Never mind dancing hamsters. This is what the internet was made for.

Mt. Tremper writer Tony Fletcher, whose jazz-to-punk history of the New York music scene, All Hopped Up And Ready To Go, came out last year, has teamed up with 8tracks.com on an online radio station playing the music he chronicles in the book. It's a work in progress. Fletcher is going chapter by chapter, starting with the Harlem jazz scene in the 1920s.

It's pretty cool stuff, and a testament to how many powerful tools the web is offering now. Not long ago, a project like this would have required serious tech skills.

Having 8tracks.com at my back will enable me to focus on what I do best, writing about music rather than programming software.

Sad fact: Even in the world of organic, not all milk is created equal. Dairy farmer Dean Sparks breaks it down.

I live in Upstate NY, and I frequently check the dairy code numbers on products. Many organic products touting the “local” claim are actually made in California, Colorado and Wisconsin. Not exactly local.

You’ll find this especially true if you are buying the store brand “private label” milks from large grocery chains like Target, Safeway, Kroger, and many others. Many of these chains purchase cheap “organic” milk from large CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) out West. Do they know they are doing this? Sure they do, but they think that you, their loyal customer, are seeking value for your dollar in these tough economic times. And sure, we all are.

But not for the cost of our integrity.

Sparks has some tips for finding out what kind of farm your milk comes from, and how far it traveled to get to your fridge.

From the Colbert Report last night:

Ben Bernanke--who oversaw the collapse of not only the United States, but pretty much the entire world’s financial system, and brought our economy to its knees--has been reappointed as head of the Fed. Does this give you hope for being re-elected governor of New York?

Because, may I remind you: He screwed everybody.

The Watertown Daily Times reports.

Un-Natural Gas reports that Calvin Tillman, mayor of DISH, Texas, is visiting Delaware County later this month to talk about the problems his town has had with natural gas drilling.

DISH  hosts eleven massive natural gas compressors, four metering stations, eleven high-pressure gas lines, and numerous gas wells and gathering lines.  Its busy mayor had been warning other small cities located over the Barnett Shale that the chaotic growth of gas transmission lines and compressor stations could seriously jeopardize their economic future.

But numerous cases of respiratory distress reported recently by DISH residents have pushed public health concerns to the forefront.