Link Roundup 8/21/2013

Seems we’ve got a lot of interesting news lately.

Disney/ABC is having layoffs.  Interesting but not unexpected as the company is obviously changing focus.

Did you know we export garbage in the US for recycling?  Did you know China isn’t taking some of our stuff anymore?  Politics, science, and recycling intersect in a must read article that will remind you just how complex the global economy is.

Food for thought.  Can a donation model work for streaming music?

Al-Jazeera America’s strategy includes a return to news styles we’re kind of missing.  I’ve been concerned that America’s quality of news – sensationalistic, specialized, and for short attention spans – leaves us vulnerable in a global market.  Sure Al-Jazeera has reputation issues now, but what if they overcome them?

– Steven Savage

 

Elder Geeks Speak: Listening to Us Old People

Last week I looked into how we Elder Geeks could discuss careers, provide advice, and otherwise help the younger geek crowd career-wise. There’s a challenging series of gaps there, so I wanted to give the advice necessary to bridge those gaps.

Of course the flip side is that, no matter what we do, the other half of the equation are the younger people looking to us for wisdom. Yes, that’s a terrifying thought, but that’s the kind of situation we’re in – guess what old geeks, we are the experts.

But for the younger geeks, I also wanted to provide some advice – how to get the maximum amount of information from us. So here’s my advice for talking – and listening – to us when we get up and blather at conventions and such.

(It may also give ideas about how to arrange events and such).

Read more

Elmore Leonard, R.I.P.

Elmore Leonard, famous crime novelist, passed away at 87.  You can find out much more about him at his Wikipedia page.  This is after all the guy who has had huge amount of Hollywood writings and adaptions to his name (Hey, Scott, you got more to do here).

He also left behind a lot of advice: that you’ll definitely want to check out.

– Steven Savage