NewsScan Daily, 7 January 2005 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 7 January 2005 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
       U.S. Schools Are Reluctant Users of Technology
       Microsoft Offers Anti-Spyware Software
       L.A. Sues Internet Travel Sites for Room Taxes
       TiVo Introduces Integrated Video Recorder
       Recycling Electronic Gadgets

FEATURES
       Flash Card
       Honorary Subscriber: Emma Hart Willard

U.S. SCHOOLS ARE RELUCTANT USERS OF TECHNOLOGY
     A report from the Department of Education says that although virtually
all U.S. schools are now connected to the Internet (with one computer for
every five students), many educators remain doubtful about the benefits of
online learning. Secretary of Education Ron Paige says in the National
Education Technology Plan: "Education is the only business still debating
the usefulness of technology. Schools remain unchanged for the most part
despite numerous reforms and increased investments in computers." (AP/San
Jose Mercury News 7 Jan 2005)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10588049.htm>

MICROSOFT OFFERS ANTI-SPYWARE SOFTWARE
     In a move indicating its increasing interest in the security market,
Microsoft is giving away software designed to protect Windows users from
spyware (programs that transmit information about the user without his or
her knowledge). Industry analysts believe the company will eventually enter
the market for computer security software, and George Kafkarkou of Computer
Associates says that Microsoft's entry into the anti-spyware arena brings
"validation" to that marketplace. (Washington Post 7 Jan 2005)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54902-2005Jan6.html>

L.A. SUES INTERNET TRAVEL SITES FOR ROOM TAXES
     The city of Los Angeles is suing Internet travel sites Travelocity,
Hotwire, Priceline, Expedia and Orbitz for failing to pay millions of
dollars in hotel room taxes. The way it works is this: the travel sites
negotiate discount rates for bulk purchase of rooms, mark up the rates for
online sales of individual rooms, and then pay the city taxes on the
negotiated rates rather than on the marked-up rates. A spokesperson for the
city says,  "The Web sites can't have it both ways. They can't charge
consumers taxes based on retail price but give back to the city only part of
the money." The defendants call the allegations in the lawsuit are "entirely
without merit." (AP/USA Today 7 Jan 2005)
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-01-06-travel-suit_x.htm>

TIVO INTRODUCES INTEGRATED VIDEO RECORDER
     TiVo, which makes video recording systems, is introducing new models
that integrate cable TV converter boxes into the TiVo systems --  thereby
making it unnecessary for a TiVo customer to connect their digital video
recorders to a separate box. TiVo chief executive Mike Ramsay says, "By
eliminating the need for a separate set-top box, consumers will enjoy more
choice and flexibility over their entertainment delivery." (AP/Los Angeles
Times 7 Jan 2005) 
<http://www.latimes.com/technology/ats-ap_technology13jan07,1,3955443.story?coll=sns-ap-toptechnology>

RECYCLING ELECTRONIC GADGETS
     EBay and Intel have developed a recycling program that encourages
Americans to safely dispose of their discarded computers and other
electronic devices. Gartner, the marketing research firm, estimates that
U.S. consumers decommission 133,000 personal computers every day, and eBay
chief executive Meg Whitman says that the user's quandary is, "You don't
want to throw them out, and you don't know what to do with them." If not
properly disposed of, discarded electronic devices can leak lead, cadmium,
chromium, mercury and other toxins into the environment. The new eBay-Intel
"Rethink" recycling program will only endorse recyclers who promise not to
dump machines in landfills in developing nations. (AP 7 Jan 2005)
<http://apnews.excite.com/article/20050107/D87F998O2.html>

*****

FLASH CARD
     "Besides the first degree of eminence in science, a professor with us
must be of sober and correct morals and habits, having the talent of
communicating his knowledge with facility, and of an accommodating and
peaceable temper. The latter is all important for the harmony of the
institution." (Thomas Jefferson)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: EMMA HART WILLARD
     Today's Honorary Subscriber is the early American educator Emma Hart
Willard (1787-1870), who successfully demonstrated that women could teach
and girls learn classical and scientific subjects commonly thought at the
time to be suited only to men.
     A pioneer in the movement for higher education for women, Willard
introduced instruction in mathematics and philosophy in her school for
girls. Later she lobbied in New York State for female seminaries and in 1821
opened her own seminary in Troy, New York. In 1895, after a long history of
training teachers in the hundreds, the Troy seminary was renamed the Emma
Willard School. Of necessity, Willard was the author of many textbooks
needed for use in her school and others that sprung up in her wake. A
talented poet, she also wrote a volume of poems that included "Rocked in the
Cradle of the Deep."
     Willard was born Emma Hart in Berlin, Connecticut, the next-to-last of
17 children. Unusual for the time, her father encouraged her studies beyond
those considered proper for girls. In 1802 she enrolled in the Berlin
Academy, where she made such rapid progress that by 1804 she was became one
of the schools' teachers. In 1807 she taught briefly in an academy in
Westfield, Massachusetts, and then became head mistress of a girls' academy
in Middlebury, Vermont, where in August 1809 she married Dr. John Willard, a
physician 28 years her senior.
     In 1814 she opened the Middlebury Female Seminary in her home and over
the next few years taught her students with a curriculum comparable to that
used at nearby Middlebury College. Her success prompted her to write her
famous "Plan for Improving Female Education," which was praised by such
readers as Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, but ridiculed and rejected by
the New York legislature to whom it was specifically addressed. New York
Governor, DeWitt Clinton, however, encouraged her to open her school in New
York State, which she did in Troy, where the town council had raised $4000
in tax money to build a girls' school. The Troy Female Seminary opened in
September 182, antedating Mary Lyon's Mount Holyoke Seminary by 16 years.
     Willard's husband died in 1825 and she remained head of the Troy Female
Seminary until 1838 when she retired to devote her time to improving public
schools. A second marriage had proved a failure, and from 1838 to 1844 she
lived in Connecticut, where she worked closely with Henry Barnard to improve
the public school system.
     In 1844 she returned to Troy. Her later years were filled with travel,
lecturing, and writing. She organized teachers' conventions; developed model
schools; and gave lectures on teaching, textbooks, and the need for adequate
teacher salaries and proper schoolhouses. In 1854, with Barnard, she
represented the United States at the World's Educational Convention in
London. She died in Troy in 1870.
                        ***
[To find a library copy of Willard's "Plan for Improving Female Education,"
visit RLG's RedLightGreen service at:
<http://www.redlightgreen.com/ucwprod/servlet/ucw.servlets.UCWController?ACTION=EDITION&>
-- or to purchase a copy of a biography of Willard by Alma Lutz go to:
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0892010185/newsscancom/ref=nosim>
Note: We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy
programs.]

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