Well worth visiting and checking out. This site is reasonably well done, just watch out for the little things they try to sign a visitor up for. I also would not generally give them an email address.
Yearly Archives: 2005
US DOJ Want’s Internet Providers to Retain All Records
The U.S. Department of Justice is quietly shopping around the explosive idea of requiring Internet service providers to retain records of their customers’ online activities.
Data retention rules could permit police to obtain records of e-mail chatter, Web browsing or chat-room activity months after Internet providers ordinarily would have deleted the logs–that is, if logs were ever kept in the first place. No U.S. law currently mandates that such logs be kept.
In theory, at least, data retention could permit successful criminal and terrorism prosecutions that otherwise would have failed because of insufficient evidence. But privacy worries and questions about the practicality of assembling massive databases of customer behavior have caused a similar proposal to stall in Europe and could engender stiff opposition domestically.
Zawodny: The Big One?
Jeremy Zawodny wonders if the Big One is on the way…. I lived in San Francisco during the “pretty big one”: Loma Prieta and posted a few recollections here, along with notes from AnchorBanker Brian Zimdars.
UPDATE: Chan Stroman emails:
I’m late to the party, but enjoyed reading your recollection of the ’89 Loma Prieta. I was in the Russ Building on the bedrock side of Montgomery street when it hit–the building tipped back and forth solidly for what seemed like forever while we all ran to the stairwell. Later, we walked to a colleague’s apartment on Telegraph Hill, and yes, the sunset that night was eerily beautiful. My husband was in the Macy’s warehouse in South S.F. (“South City”) and narrowly missed having some high shelves with heavy stuff crash down on his head. Back in our flat in the Sunset, other than a couple of framed pictures askew on the walls, nothing was damaged. Thanks to this experience, I’m permanently sensitized to quakes…and bolted straight up in bed here in Madison just about a year ago (epicenter Ottawa, Illinois) just about a year ago.
Visit Chan at www.bookishgardener.com (lots of interesting items, particularily the gardening posts).
International Volkssport Association
Evidently, a group from The International Volkssport Association was recently in Madison. This group has organized walking tours of US Capitol Areas. Interesting stuff. I remember running across these sort of opportunities in Europe.
Doctorow/Cuban on Ineffective DRM
Cory Doctorow and Mark Cuban question inane Digital Restriction Management (DRM) tools that Hollywood is using to restrict our fair use rights. Support the EFF.
Arrests in Tribune Newspaper Circulation Fraud
David Folkenflik on NPR (audio).
Trusting Big Tech Companies with Democracy?
David Horsey sticks it to Google, Microsoft and Yahoo for rolling over to Chinese censors.
Jarvis on Investigative Journalism
But I’ll be heretical enough to ask whether investigative journalism is what the public most wants from the press, whether chronic suspicion — as opposed to skepticism — can breed chronic cynicism, whether ever-sparer journalistic resources are best put to bringing down the bad guy or to helping us in our daily lives. What is the proper calling of journalism?
Northwest Airlines’ Fortress Midwest Strategy
Susan Carey writes about Northwests’ “catering to travelers between small and midsize cities in the Upper Midwest. This “heartland” gambit aims to keep fares higher and discourage discounters from flying there. …. Going one big step further, Northwest also has been expanding aggressively with nonstop flights between nonhub cities, so that more passengers don’t have to make connections through one of its hubs when flying to some domestic cities.”
This strategy has manifested itself with 50 seat jet non-stop flights between Madison and Washington’s Reagan National Airport (though at inconvenient middle of the day times) and a variety of non-stops from cities like Milwaukee and Indianapolis to New York, Washington and other east coast destinations. This is also an attempt – futile, I think to kill Midwest Airlines.
Northwest is largely betting that flyers will put up with the small, uncomfortable jets in an effort to grow frequent flyer miles (the hidden secret here is that frequent flyer miles are growing more difficult to use by the day, unless you use a lot of them…..)
On a related note, the Boyd Group has written about the declining utility and economics of 50 seat jets for some time. They recently mentioned growing demand for 100 seat planes. I think, unfortunately, it will be difficult for Madison to grow service with 100 seat aircraft – I hope I’m wrong on this. Microjets will likely be one popular alternative in places like Madison.
We’re so back in the 70’s…
I’m old enough to see the color & design schemes go round and round. Boeing’s latest, the 777-200LR is undergoing flight testing. The Worldliner’s blog includes several interior photos that feature the aircraft’s brown/tan hues.