NewsScan Daily, 18 November 2003 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 18 November 2003 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
       Sun and AMD Alliance
       Networked Multifunction Printers From HP
       Electronic Voting Lawsuit
       'Must Carry'? Maybe Not
       Camphones: 'The Best Camera Is the One You Always Have With You'

FEATURES
       Flash Card
       Worth Thinking About: Regaining One's Reason
       Mailbag: The World As We Find It

SUN AND AMD ALLIANCE
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Sun Microsystems are entering into a
strategic alliance under which Sun will use AMD's Opteron processors in a
line of low-cost Sun Fire servers and implement versions of Linux, Java and
its own Solaris operating system to run on Opteron-powered servers. The
Opteron chip, which processes data in 64-bit chunks rather than the standard
32 bits, represents AMD's effort to gain a foothold in the corporate server
market, where Intel is the biggest player. Industry analyst Nathan Brookwood
of Insight says that "this is an incredibly good move for both companies.
The people they compete with . . . Dell and HP at the low-end, just don't
have this arrow in their quiver." (San Jose Mercury News 18 Nov 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/7281990.htm

NETWORKED MULTIFUNCTION PRINTERS FROM HP
Attracted to the $24-billion-a-year copier market, Hewlett-Packard is
introducing a line of networked multifunction printers that double as
copiers, to extend to document production the same kinds of technology tools
used by corporations in computer data centers. HP executive Vyomesh Joshi
says, "The old environment is very fragmented and disconnected, with very
little central management of document output. The new model is integrating
all your printing and copying with your information technology network."
Gartner research analyst Peter Grant predicts, "The battle between
Hewlett-Packard and the copier guys is really going to start now." (New York
Times 18 Nov 2003)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/18/technology/18hewlett.html

ELECTRONIC VOTING LAWSUIT
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties advocacy group, says
it fears legal threats from Diebold Inc., the maker of electronic voting
systems. Diebold has asked a U.S. district court in San Jose to bar Diebold
from sending cease-and-desist letters to activists who have published links
to leaked documents about alleged security problems with the company's
equipment. Diebold's response is that the company has never had an intention
to stifle intent to free speech or place onerous burdens on Internet service
providers, but that it strenuously objects to the "wholesale reproduction"
by activists of 13,000 pages of internal, proprietary documents. Diebold's
attorney argues: "The plaintiffs advocate an open-source code system for
elections code. These materials were intended to be secret and private and
proprietary." (AP/Washington Post 18 Nov 2003)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55314-2003Nov18.html

'MUST CARRY'? MAYBE NOT
The Federal Communications Commission plans to reject a request by TV
broadcasters to force cable companies to show both digital and analog
versions of network programs to expand the television audience to viewers
who own new high-definition TV sets. Cable companies oppose a so-called dual
"must-carry" requirement because it would force them to duplicate their
current network programming, and perhaps squeez out other cable channels.
All five FCC commissioners have decided individually to deny the
broadcasters' request, and Legg Mason analyst Blair Levin says,
"Commissioners seem to think there'd be too much of a burden on cable
without sufficient public benefit." (Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times 18 Nov
2003)
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-fcc18nov18,1,7938975.story?coll=la-h
eadlines-technology

CAMPHONES: 'THE BEST CAMERA IS THE ONE YOU ALWAYS HAVE WITH YOU'
Cell phones with built-in cameras have become so popular that Nokia and
other phonemakers are saying that most new phones will have picture-taking
capability. Typical deals these days: AT&T is offering a camera phone for
$49.99, plus service contract, and Sprint is offering a phone for $79.99,
plus monthly contract. Photos taken with camera phones don't have the
highest quality, but the secret of the new device's popularity is explained
by the Nokia spokesman who notes: "The best camera is the one you always
have with you." (USA Today 17 Nov 2003)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-11-17-phones_x.htm

*****

FLASH CARD
     "It is by logic that we prove but by intuition that we discover."
(Henri Poincaré)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: REGAINING ONE'S REASON
     Neurologist Donald B. Calne wants reason restored to its rightful place
in our intellectual and social lives:
     "Why have so many turned against reason? There are several
explanations, but among the foremost must be failure of the quixotic hopes
vested in it. Reason was misrepresented as an all-powerful, divine force,
with its own supreme mission. In fact, it has no aim and no inherent
goodness. Reason is simply and solely a tool, without any legitimate claim
to moral content. It is a biological product fashioned for us by the process
of evolution, to help us survive in an inhospitable and unpredictable
physical environment. It is also a tool to enable us to compete with other
animals that are larger, faster, and stronger, with longer claws and more
powerful jaws. 
     "Reason has been discredited by exaggerated claims and false hopes.
Those who oppose reason have no difficulty in pointing to its failures, but
these failures have all stemmed from misguided expectations. The hopes
sprang from natural, if reckless, optimism -- without critical thought about
the nature of reason and without recognizing the need to clarify what reason
can and cannot do. 
     "The record needs to be set straight. The mental faculty of reason is a
real, specifiable, and indispensable human capability active in most domains
of human existence but it cannot assign or control the purposes to which it
is put. Human reason must be vigorously defended against the growing forces
of unreason in the contemporary world and, simultaneously, the reliance upon
it to supply the content of human motivation must be given up. Only such
double awareness of the human faculty of reason can prevent the
disenchantments and resentments that inevitably result from misplaced hope."
                                             ***
See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375403515/newsscancom/ref=nos
im for Donald B. Calne, "Within Reason: Rationality and Human Behavior" --
or look in your favorite library. (We donate all revenue from our book
suggestions to adult literacy programs.)

MAILBAG: THE WORLD AS WE FIND IT

SAINT-GAUDENS
http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=honorary_subscriber&id=723
Regarding the August Saint-Gaudens piece, your readers might find this of
interest... http://www.nga.gov/feature/shaw/
(Richard Rathe MD)

WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=9593
     I ran into this story years ago:
     After leading an active military service for many years, a colonel
found himself manning a desk at the Pentagon. After several long years of
waging war with paper, he was ready to admit defeat and retire. During his
stay at the Pentagon, he happened to notice how one of the young
lieutenants, later promoted to captain, managed to clear the work off his
desk at the end of every day while the colonel often stayed late and even
took work home on the weekends. His curiosity finally got the better of him
and decided, on his last day at work, to ask the young man his secret.
     When asked outright, the captain gave evasive answers. The old colonel,
familiar with how the military worked, pressed him. "Son," he said, "it's my
last day here. I don't care what sort of goldbricking scheme you've got
going on, I'm just curious as to how you manage it all. Just satisfy my
curiosity before I leave."
     The captain looked about furtively and lowered his voice. "Well sir,
most of the work I'm given is pretty routine stuff. I read reports, check
some numbers, correct reports, follow up on requests, you know the sort of
thing. Whenever I get something that looks too tough, I just use my rubber
stamp to mark it "Important" and drop it in an inter-office memo pouch to
Colonel Smith. I figure there must be at least one Colonel Smith somewhere
in this place." 
     The captain was quite taken aback at the colonel's reaction. On hearing
all this, the colonel's shoulders went up, he balled his fists tightly and
bared his clenched teeth in silent furry. "You ... you ... I am Colonel
Smith!" (Louis Jeszik, Montreal)

NAME THAT PRODUCT
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=9600
In NewsScan for Monday, November 17, you reported: "A prank Web site aimed
at ridiculing management's penchant for rebranding old firms with "nonsense"
names such as Accenture and Avaya has backfired on its creators after
several of its spoof names were registered by real companies..." I was
immediately reminded of the process used by Coca Cola to name its first
sugar-free diet soft drink in 1963:
    When TaB was introduced, Coca-Cola was not about dilute the tremendous
   value of its brand name by identifying as "Coke" something that was
   distinctively not Coca-Cola, so suggestions that the new drink be
   called "Diet Coke" were dismissed as "heresy" by Coca-Cola president
   J. Paul Austin...
   Agreeing that the name of their new diet soda should be short and easy
   to remember, Coca-Cola had one of their IBM mainframes programmed to
   spit out a list of about 250,000 names using three- and four-letter
   combinations.  After winnowing out names considered unsuitable for one
   reason or another (such as unpronounceability or similarity to existing
   product names or trademarks), Coca-Cola narrowed down the list to about
   600 choices; further refinement produced a set of about two dozen
   prospective names which were put before the public in marketing tests.
   The specific reasons why "Tab" emerged as the eventual winner are not
   known, but Coca-Cola maintains the name Tab appealed to consumers
   because it suggested "keeping tab" on weight problems.
   Source: http://www.snopes.com/business/names/tab.asp
I recall that among the discarded suggestions of the Coca-Cola computer
were names like Glug, Berp, and Yech. What we have here is yet another case
of art mimicking life.  ;) (Will Roberts)

NOT IN A TIZZY OVER 'SEARCH WITHIN THE BOOK'
http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=9594
     I, for one, am NOT in a tizzy over Amazon's "Search Within the Book"
feature.   I don't believe that Amazon's new tool makes library catalogs
look obsolete, nor am I afraid of Amazon!  My professional opinion as a
librarian is this:  The more Amazon can do to promote reading, the better it
is for libraries!  (David Weaver)

LAUGHTER AND DYING
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=9583
     "Nobody ever died of laughter." (Max Beerbohm)
This quote reminded me of a favorite 70s comedy show I used to watch [Hey
it's on DVD now. I'll have to get it.] I recalled reading the news report of
someone actually laughing todeath. Thanks for indirectly reminding me of
"The Goodies"
http://www.jumptheshark.com/g/goodies.htm
'The Goodies' deserves credit for a unique moment in TV history. During
the 'Ecky Thump' episode (one of their very best), a viewer actually
died laughing! This occurred during the scene featuring the fake
newsreel, in which the (real) Prime Minister walks into Number Ten, then
pops out again and coshes a constable with a black pudding. Very clever!
The Goodies matched real newsreel footage of the PM with hoax footage of
a lookalike actor using the replica of Number Ten Downing Street's front
entrance. (This is a standing set which still exists in a TV studio in
Manchester.) By the way, about that man who died laughing whilst
watching 'The Goodies': after his funeral, his widow sent a letter to
the Goodies, thanking them for making her husband's last moments so
happy. True story! (Marc Mousseau, Ottawa)

NO ONE EVER DIED OF LAUGHTER?
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=9583
     I thought it was ³Not one is known in history or in legend as
having died of laughter². And of course the perversity of humanity is
such that half a dozen counterexamples can be found after none too great
a search:
     Chrysippus of Soli (from whence comes the term 'Solecism') is rumored
to 
have died of laughter.
     Sir Thomas Urquhart is said to have died of laughter on learning that
Charles the Second had regained the throne.
     According to Reverend Ebenezer Cobham Brewer:
     Chalchas, the soothsayer, died of laughter at the thought of his having
outlived the time predicted for his death.
     Margutte died of laughter on seeing a monkey trying to pull on a pair
of 
boots.
     Philomenes died of laughter at seeing an ass eating the figs provided
for his own dessert. (Valerius Maximus.)
     Zeuxis, the great painter, died of laughter at sight of a hag which he
had just depicted.
     Not to mention the terrible weapon described by Monty Python, the
world's funniest joke, so deadly it had to be assembled a letter at a
time, and killed thousands after being dropped behind German lines.
     Moderation in all things, including moderation. (Peter da Silva)

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