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All Things Considered just did a story on the Iraqi educational system yesterday. I got the impression that it was pretty much devastated under the Saddam Hussein regime.

Here is a link to a story on research that indicates homeschool children are NOT socially inept.

"and if the arrest or evidence is later thrown out for constitutional privacy reasons so be it"

I'm sorry.. you're assuming that they won't be kept in detention indefinitely.

You're assuming that the evidence will be made available to the defendant. Or that the means of obtaining that evidence will be available to their lawyer.

And, if for some reason there is a trial, you're assuming that the trial will be fair.

"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty."
-Thomas Jefferson

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."
-Thomas Jefferson

"When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
-Thomas Jefferson

As for al-Qaeda, again, you're misinformed. The 911 commission found no significant COOPERATION between SADDAM HUSSEIN'S GOVERNMENT and al Qaeda. That is very different from saying no ties at all between Iraq and al Qaeda. Of course there have been "ties"; al Qaeda is a very successful international terrorist organization partly because it attempted to cultivate ties to intelligence agencies around the world. All the evidence is that such attempts failed with respect to Saddam Hussein's government. Hell, there are "ties" between al Qaeda and the CIA that are more significant than those claimed in Iraq! While the panel did find that there was communication between these parties, no evidence suggests there was cooperation and in fact much evidence suggests that the relationship between these two entities was rather hostile. The CIA disputes the specific claims of one of the 911 Commission members (hardly the "most liberal" one, as you say), and the evidence that many raise about Kurdish cooperation with al Qaeda in northern Iraq hardly supports the case. Even if that evidence is true, that area was not under Saddam Hussein's control at all since the 1991 war, when it became part of a "no-fly" zone. Did you even read the 911 Commission's comments on the issue?

Ah, found a link to the story here.

NPR (National Public Radio) calls that a "Driveway Moment", and in fact made a set of CDs of such stories:

NPR Shop: Driveway Moments 2CD Set

For people who don't understand URLs and/or HTML: click here

apologies

NPR ran a story about an initiative of larger companies simply turning off monitors when not in use. It goes into detail about green PCs and why it hasn't been a larger impact. It goes on to saying that a small group of people is ultimately making the decisions costing billions but in today's economy companies are doing more and more to survive - I'll stop and let you can read and make an interpretation.

If it costs you 5 bucks a kilowatt hour to buy the power, you can only charge your customers 1 buck per kilowatt hour!

I suspect you're illustrating a point, but let's pretend you aren't. Sorry if this is offtopic, but sometimes I need to respond to an inaccurate post with real data. Either either your numbers are off, or your units are.

Here in Illinois, we get power from Commonwealth Edison. The summer rates are (direct link HERE):
Summer Months (June 15th to Sept. 15th):
For all kilowatt-hours: 8.275 cents
Other Months :
For the first 400 kilowatt-hours: 8.275 cents
For all over 400 kilowatt-hours: 6.208 cents

SO: 5 BUCKS per kilowatt hour is a bit steep, as is 1 buck.

But, a Megawatt hour is 1000 * .008275 = $8.275.
A $1 / MWh rate is way-way-way cheap !

I heard on NPR that the Enron fscks were charging Calif. consumers up to $250 per megawatt hour. That's about 25 times more expensive than here in Illinois.

This is a strong argument for well-managed deregulation; let some real economists work on this. I believe The Economist might have some good opinions about how to make this regulatory mess work. Regulation of monopolies (like power and SBC DSL / Voice) is always an exercise in big-dog-fight scepticism.

So, California: Good luck with that. I hope you succeed, since we have SBC Ameritech here in Illinois, too, and I hate the fsckers monopolistic arguably anti-competitive practices here just as much as y'all probably do.

> It is possible to believe strongly in both public radio and the free market

Why compete when you can just lobby away your competitors?

> Radio show producers can sign up to upload programming for peer-review

How about letting us peer-review their lobbying efforts? For now, I'm voting with my (lack of) dollars.

At best, we're taking about 96kbps audio. However, many stations (e.g., NPR) are pursuing dual-program configurations in which the 'main' audio would be transmitted at only 64kbps.

The RIAA is afraid of us recording 96 (or likely, 64) kbps (highly compressed) audio. With a good signal at a stationary location, some would argue that current FM sounds as good (if not better) than the compressed version. (At the end of the day, it's a subjective issue.) It would seem the RIAA is attempting to make radio more restrictive than it currently is.

There was a fairly informative story about this on NPR recently. You can listen to it here

One of the nice things is that such a quick change bodes well for the effectiveness of improved scrubbers and clean-air standards applied to existing power plants, some of which are supposed to reduce emissions by as much as 50%.

> radio stations such as NPR are still great sources for news

NPR lobbied against Low Power FM radio stations. This limits competition and supports the status quo of radio consolidation (Their brother PBS network acknowledges radio consolidation as a problem, how ironic!). Just something to remember when they start one of their pledge drives.

= 9J =

sounded pretty neat, they have a good write up here Since I missed it glad someone took some pictures!

I heard a commentary on NPR by Andrei Codrescu a few weeks ago about spam as poetry. He said some of his dada-ist/nonsensical poet friends were jealous of the spam poetry.

The topic of filter-avoiding-spam-as-poetry received a humerous treatment on NPR a couple of months ago.

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=17612 26

RIAA forgets to pay royalties

RIAA sues consumers but forgets to pay artists

RIAA members forget to pay pension for artists

RIAA redefines online sales to lower royalties to artists

There is a dispute brewing because the RIAA has arbitrarily defined online music sales as an extension of CD/Album sales, which cuts the royalty rates to the artist significantly.

I find the RIAA's crocodile tears about protecting the artists, er, Amusing.

RIAA forgets to pay royalties

RIAA sues consumers but forgets to pay artists

RIAA members forget to pay pension for artists

RIAA redefines online sales to lower royalties to artists

There is a dispute brewing because the RIAA has arbitrarily defined online music sales as an extension of CD/Album sales, which cuts the royalty rates to the artist significantly.

I find the RIAA's crocodile tears about protecting the artists, er, Amusing.

The waste problem is not completely political. Check out this story about how there are thousands of tons of nuclear waste sludge in South Carolina that simply can't be dredged out and taken to some storage site in Nevada or Washington state.

What I think this is emblematic of: the people who run our nuclear plants are near-morons who don't think about the fact that eventually the plant will shut down and there'll be a lot of deadly stuff left over that there's no good way to dispose of. (And that's ignoring potential leaks or bigger problems when the plant is operating).

While we're on the subject, check out this article about fuel rods which some geniuses lost some time between 1978 and now (yes, it's pretty bad not to even know when you lost that sort of thing).

A few of my favorite highlights:
"would be fatal to anyone who came into contact with it"
"In 2002 a Connecticut nuclear plant was fined $288,000 after a similar loss. That fuel was never accounted for."

Advocates of nuclear power always say, "Well it'd be perfect if it was done right." Really though, we're pretty lucky the shortsighted and careless way in which the nuclear industry in this country operates hasn't resulted in more Three Mile Islands.

Many (maybe most) experts agree that Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace Iniative helped spread nuclear weapons. It was meant to help other nations learn to use nuclear power for civilian purposes, buy many say that it helped train foreign scientist that would go on to develop nuclear weapons. NPR had a really good story on it

They assume we dump all the nuclear waste into the nation's beer supply
Nobody thinks that. They do think it is inevitable that leaks will occur. It is also well documented that leaks HAVE occurred. hanford, frankfurt, and of course chernoble.

It's like comparing against an oil economy where it's assumed that 99% of the oil is dumped raw into the ocean.
This I agree with. Lovelock may have a point that that fossil fuel would kill more than nuclear fuel. But just dismissing all of the down sides of nuclear power doesn't help your cause. Instead of arguing that nuclear power is totally safe, the better arguement is that it is safer than fossil fuels.

I find it highly ironic that PBS, which is related to NPR by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, is presenting a documentary about how music is dying. The article mentions radio consolidation and they're part of the problem. NPR lobbied against low-power FM stations. Just something to remember when they start the next pledge drive...

After all, isn't Bill Gates supposed to have been something of a poker shark at Hah-vahd? Of course, that could be just another one of those myths that have taken on the air of authenticity over time.

NPR actually had a pretty funny commentary on this very topic this week on "All Things Considered", I believe, but i can't seem to find it on the NRP site.

---anactofgod---

The BBC appears to be delivering on its promise of releasing its material to the public - they're modelling their licensing on Creative Commons.

I continue to be very excited about this type of content release and especially in the case of the BBC so that all the Monty Python will be available.

I know here in the states we have NPR's content available for listening and download so how are these two institutions licensing different?

Wasn't it plastic wrap that we were supposed to line our houses with?

Alex Rampell graduated from Harvard, which is in Cambridge. This is kind of bizarre. I know his sister. Alex Rampell was on NPR's Talk of the Nation on May 20. Link here (scroll down some).

NPR interview with didtheyreadit founder

NPR did a good story on it in December. If you don't like using ears, Fortune covered it too.

Paying offshore workers much less than American workers would make for the same job isn't necessarily exploitation. The "low" salaries really depend on perspective. For example, a call center worker in India makes more money than a doctor does.

You can find the segment I believe you are referencing, as well as highlights of the simulation, on NPR's site. It seems like a great representation of how some schizophrenics experience the world. This would be useful viewing/listening for a family member trying to understand the disease. Also, I know the guy who was the technical director for the project. He does good stuff!

The most compelling part is the schizophrenia simulator (Real player required). Headphones will give you the best experience. From the story:

Hearing voices is a nearly universal symptom of schizophrenia, and the simulation reproduces that in a way that Frey says is very authentic, and Silberner says is alarming: "The voices jump around you -- they're in front, now behind, now to your left, now on your right. They're persistent, impossible to ignore or filter out."

The most compelling part is the schizophrenia simulator (Real player required). Headphones will give you the best experience. From the story:

Hearing voices is a nearly universal symptom of schizophrenia, and the simulation reproduces that in a way that Frey says is very authentic, and Silberner says is alarming: "The voices jump around you -- they're in front, now behind, now to your left, now on your right. They're persistent, impossible to ignore or filter out."

The Eden Express by Mark Vonnegut (Kurt's son) may be a good book to check out to aid in understanding what a person goes through. Mark explains dealing with his own schizophrenia first-hand. As this happened in the '60s in a commune of sorts the setting is a bit removed, but the thoughts and feelings I'm told are pretty accurate.

Also, on NPR.org there is a schizophrenia simulator which may also aid in understanding what the person may be going through:
link

I did some research for schizophrenia not too long ago and found this great link. It's from NPR, and it actually has a multimedia simulation on what it's like to have this terrible disease. Check it out.

There's much to suggest that our main character is annoying:

* She lives in Santa Cruz, one of the USA's centers of self-absorption and hyper-inflated self esteem. Its residents are really neat -- just ask them. IIRC one of the contestants from the first (egad) "Survivor" episode was a perfect archetype. (Qualifier: Like any other place on earth, Santa Cruz contains scores of normal people. Beautiful place, too...)
* A direct quote from the interview: "I don't want to come across as threatening. Most of the people in our family are pretty intellectual and no one in our family has been really aggressive." So, she's intelligent, morally superior, and definitely not hypocritical. Can I PLEASE have my cake (and yours) and eat it? :)
* She works in Silly Valley. (Sure, that could mean anything. But it does slightly raise the odds that she's annoying.)

Here is the NPR show.

All Things Considered did a piece on this very topic on October 20, 1999. It took a little hunting to find it, but I'm grateful that NPR archives all its broadcasts, even going back that far. :D

The short version is that an anecdotal story written in an internal newsletter at an Indonesian Shell branch office that alleged the possibility of risk of fire was misinterpreted and eventually mistranslated as real news by an English Taiwanese newspaper. This, in turn, eventually wound up on the desk of a BP exec, who ordered the signs to be placed at the pumps.

If you can stand the .rm format, I recommend listening to the whole story. Every time I see one of those little "no cell phones" signs at gas pumps, I have to laugh since they were placed there based purely on heresay with no scientific backing or even basic testing whatsoever.

1. House of Bush, House of Saud: The secret relationship between the world's two most powerful dynasties by Craig Unger, 2004, Scribner. Available as a book and as excerpts on CD.
   
   The Bush family connection with the Saudis is also documented in a new movie by Michael Moore, due for release on July 4, 2004, called Fahrenheit 9/11. Michael Moore won an academy award for his movie " Bowling for Columbine", in spite of the sometimes poor quality of his reporting.
2. Crude Politics: How Bush's oil cronies hijacked the war on terrorism by Paul Sperry, 2003, WND Books, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
3. Worse than Watergate: The secret presidency of George W. Bush by John W. Dean, 2004, Little, Brown and Co., New York. Here are quotes from an NPR Interview of John Dean, which is available online (NPR is National Public Radio in the U.S.):
   
   "This is not a left-right issue. It's not a Republican, Democrat issue. I draw on as many Republicans who are critical of the secrecy of this presidency as I do Democrats." From the written introduction: "Reporters covering the White House of George W. Bush claim that the current administration is more pre-occupied with controlling information than any of his predecessors."
   
   More quotes from John Dean: "Bush is head of state and Cheney is head of government." George W. Bush is "frighteningly unsophisticated for a president of the United States". "I can't find anything that is comparable in history."
4. The Book on Bush: How George W. (mis)leads America by Eric Alterman and Mark Green, 2004. Available as a book and excerpts on CD.
5. Fraud: The strategy behind the Bush lies and why the media didn't tell you by Paul Waldman, 2004, Sourcebooks, Inc. Paul Waldman is the past associate director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center and holds a Ph.D. in communications.
6. American Dynasty: Aristocracy, fortune, and the politics of deceit in the house of Bush by Kevin Phillips, 2004.
7. The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the education of Paul O'Neill by Ron Suskind, 2004, Simon & Schuster. Available as a book and excerpts on CD.
8. Against All Enemies: Inside America's war on terror by Richard A. Clarke, 2004, Free Press. Available as a book and excerpts on cassette and CD. Mr. Clarke was the head of the U.S. government's anti-terrorism effort until he quit because of disagreement with the George W. Bush administration. Mr. Clarke had served under President Reagan, the former President Bush, and President Clinton.
9. Perfectly Legal: The covert campaign to rig our tax system to benefit the super rich -- and cheat everybody else by David Cay Johnston, 2003, Portfolio. Reviews: Powell's Barnes and Noble Amazon
   
   Mr. Johnston has twice won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting.
10. Supreme Injustice: How the high court hijacked election 2000 by Alan M. Dershowitz, 2001, Oxf

A friend of mine is essentially doing this (although in a very much DIY manner). He was recently profiled on NPR's All Things Considered. Basically: med student develops incredibly rare nasal cancer which is almost always fatal. No one's doing much research on it, so the guy decides to research it himself, by first trying to grow his cancer cells in the lab. he's nowhere near the "try cure on self stage", but one has to start somewhere.

...complete with interview.

The broadcast media industry have a history of opposing technology that has a hair of a chance of affecting their signal--whether or not the science is on their side.

For example, the National Associaton of Broadcasters (and even National Public Radio) opposed extending licenses for low-power radio on the grounds that it would interfere with existing licensed signal--even though most people who really understand this know that it's not the case.

The real issue in these cases is usually not technical--it's about control over the airwaves.

Actually, on NPR this morning a famous oceanographer, Wallace Broeckner, suggested we should use machines to capture and concentrate CO2 into carbon-rich rocks or pump it underground. It'll be expensive, he says, but it's easier than 'social engineering'.

Arab news organizations have reported extensively on US troops destroying and stealing things in Iraqi homes during search missions. US news also hasn't covered the closings of anti-US publications in Iraq (which set off the current Najaf situation). These are the kinds of stories that the Arab world sees every day. Since most Americans don't see any of that stuff, we have no idea why they're so upset.

I don't think you've been listening to the right news. I knew about the closing of al-Said's paper the day it happened, thanks to National Public Radio's Anne Garrels. Her report helped me understand why closing the inflammatory paper was needed, and why the consequences were nearly inevitable. I found myself hoping that the US administration knew what they were getting themselves into -- and I'm not yet sure if my hopes were realized or dashed.

Of course, whenever I try to listen to NPR news with anyone else in the car, they say "isn't there any music?" Then we turn to the local Clear Channel station and listen to a 15-minute commercial set. Maybe when we complain about mainstream news being vapid, we're getting our cause and effect mixed up.

Arab news organizations have reported extensively on US troops destroying and stealing things in Iraqi homes during search missions. US news also hasn't covered the closings of anti-US publications in Iraq (which set off the current Najaf situation). These are the kinds of stories that the Arab world sees every day. Since most Americans don't see any of that stuff, we have no idea why they're so upset.

I don't think you've been listening to the right news. I knew about the closing of al-Said's paper the day it happened, thanks to National Public Radio's Anne Garrels. Her report helped me understand why closing the inflammatory paper was needed, and why the consequences were nearly inevitable. I found myself hoping that the US administration knew what they were getting themselves into -- and I'm not yet sure if my hopes were realized or dashed.

Of course, whenever I try to listen to NPR news with anyone else in the car, they say "isn't there any music?" Then we turn to the local Clear Channel station and listen to a 15-minute commercial set. Maybe when we complain about mainstream news being vapid, we're getting our cause and effect mixed up.

...the less they usually know!

I don't know where you get your certain and indignant knowledge of all things, but I seriously recommend trying other information sources!

Here's a link to a 5 minute NPR report dealing with this in detail: (Click the "Morning Edition audio" link right under the headline)

The extent of your misinformedness is well summarized by this quote:
"There's a policy that Americans can not be tried in Iraqi courts".

They didn't prevent the abuse of prisoners, and you think they would have been able to communicate or enforce a no-camera policy? Have you read the Taguba Report? The whole 800th Military Police Brigade was poorly run from the commander on down. Hardly anyone knew anything about the Army Regulations, the Geneva Convention, etc. that specifically related to their job as prison staff. For example, the prisoners were not even counted as often as required. In addition, basic Army standards - such as the saluting of officers - were not enforced. The environment was ripe for such abuses to occur. I could go on, but I suggest that you read the report yourself.

Granted, this could be spin, but Gary Solis, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, recently was interviewed Cheryl Corley of NPR on All Things Considered. Mr. Solis is an "expert on War crimes and the law of war."

First of all, when asked if these photos were of acts that could be considered war crimes, the professor replied, "Probably not, and that's because those who we have seen in these photographs probably are not prisoners of war. Anyone who is captured after occupation [as opposed to the invasion phase] began would not be a prisoner of war. They would be criminals, they would be insurrectionists, insurgents... So, the law of war only applies when there is a war in progress."

More to the point at hand, Ms. Corley later brought up a soldier mentioned in the previous story (Sgt. Ivan Frederick) who claimed he was not "instructed in the rules of the Geneva Convention" and asked the professor if he was surprised that the soldier would say this. The professor replied, "It not only surprises me, I don't believe him. And that is because he is a member of the 800th Military Police Brigade which is specified as an EPW [Enemy Prisoner of War] capable brigade... Their special assignment is to deal with EPWs, and anyone who's assigned to that brigade is going to be specifically and specially trained in dealing with EPWs. For him to say he had no training - I find that difficult to believe."

He did most certainly say that the MPs had the right and obligation to disobey orders (if any) to do such things.

The interview can be heard (in Real format) by going to this page and clicking on the second story entitled "Laws of War -- and War Crimes"

I work in the entertainment industry (not music)

Re: your sig:
Matt Groening explains this in a Fresh Air interview. The idea was that Bart didn't respect his father, but worshipped a clown who looked exactly like him.

I believe this is the link. But he's been on several times, so you may have to listen to a couple to find the right one.

Nature Magazine has an article about Biological Nanocomputers that was linked off of NPR's All Things Considered, which discussed this issue and is worth a listen (RA AND WM9). This story was followed by the audio freezer story previously, all in all a good day for NPR news.