the need to stop posts. We will see what the future holds.

Indeed. Thanks, Morgan , for the tip. I guess that makes Politics VT Vermont's defacto king (queen?) of anonymously posted politco news.

I haven't tried it yet, but here's what Milton resident Steve Mermelstein, of #!/usr/bin/geek, has to say: "Makers of the popular podcasting aggregator software like DopplerRadio and iPodderX have nothing to worry about. iTunes 4.9 with Podcasting support is out and it sucks royally."

What do y'all think?

I'm practicing my Southern lingo in preparation for the ol' family vacation this weekend in Garden City Beach, S.C.