Dowbrigade

Note to Subway Riders: Watch Out for Those iPods

The iPod people seem to be everywhere these days, listening to Bach or 50 Cent,
but nowhere do they appear more visible and at peace than on the subways. The
train rocks on the tracks, the brakes screech, the motorman says something
unintelligible, but the iPod users are in their own zone, protected by a personal
soundtrack.

Criminals have noticed: New York City police officials said today that an increase
in subway crime this year is driven almost entirely by a dramatic rise in robberies
and thefts of cell phones and iPods, two totems of modern urban life.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority followed by announcing a series of
safety advertisements that may alter the habits of iPod users, perhaps leaving
them no choice but to experience the sounds of the subway along with everyone
else.

Just as officials warned riders to beware of chain snatchers and pickpockets
in the high-crime era of the 1980′s, so are they now suggesting that iPod users
keep themselves from standing out. "Earphones are a giveaway," one
of the new announcements states. "Protect your device."

What about all those subway ads for iPods? Have they produced an iPod theft zone where
you can’t use your iPod at all? And those stylish earphones as a dead
giveaway? Personally, we are convinced that the next great leap in portable
music technology and the first big step towards Cyborgs in Cyberspace will
be surgically implanted inside-the-ear-buds, which can be connected, wirelessly,
of course, to your phone, the internet, or your music player.  Coming
soon to a clinic near you….

from the New York Times

As
an alternative to the WAG list of Boston
area Wi-fi hotspots, the Dowbrigae
has recently been consulting an interesting site called WiFiMaps.com.

This site is the real deal, it mantains a constantly updated database
of hotspots as reported by "War Drivers", who are either the Apache
Scouts of the Wireless Revolutionary Army, or a bunch of geeks with way
too much time on their hands, riding around in cars with notebooks and
wifi scanners.

Any way, here is the link if you wnat to check out YOUR neighborhood….

WiFiMaps.com
– Wardriving Maps and Hotspot Locator

This is a web-based interactive map of wardriving data. Wardrivers
upload their findings, and we draw the data atop detailed street-level
maps. This project
was built using a variety of free or open source software packages.
Be alert that you are anonymous. Click here to create a user account,
or Login. Your
uploads will be credited to Anonymous.

from WiFiMaps.com

The red-hot rhetoric over Social Security on liberal
talkradio network AIR AMERICA has caught the attention of the Secret
Service, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

Government officials are reviewing a skit which aired on the network Monday evening
– a skit featuring an apparent gunshot warning to the president!

The announcer: "A spoiled child is telling us our Social Security isn’t
safe anymore, so he is going to fix it for us. Well, here’s your answer, you
ungrateful whelp: [audio sound of 4 gunshots being fired.] Just try it, you little
bastard. [audio of gun being cocked]."

The audio production at the center of the controversy aired during opening minutes
of The Randi Rhodes Show.

"What is with all the killing?" Rhodes said, laughing, after the clip
aired.

"Even joking about shooting the president is a crime, let alone doing it
on national radio… we are taking this very seriously," a government source
explained.

Testing the limits of freedom of speech? How does that compare with libertarian wombat Jay Severin laughing and advocating nuking several third world countries? The humorlessness of the current administration is enough to make the editor of a humor blog nervous….

from the Drudge Report

mp3
clip of the offending skit (may come down soon)

The
tsunami that devastated south Asia coastlines and killed more than 200,000
people last December is a powerful reminder of just how dangerous those
waves can be to humans.

Such reminders have been delivered periodically, sometimes several decades apart,
during the last half-century. But the lessons have been largely ignored or forgotten
by most people who didn’t suffer direct consequences, said Jody Bourgeois, a
University of Washington Earth and space sciences professor who studies historic
and pre-historic tsunamis.

Bourgeois this week will urge fellow scientists to find ways to use the current
heightened awareness of tsunamis as a means for broad public education about
tsunami dangers and prudent safeguards. Such education should be conducted matter-of-factly,
without playing on the fears engendered by December’s events, she said.

from a University of Washington press release

Dancing eunuchs, over 300 invitees and a marriage procession
befitting a king! It was the perfect nuptial for Shamsher and Diana,
a canine couple from Jaipur who tied the knot in a traditional Hindu
ceremony.

The groom, owned by a wealthy dog lover, was escorted to the marriage venue
with a band of self-styled musicians and dozens of friends, family and
of course dogs.

The marriage lawns were bedecked with flowers, particularly Jasmines -
the bride’s favourite — and policemen had been deployed to keep at bay
the gatecrashers.

from WebIndia123

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The University of California,
Berkeley has suspended a fraternity whose members hazed a pledge by repeatedly
firing a BB gun at him, the school said on Monday.

The prospective member of Pi Kappa Phi had been shot on April 8 at least
30 times and was later treated at a local hospital for welts and bruises.

School officials placed the fraternity on a so-called "interim" suspension,
which bars members from any fraternity activities and strictly limits their
use of their chapter house to residential purposes, such as eating and
sleeping.

"We’re also investigating students who were actually involved in the
alleged shooting," said university spokeswoman Marie Felde.

Earlier this year, a pledge at a California State University, Chico fraternity
died from water poisoning in a hazing incident there.

Is this the school US
News and World Report ranks as the Number
One Public University in the United States? We always knew there was
a reason
we decided not to move to California, despite numerous attractive offers….

from Reuters