June 29, 2005
"Ten Years of Chilled Innovation"
Lessig is all wet. He's an opportunist pushing his Creative Commons approach to intellectual property. The Supreme Court decision is correct and won't chill innovation. It's clear as can be. A business model that encourages stealing, regardless of the technology involved, is illegal.
The End of the Rainbow - New York Times
Thoughtful, apolitical policies and consensus among traditional adversaries to promote economic development is a winning combination. Capitalism, with a dose of Socialism, e.g., free education and health care, has been a winning combination. Can the same be said of Northern Ireland?
"Ireland's advice is very simple: Make high school and college education free; make your corporate taxes low, simple and transparent; actively seek out global companies; open your economy to competition; speak English; keep your fiscal house in order; and build a consensus around the whole package with labor and management - then hang in there, because there will be bumps in the road - and you, too, can become one of the richest countries in Europe.
'It wasn't a miracle, we didn't find gold,' said Mary Harney. 'It was the right domestic policies and embracing globalization.'"
"Ireland's advice is very simple: Make high school and college education free; make your corporate taxes low, simple and transparent; actively seek out global companies; open your economy to competition; speak English; keep your fiscal house in order; and build a consensus around the whole package with labor and management - then hang in there, because there will be bumps in the road - and you, too, can become one of the richest countries in Europe.
'It wasn't a miracle, we didn't find gold,' said Mary Harney. 'It was the right domestic policies and embracing globalization.'"
Bloggers plead for freedom from election laws | CNET News.com
The more freedom for bloggers, the better. Campaign finance reform is bad law to begin with, impinging too heavily on speech in the form of money and anything flowing from that which regulates independent bloggers should be avoided.
Free speech and the First Amendment cry out for just the type of independent speech blogging enables. The FEC should tread lightly with blogging, doing nothing, if they can.
Free speech and the First Amendment cry out for just the type of independent speech blogging enables. The FEC should tread lightly with blogging, doing nothing, if they can.
U.S. Adults Abandoning Landlines For Mobile Phones - Yahoo! News
!0% of users have given up landline service in favor of 100% cellular voice. Landline POTS service will continue to decline among the many options for cellular service.
My concern is whether the cellular networks are robust enough to support massive local traffic spikes created in emergencies. Further, are cellular sites all powered with standby generator power for those times when the electric grid fails?
"As young adults age, they are expected to drive the trend further away from landlines. Many 18 to 25 year olds grew up with cellular phones and have less apprehension toward never having a landline, Porus said. Older adults, however, who grew up with landlines, still see them as more reliable than wireless, and therefore important to have during an emergency.
'As (young adults) get older and have households of their own, you're going to see fewer and fewer landlines,' Porus said.
Cable operators have been moving quickly into telecommunications by offering telephone service over a high-speed Internet connection. This has prompted telephone companies to invest in building out the infrastructure for delivering TV over their own broadband products. Both sides are looking to offer consumers telephone, TV and Internet services in one package, called a 'triple play' in the industry.
But trends indicate that Internet telephony may be the weakest link in the package, since it would require a cable connection or landline. Consumers in the future would probably be more interested in cellular-phone service and a wireless Internet connection.
'VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) may be the least valuable, because it's more of a back-up service (to a cellular phone),' Porus said."
My concern is whether the cellular networks are robust enough to support massive local traffic spikes created in emergencies. Further, are cellular sites all powered with standby generator power for those times when the electric grid fails?
"As young adults age, they are expected to drive the trend further away from landlines. Many 18 to 25 year olds grew up with cellular phones and have less apprehension toward never having a landline, Porus said. Older adults, however, who grew up with landlines, still see them as more reliable than wireless, and therefore important to have during an emergency.
'As (young adults) get older and have households of their own, you're going to see fewer and fewer landlines,' Porus said.
Cable operators have been moving quickly into telecommunications by offering telephone service over a high-speed Internet connection. This has prompted telephone companies to invest in building out the infrastructure for delivering TV over their own broadband products. Both sides are looking to offer consumers telephone, TV and Internet services in one package, called a 'triple play' in the industry.
But trends indicate that Internet telephony may be the weakest link in the package, since it would require a cable connection or landline. Consumers in the future would probably be more interested in cellular-phone service and a wireless Internet connection.
'VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) may be the least valuable, because it's more of a back-up service (to a cellular phone),' Porus said."
Learning the lessons of 9/11 - Yahoo! News
Emergency communications in catastrophes and public emergencies rely on wireless technologies, both narrowband and broadband.
Know Your Numbers and Improve Your Odds - New York Times
An excellent read about current thinking on cholesterol, LDL and HDL effects on heart and vascular health.
France Will Get Fusion Reactor to Seek a Future Energy Source - New York Times
Mankind seems to be on a viable course to produce electricity from a limitless alternate source. Big science and costly, but the world has little choice as the demand for electricity will grow inexorably.
"...most experts agreed that because of technical difficulties, renewable energy sources like wind or solar power would never provide more than 15 or 20 percent of the world's energy needs. There is enough coal in the earth to keep the world running for centuries, but at an unacceptable environmental cost. As oil and gas fields peter out, Mr. Haug and others say, the world will be forced to turn to nuclear energy.
Comparing Fuels"We don't think fusion will remove fission from the production scheme," Mr. Haug said. "But it will probably be used along with fission because of the growing energy needs of man.""
"...most experts agreed that because of technical difficulties, renewable energy sources like wind or solar power would never provide more than 15 or 20 percent of the world's energy needs. There is enough coal in the earth to keep the world running for centuries, but at an unacceptable environmental cost. As oil and gas fields peter out, Mr. Haug and others say, the world will be forced to turn to nuclear energy.
Comparing Fuels"We don't think fusion will remove fission from the production scheme," Mr. Haug said. "But it will probably be used along with fission because of the growing energy needs of man.""
June 28, 2005
The Speech the President Should Give - New York Times
Tell me, Mr. Kerry, is it better for the jihadists to be in Iraq where they can be killed as well as kill, or to be fomenting terror is dozens of other places in the world, including the U.S.?
I prefer they be targets in a place where our superb military can at least be able to eradicate some of them.
However, your oped as an attempt to upstage the President's speech later today exudes more politics than statesmanship.
I prefer they be targets in a place where our superb military can at least be able to eradicate some of them.
However, your oped as an attempt to upstage the President's speech later today exudes more politics than statesmanship.
St Donats Castle in Wales
My grandson, Isaiah, will be studying here in the United World Colleges International Baccalaureate Programfor two years beginning in September 2005. This web site contains a description of the history with pictures of the castle, built in the early 14th century located about 30 miles from Cardiff, Wales on high cliffs above the ocean.
"In 1922 Richard Pennoyer bought the castle, but in 1925 he re-sold it to a fellow American, the newspaper millionaire William Randolph Hearst. The castle was commandeered for training of army officers during the war and then in 1960 was taken over by an international school called Atlantic College, which is still thriving there."
"In 1922 Richard Pennoyer bought the castle, but in 1925 he re-sold it to a fellow American, the newspaper millionaire William Randolph Hearst. The castle was commandeered for training of army officers during the war and then in 1960 was taken over by an international school called Atlantic College, which is still thriving there."
June 27, 2005
Water Quality in Burlington Bay -Lake Champlain
A summary of water quality in Burlington Bay. Result: Water quality is reasonably stable; no serious degradation in the recent past except for the infestation of Zebra Mussels in certain areas.
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