BBC NEWS | Americas | 'Thousands dead' in New Orleans

BBC NEWS | Americas | 'Thousands dead' in New Orleans

New Orleans Facing Environmental Disaster

~Hurricane Katrina is a terrible blow. Over 50 confirmed deaths, with the toll expected rise.

May the recovery be speedy and may Heaven offer comfort to those who have lost loved ones ~ ~
~ technopolitical ~~

-------------------------------------------

New Orleans Facing Environmental Disaster
- By MATT CRENSON, AP National Writer
Monday, August 29, 2005

(08-29) 18:23 PDT , (AP) --

As Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on Monday, experts said it could turn one of America's most charming cities into a vast cesspool tainted with toxic chemicals, human waste and even coffins released by floodwaters from the city's legendary cemeteries.


URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/08/29/national/a055207D61.DTL
©2005 Associated Press

E–deliberation and local governance

E–deliberation and local governance: "
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_7/hands/index.html

This paper focuses on the use of local government Web sites in the United Kingdom to encourage and facilitate democratic deliberation. The question addressed is to what end, and on whose terms, citizens are being encouraged to engage local government via computer–mediated communication. After an initial investigation into the legislative framework of local e–democracy, this paper examines opportunities available for citizens to deliberate by examining 469 local government Web sites. This information is then reviewed in the context of empirical evidence on the practices and attitudes of those responsible for the management and upkeep of the specific sites under question. It appears that while interaction is being encouraged, it is limited and tends towards an individualistic liberal model."

http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_7/hands/index.html

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “For They That Sow the Wind Shall Reap the Whirlwind”

~~ Mr. Kennedy ,it might be deemed insensitive by some to raise this point [below] now.

It looks like you are politicizing the tragedy , even though you are factually correct in your comments ~~ tp

------------------------------
by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Mon Aug 29, 7:05 PM ET

"As Hurricane Katrina dismantles Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, it’s worth recalling the central role that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour played in derailing the Kyoto Protocol and kiboshing President Bush’s iron-clad campaign promise to regulate CO2."


www.StopGlobalWarming.org

FROM : Copyright © 2005 HuffingtonPost.com. All rights reserved. The information contained in Huffington Post commentary may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without prior written authority of huffingtonpost.com.

Data Mining Found to Flunk Privacy Rules -

Data Mining Found to Flunk Privacy Rules - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON - None of five federal agencies using electronic data mining to track terrorists, catch criminals or prevent fraud complied with all rules for gathering citizen information."

" As a result, they cannot ensure that individual privacy rights are appropriately protected, congressional investigators said Monday."

FBI and State claimed they were exempt from the assessments required by the E-Government Act of 2002, the FBI because it was a national security system and State because its data dealt with federal employees, not the public.

=========

~~~ I find this above hard to believe.

I mean the Government--

-- our Government , of the People , by the People , for the People --

would NEVER make a mistake like this,

over and over and over again !!

This has to just another one of those vailed liberal media

attacks on the Bush administration

that my hero ,

Rush "I only do pharmaceutical drugs" Limbaugh,

keeps telling me about !! ~~

~ ` ` ~ tp
=

Andrew Kantor: CyberSpeak - With technology, it's easy to break the law - Yahoo! News

Andrew Kantor: CyberSpeak - With technology, it's easy to break the law - Yahoo! News:

"But it's a good example of how traditional definitions don't always fit in the brave new world. Was I stealing? I was depriving my neighbor of bandwidth. I was slowing his access. But what if he wasn't online? (In fact, he wasn't home at the time.)"

The Internet has really complicated life. Thank G-D ! 

Japanese Robot Knows Words, Can House-Sit - Yahoo! News

Japanese Robot Knows Words, Can House-Sit - Yahoo! News:

"Mitsubishi-Heavy said it would be the first time a robot with communication ability for home use has been sold."

I want one !!!!

BBC NEWS | Technology | ID theft ring escapes shutdown

~~ Cops vs. Robbers in the 21st Century.~~ t p ~

------------------------------

BBC NEWS | Technology | ID theft ring escapes shutdown:
"ID theft ring escapes shutdown"

"The bug keeps track of what you type on your keyboard
An ID theft ring that has hit thousands of people is proving hard to shut down."

Congratulations, It's a Theocracy! By David Sarno

~~` Cute headline this morning at Slate.com .

~~ TP

------------------------

Congratulations, It's a Theocracy! By David Sarno: "today's papers A summary of what's in the major U.S. newspapers.

Congratulations, It's a Theocracy!
By David Sarno
Posted Saturday, Aug. 27, 2005, at 4:50 AM PT "

Google :The innocent prodigy that grew into the market predator: Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian |

~~ You know if Microsoft , Google ,
and Batman joined forces they could rule
the world ! ~ ~
TP

-----------------
"Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | The innocent prodigy that grew into the market predator: "

"The innocent prodigy that grew into the market predator"

Neil McIntosh
Thursday August 25, 2005
The Guardian

=================

Handsets' Deadly Use: Detonators - Yahoo! News

~~ ` All technologies that can , will be utilized as weaponry. Not to sound cold here, but it is the unfortunate truth of human history ~ ~ ~TP

-------------------
----
-
Handsets' Deadly Use: Detonators - Yahoo! News:
""Handsets' Deadly Use: Detonators"
Mike Angell
Fri Aug 26,
7:00 PM ET :

"More and more terrorists are using cell phones to remotely detonate bombs -- and there's not much authorities can do about it. At least, not that they can say."

Web of Crime: Who's Catching the Cybercrooks? - Yahoo! News

~~~ First there was the Internet.

Then came Cyber-crooks.

And now Cyber-detectives.

Then soon we will need to police the Cyber-Police ,

as they could become double agents with all that cyber-knowledge.

Then of course there will be the TV show about

"Cyber-Cops Gone Bad " on FOX. ~` TP

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Web of Crime: Who's Catching the Cybercrooks? - Yahoo! News:

".........tracking every digital footstep the hacker took as he wreaked havoc on dozens of businesses by shutting down their online storefronts........."

The Fastest Net Yet - Yahoo! News

~~ Cool , now i have to buy a new computer to handle the net speed increase. ~~ TP

--------------------------------------

The Fastest Net Yet - Yahoo! News: "The Fastest Net Yet

Michael Desmond Fri Aug 26, 4:00 AM ET

A new generation of superfast broadband Internet access promises to do more than accelerate Web browsing and file downloads. Five to thirty times as fast as DSL, these new--and surprisingly affordable--wide pipes can in some cases enable new video, voice, and data services."

As blogging grows, companies eye legal pitfalls - Yahoo! News

~~~ Soon there will also be a

"Cyber-Lawyer"

television show.

Watch them as they battle evil bloggers!!!

It can follow the "Cyber-Dectectives Gone Bad " on FOX ~` ~~`tp

--------------------------------
As blogging grows, companies eye legal pitfalls - Yahoo! News: "But lawyers see possible legal pitfalls for companies looking to join the blogging phenomenon. What, for instance, would happen if someone at a publicly traded company unwittingly divulged confidential financial information or a trademark secret on one of these Web diaries?

There already have been cases of people being fired for writing about life inside their companies on blogs not affiliated with their employers. Experts say the real test will come when courts must consider the legal ramifications of what employees say on corporate blogs.

'There's very, very little case law at this point , [ ~ ` `not for long ~ TP ~~ ` ]' said Paul Arne, co-chairman of the technology group at law firm Morris Manning & Martin LLP. He recently conducted a telephone seminar for other corporate lawyers to discuss blogging.

It's no surprise that big businesses are increasingly interested in blogs. An estimated 40,000 to 50,000 new blogs are created each day, according to Intelliseek, a technology company that tracks developments in the medium."

Personal Search Site Adds Blogs - Yahoo! News

~`` Uhh ,, is this legal ?

There ought to be a law.

{ I am a libertarian , but I am not insane.} .

Though people & biz

got to learn how to cyber-protect themselves ~~

~ tp
====================

Personal Search Site Adds Blogs - Yahoo! News: "Lisa Vaas - eWEEK Fri Aug 26, 3:33 PM ET

ZabaSearch.com, a search engine that specializes in disseminating free personal information, is poised to append a blogging feature to search results, which would enable unsubstantiated gossip to be appended to people's personal information."

Just Monitoring Blogs Isn't Enough - Yahoo! News

~~` Wherever people congregate --- in real-space or cyber-space ---

the marketing slime fungus sprouts.

Maybe Proctor and Gamble will come up with some spray cleanser to

fight this fungus --soon to be-- among us.

They can advertise it here on

"Technopolitical"

if they do ~

`~` ` TP

----------------------------------------------------------------

Just Monitoring Blogs Isn't Enough - Yahoo! News: "Just Monitoring Blogs Isn't Enough" - by BRIAN MORRISSEY of ADWEEK

Fri Aug 26, 5:04 PM ET


The rise in consumer-generated Web content is leading at least one interactive agency to branch into blog relations in an effort to help clients steer online chatter about their brands.

Ripple Effects Interactive, a Pittsburgh-based independent agency, last week formed an online relations unit to monitor and influence blogs, message boards and other user-generated media."
===================================

Jealous Lover Program Creator Is Indicted - Yahoo! News

~~ GOOD !!!
{ If he is really guilty,
and also feels sorry for what he has done. }~

~ or maybe ~

BAD !!
{ If the prosecutors are just
goofing up here, and actually
meant to indict
some one else with the same exact name,
or something like that.}
=======
=======

Jealous Lover Program Creator Is Indicted - Yahoo! News:

"SAN DIEGO - AP Wire @ Yahoo !

The creator and several buyers of a computer

program designed to allow jealous lovers to

snoop on their sweethearts' online activities

have been indicted for allegedly violating

federal computer privacy laws."

---------------------------------------

http://www.webpronews.com/ "It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time…" You might want to make sure it doesn't violate any federal laws before ubiquitously marketing it. LoverSpy's creator Carlos Enrique Perez-Melara, 25, learned that one the hard way, now facing up to 175 years in jail.

http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessnews/wpn-45-20050829ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime.html

Minn. Man Aims to Alter Judicial Campaigns - Yahoo! News

~~~ I like any legal campaign inovation that adds substance to the electoral discourse ~` TP

-----------------

Minn. Man Aims to Alter Judicial Campaigns - Yahoo! News: "By BRIAN BAKST, Associated Press Writer Sat Aug 27, 6:42 AM ET

MINNETONKA, Minn. - When Greg Wersal last ran for Minnesota's Supreme Court, he toted plywood cows from town to town, dragged around an oversized ball and chain and adopted his wife's Scandinavian name for political advantage."

Do You MySpace? - New York Times

Do You MySpace? -

the New York Times

asks................................................

~~ NO !! ~` tp

[ Maybe I should .

Now I am feeling peer presure.

Oh the shame & agony, of not being cyber-cool ! ]

(Update 2009:   http://www.myspace.com/radamhalperin )

Google Anything, so Long as It's Not Google - New York Times

~~ You know Google is getting a little weird lately.
Well, absolute power does corrupt absolutely ~` TP

----------------------------

Google Anything, so Long as It's Not Google - New York Times: "August 28, 2005
Google Anything, so Long as It's Not Google
By RANDALL STROSS

IF you were Google's C.E.O., wouldn't you Google yourself? At least once? Would you be surprised to discover that your recent stock sales, net worth, hobbies and contributions to various political candidates are online and easily reached with a click or two?

That your home address pops up so readily - O.K., that may have come as a surprise - shows that a person can no longer designate which piece of personal information becomes public and which remains private.

So why, if you're Eric E. Schmidt, the chairman and chief executive of Google, a soft-spoken person without a history of intemperate action, do you furiously strike at the poor messenger who delivers the news that your company's search service works very well indeed?

Last month, Elinor Mills, a writer for CNET News, a technology news Web site, set out to explore the power of search engines to penetrate the personal realm: she gave herself 30 minutes to see how much she could unearth about Mr. Schmidt by using his company's own service. The resulting article, published online at CNET's News.com under the sedate headline 'Google Balances Privacy, Reach,' was anything but sensationalist. It mentioned the types of information about Mr."

BBC NEWS | Technology | Maturing net growing more slowly

~~ Is the Internet as we know it just a fad?

Is blogging doomed to the same fate as the

rubics-cube , platfom shoes (for men) & disco ? ~

~ TP

"Maturing net growing more slowly"
BBC NEWS | Technology | Maturing net growing more slowly

After years of huge increases, the rate at which net traffic is growing is slowing down, say analysts.

During 2004 the amount of net traffic travelling on backbone cables between nations grew by 104%, reported the consultancy Telegeography.

By contrast in 2005 the growth slumped to a less stellar 49%.

Telegeography said the change could be the result of a global slowdown in the numbers of people signing up for high-speed net services.

-----------------.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/4184436.stm

Published: 2005/08/26 09:06:04 GMT

© BBC MMV

BBC NEWS | Americas | Colombia lawmakers 'use cocaine'

~~ I am Shocked !
Just Shocked to hear this!
I order this country closed at once ! ~~
~~ TP

"Colombia lawmakers 'use cocaine'"
BBC NEWS | Americas | Colombia lawmakers 'use cocaine'

Some of Colombia's elected politicians have used cocaine within Congress itself, the vice-president of the country's Senate has alleged.

The drug is also being sold there, Senator Edgar Artunduaga said.

"I know names of people who distribute cocaine here in Congress," he said, revealing the results of an investigation ordered by his office.

"There are important officials who distribute, and senators and representatives who consume," he said.

Appeals Court OKs Jerry Falwell Web Site - Yahoo! News

~~` Strike up one for Cyber Speech Rights. ~~ TP

"Appeals Court OKs Jerry Falwell [counter] Web Site" -

"'After even a quick glance at the content of the website ... no one seeking Reverend Falwell's guidance would be misled by the domain name
http://www.fallwell.com
into believing that Reverend Falwell authorized the content of that website,'

Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

wrote, noting that the site criticized Falwell,
his positions and his interpretations of the Bible."

What Blogs, Podcasts, Feeds Mean to Bottom Line - Yahoo! News

~~~ In case you care about this money stuff . ~~ tp

---------------------------------------------------------------------
"What Blogs, Podcasts, Feeds Mean to Bottom Line - Yahoo! News"
---------------------------------------------------------------------

On the Front Lines in the War on Spam - www.newsfactor.com/

~~ I treat spam aggressively. At my Yahoo! Email , I rarely get spam in my inbox because I report the spam right away , and the Yahoo! Filters work very well at future diverting of like spam to the Bulk Mail folder .

But I am online almost constantly
--- I have a tel-commuting real job --
{ and you though this is how I feed myself ,
oh you are so cute,
I'm blushing ]
--so I do check my email as it comes in ,
and can afford to do alot of
"tiny-momentary-time-slivers"
to report spam as it arrives .
Which now is less a three a week to my Yahoo inbox!

Meanwhile my junk mail at Yahoo!
does fill up with at least 30 spam mails a day,,
BUT my inbox stays pretty clean.

[Google's g-mail also seems good so far w / spam , but it is too early to tell .]

However , if you check an active email box only once a day ,
or once every few days ,
and you got 47 spam and
59 real important emails
all mixed together in you Inbox
all the time :

Well your doomed!!
Doomed I tell you !
You will never win against spam !!

{ I feel like giving off a loud evil laugh , but i might wake the neighbors .}


~~`TP

------------------------
On the Front Lines in the War on Spam

By Mark Long
August 25, 2005 10:00AM

"There are different initiatives happening, but we do not expect anything that would dramatically reduce spamming in the next 12 months," said Arabella Hallawell, e-mail security analyst at Gartner.
------
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=12200002QHTA
---------------------------------------------

Justice Weighs Desire v. Duty (Duty Prevails) - New York Times

~~~
Justice Stevens calling decsions he voted for unwise.

But the blame lies with congress, he says ,, as they write the dumb laws. { I am paraphasing him there .]

In the annals of Supreme Court History , this is a major speech -- that is sure to be cited often in Law Schools & civil liberties classes . ~
~` TP

August 25, 2005
"Justice Weighs Desire v. Duty (Duty Prevails)"
By LINDA GREENHOUSE, N.Y. Times ;

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 - It is not every day that a Supreme Court justice calls his own decisions unwise. But with unusual candor, Justice John Paul Stevens did that last week in a speech in which he explored the gap that sometimes lies between a judge's desire and duty.

Addressing a bar association meeting in Las Vegas, Justice Stevens dissected several of the recent term's decisions, including his own majority opinions in two of the term's most prominent cases. The outcomes were 'unwise,' he said, but 'in each I was convinced that the law compelled a result that I would have opposed if I were a legislator.'

In one, the eminent domain case that became the term's most controversial decision, he said that his majority opinion that upheld the government's 'taking' of private homes for a commercial development in New London, Conn., brought about a result 'entirely divorced from my judgment concerning the wisdom of the program' that was under constitutional attack.

His own view, Justice Stevens told the Clark County Bar Association, was that 'the free play of market forces is more likely to produce acceptable results in the long run than the best-intentioned plans of public officials.' But he sa"

Clarence C. Newcomer, a Longtime Federal Judge, Dies at 82 - New York Times

~~~ The first place ol' TP goes in the news is the Oh-Bits .
You learn a lot of history there .
Here we see Judge Newcomer was at the
epicenter of some major events & rulings . ~
~ TP

Clarence C. Newcomer, a Longtime Federal Judge, Dies at 82 - New York Times:

"Judge Newcomer presided over a fiercely contested trial in which the City of Philadelphia was found liable this year for $12.8 million in damages to residents forced from their homes by a 1985 fire touched off when the police dropped a bomb on a house occupied by the radical group MOVE.

But that was hardly the first of his cases to draw vast attention in eastern Pennsylvania, and sometimes beyond.

In 1974, he stripped William Stinson of a seat in the Pennsylvania Senate because of evidence that Mr. Stinson had stolen votes, and declared Bruce Marks the winner, tipping control of the Senate to Republicans.

In 1975, he ordered girls admitted to Central High School in Philadelphia. That order was reversed on appeal, though girls were ultimately admitted to the school in 1983.

In 1980, he ended Topps Chewing Gum's exclusive right to sell baseball cards, allowing the Fleer Corporation to compete in that lucrative market.
[~~~ my favorite of this group here ~` TP]

In 1993, he ruled that a law firm's refusal to promote a female associate to partner violated civil rights law, and in 1997 determined that states could not discriminate against new residents by paying them lower welfare benefits than longtime residents."

The Detective Jack Slipper, 81, of Great Train Robbery Fame, Dies - New York Times

~~~ Another historical Oh-Bit.
Not many peoples lives become characters in movies-- and for the postitive things at that too !
"Jack Slipper", the perfect name for the life he led.
As the lead police dectective in Britians greatest train robbery Mr. Slipper became a legend.
His parents must have got the name from Above .~
~~ TP

The Detective Jack Slipper, 81, of Great Train Robbery Fame, Dies - New York Times: "By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 25, 2005

LONDON, Aug. 24 (AP) - Jack Slipper, the retired Scotland Yard detective who pursued one of the fugitives from the Great Train Robbery across many years and two continents, died here on Wednesday. He was 81.


Known as Slipper of the Yard, he came to public attention for his role in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, one of Britain's largest and most audacious robberies and a crime that still fascinates the country.

An armed gang held up the Glasgow-to-London mail train, stealing 125 sacks of bank notes worth £2.6 million - $7.3 million at the time, or more than $50 million today.

The train's driver, Jack Mills, was hit over the head during the robbery. He never returned to work and died of cancer in 1970.

A team of detectives, including Detective Slipper, arrested most of the gang soon after the robbery. But one member, Ronnie Biggs, escaped from prison after 15 months by scaling a wall with a rope ladder and jumping into a waiting furniture van. Mr. Biggs fled to Spain, had plastic surgery to change his appearance, spent several years in Australia and settled in Brazil in 1970.

In 1974, Detective Slipper traveled to R"

BBC NEWS | Technology | Poor print exposing pin numbers

~~~~ Technology breeds problems for technology to solve . ~~~ TP

BBC NEWS | Technology | Poor print exposing pin numbers: "Poor print exposing pin numbers
By Mark Ward
Technology Correspondent, BBC News website

The pin numbers of millions of consumers are being put at risk by shoddy printing, warn security experts.

Bright lights and easy to use software helped University of Cambridge researchers defeat tamper-proofing on letters telling people their new pin.

The researchers fear the security lapses could put consumers at risk as the UK adopts chip and pin technology.
=============

Terrorists Turn to the Web as Base of Operations

~~ Every body uses the web these days to make their lives simpler ; even Bin Laden & Co.
.
The question is: Am I prepared to give up some cyber-liberty to increase Government's need for cyber-counter-terrorism?

Is terrorism -- or the threat of -- the price we pay for living in a free society?

Or must we allow our governments to ask citizens to show a passport to go onto the internet. Am I as a law abiding citizen, prepared to surrender privacy for the privilege of using the internet?

Or as a citizen with a voice, am I not entitled to unfettered access to the Internet, without any government interference?

To tell you the truth, I really do not know how I feel here. When human lives are at stake, the balances between rights, privileges and principles are not simple.
~~ Technopol~ ~ ~

Terrorists Turn to the Web as Base

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/05/AR2005080501138_pf.html

Al Qaeda's innovation on the Web "erodes the ability of our security services to hit them when they're most vulnerable, when they're moving," said Michael Scheuer, former chief of the CIA unit that tracked bin Laden. "It used to be they had to go to Sudan, they had to go to Yemen, they had to go to Afghanistan to train," he added. Now, even when such travel is necessary, an al Qaeda operative "no longer has to carry anything that's incriminating. He doesn't need his schematics, he doesn't need his blueprints, he doesn't need formulas." Everything is posted on the Web or "can be sent ahead by encrypted Internet, and it gets lost in the billions of messages that are out there."