pimblr.com

The college coffee shop is traditionally a place for caffeine and conversation. But many hours of many days, the loudest sound in Dinkytown’s Purple Onion is the hissing of the barista’s espresso maker.
On a recent day in the Spring semester, Junior Tim Nelson and Senior Tim Moore shared an increasingly rare face-to-face conversation about the new technology sitting on the table between them and resting in their hands.
“I can actually send text messages through my computer, too,” Nelson tapped on his open keyboard.
Moore both laughed and frowned as he thumbed the keys on his cell phone. “That’s ridiculous. It IS!”
In the “land of laptops” and “state of texting”, tradition is just getting started.
Both Nelson and Moore are pursuing degrees in media. They see a kind of electronic mania underway.
“Well,” Nelson observed to Moore, “I’ve seen this guy text 2 separate messages from 2 separate phones at the same time. Have you ever seen people do it one handed, while talkin’ to somebody across the room?”
Moore agreed that he had.
Generations coming of age in the brave new wireless world are confining much of their communication to silent cell messages. Nelson admitted “Very seldom, we use a phone to, you know, just ask somebody a question or, you know, say something really quick.”
Moore sees the new gadgets as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, “It makes communication faster for sure and there are definitely advantages, efficiency-wise.”
On the other hand, “It allows people to remove themselves and not necessarily have to confront issues right there in front of them.”
Moore’s fears strike a chord with Macalester College Media Professor Leola Johnson. “I
see the consequences of that as radical fragmentation of our society.”
Johnson worries about sweeping electronic isolation.
“Everybody having their own little individual news universe, ’cause one of the things that made us a nation, a unified nation, was, you know, a common press, a common communication system and we may not have that anymore.”

kare11.com

Menacing storm clouds prowled across the sky for much of the afternoon but mostly kept from delivering downpours akin to the previous weekend’s washouts. Only toward the end of the eight-hour day did heavy showers sweep through the fairgrounds, drenching attendees but not affecting the shows.
The lineup again was a mix of marquee acts and lesser-known groups. The Lee Brothers, from Miami, rocked the blues tent with their rollicking You’ve Got to Move. The song started slow and low but steadily picked up pace, taking on the feel and sound of a runaway train. As guitarist Roosevelt Collier plucked at his pedal steel guitar, an electric guitar mounted on a stand and played from a sitting position, audience members danced in the aisles, jumped up and down and waved their arms to the mounting melody.
Outside at the traditional jazz stage, Glen David Andrews and the Lazy Six brass band brought the traditions of a New Orleans impromptu street party to several hundred spectators. After belting out standards such as Mardi Gras and I’ll Fly Away, Andrews, dressed in a dark pinstripe suit and designer sunglasses, jumped into the crowd and led them in street-parade-style dancing.
He was later joined onstage by members of the Old & Nu Style Fellas Social Aid & Pleasure Club, who waved fans and feathers and danced to the tunes.
Food vendors continued to be a main attraction. Some of the star offerings: fried soft-shell crab po’ boys, crawfish bread, pecan catfish meuniere, oyster Rockefeller bisque and jambalaya.
Jason Smith, 35, of Atlanta, said he dashes from one food booth to the next between musical sets. “It’s as much a food festival as a musical festival,” he said, finishing a fried shrimp po’ boy.
Art Neville thrilled the crowds with a rare solo performance. Then he thrilled them some more when he called out brother Aaron to join in for a few final songs. The duets were a glimpse of what’s expected for Sunday, when the Neville Brothers, New Orleans’s “first family of funk,” play together at Jazz Fest for the first time since Katrina.

usatoday.com

Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch is understandably excited about heading into this weekend’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway, the first race along the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup tour where he and his Pat Tryson-led team will be playing on a "level playing field."
"At least we should be able to find our team’s transporter this weekend at Martinsville," Busch said with a chuckle, referring to his team’s pre-season points-swap with the No. 77 Penske team which put his No. 2 Dodge team in an unusual environment for the first five races this year. "It’ll be great to get back to the track for a race where we’re in a totally non-handicapped situation.
"We’ve started 29th or further back in all but one race so far this season – started dead last at Daytona and 36th in two races when qualifying got rained out – so this season so far has been a matter of playing catch-up in every race," said Busch, now 10th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup points entering Martinsville. "We’ve had to come from deep in the field in so many races that we have to be leading in the most-cars-passed category."
A quick look at NASCAR’s current "Loop Data" statistical update shows that Busch has indeed been impressive in passing cars during the first five races of the 2008 season. He ranks second in total "green-flag passes" with 486.
When told of that statistic, Busch was quick to comprehend and comment. "Well, if we’re second, I certainly want to shake the hand of the guy who leads it," Busch said emphatically. "Anybody who has passed more cars than we have so far this season definitely deserves some kind of award.
"I can tell you this much – we’ve certainly passed a lot of cars," added Busch. "I know that NASCAR refers to ‘quality passes’ in their stats as passes while running in the top 15. I know we can’t be ranked very high in that category because in the first five races, we’ve spent the majority of the laps just trying to get up into the top 15. Hopefully, starting at Martinsville this weekend, we can really start putting up some numbers in that column."

paddocktalk.com

Rain cancels Cup qualifying at Bristol
Bristol, TN (Sports Network) - Showers arrived at about 1:30 p.m., and never left, forcing the cancellation of Sprint Cup qualifying at the famed Bristol Motor Speedway. By rule, the Sprint Cup starting grid for Sunday’s Food City 500 will be set by 2007 owner points. Beginning next week any rain out will use 2008 owner points.
Hendrick Motorsport No.48 Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson will start on thepole with teammate Jeff Gordon on the outside of the first row.
Clint Bowyer and Matt Kenseth will start in row two.
Other drivers of note and their starting positions: Casey Mears (5th), TonyStewart (6th), Jeff Burton (8th), Carl Edwards (9th), Kevin Harvick (10th),Dale Earnhardt Jr. (15th) and points leader Kyle Busch (22nd).
After four races on high-speed tracks, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns toits roots at the historic Bristol Motor Speedway short track. It is likely tobeanotherknock-down-drag-out fight with bent sheetmetal galore andfrustrated and angry drivers.
Right now, the hottest driver in NASCAR is Busch. In his first year with JoeGibbs Racing and Toyota, Busch is putting on quite a display.

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Robert Wickens scored Canada’s first win in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport series, winning an action-packed Sprint race in Durban, South Africa, yesterday.
The Torontonian, the youngest pole-sitter in A1GP, got off to a good start and despite being hit from behind by New Zealand’s Jonny Reid at Turn 1 and losing his five-second lead due to a safety car period toward the end of the 15-lap race, the 18-year-old managed to keep Great Britain and Switzerland at bay to record the first victory of his A1GP career.
“I knew that we had a very good chance at winning the race because we were quick in qualifying and we had a really solid race car through practice,” Wickens told TSN.ca.
“I was basically going into the start with my whole goal just to make it into the first corner, and that was slightly hairy. I broke and I think either Jonny thought I was going to brake later or maybe he overshot it, I don’t know. I’m not going to jump to any conclusions, but I saw him coming really quick behind me so I actually let off the brake to try and give him more space, but we still made contact and damaged my car a little bit as well.”
Great Britain’s Oliver Jarvis, who was wheel-to-wheel with Reid in Black Beauty as the pack tussled for position going into Turn 1, managed to gain two places and hold second position, despite sustaining damage to the distinctive red, white and blue car.
Wickens and Jarvis were joined on the podium by Switzerland’s Neel Jani in third. The 24-year-old Swiss star started the race fifth and made up two places to score crucial championship points for his nation and regain the title lead from New Zealand.
Switzerland regained the lead in the championship as France failed to score any points and New Zealand picked up one point for setting the fastest lap.
China’s Congfu Cheng raced from 10th on the grid to finish fourth. The Netherlands’ Jeroen Bleekemolen was fifth.
After a safety card period for Bruno Junqueira, who hit the wall on Lap 9, the race restarted with just two laps remaining.
Weather postpones NASCAR race: Rain continues to wreak havoc on the NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule. The Stater Bros. 300 race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., was postponed for a second straight day because of rain, and is scheduled to run today at 1 p.m.
Jeff Burton’s Chevrolet, which inherited the pole position because of last season’s owner’s points, will be joined by points-leader Tony Stewart’s Toyota in the front row.

canada.com