inignoct wrote:
] ] "Space commercials could embrace huge areas and a
] ] colossal number of consumers," he said. "This would
] ] literally be intercontinental coverage."
] ] ...
] ] "People would be able to see writing in the skies from
] ] the Earth no worse than they see the stars," he said.
]
] [ Um, actually, they'd probably see the writing *better* since
] you'll be BLOCKING said stars. ]

Pepsi tried to do it a few years ago and got shot down. Honestly, I'd like to see it done once. Just once. Just to see it. And then never again. Never ever again. But I can't have my cake and eat it too...

I think its inevitable. In 100 years the moon will be covered with settlements. On dark nights you'll look up a see a sphere covered with a glowing spider web of cities and roads. We take the night moon for granted, hanging there naked and pristine as nature created her. Future generations will not know that moon, and the last to know her will mourn her loss. I think someone will probably buy enough land up there to make a sign visible from earth. Land will be cheap at first as the place is inhospitable. And there will be nothing you can do about it really. What people on the moon do with their land is definately out of the jurisdiction of some country on earth.

RE: Yahoo! News - Russian Inventor Patents Space-Ads Device

] ATLANTA - Instead of gaining jobs last year, metro
] Atlanta actually lost 16,800, according to the Georgia
] Department of Labor.
]
] Earlier figures indicated that there had been an increase
] of 67,900 jobs in the Atlanta area in 2003, which
] appeared to make the area a national leader in job
] creation.

AP Wire | 03/11/2004 | Net loss shows jobs picture in metro Atlanta not as good as believed

] A robot for "printing" houses is to be trialled by the
] construction industry. It takes instructions directly
] from an architect's computerised drawings and then
] squirts successive layers of concrete on top of one other
] to build up vertical walls and domed roofs.

Read my lips. 30 hour work week.

New Scientist -- Robot Builder could 'print' houses

Joss Stone, George Clinton, and many others are among the acts set to appear at the 11th annual Music Midtown festival. The event will be held April 30 and May 1-2 on a 42-acre site in Atlanta; tickets go on-sale Saturday (March 13) via Ticketmaster.

Music Midtown

] And let's end the illusion right now that adult voters
] make their decisions based on careful study of the
] candidates and their issues. We all know that's bullshit.
] To pretend that teenagers would vote for the first
] politician who promises to outlaw homework ignores the
] fact that their parents are probably dumb enough to vote
] for a politician who promised to shorten commercial
] breaks and make super-sizing free.

I happen to think that this is a good idea. I find the notion of half and quarter votes a little remeniscient of slavery, but the fact is that half a vote is better then none, and that the political systems, notably local governments, routinely use teenagers as a political pinatta without any consideration of their interests whatsoever. Curfews, loitering laws, unreasonable catch-22 situations where those who comply with a court summons are considered truants, school uniforms, laws against skateboarding, parties, and other recreation, laws which upgrade minors to adult courts arbitrarily, unfair/unequal treatment in traffic courts, school systems which appropriate funds in ways that are most visible to local adults rather then most effective in the school, random search and seizure on school property, metal detectors, phsycological evaluations, surveillance technology... In fact, I don't think I've ever heard of a peice of legislation involving minors which seemed reasonable. I'm not kidding.

"They are easily deceived by political charlatans." So is 90% of the adult population. What planet are you people living on?

Proposal to extend vote to minors in California

] Security experts are expressing alarm at the company's
] plans for the product, set for release at month's end.
]
] Mike Erwin, Symbiot's president, and Paco Nathan, its
] chief scientist, are preparing for the release by posting
] a set of "rules of engagement for information warfare" on
] the company's Web site. They say such rules should be
] part of corporate security policy to help companies
] determine their exact response to an incoming attack.

Is that the same "Paco Nathan" who used to run Fringeware Review?

What happened to Fringeware?

No, officers, we're computer scientists and engineers.

Be sure to check out the photos and video.

Robot Race Is Giant Step for Unmanned Kind

] The Hubble Ultra Deep Field images and data, released
] Tuesday at the Space Telescope Science Institute in
] Baltimore, provide the first glimpses of galactic
] activity from around 700 million years after the Big
] Bang, reaching back into our celestial history about 300
] million years further than previous observations.

Worth a look. Galaxy Soup.

Wired News: Hubble Offers Glimpse of Creation

] Bad Weather Closings for News 14 Carolina
] Raleigh, NC on Feb 27th, 2004
]
] This was a collaborate effort from the student run
] website (TheWolfWeb).
]
] It shows what happens when a bunch of bored shutin
] college kids find the ONLINE CLOSING SUBMISSION
] FORM. The submissions run from leet to current events
] with a couple thrown in that only State Fans would get.

l33t

Snotmonkey.com - News Closings

ryan is the supernicety wrote:

] This is about assessing risk and an unfortunate side effect of
] the ease of internet publishing. This really is no different
] than what the house insurance people do-- if you put in a
] claim on your homeowner's insurance, they pay it out and then
] cancel your coverage. When you try to get new coverage, you
] discover your name has been put on a list of people who make
] claims.

Or, if you bounce a check you get put in a system which makes it impossible for you to get a bank account. Or, in some cities (notably Vancouver), your ID is scanned when you enter a bar, and if you get kicked out you can't go to a bar again. It is a natural extension of credit reporting, and it is rapidly gaining ground as networking becomes less expensive.

There is a lot of thin logic parlayed about by the people who run these systems. They say that they simply collect data, and they are not responsible for how businesses use the data, or what data gets put into the system. Different businesses have different policies about gets put in, and what they do about it. (Typically in the case of checksystems branches will refuse you at outset but you can negotiate with the branch manager, so even companies don't have consistent policies.) Businesses frequently point you back to the database owner if you express a concern about the system. You are essentially left without recourse because no one will take responsibility for the content of the system.

You can see such diversion in this article. "We don't know anything about this system, but we're mad as hell about frivolous lawsuits." Clearly, the system encompases people who aren't involved in frivolous lawsuits, so what do frivolous lawsuits have to do with it?

I beleive that the government has an interest in regulating these systems, just as they regulate credit reporting databases. There should be clear rules about what sort of data can or must be reported, and on what basis. The data should have a clear meaning. A simple black list is not appropriate. What, When and Why. There should be rules allowing access to the data for those who are reported on. There should be a process for clearing ones name. There should be criminal penalities for inappropriate reporting. These rules will have to be broad enough to encompass any such database, as they are cropping up all over the place now.

This NYT article is a first step. I don't recall such coverage of checksystems. The website in question appears to be history. But this isn't going to get resolved until it becomes a public political issue in elections.

RE: In Texas, Hire a Lawyer, Forget About a Doctor?