NewsScan Daily, 30 December 2003 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 30 December 2003 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
       High-Tech Security for New Year's Eve
       Breaking-In: Not an Acceptable Debating Tactic
       FCC Chair Powell Wants More Platforms
       Bloggers: The New Face of Journalism
       Stopping Net Nudity at Its Source -- in Lincoln, Nebraska

FEATURES
       Flash Card
       Honorary Subscriber: Gioacchino Rossini

HIGH-TECH SECURITY FOR NEW YEAR'S EVE
On New Year's Eve, about 240 metal detectors will be used to screen the
crowds of people who come to watch the ball drop in New York's Times Square,
and radar-equipped Black Hawk helicopters and Citation jets will patrol the
skies over the city. New York Mayor Bloomberg says: "You're going to see a
lot of cops there and there will be a lot more cops that you don't see." In
addition to Homeland Security air patrols, the Police Department's eight
helicopters will be in the air, including one with a powerful video camera.
(New York Times 30 Dec 2003)
http://partners.nytimes.com/2003/12/30/nyregion/30SECU.html

BREAKING-IN: NOT AN ACCEPTABLE DEBATING TACTIC
VoteHere Inc., a Bellevue, Washington company that markets a security
technology for electronic voting, says that U.S. authorities are
investigating a break-in of its computers months ago, when someone roamed
its internal computer network. VoteHere chief executive Jim Adler says: "We
caught the intruder, identified him by name. We know where he lives. We
think this is political. There have been break-ins around election companies
over the last several months, and we think this is related. I have no
problem debating the merits of electronic voting with anyone, but breaking
and entering is not an appropriate forum for technology debate."
(AP/Washington Post 29 Dec 2003)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39285-2003Dec29.html

FCC CHAIR POWELL WANTS MORE PLATFORMS
Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, believes
it's the role of the FCC to facilitate change: "What's the future we'd like
to see?
One, we don't want one pipe. We're doing everything we can to incent the
free-radical opportunities for multiple routes to the home. So when you look
at FCC proceedings, that's where there's so much energy going into WiFi, and
ultra-wideband and powerline broadband and laser optics and free-space
optics and other policies that encourage and incent the creation of
alternate digital platforms. It's why I want digital companies to become
phone companies, and phone companies to become video companies. We want to
get more platforms. (San Jose Mercury News 29 Dec 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/7591252.htm

BLOGGERS: THE NEW FACE OF JOURNALISM
The TV networks and major newspapers now face spirited competition from
blogs (i.e., Web logs) offered by independent political commentators. Here
are a few blogs you might want to become familiar with: Instapundit.com;
AndrewSullivan.com; TalkingPointsMemo.com; DrudgeReport.com; DailyKos.com;
RealClearPolitics.com; and Kausfiles.com. Washington lobbyist Ellen Miller
says that blogging "takes the media out of the hands of the corporate world
and puts it into the hands of guys with computers"; Glenn Reynolds, a law
professor and blogger (Instapundit.com) says the blogosphere has become an
"idea farm" for the established media; Andrew Sullivan (AndrewSullivan.com)
says blogging is "like having a giant communal brain"; and Tom Bevan
(RealClearPolitics.com) says that blogging means that "if you have something
to say that's interesting, you will eventually be heard." (USA Today 30 Dec
2003)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-12-30-blogging-usat_x.htm

STOPPING NET NUDITY AT ITS SOURCE -- IN LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
Since it's unlawful to be naked in public in Lincoln, Nebraska, that city's
police chief ticketed 21-year-old Melissa J. Harrington for posting on her
Web site photos "showing her naked at one of our downtown bars and in
several other locations around the city." Harrington works as a Web designer
at a local Bank and says that she likes "being naked in public... even more
when there's a lot of people there to watch." The objectionable photos of
the lady were taken inside the Marz Intergalactic Shrimp and Martini Bar,
and the owner of the bar is the one who called the police to complain about
the nude pictures. If convicted, Harrington faces a maximum penalty of six
months in jail and a $500 fine.
(AP/Los Angeles Times 30 Dec 2003)
http://www.latimes.com/technology/ats-ap_technology10dec30,1,7630040.story?c
oll=sns-ap-toptechnology

*****

FLASH CARD 
     "There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish
together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between." (Sir
Thomas Beecham)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER:  GIOACCHINO ROSSINI
     Today's Honorary Subscriber is the early 19th century Italian operatic
composer Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868), remembered especially for "The
Barber of Seville," "Cinderella," and "Semiramide." Of his larger scale
dramatic grand operas, the most widely staged is "William Tell," which was
the final opera he would write, even though he lived another 39 years
     Rossini's parents were both musical: his mother sang opera and his
father played the horn in various operatic orchestras. By the age of ten
Rossini was already accomplished enough as a singer and accompanist; in 1806
he entered the Liceo Musicale of Bologna, where he studied music theory and
the cello. Four years later he left the Liceo to pursue his career as a
composer of operas.
     In 1815, Rossini became musical director of the Teatro San Carlo and
Teatro del Fondo in Naples. The following year he composed "The Barber Of
Seville," his best-known opera. Other significant operas followed in the
next few years, and in 1824 Rossini assumed the directorship of the Theatre
Italien in Paris. From 1837 to 1855 he lived in Italy, then moved to Paris,
where he spent the remainder of his life until his death in 1868.
     According to one anecdote, Rossini once congratulated a showy
performance of his famous aria "Una voce," and then sweetly asked the
performer: "And whose is the music?"

See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000I932/newsscancom/ref=nosim
for a recording of "The Barber of Seville"  -- or look for it in your
favorite library. (We donate all revenue from our book or other
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