Tennessee Environmental Council and Lightwave Solar Electric are joining to sponsor the Middle Tennessee Solar Home Tour on Saturday October 3, 2009. Solar Homes all across Middle Tennessee will be open to the public for viewing and learning about solar energy as part of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) National Solar Tour Day.

The tour features active and passive solar powered homes in Sylvan Park, West Meade, Green Hills, Antioch, Brentwood, Franklin, Mt. Juliet & Cookeville. Homeowners and installers will answer questions and show-off system components. These homes also feature energy efficiency, conservation, and other renewable energy systems. The tour is self-guided; no tour bus or schedule to follow. You may visit all ten houses on the tour or you may choose to visit select homes. Follow these links for a flyer and tour map.

The Council will be well represented in the tour, which includes the new passive solar home of Council Executive Director John McFadden in Mt. Juliet and Council Board Member Mary Mastin’s home just outside of Cookeville. Mary and her husband Brian Paddock are participating in the ASES tour for the fourth time. Over the last three years they’ve had more than 120 people from all over the state visit their partially earth sheltered, passive solar designed home, to which they put on 4kw of photovoltaic panels in July of ‘06 and just added an additional 2 plus kw. Click here for more information about their home and a list of energy-saving features which they printed up for the first Tour.

Please join us Saturday, October 3 to learn about solar, and start turning sunlight into savings!  Visit Lightwave Solar for details or call 615-641-4050.  For more information on the National Solar Tour click here.

About the Tennessee Environmental Council

The Tennessee Environmental Council educates and advocates for the conservation and improvement of Tennessee’s environment, communities and public health.  Your generous donations and membership helps support our efforts.

Let me give you some back story.  When I read a book, I use a blank sheet of paper as the bookmark.  As I read, I jot down ideas for what I might want to read next.  So by the end of a book, I have a bookmark with scribbles like, the Whiskey Rebellion, Michael Parenti, or The Flying Burrito Brothers (I also jot down artists/songs for further consideration from pandora.com, but that is another review entirely.)  I take those scribbles and head to the Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library’s website and search to see what hits look interesting.  So far, this process has been very rewarding, yet somewhat time consuming.

But that was pre-goodbooks.com.  Goodbooks has an extensive database of books, which you can put on your online bookshelves (I’ll come back to the bookshelf feature.)   A user can search the database, locate books which you have read, rate the book, and if you choose review the book.

Now comes the social networking feature.  I can see what “my friends” have on there bookshelf, how they rated the book, and read there review or comment on the book.  If I see a book from there bookshelf, I can select the book to put on my “To Read” bookshelf.

So back to the online bookshelves.  A user can create different bookshelves.  My current book shelves are “Read”, “To Read”, and “Currently Reading”.  But I can see as my library grows, more classification would be useful to both me and my nosy friends.

This weekend I needed to find a book to read.  I opened goodbooks and the library’s website at the same time, and conveniently toggled back and forth. The website is also linked to online bookstores, so you could easily transition to a website to make a purchase of the selected book.

The website let’s you silently gloat about what you read and how much.  My online library grew quickly.  Perusing other friends bookshelves, I noticed they had read books I had also read but forgot about – so I added those to my bookshelf.  My online library grew to over 60 books really quickly.  It is also a bit voyeuristic to see what others read, what they like, and what they don’t like.

The website also has an extensive library of videos of interviews of authors, a nice database of quotes, events calendar of book signings and discussion groups, as well as a place for you to post your ebook for the world to see.

I highly recommend this site.  If you join, please look me up….

DALLAS  – AT&T* today announced it will offer Apple iPhone 3G S, the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet, in its retail and online stores beginning June 19.  In addition, the company today will begin selling iPhone 3G starting at $99 for new and qualifying subscribers.  AT&T offers the nation’s fastest 3G network and the best worldwide coverage of any U.S. carrier.**

“iPhone 3G S is the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet, and we’re extremely proud to offer it to our customers on the nation’s fastest 3G network,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets.  “We’re also pleased to offer these innovative phones and plans at incredible values, including free Wi-Fi access at nearly 20,000 hot spots.”

Based on independent market research, twice as many smartphone users have chosen AT&T over any other U.S. carrier.  “I expect this great new iPhone 3G S and a $99 iPhone 3G on our mobile broadband network will spur even more smartphone customers to choose AT&T,” said de la Vega.

Pricing

AT&T will offer iPhone 3G S and iPhone 3G at a variety of attractive prices:

• iPhone 3G S will cost $199 (16GB) and $299 (32GB) for new and qualifying customers.
• iPhone 3G will cost $99 (8GB) for new and qualifying customers.
• The 16 GB iPhone 3G will be available for $149 while supplies last.

Prices above require a 2-year service commitment and approved voice and data plan.  Options are available to purchase these phones without a 2-year contract commitment.

Preordering

Customers may preorder iPhone 3G S beginning at approximately 5 p.m. ET today in AT&T’s more than 2,200 company-owned retail locations or later this evening at www.att.com/iphone.  All preorders will be processed on a “first come, first served” basis beginning June 19.  Customers who preorder online will have iPhone 3G S delivered directly to their home or office; customers who preorder in a store can pick theirs up at the same store on or after June 19.  Stores will open early at 7 a.m. on June 19 exclusively for customers who have preordered.

Consumer Plans

AT&T customers can choose from several monthly plans that start as low as $69.99 per month for voice and unlimited data (e-mail and Web browsing).  All iPhone plans include nationwide long distance and roaming, Visual Voicemail, Rollover®, and unlimited Mobile to Mobile calling.

AT&T FamilyTalk® offers extra value for families who share minutes.  Plans start as low as $129.99 a month for two iPhone lines with bundled voice and unlimited data.  Up to three additional iPhone lines can be added for $39.99 each.

Business Plans

Small business customers may qualify for AT&T BusinessTalk®, a shared minute plan specifically for small businesses.  Companies can share up to 20,000 minutes per month between as many as 40 employees.  In addition, business customers and employees of many businesses are eligible for discounted service rates.  For more information, contact an AT&T business sales representative or visit www.att.com/iphoneforbusiness. 

Network

AT&T operates the nation’s fastest 3G network, delivering the power and benefits of mobile broadband to consumers and businesses.  iPhone 3G S will be compatible with High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2 technology, which offers theoretical peak download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps, though actual speeds will vary as these capabilities become available.  AT&T plans to begin deploying HSPA 7.2 later this year, with completion expected in 2011.

In addition to the planned speed upgrade, AT&T is enhancing its mobile broadband coverage by nearly doubling the wireless spectrum dedicated to 3G in most metropolitan areas to deliver stronger in-building reception and more overall network capacity.

Today, AT&T offers 3G service in nearly 350 major metropolitan areas in the U.S., with more than 20 more planned for the end of this year.  AT&T also leads in Wi-Fi, offering free broadband connectivity to iPhone customers in nearly 20,000 hot spots including Starbucks and Barnes & Noble, and nearly 80,000 hot spots around the world.

Additional news regarding iPhone 3G S will be posted in the AT&T Media Newsroom at www.att.com/iphone_news.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

**Offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company.  Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world.  With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation’s fastest 3G network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet and voice services.  AT&T offers the best coverage worldwide, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries.  It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verseSM and AT&T | DIRECTVSM brands.  The company’s suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world.  In domestic markets, AT&T’s Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations are known for their leadership in directory publishing and advertising sales.  In 2009, AT&T again ranked No. 1 in the telecommunications industry on FORTUNE® magazine’s list of the World’s Most Admired Companies.

One prime example of bad cell phone etiquette is people yelling into their cell phones. Have you ever noticed how people talk much louder into the cell phone than a regular phone? It’s very common, and can be extremely annoying for all those nearby.

A lot of people will excuse themselves into another room when taking a call, but there are some times when you can’t leave. For example, when you’re riding in a car with someone, you might need to take a call, and there’s no “other room” you can go into. It is times like these when cell phone etiquette is of the utmost importance.

So why do people with normal speaking volumes yell into their cell phones? It’s a pretty simple explanation, actually. Household telephones, or landlines, have a microphone in the receiver that amplifies your voice into the ear piece. When you talk into a landline, your voice is captured and replayed through the ear piece, so you hear your own voice loud and clear.

It’s very similar to how a radio DJ wears headphones, then speaks into a microphone and hears his own voice in the headphones. With cell phones, your own voice is not amplified into the earpiece, so the only sound you hear is from your mouth.

Seem like this wouldn’t be a huge difference, but the volume level of words coming from your mouth through the air and into your ear is a pretty big difference from sounds coming from a phone speaker that’s pressed directly against your ear.

Cell phones are very common in society, but relatively speaking, they’re still pretty new. Unless you’re a teenager, you probably grew up in a time when household phones were the norm, and therefore you are subconsciously trained to act as though every phone operates like a household phone. So it’s no surprise that when most of us made the switch from landlines to cell phones, we carried over a bunch of our habits.

Now we hear our own voice as much softer while speaking into our cell phones and the natural reaction is to speak up.

It’s important to avoid this tendency in situations where you’re trying to be polite. Remember, people want to hear you screaming into a cell phone about as much as you want to hear them screaming into a cell phone. So keep in mind that, while talking on a cell phone, you only have to use your regular voice, as if the person were standing right next to you.

Perhaps one day cell phone companies will decide to incorporate the same voice-amplification technologies into cell phones that were commonly used in landlines. But it’s probably not going to happen. Cell phones are here to stay, so we all need to adapt and start practicing proper cell phone etiquette.

* Originally posted at Thel’s Talk, used with permission.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A keynote address given at the OFC Conference in San Diego, CA, this is a revision of a REMIX talk, distinguishing between parts of the 20th Century that were Read Only (RO) and parts that were Read Write (RW).

Citizens may contact the sub-committee members at the toll-free phone number listed, to urge their support for favorable legislation and opposition to anti-voter empowerment bills noted below. All legislators may be reached at 1-800-449-8366, then enter the extension of their office phone number listed below.

Sub-committee members:

• Rep. Harry Tindell, ext. 2031
• Rep. Eric Yokely, Chair, ext. 6871
• Rep. Joshua Evans, ext. 2860
• Rep. Gary Moore, ext.   4317
• Rep. Jim Coley, ext. 8201
• Rep. Eric Watson, Vice Chair, ext. 7799

Tennessee House State and Local Government Sub-committee on Elections of S&LG Calendar of Bills:

1. *HB0031 by *Hardaway. (SB1840 by *Kyle.)
Election Laws – As introduced, requires a county election commission to accept and not return a mail voter registration form received within seven days prior to the registration deadline if the form lacks postage or has insufficient postage. – Amends TCA Section 2-2-109.
Summary exists for *HB0031

2. HB1857 by *Miller L. (*SB1833 by *Kyle.)
Election Laws – As introduced, clarifies that counties using computerized voting machines are allowed to use ballot-on-demand technology for either early voting, election day voting, or both; requires coordinator of elections to promulgate rules for use of ballot-on-demand technology, including security of machines. – Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 5.
The Abstract summarizes HB1857 as introduced.

3. *HB0105 by *McCormick. (SB0728 by *Watson.)
Campaigns and Campaign Finance – As introduced, allows corporations to make campaign contributions up to the same limits as individuals, LLCs, or partnerships can contribute. – Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 10 and Title 2, Chapter 19, Part 1.
The Abstract summarizes HB0105 as introduced.

4. *HB0779 by *McCormick. (SB1149 by *Gresham.)
Election Laws – As introduced, requires coordinator of elections to promulgate rules and regulations to allow certain members of the U.S. armed forces to return an absentee ballot by facsimile transmission or similar electronic means. – Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 6.
Summary exists for *HB0779

5. HB1719 by *McCormick. (*SB1423 by *Stanley.)
Campaigns and Campaign Finance – As introduced, allows trade and professional associations to fund PACs. – Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 19, Part 1.
Summary exists for HB1719

6. HB0845 by *Mumpower. (*SB0547 by *Norris, *Black.)
Election Laws – As introduced, requires two additional members be temporarily added to the state election commission if the majority party changes as a result of the 2008 regular November election or any other regular November election every four years thereafter. – Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 11.
Summary exists for HB0845    [Considered harmful to voter empowerment.]

7. *HB0295 by *Casada, *McDaniel. (SB0305 by *Johnson.)
Election Laws – As introduced, deletes provisions of the “Tennessee Voter Confidence Act” requiring purchase of precinct-based optical scanner voting systems and mandatory hand count audits. – Amends TCA Title 2 and Chapter 1108 of the Public Acts of 2008.
Summary exists for *HB0295   [Considered harmful to voter empowerment.]

8. *HB0614 by *Todd. (SB0872 by *Ketron.)
Election Laws – As introduced, deletes all provisions requiring the purchase of precinct-based optical scanner voting systems only, including language referring to Help America Vote Act funds; deletes mandatory hand count audits of paper ballots created by such machines; deletes language. – Amends TCA Title 2 and Chapter 1108 of the Public Acts of 2008.
The Abstract summarizes HB0614 as introduced.  [Considered harmful to voter empowerment.]

9. HB1770 by *Todd. (*SB1969 by *Norris.)
Election Laws – As introduced, makes various revisions to the election laws including allowing a person to email a transfer of voter registration with a scanned signature and increasing maximum size of precincts from 5,000 voters to 7,500 voters. – Amends TCA Title 2.
Summary exists for HB1770   [Considered harmful to voter empowerment.]

10. HB0519 by *Todd. (*SB0139 by *Ketron.)
Campaigns and Campaign Finance – As introduced, prohibits contributions from PACs after the 10th day before an election to coincide with reporting date of pre-primary and pre-general election statements. – Amends TCA Section 2-10-117.
Summary exists for HB0519

11. HB1838 by *Todd. (*SB1999 by *Norris, *Ketron.)
Election Laws – As introduced, requires citizenship status to be proven prior to registration to vote and requires certain procedures to ensure identity and citizenship status prior to voting. – Amends TCA Title 2 and Title 4.
Summary exists for HB1838    [Considered harmful to voter empowerment.]

Clarksville Police Department joins 42 other law enforcement agencies in Tennessee utilizing LoJack Police Tracking computers. The LoJack Company touts the fact that they have a 90 percent recovery success rate. There have been more than 125,000 vehicles recovered in the U.S. The recovery in most cases occurs within 24 hours.

LoJack works through the utilization of radio frequency technology. There is a wireless transceiver hidden in a vehicle which, when activated, emits silent radio signals enabling police to track and recover vehicles.

When a LoJack equipped vehicle is reported as stolen to law enforcement, it is entered into the National Crime Information Center computer system. The hidden LoJack device is then activated and a signal is sent out which can be detected by the LoJack Police Tracking Computers. When the local law enforcement agency receives a signal from a LoJack installed vehicle, there is a verification process to ensure a vehicle has been reported and the computer is not receiving a false signal. Once the verification is complete, law enforcement is able to follow the signal to locate the stolen vehicle.

History. On its own, it’s not a very exciting word. However this past weekend, February 28th, saw HISTORY given star power treatment at Austin Peay State University as the Theta Delta Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society and the university’s History and Philosophy Department sponsored the 2009 Regional Conference.

Austin Peay’s Theta Delta Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta National Honor Society hosted the 2009 Regional Conference this past Saturday at Austin Peay State University.

At the Registration Table, attendees picked up their packets.

The conference provided both undergraduate and graduate students of history with the opportunity to gain valuable experience by presenting their ideas in a friendly academic setting. Topics from a broad range of subjects including regional, American and non-American topics were welcome. Films and documentaries produced by the students were also accepted.

The Morgan Center was the hosting site for the one-day event which saw sixty students from fourteen universities and colleges give presentations of such diverse topics as Women’s History, Rome and Byzantine, Indian Warfare and Removal, Religion and Race, Gender in the South, Barbary Pirates, the American Revolution, WWI, Reform and Regulation, WWII Dilemmas on the Homefront, Issues of Religion through the Ages, Struggle for Independence and Identity, US Military in Nontraditio0nal Roles, American Revolution: Sea Battles, Labor and Economy in Nazi Germany, “Blues, Baseball and Black Male Identity,” Post WWII US Politics, and American Influence Overseas: Two Perspectives, Direct and Policy.

There were two roundtable events, the TSU Senior Projects and the MTSU Recent Projects in Public History. Additionally, there was a panel session of the Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society.

Group discussions followed panel presentations

Opening with a 7:30 AM registration start time, the Morgan Center was abuzz with presenters and attendees picking up credentials and sampling the breakfast buffet tables set out on the third floor. Their energy and buzz belied the quiet of the rest of the building during the early Saturday morning calm. The early morning session panels covered the subject areas of Women’s History, Rome and Byzantine, Indian Warfare and Removal, Religion and Race, Gender in the South, and the Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society panel.

Ben Malone and Tyler Moore, presenters from Midlle Tenn. State University

Individual presentations included “Workin’ Woman: Women’s Roles During the 1920’s and the Great Depression,” “Eleanor Roosevelt” Reluctant First Lady to Reformer;” “Development of Provincial Rights in the Roman Republic,” “The Spanish Influence on Creek-Cumberland Warfare,” “The Cherokee War,” “America’s Most Hypocritical Hour;” “Religious Themes in the Pro-Slavery Argument,” “A Refusal to Reform: Georgia Baptists and Integration,” “Privilege Yields Responsibility;” “Gender Roles in the Production of Food in the Antebellum South,” “The Peaceful Desegregation and Integration of the University of Tennessee at Martin;” “Thomas Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates: The United States First Encounter with Terrorism;” “Recipe for Perfect Foreign Language Acquisition,” “The Grammar Foundation: Where Does It Lead Us?”

As we are not yet capable of self-cloning-on-demand, this writer was not able to sit in on every panel group. However, a short summary of a few of the panel presentations visited hopefully with provide readers with a sense of the level of research and discussion which accompanied the day’s activities.

10:20 a.m.: Attending Session II Panel 13: Issues of Religion through the Ages presentations.

Gregory Bearringer, David Lipscomb University, third from left, responds to a question from a fellow Panel 13 presenter

Currently attending Monasticism, Matthew Paris and the Historical Tradition Traditions of  St. Albans by Gregory Bearringer of Lipscomb University:

Bearringer details the development of the monastic life and the personality of monks, their impact on French education and religious dogma in French upper society. Paris is denoted as having a disdain for the French, even its nobility, reflecting his English origin and relation with Henry III, despite his being dependent upon that same nobility for its gracious giving to the monastery for its survival and continuation.

Body, Soul and Spirit: Origen and Biblical Interpretation in the Third Century by Ben Malone, MTSU:

Ben Malone, MTSU, talks about "Body, Soul, and Spirit: Origen and Biblical Interpretation in the 3rd Century"

Origen was born in Alexandria, a metropolitan center of education, religious diversity as Christianity, Judaism and Muslim centers were located there. He undertook a detailed study of the Bible, writing about several books of the Bible. Origen was Christian in his beliefs, devotion and practice of religious faith, notwithstanding his conflicts with the hierarchy of the Early Christian Church. Malone further explains that  Origen was essential to the development and understanding of the  use of allegorical interpretation of biblical passages. He was the first Christian writer to utilize the allegorical interpretation of the Bible, a practice which was already in wide use in studies of Judaism and Islamic texts.

“Self, Soul, and Support: English Women Writers on Religion and Women’s Education 1670-1710″ by Tammy Prater, University of Memphis:

Tammy Prater, Univ. of Memphis, gives her presentation before Panel 13 attendees

Education of women was not a widely supported construct of 17th century English society. Women were only expected to be pious, chaste and mothers and good  housekeepers. Education, when it was  bestowed upon women, was directed at their being able to read the Bible but not how to write nor other elements of full education. “Custom is the tyrant behind all  ignorance and deprivations of women.

Comments: Keith Bates, Union University, Moderator.

Dr. Keith Bates, Univ. of Memphis, comments of the Panel 13 presentations

The presentation questions the role of women in 17th Century England and society. Women were seen as property more so than an equal part of society, the male dominance being the prevailing view of the times. Exposes the fallacies of the view of women as inferior and subordinate to men. An educated women is actually a better helpmate to her husband.

Origen saw himself as a more elitist Christian, regarding the average churchgoer as not being sufficiently devoted to the Church. He despised people coming to Church to socialize and be seen, rather than gain any further insight into their duties and responsibilities to God and the Church. He felt this was the prevailing reason for too many churchgoers of his day, especially the merchant class and noblemen. He was seen as a heretic and even persecuted by the Church. His allegorical interpretation of biblical text was not widely accepted during his lifetime.

Dr. Stephen D. Carls, Natl Advisory Bd, PAT, Union University, expresses appreciation

At the conclusion of this session, the conference moved to the mid-day luncheon in the Ballroom. Dr. Minoa Uffelman, APSU History and Philosophy Department, coordinated the conference preparations, acknowledged the invaluable assistance of her support staff. Dr. Tim Hall,President of APSU, gave welcome remarks to the conference attendees and presenters alike. Phi Alpha Theta National Advisory Board  spokesman, Dr. Stephen D. Carls of Union University, acknowledged the Honor Society’s appreciation to the Theta Delta Chapter and APSU for hosting the 2009 Regional Conference. He noted updates to the society’s website, benefits to society membership, including its newsletter and a myriad of gifts, clothing and souvenirs, along with the ability to replace certificates, all this and more information he ensured everyone understood several times over is  available at <wwwphialphatheta.org>.

Dr. Nelson announced the Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference Writers Awards winning papers as follows:

Dr. Nelson stands with the PAT '09 Regional Conference Writers Awards winners

I. Undergraduate Papers: Early America (Tie)- Michael Ramsey, “A Numerous and Unexpected Enemy,” Austin Peay State University, and Eric Turner, “Small Boat Operations in Long Island Sound, 1775-1779,” Austin Peay State University; 20th Century America (Tie)-  Hannah Holliday, “A Refusal of Reform: Georgia Baptists and Integration,” Union University, and William Conner, “To Hell with Habeas Corpus: The Government, The Press, and Japanese Interment,” University of Tennessee, Chattanooga; Non-US History: Jesse Tumblin, “The Conscription Crisis in County Meath, 1918: A Catalyst for Radicalization in Ireland’s Revolutionary Process,” University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

II. Graduate Student Papers: (Tie) – Ron Martz, “Deconstructing de-Ba’athification: How Ignoring Lessons Learned from de-Nazification of Germany and the Governance of Japan after World War II Ignited the Iraqi Insurgency,” Austin Peay State University; and Gabriel Fidler, “Football and the Public Sphere in Nineteenth-Century England,” University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

[Show as slideshow]

It officially starts March 8th. So, on Saturday night, before you retire for the night, remember to set all your clocks ahead one hour. Check your computer’s clock setting so that it will automatically reset itself. Cellphones should reset automatically on cue from their service provider’s signal. VCR’s connected to cable services should also be reset automatically by the cable service provider. Coffemakers, microwave ovens, etc. will require manual resets. Have fun.

Doesn’t seem fair, now does it? Well, here it is again. Don’t forget. Saturday nite, before going beddy-bye, advance your clocks one hour. “Oh, the humanity!!”

Perhaps they claim to be able to help you file for Stimulus Plan grant money if you pay a fee of just $1.99, or $12.00 or some such low-ball figure. Even $25.00 for the opportunity to get $50,000 doesn’t sound like a bad bargain. Or maybe you’ve seen ads on the web that claim to be able to get your share of Stimulus Plan money or grants or no-pay-back loans. All this money is available from the Stimulus Plan to help restart the American economy, or so they claim. But wait, not so fast there, Slim! There’s more to the story here.

From the Federal Trade Commission:

The FTC is warning consumers that they could get stung by an economic stimulus scam.  The scams come in different forms.

Right now, on the Web and in e-mail, scammers are telling consumers they can help them qualify for a payment from President Obama’s economic stimulus package.  All they have to do is provide a little information or a small payment.

E-mail messages may ask for bank account information so that the operators can deposit consumers’ share of the stimulus directly into their bank account.  Instead, the scammers drain consumers’ accounts of money and disappear.  Or bogus e-mail may appear to be from government agencies and ask for information to “verify” that you qualify for a payment.  The scammers use that information to commit identity theft.  Some e-mail scams don’t ask for information, but provide links to find out how to qualify for funds.  By clicking on the links, consumers have downloaded malicious software or spyware that can be used to make them a victim of identity theft.

“Web sites may advertise that they can help you get money from the stimulus fund.  Many use deceptive names or images of  President Obama and Vice President Biden to suggest they are legitimate.  They’re not,” says Eileen Harrington, Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.  “Don’t fall for it.  If you do, you’ll get scammed.”

Some sites suggest that for a small sum of money – as little as $1.99 in some cases – consumers can get a list of economic stimulus grants they can apply for.  But two things can happen: the number of the credit card the consumer uses to pay the fee can fall into the hands of scam artists, or the $1.99 can be the down payment on a “negative option” agreement that may cost hundreds or thousands of dollars if the consumer does not cancel.

“Consumers who may already have fallen for these scams should carefully check their credit card bills for unauthorized charges and report the scam to the FTC,” Harrington said.

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,500 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s Web site provides free information on a variety of consumer topics.

Since last year Bridgestone has been promoting the campaign globally with Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile. This season, the company will supply to all Formula One Grand Prix events two types of dry tire with different compounds (rubber hardness) and two types of wet tire with different tread depths. In order to differentiate the tires within the two categories of tire, the softer dry tire and the heavy-rain-use (extreme wet weather) tire will be indicated in green lines.

I cannot remember a time when school districts across the nation were not cutting back on their arts curricula, because shrinking school budgets and increasing focus on standardized testing were forcing them to focus only on “core subjects.”

Lately I have been thinking that these phenomena are related by more than just money and America’s bizarre lack of focus on school funding. With the stimulus bill now signed into law and the mathematics education in America promising to bring our schools into the twenty-first century, this has been on my mind lately.

We tend to view students in two very broad categories: “artistic” kids and “intellectual” kids. This is a crass generalization, but it’s true. Society, by and large, expects people to be one or the other. Rarely both.

Which is to say that there is not an expectation that an artistic kid will be any good at math, science, or engineering. Nor is there any expectation that intellectual kids should have any interest in or aptitude for art.

Frankly, I think that’s crap. I think that every kid has a creative side regardless of their skills in the sciences. And I think that every kid has an analytic side, regardless of their skills in the arts.

And I know, because I’ve lived it myself, that math and art can reinforce one another. Math can be used to teach art and strengthen one’s creative side. The desire to make art can be used as a springboard from which to teach math.

I suspect that my school experience as regards math and art was pretty typical. We didn’t have any art classes after about the fourth grade. And math class was, well, dull. The typical kid argument, “I don’t see how I’m ever going to need this in my life,” resonated with me just as strongly as anyone else.

This was back in the Dark Ages, when I had the free time of a high school student and my computer’s speed was measured in kilohertz rather than gigahertz (think about that for a second).

But after school, the situation was entirely different. I was a latch-key kid, so when I would come home at the end of the school day the choice was mine for how to spend my time. I could watch daytime TV, or play around on my computer. I don’t know about you, but there were only so many Magnum, P.I. reruns I could take.

For fun, I did a lot of messing around with plotting math formulas.

Sounds geeky, but there wasn’t much else you could fit into the computer in those days. I plotted all kinds of functions, just to see how they behaved and what cool patterns I could put onto the screen.

In algebra class, we learned that irrational numbers were the square roots of negative numbers. We learned that recursion was primarily a trick for generating Fibonnacci numbers. Ooh, yippee. I couldn’t have cared less. But when the great fractal craze of the late ’80s and early ’90s hit, it led me back to irrational numbers and recursion as a means to draw cool stuff on the screen.

In trigonometry, they drilled into us the definition of sines, cosines, and tangents as the ratios of the sides of right triangles. Drier than the Sahara, that. But at home, trigonometry functions became endlessly fertile ground for creating swirly patterns ranging from spirographs to models of planetary motion.

In pre-calculus, we learned about derivatives as the slopes of mathematical formulas, and how to relate the slope of a curve to the direction perpendicular to that, it’s “normal” direction. You have no idea how full the margins of my notebooks were with aimless doodles during those lectures.

But when the concept of ray tracing hit the scene, suddenly derivatives, slopes, and surface normals were good for something – they are indispensable in realistic ray tracing.

Every one of those subjects was dull as dirt in the classroom, but interesting at home. And the visual results of each were beautiful in their own ways, even rendered in the shockingly crude graphics of the day.

It was all math in service of pretty pictures.

I learned more trig, algebra, and even calculus from my trusty old Radio Shack “trash-80″ computer than I ever did from a classroom.

In hindsight, the reasons are obvious. Because it was fun. Because it was undirected, free exploration without rules or boundaries. Because it engaged both the creative and the intellectual sides of my brain at the same time.

I learned the math because I needed to learn it to solve problems that were exciting to me, for my own reasons, and on my own terms.

My experience was certainly atypical for that era. At the time, few people had computers at all, let alone ones with any graphics capabilities. I was lucky. But today that’s just not true.

Today, computers that would kick the transistors out of my clunky old TRS-80 are increasingly ubiquitous in schools. Today, there is a wealth of free software available that serves this particular intersection of math and art, Processing being my latest favorite new toy in that respect.

The march of technology has made it possible now to replicate in the classroom the experience I had from playing around with my computer in high school.

And to do it for cheap.

So while we’re busy spending some of that stimulus money – and hopefully a lot more to come in the near future – to rebuild aging school buildings, let’s not lose sight of the fact that we need innovative, 21st century curricula and teaching methods as much as we need those 21st century school.

My own experience tells me that we could do a lot worse than to start with some type of integrated math-and-art program. We have the computers. The software is free. We just have to do it.

For me, this has been a life-long process. The joy and satisfaction of using math to make art has never left me. These days, it’s easier than ever to indulge. Wikipedia is an awesome resource for re-learning concepts and formulas that I was exposed to in school but which never had any appeal until I find that I need them in order to play around with one creative idea or another.

The image I used above to illustrate this post is the result of just such an exploration, this time into matrix math and least-squares estimation.

Not because I wanted to geek out over the math, but because the math is a tool to answer the creative question “what do you get if you draw lots of short, random little lines over the interesting features of an image, and color the lines the same as the underlying image?”

And yeah, they supposedly taught me matrices and least-squares in the U.W. College of Engineering. But it wasn’t any fun back then.

If we can use modern tools to give every kid the chance to discover the joy in math, and thereby give them a life-long zeal for learning, we will be miles – no, make that kilometers – farther along in our goal to raise our kids’ education up to the levels they’ll need to compete in today’s global economy.

About Jason Black

A staff member at Northwest Progressive Institute, a strategy center fighting to restore the American promise.

Even as the inauguration of President Barack Obama got underway in Washington D.C. today, the new White House website, www.whitehouse.gov, was up and running.

It’s an impressive site, building on and expanding the technology and communication systems that tech-savvy Obama used in his presidential campaign. It went live at noon, January 20.

On first click, the headline reads “Change has come to America.” On three subsequent pages, we read: “Revitalizing the Economy,” “Welcome to the new whitehouse.gov,” and “A New Era of Public Service.”

Dynamic is the best way to describe www.whitehouse.gov, which will, in coming weeks, feature a weekly video address (every Saturday) by President Obama. The site includes “briefing room” of slide shows, a White House blog, proclamations, executive orders, and general news (appointments, nominations). Users will also be able to subscribe to e-mail updates. Visitors can e-mail President Obama and his staff with a character limit set at 500.

Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House, posted the first blog on the site, an announcement that said:

“Millions of Americans have powered President Obama’s journey to the White House, many taking advantage of the internet to play a role in shaping our country’s future. WhiteHouse.gov is just the beginning of the new administration’s efforts to expand and deepen this online engagement.”

Phillips said the site has three priorities: communication, transparency and participation. Each section has a specific function.

Communication: Timely and in-depth content. This is where viewers will find the  “briefing room,” the blog/RSS feed, learn of major decisions and announcements, and sign up for e-mail updates. Topics include the economy, national security and more.

Transparency: President Obama’s  executive orders and proclamations will be published for everyone to review.  Also on tap here: presidential agendas and policy priorities.  Phillips calls this area “a window into government.”

Participation: Citizen participation will be a priority for the Administration, and the internet will play an important role in that. This section will include all non-emergency legislation to be published for five days, allowing for public review and comment prior to a presidential signature.

Dynamic is the best way to describe www.whitehouse.gov, which will in coming weeks feature a weekly video address (every Saturday) by President Obama. The site includes “briefing room” of slide shows, a White House blog, proclamations, executive orders, and general news (appointments, nominations). Users will also be able to subscribe to e-mail updates. Visitors can e-mail President Obama and his staff with a character limit set at 500.

Phillips wrote:

“Millions of Americans have powered President Obama’s journey to the White House, many taking advantage of the Internet to play a role in shaping our country’s future. WhiteHouse.gov is just the beginning of the new administration’s efforts to expand and deepen this online engagement.”

In our initial view of the site, we found detailed information on all the key issues concerning Americans, from foreign policy and the military to family, women’s health, education, ethics, economy, civil rights, technology, immigration and more. With each topic clicked, a concise summary states the issue and policy directions to address each issue.

Another section defines the administration, with a who’s who of biographical information on all the key players.   Another section covers the history of the White House, Camp David, Air Force One, and even White House and legislative internships.

The initial offerings are tantalizing, and given the track record of cyber-communication to date by candidate-now-President Obama, it’s a certainty that this 21st century website will just keep getting better. There’s even a section for citizen input as to what they would like to see on the site.

Check it out. www.whitehouse.gov.  It’s well worth your time.

Local airfield serves up multitude of aviation and aerial activity. Private flights, flight training and skydiving bring diverse family clientele to an unsung city and county resource.

Outlaw Field. Do you know where it is? Do you know what goes on out there? Chances are, most Clarksvillians don’t know much about the beehive that is Outlaw Field.

Brooks Louie, 13, is ready for his second flight. He is already a member fo the Civil Air Patrol.

The local aviation facility serves as the basis for a myriad of aviation activity. Private pilots house their private planes and jets there. But there is much more than that going on at this unassuming little facility.

Interested in learning to fly, getting your pilot’s license? Outlaw Field has provisions to assist the budding pilot. Youngsters wishing to investigate and pursue flight instruction can join the CAP (Civilian Air Patrol).

People as young as 13 can sign up and learn about aviation, flight training and public service. Brooks Louie at 13 is taking flight lesson #2, and already has a dream of aviation and future study at the United States Air Force Academy.

Family participation high on your list? Outlaw Field’s got options for you. The adventurous and the thrill-seeker will find their satisfaction at Adventure Skydiving Experience.

Learn and train to skydive and then fulfill your dreams as you actually board the plane and finally step out into the wide blue skies, soaring like an eagle! You may actually soar with one if you’re lucky!

Additionally, you can try tandem jumps, where non-experienced skydivers are anchored to a professional skydiver, enabling them to experience the thrill of the biggest rush you can have, legally! They make great birthday and anniversary gifts.

Indeed, this writer witnessed a middle-aged mother suiting up for her birthday gift tandem jump while visiting the airfield. I watched her land and saw firsthand the thrilled look on her face as she came back into the terminal. She was jubilant and enthused. Her grandchildren were excited to see their grandmother flying “just like daddy!”

Families do get involved in this sport, young and old, male and female, able-bodied or not so able-bodied. It’s incredible to see the enthusiasm evidenced by those participating in this sport. On these action packed weekends, it is not unusual to see children scrambling around the the terminal and on the tarps spread out on the lawn where jumpers (their moms and dads) untangle and re-pack their silks.

Giving back to the community is also something that happens at Outlaw Field. On the weekend I first visited, the ‘Thank You Foundation’ had hosted courtesy tandem jumps for wounded veterans. While I didn’t arrive in time to view the spectacle, the camaraderie that hung in the air was fully palpable even after the jumps were concluded.

Volunteers came to pack chutes, aid the wounded soldiers and veterans in suiting up and making sure the experience was nothing but pure pleasure for their fellow brothers. Active duty, retired and civilians all teamed up to make the day a true gift to these wonderful people. Terry Morgan coordinated the tandem jump event.

Naturally with all this activity under one roof, hunger must be satisfied. Again, Outlaw Field answers the call. The airport cafe is a full service eatery of taste tempting traditional American fare. Whether it be breakfast — don’t miss the opportunity to try the hash browns casserole! — to the lunch specials, this cafe serves it hot, plentiful and good. The First Class Burger and Fries will satisfy the most ardent appetite. The iced tea hits the thirst spot with complete satisfaction.

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to pilot a plane or jump out of one, Outlaw Field is your natural destination. Satisfy your curiosity and gain a new perspective on your world. Discover Outlaw Field and discover the world of the skies.

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[Uncredited photo by Turner McCullough Jr.]

Those who warned of the civil liberties issues with these cameras were 100% correct that they could be used to track and database the movement and associations of law abiding citizens. Why is this dangerous? Let’s say one day the government does something that you don’t like. Then, lawfully exercising your right to free speech and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievance, you protest it. Suddenly you have popped up on the government’s radar screen. The government can then check the voluminous records they have already started keeping on Americans, such as travel and flight records.

The government can go back and go through your call logs, Internet traffic, movement logs, and other electronic traces with a fine tooth comb looking for things that woud allow them to harrass or intimidate you.

There are millions of laws on the books, many of them complex and hard for the average person to understand and follow. How many of these laws are you aware of? How many of them have you inadvertently broken? How many others exist that you don’t even know about!

Tracking movements and associations is especially useful when turning the power of  government against it’s citizens.

In order for cyberspace to be policed, Internet activity will have to be closely monitored. Ed Giorgio, who is working with ( Michael “Top Spy”) McConnell on the plan, said that would mean giving the government the authority to examine the content of any e-mail, file transfer, or Web search. “Google has records that could help in a cyber-investigation,” he said. Giorgio warned me, “We have a saying in this business: ‘Privacy and security are a zero-sum game.’” – Wired Magazine: NSA Must Examine All Internet Traffic to Prevent Cyber Nine-Eleven, Top Spy Says

For example, after checking on your life, they may find out that your best friend is a member of several environmental groups, one of them suspected of links to environmental terrorism. You or someone you know were in close proximity to a drug dealer, or that mafia guy, or while at the local convenience store you spoke with a guy who recently got busted for breaking into homes.

Even though you are a law abiding citizen, can you be sure that every single person you ever have come in contact with is, or was, as well? That is the true danger of this: guilt by association or proximity.

It is time for the Clarksville City Council to rescind their red-light camera program and not install these spy cameras in our community.

Vendors plan to add spy technology to existing red light camera and speed camera installations.

Private companies in the US are hoping to use red light cameras and speed cameras as the basis for a nationwide surveillance network similar to one that will be active next year in the UK. Redflex and American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the top two photo enforcement providers in the US, are quietly shopping new motorist tracking options to prospective state and local government clients. Redflex explained the company’s latest developments in an August 7 meeting with Homestead, Florida officials.

“We are moving into areas such as homeland security on a national level and on a local level,” Redflex regional director Cherif Elsadek said. “Optical character recognition is our next roll out which will be coming out in a few months — probably about five months or so.”

The technology would be integrated with the Australian company’s existing red light camera and speed camera systems. It allows officials to keep full video records of passing motorists and their passengers, limited only by available hard drive space and the types of cameras installed. To gain public acceptance, the surveillance program is being initially sold as an aid for police looking to solve Amber Alert cases and locate stolen cars.

“Imagine if you had 1500 or 2000 cameras out there that could look out for the partial plate or full plate number across the 21 states where we do business today,” Elsadek said. “This is the next step for our technology.”

ATS likewise is promoting motorist tracking technologies. In a recent proposal to operate 200 speed cameras for the Arizona state police, the company explained that its ticketing cameras could be integrated into a national vehicle tracking database. This would allow a police officer to simply enter a license plate number into a laptop computer and receive an email as soon as a speed camera anywhere in the state recognized that plate.

Such programs would be fully consistent with existing law on searches and seizures. In the 2003 case Washington v. William Bradley Jackson, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that police could not use a physical GPS tracking device to monitor a suspect’s movements without first obtaining a warrant. No warrant would be needed or restrictions applied to license plate tracking systems which do not require any physical contact. Instead, individual police officers could monitor the movements of suspected criminals or even their wives and neighbors at any time.

In the past, police databases have been used to intimidate innocent motorists. An Edmonton, Canada police sergeant, for example, found himself outraged after he read columnist Kerry Diotte criticize his city’s photo radar operation in the Edmonton Sun newspaper. The sergeant looked up Diotte’s personal information, and, without the assistance of electronic scanners, ordered his subordinates to “be on the lookout” for Diotte’s BMW. Eventually a team of officers followed Diotte to a local bar where they hoped to trap the journalist and accuse him of driving under the influence of alcohol. Diotte took a cab home and the officers’ plan was exposed after tapes of radio traffic were leaked to the press. Police later cleared themselves of any serious wrong-doing following an extensive investigation.

In the UK, officials are planning to dramatically expand the use of average speed cameras that track cars over distances as great as six miles. Records on all vehicle movements taken from a nationwide network of cameras will be stored for five years in a central government Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) server, allowing police to keep tabs on criminals and political opponents. Work on the data center in north London began in 2005 and officials expect real-time, nationwide tracking capability to be available by January.

Source: The Newspaper, Photo Ticket Cameras to Track Drivers Nationwide

About The Newspaper

The Newspaper is a journal covering motoring issues around the world from a political perspective.