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For your best media coverage in the US, please turn to listener supported NPR. Here in Austin, TX, I have the impression that Clearchannel is taking a day to build a brand name. NPR is doing what they always do, trying to represent as best as they can the events that happen.

Save bandwidth. Listen to the radio. Or, if you're at work and can't get radio reception (like me), their live program stream is available in Quicktime, Real, or Windows Media. Politics aside, most people's computers can handle one of those programs.

Their online coverage is available here, and their program schedule is here. Please note that all times are in Eastern time.

For your best media coverage in the US, please turn to listener supported NPR. Here in Austin, TX, I have the impression that Clearchannel is taking a day to build a brand name. NPR is doing what they always do, trying to represent as best as they can the events that happen.

Save bandwidth. Listen to the radio. Or, if you're at work and can't get radio reception (like me), their live program stream is available in Quicktime, Real, or Windows Media. Politics aside, most people's computers can handle one of those programs.

Their online coverage is available here, and their program schedule is here. Please note that all times are in Eastern time.

For your best media coverage in the US, please turn to listener supported NPR. Here in Austin, TX, I have the impression that Clearchannel is taking a day to build a brand name. NPR is doing what they always do, trying to represent as best as they can the events that happen.

Save bandwidth. Listen to the radio. Or, if you're at work and can't get radio reception (like me), their live program stream is available in Quicktime, Real, or Windows Media. Politics aside, most people's computers can handle one of those programs.

Their online coverage is available here, and their program schedule is here. Please note that all times are in Eastern time.

When the story goes live on the website, here's the link

I suggest listening to Joanne Silberner's full report in addition to the slideshow. And turn up the volume on the slideshow. The vocal layers go pretty deep. Or just take a bunch of LSD. Sounds pretty damn similar to me.

There was a five minute bit about this on NPR's Talk of the Nation today. They had a reporter on the scene who paid $1.50 for 6 eggs, she also mentioned that it sold 'single diapers' and umbrellas. They also had a short interview with Timothy Sanford, the Editor of 'Vending Times' which was mildly interesting.

• More, higher resolution pictures
• Detailed timeline
• A 2 minute NPR segment
• A longer segment at the end of Science News Roundup on NPR

• Reuters
• BBC
• Washington Post

• More, higher resolution pictures
• Detailed timeline
• A 2 minute NPR segment
• A longer segment at the end of Science News Roundup on NPR

• Reuters
• BBC
• Washington Post

All advocacy aside (and I am firmly in the pro-mp3/anti-RIAA camp), how is this not obvious? I lost interest in the music scene a while ago, and mostly pack my mp3 portable with excellent public radio such as This Life and Fresh Air. But a friend bought me a cd for my birthday and I never cracked the seal, just downloaded the tracks for convenience. It sounds fine to my unsophisticated ear, and the cd just sits on my shelf. The truth is, that probably the bulk of the decline is caused by the music industry. But all things being equal, if it were possible to legislate the digital music genie back into the bottle, more music would be paid for. Not as much as is downloaded, but come on, its simple supply vs. demand.

If you take a picture, be sure to turn off the flash on your camera. Aliens could consider it an act of aggression for you to try to burn up the Buckytube based superconductors that make up the trandimensional warp coil.

And don't link to them! Aliens HATE that.

If you don't want to be linked to, don't put your stuff on the web.
And use open standards, too, dammit!
The web was built for the free sharing of information for the good of all. If you're to damn greedy to share, get the fuck out.

Stupid motherfuckers don't understand that's what the web's all about.

--
Live Longer, Drive Smaller!

I often find myself thinking about the environment. First, I started at home: changed out all incadescent lights for compact florescents; took advantage of Salt Lake's curb-side recycling program; compost everything we can. We've reduced our power bill by 25% and we can go 2-3 weeks without taking the trash cans to the curb.

I figure living as an example, and showing it doesn't take much "sacrifice", is a great way to start. You know, the whole "think global, act local" mantra.

We also patronize Native Seeds for our garden's seed supply. These folks propogate heirloom varieties of crop seed suited to the southwestern US region. Since I live in Utah (mostly desert), these varieties require less water, which is a good environmental goal. It also allows me to thumb my nose at Monsanto and other big Evil(tm) agriculture companies. :)

Also, I've looked seriously into mutual funds that target certain ethics of investors. A search on Google should yield many mutual funds which agree with your cause. Certainly not as direct as funding a proactive organization, but companies affect the environment, too.

I've personally contributed to NPR? (which does a good job at showcasing enviromental issues), the National Arbor Day Foundation (self explanatory), and the local chapter of the Humane Society (ferral pets cause local environmental damage).

I haven't put out a lot of money to these groups (maybe a couple of hundred a year, total), but every little bit counts. If everyone ponied up $50/year for a cause, the world just might improve a little.

Why let MSNBC filter your news? These others are one step closer to the source.

If you don't have access to Clarinet (which you should) then you can check via the web:

• Reuters
• The Associated Press
• United Press International
• BBC
• CBC
• NPR
• even Times of India

(AFP don't count - spelling, grammar, and factual errors. NYT - heavy circulation does not a good news source make. )

Isn't this just typical. I heard about ActiveBuddy for the first time earlier this week and got all excited. They were the subject of a story on All Things Considered on NPR and I was looking forward to trying out some of their stuff. Not anymore!

From this article:""If you're over 35, it's very hard to find work," said a sad-looking 43year-old woman at the job center..." (in Tianjin)

Or Li Hua, who went to a job fair and was told he was "too old" to find work:

When slashdot selected the same story just three short days ago, they also linked to an NPR story and a blurb on the nature website.

I'll one more, very important, link to the mix. You can read the abstract for free. Reading the paper itself is not free, unless you count going to your local university library for the dead tree copy as free. Before anyone else comments on the science behind this, please at least read the abstract, and hopefully have the knowledge to pass at least one introductory statistics course.

I think most first graders i know could have figured that one out...

Yup. NPR had a story with the author of this study this morning, quite interesting too...

Guest host Renee Montagne talks with Dr. Heinz Valtin, doctor of physiology and professor emeritus at Dartmouth College, about a new study saying that people may NOT need to drink eight cups of water a day to stay healthy.

story on npr.org

Lets hope they got over the deep linking craop.

You do have a cute ignorance about the Amish, doncha?

Just 'cause you're Amish doesn't mean you don't go through a period of druggin' drinkin' drivin' and enjoying the sins of the flesh

I have it on pretty reliable authority, second-hand from several Mennonites I know, that your average 30-something Amish man or woman has been pretty exposed to "Americanization" at one point or another, and this exposure is an essential part to their culture.

There was an NPR commentary a year ago on this phenomenon. It's an interesting listen.

I mentioned this in the article on shipping CM corn out of the US, but it is important to note that the production of corn in the US is highly artificial, and the press release from the USDA does not provide enough information to verify that the overall equation is reasonable. If the efficiency of the farms is high enough to produce ethanol only because of other subsidies (specificly for cattle feed), it doesn't suggest that the net equation (Is the use of corn based ethanol a truely renewable fuel) is really positive Also, it ignores the other issues relating to our other problematic uses of corn which enable the mass production of corn efficiently. See the discussion that was hosted on US GM production on The Connection recently for a full discussion. The same program also discussed the corn production problems during a discussion of fast food beef production. Also, NPR reported on 'All Things Considered' that ethanol has negitive enviromental impacts (by releasing volital organic compounds) during processing. Also, note this bill. From my perspective this is probobly more a Bush/Republican PR push to demonstrate both their 'environmental friendly' policies and garner farm state votes.

I mentioned this in the article on shipping CM corn out of the US, but it is important to note that the production of corn in the US is highly artificial, and the press release from the USDA does not provide enough information to verify that the overall equation is reasonable. If the efficiency of the farms is high enough to produce ethanol only because of other subsidies (specificly for cattle feed), it doesn't suggest that the net equation (Is the use of corn based ethanol a truely renewable fuel) is really positive Also, it ignores the other issues relating to our other problematic uses of corn which enable the mass production of corn efficiently. See the discussion that was hosted on US GM production on The Connection recently for a full discussion. The same program also discussed the corn production problems during a discussion of fast food beef production. Also, NPR reported on 'All Things Considered' that ethanol has negitive enviromental impacts (by releasing volital organic compounds) during processing. Also, note this bill. From my perspective this is probobly more a Bush/Republican PR push to demonstrate both their 'environmental friendly' policies and garner farm state votes.

The military actually has laptops manufactured by Panasonic that take a LOT of abuse. NPR had a story about it on Morning Edition. The reporter took the laptop and gave it to three kids under the age of 10 who beat the living snot out of it. This included driving over it, pouring ketchup and water on the keyboard, slamming it against a tree and just about any other abuse that might happen. According the story, the thing will take a bullet and still work.

NPR had a story on rugged laptops in March. The reporter turned it over to the local kids for testing (hitting it with a baseball bat, running it over with their bikes, etc).

As mentioned previously, NPR had a good interview with Clarke on Morning Edition today. The interviewer even researched the story enough to know the Felton case. Most impressive.
Their stream is here.


Good Lord, I've deep-linked to NPR.

There is an interesting NPR interview of Richard Clarke Here regarding his comments.

Listen to exactly what he says.

He is not encouraging reverse engineering products to find their security weaknesses. He is only encouraging those who accidently find weaknesses to responsibly report them.

Cheers

I heard the NPR Morning Edition interview with Richard Clarke this morning. Yes, Clarke encourages "hackers" to take find security holes, but be responsible: after discovering the security hole, notify the government and the manufacturer, but DO NOT tell the world. Clarke argues that he wants the software manufacturer to have time to develop a patch before announcing the vulnerability.

Clarke also said he wants "Computer Security Specialists" to hack and not the people doing it for fun. This ambiguity is the problem: how do you define "Computer Security Specialist"? Most of everything I learned about IT came through hacking for fun. Now I'm employed as a "Computer Security Specialist."

Well said. I have a clunky old Siemens C11 cellphone that I bought back in the dawn of time (aka 1998). It's been soaked, dropped, kicked around, left in a fridge for a week, and run over by a car. It's scuffed, scratched, missing the rubber port cover, and the battery case is held on with tape. It doesn't have customisable ring tones, or a graphical display, or build in games, or speech dialing or WAP features. My workmates openly laugh at it.

Until I ask them if they know where and how old cell phones are "recycled". And point out that my 'phone still has 72 hours standby and 60 minutes talk time (on the original and carefully managed battery), the same as most of theirs. And the same range. And the same voice clarity. And SMS text messaging. And a hundred number 'phonebook. And it doesn't even weigh significantly more than theirs. It's just in a bigger - and far tougher - case.

I'll replace my 'phone when it stops working and not a second before. When I do, I'll replace it with the most robust 'phone on the market (you can find reviews in ourdoorsy and extreme sports magazines). Not the smallest, or the one with the biggest screen or longest feature list, because if you purchase a 'phone on any of those criteria, then you'll need a new one in three months to stay at the cutting edge. And then again in another three months. And again. And again.

Unfortunately, that's what the market is based on now, selling us 'phones that we don't need. There's actually an advertising campaign in the UK right now telling us that we should be embarassed to have old 'phones, and that people should laugh at us. I actually think the joke's on people that feel pressured into paying hundreds of pounds to upgrade their 'phone every six months. Unfortunately, I'm in the minority.

Meanwhile (and this is where the dovetail comes in) the FBI had set up in Florida and posted advertisements in magazines in order to lure people who were selling fake moon rocks over the net and in other places. When the Guatemalan man attempted to contact them and sell his (real) rock (for a seven-figure sum) the FBI was stunned to find that there was actually a real moon rock out there because they hadn't expected to find any.

The whole thing is now tied up in litigation because the US claims that the rock doesn't properly belong to its current owner because it was given to the Guatemalan government/people.

I wonder of the students saw the same ad and figured they could make some big bucks.

The same is not true for radio "programs", which normally shuffle schedules around and talk over songs

Except for talk radio. Perhaps the pop music radio stations do, but NPR and other talk radio networks generally don't. Recording "All Things Considered" or "Dr. Laura" is what the "radio TiVo" devices are designed for.

NPR recently did a story on Cool Comfort: America's Romance with Air-Conditioning , Marsha Ackerman's book telling about the invention and adoption of air conditioning in the United States. In the radio story, she talks about the first applications in factories wanting a stable environment in which to manufacture their goods. Rich people weren't interested - they didn't "sweat." Workers "sweat," gentlemen "perspire," and ladies "glow." The rich went to their summer homes in the mountains, anyway. The biggest challenge was automobile air conditioning - size and efficiency constraints postponed its introduction until about 40 years ago.

Michael Pollan wrote an editorial in the 7/19/02 NYT (reg req blah) that supports just the points I made above.

Michael Pollan is the brilliant botanist who's fresh air interview made a hero out of marajuana.

Both Low Carb Dieters and Healthy Eaters will probably find support for their beliefs in the article, but I would posit that the gist of the article supports my contention that refined sugar, vilified by both Atkins and The Health Establishment, is Bad rather than the Atkins/Seal claim that a "Healthy" diet high in complex carbohydrates is to blame for obesity and the cure is eschew that false saint and pray instead to the great god of well-marbled beef, deep fried and basted in butter.

To clarify, I don't object to the concept that reducing sugared foods will help people cut weight - that seems tautological - but I do object to the contention that fat doesn't cause weight gain and the villain is the vegetable. That just violates thermodynamics and all available data.

But simple physics also dictates that if someone finds that they, personally, are more satisfied with fewer calories of fat rather than more calories worth complex carbohydrates (times the 97% bioavailiblity of fat calories vs. the 85% bioavailibility of complex carbohydrate calories), then the fat will result in less net weight gain. Note that there is no long term study to suggest that it is safe to do so, and the suggestion that it is contradicts all studies so far done. But what the hell, if you look good who cares?

Anyway, to dump another steaming load of reason into the middle of the debate, one which fits the established view of diet, Pollan points out:

The problem in corn's case is that we're sacrificing the health of both our bodies and the environment by growing and eating so much of it. Though we're only beginning to understand what our cornified food system is doing to our health, there's cause for concern. It's probably no coincidence that the wholesale switch to corn sweeteners in the 1980's marks the beginning of the epidemic of obesity and Type 2 diabetes in this country. Sweetness became so cheap that soft drink makers, rather than lower their prices, super-sized their serving portions and marketing budgets. Thousands of new sweetened snack foods hit the market, and the amount of fructose in our diets soared.

This would be bad enough for the American waistline, but there's also preliminary research suggesting that high-fructose corn syrup is metabolized differently than other sugars, making it potentially more harmful. A recent study at the University of Minnesota found that a diet high in fructose (as compared to glucose) elevates triglyceride levels in men shortly after eating, a phenomenon that has been linked to an increased risk of obesity and heart disease. Little is known about the health effects of eating animals that have themselves eaten so much corn, but in the case of cattle, researchers have found that corn-fed beef is higher in saturated fats than grass-fed beef.

It's the damn corn syrup kids - no matter what diet religion you pledge fealty to, it's the source of your Satan: fructose and saturated fat.

linked to from the NPR webpage:

Audio "Rocket Hot Melon Menagerie"

Video Watch Brown give some sage advice on soy sauce.

The NPR webpage covering "an alton brown cookout"
NPR

linked to from the NPR webpage:

Audio "Rocket Hot Melon Menagerie"

Video Watch Brown give some sage advice on soy sauce.

The NPR webpage covering "an alton brown cookout"
NPR

linked to from the NPR webpage:

Audio "Rocket Hot Melon Menagerie"

Video Watch Brown give some sage advice on soy sauce.

The NPR webpage covering "an alton brown cookout"
NPR

NPR's Talk Of The Nation had a pretty stout show on this very topic recently. The show's blurb: Here's a quiz. What technological invention is credited with the summer blockbuster, the rise of Las Vegas and the demise of southern literature? The answer is the air conditioning. How staying cool changed American life ... Join guest host Doug Fabrizio for Talk of the Nation from NPR News.

Audio is available here:

Talk of the Nation (02.07.11)
Weekend Edition (02.07.14)

The Talk of the Nation show was pretty interesting and probably worth a listen if you have a few extra minutes.

(Luckily I allowed to link to npr.org w/o getting permission first now)

Audio is available here:

Talk of the Nation (02.07.11)
Weekend Edition (02.07.14)

The Talk of the Nation show was pretty interesting and probably worth a listen if you have a few extra minutes.

(Luckily I allowed to link to npr.org w/o getting permission first now)

Jeez real old, I heard about this in March on NPR. Seems like a lame brain publicity stunt.

"Could Jesus microwave a burrito so hot, that he himself could not eat it." HS

Tezuka was inspired by posters/reviews for Lang's Metropolis. He hadn't actually seen the film itself, so I don't think you can really say that he was inspired by it.

Yeah, you're right. After all, it never works for NPR or PBS.

Search for 'Yucca' on NPR. There are some great discusions in All Things Conisdered.

There are more than just environmental issues, but also the amount of waste that is to be shipped may take years. Also, there are still unresolved issues.

Search for 'Yucca' on NPR. There are some great discusions in All Things Conisdered.

There are more than just environmental issues, but also the amount of waste that is to be shipped may take years. Also, there are still unresolved issues.

We live in a capatilist society and the newspapers all have to make money. Granted - it should be a given that the stories should not be advertising-related, but the media has been controlled by money since the days of Hearst.

I have relegated myself to listening to NPR instead of reading these news sources. Public Radio (at least in the US) has strict rules about the funding of programming and conflicting interests.

One of the most interesting shows on my local NPR station is called The Media Project, which talks weekly about these kinds of conflicts. Check it out.

-Montag

NPR did this story almost two months ago on it's "Weekend Edition Saturday" show. They've set up a web page with expanded coverage, and the site also includes the audio from the broadcast Real Audio Format.

NPR did this story almost two months ago on it's "Weekend Edition Saturday" show. They've set up a web page with expanded coverage, and the site also includes the audio from the broadcast Real Audio Format.

NPR did this story almost two months ago on it's "Weekend Edition Saturday" show. They've set up a web page with expanded coverage, and the site also includes the audio from the broadcast Real Audio Format.

Putting aside for the moment that I think your characterization of NPR as "left-wing" is misplaced, you're perpetuating the myth that NPR only exists due to government funding.

The real deal is here. As a portion of its budget, government sources amount to about 2%. That 2% is primarily in the form of grants from the NSF and NEA.

If the government were to cut off those sources of funding tomorrow, NPR would take a hit, but it certainly wouldn't be fatal.

Is there something outside the marketability of political orientation that is a factor in this difference in success? Does political orientation give a business an advantage in a Capitalistic society? Or is it that Republicans are just looser with their wallets?