Joel Achenbach, a sometime science writer for the Washington Post and National Geographic, is spring cleaning his old files. He ponders a file about Carl Sagan, the late astronomer and PBS star, plunders some good quotes and (this is not a surprise ending) decides to keep Sagan around.

Earlier this month, PBS apparently strapped webcams onto several cows and launched MooTube, a bovine blog and video site promoting WNET's Texas Ranch House, set to debut May 1. "Ladies and gentleman, it is now official . . . the Internet is a wasteland," wrote TV blogger Richard Keller. "And, you can thank the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) for making it so." Less cynical reactions at Broadcasting & Cable and the Washington Times, among other outlets.

PBS has tapped SES AMERICOM to provide the satellite network for the PBS Next Generation Interconnection System, the network announced Monday. The current public TV interconnection system uses SES AMERICOM satellites as well. The NGIS, which will move the system from traditional program stream broadcasting to digital, non-real-time program file delivery, is scheduled to go into service later this year.