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TELECOM Digest Mon, 28 Nov 2005 23:53:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 538 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Cybercrime Yeilds More Cash Than Drugs (Suhail Karem) Man Arrested, Accused of Starting Fake Site, Fake Story (Associated Press) FTC Says Spam Email Filters Getting Smarter, But so is Spam (Reuters News) ICANN Examines Single Letter Domain Names (Anick Jesdanun) Deadline For VOIP 911 Passes (Jennifer C. Kerr) You Are Exposed / When Even the Privacy Commissioner's Cellphone (Solomon) TiVo Announces First Advertising Search Product for Television (M Solomon) What Happened to Amanda Voicemail Company? (aadler@ctvi.com) WKMG Report: Web Sites Offer Private Cell Phone Information (Dave Garland) N.C. Judge Declines Protection for Diebold (Monty Solomon) Expensive Cell Phone Rates (Lisa Hancock) Re: John Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jack Ruby (Henry) Re: John Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jack Ruby (Paul) Re: John Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jack Ruby (Robert Bonomi) Re: JFK Assassination (Anthony Bellanga) Holiday Observances Phone Rates (was Re: Kennedy) (Lisa Hancock) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Souhail Karam <reuters@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Cybercrime Yeilds More Cash Than Drugs Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 20:49:40 -0600 By Souhail Karam Global cybercrime generated a higher turnover than drug trafficking in 2004 and is set to grow even further with the wider use of technology in developing countries, a top expert said on Monday. No country is immune from cybercrime, which includes corporate espionage, child pornography, stock manipulation, extortion and piracy, said Valerie McNiven, who advises the U.S. Treasury on cybercrime. "Last year was the first year that proceeds from cybercrime were greater than proceeds from the sale of illegal drugs, and that was, I believe, over $105 billion," McNiven told Reuters. "Cybercrime is moving at such a high speed that law enforcement cannot catch up with it." For example, Web sites used by fraudsters for "phishing" -- the practice of tricking computer users into revealing their bank details and other personal data -- only stayed on the Internet for a maximum of 48 hours, she said. Asked if there was evidence of links between the funding of terrorism and cybercrime, McNiven said: "There is evidence of links between them. But what's more important is our refusal or failure to create secure systems, we can do it but it's an issue of costs." McNiven, a former e-finance and e-security specialist for the World Bank, was speaking in Riyadh on the sidelines of a conference on information security in the banking sector. Developing countries which lack the virtual financial systems available elsewhere are easier prey for cybercrime perpetrators, who are often idle youths looking for quick gain. "When you have identity thefts or corruption and manipulation of information there (developing countries), it becomes almost more important because ... their systems start getting compromised from the get-go," she said. "Another area that begins to expand is human trafficking and pornography because both of these become so much available once you have a communication ability," McNiven said. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Associated Press News Wire <ap@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Man Arrested, Accused of Starting Fake Web Site, Story Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 20:52:22 -0600 Police arrested a former computer programmer Monday for allegedly publishing a fabricated news article on a fake Yahoo Japan news Web site saying China had invaded the Japanese island of Okinawa. Metropolitan Police arrested Takahiro Yamamoto, 30, on suspicion of violating patent laws, said a police spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing departmental policy. The office said Yamamoto allegedly accredited the fake article to Kyodo News Agency and published it on an Internet site that he had designed to look like Yahoo Japan Corp.'s news site. The story was written in Japanese with a dateline "America, Oct. 18 Kyodo" followed by a headline saying "Chinese Military Invades Okinawa," the police said. Police had confiscated Yamamoto's personal computer and analyzed the data stored in it. Kyodo said both it and Yahoo had filed complaints to police in October. The Web site was accessed 66,000 times until it was taken down on Oct. 19, Kyodo said, quoting police. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo operates the world's leading Internet portal. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. for more news headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html (or) http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/TDNewsradio.html (or) http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org> Subject: FTC Says 'Spam' Email Filters Getting Smarter, But so is Spam Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 20:48:19 -0600 E-mail "spammers" are aggressive as ever, and smarter too, but Internet providers are getting better at blocking junk messages before they reach users' inboxes, according to a U.S. Federal Trade Commission study released on Monday. The FTC found that spammers continue to "scrape" e-mail addresses from the Web using automated programs that look for the telltale "@" sign. But up to 96 percent of those messages were blocked by the two Web-based e-mail providers used by the FTC in its test. The FTC did not say which providers it used in its study. "This encouraging result suggests that anti-spam technologies may be dramatically reducing the burden of spam on consumers," the report said. The FTC noted that Internet providers still must bear the burden of filtering out those messages. Consumers can stay off spammers' lists by writing out their addresses in an alternate syntax if they must post them online, the FTC said. Writing an e-mail addresses as "janedoe (at) isp (com)" rather than "janedoe@isp.com" will fool most spammers' harvesting programs, the FTC said. E-mail addresses posted on test Web sites were likely to attract spam, but those posted on blogs, chat rooms or other online forums were less likely to become spam magnets, the FTC said. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Anick Jesdanun <ap@telecom-digest.org> Subject: ICANN Examines Single-Letter Domain Names Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 20:50:56 -0600 By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer Although Internet domain names may be getting longer or more complex as Web sites creatively squeeze into the crowded ".com" address space, most single-letter names like "a.com" and "b.com" remain unused. That may soon change as the Internet's key oversight agency considers lifting restrictions on the simplest of names. In response to requests by companies seeking to extend their brands, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will chart a course for single-letter Web addresses as early as this weekend, when the ICANN board meets in Vancouver, British Columbia. Those names could start to appear next year. But the transition won't be easy -- and it could lead to six-figure sales of this new online real estate, akin to opening New York's Central Park to development. "Obviously this is a valuable commodity," said Kurt Pritz, ICANN's vice president for business operations. "How would the name be sold?" Names are normally released on a first-come, first-served basis for $10 or less, a policy that favors those who have written programs to automatically and frequently check for a name's availability. Auctioning names to the highest bidder is one possibility. ICANN also must decide whether companies need to seek such names individually if they want them across all suffixes, including ".com," ".info" and ".biz." Single-letter names under ".com," ".net" and ".org" were set aside in 1993 as engineers grew concerned about their ability to meet the expected explosion in demand for domain names. They weren't sure then whether a single database of names could hold millions -- more than 40 million in the case of ".com" today. Six single-letter names already claimed at the time -- "q.com," "x.com, "z.com," "i.net," "q.net," and "x.org" -- were allowed to keep their names for the time being. One idea was to create a mechanism for splitting a single database into 26 - one corresponding to each letter. So instead of storing the domain name for The Associated Press under ".org," it would go under "a.org." In other words, "ap.org" would become "ap.a.org." Now, engineers have concluded that won't be necessary. They have seen the address database grow to hold millions of names without trouble, so they are now willing to let go of the single-letter names they had reserved. (There are no immediate plans to release two-letter combos that have been reserved under some suffixes -- they were set aside not for technical reasons but to avoid confusion with two-letter country-code suffixes such as ".fr" for France.) Meanwhile, a handful of companies have asked ICANN to free up the single characters. Overstock.com Inc., for instance, prefers a single-letter brand of "o.com" because its newer businesses no longer fit its original mission of providing discounts on excess inventory. The ICANN board must now decide whether and how to release the names. At its meeting Sunday, it could ask staff to come up with a proposal or refer the matter to an ICANN committee for further study. Matt Bentley, chief executive of domain name broker Sedo.com LLC, said single-letter ".com" names could fetch six-figure sums, and a few might even command more than $1 million from some of the Internet's biggest companies. Yahoo Inc. applied for a trademark to "y.com" this year. "Obviously there's nothing more exquisite than names that are in extremely rare supply like that," Bentley said. "They would have a lot of cachet as a brand name. I could see there would be tons of demand." Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Jennifer C. Kerr <ap@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Deadline For VOIP 911 Passes Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 20:53:25 -0600 By JENNIFER C. KERR, Associated Press Writer Companies that provide Internet-based phone service could be barred from signing up new customers in at least some areas for failing to meet a federal mandate to provide reliable emergency 911 service in all their markets. The deadline to show the government where enhanced 911, or E911, is available was Monday. However, companies and the Federal Communications Commission were tightlipped, refusing to disclose details of compliance reports. It was widely expected that no company would meet the deadline since the FCC had given them only 120 days to comply. The VON Coalition, an industry group, has said as much. The coalition did its own survey and estimated that about two-thirds of Internet phone users would have enhanced 911 by the deadline. House and Senate lawmakers had urged FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to be more flexible, giving the companies more time and more tools to speed deployment, but no announcement of an extension was issued Monday by the FCC. Citing public safety concerns, the FCC in May ordered companies selling Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, to ensure that callers can reach an emergency dispatcher when they dial 911. The dispatchers also must be able to tell where callers are located and the numbers from which they are calling. VoIP providers were told that if they failed to meet the deadline they could no longer market their services or accept new customers in areas that didn't have enhanced 911. They will not have to disconnect current customers who don't have full 911 service, as some providers had feared. David Kaut, a telecom analyst at Legg Mason, said VoIP companies will take a hit if the FCC follows through on its threat. "If you can't add customers in, say, a third of your territories, that's a significant part of the market where you are all of a sudden capped," said Kaut. "These are supposed to be growth companies." Vonage and AT&T declined to comment on their compliance levels. Vonage, the largest provider, has about 1 million customers while AT&T offers service to about 57,000 customers through its CallVantage service. SunRocket, which has more than 50,000 subscribers nationwide, said it had equipped 96 percent of its customers with full 911 services. FCC spokesman David Fiske declined to discuss possible enforcement actions against offending companies. "At this stage," he said, "the agency is focused on the compliance filings by VoIP providers." Voice over Internet Protocol shifts calls from wires and switches, using computers and broadband connections to convert sounds into data and transmit them via the Internet. In many cases, subscribers use conventional phones hooked up to high-speed Internet lines. But the service can often be mobile, too, making it difficult to ensure that the call goes to the correct local emergency center. There are about 3.6 million VoIP users in the United States. Of those, about half get their service from cable TV companies who already provide enhanced 911 capabilities. Other providers offer a 911 service that directs emergency calls to a general administrative number, but those lines haven't always been staffed around the clock. The order applies to companies selling VoIP service that uses the public phone network to place and terminate calls. On the Net: Federal Communications Commission: http://www.fcc.gov VON Coalition: http://www.von.org/ Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. More news headlines from Associated Press with NPR Audio: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/KOSU.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:02:15 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: You Are Exposed / When even the Privacy Commissioner's Cellphone When even the privacy commissioner's cellphone records are available online, we've all got security problems. JONATHON GATEHOUSE November 21, 2005 Jennifer Stoddart is a dedicated public servant who has spent years -- first working for the province of Quebec, and since 2003 as the federal privacy commissioner -- trying to protect Canadians' personal information from prying governments and greedy businesses. A lawyer by trade, she has impeccable qualifications for the job, with a strong background in constitutional law and human rights. But there's a point to be made about the type of highly confidential data that can be obtained by anyone with an Internet connection and a credit card, and Stoddart has the misfortune of being the perfect illustration. Not that she's pleased about it. Her eyes widen as she recognizes what has just been dropped on the conference table in her downtown Ottawa office -- detailed lists of the phone calls made from her Montreal home, Eastern Townships' chalet, and to and from her government-issued BlackBerry cellphone. Her mouth hangs open, and she appears near tears. "Oh my God," she says finally. "I didn't realize this was possible. This is really alarming." http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/canada/article.jsp?content=20051121_115779_115779 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 22:08:19 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: TiVo Announces First Advertising Search Product for Television Offering Will Allow Viewers to Seek Ads That Provide Relevant Product Information Interpublic Media, OMD, Starcom Mediavest Group and The Richards Group to Participate in Development Along With Comcast Spotlight ALVISO, Calif., Nov. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator and a leader in advertising solutions and television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced that it plans to offer the first television-based advertising search solution in Spring 2006. Leveraging TiVo's television search capabilities that enhance the TV viewing experience, the new product will deliver relevant, targeted advertising to subscribers that want to view particular advertising categories. Leading media and advertising agencies including Interpublic Media, OMD, Starcom Mediavest Group and The Richards Group, as well as Comcast Spotlight, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable, have worked with TiVo to provide their expertise in the development of this revolutionary product. Agency research and development techniques will contribute in determining relevant categories of interest, such as automotive, travel, telecommunications, and consumer packaged goods, as well as determine relevant pricing models. Today television advertising is almost entirely delivered when adjacent to mass programming. For the first time, advertisers will have the ability to deliver television advertising, on demand and targeted to consumers, without the limitations of traditional television media placement. Advertisers will be able to reach viewers in the market for a certain product or service. Ads will be delivered to subscribers who can conduct a search for a product by category or associated with keywords, utilizing the same revolutionary keyword search techniques offered with Internet advertising, resulting in increased relevancy for the consumer, as well as efficient, measurable results for the advertiser. This new advertising approach presents an opportunity for TiVo(R) service subscribers to search for relevant information on products or services that match their needs. The heightened viewer experience that the new offering is intended to provide will deliver non-intrusive, relevant, interactive advertising, on a opt-in basis. TiVo subscribers, if they choose to use the search capability, will retain control over their viewing experience through the creation of a viewer contributed profile via the set-top box that will enable them to receive advertisements based on their interests. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=53486811 ------------------------------ From: aadler@ctvi.com Subject: What Happened to Amanda Voicemail Company? Date: 28 Nov 2005 18:22:51 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Are they still in business? All day today their lines were down. ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com> Subject: WKMG News Report: Web Sites Offer Private Cell Phone Information Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 15:34:03 -0600 Organization: Wizard Information Web Sites Offer Private Cell Phone Information A [WKMG TV] Problem Solvers investigation has discovered that several Web sites will sell the last 100 phone numbers you have dialed to anyone who knows your phone number. The report found that sites like Locate Cell will sell the private phone numbers for about $100. Once the fee is paid on the Web sites, anyone can get access to the phone numbers, including bank, doctor and work numbers, Local 6 News reported. The Web sites are not illegal, according to the report. http://www.local6.com/money/5416040/detail.html http://www.locatecell.com/celltoll.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 21:40:23 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: N.C. Judge Declines Protection for Diebold By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press Writer RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- One of the nation's leading suppliers of electronic voting machines may decide against selling new equipment in North Carolina after a judge declined Monday to protect it from criminal prosecution should it fail to disclose software code as required by state law. Diebold Inc., which makes automated teller machines and security and voting equipment, is worried it could be charged with a felony if officials determine the company failed to make all of its code _ some of which is owned by third-party software firms, including Microsoft Corp. _ available for examination by election officials in case of a voting mishap. The requirement is part of the minimum voting equipment standards approved by state lawmakers earlier this year following the loss of more than 4,400 electronic ballots in Carteret County during the November 2004 election. The lost votes threw at least one close statewide race into uncertainty for more than two months. About 20 North Carolina counties already use Diebold voting machines, and the State Board of Elections plans to announce Thursday the suppliers that meet the new standards. Local elections boards will be allowed to purchase voting machines from the approved vendors. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=53510127 ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Expensive Cell Phone Rates Date: 28 Nov 2005 12:52:54 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I was thinking about upgrading my ancient cell phone, but I am put off by the high monthly rates. I'd end up paying double for less service. My present plan is $20/month with 200 free offpeak minutes. Perfect for me. A new plan would require buying a new telephone set with many features I don't need nor want and then paying $40 per month to get about the same amount of free airtime. The only advtg would be that peak time and roaming would be cheaper than now, but I don't use the phone during peak time nor roam now. Further, their definitions of "roaming" seem very vague. They (all the carriers) give you a map with a solid color, a pale color and white. The solid color apparently is full service, but not guaranteed since it may be through another contracted party. That in itself is confusing. The pale color is particular confusing. I was surprised at the many white spots (no service) in reasonably developed areas. Apparently one still needs a dual mode phone that can do analog as well as digital since not areas have working digital and you need analog. That troubles me since I'm most likely to need my cell phone work when I'm in an isolated area (ie a car breakdown in a rural location). I thought by now all reasonably developed areas of the U.S. were fully digitally served. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I use Cingular Wireless, and am on the $29.95 per month plan with about 400 daytime minutes and more than I would ever use nighttime minutes. The important thing is get the 'rollover' plan where unused minutes keep stacking up until you use them. If you can find a 'GAIT' style phone, literally the entire USA is covered with no roaming fees nor long distance fees. PAT] ------------------------------ From: henry999@eircom.net (Henry) Subject: Re: John Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jack Ruby Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 21:57:05 +0200 Organization: Elisa Internet customer > Patrick Townson <ptownson@telecom-digest.org> wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: > Thanksgiving is always a variable date holiday. It _always_ comes > on Thursday, but is it the _last_ Thursday in November or the > _fourth_ Thursday in November (sometimes there are five Thursdays.)? By definition, it's the fourth. That's usually the last but, as you note, some years there are five. Cheers, Henry ------------------------------ From: Paul <Paul.Sawyer.does.not.want.spam@unh.BAD.EXAMPLE.edu> Subject: Re: John Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jack Ruby Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 20:12:43 UTC Organization: Me henry999@eircom.net (Henry) wrote in news:telecom24.537.14@telecom- digest.org: > Patrick Townson <ptownson@telecom-digest.org> wrote: >> Just as a historical note, it was forty-two years ago this weekend >> (Thanksgiving weekend, 1963) ... > Sorry, PAT. It was the week before Thanksgiving. > The assassination was on a Friday and I was in school. There is no > school on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Ergo... > Cheers, > Henry > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Maybe you are correct; it was a long > time ago (as you and I both know in our ancient ages!) Something I am > not clear on, however: Thanksgiving is always a variable date holiday. > It _always_ comes on Thursday, but is it the _last_ Thursday in > November or the _fourth_ Thursday in November (sometimes there are > five Thursdays.)? I know that now and again merchants complain when > there is a 'late Thanksgiving' as they get 'cheated' out of a week > of Christmas sales. What is the exact rule? And do you remember when > Memorial Day used to _always_ be May 30, no matter what day of the > week it was? If it came on Sunday sometimes, then we kids in school > felt 'cheated' because we did not get an extra holiday from school. > But if it fell on Wednesday, our parents felt 'cheated' since it was > impossible to drive any distance on holiday and get back home on the > same day (so as to not miss next day's work or kid's school day, etc.) > PAT] Either way, Thanksgiving 1963 was on the fourth, and last, Thursday: http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/ExecOrders/eo45.txt ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomni.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: John Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jack Ruby Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 23:34:27 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article <telecom24.537.14@telecom-digest.org>, Henry <henry999@eircom.net> wrote: > Patrick Townson <ptownson@telecom-digest.org> wrote: >> Just as a historical note, it was forty-two years ago this weekend >> (Thanksgiving weekend, 1963) ... > Sorry, PAT. It was the week before Thanksgiving. > The assassination was on a Friday and I was in school. There is no >school on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Ergo... > Cheers, > Henry > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Maybe you are correct; it was a long > time ago (as you and I both know in our ancient ages!) Simple fact-checking would show that Kennedy died on November 22, 1963. A 1963 calendar shows: November 1963 S M Tu W Th F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 November 21, the Thursday before the shooting, was only the *third* Thursday of the month. > Something I am > not clear on, however: Thanksgiving is always a variable date holiday. > It _always_ comes on Thursday, but is it the _last_ Thursday in > November or the _fourth_ Thursday in November (sometimes there are > five Thursdays.)? A Google search for "thanksgiving holidy date" would answer your question, *without* a need to clutter up the telecom newsgroup with off-topic , irrelevant, jabber. Per federal legislation enactged in 1941, in the U.S.A., Thanksgiving is the FOURTH THURSDAY in November. > I know that now and again merchants complain when > there is a 'late Thanksgiving' as they get 'cheated' out of a week > of Christmas sales. What is the exact rule? Set by law. Take it to a legal discussion group. :) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 14:36:39 -0700 From: Anthony Bellanga <anthonybellanga@notchur.biz Subject: Re: JFK Assassination Pat Townson wrote: > Just as a historical note, it was forty-two years ago this weekend > (Thanksgiving weekend, 1963) that President Kennedy was gunned down > in a motorcade in Dallas, TX. Actually, it was the weekend before Thanksgiving weekend of 1963. Kennedy was shot on Friday 22 November 1963, the funeral being on Monday 25 November 1963. You still had three more days until 1963's Thanksgiving on Thursday 28 November 1963. > [...] Friday about 11:00 AM at the moment of his assassination, The assassination occurred at approximately 12:30pm (afternoon) Central Standard Time, in Dallas TX (same time zone as Chicago), give or take a few minutes. The radio and television networks started breaking into local programming (or in the case of CBS Television, broke into the live network presentation of "As the World Turns" for the Eastern and Central time zones, CBS-TV breaking into whatever network reruns were airing earlier in the morning (clock time) on the Pacific Coast along with whatever NBC-TV and ABC-TV were also airing on the West Coast at 10:30am PST), with the first bulletins, approximately 1:35pm EST, 12:35pm CST, 11:35pm MST, 10:35pm PST, give or take some minutes. With the technology of the day, the first news bulletins on the TV-side were simply "slide-cards" for the video (CBS NEWS BULLETIN, etc), with a voice-over (newsman Walter Cronkite for CBS-TV, perennial announcer Don Pardo for NBC-TV). Vacuum tube technology was still in use to a great extent (even though the three Bell Labs physicists who won the Nobel Prize has invented the transistor back in 1948), and the TV networks didn't keep the newsroom live cameras warmed up until about a half-hour before their evening newscasts, although they did have a small studio for their afternoon five-minute newscast updates following "To Tell the Truth" (CBS) or "The Match Game" (NBC). They did have "slide cards" set up being scanned by live video-cams specifically designed for 16-mm or 35-mm motion picture film or slides. But it wasn't until later on into the incident, after the first slide-card/voice-over bulletins, that the three TV networks could go fully live with video of a newsman or announcer, and even later until they could get everything hooked up to have reports live from Dallas TX. Some of NBC's "we switch you now to our NBC-TV affiliate, WBAP-TV Ft.Worth/Dallas for another report", were actually telecast and fed in living color. NBC-TV's own reports from New York and Washington DC were in Black & White, but the pick-ups from WBAP-TV Ft.Worth/Dallas (at least the first few) were in color. A lot of credit has to be given to the newsmen with the three TV networks, the four radio networks (don't forget about Mutual), the wire services (AP, UPI, etc), and... AT&T and its Bell operating companies (and various independent connecting carriers) for their fast work in gathering the news and reporting it to the best of their ability considering the technology of the day, and for the technical resources (co-ax, microwave, etc) as well. And not to forget the local radio and TV stations (both network affiliates and independent stations), as well as the staffs of the major newsmagazines and local newspapers throughout the country for their newsgathering and reporting, based on what we "knew" at that time. - Anthony Bellanga ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Holiday Observances Phone Rates (was Re: Kennedy) Date: 28 Nov 2005 12:39:31 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: > And do you remember when Memorial Day used to _always_ be May 30, no > matter what day of the week it was? If it came on Sunday sometimes, > then we kids in school felt 'cheated' because we did not get an > extra holiday from school. But if it fell on Wednesday, our parents > felt 'cheated' since it was impossible to drive any distance on > holiday and get back home on the same day (so as to not miss next > day's work or kid's school day, etc.) PAT] Some years ago they passed a Monday holiday law, switching the date of a number of national holidays so they would always be on a Monday, creating a three day weekend. That includes Martin Luther King Day, Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, and Columbus Day. Veteran's Day, Independence Day, Christmas, and New Years remain observed on their actual day. Thanksgiving and Labor Day were already on day of week. Roughly speaking, workers have seen a gradual cutback in the number of holidays they get a day off from work. There were always the big 5--NY, Memorial, Independence, Labor, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, that everyone got off (except critical personnel). Over time, some employers began to give off Washington's birthday, King's birthday and Veteran's Day in addition. More generous employers threw in Columbus Day and Good Friday. Historically, if a major holiday fell on the weekend, the nearest Monday or Friday would be given off. Nowadays employers seem a lot tighter and grant only the major day off. Many retailers are open on holidays, even Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, and expect people to work. The phone company would grant weekend rate reductions on certain major holidays. However, when a day was celebrated on an alternate day (such as everything being closed on Monday July 5 in celebration of Independence Day instead of on Sunday 7/4), the phone company did not give discounts on the alternate day, weekday rates were charged which could be steep. Today, I've discovered cell phone companies are very tricky when it comes to giving weekend rates during holidays. My own plan is supposed to do that, but I've learned that in practice they don't and I must call and complain if I make a day call on a major holiday (because my day rate is very steep I have to be watch). I notice today's ads have no asterisk on weekends denoting what holidays constitute weekend rates, if any. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. 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