Super Spammer Nailed, Drug Resistant Bugs and ReputationDefender.com!
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"Morning Meeting" is a recap of our daily editorial meeting. If we had a show today, these are some of the stories you would probably hear.
The Rundown. In attendance: Matt Martinez (who brought bagels!), newly married Dan Pashman, Alison Stewart (class secretary today) and Luke Burbank via speaker phone from home because his NPR computer was packed away because we are now based out of NYC.
KILLER BUGS -- Following up on yesterday's story about the man with XDR-TB, we wanted to explore the medical angle of this story today. What are the details behind this resistant TB? How could someone get it? We were also curious about the world famous Colorado hospital where he is quarantined. The health story is these extreme bugs. While resistant TB is rare, how concerned should we be about drug resistant staph or salmonella? Is it a cause and effect...science creates incredible antibiotics and the bugs adapt, so scientists create more medications and then bugs adapt and the cycle continues? Is it antibiotics in the food supply? What is going on?
ECONOMY ON PAUSE -- The economy had its worst three month showing in four years when it comes to growth. The pace was 0.6 percent. So what does that mean to you practically? That's what we want to know. "It's the economy stupid" was the rallying cry when Bill Clinton was running for POTUS, so why haven't we heard boo about it so far this election cycle? Emily Meehan from the WSJ.com did a great job of explaining some investment ideas to us last week...so we thought we would bug her again.
IT'S HEALTH CARE STUPID -- Okay, so maybe this issue is the one which will define the election. There has been some reaction to Senator Barak Obama finally unveiling his health plan yesterday. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who actually signed landmark legislation requiring all Massachusetts residents to have health insurance, gives the issue very little play on the stump or his website. Senator Hillary Clinton is in a uniquely sticky situation. She was put in charge of changing health care back in the 90's and we all know how that went. She has not released a detailed plan yet. The BPP would break down the candidates' plans at this point and look at the issue as a political football.
SO WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO L&O? -- As political pundits speculate about the effect of Law and Order actor/ former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson's entering the presidential race, we wanted to know, what the heck is happening to Law and Order? Thompson had to wait for the series season ender before embarking on this new journey. Sam Waterston, an L&O fixture, has been all over the media touting the need for a bipartisan ticket via the Unity'08 movement. There's speculation he may be interested in seeking some office. The show has been on for an unprecedented 18 years -- but could it run out of steam? (The original has not been the same since Jerry Orbach died, IMHO.) NBC announced L&O: Criminal Intent won't be seen on broadcast first, but on cable network USA. L&O-RIP? (dungh-dungh) The Guests--TV columnist? Dick Wolff? Chris Noth?
DO YOU NEED A NEW THING-A-MA-BOB? -- Palm unveiled its newest creation: The Foleo. It's somewhere between a Treo phone and a full-blown laptop both in capability and size. It has received cheers and jeers from tech watchers. We'd check in with our own gadget guest to find out if it is worth the 500 clams. Also, to find out more about Jeff Hawkings, the man who invented the Palm Pilot. Can he make that kind of mark again?
STALKING STOKKE -- So an 18-year old athlete just wants to be known for her phenomenal track and field record. Instead, the gorgeous jock has become the object of much affection and attention for web lurkers. Not to bag on my co-host, but when I brought up Allison Stokke's name, he recognized it immediately and said he likes to refer to her as 'Allison Burbank'. He confirmed she was indeed 'hot'. Allison Stokke is one of the most searched names at Yahoo. Websites and fan pages have been devoted to her. Some have since been shut down and her family has said they aren't into that kind of attention. All she did was become a great pole vaulter -- she also happens to look like a cross between Gwen Stefani and Natalie Portman. We are going to try to talk to the founders of a website called ReputationDefender.com about how a person can go about protecting him or herself from being vaulted (pardon the pun) into the public eye.
SUPER SPAMMER IN THE SLAMMER -- Authorities are claiming that with the arrest of one 27-year old troublemaker we will all see less spam in our inbox. Robert Soloway is now in federal detention awaiting a hearing on Monday. He could spend years in prison for elaborate spamming schemes that duped people into heading to websites where he sold advertising for hundreds of dollars. Other judgments have been levied against him. Microsoft even went after him and won a 7 million dollar civil judgment. You know it's bad when you are on Redmond's radar. Can one arrest really make that big a difference? We would try to find an expert on the spam universe.
DEPRESSION AND THE NFL -- A New York Times story today reports that depression in retired NFL athletes is directly related to concussions suffered during their careers. Other brain trauma studies have confirmed the same among the general population. We wanted to look at what these players go through physically when they are hit. Luke brought up the fact that football helmets are more advanced than ever but that the players are bigger and stronger too. We wondered if we could talk to someone who could explain the intensity of the sheer impact of two giant men colliding. Also, Dan wanted to know about whether or not the commercial sports structure has been looking the other way on this depression/concussion issue.
RAW TAPE -- THE SPELLING B-E-E -- We mulled over the idea of a segment called Raw Tape where we would just play a chunk of audio -- uncut, unedited but maybe interrupted by us for commentary -- or not. The subject could be as serious as the CDC pressure on TB man or as whimsical as the last three minutes of the Scripps Annual Spelling Bee, which is tonight!
11:10 AM ET | 05-31-2007 | permalink
