Like Lightning! Usain Bolt Wins 100 in 9.69

Usain Bolt, with his left shoe untied, broke the world record in the 100-meter dash in 9.69 seconds at the Beijing Olympics today, giving the Jamaican the title of "World's Fastest Man" in a rout.

Associated Press noted that the record might stand for a while

"No one will get near it," fellow Jamaican Michael Frater, the sixth-place finisher, said of Bolt's record. Bolt beat Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago by 0.2 second — more than a body length — while American Walter Dix was third. The race marked the first time six runners broke 10 seconds in the Olympics.

Live From New York, It's the Olympics!

Robert Weintraub of the Columbia Journalism Review reports that many NBC Olympic announcers are sitting in New York calling the events that are taking place 12 time zones away:

Here is where the Peacock has been honest—announcers in New York, not Beijing, are calling many of these events. An analyst and a play-by-play man sit in front of large monitors and call the action off TV, just as many of us do in the privacy of our homes. (Wait, did I just admit to that?) Although the home viewer would be otherwise unaware, NBC has nonetheless had its announcers state up front and often that the action is being called from the States.

If they make it clear upfront that they are calling the event from New York, there really isn't any conflict or deception. I haven't heard such an announcement during the coverage, but I'm not watching the Olympics wall-to-wall. In this era of cost-cutting, I'm not too surprised.

It reminds me of a practice in the 1930s and 1940s. Local baseball announcers would not travel with the team for the simple reason that the technology wasn't really in place to call a game live from a remote location. So they would work out-of-town games sitting in their studios and using reports from Western Union!

Crude Oil Down, But Price at Pumps Lags

Once again, the cost of light crude is down, dipping to a close of $113.77 a barrel near the end of the market's close today. This is roughly a 23 percent drop from a high in mid-July of about $147 a barrel.

Unfortunately, the price at the pump still does not reflect a similiar dramatic drop. The AAA national average in the United States today is about $3.77 a gallon. That is
an eight percent drop at the pump from a high of $4.11 a gallon on July 17. If the price at the pump had match the light crude drop, we'd be paying $3.17 a gallon.

Prices don't fall at the pump as quickly as they rise. Much of that has to do with the nature of the beast. As the cost of gas increases, gas-station owners are forced to increase the retail price, or else face the consequence of losing money on every sale. As prices ease for the dealers, the free market takes control. Dealers reduce their prices to generate more sales than their competition down the block. They sell gas at the highest price they can within their own market, but not so high that they lose customers.

But you have the final say. The best thing consumers can do is vigilantly seek out the lowest price in town and buy there. The more drivers do that, the faster prices will drop. By the way, I was very happy buying at $3.48 a gallon yesterday, even though I had to drive across town to get it.

New Twist in Georgia Propaganda War

The BBC has an interesting angle on the conflict in Georgia, that is Georgia isn't completely innocent in this mess. It's a view that has not been presented in the Western media.

The BBC's Sarah Rainsford has reported: "Many Ossetians I met both in Tskhinvali and in the main refugee camp in Russia are furious about what has happened to their city.

"They are very clear who they blame: Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili, who sent troops to re-take control of this breakaway region."

It continues in its report:

Human Rights Watch concluded after an on-the-ground inspection: "Witness accounts and the timing of the damage would point to Georgian fire accounting for much of the damage described [in Tskhinvali]."

One problem for the Russians is that they have not yet learned how to play the media game. Their authoritarian government might never do so.

Reporters Shot in Georgia

Here's video of Tamara Urushadze, a Georgian reporter on assignment outside Gori, who apparently takes a bullet in the arm while working a story. Anderson Cooper of CNN also had a report Thursday night of four other reporters being shot at while working in that war-torn country. One of those reporters was hit in the left eye, according to Cooper.

I was personally fortunate to spend most of my life as a journalist behind a desk. My only risky situation was being arrested in Cuba, but my life was never in danger. I have worked with a number of journalist who put their lives on the line, and I admire these hardworking, dedicated individuals who venture into the toughest spots in the world to get a story that needs to be told. The Committee to Protect Journalist says 20 journalists have been killed beacause of their work so far in 2008. We are forever in their debt.

Obama Headline: Offensive or Too Much PC?

The Star Tribune of Minneapolis had a little problem with a headline it used on a story about Obama. Beth Walton of citypages.com describes it as such:

Last Thursday, Star Tribune reporter Mark Brunswick rushed from the state capitol to the Copper Dome restaurant in St. Paul to catch presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama as he ordered a three-dollar pancake breakfast to go.

For a story about little more than flour, Brunswick's piece wasn't that bad. Too bad the headline—"Guess who's coming for breakfast: Obama in St. Paul"—ruined it all.

But it seems the public just wasn't ready to be reminded that Obama is, indeed, black. In no time at all, the entire internet had unleashed its fury. Brunswick got e-mails about the piece saying it was demeaning and wrong. The headline was later changed and appeared online and in print as the blander: "Obama in St. Paul: Silk stockings and buttermilk pancakes."

What do you think, should the paper changed its headline? Is it truly offensive?