Perhaps too green

Hard not to notice an emerald tint on the media, but not everyone's happy someone named "Liv Greene" has popped up on their AOL/Gmail buddy list; people think it's all gone too far. This blogger's viewpoint isn't an isolated one.

Stephen Foskett says, "AOL seems to have invented a whole new way to annoy us all with advertisements: injected AIM buddy bots! Yes, it’s another way that social networking companies are annoying the very users they (supposedly) covet! Well, today my (gtalk) buddy list was invaded by 'Liv Greene', a shill for the web site, Greenopolis. And check out the astroturf-with-a-hammer campaign on AOL’s bot page! Way to get your bot ranked number one! I’m so sick of this. Note to all social network providers: Never inject a new “friend” into my network without my consent."

Crazy Snow

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This is April, right? The promise of rains this month is our assurance of flowers next. So what's the deal with these huge snowflakes?

Speed, Drugs and Dangerous Weapons

Things that teenagers should not be permitted to carry include really nasty looking knives. The one pictured is stamped "Pakistan" and "Stainless", but at least the stain-free promise may not pass inspection as rust is developing along the blade.

But that's not really the point. This knife was temporarily seized during a search of a teenager's car last month. Pulled over for speeding, a state trooper conducted what he called a weapons check of the subject's person, which revealed a pill bottle and pipe, purportedly giving rise for a full search of the subject's car.

This happened on a rural Iowa highway some 30 miles northeast of Des Moines. The trooper suggested to his subject that "everyone" he lets in his car has to be checked for weapons, "for my own safety".

The trooper commenced the initial pat-down as the subject was attempting to open the passenger-side door (conveniently off-camera), but the door was locked. This is when the fruits were discovered.

A person's Fourth Amendment protection from search and seizure is subject to a few exceptions, such as in the case of a stop and frisk situation, in which the officer must have reasonable suspicion that the subject is armed and dangerous.

In this case, it was stated as a matter of protocol or standard procedure to do a weapons pat whenever permitting a subject into his patrol car. If there had been a legal reason for the search, the trooper had several opportunities to say so, but consistently said, "I just always do this".

When the trooper found the pipe, he felt further justified to search the car and the contents of the trunk. All totaled, he found the pipe, a bag with apparent pot residue, an empty pill bottle (over the counter meds) and the knife you see above.

It gets a bit more interesting. I said earlier the seizure of the knife was tempoary. The trooper actually put the knife back in the subject's car and scratched it off the seized property report, saying, "I don't want to deal with that".

Does any part of this bother you? Why?

Saving lives through infrastructure

One of the very few responsibilities of government is to provide, maintain and secure sane infrastructure, which emanates from its Constitutional duty to make post roads.

Think about it. More than half of all accidental deaths occur on the public roadways. Tens of thousands of traffic tickets are handed out every day. The national cost to city, county and state governments to manage this fiasco is so incredibly ridiculous that it's really impossible to calculate.

Imagine if we would design a sane transportation infrastructure. It would almost eliminate traffic injuries and deaths. Imagine no more drunk and reckless driving and no more speeding tickets! And all it would take is restoring and enhancing the 100-year-old rail rights-of-way that were dismantled (stolen) by the auto industry -- one of the biggest killers in the world.

If you're thinking light rail or high-speed trains, you're only partly right. I dismiss multi-car trains, light or heavy, because they carry too many people whose destinations are too varied to make train travel viable on a universal scale.

No, I'm talking about small, single car trams that are nearly completely automated, but incredibly speed efficient. So much so that you could eliminate 2/3rds of the roads if you replace them with an automated rail system.

And imagine how green these would be. Solar and wind-powered energy applied directly to the tracks in an sectional, on-demand fashion. You could conceivably cover or bury the tracks underground and eliminate winter travel advisories and the dangers they pose.

Lots of positive here:
a) easy for police to track bank robbers
b) no highway sand/salt
c) no need for traffic lights or frequent starts & stops
d) no gas fumes and exhaust
e) watch videos/news or correspond on commutes/vacations
f) plays nice with urban sprawl and farmland
g) super high-speed possible
h) automatic re-routing, eliminating congestion
i) plan eta almost to-the-minute
j) pleasant ambiance, roomy feel through 3D, LCD and hi-tech sound
k) the world would be more bicycle, pedestrian and eco-friendly

The automation element has so many possibilities, I can only scratch the surface here. At any given time, you'd have fewer cars on the road because they could get to their destinations so much faster than in the traditional. Plus, they could travel much closer together because you don't have to worry about the human condition screwing up traffic patterns. It's all very mathematically preplanned, much as data travels (actually, data in the ether crashes a lot, but I hope you get the concept anyway).

No one's saying that recreation vehicles would be eliminated under this concept. Lots of people still want motorcycles, four-wheelers, etc., and why should we give those up? In fact, you still have to get groceries and furniture to your front door, so there'd have to be an off-rail, last-mile solution in place, like golf car-like vehicles that ride on very conservative trails between the rail system tracks.

Clearly the construction trade would be affected. Building materials would be made to fit smaller-format vehicles, but the benefits of unmanned shipping of many goods would far outweigh the downside.

The concept's not without some issues though, even though a little thought could overcome them.
a) who would own the cars?
b) where would you store them?
c) how would you get the cars on and off the tracks?
d) how much would the system cost?
e) what about schedules, embarking and debarking?

The rails could double as pathways for other essentials, like water delivery, fiber, mail (package services) and even refuse hauling.

Mile-for-mile, the maintenance costs would be a fraction of those we're paying for our current chaotic highway and street systems -- especially if you consider the sheer reduction in roads that could be accommodated.

But clearly, it's the government that has to implement this system. Private companies and states couldn't ensure the level of standards that would have to be in place for it to work seamlessly from town-to-town and state-to-state.

Mom & Pop vs Corporate Broadcasters and the FCC

The FRC (Federal Radio Commission) was established at a time when the threat of chaotic arrays of RF transmissions were so numerous and unpredictable that radio communications of any useful nature became nearly impossible.

As technology advanced, it was decided that communication was a larger issue than radio alone, so the FRC grew into what is now the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and encompassed a wider swath of media and telecommunications, including copper, fiber and satellite transmission of data in the form of text, photos, audio and full motion video.

The basic principle behind the right of the government to regulate communications was predicated on the fact that it utilized public airspace and cross-properties, borders and rights-of-ways and therefore intruded upon that which is owned by the people. In cities, the concept is franchise oversight (the cable local franchise, for instance, is a monopoly that is regulated by the city because it imposes on and along many properties).

Essentially, if you use public air and land to transmit your traffic, you must serve that public responsibly and be good corporate citizens.

The rules and regulation kept communications companies appropriately scared into compliance by threat of fines and jail. And so most companies did comply, as they were often locally owned and operated and embraced the popular image of servitude to its fellow citizens.

But as companies grow and become more successful, they feel the rules are too restrictive and don’t allow fair expansion. And as they get even bigger, they become better and better at influencing government leadership and employ lobbyists to bang on Washington doors in an effort to loosen rules so they can make more money and command more market share.

In each expansion proposal, lobbies and CEOs articulate before congressional committees how these "improvements" will "encourage competition" and "enhance the quality" of the products offered to the people, thereby performing a great service to its citizenry.

But people this powerful tend to exert mafia-like thug tactics to improve their own situation or standing. So they get more powerful and the little people try to push back -- mostly unsuccessfully.

I do think there will be a day when local control of media returns home and ownership will again be responsive to the needs of the community. But for now, I'm too busy staying current with media trends and enjoying the vast resources at my disposal -- not to mention the fact that my paychecks never bounce.

Armchair Law Professor

Every once in a while, I get what I think is an epiphany, often inspired by something I see or read. You might think these thoughts are exhibitions of my ignorance, but I believe there's something to them, so I share.

Perhaps I should call these entries "Bishop's Charter" additions, or "How the Law Ought to Be Written".

CASELAW:
No court shall decide, nor pontificate in its decision, with respect to case law or precedent, but on the sole merits of the case before it, and applying its own reasonable and thoughtful interpretation of pertinent laws and the Constitution of the United States, or errors thereof, notwithstanding spirit and intent of applicable law. However, on appeal, a court may consider error or misinterpretation of the law by the lower court, as well as new evidence that is shown to be previously and wrongly suppressed.

As always, I welcome thoughtful criticism.

No Gphone

Android is not Gphone, but a software platform by Google that may facilitate other phone makers and carriers to bring a phone to the masses using the newly allocated frequency spectrum. Google wants to be able to use some of the newly available spectrum the FCC opened up, but it's not clear what exactly they'll do with it.

In any event, Android will use the G3 network, and Open source platform that will facilitate free development of widgets, clocks, stock tickers, maps and whatnot -- which is an aside from iPhone's development kit because Apple will reserve veto rights to any app it doesn't like.

BREAKING: Armed robbery hoax

It's apparently a hoax, but several McDonald's restaurants have received phone calls warning of impending armed robberies using machine guns. The stores phoned earlier today include those located in Ames, Boone, Des Moines and Marshalltown, all in Iowa. Des Moines police are the latest to respond to calls.

CC weighs in on satellite radio merger

Sirius and XM Satellite Radio have been working on a merger, which has the attention of terrestrial broadcasters like Clear Channel Radio, who is aggressively marketing digital radio (HD Radio), which places hybrid digital layers over regular AM & FM frequencies.

In an FCC filing, Clear Channel suggests a few concessions should the merger be permitted, so that competition between local broadcasters and satcasters can be preserved:

The satcaster should set aside portions of its channels over-the-air and public interest programming; subscribe to decency rules; not broadcast local content; not receive monies from local advertising; and that it build-in HD Radio receivers to each of its units so subscribers are provided a choice between subscription-based and free, over-the-air programming.

Without these concessions, the merged companies would have an unfair, dominant market position and could conceivably strike exclusive deals with car makers and effectively shut out free, over-the-air radio.

Spam King Pleads

The prosecution called Robert Alan Soloway the Spam King, alleging he's responsible for sending millions of spam messages and generating hundreds of thosands of dollars in profit since 2003. Soloway pleaded guilty Friday to three of the 40 counts that he was indicted on, with the remaining charges dropped.

Indy bands embrace giveaways

The two latest bands to offer their new albums online for free are advancing divergent versions of the business model Radiohead introduced in fall 2007.

Where Nine Inch Nails' approach, like Radiohead's before it, draws fans in with free music and then offers additional music for purchase in more extravagant configurations, the Charlatans UK release doesn't seem connected to any such game plan.