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So if it were up to these "concerned taxpayers", the gov't wouldn't spend any money, because if any company received money that would be considered pork. Because here's the deal: Some projects are worthwile, take a gander at the list, many are military related. Are these folks saying they don't want to support the troops?

Another example is DARPA. There was a great program on PBS about the unmanned robot challenge, in which Stanford's "Stanley" and 4 other 'bots went the entire 100 mile plus route, when the previous year the top showing was 7 miles. That is pretty fantastic stuff. I believe the Carnegie-Mellon team got about $2 million or so from the military, I'm sure that is classified as pork, but this could have significant consequences on future battlefields. Don't forget DARPA funded the internet too. Sometimes "concerned taxpayers" have to think out a little farther out.

As for the water-free urinals, the CNET article insinuates that Falcon is not a world leader as they claim, but provide no evidence for this assertion. Also there was just an article here about a company trying to build a skyscraper with water-free urinals, to save 1.6 million gallons. That's a good thing. $100-$200/per toilet per year saved. Not bad. Certainly not pork - how much money would be saved if those were installed in every gov't institution - considering the fact that the govt is probably the largest employer in the U.S., for example? Granted, it no-bid contracts, and even bid contracts are probably corrupt, but this is chump change compared to the *billions* thrown at Halliburton & Bechtel & KBR, etc. This is the 80-20 rule, fix that leak first.

What I don't understand is the article comes from Philadelphia Inquirer, so why isn't linked to the Philadelphia Inquirer but kansas.com?

The original article is right here:
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/140182 09.htm

Incase you guys missed it http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13796737.htm this isn't the first car like this and it's not a completely new or radical design.. it's just not popular yet

Which, interestingly enough, is precisely what these kids have put in the vehicle. Here's the link. They pulled the engine out of a junked Jetta.

This article explains why they used biodiesel. Basically they entered the car in the "Tour de Sol" and the race rules required that they not burn gasoline (or diesel in this case). The interesting thing about this design is that it is built around an existing kit car. Heck, the thing's probably street legal.

The article is sorely lacking in good pictures. Surfing around, the Philadelphia Inquirer has a much more thorough article here.

They've also got a flash presentation with exploded diagrams of the structure of the car. http://www.realcities.com/multimedia/philly/inquir er/KRT_packages/archive/graphics/hybrid_car/index. html

The federal government is threatening to cut off funding for
  Pennsylvania if it does not accept the new replacement touch screen Vote-a-tons from Diabold
  (and no paper trail allowed).

From the same company that delivered the 'correct' results for the state of Ohio,
they are now targeting Pennsylvania:
VoteFixing

If I remember correctly, the vote totals can be editied for 'correctness' using MS Access?

Pennsylvania:
The state where Judges get payoffs
from Legislators to approve double digit pay increases
with secret midnight voting sessions:
Payoffs

The results of secret government:
GoldDiggaz

So, Lawmakers Threaten reporters for telling the truth:
"Screw them!"

Can we please call on the U.N. to police our local state government with independent observers?

While it is true that on an absolute basis, methane is the second largest contributor to climate change, it has a very low global warming potential compared to most other GHGs. Even so, CH4 is 21 times as potent as CO2. So, if the CH4 to CO2 proportion (tons CH4 emitted:tons CO2 stored) from a tree (over its lifecycle) is greater than 1:21, then trees are part of the problem (rather than part of the solution). According to Tufts: a tree stores 671 lbs of CO2 over its lifetime (presumably, lifetime excludes decomposition). Source http://www.tufts.edu/tie/tci/seques tration.htm So, if the CH4 emitted per tree is 32 lbs or more, we'z in a heap o' trouble. The Nature study's coauthor, Thomas Röckmann, stated, "Rough estimates suggest the positive effect of storing carbon far outweighs a plant's emissions of methane . . . ." Source: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/living/health/1 3636155.htm Sounds like Röckmann has already done an estimate of the proportions. I suppose that Röckmann et al did not make the estimated proportions available to the press since the proportions were not covered. Was the "rough" estimate enough to conclude that a more detailed estimate was not necessary? One might ask, why wasn't a per tree comparison included in the report? The omission of the estimated emission proportions seems to me to be a major weakness. I have a hard time believing the findings when something so obvious seems not to have made its way into the hands of the press. How does the rate of methane emission change over time? At what stage in its lifecycle does a tree cease producing methane? How does the methane emission rate change between species? The report summaries suggest that the conclusions were based on lab studies of rye grass. It seems to be a bit of a stretch to go from lab rye grass to the entire Amazon. Who funded the work? Röckmann has the answers. Greg

As a smart person working for a newpaper, I'd like to say, kiss my ass. You'd be hard pressed to find another industry that has more interesting data handling issues than a newspaper. We've got financial data, image data, text data (which is stored in a version tracking system similar to, but more extensive than, CVS), and massive archiving which is seperate from and connected to all of the above.

And all of this data has to be able to transition from pure digital to paper through a conversion and optimization process that requires raster processing and laser lithography like a goddamn microchip fabrication plant. You've got disaster recovery and stress like you wouldn't believe.

That being said, I have to agree with Rob. Interesting that he picked a KR paper. Knight Ridder has a terrible online presence...It's not done by individual papers either, it's all done on the corporate level. Check the websites: Charlotte, Philaphelphia, Biloxi, Macon...Notice anything? One size fits all.

The reason Knight Ridder is a bad example is because they don't take the web seriously in the least. They don't spend any money on it, and they don't let their individual papers do it themselves. Until they make more of an effort, they're not going to grow their web readership or their web presence. That's just common sense.

"You can take the nigger out of the jungle . . .
but you can't take the jungle out of the nigger."

found at: Philadelphia Inquirer

Looters Around The City Cleaning Out Stores

At first it just seemed that the Wal-Mart in New Orleans' Lower Garden District was doing a very brisk post-hurricane business yesterday: The parking lot was full, people were leaving with brimming baskets, and city police and firefighters were there as if to oversee it all.

But people weren't going through the front door. They were squeezing between boards meant to protect the now-shattered glass from Hurricane Katrina's winds. One man was packing his van so full of computers, televisions and DVD players that he had trouble closing the rear doors. One woman was carrying three jugs of laundry detergent in a city with no power to run a washer.

As in so many past disasters elsewhere when crisis and chaos have replaced order and normalcy, a beleaguered New Orleans was beset by looters.

The widespread plundering started before Katrina had finished its onslaught Monday. That afternoon, looters broke into an emptied sporting-goods warehouse in Mid-City, a grocery in Treme, and the hardware center Uptown. In one instance, witnesses said, police were called but did nothing until one man shot another.

People said they had heard Wal-Mart had opened its doors to provide supplies for law-enforcement agencies sheltering the 10,000- plus people in the Louisiana Superdome. A Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Sharon Weber, said law enforcement, emergency-management teams, and relief agencies had "unwritten permission" to help themselves to whatever they need from Wal-Mart stores in times of crisis, but that standard procedure was for the police or aid officials to "leave us a list of what they take so they can pay us later."

At the Lower Garden District Wal-Mart, among the items seen being loaded into police cars were dozens of T-shirts, DVDs, and dog food.

But when law-enforcement officials went to get their goods, others - people of all ages and races - followed.

"They just came and no one could stop them," said David Brown, 38, a Port of New Orleans employee.

Brown and a coworker were filling their vehicle with dozens and dozens of canned goods - stews and chilis and Spaghetti-O's. Brown said the food would be used to feed the port's police and its employees, many of whom, like him, had worked nonstop since Saturday.

They were only taking essentials, he said, though a copy of Queen Latifah's Beauty Shop movie had apparently made that list.

Brown said the work showed no sign of easing.

"It's pretty bad," he said. "They've been calling for body bags all day."

Most streets in New Orleans were empty yesterday except for the hub around the Wal-Mart, in a section of the city that remained dry. People were everywhere: in cars and trucks, pushing goods in carts and baby carriages, dragging full trash cans and laundry baskets. The steady stream of cars caused a traffic jam on the streets near the store - the type of traffic jam last seen here when people tried to evacuate.

"Is everything free?" asked a woman who pulled up in a red car. Hearing "yes," she started to chant: "TV! TV! TV!"

Inside, a teenage boy held up a pair of blue lacy panties and snickered, "I want to see somebody in these so bad," before tossing them in his basket.

Another man used a table to break into one of the last unscathed jewelry cases.

A rumor that the National Guard had arrived sent people running toward the store's exit, shouting: "Come on! Come on!" But no one put down any merchandise, and the Guard rumor turned out to be false.

Some shoppers were oddly selec

Looters Around The City Cleaning Out Stores

At first it just seemed that the Wal-Mart in New Orleans' Lower Garden District was doing a very brisk post-hurricane business yesterday: The parking lot was full, people were leaving with brimming baskets, and city police and firefighters were there as if to oversee it all.

But people weren't going through the front door. They were squeezing between boards meant to protect the now-shattered glass from Hurricane Katrina's winds. One man was packing his van so full of computers, televisions and DVD players that he had trouble closing the rear doors. One woman was carrying three jugs of laundry detergent in a city with no power to run a washer.

As in so many past disasters elsewhere when crisis and chaos have replaced order and normalcy, a beleaguered New Orleans was beset by looters.

The widespread plundering started before Katrina had finished its onslaught Monday. That afternoon, looters broke into an emptied sporting-goods warehouse in Mid-City, a grocery in Treme, and the hardware center Uptown. In one instance, witnesses said, police were called but did nothing until one man shot another.

People said they had heard Wal-Mart had opened its doors to provide supplies for law-enforcement agencies sheltering the 10,000- plus people in the Louisiana Superdome. A Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Sharon Weber, said law enforcement, emergency-management teams, and relief agencies had "unwritten permission" to help themselves to whatever they need from Wal-Mart stores in times of crisis, but that standard procedure was for the police or aid officials to "leave us a list of what they take so they can pay us later."

At the Lower Garden District Wal-Mart, among the items seen being loaded into police cars were dozens of T-shirts, DVDs, and dog food.

But when law-enforcement officials went to get their goods, others - people of all ages and races - followed.

"They just came and no one could stop them," said David Brown, 38, a Port of New Orleans employee.

Brown and a coworker were filling their vehicle with dozens and dozens of canned goods - stews and chilis and Spaghetti-O's. Brown said the food would be used to feed the port's police and its employees, many of whom, like him, had worked nonstop since Saturday.

They were only taking essentials, he said, though a copy of Queen Latifah's Beauty Shop movie had apparently made that list.

Brown said the work showed no sign of easing.

"It's pretty bad," he said. "They've been calling for body bags all day."

Most streets in New Orleans were empty yesterday except for the hub around the Wal-Mart, in a section of the city that remained dry. People were everywhere: in cars and trucks, pushing goods in carts and baby carriages, dragging full trash cans and laundry baskets. The steady stream of cars caused a traffic jam on the streets near the store - the type of traffic jam last seen here when people tried to evacuate.

"Is everything free?" asked a woman who pulled up in a red car. Hearing "yes," she started to chant: "TV! TV! TV!"

Inside, a teenage boy held up a pair of blue lacy panties and snickered, "I want to see somebody in these so bad," before tossing them in his basket.

Another man used a table to break into one of the last unscathed jewelry cases.

A rumor that the National Guard had arrived sent people running toward the store's exit, shouting: "Come on! Come on!" But no one put down any merchandise, and the Guard rumor turned out to be false.

Some shoppers were oddly selective. One woman said she was taking only facial-care products. Another was pushing a cart filled with silk roses and baby's breath. In the pharmacy aisle, she leaned over t

Looters Around The City Cleaning Out Stores

At first it just seemed that the Wal-Mart in New Orleans' Lower Garden District was doing a very brisk post-hurricane business yesterday: The parking lot was full, people were leaving with brimming baskets, and city police and firefighters were there as if to oversee it all.

But people weren't going through the front door. They were squeezing between boards meant to protect the now-shattered glass from Hurricane Katrina's winds. One man was packing his van so full of computers, televisions and DVD players that he had trouble closing the rear doors. One woman was carrying three jugs of laundry detergent in a city with no power to run a washer.

As in so many past disasters elsewhere when crisis and chaos have replaced order and normalcy, a beleaguered New Orleans was beset by looters.

The widespread plundering started before Katrina had finished its onslaught Monday. That afternoon, looters broke into an emptied sporting-goods warehouse in Mid-City, a grocery in Treme, and the hardware center Uptown. In one instance, witnesses said, police were called but did nothing until one man shot another.

People said they had heard Wal-Mart had opened its doors to provide supplies for law-enforcement agencies sheltering the 10,000- plus people in the Louisiana Superdome. A Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Sharon Weber, said law enforcement, emergency-management teams, and relief agencies had "unwritten permission" to help themselves to whatever they need from Wal-Mart stores in times of crisis, but that standard procedure was for the police or aid officials to "leave us a list of what they take so they can pay us later."

At the Lower Garden District Wal-Mart, among the items seen being loaded into police cars were dozens of T-shirts, DVDs, and dog food.

But when law-enforcement officials went to get their goods, others - people of all ages and races - followed.

"They just came and no one could stop them," said David Brown, 38, a Port of New Orleans employee.

Brown and a coworker were filling their vehicle with dozens and dozens of canned goods - stews and chilis and Spaghetti-O's. Brown said the food would be used to feed the port's police and its employees, many of whom, like him, had worked nonstop since Saturday.

They were only taking essentials, he said, though a copy of Queen Latifah's Beauty Shop movie had apparently made that list.

Brown said the work showed no sign of easing.

"It's pretty bad," he said. "They've been calling for body bags all day."

Most streets in New Orleans were empty yesterday except for the hub around the Wal-Mart, in a section of the city that remained dry. People were everywhere: in cars and trucks, pushing goods in carts and baby carriages, dragging full trash cans and laundry baskets. The steady stream of cars caused a traffic jam on the streets near the store - the type of traffic jam last seen here when people tried to evacuate.

"Is everything free?" asked a woman who pulled up in a red car. Hearing "yes," she started to chant: "TV! TV! TV!"

Inside, a teenage boy held up a pair of blue lacy panties and snickered, "I want to see somebody in these so bad," before tossing them in his basket.

Another man used a table to break into one of the last unscathed jewelry cases.

A rumor that the National Guard had arrived sent people running toward the store's exit, shouting: "Come on! Come on!" But no one put down any merchandise, and the Guard rumor turned out to be false.

Some shoppers were oddly selective. One woman said she was taking only facial-care products. Another was pushing a cart filled with silk roses and baby's breath. In the pharmacy aisle, she leaned over

Phildelphia tried the let the fire burn trick once.

Actually, BBC dearest, Saddam ordered the estuary and the marshes to be dried up:

http://www.harvard-magazine.com/on-line/010538.htm l
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/5981 406.htm
http://www.waterconserve.info/articles/reader.asp? linkid=22888
http://www.iraqfoundation.org/projects/edenagain/2 003/ajan/27_wetlands.html

The BBC makes it sound as if the palms accidentally died as a result of war, when in fact the genocidal dictator purposefully ordered them starved of water.

The BBC... shielding Saddam from criticism 'til the bitter end.

Most Americans still believe that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq was involved in the attacks of 9/11.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/6085 261.htm

use BugMeNot to get at the article To summarize:

"A New Jersey man who pleaded guilty to illegally copying and posting a digital version of summer action movie "The Hulk" on the Internet received a three-year probation, was fined us $2,000 and was ordered to serve six months confinement in his home. He also must pay $5,000 in restitution to Universal, the company that produced and distributed the movie. Kerry Gonzalez pleaded guilty to one count of copyright infringement. He admitted to receiving an unfinished copy of the movie from a friend who in turn sourced the 'work print' from a third party who worked for an advertising agency. No one from the ad agency has been charged. The FBI traced the Internet copy back to Gonzalez through an encoded "security tag" on the print."

Yeah, interesting that they never tracked the 'friend' he got it from, or which ad agency that friend worked for /shrug

Another site says he got 6 months of 'home confinement', 3yrs probabtion, and fines for his part in distributing the film.

And the movie wasn't even that good ...

Furthermore, each volunteer hard drinker served as their own control -- one week they took the kudzu, next week they took nothing and drank anyway, week after that they took placebo, week after that they took nothing again and drank. Order of placebo first or kudzu first was randomized.

If you read the article, it's a rather elegant experimental design. I guess you'd rather just blissfully that scientific researchers are all so dumb you can outthink their dayjob in a 3-minute posting? :)

2) In something as psychological as hangover
Ummm, what about hangover? Did someone mention hangover? I didn't mention hangover, myself.

Virginia Smith did a great write-up for the Philadelphia Inquirer, in which the researcher, Scott Lukas, offers a speculation about how it all works. He thinks it's not making you more drunk -- just making you aware of how drunk you are earlier. I suspect mechanistic research on this is forthcoming.

eastpole (disclosing he works for Harvard and covered the story for a local publication)

Local newspaper had an article about the descision, and the fact that it's not going to change much at this time.

I live in PA, and I'm not going to be able to order wine online anytime soon. The State Store is going to retain the monopoly as the sole distributor in-state.

Verizon (and comcast for that matter) are fighting Philly's attempts at free wireless network.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/11410060.htm

Registration Required, but at least that's better than cash:

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/ 11281408.htm

"There are 43 million uninsured Americans - 4 million more than when the current administration took office. George W. Bush will reverse this trend by making health insurance affordable for hard-working, low-income families." Source:

Bush-Cheney 2000 website

Reality?

In the first two years Bush was in office, the number of uninsured American increased by nearly four million. Since Bush took office, health insurance premiums have risen by an average rate of 12.5 percent per year. According to a major study, "widespread adoption [of Bush's major health care plan] could drive up the annual deductible paid by workers." Source:

U.S. Census Bureau, 7/8/04; Kaiser Family Foundation, 4/04; USA Today, 4/25/04

Another Healthcare promise:

"George W. Bush will establish the 'Healthy Communities Innovation Fund' to provide $500 million in grants over five years to fund innovative projects addressing targeted health risks, such as childhood diabetes." [Source: Bush-Cheney 2000 website]

Reality?

Bush never established this fund. Source:

The Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/20/04

Environmental promise:

George W. Bush "will also ensure that the federal government, which is the country's largest polluter, complies with all environmental laws." Source: Bush-Cheney 2000 website

Reality?

For the past three years, the Department of Defense has requested that Congress exempt it from environmental laws and regulations like the Clean Air Act of 1970. The exemptions were requested despite the fact that the Environmental Protection Agency has thus far declined to apply the policies to the military training facilities in question. Source:

Government Executive Magazine, 4/6/04

Education promise:

George W. Bush will "fully fund the Pell grant program for first-year students by increasing the maximum grant amount by more than 50 percent, to $5,100." Source:

Bush-Cheney 2000 - Education website

Reality?

President Bush has frozen the maximum Pell Grant at $4,050 in his FY 2005 education budget. This is the third year in a row that Bush has frozen or cut the maximum Pell Grant. Source:

House Committee on Education and the Work Force 2/2/04

Welfare promise:

"To encourage states to help families in crisis, Governor Bush will provide states an additional $1 billion over five years for preventative services to keep children in, or return them to, their homes whenever safely possible." Source:

Bush-Cheney 2000 - Child Welfare website

Reality?

Bush has proposed allowing states to use the federal funds currently earmarked for foster care room-and-board payments to be used for preventative services. In exchange, states must accept a spending cap on the amount of foster care funding they receive. Sour

Seriously it may have something to do with D&D

Nope, it almost certainly isn't D&D.

Here is a second source for the story. Philadelphia Inquirer.

Many of Still's friends, including Eichinger, were also involved in "role-playing games" that are like the Dungeons & Dragons game.

Games like D&D. Wording that almost certainly means that they did not play D&D. Anyone want to wager on whether the RPG they were playing didn't even revolve around swords and knives? Perhaps a game more focused on laser pistols and blasters or something? Chuckle.

Of course his homicidal motivation was obviously caused by D&D...

Eichinger allegedly killed Still for the same reasons that motivated him to murder Heather Greaves, his former coworker at an Upper Merion Acme, prosecutors said - he had wanted a romantic relationship but had been rejected.
"And he was jealous because they had other boyfriends," Castor said.

Yep, damn RPGs and all that sex. Chuckle.

-

Your implication being that this is what the Republicans do, can you offer any actual proof that this occured in the last election?

Oh man... there was so MUCH of it I can't even begin to list it all, much less give links for every single one.

A flyer on fraudulent Allegheny County government stationary stating that due to high turnout voting is extended to November 2nd AND November 3rd, and that to avoid conflict and disruption for Republicans to please vote on the 2nd and Democrats to please vote on the 3rd. The county government itself put up this page because of it.

Take a look at this flyer fraudulently claiming to be from the NAACP: "The following persons may not register or vote and will be subject to arrest,
Persons with outstanding traffic violations, including moving violations and parking citations above $50.00; Persons who have not submitted credit reports dated one week prior to election day; Persons adjudged to be negligent in paying child support." It also states fradulent requirement of two forms of photo ID. Who the hell has two photo IDs?

The most head Republican in Pennsylvania said quote: "the Kerry campaign needs to come out with humongous numbers here in Philadelphia. It's important for me to keep that number down". Wow, an honest politician! Too bad he was honestly admitting to voter suppression. The same link also notes Republicans sought a last-minute relocation of 63 polling places, nearly all of them in black neighborhoods. Specifically 53 of the 63 were in overwhelmingly black neighborhoods, and I beleive the other 10 were also in urban democratic areas. Last minute relocations to confuse and disrupt voters.

A doctored news story spread on Pennsylvania college campus that students will lose financial aid if they vote.

In Berkeley County, W. Va., Democratic voters in the Eastern Panhandle received calls telling them they were not registered to vote. The County Clerk's office traced the calls back to the headquarters of the Eastern Pandhandle Republican Party, local NBC News affiliate Channel 25 reported on Oct. 8;

In Painesville, Ohio, newly registered voters signed up by the Kerry campaign and the NAACP received a letter telling them their registrations were illegal and they would not be able to vote, NBC affiliate WKYC Channel 3 reported on Oct. 28;

Twenty GOP-dominated Ohio counties have given false information to former felons that they could not vote when in fact they had legally had their voting rights restored. One, Franklin County, had a roughly thriteen hundred percent increase this year in supposedly "felony" voter registration cancelations, many of whom were in fact never felons. Oh, and speaking of Franklin county... you remember the notorious "Butterfly Ballot" from the 2000 Florida elections? The missleading form where votes for the candidate in one certain spot tend to accidently be given to the candidate in another certain spot? Well Franklin county used this butterfly ballot for absentee votes, and supprise of supprises, Kerry was placed in the slot that "loses" votes and Bush was placed in the slot that erroneously picks up extra votes. Way to go Franklin county!

In Madison, Wisc., the College Republicans and a Republican congressional candidate Dave Magnum took responsibility for distributing a flier erroneously stating that students at the University of Wisconsin could vote at any of five polling locations, according to a Nov. 1 report in The Capital Times;

Across pretty much all the swing states there are countless cases of fradulent Board Of Elections notices

...a Microsoft High School is being built in Philadelphia. (Here's your bugmenot credentials, if you need them.)

I look forward to the first time the place is brought to its knees by malware and they have to send the kids home like it was a snow day.

http://www.pnac.info/ A more indepth look (or replace indepth with "bias")

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonlette r.htm

The scariest place on the net. If you really support this admin, and haven't read this, your an idiot. No arguement here, you don't understand what it is your supporting. Pax Americana.

http://www.peace.ca/paxamericana.htm Just an outline of the shift in the admins arguement for going to war. Linguistists will be studing this for YEARS. Seriously, this shows a new form of language manipulation that is balls out scary.

There's much debate about whether fingerprints are the primary keys to human identity. Law enforcement has based over 100 years of work on the premise that no two humans, anywhere, ever, have the same fingerprints. Some people say this is hogwash. Let's leave out, for now, the fact that it's not possible to verify this claim at all: there's no way to test all living people and compare their prints. This is troubling, but a bit of a red herring. More troubling is the way fingerprinting is practiced. There's a case in Philly right now where a federal judge has prohibited the prosecution from testifying that two fingerprints "match" -- and Tom Ridge wants fingerprints added to U.S. passports. From this article:

But in 1993, a Supreme Court decision required judges to take a more active role in deciding what scientific evidence to admit. In the case of fingerprints, the so-called "Daubert" guidelines would lead to questions such as: Has the practice of fingerprint identification been adequately tested? What's the error rate? Are there standards and controls?

The answers, respectively, are "no," "no one knows," and "no."

Letter

As Trickofperspective pointed out, Philidelphia is going to continue its plans for city-wide Wi-Fi, except that the ISP will be Verizon instead of the state of Pennsylvania.

Innovation isn't stifled by corporations, it just goes a different direction.

Big donors power governor's big dance
By John Sullivan and Rose Ciotta
Inquirer Staff Writers

Gov. Rendell raised more than $2.5 million from about 200 private donors for his inaugural bash, with much of the money flowing from corporations, trade unions, lawyers and professional associations.

Contributors to the big party included many who gave heavily to Rendell's campaign for governor, some who supported his opponents, and others who have earned millions of dollars from state contracts.

There were five categories of donors, with the highest, an elite list of 15, paying $50,000 each to earn "benefactor" status.

Some of the top corporate donors included Comcast, Unisys, Verizon and SAP Public Services.

Organizers of the event, which was estimated to cost more than $3 million, said donors did not earn special access to Rendell. [HAHAHA! yeah, right.]

It should be noted that Philadelphia made a deal with Verizon that will allow it to go forward with their original city-wide WiFi rollout despite this law.

~Trick

Plans have been drawn up for a draft of health-care workers should the military become too overwhelmed with casualties. You can bet there are similar plans for pilots and others with highly trained skills, including some IT professionals.

If Selective Service could easily run reports such as "give me everyone under 35 with a BA or higher in Comp Sci or MidEast studies who graduated with at least a 2.5 GPA", I'm sure this would be incorporated into draft planning. Whether or not that is the primary intention of this proposed database, it would be foolish to believe that such a database would never be used in this way.

" Monday, October 20, 2003 - Page updated at 11:22 A.M.
Clarification: The headline states "Survey shows Fox led in misleading public," but the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy (PIPA), which conducted the survey, later issued a clarification that the correlation between viewing Fox News and holding misperceptions does not prove that Fox News' presentation caused the misperceptions. "

meaning the authors of the study doesn't claim fox news is misleading the public. In reality it is more likley what i described above in the level of comprehension of the viewers compared to the amopunt of viewers. In another article here here with its original here sheds a little more light or at least make it a little clearer on the numbers from other news sources.

I think to continue to claim fox news lies or purposley misleads in thier news reporting (not neccesarily you saying it but the general impression from others too) Is not only intelectualy dihonest but intelectualy lazy too. On the surface it is easy to come to the conclusion you did. It is the minute disclaimers that surfaced afterwards and looking into the source of the story a little that makes it clear.

In essence, you can say that you held misconceptions about "fox news' integrity" based on the same situation. Now there was actually a sitr found with about 20 barrels of a chemical (i forget the name right now) That was though to be a WMD and could have definatly caused damage as a WMD would but it turned out later to be an insecticide used with agriculture aplications.This was reported by manny news sorces other then but including fox news. This redacted story is probably the main reaosn of the misconceptions about the WMDs in iraq. The news print had to wait until publication and distrobution before releasing the news and by that time the chemicals purpose was already clearified.

I'm not a fox news schill or fanboy in the lest. I generaly get the majority of my news from the radio. I think most people would agree that the content on television (new anyways) has started lacking with the flux of 24hour news stations. I did however take the time to offer this post because i have heard too many time about how fox islieing to it's viewers or somethign along those lines. I'm under the impression that this is likely the result of

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/1025 8228.htm?1c

Philadelphia has the second highest public transit cost in the US (San Diego is first I believe) but over $2 for bus fair is much more important to the working poor than wifi... lets provide basic services first, then worry about "useless" stuff like free wifi. Most households in West Philadelphia other than University City area don't have computers, most households in North Philadelphia don't have windows, and I don't mean the operating system. I can't believe our former mayor and state legilature really believes wifi is any kind of priority

Jeff

The PA legislature has shot down a portion of a bill that would have let Comcast move their headquarters into a brand-new skyscraper, where they would pay no state or local business taxes for 15 years.

I'm paying $60/month for 'expanded basic' cable in Philadelphia, and Comcast is crying for tax breaks??? They can kiss my fucking ass. I hope the bill gets shot down again in January, when they'll no doubt try again.

All of those things benefit you whether you choose to use them or not. The roads carry emergency vehicles, schools provide employable citizens [theoretically], police deter crime, parks increase your property value. How does EVERYONE benefit by this, even if they don't use it? Maybe it increases property value? I don't know, I'm being honest.

I disagree with the end of your statement, though. Government's job is NOT just to do things that benefit a large number of people. They have the power of coersion -- they take money out of everyone's paycheck, and people can be sent to jail for not complying. You need to keep that as limited as possible. Couldn't this just be done through a non-profit organization instead? Why do we need to put a usually corrupt, usually inefficient, usually slow, always political bureaucracy in charge of it? The City of Philadelphia can't even fund SEPTA properly, and they're always going for more and more money from the state. Just what we need, another bloated government project. I'd rather that was the LAST resort, not the first.

...they use it to convict you AFTER they find you. Of course, the interesting thing is that it would be trivial to hook up your confiscated printer and print out some incriminating evidence after the search itself. Then backdate the evidence tag, and voila. Of course, not that police ever tamper with forensic evidence.

A couple weeks ago, the Republicans tried at the last minute to relocate 63 polling places in Philadelphia, mostly in areas where voters are predominantly non-white (read: likely to vote Democrat). This was clearly a ploy to create confusion in the hopes that people would not receive word of the relocation and in time and just give up after going to their normal polling place and finding they could not vote there.

Much to the chagrin of the Republicans, their attempt was foiled and all those pesky brown people will be able exercise their constitutional right to vote in their usual polling places.

~Philly

Candidate John Kerry has said he will close the tax loophole that makes it advantageous to outsource call centers.

There are two problems with Senator Kerry's promise:

1. The tax loophole he wants to close doesn't exist.

2. Outsourcing is more than balanced by insourcing, and it's the cost savings from outsourcing that are driving that. And before you spout something about the quality of the insourced jobs, they pay far more than the national average.

In short, in this as in so many other things, Kerry is just lying to try to fool stupid people into voting for him.

The analysis released Thursday also correlated the misperceptions with the primary news source of the mistaken respondents. For example, 80 percent of those who said they relied on Fox News and 71 percent of those who said they relied on CBS believed at least one of the three misperceptions.

>> I actually aways wanted to visit the united states
By all means, stop over!

If you're comming to the US for a visit, I can recommend NYC or Boston (expensive!), Chicago, D.C., but there's some other places that I'd guess you'd like too:

- Portland, ME
- Asheville, NC
- Billings, MN
- Boulder, CO
- Philadelphia, PA

If you visit a big city, stay our of town, within walking distance to a rail link. The hotel room will be 1/2 - 2/3 less than staying downtown. For smaller cities, you'll need to rent a car.

>> treat me like a criminal
The last thing you're treated like is a criminal in the US. In fact, leave the airport and you'll probably not have another interaction with somebody from law enforcement until your return flight; 95% of police here are nice guys, more so when you get out of the major urban areas, so don't fear the police.

The three common mistaken impressions are that:

U.S. forces found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
There's clear evidence that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein worked closely with the Sept. 11 terrorists.
People in foreign countries generally either backed the U.S.-led war or were evenly split between supporting and opposing it. ...

In fact, no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq. U.S. intelligence has found no clear evidence that Saddam was working closely with al-Qaida or was involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Gallup polls found large majorities opposed to the war in most countries.

PIPA's seven polls, which included 9,611 respondents, had a margin of error from 2 to 3.5 percent.

The analysis released Thursday also correlated the misperceptions with the primary news source of the mistaken respondents. For example, 80 percent of those who said they relied on Fox News and 71 percent of those who said they relied on CBS believed at least one of the three misperceptions.

The comparable figures were 47 percent for those who said they relied most on newspapers and magazines and 23 percent for those who said they relied on PBS or National Public Radio.

The reasons for the misperceptions are numerous, Kull and other analysts said.

you are right that for now they can not issue the tickets. What happens when they have 100% of people using EZ pass? Then they have nothing to loose.

Maybe Philly is trying to flex it's muscles against Comcast's request for tax breaks?

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/7796395.htm?1c
Google Cache of another article:
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:3dph9TRSbsAJ: www.indyaccess.org/community/index.php%3Fboard%3D1 3%3Baction%3Ddisplay%3Bthreadid%3D190+comcast+phil adelphia+tax&hl=en&lr=lang_en
or it is likely a pipe dream on one city offical not thinking who he is stepping on.

The other possiblity is that Phila. wants to get more $ and might consider partnering with Comca$t? This article is a way of testing the waters?

And before you know it, there will be flying mini bikes everywhere...

But I guess that will eliminate the problem of the rider's head being at the level of a car's bumper... Now they'll just plunge X feet to their deaths...

Yeah, because a company that made almost $635 million in the 2nd quarter of this year and has a share price of $179 is REALLY hurting for money...
If they want to charge whatever they want for the drug, then they don't deserve my money. If they want to offer drugs for a reasonable price(while still making a profit as can be seen), then I will gladly help fund the research.
It's like the businessman who robs a homeless man because he wants a new car. The businessman can afford the car on his own, but why use your own money when you can use someone elses?
No, in fact you are the one that is naive, believing the "poor me" attitude of the drug companies.

This is completely false. The much publicized PIPA poll that linked the source of news to beliefs showed that 50% of Americans believed there was some link between Saddam and al Qaida (which means that half the nation believes there is no link).

How about this, this, and this? At least half thought that some of the hijackers were Iraqi. My apologies for saying "most" before. Only some thought that most were. As for half believing there was no link, apparently 36% couldn't answer the question.

I can't believe you're trying to say that the U.S. public is/was well informed about the war in Iraq. Look at where everyone gets their information from.

There was a study done comparing the belief in a number of assertions that were false, and fox viewers were most likely to claim they were true.

The format of hannity and colmes does not allow colmes to reply to hannity most of the time. Franken attacked colmes over this, and that's the defense colmes used personally for why he comes across as so weak.

I do agree they're not conservative, because a true conservative would not back bush's economic policy or his military agenda, and fox definitely does that.

that's only because they actually report the news stories that support the president's administration while all the other networks nearly always refuse to run them.

And which stories are being silenced on that damn liberal media then?

[Anti-US rant]

And fuck the kids

No. That's done in France.

About 15 to 20 percent of the registrations for the Philadelphia Inquirer turned out to be bogus

That percentage has just risen :)

I disagree. Gibson's whole description of icebreaking was interesting science fiction, rather than something that was really attempting to make an informed guess on how future computer systems would work. For one thing, users could be killed by the security systems through their connection. It seems increadibly unlikely to me that this would ever occur, since any system connected to the internet should be able to handle disconnections, and so one could be produced on purpose the moment trouble showed up. But obviously, it made for a much more exciting plot. The same goes for the visual stuff, it's a lot more interesting than someone spending days maticulously banging away at a system. Gibson's a great author, but I think it silly to give him credit for things he obviously didn't intend in his books. By is own admission, Gibson is no techie. He writes fiction, and trying to pull deeper meaning (or predictions of the future) out of it is a waste of time.

Now I know why 5000 pounds of grease was stolen in Edmond, Oklahoma.

I can just imagine 2 or 3 geeks with a pickup truck cackling gleefully at their heist.