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TELECOM Digest Fri, 23 Dec 2005 02:07:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 576 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson New York's 3-Day Transit Strike Ends (Deepti Hajela) Sunset Ends Transit Strike (New York Newsday Staff Writers) Re: NYC Transit Strike Midst Cold Weather and Christmas (Seth Breidbart) Jews for Jesus Files Suit Against Google Blog (Reuters News Wire) Amid New Orleans Ruins Churches Step in to Help (Kongsmark & Hampton) Blackberry: A High-Tech Ball and Chain (Monty Solomon) Re: Spam (was FTC Do Not Call List) (Seth Breidbart) Re: Letter From Russia (Seth Breidbart) Re: The Letter From valent@mailrus.ru (Seth Breidbart) Re: Missing ABN Amro Tape With Two Million Names Found (Seth Breidbart) Re: Dumb Question About "Do Not Call" (Seth Breidbart) A Mother's Love: Food For Baby Chick (Michael Casey, C.S. Monitor) 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: Deepti Hajela <ap@telecom-digest.org> Subject: New York's 3-Day Transit Strike Ends Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 21:53:43 -0600 By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer Faced with mounting fines and the rising wrath of millio ns of commuters, the city transit union sent its members back to work without a new contract Thursday and ended a crippling, three-day strike that brought subways and buses to a standstill. Union members were told to return to their jobs and start preparing to restore service. Buses were expected to roll around midnight, and most trains were expected to be running by the Friday morning rush, just two days before Christmas. "I'm ecstatic that it's over, but I'm still really mad that they did it," said Jessica Cunningham, 21, who was in town for the holiday. "I really think it's screwed up that they decided to strike the week before Christmas." The breakthrough came after an all-night session with a mediator. Around midday, leaders of the 33,000-member Transport Workers Union overwhelmingly voted to return to work and resume negotiations with the transit authority on a new three-year contract. "We thank our riders for their patience and forbearance," said union local president Roger Toussaint. While the deal put the nation's largest mass transit system back in operation, it did not resolve the underlying dispute -- pension contributions were the main sticking point -- meaning there could be another walkout if the negotiations fail. The strike cost the city untold millions in police overtime and lost business and productivity at the very height of the Christmas rush and forced millions of commuters, holiday shoppers and tourists to carpool, take taxis, ride bicycles or trudge through the freezing cold. But the strike did not cause the utter chaos that many had feared, and traffic in many parts of town was surprisingly light. "In the end, cooler heads prevailed," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "We passed the test with flying colors. We did what we had to do to keep the city running, and running safely." The walkout, which began early Tuesday, was New York's first citywide transit strike in more than 25 years. The workers left their jobs in violation of a state law prohibiting public employees from striking. The return to work was announced just minutes before Toussaint and two of his top deputies were due in a Brooklyn courtroom to answer criminal contempt charges that could have landed them in jail. Earlier this week, state Justice Theodore Jones fined the union $1 million a day for striking. And under the state no-strike law, the rank-and-file members were automatically docked two days' pay for each day they stayed off the job. "I'm ready to work the rush hour this afternoon if they let me," bus driver Ralph Torres said from the picket line as the breakthrough was announced. The strike left bitter feelings across the city. "I think it was all for nothing," said commuter Lauren Caramico, 22, of Brooklyn. "Now the poor people of the TWU are out six days' pay, and nothing gained." Gov. George Pataki warned there was no possibility of amnesty for the striking workers who were penalized financially. The fines "cannot be waived. They're not going to be waived," he said. Just before the deal was announced, an off-duty firefighter was critically injured when he was struck by a private bus while riding his bicycle to work. It was the first serious strike-related injury. A chief sticking point in the talks was a Metropolitan Transportation Authority proposal to require new hires to contribute 6 percent to their pensions, up from the current 2 percent for all employees. The pension proposal remained on the table despite the end of the walkout. The vote to return to work was blasted by TWU dissidents who felt the union had caved in. "This was a disgrace," said TWU vice president John Mooney. "No details were provided to the executive board. (Toussaint) wants us to discuss the details after Christmas." After workers returned to the job, the judge overseeing the dispute adjourned all further action in the case until Jan. 20. "I'm pleased on behalf of the people of the city of New York," Jones said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to salvage Christmas." On the Net: Metropolitan Transportation Authority: http://www.mta.info/ Transport Workers Union: http://www.twulocal100.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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more Associated Press headlines and audio news, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: New York Newsday Staff Writers <newsday@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Sun Sets on Transit Strike Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 21:56:50 -0600 BY HERBERT LOWE, GRAHAM RAYMAN, RAY SANCHEZ and JAMSHID MOUSAVINEZHAD STAFF WRITERS To the relief of millions of commuters, the city's transit workers' union ended its 2 1/2-day strike, and bus and subway employees began returning to work. "This was a big test for this city, and I think it passed with flying colors," Mayor Bloomberg said. "It wasn't easy, and certainly serious economic harm was inflicted, but we did what we had to do to keep the city running and running safely." "It can't be turned on and off with a flip of a switch," Bloomberg said of the mass transit system. "The city will be back to normal as of midnight," with regard to dismantling the contingency plan. Buses are expected to get rolling by about 10 p.m. tonight and taxis should begin using meters at midnight. Subway trains will hit the rails overnight, transit officals said, adding that tomorrow morning's rush hour should be fairly normal. The union has already posted on its website, under the headline "STRIKE OVER: REPORT TO WORK", instructions for workers to report to work immediately if their scheduled shift has already started, or to report per usual if they're working a later shift. "We thank our riders for their patience and forebearance," said Transport Workers Union president Roger Toussaint. Bloomberg, who had been incensed by what he termed the "thuggish" behavior of striking, was more restrained at an afternoon news conference. Though he reiterated that the untion was wrong to strike, he said "this time they acted responsibly, and for that I am appreciative. When asked about what might have led to the end of the walkout, the mayor said: "Cooler heads prevailed." He credited the union for calling off the strike, but said they were wrong to go on strike in the first place. He noted that the strike had been costly for the city with an estimated $10 million in police overtime and $12 million less in tax revenues. "People who are struggling to make ends meet are really hurt by this work stoppage," the mayor said. Bloomberg took pains to differentiate between union leaders and the rank-and-file members. "I described the behavior of the union leadership, which hurt this city," he said. He encouraged angry commuters to be civil as they prepare to face members of the TWU for the first time since the strike upset travel within the city. "If you want to say something to the employees as you go by, what about 'Glad you're back, I missed you,'" he said. The Transport Workers Union Local 100's executive board gave the final okay for the back-to-work order around 2:30 p.m., ending the crippling strike that had stranded New Yorkers and hit businesses at the height of the holiday season. Thirty-six members of the 43-member executive board voted to end the strike, five voted against and two abstained, said Eladio Diaz, a member. "This was a disgrace," said TWU vice president John Mooney. "No detils were provided to the executive board. [Toussaint] wants us to discuss the details after Christmas." Toussaint earlier had agreed to send striking transit workers back to work while talks with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority resumed, an arbitrator said. "Both parties have a genuine desire to resolve their differences," said Richard Curreri, head of a three-member state mediation panel. "They have agreed to resume negotiations while the TWU takes steps to return its membership." Curreri, who spoke at a news conference at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, said talks held separately with each side since the strike began on Tuesday had been "fruitful," but an agreement on a new contract for bus and subway employees "remains out of reach at this time." Although they didn't formally negotiate, union and MTA representatives met face-to-face this morning for a discussion before Toussaint recommended ending the strike, a source close to the situation said. That set the stage for productive talks to resume once the union agreed to go back to work. Meanwhile, union attorney Arthur Schwartz told state Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones of Brooklyn that he had been advised by mediator Richard Curreri to seek an adjournment until 4 p.m. of a hearing originally scheduled for 11 a.m. Later in the day, the judge postponed a hearing on whether to impose more fines until January 20. Yesterday, Jones had ordered Toussaint, secretary treasurer Ed Watt and recording secretary Darlyne Lawson of TWU Local 100 to come to court and answer a criminal contempt charge for violating a court order he issued last week -- raising the possibility that he would consider ordering jail time for the union leaders. New York City's corporation counsel Michael Cardozo and James Henly from state attorney general's office consented to the adjournment. Jones responded that "our overwhelming concern is a return to work by the members of the union." He said that it was his hope that by 4 p.m., when the hearing resumes, the situation would have advanced to a point "which would make a lot of the questions that are before this court moot." Despite the postponement, Schwartz brought to court a copy of the union's opposition to Cardozo's motion filed yesterday asking the judge to issue another order directing union members to return to work. "No New York court has ever recognized claims of the sort asserted by the city here," it read. "The city's request for injunctive relief, like the underlying lawsuit, has no basis in the law, runs in fact contrary to the law and should not be entertained by the court." Earlier in the day, union members picketing outside the courthouse in Columbus Park said they hadn't heard much more than what media members told them. Joe Gifford, 52, said he was hopeful that the resolution would end the strike and send workers back to their duties. "Our families are also suffering," said the station agent. "They're also walking over the bridge." "We're from the neighborhoods that are suffering the most," he said. Jeffrey Chapman, who works 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the supply and logistics department at Livingston Plaza, said it was probably too late for him to go back to work today, but he would go back tomorrow if told to. "We support our union leaders," said the Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn resident. "If they say that we should go back to work and will continue to negotiate, then that's what we'll do. We have faith in him [Toussaint]. That's why we went out on strike." The reaction from commuters to news of the possible end of the strike was swift, and for the most part predictable. "It makes me happy," said Ansuya Patel, owner of a newshop next to the entrance to the LIRR station in Forest Hills, reflecting the views of others. The long line in front of the station the last few days had cut off customer access to the store, she said, with her husband saying business has been "very bad, down 90%". Nathan Orzeo, 47, waiting on the Forest Hills LIRR platform to go into his job in the Diamond District, said while it was a good thing the strike may be ending, he understood the union's motivation in striking -- "everyone wants to make more money." But this being New York, there were some contrarians. Marcos DeSillas, who grew up in Spain under a dictatorship, said he hoped the strike would "continue a few days more -- to break the unions." DeSillas said the additional inconvenience to commuters would be worth it in his opinion, to "put an end to the nonsense" once and for all. Daniel Wraga, 22, who is originally from Poland was spotted coming off a LIRR train in Penn Station wearing rollerblades. He said he liked the strike, because he likes "something different, like the blackout." He's been rollerblading from Penn Station to the West Village, and enjoying it so much he said he may keep rollerblading even after the strike was over. In his announcement, Curreri said the MTA had not pulled its pension offer -- one of the main sticking points in the contract talks -- off the table, but said the agency was willing to consider other savings in health costs. The MTA and the union have agreed to a self-imposed media blackout for the duration of the talks, Curreri said. "We have suggested and they have agreed to resume negotiations while the TWU takes steps to returning to work," Curreri said. No formal negotiations had been set immediately, he said. "But we anticipate they will be scheduled in short order." Newsday staff writer Michael Rothfeld contributed to this report. Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines and stories go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html ------------------------------ From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: BlackBerry: A High-Tech Ball and Chain For Lawyers Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 23:00:00 December 22, 2005 Perhaps the lawyers at Burns & Levinson don't know it's nicknamed the CrackBerry. That might explain why a partner at the Boston firm recently e-mailed a stern memo to his department, reminding lawyers that their BlackBerries -- the ubiquitous and addictive wireless handhelds that can send e-mail and make phone calls -- should be kept on after hours, on weekends, and, in the case of ''essential" attorneys, during vacations. "They are not just accessories or collectors' items," Brian D. Bixby, cochairman of the firm's private clients group, wrote in his memo, which became public after being sent anonymously to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. "They are not to be used only when you feel like sending an e-mail. They are supposed to make you more accessible for receiving e-mails after hours and on weekends." http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2005/12/22/blackberry_a_high_tech_ball_and_chain_for_lawyers/ ------------------------------ From: sethb@panix.com (Seth Breidbart) Subject: Re: NYC Transit Strike Midst Cold Weather and Christmas Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 03:43:25 UTC Organization: Society for the Promulgation of Cruelty to the Clueless > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This strike is only against the law in > NYC because the city of New York passed a law claiming it was > 'wrong'. First, it's a state law. Second, it's the _same_ state law that permitted public employees to have unions in the first place. Prior to that, the state would not recognize public employee unions. > I suggest that the city is condoning indentured slavery. There's no slavery involved, because nobody has said the employees can't just _quit_. What they aren't allowed to do is (1) not work and (2) keep their jobs. > No one can be _forced_ to work at a job they do not want to work at. That's right; they can quit any time they want. > If the city feels public transportation is so important, the way to > demonstate that is by treating the employees who are doing that work > in a respectful way, not by being even more oppressive with laws > which require your work and fine or imprison you for failing to work, > as is the case in Bloomberg's administation. Oh, and Bloomberg has little to do with it. The Transit Authority is a _state_ agency. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: > Here is a piece of advice for you: the transit workers do not belong > to the citizens of New York nor the politicians. If the residents > of New York are so damned inconvenienced by the strike (and I am > sure they are) then their wrath should be taken out on the lousy > political adminsitration and transit system who forced the workers > to go out on strike to start with; either go on strike or lose much > of their pensions; get cuts in pay, etc. Does it matter whether or not they're overpaid? Or that nobody is losing any pension, but rather *new hires* will get less generous benefit? > How much money has NYTA lost through theft by its own workers The ones on strike now? > and general ineffeciency? You mean, the inefficiency required by the union? > A NYC judge blustered about it, fined them umpteen jillion dollars per > day in fines, and when the court _tried_ to collect the fines the day > the strike finally ended, the union's posture was "we still have > umpteen millions more in our treasury, let's continue the strike a few > more days until the money is totally gone ... who will be the ultimate > loser? And the judge didn't immediately issue a Court Order freezing the union's bank accounts? Why not? Besides, a judgment doesn't disappear just because the defendant has no money at the time. The fine could be collected at any future time, including taking union dues as they're paid by the TA (withheld from employees' paychecks, turned over directly in payment of the fine). Seth [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: For someone who has no control over the matter (as you claim about Bloomberg) he sure does a lot of talking about the strike and taking credit for ending it Thursday afternoon. Why don't we hear him saying, "Sorry, that's not my department, you will need to talk to the transit workers and their managers."? And yes, I _know_ the one is a state agency and the other is a municipal government ... duh! But you should know that when Bloomberg says 'jump' everyone asks 'how high?', etc. Things like the difference between a 'state agency' and a 'municipal government' in this instance is just thinly veilled bullshit, just as with Chicago Transit Authority. That was how the politicians years ago wanted to set it up, I have no idea why. The union does not require ineffeciency, or no more so than the government bosses. And why didn't the court immediatly freeze the union's bank account? Obviously you did _not_ do your homework assignment yesterday (read the transcripts of the 1960's court proceeding when the union was last on strike.) At that point in time, the reason the strike lasted eleven days instead of only two or three was because the judge was a total blowhard, a real jerk with his fines and punishments, etc. Yes, the 1960's judge did threaten to freeze the treasury, freeze the employee's salaries, etc. _But the union warned him against continuing that approach_, teling him in effect "freeze our members wages to collect your silly fine, I'll tell everyone of them not present now to hear me say it in person, "resign your employment and walk off the job permanently as of now. See how soon you have a transit system running again." The union in those days was _tough_ and the judge sort of wishy-washy and very much inclined to only please the people who put him in office who wanted the strike to end. Once cooler heads prevailed, he agreed to forgive the fine, etc. I think the same thing will happen in this case when the court reconvenes on January 20 after the requested adjournment today. All the fines and the nasty language will be forgotten about. My competitor the New York Times and the other newspapers will print a tiny little one paragraph thing on page 79 announcing that the court agreed to forgive all the fines. You know, Seth, your cute little distinction between 'state agency' versus municipal government and how, oh boo hoo, Bloomberg had no control over it, etc sort of reminds me of how when I call ICANN to task around here, invariably one or more readers will conveniently forget how although damn near everyone considers ICANN to be in control of the net, they will say the opposite, that ICANN 'has no control, they are just an agency to (fill in the blank.)' And although technically, that is true, there are many people further up the line who tell ICANN how to march and sing. Ditto the transit agency and Bloomberg I suspect. Let's deal with realities, not theoreticals if you don't mind. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Jews For Jesus Files Suit Against Google Over Blog Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 22:01:13 -0600 The Christian evangelical group Jews for Jesus is suing Google Inc., saying a Web log hosted through the Internet search leader's Blogspot service infringes its trademark. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York on Wednesday, seeks to force Google to give Jews for Jesus control of the site as well as unspecified monetary damages. "We have a right to our own name and Google has allowed the use of our name on Blogspot without our permission," said Susan Perlman, associate executive director with Jews for Jesus. "Our reputation is at stake," Perlman told Reuters. Google's Blogspot and Blogger services allow people to set up Web logs, or online journals known as "blogs" for short, for free. A Google spokesman declined to comment, saying the firm had not yet reviewed the lawsuit. The disputed blog, http://jewsforjesus.blogspot.com, was started in January 2005 by someone taking the name "Whistle Blower" and airing critical views of the San Francisco-based organization, which seeks to convert Jews to Christianity. The site has only three entries, the last of which was made on May 9. Comments on the blog showed that Jews for Jesus attempted to persuade Whistle Blower to transfer the domain to the group but was rebuffed. Perlman said the critical tone was not behind the suit. "One of the wonderful things about the Internet is that there is freedom of expression, but there should be a protection ... so that organizations like ours can represent ourselves," Perlman 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: Anne Konigsmark & Rick Hampton <usatoday@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Amid New Orleans Ruins, Volunteers are Emerging as Heroes Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 22:08:58 -0600 By Anne Rochell Konigsmark and Rick Hampson, USA TODAY In his 67 years, Howard Peterson had never seen a Mennonite. But 11 days before Christmas he stood in the ruins of his kitchen, watching a crew of them gut and clean his flood-ravaged house. Peterson is a retired African-American barber who lives on disability payments. His eyes are sad, his movement listless, his voice weak. His helpers were strapping white men from Lancaster County, Pa., dressed in dark pants, collared shirts, suspenders and black straw hats. Peterson and his wife couldn't afford to pay a contractor several thousand dollars to gut the one-story house, which sat in water for weeks after Hurricane Katrina inundated the working-class Gentilly district. So Peterson, who looks too frail to do spring cleaning, began trying to clear out the house himself. Then the Mennonites came by and offered a hand. "I can't thank them enough," he says. But he also wonders when the professionals - city, state and federal agencies - will do their part. "They should be trying to repair the city." The Gulf Coast in general and New Orleans in particular have at times felt abandoned by the American government. But they haven't been abandoned by Americans, who have volunteered by the thousands to clear out houses, collect trash, fight mold, cover roofs, feed the hungry, tend to the sick and help in any way they can. Now, as disaster relief gives way to rebuilding, volunteers are renovating and constructing homes, restocking libraries, surveying historic structures, tracking down voters and helping communities plan for the future. Partly because politicians continue to dither, bicker and accuse, non-governmental organizations -- "NGOs" ranging from large, non-profit agencies to church youth groups -- are emerging as heroes of the recovery effort. While the government is still trying to sort out who should do what and fighting about it, many kind individuals have stepped in to take over the burden. Habitat for Humanity, whose Operation Home Delivery has been building houses across the nation for shipment to the Gulf Coast, received an 85% "positive" rating for its post-hurricane work in a national Harris Poll released in November. FEMA, in contrast, got a 72% "negative" rating. In New Orleans' devastated Lower 9th Ward, FEMA is so unpopular that its workers have been heckled and threatened. Some stopped wearing anything that identifies their agency. Past crises generally have established the limits of non-government action; private charity proved insufficient to cope with the Great Depression, for example. This crisis seems to have a different lesson: Volunteers, outsiders and amateurs can help fill a void created by what Amy Liu, an urban policy expert at the Brookings Institution, calls "a total lack of leadership from President Bush and downward, across all levels of government." "There's a general sense that the charitable sector has the touch needed, a better feel for the communities affected," says Paul Light, a New York University government analyst. Small steps, massive need Pride in what non-profits are doing to help the Gulf Coast recover is tempered by the universal acknowledgment that there will be no recovery without a massive government effort, and it would appear for now that President Bush does not intend to do that. Charitable contributions for victims of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma total about $3 billion. That's less than what the Bush administration says is needed just to fix the Mississippi River levees that protect New Orleans. "Habitat (for Humanity) will build you a house, and it will build 500 other houses," Light says. "It won't build 10,000 houses." And it won't rebuild the levees. However, in New Orleans alone, the volunteer effort has been impressive: . The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), an advocacy group that works in low-income areas, is organizing the city's scattered residents to give them a voice in planning their neighborhoods' future. . National Trust for Historic Preservation volunteers are canvassing thousands of flood-damaged historic houses and encouraging owners to restore, not raze. . The Preservation Resource Center, another historic preservation group, is handing out "flood buckets" with materials for cleaning up buildings and offering classes for homeowners on how to repair flood damage. . Oprah Winfrey's Oprah's Angel Network is donating 50 houses for people left homeless. . Common Ground, a coalition of activist groups founded after Katrina, was among the first to go into the Upper 9th Ward, where it runs a health clinic, a legal aid office, a homeless shelter, a free kitchen, a "tool lending library" and a solar-powered shower. Religious denominations are focusing on their traditional specialties in disaster relief. They include Southern Baptists (chain sawing for debris removal), United Methodists (tracking the needs of families), Seventh Day Adventists (warehousing supplies) and Church of the Brethren (emergency child care), according to Kevin King of the Mennonites (building trades). ECUSA -- the Episcopal Church in the United States has _poured_ tons of money into the effort, through the other church organizations, etc. Volunteers include Old Order Amish, who shun modern conveniences and still dress as they did centuries ago; hippies of the Rainbow Family, a 1960s-style, back-to-the-land group that established a soup kitchen and medical tent in a park east of the French Quarter; and planners from the Urban Land Institute, a non-profit research group that waived its usual fee to study rebuilding New Orleans. Outside help a godsend Local non-profits do what they can, but outsiders are taking the lead. "Everyone who lives here is maxed out dealing with their own situation," says Patty Gay of the Preservation Resource Center. The out-of-towners, she adds, "are so good for morale. It's easy to be depressed." Even NGOs that usually work overseas, such as Oxfam, the International Rescue Committee and the Mennonite Central Committee, have sent help. Although the role of NGOs in disaster recovery has grown over the years, Katrina is a watershed, says Brenda Phillips, professor of emergency management at Oklahoma State University: "We're seeing how important they are to our country in a way we never have." She and other analysts cite several reasons: . Government lost the public's confidence after the hurricane and will have a hard time regaining it. "That leaves the non-profits," says Tiziana Dearing of Harvard's Hauser Center for Non-profit Organizations. . The disaster's scope stretches even well-functioning government agencies, inviting involvement by NGOs that normally focus on the neediest victims -- the poor and elderly. . Lacking government's power, money and size, non-profits often are more sensitive to people's needs. "We listen before we do anything," King says. . NGOs are relatively nimble -- an important asset if, as seems likely, the Gulf Coast will recover a block or a neighborhood at a time. "It's easier for light-footed individuals to move things forward than a government bureaucracy," says Greta Gladney, a community activist whose home in the Lower 9th Ward has been rehabbed by ACORN volunteers. A call to action "True evangelical faith cannot lie dormant -- It clothes the naked. It feeds the hungry. It comforts the sorrowful. It shelters the destitute." - Menno Simons, 1539 The Mennonites, the denomination Simons helped found, are known mostly today for their belief in adult baptism, pacifism and simple Christian living. Some of the 400,000 Mennonites in North America favor old-fashioned dress. Women who dropped by the Gentilly work site wore dresses and bonnets. From the start, Mennonites were persecuted in Europe. The account of such trials, Martyrs' Mirror, is a thick volume. Yet their reaction has not been to hate others, but to try to help them. Katrina was a call to the action demanded by their founding fathers, who "emphasized doing something about our faith -- putting it into practice," says Werner Froese, a Canadian who supervises New Orleans projects for the Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS). "So we want to get people back into their homes as soon as we can." Since early October, more than 600 MDS volunteers have worked on 200 projects along the Gulf Coast. They've donned masks, boots and gloves to do the dirtiest, most basic jobs -- ripping out moldy drywall and picking through wreckage. In Peterson's house, the flood line was halfway up the wall. The smell of rot and mold was nauseating. A recipe for chicken salad was still taped to a kitchen cabinet, but little else was salvageable. "It's dirty work," says Jerry Weaver of East Earl, Pa. "But it's worth it. The homeowners appreciate it." Much more work will be needed before Peterson can move back in. Brenda Wise, a widowed teacher who lives around the corner from Peterson, says the Mennonites were her only hope. She felt betrayed by her insurance company, which said her flood insurance was inadequate and homeowner's insurance did not cover her belongings, and by the Orleans Parish school system, which laid her off. Wise has been living in Houston, but says she must move back into her house. She can't afford anything else. The Mennonites are readying the house for her return -- and lifting her spirits. "When I first saw my house, all I could do was just turn around and come out," she says. "I thought nothing was salvageable. I couldn't see beyond the destruction." But the Mennonites carefully set aside dishes, pots, pans, photographs and other items that could be cleaned and saved. Just a week earlier, the Mennonites' mission was in doubt. King, executive coordinator of Mennonite Disaster Service, and five board members had spent the day touring the city and talking with residents. By 10:30 that night they were exhausted, but King insisted they discuss a disturbing question: Should they commit tens of thousands of volunteer hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars to a community that might not survive the next big storm? Some Mennonites favored concentrating on other parts of the Gulf Coast and writing off New Orleans. By helping people rebuild in the city, they argued, we might only be setting them up for the next disaster. Nothing King saw or heard that day challenged such pessimism, especially the residents' despair over government inaction and their uncertainty over the condition and future of the levees that are supposed to protect the city from flooding. But as they sat around a table in a small, second-floor conference room at an Hispanic church, he and the directors kept thinking about the desolation they'd seen in Gentilly and the 9th Ward. The situation was desperate -- so desperate they decided in the end that they should stay. "We have to do something," King says. "People here are desperate for hope, the government has apparently abandoned them, so we'll take a risk with them and walk with them." The Mennonites expect to stay for at least two years and continue to import work teams from around the USA and Canada each week. King says that if New Orleans is a lost cause, it is one for which there are many volunteers: "We're booked through March." Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headline stories from USA Today, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The Episcopal Bishop for Kansas, Dean Wolfe visited our church -- Epiphany Church here in Independence and asked the vestry (local church overseers) to please 'partner' with a totally devastated housing project and church in Biloxi, MS. Our vestry agreed to the commitment, despite the fact that we are having problems of our own. _The major_ Episcopal Church in Kansas (Christ Church in Overland Park, Kansas, and about 40 percent of the statewide budget) about a year ago decided to split and go with the more conservative Anglican Communion, I guess you know the main reason. Dean asked us to do the best we could anyway. PAT] ------------------------------ From: sethb@panix.com (Seth Breidbart) Subject: Re: Spam (was FTC Do Not Call List) Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 02:19:02 UTC Organization: Society for the Promulgation of Cruelty to the Clueless In article <telecom24.571.13@telecom-digest.org>, David Wolff <dwolffxx@panix.com> wrote: > In article <telecom24.570.8@telecom-digest.org>, Seth Breidbart > <sethb@panix.com> wrote: >> In article <telecom24.563.14@telecom-digest.org>, >> Jim Haynes <jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu> wrote: >>> One scheme that seemed to me to have some promise was to detect spam >>> in the SMTP receiving program and deliberately delay its responses >>> to the sending program. So that the transaction of sending a message >>> is stretched out far longer than normal. >> That's called tarpitting. It would work against spammers who use >> their own resources to send. Those who use armies of zombies wouldn't >> care. > I would think that at least it cuts down on the amount of spam, if > enough of the zombies get stuck in tarpits. It would, if access to zombies were the limiting factor. It isn't. Also, a lot of spam engines are written so that tarpitting doesn't slow them down (but the machine doing the tarpitting never gets the message, so there's some benefit there). Seth ------------------------------ From: sethb@panix.com (Seth Breidbart) Subject: Re: Letter From Russia Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 02:23:39 UTC Organization: Society for the Promulgation of Cruelty to the Clueless In article <telecom24.570.9@telecom-digest.org>, Seth Breidbart <sethb@panix.com> wrote: > In article <telecom24.566.15@telecom-digest.org>, TELECOM Digest > Editor noted in response to a message from Valentin > <valent@mailrus.ru>: > It's spam. > Spam is theft. > Therefore, it's a scam. > If he's so hard up, where did he get the resources to spam with? > Wasn't there just a thread on why spam continues, because so many > idiots send money to spammers? Some are suckers for bigger bodyparts, > others for free money, others for helping the needy. All of those are > reasons that spam continues. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I suppose he probably got the resources > to send the spam from the local public library, where he said he > looked up other information. He lied. There's no way he "looked up" all that information on so many people. > Many libraries are not set up on their public terminals to block > spam from going out. And some aren't. Besides, my copy came from blueyonder.co.uk, probably via a zombie in their network. > And do you consider the occassional 'call for papers' > printed here and at other sites to be 'spam'? If they're posted to an appropriate newsgroup, and (more importantly) not in excessive quantity each, they're not spam. > Or the monthly notices > or minutes of meetings from the EFF, ICANN and similar? Those are > unsolicited also, yet they keep coming out to the entire net. PAT] They do? The EFF only started mailing me stuff when I requested it. ICANN never mailed me anything (not even answers to my complaints). Posting stuff on their own website certainly isn't spam. Seth [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: How many people were there he looked up information on, Seth? PAT] ------------------------------ From: sethb@panix.com (Seth Breidbart) Subject: Re: The Letter From valent@mailrus.ru Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 04:08:35 UTC Organization: Society for the Promulgation of Cruelty to the Clueless In article <telecom24.573.12@telecom-digest.org>, Philip TAYLOR <P.Taylor@Rhul.Ac.Uk> wrote: >> It's spam. >> Spam is theft. >> Therefore, it's a scam. >> If he's so hard up, where did he get the resources to spam with? >> Wasn't there just a thread on why spam continues, because so many >> idiots send money to spammers? Some are suckers for bigger bodyparts, >> others for free money, others for helping the needy. All of those are >> reasons that spam continues. >It may be spam. It may even be a scam. Or it may be genuine. No, it's not genuine. Where would a broke Russian get an account at blueyonder.co.uk? > If it's genuine, then we -- the recipients -- are in a position to > help soneone in genuine need. If it's a scam, then we may end up a > little poorer, and the scammer a little richer, but on balance, does > it matter? Yes, it does, if you care about the Internet mail system melting down with this sort of spam. > It's hardly in the same league as the Nigerian scam (and anyone who > falls for that needs their brains tested), Sure it is. Spam is spam. What do you want to bet about anybody who's foolish enough to actually send money having his email address sold as a "live one" to all the other scammers around? > so isn't it worth risking losing a few rubles /kopeks/whatever ? I > think it is. I don't think it's even worth risking your money on. Seth ------------------------------ From: sethb@panix.com (Seth Breidbart) Subject: Re: Missing ABN Amro Tape With Two Million Names Found Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 03:54:32 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Society for the Promulgation of Cruelty to the Clueless In article <telecom24.573.9@telecom-digest.org>, Ron Chapman <ronchapman@wideopenwest.com> wrote: > No question, Pat, but let's look at the facts: 0) They didn't encrypt their outgoing tapes. > 1) they lost the tape; Fact 0 is at best criminal-grade negligence. Seth ------------------------------ From: sethb@panix.com (Seth Breidbart) Subject: Re: Dumb Question About "Do Not Call" Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 03:56:47 UTC Organization: Society for the Promulgation of Cruelty to the Clueless In article <telecom24.571.9@telecom-digest.org>, Randall <rvh40@insightbb.com> wrote: > Three times a day, every day, the phone rings and a female robot voice > says "Hello, this is not a sales call. This is about an important > business matter. Again, this is /not/ a sales call, this is an > Important Business Matter!" > Then the damn thing hangs up. I suspect it's programmed to speak to answering machines only. Try saying "beeeeeep" while it's talking at you. There's a way to report the call to the phone company, which costs a little money and you only get somewhere if you follow up via the police. Seth ------------------------------ From: Michael Casey <csm@telecom-digest.org> Subject: A Mother's Love: Food For A Baby Chick Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 22:05:30 -0600 Bird Flies 2,500 Miles for Baby's Food By MICHAEL CASEY, Christian Science Monitor Talk about a working mother. A Christmas Island frigate bird named Lydia recently made a nonstop journey of just over 26 days and covering nearly 2,500 miles -- across Indonesian volcanoes and some of Asia's busiest shipping lanes -- in search of food for her baby. The trip, tracked with a global positioning device by scientists at Christmas Island National Park, is by far the longest known nonstop journey by one of these critically endangered seabirds. Previously, the black-and-white scavengers with distinctive pink beaks and wingspans of up to 8 feet were known only to fly a few hundred miles from their nesting sites, staying away for just a few days at a time, officials said. "It's a real revelation," said David James, coordinator of biodiversity monitoring for Christmas Island National Park, the birds' only known breeding ground. "The thing that really surprised me is that it was a long, nonstop journey, and that she crossed overland over volcanoes," James said. "Normally, you would expect the seabirds to fly over the sea." Lydia's trip started Oct. 18 from Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean about 310 miles south of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, and 1,600 miles northwest of Perth, in western Australia. Leaving a baby chick in the care of her partner, Lydia headed south over open waters -- probably to steal fish from other seabirds, a common habit among frigate birds. She then circled back on Oct. 26 and flew between Indonesia's Java and Sumatra islands. From there, she headed across Borneo island on Nov. 9 before flying back over Java and returning on Nov. 14 to her nesting site, where she likely regurgitated a meal for her chick. Though the journey was a record for a frigate bird, it falls short of the top trip among birds monitored by scientists -- a 46-day round-the-world trek by a gray-headed albatross, according to Birdlife International, a Britain-based conservation group that keeps track of threatened species. Lydia is one of the first four Christmas Island frigate birds to be fitted with a satellite tracking device. Funded by a grant from the American Bird Conservancy, the devices -- metal boxes about 2.5 inches long and 1 inch wide, with an eight-inch antenna -- are attached by harnesses. They give scientists much needed data on the flight paths and feeding patterns of frigate birds. Previously, most such data came courtesy of bird watchers, who have reported frigate birds turning up mostly in Asia, but as far away as Kenya in east Africa. Officials hope the new satellite data will help improve conservation efforts. "With only around 1,200 pairs confined to this small island in the Indian Ocean, the Christmas Island frigate bird is one of the worlds most threatened seabirds," said Ed Parnell, spokesman for Birdlife International. "This new satellite tracking data will add enormously to our knowledge of the species." James said the distance Lydia traveled raises some serious questions about efforts to stem the decline of the birds, whose numbers have fallen by 10 percent over the past 20 years. "We're surprised she would have spent that long away from her nest when she had a chick," he said. "That begs the question: Why does she need to go that far? It raises the suspicion that fish resources around Christmas Island are not currently adequate. That might explain the slow and gradual decline of the bird." James and Birdlife officials said Lydia's route also raised concerns, since it covered industrial areas, mining sites and waters popular with commercial fishing fleets. "It is tragically ironic that while Lydia nests on one the world's most remote and pristine islands, she makes her living in some of the most degraded seas on the planet," James said. "Fishing pressure is huge and marine pollution is severe." Copyright 2005 The Christian Science Monitor 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more daily headlines and news from Christian Science Monitor, New York Times and National Public Radio with no registration nor login requirements, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html ------------------------------ 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. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. 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