Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Reduced load lets faculty meld family, tenure track, by Marcella Bombardieri, Boston Globe. Or it doesn't. See for yourself which the article shows. 2:54:04 PM    comment []

Stem cell rumble on the prairie, by Alison McCook, in The Scientist. Illinois looks to grab biotech companies from Missouri... 1:53:54 PM    comment []

Five Benton Headlines: KATRINA SPAWNED PLAGUE OF MISINFORMATION Much of what was reported as fact by government officials and the media during the chaotic first week after Hurricane Katrina turned out to be fiction. John Hinderaker, co-author of the widely read conservative weblog Power Line, and other media watchers say the media need to take a hard look at their behavior. “When the mayor said there might be 10,000 bodies, he was distraught, he was in the midst of a crisis,” says Hinderaker. “What was shocking was that news organizations would just pick it up and keep repeating it when there'd really been no basis for it.” Experts in emergency management and communications say the real problem was a collapse of conventional communications systems, like phone systems. Those who had good information had no way of transmitting it. They say it's time to create a system that allows facts to be conveyed more quickly to decision-makers.  Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., have introduced legislation that would give telecommunications companies financial incentives to build crisis information systems into their Internet and cellphone networks. That way, information could be sent to multiple battery-powered laptops and cellphones via e-mails and text messages. Reed Hundt, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, advocates designating a part of the wireless Internet spectrum known as Wi-Fi to a new emergency broadcast network. “Wi-Fi networks can be run on batteries in times of crisis,” Hundt says. “You can float the antennas on boats. They can be dropped on to rooftops by helicopters,” he says. “And laptops run by batteries too. There are darn few TV sets out there running on batteries.” Hundt also advocates equipping all police, fire and other emergency personnel with Wi-Fi-based, handheld communication devices. [SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Mark Memmott] CYBER LOOPHOLE [Commentary] A bill gaining traction in Congress would exempt the Internet from the type of "public communications" covered by campaign finance laws, carving a huge cyber-loophole in the recent ban on huge "soft money" contributions by corporations, labor unions and wealthy individuals. The growth of the Internet and its emergence as a political force present complicated questions about how -- and, at bottom, whether -- to apply campaign finance laws to this new medium. The ability to communicate with voters through e-mail, the use of the Internet to solicit and collect small-dollar donations, and the vibrant discussion of politics in the blogosphere are undoubtedly positive developments that lawmakers and regulators should take care not to squelch. But that doesn't mean the Internet should be a campaign finance law-free zone. The concerns about the potentially corrupting influence of six-figure donations apply just as much if that cash is spent in cyberspace. This isn't a trivial risk: Internet politicking now represents a fraction of overall spending, but it's growing exponentially. One expert told the Federal Election Commission that $14 million was spent on Internet campaign advertising in 2004 -- a 3,000 percent increase over four years earlier. [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff] (requires registration) A CAPITOL HILL PRESENCE IN THE BLOGOSPHERE There's a small but growing number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill who have tried their hands at blogging. More than a dozen have launched blogs or blog-like pages on their official Web sites in an apparent effort to sidestep the mainstream media and, like thousands -- possibly, millions -- of other Americans, take their stories directly to the public. Some are short-lived, beginning and ending with a trip overseas. Others are permanent. Some are updated daily. Others, once in a while. The sites, invariably, are much tamer than other, well-known blogs. There is no fire-breathing partisanship. No snarky dishing. No soul-searching confessionals. In fact, some appear to be little more than news releases strung together to look like a blog. Some Internet experts said they are heartened by the lawmakers' efforts, saying the sites can give constituents glimpses into their representatives' personalities, opinions and day-to-day responsibilities. "Anytime they do anything that is more responsive to constituents' needs and interests, and anytime they're trying to be more transparent about their work, it's a good thing," said Nicole Folk, technology analyst at the Congressional Management Foundation. Most lawmakers still shy away from the sites for any number of reasons: They do not have the staff to maintain them; their constituents are not demanding them; they are not comfortable with the loose, freewheeling tone associated with blogs. But an increasing number appear to have found a sort of middle ground, focusing less on developing their own sites and, instead, taking their writings to other, more established blogs with active followings. More than a dozen lawmakers have written for the Huffington Post, a celebrity-studded blog run by pundit Arianna Huffington. [SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Faler] (requires registration) PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS CALL FOR HEARINGS ON 'BROADCAST FLAG' The Center for Democracy and Technology joined a coalition of public interest groups last week in urging Congress to hold hearings before considering any legislation that would mandate a "broadcast flag" regime governing devices capable of receiving digital television signals. In a letter sent to the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate and House committees with jurisdiction over the matter, the groups listed several questions that require careful consideration. CDT fears that enacting a flag regime without fully addressing several key issues would pose serious threats to innovation and public discourse. [SOURCE: Center for Democracy and Technology] Broadcast Flag Letter to House: http://www.cdt.org/copyright/20051006flagletterhouse.pdf Broadcast Flag Letter to Senate: http://www.cdt.org/copyright/20051006flagletterSenate.pdf CELLULAR-FREE ENCLAVES FIGHT TO SAVE PAY PHONES Laws in New Hampshire, New York, California, Maine and elsewhere sprang from the 1996 federal telecommunications act, which deregulated pay phones but allowed states to enact "public interest" laws to save endangered phones. Generally the laws call for a committee to decide whether a phone is worth saving. If so, it is subsidized by money from various sources; Kentucky, for example, uses money from the universal service fund fee collected on phone bills. New Hampshire will use unclaimed telephone company deposits. With the proliferation of cellphones, BlackBerries and other devices that operate on digital technology rather than dimes, pay phones are a disappearing species. There were about 2 million pay phones nationwide in 1997; about 1.3 million were operating last year, according to the Federal Communications Commission. [SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Katie Zezima] (requires registration) 11:53:38 AM    comment []

That Famous Equation and You, by Brian Greene, at The Edge. Einstein's derivation of E = mc2 was wholly mathematical. I know his derivation, as does just about anyone who has taken a course in modern physics. Nevertheless, I consider my understanding of a result incomplete if I rely solely on the math. Instead, I've found that thorough understanding requires a mental image - an analogy or a story - that may sacrifice some precision but captures the essence of the result. Here's a story for E = mc2. Two equally strong and skilled jousters, riding identical horses and gripping identical (blunt) lances, head toward each other at an identical speed. As they pass, each thrusts his lance across his breastplate toward his opponent, slamming blunt end into blunt end. Because they're equally matched, neither lance pushes farther than the other, and so the referee calls it a draw. This story contains the essence of Einstein's discovery. Let me explain. 9:53:16 AM    comment []