• two people killed during protests in Afghanistan yesterday
• four more injured – one jerk actually did it at Ground Zero source

• LFO had a couple hits, leukemia made Rich Cronin sick, and sadly, he died at the end of the summer, of the summer. He liked girls that wore Abercromie & Fitch, he fought hard and he had one wish – to teach people about acute myelogenous leukemia. Cronin, 35, co-wrote “Summer Girls,” the 1999 boy-band song above. He died of the disease today. Love or hate the song, let’s just admit that he lived a pretty good, well-meaning life. RIP man. source

• This was all inevitable. It is the cycle of capitalism. The story of industrial revolutions, after all, is a story of battles over control. A technology is invented, it spreads, a thousand flowers bloom, and then someone finds a way to own it, locking out others. It happens every time.
• Wired editor Chris Anderson • Discussing the possibility that the Web is becoming less important in our lives. Why? Well, the Web is complicated, with many layers. Apps and other forms of connecting to the ‘net just work. We don’t buy this. As Anderson notes himself at the start of his article, they were wrong about Push notifications killing the Web way back in 1997. Why should we believe them now? (Also, the mag takes an interesting approach to laying this story out; Michael Wolff is on the other side of the coin, claiming that other companies forced apps onto us. Yeah, that’s it, too.) source

• Their grief for Jullissa is as fresh today as the day over a year ago when Markoff took Julissa away from them. The long-awaited criminal prosecution was their only opportunity to confront him, and now he has taken that away as well.
• Lawyer Djuna Perkins • Discussing suspected Craigslist Killer Philip Markoff’s prison suicide today. Perkins, the lawyer for Julissa Brisman’s family, emphasized that her clients were “shocked and dismayed by the news.” It was a long way down for Markoff, a medical school student who was about to get married before he reportedly started attacking massage therapists that he met on Craigslist and got arrested, presumably with a life sentence in the cards. Crazy situation for sure. source

• From frozen tundra, we built airports, roads, ports, water and sewer systems, hospitals, clinics, communications networks, research labs and much, much more.
• Former Sen. Ted Stevens • Speaking during his unsuccessful 2008 Senate campaign. Stevens, perhaps the most well-known politician in Alaska until Sarah Palin came along, was a tireless advocate for his state. While the many earmarks were controversial, it earned him some high marks amongst the people in his home state. He defended the earmarks in part because the state was relatively new, the government owned most of it, and there were numerous strategic reasons for modernizing Alaska. The state legislature responded by making him the “Alaskan of the Century” back in 2000. The scandals and flub-ups he faced late in his career (including the embarrassing “series of tubes” incident) put a negative mark on a popular politician, but ultimately, he was cleared of the ethics charges against him, leaving his reputation relatively in check. Still, a sad end for an iconic senator. source

• As we’re sure you’ve heard, Ted Stevens died in a plane crash. Looking beyond the man’s history (a long-standing Alaska senator who finished his career in scandal) and the crash itself (which killed five and injured four others, including a top aerospace executive), it’s good to point out a little bit of the culture around why Ted Stevens, who was 86 years old at the time of the crash, was in a small plane in a remote region of Alaska, rather than, say, on the road. Simple answer: It’s pretty much the best option available. source

Alaska: A state built for small planes

• 1.3 the number of pilots per 100 people in Alaska source

• » Why? Simply put, Alaska has a very complex geography which makes it impossible to drive to the many small towns that pepper the state. So instead, they fly. In fact, there’s a whole cottage industry around flying in small aircraft, or air taxis, as the natives call them. So, as a result, it has a higher pilots-per-capita than any other state by far.

Stevens: Synonymous with planes in Alaska

• Stevens was no stranger to planes, or plane crashes. In 1978, Stevens survived a plane crash in Anchorage that killed his first wife, Ann. It’s also worth pointing out that Ted Stevens has an entire airport named after him, the “Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.” Will they keep the name? It’s going to be a strange reminder of a man who died in a plane crash.

• 435 days between Wave’s birth and death source

• Unfortunately, I’m afraid, and it’s with a heavy heart, to report that we have pulled so far (six) bodies from the river. … I can honestly say that in my 26 years of service I’ve never seen anything of this magnitude. And I hope I never see it again.
• Shreveport, La. Fire Chief Brian Crawford • Describing the sinkhole that killed six people last night. (A seventh was rescued.) The 18-foot hole sucked in the teenagers, who largely didn’t know how to swim and had otherwise been in the shallow water. A friend of the families, Marilyn Robinson witnessed the deaths: “None of us could swim. They were yelling ‘help me, help me. Somebody please help me.’ It was nothing I could do but watch them drown one by one.” Harrowing. source

• A wild idea with a sad ending. A couple years ago, Chris Higgins of Mental Floss came across a man’s photos – apparently, he took one Polaroid every day for 18 years, in a period ranging from 1979 to 1997. What forced him to stop? Well, he got cancer. What started out as an goofy collection of photos grows much sadder and more emotionally gripping – and then, one day, it stops. Jamie Livingston‘s life. What a gut punch of a find. source