NewsScan Daily, 10 June 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 10 June 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"  
       Bells Achieve Victory Over Long-Distance Carriers
       Wi-Fi Everywhere?
       Leadership is Primary Factor in School Technology Use
       Prediction: Record Chip Sales This Year
       Ohio City Creates Online School in Fight to Retain Students
       Patrolling Internet Chat Rooms

FEATURES        
       Flash Card
       Worth Thinking About: The Real Thing

BELLS ACHIEVE VICTORY OVER LONG-DISTANCE CARRIERS
     The Justice Department has decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court a
lower court's rejection of federal rules requiring regional phone companies
to lease their networks to rivals at reduced fees. The decision is serious
setback to long-distance companies such as AT&T and MCI, which used the
regulations to launch their own brands of local service. But it is of course
being cheered by the regional Bell companies, which say that the prices
imposed by the rules forced them to subsidize their competitors with deep
discounts. (Washington Post 10 Jun 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28365-2004Jun9.html

WI-FI EVERYWHERE?
     The head of arena operations for the Charlotte Bobcats, an NBA
expansion team, is including Wi-Fi wireless communications in the design of
the team's new $265 million arena. He says, "Some people will think this is
the geeky thing, the nerdy thing. But they were probably saying that 10
years ago when other people were going to Web sites and using e-mail." Other
professional sports teams are making the same moves, and Giants chief
information officer Bill Schlough says: "It's like walking into Starbucks.
Except our Wi-Fi is free." Using Wi-Fi, fans will be able to access content
such as historical videos, trivia games and real-time statistics from the
Internet or through customized material available only in the stadium.
Schlough says: "There's a lot of purist fans who scoff at anybody bringing
laptops to games. I've been heckled when I go in the stands. But then
they'll end up wanting to look over your shoulder." His only fear: "The real
problem is business people coming and doing their office e-mails at the
game." (USA Today 9 Jun 2004)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/data/2004-06-09-hiestand_x.htm

LEADERSHIP IS PRIMARY FACTOR IN SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY USE
     Technology funding for schools is generally stagnant, but schools with
visionary leadership and strong community support are compensating by
finding ways to raise or repurpose funding, and in some cases are even
boosting their technology investments. Those are the findings in a new
survey conducted by the Consortium for School Networking and Grunwald
Associates. In cases where there is no local "champion" for school
technology, budgets are declining, training opportunities are being
eliminated and staff is being cut. "Contrary to conventional wisdom, we
found that school budgets may not be the biggest barrier to deploying and
utilizing technology effectively in the classroom," says Peter Grunwald,
head of Grunwald Associates. "Instead, visionary leadership coupled with an
aggressive development of community and parental support seems to drive
change in the most technology-intensive schools." The report, "Digital
Leadership Divide," says that the disparity in availability of these human
resources is resulting in large and increasing differences in funding for
school technology -- a situation that is broadening the chasm between the
technology "haves" and "have-nots." (Coalition for School Networking News
Release 10 Jun 2004) http://www.cosn.org <http://www.cosn.org/>

PREDICTION: RECORD CHIP SALES THIS YEAR
     The Semiconductor Industry Association predicts that, driven by demand
from PCs, cell phones and other devices, worldwide semiconductor sales will
jump 28.6% to a record $214 billion this year, then slowing to a 4.2%
increase in 2005, falling by .8% in 2006, and rebounding again in 2007. PC
sales in 2004 are expected to grow by 13%. (San Jose Mercury News 10 Jun
2004) http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/8882887.htm

OHIO CITY CREATES ONLINE SCHOOL IN FIGHT TO RETAIN STUDENTS
     Hoping to retain hundreds of students it might lose to charter schools
next year, the city school district of Columbus, Ohio is planning an online
high school to compete with Internet charter schools, which have already
weened more than 1,000 students away from the city's public schools.
Columbus's new school will serve about 125 students starting in September,
and four community centers around the city will provide in-person tutoring
and computers for students who don't have online access at home. (AP 9 Jun
2004)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040609/D833FTH00.html

PATROLLING INTERNET CHAT ROOMS
     Law enforcement agencies in Britain, Australia, Canada and the U.S. are
planning joint patrols of Internet chat rooms in search of pedophiles. Their
hope is to establish a "24/7 police presence on the Internet." Jim Gamble of
the UK's National Crime Squad says: "We're looking to put a police presence
on the Internet in an overt way that reassures people." The four countries
plan to develop a "simple visible logo" to indicate police presence in a
chat room, and Gamble explains: "I don't think we're talking about devoting
massive numbers to this... People feel safer when police are present, it's
as simple as that. There is no Big Brother initiative here, this is about
reassurance through visibility." (AP/Los Angeles Times 9 Jun 2004)
http://tinyurl.com/2yh7x

*****  

FLASH CARD
     "Learning from experience is a faculty almost never practiced."
(Barbara Tuchman)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: THE REAL THING
     British biologist Rupert Sheldrake emphasizes our continuity with all
of nature:
     "For those of us who live in cities, it is easy to forget the natural
sources of our sustenance: it comes to us from shops or through wires and
tubes. It is easy to forget where our wastes go: they disappear down drains,
or garbage collectors take them away. The green movement has helped to
remind us of the sources of our food, water, energy, and raw materials, and
the destruction our demands engender. It is no longer so easy to forget that
we live on a finite planet with finite resources.
     "Evolutionary biology reminds us of our affinities with primates and
other animals, and ultimately of our kinship with all life on Earth. Human
consciousness must have developed with an awareness of the habits of animals
that we hunted, the qualities of plants that we gathered, the seasonal
changes of nature, and the characters of domesticated animals such as dogs.
With the large-scale domestication of plants and animals, a familiarity was
established with plants like barley, wheat, beans, hemp, and grapes, and
with animals such as sheep, pigs, cattle, camels, and horses.
     "Our close association with domesticated animals and plants continues
to this day. Those who breed, train, ride, and use horses, for example, come
to know them intimately and often develop an intuitive communication with
them. Anglers acquire a wealth of experience of the habits of fish,
gamekeepers of game birds, trainers of performing animals, and so on. Many
of those who breed and grow crops, vegetables, fruit trees, and garden
plants come to recognize their habitual patterns of growth and their
characteristic responses to the weather, the soil, and diseases and pests.
Many people form relationships with plants, and some even talk to them.
     "Even modern city dwellers still have a deep need for personal
connections with plants and animals. In Britain, for example, millions of
people keep dogs, cats, or other pets. Many millions have gardens, lovingly
tended, and still more have pot plants.
     "Knowledge gained through experience of plants and animals is not an
inferior substitute for proper scientific knowledge; it is the real thing.
Direct experience is the only way to build up an understanding that is not
only intellectual but intuitive and practical, involving the senses and the
heart as well as the rational mind. Scientific investigations can illuminate
and enrich this direct practical knowledge, but they are no substitute for
it; indeed, they depend on it themselves."
     [See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0892815108/newsscancom/ref=nos
im for Rupert Sheldrake's "The Rebirth of Nature: The Greening of Science
and God" -- or look for it in your favorite library. We donate all revenue
from our book recommendations to adult literacy programs.]

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Copyright 2004. NewsScan Daily (R) is a publication of NewsScan Inc.
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