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Today's Topics:
1. Golden age of radio to be showcased by Lawrence enthusiast
(Greg Williams)
2. July 18 ISS Spacewalk (Greg Williams)
3. Los Alamos: Classified files, computer storage devices found
in trailer-park drug raid (George Antunes)
4. A Battle Between the Bottle and the Faucet (George Antunes)
5. The Boat Is About to Rock (Again) in Internet Video
(George Antunes)
6. Investors sue Israeli spy satellite company (George Antunes)
7. Deficit: Sat-nav rival could crash and burn (George Antunes)
8. Hogwarts Square (Monty Solomon)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2007 12:57:02 -0400
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Golden age of radio to be showcased by Lawrence
enthusiast
To: medianews@twiar.org
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/jul/13/golden_age_radio_be_showcased_lawrence_enthusiast/
By Jon Niccum
July 13, 2007
?Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!?
Advertisement
Upcoming Event
"Return with Us Now: An Interactive Walk Through the History of Radio's
Golden Age, 1929-1962"
* When: Sunday, July 15, 2007, 2:30 p.m.
* Where: Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St., Lawrence
* Cost: Free
More on this event....
Radio shows
* The Shadow in "Death House Rescue," originally broadcast on Sept. 26, 1937
In 2000, Ryan Ellett was searching for an Internet radio station and
stumbled upon a Web site with downloadable episodes of the vintage radio
serial ?The Shadow.?
A show featuring the mysterious costumed crime-fighter ran from
1931-1954 and was best remembered for introducing the world to a
then-unknown Orson Welles.
?I had no knowledge of old-time radio at that point, but I recognized
the name from old movie serials and comic books, so I downloaded one to
pass the time. I?ve been hooked ever since,? Ellett says.
Seven years later, the Lawrence resident is editor of ?The Old Radio
Times? (www.otrr.org), the official publication of old-time radio
researchers. In addition to his collection of antique radio sets, he has
amassed approximately 45,000 programs from all over the world.
Ellett will play some of these classic selections during a free
presentation titled ?Return with Us Now: An Interactive Walk Through the
History of Radio?s Golden Age, 1929-1962.? The event takes place at 2:30
p.m. Sunday at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt.
?If you were born in the ?70s or later, you likely have no idea radio
drama ever existed. In our lifetime, radio has never been more than
news, music, sports and talk,? Ellett says.
Ellett says that the number of radio enthusiasts ? which he defines as
those who ?actively collect vintage broadcasts and enjoy reading and
doing research about the medium? ? probably numbers around 3,000 or
4,000. He describes it as a fairly obscure area of interest, and he
hasn?t met anyone else in Lawrence who fits the description.
?I know a few individuals who restore antique radios, and there?s a
local ham radio club, but all these areas of radio interest really are
distinct groups of hobbyists. There is not necessarily much overlap in
interest between them,? he says.
From among his many recordings, Ellett reveals he is most partial to
comedies.
?There are a surprising number that have aged very well,? he says.
??Fibber McGee and Molly? is a favorite of mine and many collectors.
?The Great Gildersleeve? was a spin-off of that show and my personal
favorite. It?s arguably the first sitcom in radio and television. Jack
Benny?s program is wonderful as well. ?Nightbeat? is another favorite,
about a Chicago newspaper writer who dug up stories while working the
graveyard shift. ?Gunsmoke? is fantastic, though overshadowed by its
television run,? he says. ?Many fans would agree it was the best
all-around radio drama produced in the U.S.?
Ellett says he and other radio enthusiasts work hard to raise public
awareness about the bygone art form through presentations such as his
library appearance this weekend.
?Radio drama seems to be the overlooked stepchild of the
entertainment/mass communications mediums,? Ellett says. ?Television and
motion pictures get all the attention.?
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2007 13:03:17 -0400
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] July 18 ISS Spacewalk
To: medianews@twiar.org
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-3749
James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
July 12, 2007
MEDIA ADVISORY: M07-086
NASA Sets Briefing and TV Coverage for Station Spacewalk
HOUSTON - NASA will preview an upcoming spacewalk from the International
Space Station and provide an update on other station activities at 1
p.m. CDT on July 18. NASA Television will provide live coverage of the
briefing and the July 23 spacewalk. During the briefing from Johnson
Space Center, media may ask questions from other NASA sites. Reporters
should call their local NASA center to confirm its participation in the
event.
The participants are:
- Bob Dempsey, Expedition 15 lead flight director
- Daryl Schuck, Expedition 15 lead spacewalk officer
On July 23, Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Clay Anderson and Commander
Fyodor Yurchikhin will don U.S. spacesuits and float out of the
complex's Quest airlock at approximately 5:30 a.m. CDT. NASA TV coverage
will begin at 5 a.m. The objectives of the 6.5-hour spacewalk are to
replace a failed power controller on the station's truss, jettison a
refrigerator-sized ammonia reservoir tank and clean seals on a docking
port on the Unity module.
Other upcoming station activities include the Aug. 2 launch of a new
Russian Progress cargo ship from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Carrying 2.5 tons of food, fuel, spare parts and other supplies, the ISS
Progress 26 will dock to the station on Aug. 5. Among the supplies are
new Russian computers and computer components. NASA TV will broadcast
the Progress' arrival beginning at 1 p.m. CDT. Docking is scheduled at
1:37 p.m.
For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2007 15:01:45 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Los Alamos: Classified files, computer storage
devices found in trailer-park drug raid
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed
Security lab may face $3.3m fine for data leak
Classified files, computer storage devices found in trailer-park drug raid
By H. Josef Hebert
The Associated Press
Updated: 6:15 p.m. CT July 13, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19752730/
WASHINGTON - The Energy Department proposed $3.3 million in fines Friday
against managers of the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab because of a
security breakdown in which classified documents were found in a
trailer-park drug raid.
The civil penalties, the bulk of them levied against the University of
California, the longtime former manager of the lab, were the largest such
fines the department has ever imposed.
The enforcement action stems from an incident in October 2006, when police
found more than 1,000 pages of classified documents and several computer
storage devices in a trailer occupied by a former worker at the lab.
The discovery was found during a police drug raid that focused on another
person living in the trailer.
The department said it was proposing a $3 million civil penalty against the
University of California, although the university was no longer the lab's
primary manager when the incident was discovered, and $300,000 against Los
Alamos National Security LLC, the consortium that succeeded the university
in June 2006.
The university was assessed the much larger fine because investigators
determined the security deficiencies that led to the October 2006 incident
were established during the university's tenure as prime contractor. It
also said the new management team did nothing to correct the vulnerabilities.
The university and Los Alamos National Security have 30 days to respond to
the findings, but in all likelihood the penalty will stand. The contractors
then could challenge the fines in court.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory said in a statement that it was
"committed ... to make security improvements consistent with those outlined
in the compliance order and has, in fact, already taken steps to address
many of the findings."
Chris Harrington, a spokesman for the University of California, said UC
officials would outline their concerns and objections in a formal response
to the department. He said among the points the university likely will make
are that the incident took place five months after the university's
sole-management contract expired.
The investigation into the security breach found that "management
deficiencies by both contractors were a central contributing factor" in the
employees' unauthorized removal of the classified material from the highly
restricted nuclear weapons complex at the laboratory.
The Los Alamos laboratory, one of the government's most prestigious
research facilities where the first nuclear bomb was developed in the
1940s, has been plagued by security problems in recent years from lost data
disks to allegations ? never proven ? of espionage.
Last month it was learned that a consultant to the board of the new
management consortium had sent an e-mail containing highly classified,
non-encrypted nuclear weapons information to several board members, who
forwarded it to other board members over unsecured computer systems.
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman called that incident a human error and not
evidence of widespread security failure.
But the incident uncovered during the drug raid last October was another
matter. It involved security breakdowns similar to ones that had occurred
in the past and had been considered corrected, investigators concluded.
Investigators found that an employee of a subcontractor, Jessica Quintana,
a 22-year-old archivist, had taken 1,219 pages of documents, and a dozen
computer data devices from the lab to her home where the material was
discovered during the police raid. The material included 1,001 pages and
four of the computer data devices classified as "secret" according to the
enforcement document made public Friday.
"The significance or gravity of the security breach is a central factor in
proposing" such a high penalty, said the notice of violation, issued by the
National Nuclear Security Administration. The agency overseas the DOE's
nuclear weapons activities.
Among the security violations cited were that the University of California
"failed to correct a known vulnerability" when it did not adequately
oversee the archiving of classified material by Quintana and did not have
the needed physical checks to keep material from being taken out of the
"vault-type room" where the scanning was being done.
Los Alamos National Security, which took over after the Los Alamos
management contract was opened for bids for the fist time in more than 60
years because of past security problems, did not act to correct the
problems, the investigation found. The violations cited against the new
group mirrored many of those cited against the University of California.
Los Alamos National Security is made up of Bechtel National Inc., BWX
Technologies Inc., and the Washington Group International Inc. as well as
the University of California, which had managed the lab on its own since
its inception in 1943.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19752730/
================================
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: 4
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2007 20:22:12 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] A Battle Between the Bottle and the Faucet
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed
July 15, 2007
Ideas & Trends
A Battle Between the Bottle and the Faucet
By BILL MARSH
NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/weekinreview/15marsh.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print
THOSE eight daily glasses of water you?re supposed to drink for good
health? They will cost you $0.00135 ? about 49 cents a year ? if you take
it from a New York City tap.
Or, city officials suggest, you could spend 2,900 times as much, roughly
$1,400 yearly, by drinking bottled water. For the extra money, they say,
you get the added responsibility for piling on to the nation?s waste heap
and encouraging more of the industrial emissions that are heating up the
planet.
But trends in American thirst quenching favor the 2,900-fold premium, as
the overflowing trash cans of Central Park attest. In fact, bottled water
is growing at the expense of every other beverage category except sports
drinks. It has overtaken coffee and milk, and it is closing in on beer.
Tap, if trends continue, would be next.
Now New York City officials ? like the mayors of Minneapolis, Salt Lake
City and San Francisco ? are campaigning to get people to reverse course
and open their faucets instead of their wallets. The city Health
Department, mindful of high obesity rates, says water is more healthful
than many other, sugar-filled drinks. The city?s Department of
Environmental Protection touts its low environmental impact. Both note that
it?s practically free (leaving aside those New Yorkers for whom paying
extra is a lifestyle choice).
New York?s water is the envy of municipalities everywhere. It is one of
just five major American systems whose water is so good it needs little or
no filtration, saving energy and chemicals. (The others are Boston,
Portland, Ore., San Francisco and Seattle.)
The system is self-sustaining from rainwater stored in reservoirs. Gravity
takes it downhill to the city, where pumps are unnecessary in all but a few
neighborhoods.
New York water is quite pure, requiring little chlorine, and low in
minerals, giving it a clean taste.
Sounds like an ad for bottled water.
But beverage industry representatives say their version is not just about
health and taste ? its plastic container, scorned by environmentalists, is
actually a plus for consumers.
?The tap water quality is fine in most of the United States,? said John D.
Sicher Jr., editor and publisher at Beverage Digest, a trade publication.
?The issue is convenience and shifting consumer preference. It?s not so
easy, walking down Third Avenue on a hot day, to get a glass of tap water.?
Bottled water has profited from the sagging image of soft drinks, a
category in decline for nearly a decade (but still the most consumed of
beverages, by far). Preferences evolve ? could it be tap?s turn?
?Through education and motivation you can get people to change their
habits,? said Emily Lloyd, commissioner of the Department of Environmental
Protection, citing smoking, recycling and wearing seat belts. Convenience
comes in different forms, she added: ?It?s easy to fill a bottle of water
and stick it in your backpack.?
With surveys showing climate change a growing concern, officials and
advocates say they hope people will consider the implications of billions
of bottles.
?More than 90 percent of the environmental impacts from a plastic bottle
happen before the consumer opens it,? said Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, a senior
scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Oil for plastic, oil
for shipping, oil for refrigeration ? and in the end, most of the effort
goes to landfills.
?The bottle is going to have to change,? he said, noting research in
plastics made from plants. ?I?m seeing more interest in this than any time
in 30 years.?
================================
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: Sat, 14 Jul 2007 20:25:55 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] The Boat Is About to Rock (Again) in Internet
Video
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed
July 15, 2007
The Boat Is About to Rock (Again) in Internet Video
By BRAD STONE
NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/business/yourmoney/15ideas.html?ref=technology&pagewanted=print
DMITRY SHAPIRO brings an unlikely gadget into meetings these days: a TV
remote control.
As chief executive of Veoh Networks, an Internet video company based in San
Diego, Mr. Shapiro uses the remote to navigate the company?s new software
program, VeohTV, on his laptop. The software acts like a Web browser but
displays only Internet video, presenting full-length television shows and
popular clips from the Web?s largest video sites, like NBC.com and YouTube.
It lists those videos in a program guide and plays them in a small window
or across the entire screen.
The product, now in a private testing phase, will be available to the
public later this year. It has the potential to be a popular and practical
way to watch online video. But like a long line of other innovative
high-tech tools, VeohTV could also threaten and alienate traditional media
companies and even cause some of Veoh?s Internet rivals to consider legal
remedies.
For the last two years, Veoh Networks has operated a video-hosting Web
site, Veoh.com. The site works much the way YouTube does, with a few
notable exceptions. The company does not impose any time limits on the
length of videos and does not use digital fingerprinting technology to
filter out copyrighted material. That has led to some rights holders to
complain that Veoh has fallen behind in protecting intellectual property.
Nevertheless, Veoh.com has been growing fast: it draws about 15 million
visitors a month, up from 4.5 million in January. Veoh Networks is a
private company and does not release financial data. YouTube, by contrast,
gets more than 100 million visitors and serves up more than three billion
video clips a month, according to several market research firms.
?It?s impossible to compete with YouTube as a video sharing site now,? said
Josh Bernoff, a vice president at Forrester Research. ?Veoh is a good
example of a company that decided to go off in a new direction.?
That direction is VeohTV. To support the new effort, the company raised
about $26 million this summer from investors, including Time Warner;
Goldman Sachs; Spark Capital, a venture capital firm in Boston; and the
former Disney chairman Michael D. Eisner, who joined the Veoh board and
counsels Mr. Shapiro, a 38-year-old, Russian-born engineer. The company
introduced VeohTV as a beta product last month, making it available for
testing to a group of invited users.
I found VeohTV to be easy to use. Once the software is downloaded to a
computer, it offers an easy-to-navigate directory of 114 video channels,
including listings for CBS, NBC, Fox and YouTube. On the NBC channel, there
are dozens of episodes of ?Heroes,? ?30 Rock? and ?Studio 60 on the Sunset
Strip.? On the Fox channel, there are several full-length episodes of the
dramas ?Bones? and ?24.?
Those shows are free and available for streaming on the NBC and Fox sites.
The VeohTV player, Mr. Shapiro said, is just giving them a new audience.
?There are full-length episodes at Fox.com, but many customers don?t know
how to find them,? he said. ?The Web browser is fine for short clips. But
if you just want to sit back and watch video on the Web, this is what you
will want to use.?
Major media companies, however, are more interested in protecting their
copyrighted programs. Veoh does not ask for permission to play material
from other Web sites, though Mr. Shapiro says he wants to strike
advertising-sharing deals with content owners to ensure that shows appear
in high-quality video. But Veoh does not think that it needs consent
because VeohTV is doing nothing more than playing what is already online,
including any commercials shown during the programs.
The networks may disagree. By only offering video, VeohTV omits all the
other advertisements on the network sites. For example, people who watched
an episode of ?Heroes? on NBC.com last week also saw for 40 minutes a
banner ad for McDonald?s on the same page. VeohTV users watching the same
episode would not see the banner.
Rick Cotton, the executive vice president and general counsel of NBC
Universal, said that streaming full-length television episodes drives
traffic to other parts of NBC?s site and exposes users to the ads on it.
And the right to play those shows is valuable, he said, pointing to the
still-unnamed venture between NBC Universal and the News Corporation to
create an online repository of their TV shows and movies. Sites like
MySpace, AOL and MSN have already entered into commercial agreements to
display the venture?s content.
?This material has value,? Mr. Cotton said. ?The notion of taking it and
generating traffic with it needs to be negotiated and needs to be done with
the agreement of content owners.? That?s why NBC and the other major
studios are keeping close tabs on VeohTV?s business model.
FOR some video content, VeohTV can act as a digital video recorder, turning
a video stream ? meant to be viewed on the Web ? into a downloaded file on
a user?s hard drive. VeohTV users can record a YouTube video, for example,
even though YouTube, owned by Google, says its terms of service specify
that videos uploaded to the site will only be streamed.
Other software, like the recently released RealPlayer 11, by RealNetworks,
can turn streaming video into downloads as well. But according to Ricardo
Reyes, a YouTube spokesman, VeohTV steers users away from its ads while
violating YouTube?s contract with its users. Mr. Reyes says the company is
watching Veoh carefully. In response, Mr. Shapiro says his software
provides an easier way to do something that is already technically possible
on YouTube.
Mr. Shapiro and his backers are aware their product will disrupt current
business models. So have many technological innovations in the past, he
argued, and Veoh hopes to build a large audience while courting large media
companies. That creates an apparent contradiction that will be hard to
resolve. Veoh maintains that it does not need permission to list and play
other companies? videos inside VeohTV. But it also wants to play nice.
?We are going to try to be friendly to content owners,? said Todd Dagres, a
partner at Spark Capital who serves on the Veoh board. ?We are going to try
to be the white-hat company.?
================================
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: 6
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2007 20:57:56 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Investors sue Israeli spy satellite company
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
[JTA is an "Associated Press" type news service that has been delivering
news of interest to the Jewish community around the world since the 1920s.]
Investors sue Israeli satellite company
JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Published: 07/13/2007
http://www2.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/103014.html
Private investors in an Israeli satellite company filed a lawsuit against
the company because of its refusal to share images with some countries.
Nine plaintiffs, including five Americans, three Israelis and one Canadian,
are bringing a $6 billion suit against ImageStat, a company co-owned by
private investors and the Israeli government, the NewYork Sun reported
Friday. ImageStat rents spy satellites to foreign countries that do not
have their own.
The suit claims that the Israeli Ministry of Defense pressured the company
to renege on a lucrative deal with Venezuela due to the United States'
current strained relationship with the South American country. The suit
further alleges that politics got in the way of deals with Angola, Russia
and Taiwan.
At first, the Israeli government agreed to the political independence of
ImageStat as necessary to make the company profitable, the suit alleges.
The only limits set were that no satellites could be sold to countries
within 1,500 miles of Israel or to Cuba, Iran and North Korea, it says. The
termination of the Venezuelan deal is seen as a breach of that agreement,
as Venezuela is on a list of 60 approved countries.
In recent years, Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, has reached out to Iran.
================================
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: 7
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2007 21:02:23 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Deficit: Sat-nav rival could crash and burn
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed
Sat-nav rival could crash and burn
European system taking on US military's GPS faces collapse over
multi-billion-pound deficit
Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday July 15, 2007
The Observer [UK]
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2126734,00.html
For the past 18 months, a small box-shaped satellite has been circling
Earth, beaming down information from its radiation detectors and atomic
clocks. The British-built probe is modest by modern space technology
standards. Yet great hopes are riding with Giove-A, for it is intended to
be the forerunner of a fleet of 30 satellites that will provide Europe with
an alternative to reliance on American technology.
Giove-A is a test satellite for Galileo, a multi-billion-pound European
Union project to provide pilots, farmers, trawler fishermen, truck drivers,
mobile phone owners, businessmen and private citizens with the means to
pinpoint their positions to a few centimetres. Using Galileo, motorists
will be charged for each second they spend on roads, while the blind could
be provided with guides to help them move around cities in safety.
At least that is the theory. The trouble is that a few weeks ago the
consortium of European aerospace companies created to run Galileo collapsed
in acrimony. The EU, which has already committed ?2.5bn to the project,
faces a bill of a further ?4bn or ?5bn to rescue Galileo and take it into
public ownership. Some countries, including France, want each member EU
state to raise cash to do this. Others, like Germany and Britain, want the
money to be diverted from other EU projects. Some sceptics think the
project should be axed completely. This autumn, the different sides will
meet and do battle over Galileo's future in the corridors of the EU's
Brussels headquarters.
Only one point is agreed: unless the EU steps in, Giove-A, built by Surrey
Satellite Technology, will be the only piece of working hardware created as
part of Galileo. To European technology companies, that prospect is
untenable. 'If Galileo collapses, it will be the collapse of the most
important EU programme outside the Common Agricultural Policy,' says
Olivier Houssin, of the French electronics group Thales. 'Europe is
stagnating in space.' In fact, Galileo has been mired in controversy since
it was conceived 10 years ago. There is already a service that allows
holders of GPS (global positioning system) handsets, including car sat-nav
devices, to pinpoint their positions free. Why spend billions of euros on a
second one, critics demand.
Galileo's supporters say the current GPS system, run by the US air force,
could be turned off at any time that the US military decided, causing
mayhem for European trucking companies, sat-nav firms, mobile phone
operators and other users of GPS devices. In addition, current GPS devices
are based on technology designed in the 1980s and have an accuracy of
between 3 and 15 metres. Galileo, using 21st-century technology, can
determine locations to within centimetres.
With this kind of accuracy, you would know the exact position of people
calling you by phone and you would be able to pinpoint a computer that had
sent a particular email; and the precise time signals used by Galileo -
accurate to one or two billionths of a second - would allow City brokers to
conduct multi-billion-pound financial transactions with a pinpoint accuracy
that could save millions of pounds in interest for companies.
'There is more to Galileo than just giving Europe insurance in case the US
pulls the plug on the world's GPS system,' said Patrick McDougal, of the
satellite communication group Inmarsat. 'It would give satellite navigation
a new level of sophistication and open up all sorts of new uses for the
technology.'
Europe's decision to back Galileo also annoyed the US, particularly as a
deal was agreed allowing China to buy into the project. One US general even
threatened to blow Galileo satellites out of the sky if it was found that
enemies of America were using its signals, it was claimed. Such threats
have been quietly forgotten and America is maintaining a low profile,
hiding its glee about Galileo's current misfortunes.
For the EU, whose 2000 Lisbon declaration stressed Europe's need to make
itself the hi-tech powerhouse of the world, the woes of Galileo are a
distinct embarrassment. The system should be in operation by now. At best,
it will come on line in 2012, although there remains a distinct chance that
the project may be quietly dropped.
================================
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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Message: 8
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2007 23:41:12 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Hogwarts Square
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Friday, June 29, 2007
Harvard Square to be Hogwarts Square
Just when you thought you were safe from iPhone hysteria, a new hype
hoo-ha about Harry Potter is heading your way, and helping to amp up
the buzz is Harvard Square, which plans to briefly rename itself
Hogwarts Square.
Hogwarts is the wizard school where Harry is enrolled, something
that's hardly news to Potter buffs who are eagerly counting down the
hours until just after midnight on July 21, when the seventh and
supposedly final Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,"
goes on sale.
Some might think Harvard would be immune to a frenzy that has
beguiled fourth graders and reportedly resulted in 1.4 million book
"preorders" at online book-seller Amazon.co.uk, but they'd be wrong.
...
http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2007/06/harvard_sq_to_b.html
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End of Medianews Digest, Vol 324, Issue 1
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