TELECOM Digest     Thu, 27 Oct 2005 17:55:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 489

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Mars Comes to Visit Us This Weekend (Alicia Chang)
    Floridians Still in Line Waiting for Help (Erik Schelzig)
    Coal Challenging Gas For Power Plant Fuel (Marguerita Choyl)
    Media Industry 'Panic' Over Internet (Adam Pasicki)
    NJ Students Ordered to Take Down Blogs (Wayne Parry)
    Walmart: Radio Tags Keep Shelves Stocked (Associated Press NewsWire)
    Cellular-News for Thursday 27th October 2005 (Cellular-News)
    Report: Yahoo Out of the AOL Sales Mix (USTA Telecom Daily Lead)
    British Stroger SxS  (Dave Hunter)
    Re: Alger Hiss [was: Re: Privacy Worries? Don't Print in Color] (L Hancock)
    Re: Do We Go Overboard for Halloween? (Joseph)
    Re: More on San Francisco and Oakland Numbering (Robert Bonomi)

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See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest.  

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Alicia Chang <ap@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Mars Comes to Visit Us This Weekend
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 11:43:20 -0500


By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer

Mars is ready for another close-up. For the second time in nearly
60,000 years, the Red Planet will swing unusually close to Earth this
weekend, appearing as a yellow twinkle in the night sky.

Mars' latest rendezvous will not match its record-breaking approach to
Earth in 2003, when it hovered from 35 million miles away. But more
skygazers this time around can glimpse the fourth rock from the sun
because it will glow above the horizon.

"This is the best we're going to see Mars, so we should strike the
iron while it is hot," said Kelly Beatty, executive editor of Sky &
Telescope magazine.

On Saturday, Mars' orbit will bring it 43.1 million miles away from
Earth, with its closest pass scheduled for 11:25 p.m. EDT. The two
planets -- normally separated by about 140 million miles -- will not be
this close again until 2018.

Mars will still seem small to the naked eye, appearing about the size
of a penny seen from 620 feet away. The rust-colored planet will be at
its brightest this weekend, and no celestial body in that part of the
sky will be as luminous, Beatty said.

Most backyard telescopes will see Mars as a small, brilliant
ball. Observers with more powerful instruments might be able to
discern details on the planet's surface, including its southern ice
cap and white clouds.

The orbiting Hubble Space Telescope will train its eyes on Mars during
the passing, snapping close-ups as it did in 2003.

___

On the Net:

Sky & Telescope magazine: http://skyandtelescope.com

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. 

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.

Also check out http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html

------------------------------

From: Erik Schelzig <ap@teleco-digest.org>
Subject: Floridians Still in Line, Waiting For Help
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 10:51:26 -0500


By ERIK SCHELZIG, Associated Press Writer

Many Floridians began another day of struggling to find food, water
and fuel after Hurricane Wilma on Thursday, with lines of people and
cars forming around home improvement stores and gas stations.

About 2 million homes and businesses were still without power and
phones, which was making the recovery more difficult. Many gas
stations that had fuel were without electricity to pump it out, and
others that had power ran out of supplies. Shouting matches broke out
at some stations when people tried cutting in line.

"Get gas down here. This is craziness," Connie Rodriguez, 23, said
Thursday while she and her fiance tried getting gas at two stations
across the street from each other.

But progress was being made: Port Everglades had power back for most
of its fuel depot, which supplies stations across South Florida. About
700 trucks will be picking up gas there to deliver to stations
Thursday, down from the normal 1,000, said Carlos Buqueras, director
of business development at the Fort Lauderdale-area port.

A day earlier, Gov. Jeb Bush took responsibility for frustrating
relief delays in a state all too familiar with powerful storms.

"We did not perform to where we want to be," the governor said at a
news conference in Tallahassee, adding that criticism of the federal
response was misdirected. "This is our responsibility."

Bush's comments came amid finger-pointing by local and county
officials upset with aid efforts, and criticism of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency reminiscent of the anger unleashed
following Hurricane Katrina.

"This is like the Third World," said Claudia Shaw, who spent several
hours in a gas line. "We live in a state where we suffer from these
storms every year. Where is the planning?"

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez called the relief distribution system
"flawed." Nine of the 11 sites in his county ran out of supplies,
according to its Web site.

But at another South Florida distribution site, ice sat melting
Wednesday night, with officials issuing a plea on television stations:
Come get the ice before it goes to waste.

Wilma killed at least 27 people in its charge across the Caribbean,
Mexico and Florida. Florida's official death toll doubled from five to
10 Wednesday, and the storm also killed at least 12 people in Haiti,
four in Mexico and one in Jamaica.

In Mexico, weary tourists camped out at the airport in hopes of
grabbing a precious seat on flights Thursday leaving hurricane-ravaged
Cancun.  Thousands of tourists remained stranded along Mexico's
Caribbean coast.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who oversees FEMA,
asked Floridians to have patience as he surveyed crumpled boats,
shattered mobile homes and snaking lines of cars at fuel stations
along the storm's path.

Chertoff promised to deploy cargo planes overnight to gather water and
ice from across the country for delivery by Thursday. He also said the
government was working to find more power generators to send to south
Florida, and called on oil companies to help distributors get fuel out
of the ground and into gas tanks.

"I have to say, in honesty, patience will be required for everybody,"
Chertoff told The Associated Press during his flight to Florida.  "Under
he best circumstances, even in the best planning, you still confront
the physical reality of a destructive storm."

President Bush planned to arrive in Florida on Thursday to get his
first look at the damage wrought by Wilma and to visit the National
Hurricane Center in Miami.

More than 2,900 people remained housed in 25 shelters spread over 11
counties.

The state's largest utility, Florida Power & Light, had restored power
by Thursday to about 36 percent of the 6 million people who had lost
it.  Officials warned, however, that the full restoration process
could last through Nov. 22 in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

"All we can do is be patient and tell them an estimated time because
we don't know what we might find down the line," utility foreman Heath
Lowery said in Coral Gables. "We don't come out here and just turn a
switch on and the lights come back. Phones are th same way."

Broward County Mayor Kristin Jacobs told CBS' "The Early Show" on
Thursday that a boil-water order should be lifted soon, but the
extended time the county is expected to be without power was
problematic.

The record-breaking storm season wasn't over. Tropical Storm Beta
formed early Thursday in the southwestern Caribbean Sea, becoming the
season's 23rd tropical storm, the most since record keeping began in
1851. It was expected to threaten Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua,
but not the United States.

In Florida, the Upper and Middle Keys announced plans to accommodate
tourists again beginning Friday; the Lower Keys, including Key West,
expected to have tourists return starting Monday.

In the meantime, storm-savvy Floridians resorted to their ingenuity.

At one Wal-Mart, 30 people sat on the sidewalk while they used the
store's outside electrical outlets to recharge their cell phones. At
one gas station, a man went car-to-car selling fuel from a 10-gallon
plastic tank.  The price was $20 for about a gallon, and people
happily paid.

"It's not a matter of we lack fuel, we just can't get it out of the
ground because we lack power," said Miami-Dade County Commissioner
Carlos Gimenez.  "Grocery stores are closed because we don't have
power. The longer we go without power, the worse the situation gets."


On the Net:
National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.

------------------------------

From: Marguerita Choyl <reuters@telecom-digest.org>  
Subject: Coal Challenging Gas as Power Plant Fuel
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 11:47:09 -0500


By Marguerita Choyl

Dirty, yet abundant and easily shipped, coal is starting to challenge
natural gas as the fuel of choice for new power plants.

This is because coal prices are relatively cheaper and not so
volatile, industry executives and experts say.

Utilities around the world have increasingly turned to gas to meet a
doubling of electricity demand over the next 25 years, while curbing
greenhouse gas emissions, like carbon dioxide (CO2), blamed for
causing global warming but this is changing.

"The role of natural gas role in power generation is not a slam
dunk. There are relative price, emissions and security issues to take
into account," said Gerald Doucet of the World Energy Council on the
sidelines of a gas conference this week.

At a separate coal conference, the mining industry was also upbeat
about demand to turn coal into synthetic fuels like diesel or gas, and
urged greater efforts to develop technology to clean up the fuel's
emissions.

"The prospects are improving for coal-fired stations. The future is
clean.  The coal industry can play a great role. It's a great
opportunity which we must not lose," said Leigh Clifford, chief
executive of Rio Tinto.

DEMAND GROWTH

Demand for coal is growing faster than expected, rising 25 percent in
the last three years, to 1.1 billion tonnes.

"Coal is the only fuel with sustainable growth. Coal has stepped up to
fill the void left by the limitations on oil and gas," said Gregory
Boyce, president of the largest U.S coal producer Peabody Energy.

The International Energy Agency (IEA), the West's energy watchdog,
says coal will continue to dominate electricity generation with a 40
percent share, as most of the world's supplies are conveniently
located in the strongest and fastest growing economies, the United
States, China and India.

"This is likely to continue as demand for power grows mainly in the
developing economies. But coal must remain competitively priced,
especially as pollution abatement costs increase as carbon emission
plans increase," said IEA chief Claude Mandil.

The European Union's emissions trading scheme that began this year has
allowed gas and coal to compete for future power generation market
share as CO2 allowances were given free to polluting power stations,
says Europe's top power producer EDF.

"Gas is no longer the obvious environmental choice as it was two years
ago," said Dominique Venet, executive vice president for gas at French
power giant EDF.

Venet said that coal would be the preferred fuel for future power
generation with oil at $40-45 per barrel, free CO2 allowances and coal
at $42.50 a ton.

EDF, the world's largest nuclear power producer, will add its 59th
reactor by 2012, but also plans to modernize four coal-fired plants,
and to re-open four oil-fired plants as it mainly uses its thermal
plants to meet peak demand.

Other European utilities agree fuel choice has become more difficult,
but most say gas will be the main option.

"The trend for all energy prices is up. I am not too pessimistic about
gas for power generation," said George Verberg, president of the
International Gas Union.

CARBON CAPTURE

The IEA estimates it will cost $100 per ton of CO2 emitted to
stabilize global emissions by 2050, but this could be more than halved
with carbon capture and storage (CCS).

"When it comes to coal, progress is being made on reducing the CCS
cost and as soon as it gets down from $100 now to around $40, the coal
business will be able to say they we can deliver cheaper electricity
and meet the CO2 requirements," Doucet said.

He said Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, a 17-nation group
working on technology to reduce CO2 emissions, aims to reduce the
costs to $40 by 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol's period ends.

"I would not put my money against it," Doucet said.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I seem to recall this now coming
full circle. In Whiting, Indiana, where my maternal grandparents
lived, literally at the state line with Illinois (106th Street and
Indianapolis Boulevard) was the Commonwealth Edison State Line Electric
Generating Station.  Like an old, gothic fortress of a building,
sixty to eighty feet tall, a city block wide, the plant sits there and
gobbles up coal from the mines in West Virginia by the tons, day 
after day. At least it did that in the 1950's. In front of it, the
employee parking lot, three shifts per day 24/7/365 with several
hundred workers; behind it, about a dozen or so railroad tracks with
mostly very large, very fast moving trains coming and going. To one
side, with a couple of 'spur' railroad tracks was the 'mouth' of this
hungry beast. At least once, usually twice each day, freight trains
pulling 80-100 cars full of coal would pull in on the siding, or 'spur' 
tracks; the diesel engines would get unhooked from the cars of coal
and then go on their way; a different engine marked 'Commonwealth Edison'
pulled into place, hooked up the 80-100 cars full of coal which had
just arrived from West Virginia, and begin pushing them up an incline,
one at a time. As each coal car reached the top of the incline, some
sort of mechanical contraption would put its 'fingers' around the coal
car, lift it a little in the air and tip it upside down; the coal 
would (because of gravity) pour out of the up-ended coal car and fall 
into a pit below it, where conveyor belts would push it around into 
large piles; other conveyor belts would in turn cart it off to the
several furnaces inside the large gothic building. Then the now-emptied
coal car was tapped or shoved by the car behind it; the empty car
would roll down the the other side of the incline where other empty
cars sat waiting; a new car would take its place at the top of the
incline and the process would be repeated. Over and over, all day. 

We kids, all 10- 12-year old guys, had a 'clubhouse' nearby where we
would gather from time to time to watch the action, observe the fast
moving trains traveling between steel mills (Gary), oil-refineries
(Whiting), the east coast and elsewhere. Because the intersection of
Calumet Avenue, Indianapolis Boulevard, and 110th Street (into the
Indiana side by three or four blocks) had around ten railroad tracks
crossing the street(s) a few feet apart from each other, and at
various angles, the three or four railroads going through that
crossing operated 'union' signals and crossing gates at various places
in the mess of it, and they also employed a person (I seem to remember
a fat, enormous lady quite often) to also work there as a crossing
guard. Two or three minutes before a train (sometimes fast moving, 
sometimes crawling at a snail's pace) reached that five-pointed
intersection and the half block north of it, the fat lady would flip
some switches in the little house where she worked, and as the bells
started ringing and the lights would flash and the gates go down, she
would waddle out of her house with a red flag and another stop/go
sign; hold up her sign and flag to direct traffic one way or another
around the area.  Since a dozen or so fast moving trains coming
through that intersection was normal each day, and an equal number of
very slow, almost crawling through trains as well, the intersection 
was always a mess. The Whiting (passenger) Train Station was also by
there, where New York Central, B&O and Pennsylvania RR passenger
trains would stop to take on or discharge human passengers, so the
fat lady was quite busy all day as I recall. 

Motorists unfortunate enough to drive through that labrinyth would as
often as not 'bless' that fat lady as she was trying to get them to
stop.  For trains going westward to Chicago, the motorists would see
if they could 'beat the train' by driving fast like bats out of hell
driving down Indianapolis toward the next crossing, which occurred at
103rd Street (in Chicago, on the Illinois side). Sometimes they made
it, other times a fast moving train going _east_ got to 103rd Street
before they could get that far, so they had to wait down there
instead.

Behind the Lever Brothers plant (remember Rinso Laundry Soap? 'Rinso
White and Rinso Blue' as the lady would sing on the television ads) at
that intersection was a dirt road referred to as 108th Street which
ran from Calumet Avenue to the backside of the electrical generator
plant and evenutally connected up with some Chicago street back there
somewhere. The motorists who could not get onto Indianapolis in time
would sometimes go barreling down that dirt road behind the electrical
generator plant hoping to beat the trains, etc. If they 'got stuck'
behind one of the slow moving 80-car Edison coal trains pulling
through, woe was them! Now you will be a half-hour for sure getting
through that intersection. But we kids always knew better than the fat
lady or the bells and lights and gates. So off we would run to our
clubhouse where we could hide, smoke cigarettes, look at forbidden
magazines and best off all, go examine the automatic hopper which
dumped the coal out of the railroad cars one by one into the
bottomless pit below.

One day a sort of stern older man found us around the coal hopper.
"I have told you little bastards a dozen times not to play around
here. It is dangerous! Now I am going to take you inside to see the
superintendent."  He marched us inside the gothic fortress to an upper
level (connected with 'cat walks' and stairs to the ground level where
there was an office with windows looking out over the work area below,
one or two women at work, a drinking fountain and I suspect the only
air conditioner in the place (one of the older, window-mounted units.)
He told the super about 'these little bastards, I have caught them
several times playing around by the (whatever the big machine was 
called).' The super warned us again; 'if you guys want to look around
in here, come and ask me to show you; _never_ go around by yourself.'
He gave us quite a tour, walking around on the various cat-walks
looking at the furnaces below, and since it was about time to change
shifts, I noticed how presently a new group of men wandered in and 
each of them stood by one of the furnaces and began doing what the man
who had been there before had been doing. Although the process was
mostly automated, where each furnace had a conveyor belt going up to 
it loaded with coal which would now and then push a few chunks of
coal into the furnace, the men working there had shovels and had to
now and again scoop some coal off the floor which had fallen from the
conveyor belt and scoop it in the furnace also. They also tended to 
the water supply (again, almost entirely automated) but occassionally
would open or close a valve which filled the 'kettle' above the 
furnace with water. These 'kettles' above each furnace were somehow
or another plumbed 'in series' to each other and a large steam turbine
at one end of the room. The high pressure steam caused the turbine to
spin, which in turn created electricity. It all went off to a grid
somewhere else in the area which went out to serve the citizens of 
Chicago. There was a humongous looking 'lightening rod' mounted in the
ground nearby and the super explained, "now and again, if you guys are
around the area when there is a very bad electrical storm, watch how
lightening in the sky is 'attracted' by what these workers are doing here."

He pulls this old-fashioned looking pocket watch out of his vest
pocket and announces to us, "it is time to change shifts. Will you
guys help me with the whistle?"  Well, of course you know we
would. Mid all the overhead plumbing which eventually ran to the
steam turnbine and the source of electricity there was a strap and a
chain hanging down out of the air. Attached to it up there somewhere
was a steam whistle, which tapped into the steam pipes at some point.
My friend, shorter than I, could barely reach the strap handle which
hung down there from several feet above it in the air, but I was able
to reach it okay. "Wait until I tell you, then pull down on the strap
and the chain, hold it a few seconds until I say so, then release it."
When he said to do it, I pulled the chain; my friend grabbed it when
it came down easily in his reach. Upon pulling the chain, the first 
thing I heard was a loud 'whoosh' sound as steam started escaping and
then after a second or two, the whistle started tooting. After about 
five or ten seconds, the super said to let it go which we did. The
chain and strap jumped back into the air on its own from some sort of
spring loaded tension in it, and the whistle quit sounding. About half
the men on the work floor (the ones who had been there earlier) handed
over their shovels or scoops or whatever tools they were using to the
other man who had 'relieved' them, and headed for the door. Like most
10-12 year old kids, we were quite thrilled to have made that happen. 
Looking out the window in the super's office, we saw the fruit of our
whistle-pulling labor. Guys were getting in their cars and driving out
onto Indianpolis Boulevard to go home for another day.

I asked him if I could call my grandpa who would have gotten home by
then and been wondering where I had gone. Super asked me, "Chicago or
Whiting?"  I told him Whiting, he said "use the third button on that
phone". The phone had a rotary dial on it, two of the line buttons
were marked 'SOUth Chicago 8-2000'  and one of the buttons was 
marked 'Whiting 18'. I used Whiting 18 and told the familiar lady who
answered the number I wanted. Grandmother drove over and picked me up,
but as I and my friend were leaving, the super reminded me again, "you
guys are _not_ to get into stuff around here on your own. _Always_
come in the front door and ask for me. _Never_ just wander around by
the coal hoppers or anything else."  One thing I noticed there, not
only that day, but earlier and later as well, was an almost continuous
haze of coal-dust in the air, at least on the working floor, but not
up above in the super's office, where the air conditioning unit seemed
to remove most of the dust. 

I went there a couple more times, taking friends of mine to meet this
nice man (the super); we abandoned our 'club house' since it did not
seem like fun any longer (having seen the real thing up close), and
once when I was 14 or so, we went to the 99th Street beach to swim; a
bad storm came up, the lifeguard made -EVERYONE- get out of the water,
and as the skies darkened, I looked over to the southeast at the old
gothic fortress and saw bolts of lightening in the sky aiming at it
and understood why the lightning rod on the side was so important.
Sometime that summer or maybe the next one I went once again to meet
the super; I asked for him by name (although I have now forgotten his
name) and the lady who answered me over the intercom from the office
to the downstairs lobby said sort of casually, "oh, Mr. (name), well
he is no longer here. He died about a year ago, of lung cancer." I
really would think all those filthy coal-driven turbines would be 
long gone by now.   PAT]

------------------------------

From: Adam Pasicki <reuters@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Media Industry 'Panic' Over Internet
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 10:24:57 -0500


By Adam Pasick

WPP Chief Executive Martin Sorrell warned on Thursday that many of the
world's leading media companies are on the verge of panic amid the
seismic shifts brought on by the Internet.

"There are major changes and we don't understand the speed and scale
at which they're taking place," the head of the world's second-largest
advertising and marketing company said at a conference held by the
Internet Advertising Bureau.

He described a media landscape in which traditional media such as
print and television are steadily losing ground to their new media
rivals.

"I think there's a certain amount of panic among media owners,"
Sorrell added. "Most of these companies, ours included I suppose, are
run by 50- or 60-year-olds who have trouble getting it, and who really
don't want to see change on their watch."

Sorrell singled out News Corp's recent Internet acquisition spree as
one sign that media conglomerates are scrambling to catch up.

"Rupert Murdoch, who I admire more than any other media executive
 ... has been willing to make (Internet) acquisitions almost
willy-nilly," Sorrell said.

After Murdoch convened a group of his top managers to plot a new
approach to the Internet earlier this year News Corp has spent about
$1.3 billion to buy MySpace.com owner Intermix Media, gaming Web
network IGN Entertainment, and online sports company Scout Media.

UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB -- 37 percent owned by News Corp and
with Murdoch as chairman and his son James as chief executive -- has
also agreed to buy broadband provider Easynet for 211 million pounds,
with an eye toward developing a hybrid broadband delivery platform.

Sorrell singled out newspapers, whose lucrative classified advertising
revenue streams are threatened by free Web sites like Craigslist, as
one of the most vulnerable businesses.

He also warned that prices for network television advertising, which
have been steadily climbing even as audiences decline, are not
sustainable.

"How can traditional media continue to charge more for less?" he said.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.

------------------------------

From: Wayne Parry <ap@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: NJ Students Ordered to Take Down Blogs
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 10:27:22 -0500


By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer

A Roman Catholic high school has ordered its students to remove
personal blogs from the Internet in the name of protecting them from
cyberpredators.

Students at Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta appear to
be heeding a directive from the principal, the Rev. Kieran McHugh, to
remove personal postings about the school or themselves from Web sites
like myspace.com or xanga.com, even if they were posted from the
students' home computers.

Officials with the Diocese of Paterson say the directive is a matter
of safety, not censorship. But constitutional experts say the case
raises interesting questions about the intersection of free speech and
voluntary agreements with private institutions.

"There was a student who thought he was talking to another teen, and
that was not the case," said Marianna Thompson, a diocesan
spokeswoman. "Young teens are not capable of consenting to certain
things, especially when they're being led along by adults."

She said the student's online contact did not involve sexual activity,
but such a possibility led school administrators to convene an
assembly for all 900 students about two weeks ago to reinforce the
online rules.

Kurt Opsahl, a staff attorney at the San Francisco-based Electronic
Frontier Foundation, which champions the rights of bloggers, said
there have been several attempts nationwide by private institutions to
restrict or censor students' Internet postings.

"But this is the first time we've heard of such an overreaction," he
said.  "It would be better if they taught students what they should
and shouldn't do online rather than take away the primary
communication tool of their generation."

Thompson said such a ban has been on the books at all four of the
diocese's regional high schools for five years, but is being strictly
enforced now. It does not restrict their Web surfing or writing about
other topics, she said.

McHugh referred inquiries to the diocese.

Students could be suspended if they flout the rules, but no one has
been disciplined in connection with them, Thompson said. A search of
both sites Wednesday by The Associated Press found no postings by
users who mentioned the school.

Profiles posted by other users on the site include photos and detailed
personal information on topics ranging from body measurements to what
kind of music they like, their relationships with family members, and
their sexual history.

Frank Askin, director of Rutgers University's Constitutional Law
Clinic, said the case could be an interesting free speech test if
someone took it to court.

"They are a private school, and they can have whatever rules they
want," he said. "But students do have rights in this matter,
especially in New Jersey.  Under our state's constitution, private
entities that exercise some kind of dominion over people have to
respect their free speech rights."

Thompson said parents of students who enroll in the schools sign
contracts governing student behavior, including responsible Internet
use.

"It's not a question of legality or censorship," she said. "This is an
agreement between us and the parents."

That could dilute the students' free speech claims somewhat,
acknowledged Ed Barocas, legal director for the American Civil
Liberties Union of New Jersey.

"The rights of students at private schools are far different than
those of public schools because administrators at public schools are
agents of government," he said. "That's not the case here."


Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
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articles daily.

For more news from Associated Press please go to:
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html

------------------------------

From: Associated Press Newswire <ap@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Walmart: Radio Tags Keep Shelves Stocked
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 10:29:10 -0500


Wal-Mart: Radio Tags Keep Shelves Stocked

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said its fast-growing use of radio-transmitting
inventory tags has helped boost sales by keeping shelves better
stocked with key merchandise.

The use of RFID, or radio-frequency identification tags, has reduced
out-of-stock merchandise by 16 percent at the company's stores that
have begun to use the technology over the past 12 months, Linda
Dillman, Wal-Mart's chief information officer, said at the company's
annual analyst meeting Wednesday. Wal-Mart has been able to restock
RFID-tagged items three times as fast as non-tagged items, she said.

The world's largest retailer began its rollout of the technology with
a handful of stores and distribution centers in Texas last year,
focusing on tagging cases and pallets of higher-priced and
faster-moving merchandise. As of Oct. 31, Wal-Mart expects that 500
stores will be using RFID tags, Dillman said.

Earlier this year, a formatting standard was agreed upon for an
electronic product code, or EPC, to replace the old UPC bar code,
clearing the way for mass participation by manufacturers of all kinds,
Dillman said. Suppliers also have become more enthusiastic about the
tags as their price has dropped, now selling for between 10 and 30
cents on average, compared with 20 to 50 cents a year earlier.

"We expect more suppliers to tag more items as tag prices fall,"
Dillman said.

The Bentonville, Ark., retailer now has more than 130 major suppliers
shipping merchandise to its distribution centers with RFID tags
attached, with about 5.4 million tags received at Wal-Mart
distribution centers during the past year. The company expects to add
another 200 suppliers to the list by January, with about 1,000 stores
and warehouses ready to receive their tagged goods, Dillman said.

Wal-Mart also plans to ramp up an RFID-based system at its Sam's Clubs
next year that will help it better locate pallets, she said. The
company plans to bolster the RFID program with yet another group of
suppliers, which will number about 300, in January 2007, Dillman said.

The company continues to expand its use of the technology despite
pockets of resistance from consumer-privacy groups. On Saturday, a
group organized by CASPIAN, or Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy
Invasion and Numbering, picketed a Wal-Mart supercenter in Dallas,
protesting Wal-Mart's tagging of printers and document scanners from
Hewlett-Packard Co. being sold at the store.

"This will make objects -- and the people wearing and carrying them --
remotely trackable," said Katherine Albrecht, a spokeswoman for the
consumer group. "We have rock-solid evidence that they are already
devising ways to exploit that potential."


Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What prevents people who feel they are
victimized in this way from simply tearing or cutting the offensive
tag off of the clothes they are wearing, or otherwise disabling it on
the computer printer, etc?  PAT]

------------------------------

Subject: Cellular-News for Thursday 27th October 2005
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 07:24:56 -0500
From: Cellular-News <dailydigest@cellular-news-mail.com>


Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com


2005 Mobile-Phone Forecast Raised on Strong Subscriber Growth
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14577.php

Robust shipments in the first half, combined with sustained momentum
in the third quarter have prompted iSuppli Corp. to boost its 2005
mobile-phone unit forecast by 9.5 percent. Global mobile-phone
shipments in 2005 are expected to total 810 million...

Mobile Middleware Hit Milestone in 2004
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14576.php

In 2004 and 2005, the mobile middleware market again experienced
strong growth and a flurry of acquisitions, customer wins, and new
product rollouts. This has created real momentum in this market, which
has now cracked the half billion-dollar mark an...

CDMA Contract for Sri Lanka
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14575.php

China's ZTE Corporation is to deploy its first Sri Lankan CDMA2000
network following an agreement signed with Sri Lanka Telecom Limited
(SLT), the country's largest fixed-line operator. ZTE won the contract
in competition with other global telecoms e...

Huawei Launches HSDPA Network Kit
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14574.php

China's Huawei Technologies has announced the global launch of its
full-performance HSDPA solution. Based on its self-designed ASIC chip,
Huawei provides a full-performance HSDPA solution, the data rates can
peak 14.4 Mbps downstream. The solution in...

Motorola Wins Brazilian CDMA Contract
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14573.php

Brazil's Vivo has extended its long-standing relationship with
Motorola by granting an award to Motorola for further development of
Vivo's CDMA network, additional Motorola SoftSwitches, and expansion
of its CDMA 3G EV-DO mobile service. This award w...

Digital Certificates on SIM Cards
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14572.php

As from the beginning of November, Finland's Sonera will provide
citizen and corporate certificate services on new SIM cards operating
on both GSM and UMTS networks. This will make it easier for users to
conduct electronic transactions even when they...

Handset Design Becoming More Important to Customers - report
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14571.php

As cell phones increasingly offer enhanced features such as Web-based
text messaging and e-mail, as well as the ability to take still and
video pictures, the operation and physical design of phones has become
more important to wireless customers, acc...

D.I.Y. WiMax from Next Year
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14570.php

Aperto Networks has announced the availability in the first quarter of
2006 of its indoor, self-install WiMAX broadband wireless products for
consumers. Aperto Networks' intuitive, simple-to-install WiMAX
customer premise equipment (CPE) feature the ...

Four New CDMA Handsets from Nokia
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14569.php

Nokia has launched four new CDMA handsets....

Kyrgyz Justice Ministry cancels its Bitel re-registration ruling
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14568.php

Kyrgyzstan's Justice Ministry on Tuesday cancelled its earlier-made
ruling to re-register the ownership rights of 100% in mobile operator
Bitel to Russia's little-known company Rezervspetsmet, Bitel said in a
press release Wednesday. ...

Russia's Duma to hold tender for mobile service provider
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14567.php

The administrative department of Russia's State Duma, the
lower house of parliament, has announced it will hold a tender for
providing mobile services to the deputies in 2006, the department said
in a statement Wednesday. ...

Belarus BelCel phasing out NMT, transferring users to CDMA 450
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14566.php

Belarus mobile phone operator BelCel, which operates in the NMT450 and
IMT-MC-450, or CDMA2000, standards, has started closing NMT450 base
stations and replacing them with IMT-MC-450 base stations, the company
said Wednesday. ...

Russia's VimpelCom launches EDGE in Moscow metro
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14565.php

Russia's second-largest mobile operator VimpelCom has launched Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) services in the Moscow metro, the company said Wednesday. ...

FOCUS: Last wave of consolidation nears Russian mobile market
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14564.php

[Premium] With three major players controlling 88% of the Russian
mobile market, there is very little room for maneuver, but MTS,
VimpelCom and MegaFon still have an opportunity to add a few million
subscribers to their portfolio by buying smaller operators. ...

Sprint Nextel Stands Behind $14.5 Billion Savings Target
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14563.php

Sprint Nextel Corp. Chief Financial Officer Paul Saleh stood behind
the company's revised savings target of $14.5 billion Wednesday. ...

TPSA Offers France Telecom EUR1.23 Billion For Centertel Stake
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14562.php

Polish telephone operator Telekomunikacja Polska SA Wednesday said it
has offered to buy the remaining 34% of mobile unit PTK Centertel it
doesn't already own from parent company France Telecom SA for 4.88
billion zlotys in cash, or EUR1.23 billion. ...

Lucent CEO Says Mobility Growth Should Moderate In 2006
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14561.php

Lucent Technologies should see its mobility revenue moderate next
year, while its wireline business should stabilize, Chief Executive
Pat Russo said Wednesday. ...

Sprint Nextel 3Q Net Up, But Misses Street View
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14560.php

RESTON, Va. (AP)--Sprint Nextel on Wednesday posted a third-quarter
profit but missed Wall Street's expectations in its first quarter
since Sprint's $35 billion purchase of Nextel closed in August,
creating the nation's No. 3 cell-phone carrier. ...

Nokia Launches New WCDMA Base Station
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14559.php

Nokia Wednesday said it launched a new WCDMA base station, the Nokia
Flexi WCDMA Base Station. ...

STMicroelectronics CEO: Memory Division To Post 4Q Profit
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14558.php

STMicroelectronics Chief Executive Carlo Bozotti said Wednesday that
the company's memory chip division will return to profit in the fourth
quarter of 2005 and generate free cash flow next year. ...

Nokia Launches OMA-Compliant Push To Talk Over Cellular
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14557.php

Finnish telecommunications equipment maker Nokia Corp. Wednesday said
it is launching its Open Mobile Alliance, or OMA,-compliant Push to
talk over Cellular, or PoC, and Presence solutions at the Nokia
Mobility Conference in Barcelona, Spain. ...

Ericsson To Provide Push Email Solution To Oi In Brazil
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14556.php

Swedish telecommunications equipment maker, Ericsson Wednesday said it
has received a deal with Brazilian GSM operator Oi, part of private
company Telemar Group, to provide its Ericsson Mobile Organizer, or
EMO, solution, breaking new ground for mobi...

Alcatel Gets EUR87 Million Mobile Contract From TA Orange
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14555.php

French telecommunications operator Alcatel SA said Wednesday that it
has signed a EUR87 million contract with TA Orange, a leading mobile
operator in Thailand, to expand and upgrade TA Orange's GSM/GPRS/EDGE
mobile network. ...

Telenor Ready To Support Thai TAC's Expansion -TAC Chief
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14554.php

Telenor is committed to providing financial and technological support
to Total Access Communication PCL as the Thai mobile phone operator
gears up for network expansion and third-generation services, TAC's
top executive said Wednesday. ...

KPN Enters Into Mobile Ticket Joint Venture With Imtech
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14553.php

Royal KPN NV Wednesday said it will enter into a mobile tickets joint
venture with Imtech NV. ...

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 13:51:19 EDT
From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com>
Subject: Report: Yahoo! Out of the AOL Sale Mix


USTelecom dailyLead
October 27, 2005
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/wWsYatagCvnacNmslo

		TODAY'S HEADLINES
	
NEWS OF THE DAY
* Report: Yahoo! out of the AOL sale mix
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* SBC to stick with AT&T brand
* Earthlink nets second municipal Wi-Fi contract
* Institutional investors settle WorldCom claims
* News from TELECOM '05
* Verizon reports earnings
USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT
* TELECOM '05: FCC chairman outlines what's next for communications
* Innovative technology companies discuss the future for communications
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
* Atlanta airport's Wi-Fi network opens for business
* BT announces VOD service
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* High court turns away RIM

Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/wWsYatagCvnacNmslo

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 16:10:17 -0300
From: Dave Hunter <dhunter@isn.net>
Subject: British Strowger SxS?


Hi Pholks:

I am looking for either parts to build an SxS demo switch, or for a
small GEC or other British Strowger PAX for the Telephone Museum of
Prince Edward Island.

http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html

Now the reason for the preference of British Strowger, is that Prince
Edward Island's first automatic switch was British Strowger built by
Automatic Telephone and Electrical of Liverpool, England. The 1200
line switch was delivered late in 1949 and placed into service on
February 9, 1950.

I would like to stick by this theme if possible, though certainly
wouldn't exclude North American Strowger equipment.

When children visit the museum, most have never seen a dial phone, and
don't have a clue how to use them. What a wonderful thing if I could
have a demo set up so they can actually see the connection taking
place in the switches. That is why a modern switch wouldn't help - the
act of their seeing the equipment move through its steps and make the
connection. The fascination watching as the process happens.

Now, if we do find a small switch (i.e. PAX), it would have to be
located in the Maritimes, due to the cost of shipping such an item,
but parts are another matter -- a bit easier to ship.

I have been searching for some time on P.E.I. with no luck. It appears
I am some 20 years too late to find anything locally, but the search
continues here, too.

Companies such as GEC, Plessey and others manufactured suitable
products and exported them to Canada and the U.S. North American
companies also made small PAX's which would be suitable. I am open to
anything at this time.

Anyone know the location of one of these units or parts to construct a
demo switch in the Maritimes?

Thanks,

Dave

------------------------------

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Alger Hiss [was: Re: Privacy Worries? Don't Print in color]
Date: 27 Oct 2005 08:30:47 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Mark Crispin wrote:

> The entire reason that there ever was a debate about Hiss' guilt was
> that most of the evidence against him was classified until the 1990s.

Remember, the issue at hand wasn't whether Hiss was a spy but rather
simply if Hiss lied under oath claiming he never knew Chambers.  The
spy issue was secondary and didn't have to be proved in court.

Part of the reason of that debate was that Hiss was a very well
respected person with an excellent record of public service.  Hiss had
volunteered to appear before the committee to make his statement, he
could've easily ignored the whole thing.  His friends, which included
Supreme Court justices, all vouched for him.  His accuser, Chambers,
on the other hand, had no such record or standing.

After Hiss' testimony, Nixon realized the issue came down to simply
one man was telling the truth and one man was lying.  He picked up on
some slight things Hiss said and pressed further.  Chambers knew a
great deal of Hiss' personal life although most of which was not a
secret.  Chambers did note that sometimes a Hiss family member used
the Quaker style of speech which Nixon knew (Nixon was a Quaker), and
that was something not publicly known.  Nixon pursued the
investigation into Hiss.

The liberal community felt strongly Nixon was the bad guy in this and
somehow "railroaded" Hiss.  I believe the Watergate committee was
fueled in part by a desired by some to "get" Nixon as payback for
Nixon's 1950s work.  (I also believe Monicagate was likewise fueled to
get Clinton as payback for Watergate.)

What remains a mystery is that how Nixon, who knew full well first
hand, the powers of a Congressional investigating committee, would try
to subvert such a committee when he got into trouble, indeed, allowed
himself to get into such a position in the first place.  Apparently
Nixon thought his tapes would never be made public, but he should've
known better.  Nixon knew first hand as VP that claiming "executive
privledge" is a very slender reed on which to depend, and taping and
retaining incriminating conversations was very risky.  Some say Nixon
hoped his tapes would save him, not destroy him.

> Conservatives have their own bitter pill to swallow.  The excesses of
> Senator McCarthy were a blessing in disguise to the very real
> Communist conspiracy.  In my opinion, McCarthy caused much greater
> harm to the US than Hiss ever did.  Time has washed away the effects
> of Hiss's treason; we're still suffering from the damage caused by
> McCarthy.

Very true.

Our history books today give the implication there was no communist
threat because McCarthy made up most of his accusations.  Yes,
McCarthy went after the wrong people and destroyed innocent people.

However, there WAS a real and dangerous communist threat.  We forget
these days, especially with the Soviet Union gone and Stalin long
gone, how dangerous the communists really were.  The American
supporters of the USSR (whether actually "party members" or not) were
in a virtual brainwashed cult where they'd follow any orders for the
"good of the people", which they believed was the Soviets.  They were
running around spying and subverting organizations.  Some subversion
was comical but some was very serious and economically devastating,
such as membership in unions and in formulating US policy that
benefited the USSR.

There's a good point, "Reds" by Ted Morgan (author of a great history
of FDR), that documents the damage both communists and McCarthyite
conservatives did in that era.  The McCarthyism abuses are well
documented in history, but the communist abuses need to be known as
well.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Senator McCarthy ... now there was a
> real class act. ...

It is important to remember that McCarthy was only a part of a bigger
picture.  The witch hunts existed well before McCarthy came along.  He
was trolling around for an issue to give him some publicity and found
it fighting communism.  The attack on Hollywood communists started
before McCarthy, initiated by other people (Dies and Parnell, for
example).

McCarthy did not act alone.  We must remember that the news media gave
him a platform to air his views.  Congress has all sorts of hearings
every day, but almost all are ignored altogether, let alone get
televised.  The TV networks didn't have to televise those hearings,
they chose to.

A single person from Syracuse NY, who owned some grocery stores,
somehow managed to terrify the film/radio/TV business into firing
fingered communists.  I never could understand why a little two-bit
businessman from a small town could have so much influence.  Why
wasn't he just ignored?

Why did employers fire people based on the blacklist?  They had no
legal obligation to do so.

McCarthy eventually got censured by the Senate for his antics.  He
died soon after.  But that did NOT end "McCarthyism".  Those fired did
not get their jobs back and the loyalty oaths remained for many years.

I am glad we remember "McCarthyism".  But I am concerned the story has
become too simplistic.

------------------------------

From: Joseph <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Do We Go Overboard for Halloween?
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 08:36:00 -0700
Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com


On 26 Oct 2005 12:02:33 -0700, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:

> But in more recent years it seems to rival Christmas as a major
> holiday.  TV networks produce multiple Halloween-themed shows, run
> horror movies throughout the month.  There are many elaborate parties
> for adults and kids.  Costumes and events (public haunted houses) have
> grown very elaborate.

> It seems society has gone way overboard on this, particularly the
> entertainment media.

Wherever there's money to be made off someone you can bet that
companies and other entities will take advantage of it.

> There are a few subgroups in society that make a very big deal about
> Halloween, but I really doubt they can influence the rest of us so
> much.

You're only influenced as much as you wish to be influenced.

------------------------------

From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
Subject: Re: More on San Francisco and Oakland Numbering
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 16:48:21 -0000
Organization: Widgets, Inc.


In article <telecom24.485.11@telecom-digest.org>,  <Wesrock@aol.com> wrote:

> In a message dated 24 Oct 2005 13:29:03 -0700, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
> writes:

<munch>

> The standard nationwide time for making changes was 3:01 a.m. Eastern
> Standard Time, which would be 12:01 a.m. Pacifc Standard Time, still
> on Sunday.  (A day does began at 12:01 a.m.; it's not just a style
> issue.)

What if you're keeping track of time to seconds?

Is "one second after midnight" _really_ part of the previous "day"?

What about the middle of the day?

Is "one second after mid-day" (12:00 noon) really still part of the
'morning'?

I'll agree that there is an ambiguity about whether 'midnight' is part
of the preceeding or succeeding day.  I will, however, argue that if
it is any interval _past_ "midnight" -- be it a minute, a second, a
millisecond, a micro-second, a femto-second, or any smaller interval
 -- that there is no question that the time-tick is in the 'new', not
the 'old' one.

------------------------------


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