CAROLINA NATURALLY

Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
Your baloney detector will come in very handy early today -- there are some people who are pushing their own agendas a little too hard.
They're saying whatever it takes to get where they want to be, and there is little (if any) substance behind them.
You'll be able to spot them a mile away and adjust your trajectory accordingly.
As the day continues, you'll be back in your element again -- feeling comfortable in you own skin and eager to make real connections with people.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
London, England, United Kingdom
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Sheffield, England, United Kingdom
Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Bilbao, Pais Vasco, Spain
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Manila, Manila, Philippines
Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Kamen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Newcastle, Wales, United Kingdom
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosi, Mexico

as well as Malta, Bulgaria, Israel, Finland, Austria, Norway, Georgia, Mexico, Peru, Kuwait, Serbia, Bangladesh, Latvia, Greece, Scotland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Wales, Iran, Singapore, Poland, Taiwan, Sweden, Afghanistan, Belgium, Tibet, Croatia, Pakistan, Romania, Paraguay, Sudan, Vietnam, Argentina, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Maldives, Qatar, Brazil, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Slovenia, China, Iraq, Ecuador, Nigeria, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Paupa New Guinea, Moldova, Venezuela, Germany, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Czech Republic, Vietnam, Norway, Finland and in cities across the United States such as Vesper, Jasper, Menlo Park, Kailua and more.

Today is:

Today is Thursday, January 27, the 27th day of 2011.

There are 338 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

Thomas Crapper Day.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Aren't you so tired of doing this ...

http://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/1f4380f047a22bd6e6f59c8958140df9b661661e_m.gif

... we know we are.

The United States of Awesome

Remember the United States of Shame, where each state was labeled with the statistic it was worst in?

Ilya Gerner figured that there should be a statistic that each state is best in, and made a map accordingly.

It's great to be from North Carolina - the state with the best value in a University.

Link to map.

Link to explanation.

Random Celebrity Photo

Jayne Mansfield

Awesome Pictures

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Violent protests rock Egypt

Egypt on edge as protests grip Cairo

The violent demonstrations are an unprecedented challenge to the country's powerful ruler.

'Day of Wrath'

Also:

Standoff footage sweeps Web

Dramatic video captures Egypt's unrest

Footage of a protester's standoff adds to a wave of impassioned social-media posts.

Bloggers defy restrictions

Also:

Remember this Nursery Rhyme ...

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Bad Cops

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Massachusetts cop is arrested for stealing marijuana from police evidence room

Retired New Jersey police officer gets 3-year prison term for fatal hit-and-run

Curiously un-named Texas cop is arrested for videotaped pepper spraying of teen in jail

Tennessee police officer arrested for domestic assault

Texas police officer arrested on aggravated sexual assault charge has past complaints

Mississippi cop who was arrested last week on a misdemeanor assault charge is hit with second round of charges including two felonies

Mayoral hopeful Leland Yee gets racist death threats

Dimbulb's mindless drones strike again.

Mayoral candidate and state Sen. Leland Yee said racist death threats were faxed to his San Francisco and Sacramento offices.

Full Story

Health care's Civil War link

Health care fight hearkens to Civil War era

Nullification, which set the stage for secession, is getting more attention from the law's opponents.

Past uses

Also:

Non Sequitur

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Kismet

Zuckerberg's Facebook page hacked just as Facebook announces new security measures

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apparently saw his Facebook page hacked on Wednesday.
The page was taken down, but earlier on Wednesday had a rambling note which attracted a lot of likes and comments.

Full Story

Sounds Like Somebody's Lining Their Pockets

Canada regulator OKs metered Internet billing

Smaller Canadian Internet service providers, who operate via networks owned by bigger telecom firms such as BCE Inc, will soon have to pass along the bulk of their host's charges for extra bandwidth use, the federal telecom regulator said on Tuesday.

The move limits the independent ISPs' ability to offer unlimited data plans, just months after Netflix (NFLX.O) opened for business in Canada, and gives greater pricing power to large carriers such as BCE's (BCE.TO) Bell unit and Telus (T.TO).

The new usage-based billing policy takes effect March 31. However, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) gave the smaller ISPs a 15 percent discount on the retail rates cable and telecom carriers charge their own customers, citing a balance between fostering competition and the incumbents' right to manage traffic on their networks.

"It a very big slap in the face," said Rocky Gaudrault, the chief executive of small ISP TekSavvy.

"We've just become a collection agency for the monopolies, with a 15 percent space to make the collections occur."

Bell, which forced the issue back in 2009, said the explosive growth in Internet traffic and the load it puts on networks -- thanks in part to video download services such as Netflix and Apple's iTunes (AAPL.O) -- mean flat-rate pricing was no longer viable.

Big Internet providers in Canada, which also include cable and media company Rogers Communications (RCIb.TO), have for some years charged their customers per-gigabyte fees for exceeding the limit of their monthly plans, which range from as little as 2 gigabytes up to 100.

The smaller ISPs often offer plans with 200 gigabyte ceilings, or even unlimited use.

Prior to the CRTC's decision the big telecom incumbents, who are mandated to lease their networks to small providers, were unable to pass along usage-based charges to their wholesale customers.

Pricing data submitted to the CRTC in 2009 showed that companies such as TekSavvy offer much cheaper service than Bell and Telus, with much more bandwidth.

"We're about to have a retail pricing regime implementing on our wholesale product," said Bill Sandiford, president of Telnet Communications and chairman of the Canadian Network Operators Consortium, which represents 23 independent ISPs.

Sandiford said CNOC was considered its legal options in light of the decision.

The CRTC ruling gives a solid framework to earlier decisions approving wholesale usage-based billing for Bell units in May and October last year.

In August, the CRTC said the big established companies must provide wholesale access to competitors using their networks at the same speed as they offer to their own customers but could charge a 10 percent mark-up. [ID:nN30191728] (Reporting by Alastair Sharp; editing by Rob Wilson)

MasterCard’s Support for Internet Censorship & Copyright Bill Threatens A Free And Open Internet

In the last months of 2010, the WikiLeaks wars reminded transparency activists of something copyright and trademark lawyers know all too well – online speech is only as strong as the many service providers on which it depends. All too often web hosts, domain name registrars and other service providers cave at the slightest legal or government pressure, with disastrous consequences for their users.

We had hoped that credit card and other financial services would resist efforts to pressure them to stop processing payments to controversial websites. So we were dismayed to hear that not only does MasterCard support the passage of the Internet Censorship and Copyright Bill ("COICA"), but that it also appears to be signaling a willingness to voluntarily stop processing payments made to sites that allegedly offer “pirated” or other copyrighted content.

Keep in mind that courts have ruled that credit card companies do not face liability for potentially infringing activities on site for which they merely process payments.

Of course, if COICA becomes law, the Justice Department would have the power to order MasterCard to stop processing payments to certain sites.

That's one reason we are worried about the effects of COICA: it offers a new process for shutting down websites deemed “bad sites” without appropriate safeguards to prevent the takedown of noninfringing content, including political and other speech. In effect, it enlists service providers as censors, necessarily hampering Internet commerce and innovation.

Any decision by Mastercard to stop processing payment voluntarily would be even more troubling. As the New York Times recently wrote in an editorial:

[A] bank’s ability to block payments to a legal entity raises a troubling prospect. A handful of big banks could potentially bar any organization they disliked from the payments system, essentially cutting them off from the world economy.

For example, MasterCard might decide to stop processing payments to popular hosting sites such as RapidShare, even though at least one court has ruled that RapidShare likely is not guilty of infringement. Given the importance of a consistent revenue streams to emerging companies, blocking payments might effectively mean putting them out of business.

The Internet only remains open, accessible and vibrant when the entire chain of providers operates together: financial transaction providers, service providers, hosting providers, content providers, and all of the other companies that keep sites online and accessible. We encourage MasterCard – along with all others who help provide availability and access on the Internet – to reverse course and choose to promote a thriving Internet by refusing to serve as private censors and standing up against COICA.

Mom jailed for school fraud

Mom jailed for sneaking kids into a school

Kelley Williams-Bolar lied about her address so her girls could get a better education.

Sentence sparks debate

Also:

Google to hire thousands

Could be Paul "We're Number 2!" Ryan was wrong last night about America being a country in decline.

Man claims failure to 'urinate on demand' cost him his job

A former North Branford public works employee is suing the town for terminating his job after he was unable to take drug tests due to a medical condition that prevents him from being able to “urinate on demand.” Daniel Pond, who was a Public Works highway employee from 2002 until he was fired in 2009, filed the suit this month in New Haven Superior Court. He has another pending case against the town concerning a union grievance he filed in 2009 for being fired, and though decisions have been made in his favor by the state’s Department of Labor Board of Mediation and Arbitration, the town has appealed them twice, with the latest appeal being made this month.

The suit Pond filed this month says that Pond has never had “any sort of problem” with alcohol or drugs and that his medical issues came into play in February 2008 when he was required to take a drug test by urinating into a container. Court documents concerning his union grievance state that Pond was ordered to take the drug test in order to return to work after being out on worker’s compensation. He asked instead for a blood test because of his “medical disability” and informed the town of the issue, but his request was refused, the lawsuit says.

“The plaintiff suffers, and at all relevant times suffered, from documented medical disabilities, of which the defendant was fully aware, which make it virtually impossible for him to urinate on demand and severely limit his ability to urinate under any circumstances,” the suit reads. Despite drinking “very large quantities of fluids,” Pond was still unable to take the urine test, according to the suit. Because he couldn’t take the test, Pond was required to participate in a drug treatment program. In May 2009, Pond was again told to take a drug test by urinating into a container. After explaining his disability and asking instead for a blood test, his request was denied.

Pond then left the waiting room area to phone his wife to tell her about the situation. Court documents relating to Pond’s grievance say that if a person leaves the waiting area of a drug testing facility before taking a test, the facility is to cite the person for failing. In June 2009, Pond attended a pre-termination hearing where he was told that his second failure in May to take a drug test was considered a second violation of the town’s drug-free policy. Pond was fired days later. “The defendant terminated the plaintiff’s employment because of his alleged ‘failures’ of drug tests which in fact were solely because of his disability and the defendant’s refusal to accommodate same,” the lawsuit says. Pond is asking for a remedy of at least $15,000.