NewsScan Daily, 19 August 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 19 August 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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NewsScan Daily is underwritten by RLG, a world-class organization making
significant and sustained contributions to the effective management and
appropriate use of information technology. NSD is written by John Gehl and
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"  
       Google Gets a Go
       China Cracks Down on Phone-Sex Services
       Japan Likes Apple's iPod -- It's 'Cute'
       A World of Your Own Design

FEATURES           
       Flash Card
       Worth Thinking About: Rockin' On
       Mailbag: The World As We Find It

GOOGLE GETS A GO
     Late yesterday the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) granted
Google's request to certify the company's initial public offering. The IPO
had been delayed while the SEC investigated whether Google co-founders
Sergey Brin and Larry Page had violated the Commission's "quiet period"
rules by talking about the company in an interview with Playboy magazine.
The purpose of an SEC rules is to prevent a company from going beyond the
careful stipulations and warnings in the formal IPO documents to attract
investor interest in an offering. (AP/USA Today 18 Aug 2004)
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/techcorporatenews/2004-08-18-goog
le-ipo-approval_x.htm>

CHINA CRACKS DOWN ON PHONE-SEX SERVICES
     China has ordered a nationwide blitz to wipe out phone-sex services it
says are corrupting the country's younger generation. The crackdown will run
parallel with a sweeping government campaign to weed out pornography from
China's rapidly growing Internet market. Minister of Information Industry
Wang Xudong said: "With the rapid development of the paid call service
market in China, some lawbreakers make use of this form to spread obscene
information and even conduct prostitution. This depraves social morals, and
especially brings great harm to the country's young minds." (The Age 18 Aug
2004) Rec'd from J Lamp
<http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/18/1092764993011.html>

JAPAN LIKES APPLE'S IPOD -- IT'S 'CUTE'
     The iPod seems to be catching on as a fashion statement in Japan.
Design-school student in Tokyo says: "I only want something I can believe
in. It's a question of sensibility." Movie star Shosuke Tanihara says:
"First of all, the iPod design is cute. Japanese electronics products may
come packed with a lot of functions, but they usually have more buttons and
their designs are cluttered." Kazuya Yamamoto, an analyst at UFJ Tsubasa
Securities, faults Sony for falling beyind: "To come up with an innovative
gadget that links well with software -- that's something Sony should have
done." (San Jose Mercury News 18 Aug 2004)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9439527.htm>

A WORLD OF YOUR OWN DESIGN
     A free program from eMachineShop.com lets people design 3-D objects
(such as car parts, door knobs, etc.) in metal or plastic and then order
them online. The software checks to determine whether a design can be made,
tells the customer how much it will cost, and sends the design to a "real
world" machine shop for manufacturing. Ohio State University engineering
professor Taylan Altan comments: "One of the biggest problems we have today
in American design and manufacturing is that designers know very little
about manufacturing" -- and eMachineShop overcomes that deficiency by
building the knowledge of a machinist into the design software. Lewis is
dreaming big, and wants "to become the Amazon in the manufacturing segment."
(AP/Los Angeles Times 18 Aug 2004)
<http://www.latimes.com/technology/ats-ap_technology12aug18,1,4676344.story?
coll=sns-ap-toptechnology>

*****

FLASH CARD
     "Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance."
(Samuel Johnson)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: ROCKIN' ON
     British gerontologist Tom Kirkwood writes:
     "The good news is that old people are living longer, healthier lives,
and that the remarkable improvements in survival are continuing. The 85+ age
group is currently the fastest-growing sector of the population in most of
the developed countries. There are many who fear that longer lives will mean
more ill health and disability, yet there is encouraging evidence that in
the United States the period of sickness and disability is actually getting
shorter, not longer, as life span increases.
     "The challenge is to age as successfully as we can. For society, the
challenge of successful ageing is a paramount issue touching on all aspects
of life -- social, economic, medical and spiritual. For the individual, the
challenge is to reach old age in optimum health and to develop the resources
and attitudes to preserve independence and quality of life for as long as
possible. To meet these challenges, we need to find out as much as we can
about the ageing process."
     [See 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195128249/newsscancom/ref=nosim>
for Tom Kirkwood's "Time Of Our Lives: The Science of Human Aging" -- or
look for it in the multimedia section of your favorite library. [Note: We
donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy
programs.]

MAILBAG: THE WORLD AS WE FIND IT

REMEMBERING KIT
Re: 
<http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=honorary_subscriber&id=82
2>
     This may have been intentional, but you omitted mention of Colorado's
Kit Carson County in the list of places honoring him. (Nate Scherer)

THE NAVAJO LONG MARCH
Re: < 
http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=honorary_subscriber&id=822
>
     I notice that in honoring Kit Carson, you neglect to mention his role
in the Navajo Long March (1863-67). Navajos had previously trusted Carson so
some believed his message about food and help; they went to Fort Defiance
only to be immediately imprisoned. Carson led military forces against the
more cautious Navajos -- directly causing several hundred deaths of women
and children in these raids while rounding up others.  During the Long March
and the following several years of suffering, literally thousands of Navajos
died. There are no memorials to Carson on the reservation. (Beth Jewell)

LAMP LIGHT
     A quick message to thank John Lamp of Deakin U., Australia, for
his contributions to NewsScan. The articles sent by John further broaden
NewsScan's perspective. Thank you, John Lamp. As always, Thank you, John and
Suzanne, for NewsScan. (Sajjad Lateef, Chicago)

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION
Re: <http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11199>
     Your Flash Card from John Hope Franklin ("We must go beyond textbooks,
go out into the byways and untrodden depths of the wilderness, and travel
and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.") inspired me to
share my story with you for consideration as an Honorary Subscriber.
Shameless self-promotion aside, people who read about my journey tell me
they are fascinated by it.
     In 1993, Jim Koepke decided to investigate the assassination of
President John F. Kennedy.  His research immediately concluded that most of
the books on the subject were filled with conjecture and theories and shed
precious little light on what actually happened.  Jim realized that many
persons who held positions of power in 1963 were still alive and set out to
talk with them.  Jim interviewed CIA Directors William Colby and Richard
Helms.  His interviews took, to say the least, unexpected turns.  Colby
confided he had deep regrets that he had not been able to bring JFK’s
killers to justice.  Helms made an even more startling statement that
persons connected to the CIA and the Watergate burglary were involved in the
Kennedy assassination.
     The final step of Jim's research led him to the Watergate figure known
as Deep Throat. Again, an unexpected confession by Deep Throat that although
some in America consider him to be a hero, he has never resolved the
personal guilt he feels for betraying his President.
     Koepke wrote a book, "Chasing Ghosts" about his journey through a
historical maze.  What one man with limited resources was able to accomplish
is indeed remarkable. The book, "Chasing Ghosts" is available on Amazon.com,
and local libraries. (Jim Koepke)

FUNDAMENTAL DISAGREEMENT
Re: <http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11191>
     As always, I thoroughly enjoy the news and views of NewsScan. I look
forward to each day's edition with great anticipation.
     Karen Armstrong describes extreme fundamentalism as one of the
"startling developments of the late twentieth century." Anyone who carefully
reads the Bible will discover that Christ predicted extreme fundamentalism
long ago and He also tells why this fundamentalism comes about. In John
16:1-3 He says, "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be
made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is
coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And
these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor
Me." (New King James Version)
     We humans have a common tendency to dislike those that do not look
like, think like, and act like ourselves. Coupled with another common
tendency to look for support or justification for one's actions, those that
use religion for this support will pick and choose the dogma that seems to
best supports their views and ignore most anything else, even if it means
they will disregard the very different character of the One they claim to
follow. 
     Christ also says in Matthew 24:11, 12, speaking about the last days,
"Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because
lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold." NKJV.
     That is the very old recipe for the "startling developments" of extreme
fundamentalism. (Brian DosSantos)

YOU NEED A SCORECARD TO KNOW THE PLAYERS
Re: < http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11197>
     As an Aussie ex-pat, as well as an American (born here, lived over
there 7 years, and got dual citizenship), it occurs to me that many of your
readers may not know that the Liberal party in Australia is not liberal,
they're conservative. Confusing, I know, but there you go.  The liberal
party is Labor. There are other parties there, one more conservative, one
more liberal (the Greens), which have greater power there than our fringe
parties here (more's the shame).  But for general mapping, the Liberals
there map to the US's Republicans, and Labor maps to the US's Democrats. So,
the article about the Liberals selling the voter data should be
appropriately ascribed to the conservatives. Just to keep general tendencies
clear. (Clark Quinn; love NewsScan, BTW!)

SEE SPOT RUN
Re: < http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11187>
     Regarding your news item on "Improvisational Computerized Music":
"Listening to Maps" is an intriguing idea
<http://www.w3.org/2004/Talks/0628-rdig-plaisant/> not only for people with
visual impairments but also to "spot." (Beth Martin)

THE DUMBING-DOWN OF ENGINEERING SCHOOLS
Re: < http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11186>
     In "One in Five Engineers Lacks 4-Year Degree" you have identified and
described a problem which is perhaps more pervasive and more serious than
you might suspect. It is the problem of the "watering-down" of standards
required for qualification in most scientific, engineering, and academic
professions. Over the past ten to twenty years, educational systems at all
levels have gradually relaxed standards for acceptable or minimum
performance. There are many reasons for this, ranging from those who believe
education should reflect only the abilities of those being educated to those
who believe that too much educational experimentation not based on any real
evidence has ruined the whole system. Whatever the reason, the outcome is
not good, whether you are a long-time professor unwilling to sacrifice
academic standards to pass more students in order to bring in more money in
tuition fees, or whether you are one tired of having to impose a sense of
professional discipline on those unable to impose self-discipline on
themselves. I, like many others, would like to believe that standards of
academic, scientific, and professional competence are not deteriorating, but
evidence for that view is getting harder and harder to find. (John McNulty,
Halifax, Canada) 

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