Daily Archives: September 23, 2005

Your Internet Provider as Big Brother

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Via Bruce Schneier: “This seems like a really bad idea.

Stepping up the battle against entertainment piracy, Verizon Communications Co. have entered a long-term programming deal that calls for the phone company to send a warning to Internet users suspected of pirating Disney’s content on its broadband services.

Under the deal, one of the first of its kind in the television industry, Disney will contact Verizon when the company suspects a Verizon customer of illegally downloading content. Without divulging names or addresses to Disney, Verizon will then alert the customer that he or she might be violating the law. Disney will be able to identify suspicious customers through an Internet coding system.

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Trappist Monk Brews

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Eric Asimov:

The term Trappist describes the source of these ales rather than a particular brewing style. In fact, the beers vary considerably. Some are dark as chocolate stout and some are amber-gold, bordering on orange. They can be intensely sweet or dry enough to pucker. Sometimes they can be both, reaching a full, rich, complex sweetness as you turn the ale over in your mouth, yet turning dry and refreshing as you swallow. They can all be wonderfully fragrant, with aromas of spices, flowers and fruit, and they are always strong, ranging in alcohol from about 7 percent to 12 percent, as opposed to the 5 percent of a typical lager.

I’ve always enjoyed an occasional Chimay, available at Steve’s Liquor among other local stores.

Midwesterners are Less Entrepreneurial

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Kauffman Foundation [PDF]:

Two especially surprising findings from the study are: (a) that the Latino rate of entrepreneurship increased from 0.38 percent in 1996 to 0.48 percent in 2004, which was higher than the white, non-Latino rate of 0.39 percent; and (b) that immigrants have substantially higher rates of entrepreneurship than native-born individuals. The average rate of entrepreneurship for immigrants was 0.46 percent compared to 0.35 percent for the native-born.
New entrepreneurship activity is highest in the West. Other regions have similar rates of entrepreneurship.