Why aren't any of you 700-800 armchair-activists who visit our site every day using our nifty new comment system? What, you just wanna read what we write and not say anything about it? That's not very Opensewer-like.

On another note... If you're wondering why the updates to the art galleries and OS Gathering pages have been so infrequent recently, it's because Rose and I are both totally preoccupied with my imminent completion of graduate school within the next few weeks. Bear with us, please...

Feel like you're working way, way too much? You're not the only one. Mark Morford says You Deserve A Month Off. (Thanks Christina Wodtke.)

I like keeping up with Jim Hightower's dispatches when I can, which isn't often enough. He's got some good info on everyone's favorite super-chain store monster, Wal-Mart.

Also, heads up if you live in Michigan or Russia.

I'm convinced that one of the reasons why more and more people are dropping out of the political process is that the political discussion rarely addresses the problems that actually affect the way people live. (NY Times; you know the drill.)

Saturday is a good day to look at things positively: In the New York Times, The Newly Rich Are Fueling a New Era in Philanthropy. (User name: opensewer; password: iswatching.)

Frat Boys Rule The Earth. "It's an angry, violent, warmongering world out there right now. You just live in it."

Yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, Rick Anguilla, Nike’s director of brand communications, said that skateboarding will soon become so mainstream that “in the next few years, the kid who plays Little League baseball is going to be considered ‘alternative.’” The nexus for this cultural transformation is of course Orange County, California, whose municipalities contain America’s most archetypal suburbs since Levittown.

I thought white people were starting to like cities again. Is Orange-County-hip representative of the suburban magnetism that could keep Generation Y from seeing any value in an urban life? Was the 1990s revival of urban living in cities all across the U.S. just a brief glimpse into what America could be like if we learned to live more densely and sustainably? Was the move back into cities just a Gen-X thing?

Continuing in the festivities of TV Turnoff Week, today we bring you the views of an unidentified yet incredibly aware 15-year-old:

If we want to make this work it seems like school should be the last place TV is viewed on a common basis. Or is wasting millions of teenagers class time to peddle junk food and biased news a good idea? I dunno, seems as if school is sending contradicting messages.

Join the discussion on the TV Turnoff Message Board.

There are still so many things in this world that can make you smile:

Sun, fresh air, and cotton candy...what's not to like? Also...

A parking solution for a pushy city. The business plan? "Hey, if it doesn't work, I can always go back to golfing, right?"

(Both articles from the NY Times; user name: opensewer; password: iswatching.)

Everybody is against drugs in our schools, right? But how do we keep the schools drug free? Random school drug testing is raising a lot of alarms, hasn't shown to be effective, and certainly creates a more adversarial relationship between the students and the administration. But in Indiana, they are doing it anyway.

Are parents just afraid of kids, their own and others?

Judith Levine talks about teenagers and sex and how it's another area where withholding information is not the best for the kids, and how the school and legal systems are often set-up to work against the teens.

It's Earth Day! Who says you can't change the world?

I watched the digital bubble burst from afar—I wasn’t one of those in the trenches—and I did it in part by reading Wired magazine. Sometime in early 2000, I cancelled my subscription because I couldn’t stand the over-zealously optimistic attitude and the fact that the magazine was 60% tech advertisements. But I still picked up a copy now and then—just because I thought that maybe I was missing something.

Now, the “postcard from the future” is dying because of a lack of those glossy, forward-looking ads I hated. We all know it—the revolution has been over for some time. As technology becomes less wondrous and about as mainstream as a cul-de-sac, where is the space for a magazine called Wired? (NYT; login: opensewer; password: iswatching.)

The first commercial for TV Turnoff Week is airing this evening. They are looking for more donations for another spot, and they are accepting stories about experiences of TV freedom. I'm planning on keeping a diary myself. It's looking to be a very peaceful week.

We're going to try out this great, simple comment system from uigui.net. Let us know what you think!

Big-box retail development, one of the primary components of urban sprawl, creates conditions that harbor serious potential for urban blight should those stores become vacant. Retail is a fast-changing business, consumers are fickle and big-box buildings are not very adaptable to other uses. This article in the Arizona Republic is quite location-specific, but is illustrative of a more general problem that many U.S. metro areas are facing (or may soon face).

Everyone knows that a great majority of America's farms are cruel, but can a huge company like McDonald's take the lead in animal welfare? They seem to think so.

Our exploration of new bio-technology may be leading us down the road to a Post-Human future (NY Times; user name: opensewer; password: iswatching.) which doesn't sound so appealing to Francis Fukuyama, and maybe robots will alter our future in new and exciting ways, but will we ever escape our role as food processors?

America's commercial cultural exports already make up a form of "soft power" that influences other societies by implicitly promoting American values like personal freedom, upward mobility and democratic openness. ... The government can't do much to offset the hostility that popular products like "Baywatch" or Britney Spears videos can provoke. "Efforts to balance the scene by supporting exports of American high culture — libraries and art exhibits — are at best a useful palliative."

"... We need to engage people abroad on why they feel uncomfortable when they encounter America in their own living rooms. Many people interpret America in terms of its most visible artifacts — the Golden Arches or Mickey Mouse. American cultural diplomacy could demystify these artifacts and engage in a dialogue on why they're so popular." (NY Times; user name: opensewer; password: iswatching.)

California planning guru William Fulton talks about Economic Growth Without More People.

TV Turnoff Week update: In Nature, research further supporting the link between violent behavior in later life and teenage TV viewing habits. Also, Adbusters is raising money to put some empty air on CNN.

Wow, Josh, I was just thinking about TV today. How funny that you would mention TV turnoff week! I was thinking, “I wonder which exec at ABC took a dump and then said, ‘Wow! I’ll turn that into TV show, and we’ll call it The Bachelor.’ ” I’d like to thank Genevieve Roja at Alternet for her lucid critique of this affront to humanity. I guess The Bachelor (and all its ilk) exists for the same reason these things do.

TV Turnoff Week is just around the corner, April 22-28. Find out how you can take action now and get ready for the big week.

Some of the most amazing, beautiful things are happening 5000 light-years away.

Abstract thought of the day:

Consensual politics leave little room for principled dissent, for they assume basic agreement on underlying goals.

More on the impacts of beef production in this story in the New York Times, Power Steer. The author investigates the industry by following one cow through the cycle.

As an alternative, Eat Wild offers information on the ecological, nutritional, farmer, and animal benefits of pasture-based farming, and a directory of suppliers offering grassfed meats and pastured products.

NYTimes username: opensewer, password: iswatching; with thanks to Nobody's Fool.

With all this going on now you might have needed a reminder to set your clocks ahead yesterday, or that spring is here. Just be careful what you take to help you relax.

Very careful, apparently.

Also, good news for your reading rights.

Will globalization ultimately strengthen or destroy the state? Will it lead to more democracies or more revolutions? ...an excellent debate between Thomas Friedman of the New York Times ("...capabilities create intentions. In other words, if you give people B-52s, they will find ways to use them.") and Robert Kaplan of the Atlantic Monthly ("Globalization is not necessarily good news; it’s just the news. And the news could get scarier and scarier, because more interconnections will lead to complexity before they’ll lead to stability."). (Via A&L.)

Newsflash: People in America are rude. See also Public Agenda Online. (See also Amen below.)

Quite honestly I didn't get past the headline for this story: Bush to "exert moral leadership" in statement on Mideast.

Yesterday I read that Wal-Mart Heads Fortune 500 List but I don't think that it really hit me until I read a similar story today. Think about it: of all the corporations in the world, Wal-Mart is profiting more from our dollars than anyone else. More than Exxon Mobil. More than General Electric. What is it about Sam's Rules For Building A Business that can make a company so wealthy? Could it be their underhanded competitive tactics, despicable labor practices, and blatant disregard for communities? We think so.

Last year, the United States was voted off the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Following that, Congress voted to hold back $US244 million in dues until the United States was voted back onto the panel. Now, an agreement has been reached that will allow the U.S. to rejoin the commission. In 50 years, when we're no longer the world's leading economic power, we may not be able to be such a big bully anymore.

This is really too much: In Mount Trashmore's Shadow, the Gravy Train Slows Down. (NYT; login: opensewer; password: iswatching.)

You may have tried melatonin to help yourself get to sleep. Recent reports are questioning its effectiveness, and its potential dampening of the sex drive. Some people, however, might need a calmer night's sleep.