| Stunned by Lack of Outrage, Not Outrageous Acts
I continue to be stunned. Not by Bush any longer. There was a time when I was stunned by nearly everything he did. Or said. Who wouldn't be stunned by a president who could say, "They misunderestimated me," and sincerely believe he's on top of things? Nor by Cheney. His pure evil no longer surprises me, although there was a time when he routinely stunned me. Torture? Torture?? Not by Congress, either. There was a time when I was stunned by that crowd's sheeplike mentality. I'd hear them decry the war, decry torture, decry Bush's growing deficit, then I'd drop my jaw as they voted time and again to give the president carte blanche. No longer. I fully expect Congress to disappoint, to fail to do its job in balancing the White House power grab.
What EU should be telling Turkey?
A heavy traffic of meetings, statements and visits is the case. This hustle and bustle is as real as EU works are virtual. Mutual expectations are so low that even the tiniest "not negative" wording or an infinitesimally small gesture is exaggerated to the limit. Works to be done are self-evident, it is said. Turkey will roll up sleeves, benefit from the rosy environment created after the July 22 elections, pass foundation laws, abolish articles 301 and sail away to the brightest of the bright horizon as though nothing has happened. That is playing Pollyanna to the utmost degree. We are talking about bilateral relations in which mutual trust is badly eroded. If only were easy to rekindle this! Let's see the facts.EU institutions In Europe, the European Parliament (EP) is busy preparing its annual report.
Winners crack open the champagne at inaugural CNET UK Awards
CNET UK, the publisher of silicon.com, held its first annual awards ceremony last night, in association with IBM. Here are the winners and what they did right... Business Technology Innovation of the Year: Discover Travel and Tours International Ltd During the summer of 2003, Discover Travel and Tours International introduced an XML interface which allows data to be sent directly to publishers of travel brochures, preformatted exactly as the publishers want it. Previously, data was sent through the mail on disk and reformatted by hand from the reservations system along with the images of properties. The XML theme is currently being extended at Discover Travel, with a new custom-built XML gateway that allows any operator to directly book into Discover's system from their own, the only limitation being that they must be able to generate and interpret XML.
Sports TV programming scoring victories in battle for advertising ...
The late shows may be back on the air, but, except for reality programs, prime-time TV is mostly in reruns for the foreseeable future. So what's an advertiser to do?
One answer: Think sports. Sporting events have been seeing increased interest from companies looking to promote themselves during shows that will be watched live, rather than recorded and viewed later, sans commercials.
With digital video recorder use on the rise and the Writers Guild of America strike in its 10th week, "sports is the only thing that's fresh," said David Lubars, chairman and creative director of ad agency BBDO North America, which represents FedEx Corp., Pepsi-Cola North America and others that bought ad time during the coming Super Bowl.
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Leonard Slatkin, From Two Directions
Musical education has pretty much been eliminated in much of the United States, and a whole generation has come of age with little or no exposure to classical music. Most of our orchestras have been in trouble for years financially. One: Well, there's still a good deal of intellectual interest in what Michael Tilson Thomas is doing with the San Francisco Symphony and in what Esa-Pekka Salonen did -- and what newly named 26-year-old maestro Gustavo Dudamel may do -- in Los Angeles. Moreover, they play to pretty full houses (as, I would add, does the NSO; I'm not sure that I would write off the orchestral concert as a spent force). But those other conductors offer genuinely engrossing contemporary music (as opposed to Slatkin's penchant for pastiche), deeply personal takes on familiar scores of the past (rather than gross, gimmicky rearrangements such as Mahler's graffiti on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony), festivals of substance and distinction (instead of once-over-lightly looks at film music or "Drums Along the Potomac"), and a fresh energy that has been hard to find in Washington for a long while.
Disney Internet Group names new CTO
On Friday, the Walt Disney Internet Group named A.D. "Bud" Albers chief technology officer. Albers joins Disney from MediaNet Digital, where he served as senior vice president and CTO, leading several digital music service launches including Microsoft Zune, MTV Urge, Yahoo Music Unlimited, Virgin Red Pass and the Samsung Media Service in Europe. At Disney, Albers will be responsible for developing technologies on the company's existing platforms as well as developing new technologies in support of the company's new media technology needs. North Hollywood-based WDIG is the new media and technology arm of Burbank's Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS). .
Reading opportunities abound at Briggs
The Library Mitten Tree harvested 39 hats, 37 scarves, 25 slippers and 274 mittens, which have been donated to RAVE, the Family Independence Agency, St. Vincent DePaul and the Seventh Day Adventist Church for distribution to needy friends and neighbors. Additionally, six donated backpacks were given to the Toys for Tots campaign to assist their charitable outreach. Thank you to all who so generously donated to share the warmth of the greater St. Johns community. Pre-reader storytimes Slated to begin Tuesday, Jan. 22, special storytimes for independent listeners ages 4, 5 and 6 still have room for a few newcomers. Sessions are available 10 to 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. .
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