I just returned from dragging Ian around to IKEA (and, yes, the picnic table would NOT fit in the back of the Toyota) and to Fairway for shrimp and spices (a dinner that was supposed to be served ON the picnic table tonight). We're beat, so just some quick links of things buzzing around in the Internets.

Malcolm Gladwell reviews Chris Anderson's Free: The Future of a Radical Price.

Ezra Klein writes, "Last month I sat down with Pollan, who consulted on "Food, Inc.," and
Robert Kenner, who directed it. "The way farm policy gets made in this
town is within a very tight group of people," Pollan said. "Industry,
committees on the Hill, the USDA, and very little input from us."" My inner grad student is shouting,"Hugh Heclo! Iron Triangle!"

New York State politics are in serious mess right now. The Senate can't pass major legislation, so the Mayor lost control over the schools in Manhattan. Ugh. The worse-than-useless NYC Board of Education comes back to life. I have to do a corruption in state capitals post soon. 

One of my listservs is ranting about Twitter. One guy is complaining that he doesn't want to read what people are eating for dinner. He only wants links to research. OK, Boring McBoring. It is mildly annoying that a sociologist isn't interested in people's ordinary lives and that a media expert isn't interested in how people truly use social media.