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Today's Topics:
1. Endangered cranes killed in Fla. storms (Greg Williams)
2. Test message (Greg Williams)
3. TiVo sees if you skip those ads (Monty Solomon)
4. Viewers Must Chip In For DTV Converters (George Antunes)
5. Preparing for daylight saving time changes in 2007 (Monty Solomon)
6. Portable, trash-powered generator ready for deployment
(George Antunes)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 01:31:44 -0500
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Endangered cranes killed in Fla. storms
To: Media News <medianews@twiar.org>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Endangered cranes killed in Fla. storms
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070203/ap_on_sc/whooping_cranes
By JAMES A. CARLSON, Associated Press Writer Sat Feb 3, 3:50 PM ET
MILWAUKEE - All 18 endangered young whooping cranes that were led south
from Wisconsin last fall as part of a project to create a second
migratory flock of the birds were killed in storms in Florida, a
spokesman said.
The cranes were being kept in an enclosure at the Chassahowitzka
National Wildlife Refuge near Crystal River, Fla., when violent storms
moved in Thursday night, said Joe Duff, co-founder of Operation
Migration, the organization coordinating the project.
The area of the enclosure was unreachable by workers at night, and all
the birds were found dead, Duff said.
"It's very traumatic to the whole team who put so much time and effort
into these birds," he said Saturday.
He speculated that a strong storm surge drew the tide in and overwhelmed
the birds, or they were electrocuted from lightning strikes reported in
the area. The official cause of the deaths was not immediately known.
The thunderstorms and at least one tornado that hit central Florida
caused widespread damage and killed at least 20 people.
For the past six years, whooping cranes hatched in captivity have been
raised at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin by
workers who wear crane-like costumes to keep the birds wary of humans.
Ultralight aircraft are used to teach new groups of young cranes the
migration route to Florida. Then the birds migrate north in the spring
and south in the fall on their own.
Duff described the loss as an "unavoidable disaster" for the whooping
cranes project. Ironically, for the first time in six years, an entire
group of young birds reared at the Necedah refuge had made it to the
Florida refuge without the loss of a single crane.
The various groups and agencies working on the project had seen the size
of the flock grow to 81 birds with the latest arrivals, but the loss of
the young cranes drops the total back to 63, and there may have been
additional losses.
Operation Migration is part of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership.
Partnership officials and Duff said the work would continue. Chicks are
expected to hatch in two months, he said.
The whooping crane, the tallest bird in North America, was near
extinction in 1941, with only about 20 left.
The other wild whooping crane flock in North America has about 200 birds
and migrates from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast. A non-migratory flock
in Florida has about 60 birds.
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 22:22:03 -0500
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Test message
To: wildfeeds@twiar.org, Media News <medianews@twiar.org>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Please ignore.
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2007 21:45:05 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] TiVo sees if you skip those ads
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
TiVo sees if you skip those ads
- David Lazarus
Sunday, February 4, 2007
TiVo revealed the other day that it's offering TV networks and ad
agencies a chance to receive second-by- second data about which
programs the company's 4.5 million subscribers are watching and, more
importantly, which commercials people are skipping.
This raises a pair of troubling questions: Is TiVo, which
revolutionized TV viewing with its digital video recording
technology, now watching what people watch? And is it selling that
sensitive info to advertisers and others?
...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/04/BUGJ8NTRT91.DTL
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 13:07:11 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Viewers Must Chip In For DTV Converters
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Viewers Must Chip In For DTV Converters
By John Eggerton
Broadcasting & Cable
2/2/2007 12:38:00 PM
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6413194.html
John Kneuer (pronounced "newer"), assistant secretary of commerce, head of
the National Telecommunications & Information Association, says NTIA does
not expect the government to cover the entire cost of the set-top boxes
analog-only sets will need in a digital-only world.
He also suggests there will not be a means test for the boxes, but rather
"broad eligibility."
Viewers of analog-only sets will be required to buy the boxes if they want
to watch TV on those sets after Feb. 17, 2009, which C-SPAN's Susan Swain
pointed out is only 28 days after a new President is sworn in.
The program is not intended to pay for the entire cost of the box, Kneuer
told Swain in an interview for cable channel's Communicators series. He
estimated the cost between $50 and $75 based on various manufacture res.
"It was explicitly contemplated that the $40 would be toward the purchase
price and there would likely be a requirement for consumers to make some
sort of payment on their own."
NITA is charged with coming up with a $1 billion--up to $1.5
billion--digital-to-analog converter box subsidy program for the digital
transition. NTIA has come up with rules for the program, which it has
submitted to OMB for vetting.
Kneuer said he was limited in what he could say about the rules, but when
asked whether there would be a means test, he suggested there may not be.
"You build a record and you look at that record," he said. "In this case we
have a fairly broad consensus in the record that while trying to be
fiscally responsible and not wanting to fund luxury consumer electronics
equipment there is a broad sense that there is very broad cross-section of
Americans that are going to be impacted by this and that to the extent
possible, they should be eligible."
Asked about comments in the trade press that the transition was analogous
to Y2K and whether or not there was a plan B, Kneuer said he wasn't going
to second-guess Congress adding that NTIA is putting in place a way to
track and record the transition "as it takes place" so it can identify
problems. He said NTIA will have an opportunity if it identifies transient
problems to take corrective action by taking that information to Congress.
Kneuer said he would seek corrective changes from Congress if need be, but
hasn't had the need to to so thus far.
Kneuer praised the NAB's consumer education efforts. "They are taking the
right kind of steps.... They'll be doing an in-kind ad campaign that is
many, many multiples of the $5 million we have [from Congress for an
education campaign].
Kneuer said there is now inter-agency working group between the FCC and
NTIA on the transition, saying it would be tough between an administration
agency--as NTIA is--and an independent one.
As the administration's chief telecom policy advisory, Kneuer said that
industries that were historically looked at as "stovepipe incumbent
monopolies. They are clearly tearing those stovepipes down and competing
with one another and we are going from a sort of monopoly landscape to a
highly competitive landscape."
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2007 17:32:01 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Preparing for daylight saving time changes in
2007
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
http://www.microsoft.com/dst2007
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 12:56:48 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Portable, trash-powered generator ready for
deployment
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Portable, trash-powered generator ready for deployment
By Martin LaMonica
News.com
http://news.com.com/Portable%2C+trash-powered+generator+ready+for+deployment/2100-11395_3-6155753.html
Story last modified Fri Feb 02 10:27:59 PST 2007
Scientists at Purdue University have developed a portable generator that
uses trash as its primary fuel source.
Called a tactical biorefinery, the device was designed at the behest of the
U.S. Army. But researchers say the generators could also be used in
civilian situations, such as emergencies that require portable generators.
About the size of a small moving van, the diesel generator can process
several types of refuse, including paper, plastic, Styrofoam, cardboard,
woodchips and food waste.
"This is a very promising technology," Michael Ladisch, a Purdue professor
of agricultural and biological engineering who leads the project, said
Thursday in a statement. "In a very short time, it should be ready for use
in the military, and I think it could be used outside the military."
The biorefinery uses two different processes to create fuel.
The machine separates food material into a bioreactor that uses the yeast
ferments to create ethanol.
Other materials go to a gasifier and are converted into propane gas and
methane, which then fuel the diesel engine that creates electricity.
The system is designed to run on diesel oil for several hours until the
gasifier and the bioreactor begin to produce fuel, researchers said.
The Army commissioned completion of a prototype and is considering it for
future use. According to its builders, the system lowers the potential
danger and expense of transporting fuel and waste and helps cover the
tracks of mobile military units because it destroys trash--the evidence of
their presence.
The generator is also an environmentally friendly alternative to
traditional diesel generators, they say. Using biomass as a fuel is less
polluting than oil because plants absorb carbon dioxide, according to
scientists at Indiana-based Purdue.
Also, they note that the system is efficient, with the first prototype
producing about 90 percent more energy than it consumes.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
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