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will inevitably go the way of the radio drama

Radio dramas were really good. If you can catch one on a podcast or an NPR station, you'd be surprised how easy it is to get caught up in one. Sure, cable boxes and radio dramas are things of the past, but I wouldn't say they deserve to go to the same place.

Uber drivers *can* pickup street fares, but you still have to request and pay through the app.

You too may need to do some research.

“Our technology platform is used to connect riders and drivers through our lead generation software. Any solicitation independent from the app is strictly prohibited. We communicate this to all driver partners,” said Uber spokesman Taylor Bennett.

Moreover, Uber’s insurance policy applies only to rides that are digitally booked, raising liability and public safety issues.

When a ride is requested by a person picked up before the request is put in it may not go to the same driver. Another car may be dispatched to that location.

There is also no non-compete clause (because they are contractors) so they can work for Lyft and Sidecar at the same time.

The US Courts are hearing cases on whether drivers are employees or contractors.

I guess I was wrong about not working for multiple companies. Though that may change with the rulings about being an employee.

By the way, if you investigated so thoroughly then why no references?

But I um... thought... um.. it was good for.me to um..... have a what's the.word Jenny? A diet low is salt. I may not be smart, but I know what high blood pressure is...

Just a note that, according to my doctor, and many articles I've read, excessive salt in the diet is NOT a problem for many/most people, but only those sensitive to it. Good explanations can be found:

• Myth or Fact: Salt Increases Blood Pressure (Hint: It's myth)
• A low salt diet for high blood pressure: Where’s the evidence?
• UVA Study Finds Salt May Not Contribute To High Blood Pressure

I suggested making corporate funded lobbyists illegal. I didn't say anything about you and a couple of hundred others lobbying in another structure. A non-profit organization might be a good choice. Even a Political action committee might be appropriate. As bad as those are, they're still downright transparent compared to how corporate lobbyists and lawmakers interact. At best we get these lame lobbyist activity reports, often only after the laws they're involved in are passed.

We've made corporations into people, and letting them dump unlimited funds into lobbyists makes that pseudo-person able to influence our laws to their benefit too. This is not a theory in regards to the topic here, it's documented fact in several places now. Here in Maryland where today's article focuses on, we had Speed Camera Lobbyist charged with Ethics Violations. Chicago has Mayor's speed cameras would help political ally. And the speed camera lobbyists were well represented on the first half of the year's busiest lobbyist reports.

My comments on how these laws are advancing were not speculation; I was commenting on exactly how things have happened in Maryland. A deeper bit of fact checking only suggests I didn't hit all the sources that funded the speed camera lobbying though. Rather than completely bootstrapping itself legally, speed camera lobbying has also been funded by revenue made from red light cameras, another area where for-profit companies lobby in ridiculous ways. Note the comment there on how the red light camera companies have even managed to bypass standard law enforcement rules in some places.

Some public stations (e.g. WAMU) have quite a few "talk" programs. I don't like the format, so I can't attest to the degree of liberalism. NPR news isn't talk. It's news, although it's news for people with long attention spans.

I asked the DC Metro chief about open sourcing their control system code or even just publishing the control data on something like data.gov so that folks could write cool apps (iphone/Andriod/Blackberry/Pre/Web2.0) to encourage riding and make the system safer. He said no because that would allow people to hack into the system's. Instead, they are working with an unnamed "vendor". This is the same excuse a lot of folks (even Darl) gives when wanting to keep things closed.

You are correct. A program on the local NPR station (Podcast available) just had a segment with Saqib Ali (D - Dist. 39, Gaithersburg, Maryland House of Delegates). Currently, the company that administrates the speed cameras is paid by the county on a per ticket basis (although Mr. Ali states that it is not supposed to be that way). The more tickets issued, the more the company makes.

But hey, it's not like someone would abuse that arrangement, right?

Jon Katz discovered that the geek audience is too smart to fool for long, so he found an audience that eats his crap up and doesn't complain: overweight divorced woman with little yappy dogs. you can see it for yourself if you like. Or you can listen to him
sweet-talk the lovely Diane Rehm on her NPR interview program.

But what's this? Katz fucked up again! Border Collies are supposed to be smart dogs, and apparently their owners aren't buying Katz' bullshit either. Just read how they people rip him to shreds. Katz had his dog Orson killed because he couldn't be bothered to train him! These dog owners judged Katz just like we computer geeks judged him. He's a writer looking for an easy market to sell books to.

For those that don't want to read ( Me included :) ) can hear an audio interview with Diane Rehm.

A commentator on the Diane Rehm show talked about China's strategic interest in Burma as well as China's desire for Burma's energy and other resources. Having Burma as a client gives landlocked areas in southern China direct access to the Indian Ocean. Apparently the Chinese have been investing substantially in the development of Burma's infrastructure to facilitate this access. A Burmese client also gives China more leverage in Southeast Asia where it hopes to expand its sphere of influence.

Last Thursday, the Diane Rehm show had a segment on this very topic, talking with the author of the book "Nation of Secrets". Show available in Real or Windows Media format. Very interesting topic.

I love The Diane Rehm Show for news and discussion of current events, especially on Fridays when they do a two-hour panel / call-in discussion of the week's current events.

Left, Right and Center is also a good, weekly discussion-style show over current events. Less listener interaction and too short, but still, generally good commentary.

And Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me is a hilarious weekly quiz / comedy show about current events and pop culture.

I catch all three of these, week-in, week-out. They're fantastic.

Ooops - since you were educated in the USA, I will have to spoon feed you ;) ..... here's Lehrer's interview with Diane Rehm: http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/06/11/07.php#11776

You find out why he's embarassed about being a Marine - some times.

Let's just say she's a close personal friend... oh heck, who am I kidding -- she's my sister.

It may be incurable but it's not unmanageable. see http://wamu.org/programs/dr/diane_rehm/

http://www.wamu.org/programs/kn/06/09/21.php#12024

Avi Rubin was a guest today on the Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU (a local NPR station). Not only is Professor Rubin an outspoken critic of the Diebold systems, he has also participated in the last two elections as an election judge. You can listen to the radio show at the above link once it gets archived later this afternoon. Some good commentary on Ehrlich's statement and on the election in Maryland in general.

NPR and Marketplace post podcasts of some of their more popular shows.

Check your local stations as well.

I know this will sound like an advertisement. But if you are a parent, you MUST read some of Mel Levine's work. He's a pediatrician whose sole work is to encourage and teach children how to maximize their learning based on their aptitude. If I can explain the gist of his beliefs, he believes the school systems today are too reliant on performance based on standardized tests; parents are too hung up on "college prep" when they should be stuck on teaching their children "life prep;" and there is no such thing as "well-roundedness" (by packing a child's schedule with unneeded even detrimental extracurricular activities) and he labels it "mental obesity."

Each child is wired differently and it's the schools job to identify how the child is wired and to approach their teaching according to how the child learns, rather than sticking with the current monolithic system that essentially espouses the "one size fits all" model. As a parent it is imperative that you learn how your child learns and foster that. He believes that the current system is one of the reasons why there are so many children returning home from college, "living in the basement," with nary an idea of what to do with their lives or what steps to take next because all their lives, decisions were made for them.

One thing that he advocates quite vocally is that children should read more biographies. His reasoning is that if they are interested in a certain field, biographies give a glimpse of the "untold" aspects of the career that is often overlooked, like office politics and the social involvements required in certain careers.

His two most popular books:
A Mind at a Time
Ready or Not, Here Life Comes

You can also learn more about his organization All Kinds of Minds online.

Also, for a quick "intro" of his program, you can hear an online interview with him by Susan Page at the Diane Rehm Show. He talks about everything from the current school system to the increasing diagnoses of ADHD among children.

It doesn't take many soldiers to drop lots of bombs. It's possible just bombing could have the effect the neo-cons want. There's some great discussion on The Diane Rehm Show yesterday. You can hear Seymour Hersh talk about this and decide for yourself if he's crazy.

The thing to remember is Iraq is very weak right now and Iran is quite strong. For decades the US has kept those two at a balance to keep them killing each other instead of taking control of more oil. Now we've nearly destroyed one and so we have to knock Iran down to the level of Iraq. You should also think about the Kerds. There are Kerds in Iran and those controlling Iran fear them. Dreams of Kerdistan could lead to a massive civil war in three countries.

I don't think anyone outside of the president's inner circle, and a few members of congress would come close to supporting it.

That has never stopped them before. I'm sure we'll see more and more "aggressive" moves against Iran as time goes by. All the time Bush will deny anything is going on, so there's no reason to debate it. Then "BAMB!" we're attacking Iran and we aren't allowed to debate during a war either.

Diane Rehm had a discussion of this SS mess. The big question of this talk was whether or not it was prudent to allow citizens to take money out and invest money on their own. Many of us who advocate open-source and sharing IP may be conflicted about the implications of "taking" away from the SS fund and investing on our own. Part of the benefit of contributing in one fund is that we spread risk, even out the playing field, and ensure that those who were not well off will be taken care of---not unlike how insurance works. But on the other hand, many of us perceive SS as a government endorsed ponzi scheme---taking money from "new members" (i.e. young workers) to fund newly retired persons. By the time my 18 year old son retires, the well will have run dry and he will have to rely on other options that hopefully will be devised to fix this crisis.

There was a very interesting discussion on the Diane Rehm show about West Nile virus and mosquitoes. One interesting topic of discussion was the issue of mosquitoes in the environment. One argument is that mosquitoes have no ecological benefit and that the world will be better off without them. Sure birds may eat the larvae, but most if not all birds' diets can consist of other insect larvae and other adult insects.

I say we should concentrate on robots that feed on mosquitoes and its larvae. Not only will it be good for robots, but we'll reduce the burden of the diseases that mosquitoes carry such as malaria and West Nile.

I've posted about this on Slashdot before but looks like it's appropriate to post again.

Here's a link to the realaudio stream of the radio show I refered to.

In our state our governor, Jeb Bush, is against the whole verified voting idea. Suprising considering the whole fiasco here in Florida last time.

I caught a decent chunk of this radio show a couple weeks ago, and it really made the whole push for non-verifiable e-voting here in Florida seem pretty shady:

An estimated 28% of U.S. voters will cast their ballots on electronic voting machines next November, but questions about security remain. A panel discusses the on-going concerns.

Joe Andrew, lawyer in private practice and former National Chairman of the Democratic National Committee

David Dill, Professor of Computer Science, Stanford University
www.verifiedvoting.org

Bev Harris, author of "Black Box Voting" www.blackboxvoting.org

Mark Radke, director of marketing,
Diebold Election Systems

Congressman Robert Wexler, D - Florida, 19th district


http://www.wamu.org/ram/2004/r1040324.ram

It's a very interesting conversation no matter how you look at it. Unfortunately in Realaudio only :(

They covered some of the why's, how all parties do it when they have the control of the state legislatures to do so, and a bit about how better demographic and mapping technology helps make the process easier technically. Discussed some of the state court cases trying to oppose particularly gerrymandered redistricting plans (colorado, texas, etc).

Also discussed how the one-person, one-vote supreme court decisions directly led states away from districts generally based on towns, cities, county lines, etc, and to base them more closely on actual population distribution within the state, and giving more opportunity for gerrymandering as a result.

The date of the show was Thursday, December 4, 2003. It should be up on the WAMU.org site soon. Find it under the Diane Rehm show archives. (by date or titled "Congressional Redistricting")

They covered some of the why's, how all parties do it when they have the control of the state legislatures to do so, and a bit about how better demographic and mapping technology helps make the process easier technically. Discussed some of the state court cases trying to oppose particularly gerrymandered redistricting plans (colorado, texas, etc).

Also discussed how the one-person, one-vote supreme court decisions directly led states away from districts generally based on towns, cities, county lines, etc, and to base them more closely on actual population distribution within the state, and giving more opportunity for gerrymandering as a result.

The date of the show was Thursday, December 4, 2003. It should be up on the WAMU.org site soon. Find it under the Diane Rehm show archives. (by date or titled "Congressional Redistricting")

Thus we behold the latest right-wing meme. This attempted rebuttal of this poll has shown up throughout the media, including a letter to the editor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and posited by Tony Blankeley of The Washington Times this morning on NPR's The Diane Rehm show. Using the same example of (paraphrased) "Bush didn't personally claim an imminent threat from WMDs, though most liberals think he did."

There's apparently no evidence that GWB made that exact claim, so believing that he did gives you a "misperception." But there was plenty of (mis)information circling around, including the famous British memo about Iraq being able to deploy WMD's 45 minutes after Saddam might order it. It's certainly possible that people might believe those words came from Bush himself, rather than advisors or pundits, which is technically mistaken. But the essential perception remains accurate: The US and UK administrations, led by Bush and Blair, used the idea of WMD's being used sometime in the near fute as a justification for the war.

Compare that to the misperceptions that were polled.

(1) Evidence found for link between Iraq and Al Qaeda
(2) Evidence found of WMDs in Iraq
(3) Positive world opinion about Iraq war

Either there was a link betwen Al Qaeda and Iraq, or not. WMD's were found, or not. The world has a positive opinion of the Iraq war, or not. No selective parsing of who said what when.

To use a favorite right-wing term, this type of painful parsing (like the meaning of "slog") to make words mean what you want them to mean, seems positively "Clintonian."

There are two big issues that really work against a RaViO device (Radio TivO).

1. No centralized scheduling service. The biggest feature of the radio is that allows you to think about "shows" not "timeslots" when you're recording stuff. This can only be done if there are accurate and reasonably complete playlists somewhere for the device to use. A few years ago (I don't know about today) it was illegal to post a playlist, because the record companies were paranoid that people would tape stuff off of the radio, I think they even had some jockeys talking over the beginning and end of each song despite how obnoxious that is.
2. Hard to fast forward/rewind. Unless you are very good at making out chipmunk speak, it's hard to know when you've skipped past a boring part and are back on a song. On commercial radio it would be easy to skip past the one song they play per half hour and end up in another 10 minute block of continuous commercials.

That said, I would like something like this. It'd be great to record the Big Broadcast and then be able to skip over the badly dated sitcom segments to the good stuff.

When they get to some MP3 or Vorbis streaming, let me know.

WAMU, the Washington D.C. NPR station does MP3 streaming.

yeah, it's on now, 12-1 EST

Real Audio stream

off topic, but on WAMU FM 88.5 in Washington, DC, there is an interview with Kevin Mitnick. You can listen live.

For years, Web loggers, or "bloggers," have used the Internet to express their viewpoint or document their lives. A Tech Tuesday look at how blogging has influenced the national debate since September 11th.

Rebecca Blood, editor of We've Got Blog: How Weblogs Are Changing Our Culture and author of The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog (both from Perseus Books)

David Gallagher, freelance journalist specializing in Internet and technology news

John Foley, Executive Editor, InformationWeek

Eric Olsen, editor of BlogCritics.org; and editor of Blog Nation, an upcoming book that will compile the very best blogs from the aftermath of September 11th

More specifically go to this link

But that is a stream only, not a downloadable file like he was looking for. (yes I know there are ways to capture streams, but I think he is looking for something easier.)

At least it's not very likely.

If you listen to the May 22'nd broadcast of the Diane Rehm show (crappy RM format though), the recording industry's representative makes it very clear that the rates agreed upon will only be used as a base... and that they will be happy to lower rates (even possibly to nothing besides ASCAP/BMI)... for the webcasters who play the music they like, and want promoted.

I'm sure CCU will get a sweetheart deal, and it wont really take a suspicious looking law to do it, just a lil handhsake with Rosen.

Diana Rehm covered this yesterday. There's an audio link here

L.L. Talked with Diane Rehm yesterday about his new book and one of the callers was Hillary Rosen.

Listen to link at bottom of page.

On Wed, Oct 17 the Diane Rehm show had a wonderful talk on this very subject. If you listen to the show, make sure to pledge as hosting real audio archives cost a good deal of cash. Details about the show...

Wednesday, October 17, 2001 10:00 - War on Terrorism and U.S. Energy Policy
A panel talks about how the war against terrorism could affect U.S. imports of oil from OPEC nations - which account for almost half of our imported oil - and how domestic energy policy and the economy might be affected.
Phil Verleger, California-based energy economist
Peter VanDoren, editor of Regulation magazine for the CATO Institute
Charli Coon, Heritage Foundation

For more information about ANWR, check out the U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet FS-0040-98: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 1002 Area, Petroleum Assessment, 1998

On Wed, Oct 17 the Diane Rehm show had a wonderful talk on this very subject. If you listen to the show, make sure to pledge as hosting real audio archives cost a good deal of cash. Details about the show...

Wednesday, October 17, 2001 10:00 - War on Terrorism and U.S. Energy Policy
A panel talks about how the war against terrorism could affect U.S. imports of oil from OPEC nations - which account for almost half of our imported oil - and how domestic energy policy and the economy might be affected.
Phil Verleger, California-based energy economist
Peter VanDoren, editor of Regulation magazine for the CATO Institute
Charli Coon, Heritage Foundation

For more information about ANWR, check out the U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet FS-0040-98: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 1002 Area, Petroleum Assessment, 1998

Vint Cerf was interviewed on NPR's Public Interest yesterday. You can listen to it in RealAudio here. He makes a great case for how the Internet was put its first real test of the original intention of using packet switching, which was to ensure a reliable method of communication in the event of an enemy attack here on US soil - and passed the test pretty well, with the exception of some of the major media sites being slashdotted.

He is joined by George Sadowski, Executive Director of the Global Internet Policy Initiative, GIPI.

This submission got rejected, but you might enjoy the RealAudio of Friday's Diane Rehm show (on NPR) about the exploration of Mammoth Cave. The politics between the explorers is amazingly similar to most hackers I know! Give a listen.

This submission got rejected, but you might enjoy the RealAudio of Friday's Diane Rehm show (on NPR) about the exploration of Mammoth Cave. The politics between the explorers is amazingly similar to most hackers I know! Give a listen.

Public Interest (on NPR) had Sir Martin Rees, author of "Just Six Numbers : The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe", on the show today, and he mentioned that this research actually confirms a bit of the inflationary theory of the universe that for the last few years appeared to be not showing up in current measurements. I'd listen to this archive of the show to here his comments.

Public Interest (on NPR) had Sir Martin Rees, author of "Just Six Numbers : The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe", on the show today, and he mentioned that this research actually confirms a bit of the inflationary theory of the universe that for the last few years appeared to be not showing up in current measurements. I'd listen to this archive of the show to here his comments.

The author was on the radio program Public Interest March 5th.

Kojo Nnamdi, an excellent interviewer, hosted an hour with Dr. Himanen, who is in his 20's and is a professor at Berkley and Helsinki, and with a former senior presidential speach writer who also has a new book out. Here is the RA stream.
--

The author was on the radio program Public Interest March 5th.

Kojo Nnamdi, an excellent interviewer, hosted an hour with Dr. Himanen, who is in his 20's and is a professor at Berkley and Helsinki, and with a former senior presidential speach writer who also has a new book out. Here is the RA stream.
--

Diane Rehm had an hour long interview with the author. I remember I was driving in the middle of nowhere listening to Paterniti explain how he got the brain and how they ended up driving across the United States in a rented Buick with it. Strange!

The show was Teusday, Aug. 1, 2000. The direct link to the Real Audio archive is here.

Worth a listen!

---
In a hundred-mile march,

Diane Rehm had an hour long interview with the author. I remember I was driving in the middle of nowhere listening to Paterniti explain how he got the brain and how they ended up driving across the United States in a rented Buick with it. Strange!

The show was Teusday, Aug. 1, 2000. The direct link to the Real Audio archive is here.

Worth a listen!

---
In a hundred-mile march,

WAMU a Washington, DC public radio station, has an archive of its old shows. The Jon Katz inverview is here. (Real Audio is required for this link to work.)

WAMU a Washington, DC public radio station, has an archive of its old shows. The Jon Katz inverview is here. (Real Audio is required for this link to work.)

Specifically I am referring to The Big Broadcast which can be heard on their live RealAudio feed 7pm - 11pm ET; 4pm - 8pm PT for the left-coasties. :)

Jeffrey.

You missed the point but try tuning into www.wamu.org on a Sunday Night EST and you could be pleasantly surprised, even if their repetoire doesn't go past 1960. :)

Be Seeing You,

Jeffrey.