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Today's Topics:
1. Google Web History (Monty Solomon)
2. NBC bashed for airing Virginia Tech killer's rants
(George Antunes)
3. PC to TV: The hunt for convergence products (George Antunes)
4. Teens, Privacy and Online Social Networks (Monty Solomon)
5. FCC chairman: A la carte cable requires a law (George Antunes)
6. FCC bows to criticism, updates broadband data collection
policy (George Antunes)
7. RIM defends handling of BlackBerry outage (Greg Williams)
8. Blue Angels jet crashes during air show (Greg Williams)
9. Imus' sidekick-producer fired (Greg Williams)
10. Billionaire space tourist back on Earth (Greg Williams)
11. Nugent: Gun-free zones are recipe for disaster (Greg Williams)
12. Japan gets serious about space (Greg Williams)
13. Skype's founders' next target: TV (Greg Williams)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 14:26:47 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Google Web History
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Your slice of the web
Thursday, April 19, 2007 at 4:23:00 PM
Posted by Payam Shodjai, Product Manager for Personalization
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/your-slice-of-web.html
I'll probably visit more than 100 web pages today, and so will
hundreds of millions of people. Printed and bound together, the web
pages you'll visit in just one day are probably bigger than the book
sitting on your night table. Over the next month alone, that's an
entire bookcase full! The idea of having access to this virtual
library of information has always fascinated me. Imagine being able
to search over the full text of pages you've visited online and
finding that one particular quote you remember reading somewhere
months ago. Imagine always knowing exactly where you saw something
online, like that priceless YouTube video of your friend attempting
to perform dance moves from a bygone age. Better yet, imagine having
this wealth of information work for you to make searching for new
information easier and faster.
Today, we're pleased to announce the launch of Web History, a new
feature for Google Account users that makes it easy to view and
search across the pages you've visited. If you remember seeing
something online, you'll be able to find it faster and from any
computer with Web History. Web History lets you look back in time,
revisit the sites you've browsed, and search over the full text of
pages you've seen. It's your slice of the web, at your fingertips.
How does Web History work? All you need is a Google Account and the
Google Toolbar with PageRank enabled. The Toolbar, as part of your
browser, helps us associate the pages you visit with your Google
Account. If you're currently a Search History user, you'll notice
that we've renamed Search History to Web History to reflect this new
functionality. To sign up for Web History, visit
http://www.google.com/history .
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 13:41:09 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] NBC bashed for airing Virginia Tech killer's
rants
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-et-tapes20apr20,1,300099.story?coll=la-headlines-technology
NBC bashed for airing Virginia Tech killer's rants
By Matea Gold
LA Times Staff Writer
April 20, 2007
NEW YORK ? NBC's decision to broadcast portions of Seung-hui Cho's angry
rants triggered a storm of condemnation Thursday from viewers and victims'
relatives, illuminating the treacherous middle ground between exposure and
exploitation in a fast-moving news cycle.
A day after receiving a package containing the Virginia Tech gunman's
profanity-laced writings and videos, mailed shortly before his second round
of shootings, NBC drastically curtailed its use of the images, as did most
of its television brethren.
But the rapid dissemination of the materials and subsequent backlash
triggered a debate about where the line gets drawn ? what constitutes news,
and what goes too far.
Though media ethicists generally approved of NBC's handling of the tapes,
Tony Burman, editor in chief of Canada's CBC News, called NBC's airing of
the footage a "mistake," warning it could lead to copycat massacres.
For others closer to Monday's killings, the broadcast of Cho's diatribes
felt like a new wound. After initially praising NBC for cooperating with
investigators when it received the package, Col. Steven Flaherty,
superintendent of the Virginia State Police, said he was "disappointed" by
the network's decision to use some of the material.
The parents of two slain students canceled an appearance on the "Today"
show in protest, and MSNBC.com's message boards were swamped with more than
3,000 messages on the topic ? the majority criticizing the network.
"What is the standard?" asked one writer from Maryland. "Will we next be
seeing beheadings and full-length terrorist propaganda films? There is a
fine line between news and exploitation, between the public's need to know
and tastelessness. NBC crossed it."
NBC anchor Brian Williams, who participated in the internal discussions
about how to handle the material, acknowledged that initially the images
inadvertently took the form of "video wallpaper," until executives set
restrictions on their use. (Late Wednesday night, NBC officials limited the
broadcast of the video to 10% of airtime on the network and its cable
channel, MSNBC.)
But Williams defended the network's dissemination of the footage, in which
Cho rages against the wealthy and says he was pushed to violence.
"I don't know of a reputable news organization in this country that, upon
receipt of that package, would have ? slipped it in a drawer and not shared
its contents," the anchor said on his video blog. "It is beyond disturbing.
It is beyond horrifying. It is also news, and news is our role, however
unpleasant the stories are at times."
Not everyone at NBC apparently agreed. "Today" anchor Matt Lauer told
viewers Thursday morning that "there are some big differences of opinion
right within this news division as to whether we should be airing this
stuff at all."
NBC News President Steve Capus said that though there were extensive
deliberations about how to deal with the materials, he was not aware of
anyone urging that they be kept completely out of public view.
Capus said he believed the network exercised sensitivity and restraint in
its handling of the images, noting that NBC waited more than seven hours
after receiving the package before reporting on it, out of deference to
investigators. Only after discussions with NBC Universal Chief Executive
Jeff Zucker and other top executives did the news division air a limited
sampling of the materials, he said.
"I knew there was an awful lot of pain ? and we knew there would be people
who disagreed with this decision," Capus said. "I did not want to do
anything to cause greater pain. We worked as journalists to present the
matter in the proper light, and I think we did."
The network first broadcast excerpts of Cho's 28 QuickTime video files
during Wednesday's "NBC Nightly News," along with images of the 23-year-old
thrusting handguns at the camera. The material ? along with an 1,800-word
rambling invective ? had arrived in the mail that morning, addressed simply
to "NBC."
The unexpected scoop handed NBC a major ratings victory. According to early
data from Nielsen Media Research, the NBC newscast easily bested ABC's and
CBS'.
For the most part, rival news executives refrained from criticizing NBC's
decision, saying that holding back the material would have been impossible
because of its potential to leak online, where anything goes.
And long gone are the days when news outlets believed they could approach
such decisions with leisure: The explosion of news and information sources
has made the competition to stay ahead that much more intense, and created
an atmosphere in which getting an exclusive scoop is a rarity.
"Information these days is like steam," said Jon Klein, president of
CNN/U.S. "It escapes through the tiniest cracks. The notion that any piece
of information ever can be sealed away, I think, is a relic of the past."
Other media outlets also seized on the dissemination of the video, with TV
networks quickly grabbing NBC's footage Wednesday evening and putting it on
their own airwaves. Newspapers across the country ran images of the
gun-toting college senior on their front pages, with the network's logo in
the corner of the photos.
But by midday Thursday, both broadcast and cable news networks had pulled
back their use of the video, saying they feared the coverage was becoming
gratuitous.
"Beyond the first news cycle, it becomes little more than pornography,"
said ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider.
CBS News instituted a policy requiring an executive producer to sign off on
any use of the footage.
"The most obvious danger is that it is offensive to relatives, to friends
and to millions of Americans who have been emotionally affected by this,"
said Paul Friedman, vice president of CBS News. "There is also a
complicated argument about whether this somehow inures people to violence.
Common sense tells me that it's not worth taking the risk."
Officials at Fox News went further and midmorning Thursday stopped airing
the images completely both on-air and online, barring further news
developments. "I thought that we had sort of reached a saturation point,"
said John Moody, executive vice president of news editorial.
This is not the first time media organizations have had to balance the news
value of publishing a killer's words against the potential harm in airing them.
After the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, law
enforcement officials discovered videos of the teenage killers firing the
guns they would later use to kill their classmates. In that case, police
did not release the footage for more than four years ? and even then
withheld other, more graphic videos for fear of inspiring copycats.
Cho's decision to pause after his first shooting Monday and send what
Williams dubbed a "multimedia manifesto" forced NBC to assess its
journalistic value while emotions were still raw.
While scores of viewers heatedly criticized NBC ? with many vowing they
would never watch its programs again ? media ethicists said the network
showed judiciousness by withholding news of the package until investigators
announced its existence and then by limiting use of the video after
reporting the initial story.
Al Tompkins, who teaches broadcast and online ethics at the Poynter
Institute, said not airing the material at all "would have been an easy
thing to do."
"People would have said, 'Good for you,' " he added. "But that doesn't
illuminate us. That doesn't enlighten us. That only protects us. And the
job of the journalist is not to protect us from the truth; it's to tell us
the truth, no matter how repugnant it is."
On his blog, Williams wrote that deciding what to do with Cho's final words
was "a role we did not seek and did not want."
"We are aware that this puts words in the mouth of a murderer," the anchor
added. "We are also aware that this danger, represented by this sick young
man, lives among us ? and to see it and hear it is to understand the
consequences."
================================
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: 3
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 13:45:16 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] PC to TV: The hunt for convergence products
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
http://www.latimes.com/technology/ny-bzdolinar155170335apr15,1,6037408.column?coll=la-utilities-technology
Ideas converge in the hunt for convergence products
By Lou Dolinar
LA Times
April 15, 2007
No one - not Apple, not Microsoft, not the cable companies - has an
all-in-one solution that you can buy tomorrow, bring home and use to watch
high-def TV and build audio/video libraries that can be streamed to any
room of the house. You need to pick your shots.
For the last half-dozen columns, we've been looking at some issues with
so-called convergence products. This week, we'll give you some suggestions
for where to go next.
Want to throw money at the problem? There are only a handful of devices
that can be considered mature and stable. For music, Slim Devices'
Squeezebox ($300) or Sonos' digital music system ($999 and up) have a
decent track record. The former lets you play back music stored on your PC,
wired or wireless, through speakers and an amp that you provide; the Sonos
system stores the music and doesn't need a PC to work.
For video, there's not much action outside of the high-definition digital
video recorders that cable and satellite systems provide. TiVo's Series3
Digital Media Recorder ($799 plus $16.95 per month) for high-def is
probably the most sophisticated, with room for dual CableCard tuners that
allow it to be attached to any cable system.
Unfortunately, many features that made the standard definition version
popular - like transferring video to and from PCs - have been watered down
by the need for CableCard compatibility.
Also worth a look: Apple TV and Microsoft's Xbox 360. Though nonaficionados
generally see the latter as a gaming device, right now it is probably the
most widely used dedicated device for downloading video, including
high-def, over the Net. TiVo and Xbox can, with some difficulty in
configuration, play back video recorded from standard DVDs.
You don't have to spend a fortune on hardware, however. Software allows
just about any PC or Mac to play back digital content stored elsewhere on a
network, or downloaded from the Internet. Though few people do it, it's
pretty simple to plug one end of an adaptor cable to \the output of your
sound card and the other to your home theater system. A little trickier,
but not by much, is to attach the PC to your new high-def set.
For most of us, however, there's not much to do but wait for development of
easy-to-use, easy-to-install devices. For now, here are some thoughts on
getting ready for digital:
Infrastructure: Digital media eats bandwidth like a horse, and needs a very
large pasture to play in. You should be planning ahead for upgrades.
Wireless is one possibility. The original wireless standard "B" is largely
hopeless for moving 5-plus gigabytes of movies around the house. Wireless
"G," at 54 megabits, should fare better, and that's what most people have
upgraded to in recent years. Unfortunately, the problem with "G" isn't
speed - it's susceptibility to interference from microwave ovens, cordless
phones and various other forms of electronic grunge in our atmosphere. This
can cause brief but annoying dropouts in video connections. I've had no
problem surfing the Net from my dining table or my bedroom, but when I
stream movies from my file server, the connection severs every now and again.
A couple of potential solutions: The latest standard, "N," is a little
faster and more resistant to interference; it is what Apple has chosen to
implement with Apple TV. However, you get the benefit only if you upgrade
your entire network. Hardware also is more expensive, and the standard
itself hasn't totally settled down yet.
A wired network, using enhanced Category 5 Ethernet cable, is the best way
to go, particularly if you're building or remodeling. Home centers carry
the components you'll need, including wire. Besides being fast, such
connections are immune to interference. The latest is Gigabit Ethernet,
increasingly built into PCs. Alas, it takes a lot of tweaking to deliver
anywhere near its promised throughput.
Storage: You'll very quickly learn that video taxes the hardware of even
the newest computer. A standard movie on DVD that has been compressed
efficiently takes up a gigabyte or two for decent quality. If you simply
copy a decrypted DVD, you'll need 5 gigabytes or more. Add in a collection
of photos and music, and you'll see why terabyte (1,000-gigabyte) storage
systems for the home are all the rage.
Fortunately, disk drives are cheap; shop around and you'll find 500
gigabyte drives for as little as 25 cents per gigabyte.
There are three options: First, if there's one PC you plan to use for most
ripping of digital media, you'll get the best performance by installing one
or more internal drives there and using it as your server for other
playback devices around the house.
Slower but a little more convenient (since you can swap them among your
computers) are external drives, USB or Firewire. A third possibility is a
network storage device. These start cheap, like the $79 Linksys NSLU2, and
can end up costing as much as a full-size computer.
The most important furnishing of the digital home is your knowledge. Here
are some of better Web sites that deal with the technical aspects:
Avsforum.com. Some reviews, plus a lot of user commentary on message board
to deal with connecting PCs to TVs, recording via PC, TiVo to PC links.
Doom9.net. The last word on copying DVDs you already own. Message board,
how-tos, links to software downloads.
SmallNetBuilder.com. Some business-oriented material, but Tim Higgins and
company review lots of home networking gear as well, including media
extenders and file servers.
Audioasylum.com. Mostly for insanely expensive audio gear, there is
nonetheless an excellent message board on home audio PCs.
Ilounge.com. Scads of how-tos on the iPod and an excellent feature on how
to upgrade Apple TV - including how to get it to play new video formats.
================================
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, 21 Apr 2007 14:42:32 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Teens, Privacy and Online Social Networks
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Teens, Privacy and Online Social Networks
Pew Internet & American Life Project
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/139/press_release.asp
Most teenagers with social network profiles online are taking steps
to protect themselves from the most obvious risks
A new report, based on a survey and a series of focus groups
conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project examine how
teens, particularly those with profiles online, make decisions about
disclosing or shielding personal information.
4/18/2007 | Release
Still, 63% of teens with online profiles believe that a motivated
person could eventually identify them from their online profile
WASHINGTON - The majority of teens actively manage their online
profiles to keep the information they believe is most sensitive away
from the unwanted gaze of strangers, parents and other adults. While
many teens post their first name and photos on their profiles, they
rarely post information on public profiles they believe would help
strangers actually locate them such as their full name, home phone
number or cell phone number.
At the same time, nearly two-thirds of teens with profiles (63%)
believe that a motivated person could eventually identify them from
the information they publicly provide on their profiles.
A new report, based on a survey and a series of focus groups
conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project examine how
teens, particularly those with profiles online, make decisions about
disclosing or shielding personal information.
Some 55% of online teens have profiles and most of them restrict
access to their profile in some way. Of those with profiles, 66% say
their profile is not visible to all internet users. Of those whose
profile can be accessed by anyone online, nearly half (46%) say they
give at least some false information. Teens post fake information to
protect themselves and also to be playful or silly.
Here is a rundown of the kinds of information they post on their
profiles, whether they are public or shielded:
...
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/139/press_release.asp
http://www.pewinternet.org/report_display.asp?r=211
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Teens_Privacy_SNS_Report_Final.pdf
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 13:51:00 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] FCC chairman: A la carte cable requires a law
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed
FCC chairman: A la carte cable requires a law
By Nate Anderson
ars technica
Published: April 19, 2007 - 12:16PM CT
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070419-fcc-chairman-a-la-carte-cable-requires-a-law.html
FCC chairman Kevin Martin appeared before a House committee this week to
explain why he needs the authority to spend $313 million in the next fiscal
year. Unlike most major government agencies, the FCC is largely
self-funding. It receives only a direct appropriation of $1 million from
Congress and raises the rest through regulatory fees. But more interesting
than the budget request was Martin's support for a law forcing a la carte
pricing on cable operators.
According to Multichannel News, Martin was responding to a question from
Ralph Regula (R-OH), who wanted to know if Congress should consider action
since cable operators have done nothing to offer a la carte pricing.
Martin said that he would support such legislation, saying that the FCC
needed Congressional authorization before attempting to impose such a
requirement on cable companies. Brian Dietz, a VP at the National Cable &
Telecommunications Association, was on hand to claim that this would be a
really terrible idea and that it would actually raise prices for everyone
(cable, as you know if you subscribe to it, has traditionally been focused
on providing low prices).
Martin is pushing for a la carte over industry objections and his general
light regulatory stance because the issue is dear to "family values" groups
that want more control over the content piped into their living rooms. It's
also big with fans of ESPN, a hugely popular network that is almost always
bundled into expensive packages. If Congress gives the FCC the power to
dictate a la carte arrangements, Martin has indicated that he would do
so?but it's not clear such a move would pass muster with the other four
commissioners.
================================
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, 21 Apr 2007 13:53:58 -0500
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] FCC bows to criticism, updates broadband data
collection policy
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
FCC bows to criticism, updates broadband data collection policy
By Nate Anderson
ars technica
Published: April 19, 2007 - 12:20PM CT
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070419-fcc-bows-to-criticism-updates-broadband-data-collection-policy.html
The FCC has been under attack for years by critics who claim that its
broadband data collection methods are horribly flawed. And it's not just
consumer groups that are upset; a report from the Government Accounting
Office found significant problems with the FCC's methodology. This week,
though, the FCC has undertaken a review of its data collection practices
and finally looks set to make some important changes.
Depending on which commissioner you ask, these changes are of either minor
or critical importance. Kevin Martin, the FCC's chairman, says that
broadband in the US is swell, and it's growing at a significant rate. When
it comes to data collection, the new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking will
allow the agency to "gain an even better picture of broadband deployment in
this country."
Commissioner Copps, one of the two Democrats, has a slightly different view
of the situation. "Never in my wildest imagination did I believe that
eleventh in the world would feel like the good old days," he said in a
statement, referring to the level of broadband deployment in the US three
years ago. "But it turns out that things could?and did?get worse." The
International Telecommunications Union now rates the US number 15 in the world.
Copps goes on to argue that there's no good way to start fixing the
problems until the FCC has better data, and he laments the fact that the
agency has persisted in its current practices for nearly a decade. "This
decade-long refusal to update our methodology is just not an acceptable
outcome when we are, by statute, charged with encouraging the deployment of
advanced communications services to all our citizens," he said.
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking requests comments on how the FCC "can
continue to acquire the information it needs to develop and maintain
appropriate broadband policies." The document does recognize that increased
reporting requirements translates into more money for the companies that
have to collect and submit the data, and it explicitly seeks to find a
balance "between the burden of additional data collection and the benefits
such information provides."
Currently, the FCC breaks broadband down by ZIP code, and counts a ZIP code
as being "served" if it has even a single broadband subscriber. It also
sets the broadband threshold at an absurdly low level of 200kbps. The
effect of these and similar policies has been to produce reports that make
broadband access look almost universal in the US, which my rural relatives
can attest is simply not the case.
The FCC's willingness to address the long-standing problem is a welcome
one, but we will need to see exactly what their new system is before
judging it an improvement over the current implementation.
Link: GAO Report on Broadband Deployment
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06426.pdf
================================
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, 21 Apr 2007 17:23:21 -0400
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] RIM defends handling of BlackBerry outage
To: medianews@twiar.org
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
TORONTO (CP) ? The co-CEO of BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion has
rejected criticism the company left its customers hanging while it
pecked away at solving a major technical glitch that shut down functions
of the portable devices earlier this week.
Jim Balsillie told The Canadian Press in an interview Friday that he
believes the company handled the situation the right way by first
attacking the network failure and providing more details later.
The comments follow grumblings from BlackBerry users and tech analysts
that questioned RIM?s silence during the critical early hours of a
service outage this week that left millions of users across North
America without wireless e-mail access.
"In a sense people say ?How come you didn?t communicate?? I turn it
around and say ?Other than communicate what?s self-evident, you?d better
have something that?s substantial to communicate,?" Balsillie said.
BlackBerry systems were back in full operation Friday, but the fallout
from three days of confusion, speculation and a simple lack of clarity
was still ongoing.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/654565.html
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 17:28:42 -0400
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Blue Angels jet crashes during air show
To: medianews@twiar.org
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
(CNN) -- A jet flying in formation with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels
precision flying team crashed Saturday during an air show near Beaufort,
South Carolina, authorities said.
"I was told [the pilot] was alive, but I can't confirm that," a South
Carolina state trooper speaking on condition of anonymity told CNN.
The officer said he and other state troopers were assisting the Marine
Corps air station, which was putting on the show, by rerouting traffic
around the crash site -- "which is said to not be around any houses --
so they can get the pilot out."
Several hospitals said they had received no casualties.
Eyewitness Gerald Popp said the six jets had been flying for about five
minutes before one of them turned south, toward the Broad River.
"I saw him go down lower than the trees, and next I saw a big black,
cloud of smoke," said Popp, who lives in Beaufort.
CNN meteorologists said the weather in Beaufort, which is near Savannah,
was clear today.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/21/blueangels.crash/index.html
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 17:31:33 -0400
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Imus' sidekick-producer fired
To: medianews@twiar.org
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Imus' sidekick-producer fired
POSTED: 5:31 p.m. EDT, April 20, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/20/imusproducer.ap/index.html
NEW YORK (AP) -- The longtime producer for Don Imus' syndicated radio
show joined his boss on the unemployment line one week after the
disgraced broadcaster was booted from the airwaves for racist and sexist
comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team.
Bernard McGuirk, who joined the "Imus in the Morning Show" as producer
in 1987, was let go late Thursday by WFAN-AM for his role in the ugly
incident, CBS Radio spokeswoman Karen Mateo said Friday. CBS Inc., the
parent company for WFAN, pulled Imus off the air on April 12.
McGuirk was one of Imus' frequent on-air foils, and was involved in the
now-infamous "nappy-headed hos" exchange that left both without jobs. He
provided much of the program's dicier content, a great deal of it while
doing over-the-top impressions of the late Cardinal John O'Connor and
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
Imus, in an oft-repeated schtick, would deride McGuirk as a "bald-headed
stooge" when the material veered into dangerous territory. McGuirk also
handled the booking of Imus' guests, a group that ran the gamut from
presidential candidates to mainstream media pundits.
Mateo declined to provide any further details about the McGuirk
situation. McGuirk was noticeably absent this week when other Imus
contributors, including newsman Charles McCord and sportscaster Chris
Carlin, were on the air with the WFAN replacement team of Mike Francesa
and Chris "Mad Dog" Russo. Another Imus regular, comedian Rob Bartlett,
appeared Friday on the Opie and Anthony morning show. But McGuirk has
made no public comments about the controversy since the Imus firing.
CBS Radio had yet to decide on a permanent replacement for Imus on the
New York station, Mateo said. Francesa and Russo were slated to do one
more week of mornings in place of Imus, whose show was syndicated on 60
other stations nationally. WFAN was the flagship station for the Imus show.
It was McGuirk who first used the term "hos" while discussing the NCAA
women's championship game between Rutgers and Tennessee. Imus described
the Rutgers team, which includes eight black women, as tattooed "rough
girls" during the April 4 broadcast.
"Some hardcore hos," replied McGuirk.
"That's some nappy-headed hos there, I'm going to tell you that," Imus
said during the 10-second exchange that ignited a national debate over
racist and misogynistic language and lyrics.
Imus was expected to meet with CBS Radio officials to settle the
remainder of his recently signed five-year, multimillion-dollar
contract. McGuirk's contract status was unknown; he had joined the radio
station in 1984 when it was WNBC.
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 10
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 17:32:38 -0400
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Billionaire space tourist back on Earth
To: medianews@twiar.org
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/04/21/space.tourist.ap/index.html
KOROLYOV, Russia (AP) -- An American billionaire who paid $25 million
for a 13-day trip to space returned to Earth on Saturday in a space
capsule, making a soft landing on the Kazakh steppe.
The capsule arrived after a more than three-hour return trip from the
orbital station, carrying space tourist Charles Simonyi, Russian
cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, and American astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria,
according to a spokesman at Mission Control outside Moscow.
Simonyi, a Hungarian-born software engineer, looked ecstatic after
rescuers helped him out of the capsule and into a chair lined with fur
for warmth.
He smiled and grinned, shook a hand and spoke with the bustling support
crew. He then bit enthusiastically into a green apple, which has become
a traditional offering for space crews touching down in Kazakhstan,
famous for its tasty apples.
Tyurin looked pale and tired, but soon managed a smile in a video link
with Mission Control.
Lopez-Alegria, the last out of the capsule, sighed with relief, smiled
and talked to the support crew as doctors measured the men's vital
signs. He took what appeared to be a drink of water.
Both had spent seven months on the international space station.
Anatoly Grigoryev, head of a Russian biomedical institute responsible
for cosmonauts' health, said it was "quite natural" if Tyurin and
Lopez-Alegria felt less chipper than Simonyi. "It is natural that those
who spend a quite long period of time [in space] find it harder now," he
said.
Russian space agency chief Anatoly Perminov said all the cosmonauts
"feel wonderful."
"But of course, Charles Simonyi feels the best, which is
understandable," he said.
The trio were initially scheduled to return a day earlier, but the trip
was postponed and the landing site shifted because of concerns that
spring floodwaters in the usual landing area could complicate the
recovery, Russian Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said.
The capsule landed at a reserve site about 85 miles (135 kilometers)
northeast of Zhezkazgan, in central Kazakhstan, some 250 miles (400
kilometers) south of the capital, Astana. The Zhezkazgan site has rarely
been used since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
'Safe and sound'
"I crossed my fingers all the way, and I am very happy now," Simonyi's
brother Tamas said at Mission Control after the landing. "Yes, I was
nervous, but now it's a big relief to know that he's safe and sound and
that the crew is safe and sound."
Wiping her eyes with a tissue, Lopez-Alegria's wife, Daria, said she was
not nervous "until the last minute."
"He missed him much more," she said, pointing to their 7-year old son
Nicholas.
"I'm very happy," the boy said. "I'm very excited."
Simonyi arrived at the station on April 9 along with cosmonauts Fyodor
Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, who remained on the station. (Watch Simonyi
talk about space tourism before his trip began Video)
Also staying in orbit was American astronaut Sunita Williams, who
arrived in December. Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator
for space operations, said Russian and U.S. space officials will decide
next week whether she will return on a shuttle in June or in late summer.
Seen off by Martha Stewart
Simonyi, 58, amassed the fortune that made his $25 million voyage
possible through his work with computer software, including helping to
develop Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.
He is also associated with another major American household name:
lifestyle maven Martha Stewart.
Stewart saw Simonyi off at the launch from the Russian-leased launch
facility in Baikonur on April 7. She also watched from Russian Mission
Control outside Moscow as the Soyuz docked and spoke to Simonyi during a
video linkup after he boarded the station.
Simonyi followed in the footsteps of Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth,
Gregory Olsen and Anousheh Ansari -- all "space flight participants" who
have traveled to the international space station aboard Russian rockets
in trips brokered by Space Adventures.
Briton Helen Sharman in 1991 took a trip to the Soviet station Mir that
she won through a contest, and a Japanese journalist traveled to Mir in
1990 with a ticket that reportedly cost $12 million.
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 11
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 17:39:47 -0400
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Nugent: Gun-free zones are recipe for disaster
To: medianews@twiar.org
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/19/commentary.nugent/index.html
WACO, Texas (CNN) -- Zero tolerance, huh? Gun-free zones, huh? Try this
on for size: Columbine gun-free zone, New York City pizza shop gun-free
zone, Luby's Cafeteria gun-free zone, Amish school in Pennsylvania
gun-free zone and now Virginia Tech gun-free zone.
Anybody see what the evil Brady Campaign and other anti-gun cults have
created? I personally have zero tolerance for evil and denial. And
America had best wake up real fast that the brain-dead celebration of
unarmed helplessness will get you killed every time, and I've about had
enough of it.
Nearly a decade ago, a Springfield, Oregon, high schooler, a hunter
familiar with firearms, was able to bring an unfolding rampage to an
abrupt end when he identified a gunman attempting to reload his
.22-caliber rifle, made the tactical decision to make a move and tackled
the shooter.
A few years back, an assistant principal at Pearl High School in
Mississippi, which was a gun-free zone, retrieved his legally owned Colt
.45 from his car and stopped a Columbine wannabe from continuing his
massacre at another school after he had killed two and wounded more at
Pearl.
At an eighth-grade school dance in Pennsylvania, a boy fatally shot a
teacher and wounded two students before the owner of the dance hall
brought the killing to a halt with his own gun.
More recently, just a few miles up the road from Virginia Tech, two law
school students ran to fetch their legally owned firearm to stop a
madman from slaughtering anybody and everybody he pleased. These brave,
average, armed citizens neutralized him pronto.
My hero, Dr. Suzanne Gratia Hupp, was not allowed by Texas law to carry
her handgun into Luby's Cafeteria that fateful day in 1991, when due to
bureaucrat-forced unarmed helplessness she could do nothing to stop
satanic George Hennard from killing 23 people and wounding more than 20
others before he shot himself. Hupp was unarmed for no other reason than
denial-ridden "feel good" politics.
She has since led the charge for concealed weapon upgrade in Texas,
where we can now stop evil. Yet, there are still the mindless puppets of
the Brady Campaign and other anti-gun organizations insisting on
continuing the gun-free zone insanity by which innocents are forced into
unarmed helplessness. Shame on them. Shame on America. Shame on the
anti-gunners all.
No one was foolish enough to debate Ryder truck regulations or ammonia
nitrate restrictions or a "cult of agriculture fertilizer" following the
unabashed evil of Timothy McVeigh's heinous crime against America on
that fateful day in Oklahoma City. No one faulted kitchen utensils or
other hardware of choice after Jeffrey Dahmer was caught drugging,
mutilating, raping, murdering and cannibalizing his victims. Nobody
wanted "steak knife control" as they autopsied the dead nurses in
Chicago, Illinois, as Richard Speck went on trial for mass murder.
Evil is as evil does, and laws disarming guaranteed victims make evil
people very, very happy. Shame on us.
Already spineless gun control advocates are squawking like chickens with
their tiny-brained heads chopped off, making political hay over this
most recent, devastating Virginia Tech massacre, when in fact it is
their own forced gun-free zone policy that enabled the unchallenged
methodical murder of 32 people.
Thirty-two people dead on a U.S. college campus pursuing their American
Dream, mowed-down over an extended period of time by a lone,
non-American gunman in possession of a firearm on campus in defiance of
a zero-tolerance gun ban. Feel better yet? Didn't think so.
Who doesn't get this? Who has the audacity to demand unarmed
helplessness? Who likes dead good guys?
I'll tell you who. People who tramp on the Second Amendment, that's who.
People who refuse to accept the self-evident truth that free people have
the God-given right to keep and bear arms, to defend themselves and
their loved ones. People who are so desperate in their drive to control
others, so mindless in their denial that they pretend access to gas
causes arson, Ryder trucks and fertilizer cause terrorism, water causes
drowning, forks and spoons cause obesity, dialing 911 will somehow save
your life, and that their greedy clamoring to "feel good" is more
important than admitting that armed citizens are much better equipped to
stop evil than unarmed, helpless ones.
Pray for the families of victims everywhere, America. Study the
methodology of evil. It has a profile, a system, a preferred environment
where victims cannot fight back. Embrace the facts, demand upgrade and
be certain that your children's school has a better plan than Virginia
Tech or Columbine. Eliminate the insanity of gun-free zones, which will
never, ever be gun-free zones. They will only be good guy gun-free
zones, and that is a recipe for disaster written in blood on the altar
of denial. I, for one, refuse to genuflect there.
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 12
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 17:55:42 -0400
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Japan gets serious about space
To: medianews@twiar.org
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Japan gets serious about space
POSTED: 12:20 p.m. EDT, April 19, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/04/19/japan.moonshot.ap/index.html
TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Japan is set to launch its first lunar orbiter this
summer, but exploring the moon is just part of the mission.
The other goal is to catch up with China, the new leader in Asia's space
race.
Japan's space agency JAXA announced last week that the much-delayed
SELENE probe will be launched in August aboard an H-2A rocket, the
mainstay of Japan's space program.
JAXA says the SELENE project is the largest lunar mission since the U.S.
Apollo program. It involves placing a main satellite in orbit at an
altitude of about 60 miles and deploying two smaller satellites in polar
orbits. Researchers will use data gathered by the probes to study the
moon's origin and evolution.
"This mission will involve observation of the whole moon, not just parts
of it," said JAXA spokesman Satoki Kurokawa. "It is a very ambitious
project."
The mission is a stepping stone in Japan's plan to more aggressively
pursue space objectives -- including a lunar landing and, possibly,
manned missions in space. To raise public awareness, JAXA is conducting
a "Wish Upon the Moon" campaign that allows people to send brief
messages up with the orbiter.
Japan leaped ahead of Asia by launching the region's first satellite in
1972. Now it is struggling to keep up in the most heated space race
since the Cold War competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
China launched its first manned space flight in 2003. A second mission
in 2005 put two astronauts into orbit for a week, and a third manned
launch is planned for next year. This year, China also plans to launch a
probe that will orbit the moon.
Earlier this month, the country launched a Long March 3-A rocket that
sent a navigation satellite into orbit as part of its effort to build a
global positioning system. The satellite is the fourth China has
launched as part of the Compass navigation system, which is expected to
be operational in 2008.
Japan, meanwhile, has met with one setback after another:
# Last month, one of its four spy satellites became unresponsive due to
apparent electrical problems. The three other satellites were
functioning normally, but the failure left its multibillion dollar,
long-awaited spy network with a big hole.
# A mission to Mars had to be abandoned two years ago after the probe
moved off course.
# In January, JAXA gave up on a moon-landing mission. The Lunar-A probe,
originally scheduled to lift off in 1995, was to plant two seismic
sensors on the lunar surface, but development of the penetrator probes
took so long the mission's mother ship fell into disrepair.
# An ongoing mission to bring back the first samples from an asteroid
may be lost in space. Last month, JAXA said the Hayabusa probe succeeded
in getting close to an asteroid and may have been able to pick up
samples, but admitted a fuel leak in 2005 and subsequent communications
problems have put its 2010 return in doubt.
The $269 million SELENE is four years behind schedule. Japan launched a
moon probe in 1990, but it did not orbit the moon as SELENE is intended
to do.
"We are confident that we will succeed," JAXA's Kurokawa said. "We are
being very careful, as always."
Other Asian nations are joining in the race.
In 2000, South Korea broke ground on a $277 million rocket launch site.
It plans, with Russian help, to put a small satellite in orbit next year.
India is hoping to launch its Chandrayaan-1 moon mission this year or
next, though its technological prowess and $700 million space budget
remain well behind its ambitions.
China spends at least $1.2 billion on space-related projects and the
U.S. about $16 billion.
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 13
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 17:59:59 -0400
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Skype's founders' next target: TV
To: medianews@twiar.org
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Skype's founders' next target: TV
Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis plan to one-up YouTube by streaming
legal video onto your TV. Fortune's Mark Halper reports.
FORTUNE Magazine
By Mark Halper, Fortune contributor
April 20 2007: 9:58 AM EDT
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/04/30/8405491/index.htm?postversion=2007042009
(Fortune Magazine) -- Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis aren't used to
competition like this. The maverick duo that rocked the telecom and
music industries with their Internet startups Skype and Kazaa are now
trying to shake up the TV world with their latest Web company, Joost.
This time there's a different landscape out there.
Joost provides free software that turns PCs and Internet-equipped TV
sets into screens that can fetch any video to which Joost has acquired
the rights. Joost streams videos to end users who watch for free but
can't save the content. It plans to make money by selling advertising
when it launches commercially in June, sharing revenue with content
providers. "We want to liberate people from having to wait for a TV show
to start at eight o'clock," says Zennstrom, who founded the Luxembourg
company with Friis last year as the Venice Project and changed the name
to Joost in January.
But haven't we heard about the death of traditional TV before? Now that
more than 300 million people around the world have broadband lines to
support video, the competition is fierce. From startups to big telecom
companies to broadcasters, it seems everyone is trying to change the way
we watch TV and films.
Take Silvio Scaglia, whose Milan company Fastweb was an early pioneer of
broadband-delivered TV and video. Scaglia has just launched his latest
venture, Babelgum, based in Dublin, which has the same business model as
Joost's. Scaglia has put about $13 million of his own money into
Babelgum, and he's not about to cede the market to a couple of guys
known for VoIP and music sharing. "We're in this for the long run," says
Scaglia.
Then there's BitTorrent, the San Francisco downloading service that,
after making a name for itself by providing pirated videos, has gone
legit, signing distribution deals with at least 40 content providers,
including Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., and MGM (Charts,
Fortune 500). BitTorrent co-founder and president Ashwin Navin says his
market for selling downloadable, storable video is different from
Joost's free, streamed, ad-supported content. But, he points out, "Joost
has to be concerned over why it's a better experience than YouTube,
which has comprehensive content and will be improving its quality over
time."
Zennstrom's answer: Joost's video quality and rights protection far
outshine anything YouTube and its imitators offer. That's because Joost
uses a peer-to-peer distribution technology, not unlike the one behind
Skype, that enables it to deliver full-screen, high-quality video
compared with the low resolution on YouTube. And with YouTube parent
Google (Charts, Fortune 500) being sued by Viacom (Charts) for $1
billion for posting unauthorized video, Zennstrom is preaching the
legitimate acquisition of content. "If you don't have content," he says,
"it's not going anywhere."
Joost CEO Frederick de Wahl says the company will have acquired rights
to 10,000 to 20,000 hours of programming by the time it goes live. In
February, Joost picked up MTV and other content from Viacom, adding it
to a list that already includes National Geographic and "Big Brother"
creator Endemol.
"Joost, unlike YouTube, understands copyright," says Viacom CEO Philippe
Dauman. He also praised Joost for allowing Viacom to sell its own ads
and to link viewers back to Viacom's Web sites. But lest Joost get too
confident, Viacom has also struck similar deals with other companies,
such as BitTorrent. And other traditional media companies, including NBC
and News Corp. (Charts), are making their own Internet moves.
The ultimate test will be whether Joost signs up advertisers. Zennstrom,
who is an active board member, says Joost already has commitments from,
among others, Philips, T-Mobile, Perrier, Unilever, Wrigley, L'Or?al and
IBM. "We don't have any problems getting meetings with the top people in
these companies," says Zennstrom. That's what comes of having staked out
a reputation as a successful radical who is ready to apply a more
mainstream business model. Now, may the best maverick win.
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
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