NewsScan Daily, 8 December 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 8 December 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Group Urges Government to Focus on Cybersecurity
        It's Official: IBM Strikes Deal to Sell PC Division
        The Halo Effect: Network Gridlock
        Students in NYC, New Delhi Make Beautiful Music Together
        NTT Demos the Sweet Smell of Success

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Honorary Subscriber: Sophie Germain
        Mailbag: The World As We Find It

GROUP URGES GOVERNMENT TO FOCUS ON CYBERSECURITY
      The Cyber Security Industry Alliance is calling on the Bush 
administration to beef up its cybersecurity operations, starting with 
elevating the position of national cybersecurity director to assistant 
secretary level. "There is not enough attention on cybersecurity within the 
administration. The executive branch must exert more leadership," says 
Alliance director Paul B. Kurtz, who's a former senior cybersecurity 
official in the Bush administration. Kurtz was joined by Amit Yoran, the 
former director of Homeland Security's National Cyber Security Division who 
resigned in September. Meanwhile, a provision in the recently passed 
intelligence overhaul bill that would have raised cybersecurity's profile 
in the Homeland Security Department was stripped out before passage. The 
Alliance's recommendations mirror those outlined in a report issued Monday 
by the House subcommittee on cybersecurity, which also calls for the 
administration to consider tax breaks and other incentives for businesses 
that make computer security a top priority. In addition, both groups are 
urging the Homeland Security Department to take the lead in creating a 
disaster recovery and response plan, should the U.S. suffer debilitating 
digital sabotage. (Washington Post 8 Dec 2004)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45622-2004Dec7.html>

IT'S OFFICIAL: IBM STRIKES DEAL TO SELL PC DIVISION
      IBM is selling its PC business to Chinese computer giant Lenovo Group 
for $1.25 billion in cash and stock. As part of the deal, IBM will own an 
18.9% stake in Lenovo, which will be allowed to use the IBM brand for five 
years, as well as other trademarks on PCs and notebook computers. The sale 
vaults Lenovo to a solid No. 3 slot in the global PC market, behind Dell 
and Hewlett-Packard. In a message to IBM workers, chairman Sam Palmisano 
(who once headed the PC business) said the move was part of the company's 
strategy to focus on making products for large government and industry 
customers. "The PC business is rapidly taking on characteristics of the 
home and consumer electronic industry, which favors economies of scale, 
pricing power and a focus on individual users and buyers," wrote Palmisano. 
(Wall Street Journal 8 Dec 2004)
<http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110247027599793998,00.html> (sub req'd)

THE HALO EFFECT: NETWORK GRIDLOCK
      The November 9 launch of Microsoft's Halo 2 Xbox game sparked an 
Internet traffic explosion that has continued into December and could 
herald chronic network congestion problems for Internet service providers, 
warns network monitoring firm Sandvine. "The explosion in Xbox Live traffic 
attributed to Halo 2 should be seen as a clarion call. ISPs need to enhance 
the broadband experience for these high-end users by prioritizing or 
reserving bandwidth for games," says Sandvine CTO Marc Morin. One of the 
main factors that can disrupt online gaming is "lag," in which there is a 
noticeable delay between the player's action and the game's response time. 
Installing software that makes networks more "intelligent" will be key to 
ISPs' ability to accommodate bandwidth-hungry gamers, says a Yankee Group 
analyst: "In the competitive broadband environment, operators need to 
differentiate the way they offer access to services like live-play gaming." 
(BBC News 8 Dec 2004)
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4079397.stm>

STUDENTS IN NYC, NEW DELHI MAKE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC TOGETHER
      Some 450 New York City public school students participated in a 
distance learning project as part of Carnegie Hall's annual Global 
Encounter series, listening to music, dancing and chatting with 200 
counterparts in New Delhi, India. The gathering was made possible through 
the use of a giant 22-foot-wide screen linked to a high-end broadband 
videoconferencing system. The students in both countries had prepped for 
the event by learning about each other's music, dance and history for 
several weeks, so the Americans knew they were listening to southern Indian 
music when 13-year-old violinist Ambi Subramanian performed for them and 
recognized the northern Indian giddha dance performed by New Delhi dancers. 
Likewise, Indian students were primed for the four-piece bluegrass band 
that took the stage in New York for a demonstration of Appalachian music 
and a New Orleans brass band that filled the aisles with soaring jazz. In a 
grand finale, all the musicians jammed their way through an international 
version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" while the dancers twirled their way 
through the refrain. (New York Times 8 Dec 2004)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/08/arts/music/08carn.html>

NTT DEMOS THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
      Japanese telecom giant NTT is testing a new service that sends out 
aromas according to data received over the Internet. Users attach a device 
to their laptops that resembles a crystal ball with a nozzle. The device 
receives data from a central server and dispenses the appropriate smell, 
concocted from a combination of 36 scents -- from eucalyptus to lavender to 
sweet basil. NTT is considering marketing the system as a commercial 
product for aromatherapy, testing incense or just for fun. For its 
demonstration, NTT linked scents to astrological signs -- Pisceans get a 
concoction of lavender, sage and lemongrass, while Cancers are wafted with 
chamomile, lavender and vetiver oils. The device and software were 
developed by Japan's Mirapro Co. (AP 8 Dec 2004)
<http://apnews.excite.com/article/20041208/D86RFOJ01.html>

*****

FLASH CARD
      "As long as algebra is taught in school, there will be prayer in 
school. " (Cokie Roberts)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: SOPHIE GERMAIN
      Today's Honorary Subscriber is the French mathematician Sophie 
Germain (1776-1831), who has been acclaimed as France's greatest female 
mathematician.
      In Germain's time, it was almost unheard of for a woman to pursue 
studies in mathematics. Her contemporaries tended to regard her as a 
phenomenon more than a serious mathematician. Today historians of 
mathematics view her as a highly talented mathematician who was denied the 
thorough training that would have allowed her to reach her full potential. 
Her accomplishments, however, were more than sufficient to gain her an 
honored place in the history of mathematics.
      She is best remembered for her work in connection with Fermat's "last 
theorem" in which he posited that that the equation xn + yn = zn has no 
positive integral solutions if n is an integer greater than 2. Germain 
proved that Fermat's conjecture is true if x, y and z are prime to one 
another and to n, if n is any prime less than 100. She sent her findings 
for verification to the eminent mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, with 
whom she had been corresponding under the pseudonym M. Leblanc. 
Unfortunately, Gauss had just become professor of astronomy at the 
University of Göttingen and did not respond. As a result Germain's theorem 
remained largely unknown for many years, although it turned out to be the 
most important result related to Fermat's last theorem until the work of 
E.E. Kummer in 1840. It was not until 1995 that the English mathematician 
Andrew Wiles published the full proof of Fermat's last theorem.
      Germain was born into a liberal, educated, merchant family. With no 
real interest in the money-making and political pursuits of her family, 
Germain spent her time in the family's library, teaching herself 
mathematics, much to the distress of her parents. Germain ultimately 
overcame their objections and was allowed to continue her mathematical 
studies. During the two years of the French Revolution's Terror (1793-4) 
she succeeded in teaching herself differential calculus, but in 1795 she 
was refused admission to the newly opened École Polytechnique because of 
her sex. Undaunted, she obtained notes for many of the courses, including 
analysis given by Lagrange, and submitted work to him under the pseudonym 
she also used to correspond with Gauss.
      In 1809 Napoleon urged the First Class of the Institut de France to 
establish a prix extraordinaire for anyone who could devise a theory that 
explained E.F.F. Chladni's experiments on the vibration patterns of elastic 
plates. There were no outright winners, though Germain was awarded the 
prize for the excellence of her submission.
      Beginning in 1820 Germain began to be known and accepted in her own 
right by the Parisian scientific society. Despite being a woman, she was 
allowed to attend the sessions of the Académie des Sciences, the first 
woman accorded the privilege. In 1830 Gauss petitioned the University of 
Göttingen to award her an honorary doctorate, but she died before the 
degree could be awarded. Perhaps the fact that she never received 
academia's highest honors makes her remarkable achievements in acoustics, 
elasticity and the theory of numbers all the more memorable.
                          ***
[For a library copy of a biography of Germain by N. Dworsky et al., visit 
RLG's RedLightGreen.com -- or to purchase a copy go to: 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/9027711356/newsscancom/ref=nosim>
Note: We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy 
programs.]

MAILBAG: THE WORLD AS WE FIND IT

MALWARE EVERYWHERE
Re: <http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11740>
      I foresee problems for PC makers for a very different reason. 
Increasingly, I hear of people who are simply getting fed up with the cost 
(in dollars and time) of defending against, and dealing with the 
consequences of, malware. (Mike Yohe)

NOT A TRILOGY
Re: 
<http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=honorary_subscriber&id=864>
      Regarding your item on J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Lord of the Rings" is not 
a trilogy. See <http://www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/tale.html> (Mark J. 
Bliese)

TOLKIEN THE SCHOLAR
Re: 
<http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=honorary_subscriber&id=864>
      I enjoyed the "Honorary Subscriber: J.R.R. Tolkien" but thought 
perhaps if you had included his scholarly work in which he translated "Sir 
Gawain and the Blue Knight" might have given further insight into his 
academic and perhaps spiritual side. (George Myers)

OUTSOURCING NOTES
Re: <http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11760>
      Let's do the math: On average, 27.5 million jobs are lost each year, 
and 29.5 million are created, for a net gain of 2 million jobs per year, or 
10 million over five years. Three million lost to outsourcing over the next 
5 years, above the normal rate of job loss and creation, reduces that 10 
million to 7 million, or almost 1 in every 3 jobs that would have been 
created. Some nothing. (Andersen perhaps might argue that his job 
loss/creation numbers already include outsourcing, but this has to be 
incorrect. He is citing allegedly historically rates of job loss/creation, 
and outsourcing has been very small until very recently.)
      Of course, the U.S. has NOT been gaining 2 million jobs a year in 
recent years -- since 2000, many jobs have been lost and only recently has 
job creation started up partially. If low or no job growth continues, then 
outsourcing will be painful indeed to several millions.
      I'm not arguing against (or for) outsourcing, but I am adamantly 
opposed to excessively rosy (or gloomy) claims about outsourcing. (John M. 
Astell)

I SEE THE MOON AND THE MOON SEES ME
Re: 
<http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=honorary_subscriber&id=867>
      Another interesting and deserving Honorary Subscriber! Even though 
the Ptolemaic system has been long disproved, the writings of Ptolemy on 
astronomy are still fascinating and absorbing to read.  Did you know, for 
example, that he was one of the earliest commentators on the "moon 
illusion"?  (He sought to explain why the horizon moon appears larger than 
the zenith moon). (John McNulty, Halifax, Canada)

COMPUTERS AND KIDS
Re: <http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11069>
      You'll recall the spirited debate that arose a couple of months ago 
from one of your pieces entitled Computers and Kids.   I thought you might 
be interested in taking a look at a provocative policy paper released by 
the Alliance for Childhood, entitled "Tech Tonic".  It has already caused a 
stink with the Consortium for School Networking, an organization which 
counts among its members many of the blue chip technology suppliers and 
offers these members "significant benefits in terms of their own 
professional development as well as exposure for their company. These 
benefits include access to key technology decision makers in schools, 
districts and states; networking opportunities with industry peers; 
visibility and branding opportunities within the education technology 
community; and timely and relevant information about the issues that most 
affect their businesses."
       The Alliance's web site is:
<http://www.allianceforchildhood.net/index.htm> and you can find the paper 
there. (Dan Hamilton)

VARIETIES OF LITERACY BELIEFS
Re: <http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11788>
     I find it interesting that an online publication printed a story about 
encroaching illiteracy. Something I have begun to consider is that we 
should define exactly at what point someone is truly illiterate in the new, 
electronic world. My daughter communicates with several friends who can 
barely read newspapers but do just fine with the abbreviated language in 
chat rooms and text messaging. I find their conversations incomprehensible, 
yet I write for a living and read vast quantities of intellectual journals, 
newspapers, and mysteries. In today¹s world, who is the illiterate?
      Thank you so much for NewsScan! Even when I'm short of time, I hoard 
my few moments of reading your wonderful, thought-provoking publication. 
Keep up the good work; you are truly a bright spot in many a grueling day!
(Sherilyn Dunn)

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