According to the DHS:
The technology will be tested at a simulated port this spring. By July 31, 2005, the testing will begin at the ports of Nogales East and Nogales West in Arizona; Alexandria Bay in New York; and, Pacific Highway and Peace Arch in Washington. The testing or “proof of concept” phase is expected to continue through the spring of 2006.
I know nothing about the details of this program or about the security of the cards. Even so, the long-term implications of this kind of thing are very chilling.
Pocan Bill Proposes Paper Trail for Electronic Voting
Legislators from both political parties have authored a bill that would require that electronic voting machines in Wisconsin produce a paper ballot that could be reviewed by the voter and that would be kept in case a recount is needed.
Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, Rep. Steve Freese, R-Dodgeville, and Sen. Jeff Plale, D-South Milwaukee, are circulating the bill among fellow legislators in the hope of obtaining co-sponsors.
Madison City Budget: Lisa Does the Math
Lisa S takes a look at the local Police Department’s budget communications vis a vis a 3% reduction (is this an actual reducation or a reducation in the increase?):
Personnel salaries and related expenses make up about 89% of the police department’s operating budget. The remaining 11% of the operating budget consists of minor objects and capital assets. Apparently, Chief Wray was either unable or unwilling to find any significant cuts within this other 11% of the budget.
Another interesting item in the 2005 budget is $1.6 million worth of overtime pay. When asked about the possibility of cutting overtime, one alderperson explained that this expense is hard to change because it is part of the negotiated union contracts. Chief Wray shares this sentiment
Atkins Goes Belly-Up
Atkins Nutritionals, the New York company founded in 1989 by the late Dr. Robert Atkins to cash in on his low-carb diet, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. The company cited weakening demand for its products. Ironically, the Atkins diet–affectionately known by some as the “cheeseburger-hold-the-bun” diet–had been blamed in recent years for earnings shortfalls in companies ranging from Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (nyse: KKD – news – people ) to Kraft Foods (nyse: KFT – news – people ) to Interstate Bakeries (the maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies).
A New Kind of Middleman
But Noone’s outlook couldn’t be more global. He spends a typical weekend watching Chinese-language movies and listening to Chinese-language tapes. At least once a week he makes sure to eat with chopsticks. “You’ve got to show people you’re interested in their culture,” he says.
Noone is interested, all right. The 54-year-old entrepreneur is founder and CEO of Capacitor Industries, which imports low-cost electronic components from China and sells them to motor makers and other manufacturers in the U.S. and, increasingly, abroad. His stock-in-trade is capacitors: tiny devices that store charges, maintain electrical currents, keep motors running, and protect computers and communications equipment from surges. Every motor manufacturer needs a steady supply of them, which has helped send Noone’s annual sales to $5 million.
Privacy: Hacking the Hotel TV
What’s more, by connecting his laptop to certain modern hotel TV systems, Laurie says he can spy on other guests. He can’t look into their rooms (yet), but depending on the system he can see what they are watching on their TV, look at their guest folios, change the minibar bill and follow along as they browse the Internet on the hotel television set.
To tease his fellow guests, he can also check them out of their room and set early wake-up calls via the TV.
Green Bay Packers: Titletown Team in Turmoil?
So despite the team’s problems, the fans were full of optimism on Friday, driving down Lombardi Avenue, or passing Holmgren Way, or watching practice on the Ray Nitschke Field, or in front of the Don Hutson Center. All seemed well in Green Bay because the Packers were back in town.
Toyota’s Hybrid Hype
Jeff Sabatini (finally) takes a look at the real mileage performance of Toyota’s latest hybrid: The $50K RX400h:
Certainly, it is the Prius’s above-average fuel economy that Toyota has to thank for its image as a green car company. Environmental advocates do not proclaim the righteousness of all things Toyota based on the 958,888 light trucks and S.U.V.’s that it sold in the United States last year, fully 47 percent of its total sales. By comparison, only 53,991 Priuses were sold in 2004, though the company has stated that it plans to double that number this year.
It is understandable that Toyota would like to transfer the Prius’s hybrid chic and green patina to other products. To this end, a hybrid version of the Toyota Highlander S.U.V. was also introduced this year, and the automaker has announced plans to add both a hybrid version of its Camry, the nation’s best-selling sedan, and a hybrid Lexus GS sport sedan next year. Whether these vehicles will be gas misers like the Prius or thirstier performance-oriented hybrids like the RX 400h remains to be seen.
My first seat time in the Lexus hybrid came over a weekend in which I drove the 200 miles from Chicago to Grand Rapids, Mich. I spent a lot of time on the freeway, but I also traveled some back roads and slogged through a couple of stop-and-go city stints. By the time I returned to Chicago, I had put 531 miles on the odometer and calculated my fuel economy at 20.9 m.p.g.
Posner: Conventional News Media Are Embattled
Richard A. Posner (Federal Judge and blogger):
The charge by mainstream journalists that blogging lacks checks and balances is obtuse. The blogosphere has more checks and balances than the conventional media; only they are different. The model is Friedrich Hayek’s classic analysis of how the economic market pools enormous quantities of information efficiently despite its decentralized character, its lack of a master coordinator or regulator, and the very limited knowledge possessed by each of its participants.
In effect, the blogosphere is a collective enterprise – not 12 million separate enterprises, but one enterprise with 12 million reporters, feature writers and editorialists, yet with almost no costs. It’s as if The Associated Press or Reuters had millions of reporters, many of them experts, all working with no salary for free newspapers that carried no advertising
Great stuff. More on Richard Posner.
Innovation, Burt Rutan and EAA’s Airventure: “We bought the engines on ebay”
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20MB Quicktime Video |
SpaceshipOne/White Knight, making it’s way east to the Smithsonian, flew during Saturday’s EAA Airventure Air Show. I captured a 20MB video clip of several passes along with SpaceshipOne’s landing. You’ll hear designer Burt Rutan address the crowd during the aircraft’s flight, using “Military Power”. Enjoy! Rutan also mentioned that the aircraft would make one more stop at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio before reaching it’s final destination; the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. the video is a bit jerky at the beginning, but my handheld technique improves after a few seconds 🙂 | |
| Earlier this week, Rutan and Richard Branson announced a joint venture to form a new aerospace production company to build a fleet of commercial sub-orbital spaceships and launch aircraft.
I’ll post more photos and videos over the next few days. John Robb has been pushing for the government to support, in a big way, competitive private space initiatives ala the X-Prize rather than spending $3.2B annually on 1970’s technology – the shuttle. Robb also mentions how “big buck programs are a source of power in the Pentagon“. Robb has more ideas on the Government’s role in all of this and makes a rather startling but true statement:
More Videos: Marine AV8-B Harrier VSTOL | B-17 Takeoff. My father took a number of photos earlier this week. More photos here (click to view larger versions): |
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