NewsScan Daily, 11 February 2005 ("Above The Fold")

"NewsScan" <[email protected]> Fri, 11 Feb 2005 09:12:02 -0700

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NewsScan Daily, 11 February 2005 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
Blogging While You Work: Maybe Not a Good Idea
Rapid Dispersion of 3G Technology
Showdown at Hewlett-Packard
Nazi Memorabilia Decision Seen as Victory for Free Speech
Controversial Use of RFID Technology in Elementary School

FEATURES
Pete Jensen, R.I.P.
Flash Card
Honorary Subscriber: Jack Benny

BLOGGING WHILE YOU WORK: MAYBE NOT A GOOD IDEA
Using the pseudonym "Sarcastic Journalist," reporter Rachel Mosteller
of the Durham (N.C.) Herald-Sun newspaper wrote this entry on her personal
blog one day last year: "I really hate my place of employment. Seriously.
Okay, first off. They have these stupid little awards that are supposed to
boost company morale. So you go and do something 'spectacular' (most likely,
you're doing your JOB) and then someone says 'Why golly, that was
spectacular.' then they sign your name on some paper, they bring you
chocolate and some balloons... Okay two people in the newsroom just got it.
FOR DOING THEIR JOB." The day after her posting, Sarcastic Journalist was
fired (even though it did not identify the newspaper in her posting). Lee
Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, comments: "We
all complain about work and our bosses. And the ethos of the blogosphere is
to be chatty and sometimes catty and crude. Even in an era of casual
Fridays, that is not what companies want to be portrayed by the world." And
labor lawyer Gregg M. Lemley notes: "In most states, if an employer doesn't
like what you're talking about, they can simply terminate you." (Washington
Post 11 Feb 2005)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15511-2005Feb10.html<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15511-2005Feb10.html> >

RAPID DISPERSION OF 3G TECHNOLOGY
Ericsson
<http://www.nytimes.com/redirect/marketwatch/redirect.ctx?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&amp;symb=ERICY> chief
executive Carl-Henric Svanberg says that seven million cellphone users in
Europe and Japan switched in the last quarter of 2004 to "3G" (high-speed
third-generation) mobile networks that allow computer-like services on
cellphones. Svanberg notes that Ericsson has built all or part of 35 of the
56 high-speed 3G networks operating in Europe and Asia. (New York Times 11
Feb 2005)
<http://www.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/11/technology/11ericsson.html<http://www.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/11/technology/11ericsson.html> >

SHOWDOWN AT HEWLETT-PACKARD
Who pulled the trigger at Hewlett-Packard to start the race to remove
CEO Carly Fiorina? Answer: HP board member Patricia Dunn, who at a January
meeting confronted Fiorina with a one-page analysis critiquing her
performance and suggesting that Fiorina needed to share power. The
51-year-old Dunn then led the board in evaluating Fiorina's record and
helped it reach a unanimous decision for radical change. Although Fiorina
had countered with a suggestion that HP have co-presidents, tensions soon
increased between Fiorina and the board, and the board decided to fire her
-- and make Dunn the new non-executive chairman. (San Jose Mercury News 11
Feb 2005)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10876061.htm<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10876061.htm> >

NAZI MEMORABILIA DECISION SEEN AS VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced it will rehear some
arguments in a 5-year-old lawsuit against Yahoo by two French human rights
groups that want to ban the sale of Nazi-related items on any Internet site
viewable in France. Since French law bars the display or sale of racist
material, the groups had won a French court order requiring the company to
block Internet surfers in France from auctions selling Nazi memorabilia
there, but Yahoo kept such memorabilia on its popular U.S.-based site,
yahoo.com. The two-sentence ruling Thursday does not explain how the judges
came to their decision but compels both sides to argue their cases again in
front of an 11-judge panel. Yahoo attorney Mary Catherine Wirth says, "If
American companies have to worry that foreign judgments entered against them
might be enforceable, it could end up with companies censoring their Web
sites, but Richard Jones, who represented the French organizations, called
the decision "meaningless."(AP/USA Today 11 Fe 2005)
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2005-02-11-yahoo-nazi-stuff_x.htm<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2005-02-11-yahoo-nazi-stuff_x.htm> >

CONTROVERSIAL USE OF RFID TECHNOLOGY IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Brittan Elementary School in rural Sutter, California, is requiring
students to wear radio frequency identification (RFID) badges that can track
their movements in order to simplify attendance-taking, curtail vandalism,
and improve student safety. But civil libertarians are alarmed, and ACLU
representative Nicole Ozer warns, "If this school doesn't stand up, then
other schools might adopt it. You might be a small community, but you are
one of the first communities to use this technology." Angry parent Michael
Cantrall, who alerted the ACLU to the school¹s decision to use RFID
technology, which is also used to track merchandise, says: "There is a way
to make kids safer without making them feel like a piece of inventory. Are
we trying to bring them up with respect and trust, or tell them that you
can't trust anyone, you are always going to be monitored, and someone is
always going to be watching you?" Each student is required to wear
identification cards around their necks with their picture, name and grade
and a wireless transmitter that beams their ID number to a teacher's
handheld computer when the child passes under an antenna posted above a
classroom door. But the IDs have been welcomed by some parents, such as one
who notes: "This is not Mayberry. This is Sutter, California. Bad things can
happen here." (AP 10 Feb 2005)
<http://apnews.excite.com/article/20050210/D885RJD81.html>

*****

PETE JENSEN, R.I.P.
Pete Jensen, a great friend and a great man, has passed away after a
long illness. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution prepared this very nice
obituary:
Pete Jensen, pioneer in computers at Tech
By KAY POWELL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/09/05
**
Pete Jensen led Georgia Tech into the forefront of information as a
science.
He was a pioneer in creating Tech's first computer center, said his
colleague John Gehl of Cherokee County. Tech's separate College of Computing
was created in 1990.
"He was the symbol of Tech's acceptance of computing as a major new
thrust at the university," Mr. Gehl said. "Tech was the first institute to
form a separate college of computing, and Pete was its champion. He made it
a separate major college in its own right, not tucked away in a math
department."
"Tech is now world-renowned for our College of Computing," said Mary
Alice Isele of Atlanta, the college's director of development.
Mr. Jensen established the school's first computer laboratory and
installed Tech's first e-mail system in 1965.
"I'm not sure if we curse him or bless him for that," Ms. Isele said.
Alton P. "Pete" Jensen, 79, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease Sunday at his Atlanta residence. The graveside service is 11 a.m.
today at Georgia Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Milledgeville. A.S. Turner &
Sons is in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Jensen joined Tech's research faculty in 1954, retired in 1984 and
came out of retirement in 1987 to create the College of Computing.
He was the ideal person to guide Tech into information science, Mr.
Gehl said. "He was wonderful both with systems and with people. That was the
right combination. He realized the most important part of the human/computer
interaction is the human."
When he was a student at Emory University, former Speaker of the House
Newt Gingrich sought out Mr. Jensen to learn about computers and wound up
learning much more, he said.
"He really cared about people, and he really cared about ideas," Mr.
Gingrich said. "He somehow combined the best of modern science and
technology with a redneck, good ol' boy point of view. He understood them
both."
Though his filing system was piles on the floor, he never forgot a
detail about anything. "He had an amazing mind and an amazing character. All
who knew him respected him," Ms. Isele said.
He is treasured for his vision to create a college of computing, she
said. "He had that vision a long, long time before anyone else. So many
leaders in technology today credit their success to Pete."
Mr. Jensen was given a lot of freedom at Tech to explore information and
computer science. He extended that same freedom to his students, as long as
they completed assignments correctly and on time, said his wife, Judith
Jensen.
Away from Tech, Mr. Jensen liked to fish and appreciated nature, tried
his hand at poetry and enjoyed cooking, Mrs. Jensen said.
"I thought he was a great facilitator," she said. "People would ask for
his expertise, and if he didn't have the answer, he could put them in
contact with people who could help, even people from years ago. It's not
like playing the piano, but it's a human talent."
Survivors include a son, Allan P. Jensen of Atlanta; a daughter, Jean
Terrell of Fayetteville; two brothers, Edward Norman Jensen of Whitesburg
and Joseph John Jensen of Plainfield, Ill.; and a grandson.

FLASH CARD
"I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don't deserve
that either." (Jack Benny)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: JACK BENNY
Today's Honorary Subscriber is the legendary comedic entertainer Jack
Benny (1894-1974), who went from the vaudeville stage to a career in film,
radio and TV that lasted until his death in 1974.
Jack Benny was born Benny Kubelsky in Waukegan, Illinois, where as a boy
he helped out in his father's dry-goods store. He studied the violin and at
age seventeen he played well enough to get work in vaudeville. In 1918 his
stage career was interrupted for service in the U.S. Navy as an entertainer.
While in the Navy he discovered his talent for comedy, and after World War I
he returned to vaudeville as a comedian.
While he still played the violin seriously in private, on stage he began
using it as a prop he would play ineptly for comedic effect. As a comedian,
Benny was neither a joke-teller nor given to slapstick. His humor was based
on the careful cultivation of his stage image as a vain, stingy man and
would-be violinist, who was the butt of insults and other people's jokes. He
adopted a set mannerisms that included a martyr-like stare with chin
resting on hand, three fingers on the cheek, accompanied by facial
expressions of disbelief and frustration, all made funnier by perfectly
timed utterances of "Well!," "Hmmm," and "Now cut that out!" Over the course
of his career he surrounded himself with the same group of supporting
players: his wife Mary Livingstone, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson as a black
valet, announcer Don Wilson, and band leader Phil Harris.
Benny made his first motion picture in 1927, completing 18 more between
1930 and 1945. Perhaps his most memorable film was "Charley's Aunt." Real
stardom, however, came in 1932 when he went on radio with the "Jack Benny
Program." From 1934 to 1936 the program led the popularity polls and after
that was seldom out of the top ten. His television program, "The Jack Benny
Show," began as an occasional special in 1950 and continued as a biweekly
and then weekly show until 1965, winning Emmys in 1957 and 1958. From 1965
he appeared in a few specials a year. His final show was "Jack Benny's
Second Farewell," broadcast in 1974, the year of his death.

***
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<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00064AM9O/newsscancom/ref=nosim>
Note: We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy
programs.]

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