bumf alexio: June 2012

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Hard To Believe (talking-points-memo)

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Friday, June 29, 2012

IN RE DYNDAL | Chapter 11 Cases

In re: KRYSTYNA DYNDAL, Chapter 13, Debtor(s).

No. 11-11551-SR.

United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

May 12, 2011.

Richard J. Kwasny, Esquire Kwasny Reilly Haft & Sacco, Yardley, PA.

Jeffrey C. McCullough, Esquire, Bond & McCullough, Doylestown, PA.

George Conway, Esquire, Office of the United States Trustee, Philadelphia PA.

OPINION SUR ORDER OF MAY 11, 2011

STEPHEN RASLAVICH, Chief Bankruptcy Judge

Introduction

Before the Court is the Motion of Richard D. Zaveta, Jr. for Relief from Stay. The Debtor opposes the Motion. A hearing on the matter was held on April 20, 2011 after which the Court took the matter under advisement. For the reasons set forth below, the Motion was granted by Order dated May 11, 2011. This Opinion sets forth the reasoning which supports entry of that Order.

Factual Background

The parties agree on the salient facts. This case was commenced under Chapter 13. The Debtor has disclosed among her codebtors a limited liability company, Dyndal Properties, LLC (the LLC). See Schedule H. The LLC is a defendant in state court litigation. While the state court case was pending, this bankruptcy case was commenced. Movant?s counsel related at the hearing that the state court was reluctant to proceed implying that the automatic stay is somehow implicated. Transcript of Hearing, 4/20/11 (T-) 4. The Movant, the Plaintiff in the state court action, now appears in this Court and requests relief from the bankruptcy stay in order to prosecute the state court case.

Who May be a CoDebtor

In Chapter 13, ?a creditor may not act, or commence or continue any civil action, to collect all or any part of a consumer debt of the debtor from any individual that is liable on such debt with the debtor, or that secured such debt.? 11 U.S.C. ? 1301(a). Thus, in order to qualify as a codebtor under this subsection, the person in question must be an ?individual.? Because the LLC is not an individual, it is not entitled to the protection normally afforded codebtors under Chapter 13. See In re Saleh, 427 B.R. 415, 419 (Bankr.S.D.Ohio 2010) (explaining that co-debtor stay does not extend to corporations)

Extent of the Stay

Neither would the stay be applicable generally were this case filed under either Chapters 7 or 11. At oral argument, Debtor?s counsel maintained that because the LLC has no tax identification number, it could not file its own bankruptcy. Thus, counsel concludes, the stay must extend to actions against the LLC because of the Debtor?s interest in it. T-5, 6. The Movant disagrees arguing that the LLC is a non-debtor to which the protection of the stay does not extend. It explains that the LLC is separate legal entity with a recognized legal status. To that end, it filed the requisite documentation with the state corporation bureau. It also has its own mailing address. In sum, Movant argues, the LLC may file its own bankruptcy. T-7, 8.

The filing of a petition ?operates as a stay, applicable to all entities, of??(3) any act to obtain possession of property of the estate or of property from the estate or to exercise control over property of the estate.? 11 U.S.C.A. ? 362(a)(3). Section 541 of the Bankruptcy Code defines property of the estate:

(a) The commencement of a case ? creates an estate. Such estate is comprised of all the following property, wherever located and by whomever held:

(1) Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c)(2) of this section, all legal or equitable interests of the debtor in property as of the commencement of the case.

11 U.S.C.A. ? 541(a)(1) The estate?s interest in any property is equal to interests of debtor in such property as of the commencement of the case. Pryor v. Basvis Realty Corp. (In re Madden), 153 B.R. 119, 122 (Bankr.E.D.N.Y.1993).

Pennsylvania law recognizes the separate legal existence of corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies. See Clark Motor Corp v. Mfrs. and Traders Trust Co., 2007 WL 2155528 at *3 (M.D.Pa. July 26, 2007) (a corporation has a separate legal existence from its shareholders); In re Bank Center, Ltd., 15 B.R. 64, 65 (E.D.Pa. 1981) (a partner has a separate legal existence from a partnership); see 15 P.S. ? 8921, et seq (providing that a limited liability company shall have the legal capacity of natural persons to act). Where the debtor is a principal of a corporation, a partner of a partnership or a member of a limited liability company, the debtor?s interest in that entity, and not the entity itself, is property of the debtor?s bankruptcy estate. See Wynne v. Streetman (In re Russell), 121 B.R. 16, 17 (Bankr.W.D.Ark.1990) (assets of corporation did not become part of debtor-shareholder?s bankruptcy estate solely by virtue of shareholder?s 82% stock ownership in corporation); In re Fairfield Group Partnership, 69 B.R. 318, 320 (Bankr.E.D.Tenn.1987) (even if debtor was limited partner in limited partnership to which debtor had conveyed property foreclosed upon, property was not ?property of the estate? protected by the automatic stay); Venture Properties, Inc.v. Norwood Group, Inc. (In re Ventures Properties, Inc.), 37 B.R. 175, 177 (Bankr.D.N.H. 1984) (debtor was not entitled to injunctive relief to prevent defendants from proceeding to sell or otherwise dispose of certain real property, the buyer?s rights to which were owned, not by the debtor, but by a limited partnership in which debtor was a general partner); In re Daugherty Construction, Inc., 188 B.R. 607, 611 (Bankr.D.Neb.1995) (debtor?s membership interest in limited liability companies became property of the estate upon debtor?s Chapter 11 filing); In re Madden, supra, 153 B.R. at 122-123 (denying trustee?s suit to obtain promissory note which debtor provided to partnership upon sale of property as not constituting estate property); cf. Samson v. Prokopf (In re Smith), 185 B.R. 285, 290 (Bankr.S.D.Ill. 1995) (debtor?s right, as limited partner, to seek judicial dissolution of partnership was estate property). Because the Debtor?s rights in property do not extend beyond that which the Debtor owns, the automatic stay is equally limited.

Source: http://chapter11cases.com/in-re-dyndal-2/

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Karadzic acquitted of one count of genocide

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[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/karadzic-acquitted-one-count-genocide-115727821.html

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How sticky toepads evolved in geckos and what that means for adhesive technologies

ScienceDaily (June 28, 2012) ? Geckos are known for sticky toes that allow them to climb up walls and even hang upside down on ceilings. A new study shows that geckos have gained and lost these unique adhesive structures multiple times over the course of their long evolutionary history in response to habitat changes.

"Scientists have long thought that adhesive toepads originated just once in geckos, twice at the most," says University of Minnesota postdoctoral researcher Tony Gamble, a coauthor of the study. "To discover that geckos evolved sticky toepads again and again is amazing."

The findings are published in the most recent edition of PLoS ONE. Gamble is a researcher in the College of Biological Sciences' Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development. Aaron Bauer, a professor at Villanova University, is the study's senior author. The research is part of a long-standing collaboration on gecko evolution among biologists at the University of Minnesota, Villanova University and the University of Calgary.

Geckos, a type of lizard, are found in tropical and semitropical regions around the world. About 60 percent of the approximately 1,400 gecko species have adhesive toepads. Remaining species lack the pads and are unable to climb smooth surfaces. Geckos with these toepads are able to exploit vertical habitats on rocks and boulders that many other kinds of lizards can't easily get to. This advantage gives them access to food in these environments, such as moths and spiders. Climbing also helps geckos avoid predators.

The researchers found that sticky toes evolved independently in about 11 different gecko groups. In addition, they were lost in at least nine different gecko groups. The gain and subsequent loss of adhesive toepads seems associated with habitat changes; e.g., living on boulders and in trees versus living on the ground, often in sand dunes, where the feature could be a hindrance rather than an advantage. "The loss of adhesive pads in dune-dwelling species is an excellent example of natural selection in action," Bauer says.

Repeated evolution is a key phenomenon in the study of evolutionary biology. A classic example is the independent evolution of wings in birds, bats and pterosaurs. It represents a shared solution that organisms arrived at separately to overcome common problems.

In order to understand how the toepads evolved, the research team produced the most complete gecko family tree ever constructed, including representatives of more than 100 genera (closely related groups of species) from around the world. This family tree can serve as the basis for answering many other questions, such as how and when did live birth, temperature-dependent sex determination, and night color vision evolve in geckos? The family tree will also allow the authors to revise gecko taxonomy to best reflect the group's evolutionary history.

Gecko toepads adhere through a combination of weak intermolecular forces, called van der Waals forces, and frictional adhesion. Hundreds to hundreds of thousands of hair-like bristles, called setae, line the underside of a gecko's toes. The large surface area created by this multitude of bristles generates enough weak intermolecular forces to support the whole animal.

The amazing clinging ability of Gecko toes has inspired engineers to develop biomimetic technologies ranging from dry adhesive bandages to climbing robots. "Gaining a better understanding of the complex evolutionary history of gecko toepads allows bio-inspired engineers to learn from these natural designs and develop new applications," says co-author Anthony Russell, of the University of Calgary.

While scientists have a good understanding of how geckos stick at the microscopic level, they are just beginning to understand how geckos use their adhesive toepads to move around complex environments in the wild. Learning how gecko toepads have evolved to move in nature is an important step in developing robotic technologies that can do similar things. "It's one thing to stick and unstick a piece of 'gecko tape' to a smooth surface in a lab, but something else altogether to get a robotic gecko to move across a complicated landscape in the real world and stick to all the different shapes and textures it will encounter," says Gamble. Examining the repeated evolution of gecko toepads will let scientists find common ways natural selection solved these problems and focus on the characteristics shared across different gecko species.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Minnesota. The original article was written by Deane Morrison.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Tony Gamble, Eli Greenbaum, Todd R. Jackman, Anthony P. Russell, Aaron M. Bauer. Repeated Origin and Loss of Adhesive Toepads in Geckos. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (6): e39429 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0039429

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120628131053.htm

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NY club liquor license suspended after celeb brawl

NEW YORK (AP) ? A New York City nightclub that was the site of a bottle-hurling brawl after a dispute between the entourages of singers Drake and Chris Brown has had its liquor license suspended.

The State Liquor Authority suspended the license of W.i.P. and its adjacent Greenhouse during an emergency meeting Tuesday night.

Agency Chairman Dennis Rosen tells the Daily News (http://nydn.us/Or3jvQ ) that the authority "would not tolerate violent bars that break the law."

The company that runs Greenhouse sued the city Monday for shutting it down, saying it was losing $264,000 a week.

Police shuttered Greenhouse on June 16, citing code violations. Two days earlier, R&B singer Chris Brown and members of rapper Drake's entourage faced off in W.i.P. Brown and NBA star Tony Parker were among those injured.

___

Information from: Daily News, http://www.nydailynews.com

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Thursday, June 28, 2012

HK stock market in venture with Chinese exchanges

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Barclays pays $453 million fine to settle Libor probe

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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Seattle Opera expects budget shortfall, cuts

SEATTLE (AP) ? Seattle Opera says an anticipated $1 million budget shortfall this season is forcing it to cut future performances, leadership salaries and staff.

The opera said in a release Tuesday evening that a difficult economy, a decrease in subscription sales and fewer multi-year major donations have contributed to its shortfall.

The opera says its 2012-2013 season which opens in August will continue as scheduled, and the company will produce three cycles of the "Ring" next summer as announced. But the 2014-15 season will include four operas instead of five, and other changes are being made.

The opera says it plans several initiatives this year to reach new audiences.

Associated Press

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The Health Great things about Including Yoga and fitness Training In ...

Establishing this thirty day period, find out for yourself here of Congress will be wanting closely in U.S. spending because they work with the particular White Residence to build the particular 2012 finances. One area that has come under improved scrutiny is usually U.S. spending on world wide health programs. A number of groups a couple weeks ago announced your petition () in search of support pertaining to global health shelling out through the United States Global Health Initiative. Many fearfulness that perhaps flat shelling out in this area could jeopardize critical programs throughout vaccine research plus treatment.

Foreign students understanding in People could apply for short term health insurance policies with worthwhile benefits. These kinds of benefits involve lifetime health maximum, utmost per sickness or personal injury, coinsurance and dwelling country insurance coverage. It also involves the facility involving emergency health evacuation and crisis medical gathering. International college students studying throughout US are also offered insurance coverage for dismemberment plus accidental death.

Due to the fact the fact that health care marketplace has a particular charge around life plus death decisions, pain plus nutrition and various areas of romantic concern for those read more here existence, the honorable issues mixed up in delivery involving health care are generally proportionately serious plus deserving of large attention. The essential issues involving health care integrity, like so much else, conclude the desire for a utilitarian-based or maybe a rights-based approach.

Acquiring peak fitness may improve your intellect, body plus health. And these Physical Fitness tips will encourage you to achieve amazing results.

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Usually, the majority of additional health insurance plans will pay anywhere from 40% to help 80% of the worth of healthcare company needs just like vision, dentist, hearing aids, researchers, certain health equipment, chiropractic professionals, podiatrists, and also health care if perhaps traveling outside the country. When examining health plans, understand such challenges as: household coverage that include children expenditures, individual insurance coverage costs, disadvantages, what the system covers, insurance coverage regarding emergency situations, pre-existing condition challenges, coverage pertaining to specialists, the way a claim is paid out and how much is released, the amount of the particular deductible, month-to-month cost of here is the plan, type of prescription drug insurance coverage, does missing out on a check mean cancelling technology of the scheme?, does here is the plan cover dentist and perspective?, etc.

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Centennial Potato Plot helping Presque Isle hospital celebrate ...

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine ? A unique project is under way in Aroostook County to illustrate how a 100-year-old hospital took root in the area.

Officials from The Aroostook Medical Center, Cavendish Produce and Northeast Packaging Company gathered in a Presque Isle potato field early Monday to officially dedicate the TAMC Centennial Potato Plot.

The two-acre section of a field on U.S. Route 1 between Presque Isle and Caribou celebrates the hospital and its ties to agriculture.

According to hospital officials, the idea for what is now TAMC was envisioned by Frank White, an attorney, in 1908. During that time, he made frequent trips to outlying farms and neighboring smaller communities by horse and wagon, soliciting donations.

Through the efforts of White and other community leaders, Presque Isle General Hospital was incorporated on April 8, 1912. The hospital was sustained through the years by public donations, not only of money, but of food, furnishings and linens.

Cavendish Produce donated the two acres of russet potatoes that have already been planted.

Plans are for TAMC employees and their family members to harvest the field by hand in early October. The future of the harvested potatoes involves Northeast Packaging Company.

Bob Umphrey, president of the company, said Monday that a special commemorative five-pound potato bag will be designed to recognize TAMC?s centennial. That process will include an art contest to engage members of the public.

?We are launching an open contest to help us design one side of this special bag,? he explained. Northeast Packaging Company will produce the packaging later this summer in time for the harvesting of the potatoes.

A panel of judges from Northeast Packaging Company, Cavendish and TAMC will review the entries and pick a winner. The selected design will be unveiled at the Maine Potato Blossom Festival on the judges reviewing stand on Saturday, July 21, just before the parade during a new event called the Spuddy Recovery Triathlon organized and co-sponsored by TAMC.

Once the potatoes are harvested and placed in the special commemorative bags, TAMC will send the spuds to statewide elected officials and other dignitaries. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has agreed to see to it that a bag is delivered to the White House. In addition, TAMC intends to provide commemorative bags of potatoes to attendees at their annual Fall Health Fair, which this year will be themed Harvest, History and Health.

?We are so grateful to these two generous companies for working collaboratively with TAMC and making this unique project possible,? said Lynn Lombard, chairperson of the TAMC Board of Trustees. ?As we continue to mark 100 years of The Aroostook Medical Center, our hope is to engage as many residents as possible in the celebration. Certainly, the TAMC Centennial Potato Plot will be a visible reminder all summer long and into the fall of the significant contributions of both the agricultural community and TAMC to our wonderful quality of life here in The County.?

The design contest is open to all ages and will run through July 12. A special entry form, complete with contest rules and a designated area to match the printable space on the potato bag are available and will be mailed to prospective entrants.

For information on the contest or to have an official entry form mailed, call 768-4044 or email bcaron@tamc.org.

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Views-Dr. Will Tracz, Lockheed Martin Fellow Emeritus, Top Global ...

Dr. Will Tracz is a Lockheed Martin Fellow Emeritus (retired). Since 2007 he was a principal software engineer/application architect for the Global Combat Support System - AF (GCSS-AF) where he was responsible for evaluating new technology and investigating its application. He also has served as Tech Volume Lead on several Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), infrastructure modernization, virtualization and ITIL-oriented new business proposals.

Dr. Tracz is a member of the RIT Software Engineering Advisory Board, a charter member of the Software Engineering Institute Technical Advisory Group on Engineering and Method (2006-2010), an IEEE TCSE Executive Committee Member at Large (2004-2008) and is currently their vice-chair for Awards. In addition, he is the editor of the ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes, member of the ACM Professional Development Committee, past chairman of the International Conference on Software Engineering sponsored by IEEE and ACM, chairman of the ACM Foundations of Software Engineering in 2012 and the author of over 100 technical reports and books on software engineering, software architectures and software reuse.

For more information, see Dr. Will Tracz profile

To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

DISCUSSION:

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

:00:48:
As a DARPA PI in the 90's, what is the impact you see of your research and your patent?
"....Our research advanced the state of the art of: Software Architecture....Architecture Description Languages and Module Composition Languages....Domain Analysis....My patent: System for Identifying and Linking Domain Information using a Parsing Process to Identity Keywords and Phrases, demonstrated how, using statistical methods, commonality in multiple documents could be automatically identified and cross-referenced by adding hyperlinks...."

:02:30:
Will, what are additional top areas of your research that have had lasting impact, and can you share some lessons from these areas?
"....My most significant research contributions were in the areas of what was then called Software Reuse....Lessons: Software reuse not only saves development costs, but it saves maintenance costs....Patterns are a form of design reuse...."

:05:37:
Will overviews his past industry roles and explains how he succeeded in each role.
"....If I understand the question, I can talk about some of the challenges or opportunities in my 38 year career that spanned 4 technology areas: Real time embedded software, micro programming, micro architecture, software architecture and enterprise architecture...."

:10:10:
You talked about your work with the ACM and the ACM Professional Development Committee and you helped establish the webinar series. How are you going to further contribute on the webinar side?
"....I would point out to our listeners that those webinars are currently open to the entire community. You don't have to be a member of ACM to listen to them and they are a valuable resource and of interest to keep your finger on the pulse of technology...."

:11:57:
What best practices can you share from your experiences with enterprise architecture?
"....I would say while having a robust enterprise architecture and realistic IT portfolio management plan is important, delivering more capability is not as important as delivering it well, and that one needs to focus on the other "ilities": usability, scalability, security, maintainability. etc...."

:14:03:
What best practices can you share from your experiences with software engineering?
"....Test driven development....Design patterns and anti-patterns (form of design reuse)....Design for change (software sustainability)...."

:16:58:
How has your background in microprogramming and microarchitecture influenced your thinking into the future?
"....I believe it has been an advantage for me to have a deep understanding of computers and information technology from the silicon level on up to SOAP and Enterprise Services....The second benefit was my involvement in professional society activities and realizing the importance of networking at conferences...."

:19:22:
What have we missed from your extensive background?
"....Probably my warped sense of humor, you have to have a sense of humor to survive....An example of humor? In my book "Confessions of a Used Program Salesman" I state the reason I named my daughter Meg was that she is worth a million...."

:22:43:
You have been the editor of ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes for 18 years ? what have you seen that has changed?
"....On the positive side, the production process has changed a lot....On the negative side, there has been an increase in plagiarism...."

:25:51:
What notable software engineering best practices can you highlight from ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes?
"....The best place to look for best practices in Software Engineering Notes would be in the 'Surfing the Net' column....The next best place to get advice is from our Front Line columnist, Mike Wing....If you want to learn about Security and Safety best practices, read Peter Neumann's Risk column...."

:27:53:
Your book "Confessions of a Used Program Salesmen" contains some rather humorous perspectives on Software Engineering ? what has changed in the 15 years since it was published?
"....Software reuse lives on, reincarnated as Component-based Software development, augmented by Aspect-oriented programming, and aided by Service Oriented Architecture and Open Source Software components and frameworks....In my not so humble opinion, the biggest advance to making reuse a reality was SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), which relies on XML, of course...."

:30:18:
Let's focus on your role as General Chair ACM SIGSOFT FSE 2012. How will you measure success and what is the value to participants?
"....My personal goal is to encourage student participation, especially from the students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke, and North Carolina State which are all located close by. Also, I am reducing the registration fee for students significantly to assure that they can reap the benefits of witnessing the future directions of Software Engineering Research....The keynote speaker is going to be one of the Software Architects from the IBM Watson project...."

:32:17:
Can you overview your other non-profit contribution roles and some lessons you can share from each of these roles?
"....Rochester Institute of Technology Software Engineering Department Industry Advisory Board....Software Engineering Institute's Technical Advisory Board....Member of the ACM Professional Development Committee...."

:34:54:
Why should computing professionals utilize the ACM Learning Center: ACM Tech Packs, ACM Learning Paths and attend ACM Webinars?
"....In order to be competitive and innovative, you need to do a personal technology refresh yearly, free of the marketing hype, and one of the best ways to do it is to take advantage of the resources in the ACM Learning Center...."

:36:10:
Can you differentiate what Tech Packs are versus Learning Paths and Webinars?
"....Tech Packs are an annotated bibliography. It provides the user with a set of resources to self-familiarize yourself or self learn on a particular topic....The Learning Paths are more focused on a programming language. They are a resource that shows you where (on the web) to pick up courses or self learn....Webinars provide the professional with the opportunity to subscribe for realtime (where you actually listen to the speaker) and have the opportunity to interact by asking questions...."

:38:28:
You have 4 degrees: Math, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Electrical Engineering. How has that helped you in your career and what would you have added?
"....Investing as much time as I did in these disciplines has helped me understand the big picture and better prepared me to communicate, to define and express requirements, do technology trade-offs, perform analysis, and provide solutions to some challenging, multi-dimensional/multi-faceted system and software engineering problems...."

:39:39:
Which one of those degrees do you think provided the greatest challenges and which one provided the greatest opportunities for you?
"....If I had to do it over again I would have put the Electrical Engineering earlier in the process; that was the most challenging....As far as rewarding, when you spend so much time in the classroom there were programs and classes in each of those universities that I really liked and had longstanding payback. What comes to mind is a course that had to do with communications protocol and networking...."

:41:53:
In all of your past roles, what were the biggest challenges, and their solutions?
"....Biggest challenge: balancing personal life with work responsibilities....Non-technical: organizational change management....Technical: separating reality from marketing hype in evaluating vendor products...."

:45:59:
You were responsible for evaluating new technology and its applications. From this experience, provide your predictions of some future IT trends and their implications/opportunities?
"....Computation in the Cloud....Heuristic Analysis Techniques for Big Data....Open Source Software....Self-Adaptive ? Self-Aware ? Self-Healing Systems of Systems....Progress, better tools for Automated Program Analysis...."

:50:33:
Do you foresee particularly disruptive innovations?
"....I will speculate for IT....Complex Event-Driven Computing....The introduction of new innovative Software Services that can be used to provide new capabilities in virtual reality....Quantum Computing...."

:53:00:
What are your thoughts on computing as a recognized profession with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, and recognized non-licensing based credentials? [See www.ipthree.org and the Global Industry Council,? http://www.ipthree.org/about-ip3/global-advisory-council]
"....I commend the goals of the International Professional Practice Partnership (IP3) and the ACM and IEEE-Computer Society on their code of ethics and what they are trying to do to raise the standards for professionalism....The bottom line is that having a legal system and public opinion that demands quality is the only way things are going to change...."

:55:50:
Will shares his deep insights and provides his candid thoughts on emerging technologies from the perspective of a CIO versus a CTO. (The perspectives are in 5 areas: Technology to grow revenue versus technology to increase efficiencies - The impact of business driving the technology decision - Technology perspectives from the customer's point of view - Are CIO's becoming the chief innovation officers? - What are some other hot topics?)

:01:00:28:
You are a professional musician. In your opinion, how does music and technology complement each other?
"....When it comes to creating an enterprise architecture, one needs to understand how to create harmony across all components in order to integrate them smoothly (just like an orchestra is made up of many instruments and the conductor must keep the musicians working in harmony)...."

:01:04:40:
From your extensive speaking, travels, and work, please share three stories (amusing, surprising, unexpected, amazing).
"....In the middle of a lecture I noticed people ducking under tables and the chandelier swinging back and forth. I was oblivious to the fact that we were experiencing an earthquake, but obviously the attendees noticed...."

:01:07:38:
If you were doing this interview, what questions would you ask and then what would be your answers?
"....What advice do you have for managers?....What advice do you have for software vendors?.....What advice do you have for software developers?...."

Music by Sunny Smith Productions and Shaun O'Leary

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Scientists to reveal Stephen Hawking's 'brain hack'

Ted S. Warren / AP

To produce the words for text or speech, British physicist Stephen Hawking currently uses an infrared sensor mounted on his eyeglasses, visible here during an appearance this month in Seattle. The sensor picks up twitches from his cheek, which are translated into the desired letters or words. Hawking and neuroscientist Philip Low are experimenting with a system that can translate brain waves directly into text and speech.

By Alan Boyle

After months of tweaking, researchers are finally ready to show off a high-tech headband that can translate Stephen Hawking's brain waves into speech?? providing what could eventually become an easier avenue for the paralyzed British physicist and many others to share their deep thoughts.

The system, developed by San Diego-based NeuroVigil and known as iBrain, uses a head-mounted receiver the size of a matchbox to pick up different types of brain waves. iBrain employs a computer algorithm called SPEARS to analyze the brain emanations and encode them for a text-based speech reader. Philip Low, NeuroVigil's founder, chairman and CEO, is to present the latest results from his work with Hawking on July 7 at a Cambridge conference on consciousness.

"I haven't discussed doing a demonstration with Stephen, but we could do that, of course," Low told me today. During the conference, Low will be showing video clips of Hawking using the iBrain to communicate.

For decades, Hawking has been coping with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative nerve disease that has left the theoretical physicist confined to a wheelchair and unable to move even his fingers. To write or speak, he currently uses an infrared sensor system mounted on his eyeglasses: His cheek twitches are read by the sensor to control a wheelchair-mounted computer system that slowly encodes the patterns of those twitches. It can take a half-hour for Hawking to twitch out a couple of sentences in response to a question.

In an abstract prepared for next month's presentation, Low and Hawking describe how they worked out their technique for the iBrain system. Hawking (who is described as a "high-functioning 70-year-old ALS patient" in the abstract) was told to try moving one of his hands or feet ? for example, flexing his foot or scrunching his hand into a ball. The limbs didn't move, of course, but just thinking about trying to move them generated readable brain-wave patterns.

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"The subject's brain activity demonstrated distinct broad-spectrum pulses extending to the gamma and ultra-high gamma ranges," the researchers wrote. "Such pulses were present in the absence of actual movement, and absent when the subject was not attempting motion."

The abstract said Hawking's brain also buzzed with alpha brain waves when he closed his eyes, as expected.?Alpha waves are associated with wakeful relaxation, and are probably familiar to anyone who's undergone biofeedback training. Gamma waves, in contrast, are associated with increased attention?? and in the past have been linked to?activities ranging from running to learning.

Lots of possibilities
The fact that Hawking's brain signals could be read reliably is a good sign, not only for one of the world's best-known scientists but for hundreds of thousands of others around the world.?Low and Hawking say their work "opens the possibility to link intended movements to a library of words and convert them into speech, thus providing ALS sufferers with communication tools more dependent on the brain than on the body."

Low told me that the brainwave-reading device could be used to control prosthetic devices "to give ALS sufferers mobility"?? sort of like a real-life version of the Stephen Hawking robotic exoskeleton proposed in an Onion parody 15 years ago.

The iBrain device could have other applications, such as diagnosing sleep apnea, studying autism and monitoring other brain conditions. It's already been used in a clinical trial to monitor the effects of experimental drugs on brain activity. The U.S. military is also looking into how the device can help treat traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, which are big issues for combat veterans. Direct brain-to-speech communication, however, represents the highest-profile application, particularly when Stephen Hawking is involved.

"We'd like to find a way to bypass his body, pretty much hack his brain," The Telegraph quoted Low as saying.

The key question for Hawking is whether iBrain represents an improvement over the system he currently has. Back in April, the professor told The New York Times?that the project hadn't quite reached that point. "At the moment I think my cheek switch is faster ... but should the position change I will try Philip Low's system," he wrote in an email sent by an assistant.

In that quote, Low said Hawking was talking about brain-computer interfaces in general, rather than specifically about iBrain. "What we are seeing is in fact an immediate response, so the question is going to be to productize this, so that he can communicate reliably should he lose control of his cheek muscles," he said.

TEDMED via YouTube

Neuroscientist Philip Low (at right) demonstrates how the iBrain device can send brain-wave readings to a cellphone with an subject who's wearing the headband (at left) during a TEDMED 2009 presentation. Click on the image to watch the YouTube clip.

Personal quest
Low said the iBrain project was already moving on to Version 2.0, and the iBrain 3 device is due to be built next year. "That will be about the size of a U.S. quarter," he told me. "People will be able to check their brain activity much like you or I can check our blood pressure."

The 32-year-old, Vienna-born researcher's company has come a long way since its founding, which Low says he initially financed by putting $240,000 on his credit card. Someday, he hopes brain-monitoring systems will be used to pick up the signs of neurological problems early enough to do something about them. For Low, this is not just business. It's personal.

"I would have loved to see this 20 years ago, when my father suffered from a side effect of a commonly used sleep drug," he told me. "He threatened someone with a weapon ... a gun, actually. And it destroyed our family."

His father was eventually pardoned, but it took a long time to put everything back together. That experience led Low to look into the neurological basis of sleep, including experiments with bird brains. That was what led him to come up with the SPEARS algorithm in the first place.

"It's very ironic that an algorithm I initially developed to analyze the brain patterns of birds has found its way to dealing with Stephen Hawking's brain patterns, the U.S. military and autistic children," he told me.?

More about Stephen Hawking:

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

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Peter Dreier: Billie Jean King and Remarkable Success of Title IX

There are many heroines and heroes in the struggle for women's equality. But as we celebrate yesterday's 40th anniversary of Title IX -- the path-breaking law that opened up more opportunities for girls and women in education and in sports -- we should recognize the extraordinary courage and leadership of Billie Jean King. She is one of the people I profile in my new book, The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame. Like Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali, she broke barriers in sports and then used her celebrity to break barriers in society.

On Sept. 20, 1973, fifty-five-year-old Bobby Riggs, the 1939 Wimbledon champion and a top-ranked player through the late 1940s, played a match against twenty-nine-year old King, a star in the growing sport of women's tennis. The media dubbed the contest the "Battle of the Sexes." King was seen as playing for the honor of all women.

After months of advance hoopla, King entered the Houston Astrodome like Cleopatra, carried aloft in a chair held by four bare-chested musclemen dressed like ancient slaves. Riggs then entered in a rickshaw drawn by scantily clad women. Riggs gave King a giant lollypop; she handed Riggs a piglet, a symbol of male chauvinism. By the end of the day, King had defeated Riggs in three straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

The event became the most famous match in tennis history. Though clearly a publicity stunt, and a moneymaker for both athletes, it had enormous symbolic value, coming during the early years of the new women's movement. It was viewed by an estimated 50 million people around the world, and 30,000 attended at the Astrodome.

King's solid victory significantly boosted the credibility of women's participation in major sports. Aided by Title IX, the federal anti-discrimination provision in the Education Amendments of 1972, and by the activism of King and other women athletes, the number of females involved in sports has grown steadily.

King is one of the greatest tennis players of all time, and her advocacy for women's sports in the 1960s and 1970s revolutionized school, amateur, and professional athletics. There had been many great women athletes before King, but she helped make it more acceptable for girls and women to be athletes. In 1975 Seventeen magazine polled its readers and found that King was the most admired woman in the world. Later in her life, after she retired from competitive play, King also became an iconic figure in the lesbian and gay community.

Born in Long Beach, Calif., Billie Jean Moffitt's father was a fireman and her mother a homemaker. Her brother, Randy Moffitt, had a successful career in baseball as a major-league pitcher. Billie Jean was already an accomplished softball shortstop and enjoyed playing football when her parents decided that she should pursue a more "ladylike" sport. Her father suggested tennis. She picked up a racket at age twelve, played on public courts, and was soon identified as a tennis prodigy. Unlike today's promising young athletes, King did not have an elaborate network of coaches and clinics to nurture her talent. At fifteen, she made her debut at the U.S. Championships. In 1961, at seventeen, she and Karen Hantze won the women's doubles championship at Wimbledon. In 1966 King won her first Wimbledon singles title and was ranked number 1.

King was ranked number 1 in the world five times between 1966 and 1972 and was ranked in the top ten for seventeen years, beginning in 1960. She won a record twenty Wimbledon titles, six of them in singles (1966, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973, and 1975), won the U.S. Open four times (1967, 1971, 1972, and 1974), and won the Australian Open in 1968. In 1972 she won Wimbledon, the French Open and the U.S. Open. In total, she won 67 singles titles, 101 doubles titles, and 11 mixed doubles titles, amassing almost $2 million in prize money after turning professional in 1968 and before retiring in 1983.

In 1974 King was a founder of World Team Tennis and served as the player-coach of the Philadelphia Freedoms, becoming one of the first women to coach professional male athletes. She coached the US Olympic women's tennis team in 1996 and 2000.

In the late 1960s professional women's tennis was widely dismissed as a frilly sideshow. Male "amateur" tennis stars would get paid under the table, but women athletes were not taken as seriously. For winning her first two Wimbledons, she received nothing except the $14 daily allowance.

In 1970, when King and eight other female players defied the tennis establishment to form their own professional circuit, many experts doubted that they could attract big enough crowds to generate prize money. Women's tennis is now as popular as men's.

In addition to her dominance on the courts, King made significant contributions to women's sports and feminism in general. In 1972 she signed a controversial statement, published in Ms. magazine, that she had had an abortion, putting her on the front lines of the battle for reproductive rights. Also in 1972, she became the first woman to be named Sports Illustrated's "Sportsperson of the Year."

King pushed for higher fees for women athletes, which led firms like Philip Morris and Virginia Slims to sponsor women's tournaments. When she won the U.S. Open in 1972, she received $15,000 less than did the men's winner, Ilie Nastase. She threatened to boycott the 1973 U.S. Open if it did not equalize prize money between women and men athletes. The tournament agreed to do so, setting a precedent.

In 1974 she was one of the founders and the first president of the Women's Tennis Association. That year, with support from Gloria Steinem and Ms., King also founded womenSports magazine and the Women's Sports Foundation. With King's backing, the magazine and foundation became powerful voices for women in sports.

The foundation has helped women athletes obtain college scholarships, and it began its own grants programs to support summer camps and fund traveling and training scholarships for promising young female athletes. The foundation has played an important role in using Title IX to push for greater equality in athletic opportunities for men and women. Although women athletes still get fewer teams, fewer scholarships, and lower budgets than their male counterparts, since Title IX's passage, female athletic participation has increased by 904 percent at the high school level and by 456 percent at the college level.

This progress is the result of persistent pressure by advocates. The foundation has filed friend of the court briefs in support of women high school students seeking equity with male sports programs. In one case, resolved before reaching the courts, the foundation supported a teenage girl who wanted to try out for the men's high school baseball team instead of being restricted to softball. The foundation also advocates for greater sports participation by women of color and by those with disabilities.

By 1968 King realized she was attracted to women but could not bring herself to admit it to her husband or her parents. "The whole world was in tumult, and so was I," she said. "I was so ashamed."

"I couldn't get a closet deep enough. I've got a homophobic family, a tour that will die if I come out, the world is homophobic and, yeah, I was homophobic," King told a Sunday Times of London interviewer in December 2007.

In 1981 King was forced out of the closet by a former girlfriend who sued her, unsuccessfully, for palimony, while she was still married. She soon embraced her new role as the first openly lesbian major sports star. (She divorced her husband, Larry, in 1987.)

Elton John wrote "Philadelphia Freedom" to honor King and her World Team Tennis franchise. She serves on the Elton John AIDS Foundation and has received numerous honors for her work with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. King's foundation developed and promotes It Takes a Team!, an educational program to end homophobia in school sports.

Writing in Sports Illustrated in 1975, sports commentator Frank Deford observed, "[King] has prominently affected the way 50 percent of society thinks and feels about itself in the vast area of physical exercise. Moreover, like [what Arnold] Palmer [did for golf], she has made a whole sports boom because of the singular force of her presence."

Among her many honors, King was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. The U.S. Tennis Association has named its main facility in New York City the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

All Americans who care about equality stand on Billie Jean King's remarkable shoulders.

Peter Dreier teaches politics and chairs the Urban & Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College. His new book, The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame, was just published by Nation Books.

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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Chinese Village Mistakes Adult Toy for Rare Mushroom

The inhabitants of Liucunbu, a small village in China, were stumped recently after digging up a double-headed mystery while drilling a new well shaft. Apparently, everyone in the village does it in the dark because none of them were able to distinguish the difference between what they believed to be a rare mushroom and a fake rubber female love canal.

We would not advise putting this thing on a pizza. In fact, do not let this thing anywhere near your lips. This is not some long lost legendary mushroom found growing deep inside the center of the earth somewhere below the Changtang Prairie ? it?s actually a used sex toy!

We certainly hope these villagers have learned something from this experience ? because we have. Not only is it good to know that we can use our pocket vaginas as emergency floatation devices, but Asian fungus reporters really turn us on!

NEXT: Kid Suspended For Making Cupcake Filled With What?!?

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Deregulation of Telecommunications in California "No price too high, no lie too big..."

? Telecommunications and information infrastructure rely on the Internet and IP/VoIP platforms.
? The California Public Utilities Commission must exercise regulatory oversight to provide equal access, basic protections and to overcome the Digital Divide.
? SB 1161 (Padilla) is an anti-consumer, anti-labor giveaway to major telecommunications corporations that seek to cut the regulatory powers of the California Public Utilities Commission.
? SB 1161 does nothing to stimulate innovation in Internet services; it claims deregulation will somehow do this, but it is a completely unproven article of faith, and a deceptive pretext for this special-interest legislation.

Stealth Campaign
SB 1161 has moved forward with the transparency of a stealth bomber. Subtitled, ?Communications: Voice over Internet Protocol and Internet Protocol enabled communications service? one must cut through the complex legalistic and technical wording to get to the core thrust of the legislation. Section 1 opens with statements that it is both a job creator and a staunch protector of the ?Open Internet?. These false and misleading claims reveal much about its sponsors and their objectives.

Claim: Section 1. (a)(3) finds and declares, ?California?s innovation economy is leading the state?s economic recovery. Silicon Valley alone added 42,000 jobs in 2011, an increase of 3.8 percent versus a national job growth rate of 1.1 percent. The newly designated ?app,? for application, economy has resulted in 466,000 new jobs nationwide, with 25 percent of that total created in California.?

Fact: Silicon Valley and IT based industries are extremely volatile and unsafe bets:
? In 2011, San Jose based Cisco Systems announced the layoffs of 6500 employees.
? In March of 2012, Sunnyvale-based Yahoo announced layoffs of 1000 or more employees.
? In May of 2012, Palo Alto based HP announced they would lay off 27,000 workers. This follows layoffs in previous years totaling over 20,000 workers.
? In a more recent development that received much attention and undeserved glory, Facebook had a public offering that started with a stock price of $38 dollars and within days dropped to $32. Not only is this a ?black eye? for Silicon Valley; it will have ripple effects throughout the industry, including underwriters in the banking sector, led by Morgan Stanley. To make matters worse, budget projections for the State of California were based on more than a billion dollars in tax revenues, which have disappeared in the devalued stock price.

?Creative Destruction?
In Silicon Valley it is known as ?creative destruction?, a long term pattern of ups and downs. Startups and their CEO?s run the gamut of ?quick launch?, stellar short-term profits, and bust, as a new ?product? hits the market. That phenomenon has been present in California?s past cycles of economic crisis when certain industries, including IT and housing were overvalued and propped up by a market of false expectations, speculation and greed. They gambled with California?s future by placing our hopes and economic prosperity on unsustainable, volatile market schemes. Californians would benefit far more from a stable approach based on solar and other sustainable energy sources, optical fiber broadband, public transportation, infrastructure improvement and other creative and traditional, incremental, value added industries.

Referring again to SB1161?s sponsors and their objectives, these became even more apparent in the key meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee held on 5/14/2012. The members were addressed by an army of ?suits? representing all the usual suspects. They were executives, lawyers and lobbyists from ATT, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, E-Bay, Qualcomm, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Microsoft (Skype) and Cisco Systems, to name a few.

In his presentation to Appropriations, Alex Padilla had the audacity to state, ?This week?s Facebook IPO, most estimate a $900 billion dollar IPO, would result in a $500 million dollar benefit this year and an additional $500 million next year.? He was referring to the revenue that would accrue to the California state budget; almost $1 billion dollars that disappeared overnight in ?creative destruction?.

Claim: Section 1(b)(2) finds and declares it will ?Ensure a vibrant and competitive open Internet that allows California?s technology businesses to continue to flourish and contribute to economic development throughout the state.?

Fact: Beyond Section 1, there is nothing in this bill that even mentions the ?Internet? open or closed, regulated or not. In fact, the only language that has anything to do with the ?Internet? is ?Voice over Internet Protocol? (VoIP) and ?Internet Protocol? (IP) based platforms for telecommunications services.

Claim: In Section 2 (a)(2), the bill purports to preserve the traditional copper based Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), by excluding any ?service that uses ordinary customer premises equipment with no enhanced functionality that originates and terminates on the public switched telephone network, undergoes no net protocol conversion, and provides no enhanced functionality to end users due to the provider?s use of Internet Protocol technology??

Fact: In the same section, it describes VoIP and IP enabled service as any service that: ?Permits a user generally to receive a call that originates on the public switched telephone network and to terminate a call to the public switched telephone network? and ?any service, capability, functionality, or application using existing Internet Protocol, or any successor Internet Protocol, that enables an end user to send or receive a communication in existing Internet Protocol format, or any successor Internet Protocol format through a broadband connection, regardless of whether the communication is voice, data, or video.?

The legalistic play in the wording makes it difficult for the non-expert reader to see that SB1161 could potentially apply to any call that travels for any portion of its trip over an IP based platform, whether originating, terminating or ?IP in the Middle?. At this time, VoIP phone service makes up over one quarter of California?s 10.4 million residential telephone subscriptions, although the volume of calls is much higher. The goal of the industry is to switch all phone service to this network. Long before that is achieved; no call made in California will fall under regulatory oversight.
.
Claim: In regards to the California Public Utilities Commission the bill, ?...does not affect any existing regulation of or existing commission authority over, non-VoIP and other non-IP enabled wireline or wireless service, including regulations governing universal service and the offering of basic service and lifeline service.?

Fact: In the May meeting of the CPUC in Fresno, the majority of the commissioners were very clear in their opposition to SB 1161 because they understood that it would remove oversight. However in a slick maneuver, Alex Padilla launched a last minute protest of a staff report that placed the cost of implementation at $1 billion dollars. He said the data had not been ?vetted? and caused the CPUC to postpone their vote.

f SB 1161 prevails, it will definitely have a negative impact on the CPUC?s oversight of the landline quality of service and consumer protections. Also, in regards to VoIP/IP communications services, in 2011, the Consumer Protection and Safety Division of the CPUC submitted a motion for modification of the scope of rulemaking to extend consumer protection. According to this motion, VoIP and IP based services fall within the definition of telecommunications and as such, are subject to the Service Quality Measurements and other reporting procedures designed to protect consumers.

It has long been the position of consumer groups that not only telecommunications but access to broadband and other internet-based information services should be regulated to assure equitable treatment of poor, rural and inner-city communities. SB 1161 would be another blow to the regulatory framework for oversight of access to broadband and internet-based information services, potentially increasing the digital divide.

Despite the statement to the contrary, it is the regulatory authority of the CPUC that is the actual target of SB1161 as is revealed in the following paragraph:

?No department, agency, commission, or political subdivision of the state shall enact, adopt, or enforce any law, rule, regulation, ordinance, standard, order, or other provision having the force or effect of law, that regulates VoIP or other IP enabled service, unless required or expressly delegated by federal law or expressly authorized by statute or pursuant to subdivision??

Note: In order to cut through the misleading language, one must understand the difference between ?Internet? and VoIP/IP. They both require broadband access and use a unique set of numbers and sub-nets i.e. ?75.23.145.75? that comprise the IP ?address? of the end user. However, ?nomadic? services such as Skype, route calls over the Internet, while VoIP/IP calls travel a separate path. VoIP/IP calls begin and/or end at a phone set with a fixed location and use the provider?s network as the bridge to the Public Switched Telephone Network and the world. ?Nomadic? services connect the user via the Internet, wherever they are. Recently, Skype can connect to the Public Switched Telephone Network at a cost per minute or month, but with spotty results and quality. This is not to be confused with cell phone service.

Who are Alex Padilla and Steven Bradford?
Alex Padilla is the State Senator for the 20th Senate District, Los Angeles area and Chair of the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee. He wrote SB 1161 on the behalf of ATT, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner and other companies that as and industry have contributed over $57,000 to his re-election campaigns.* Unfortunately he has also received huge sums of money from the labor movement in California. He was known as a friend to Labor, and particularly CWA, but now should be considered ?the Senator from ATT?.

Steven Bradford is the California Assembly Representative from the 51st Assembly District, Gardena, and the Chair of the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee which has to clear the bill before it goes to the full Assembly. He is also the principal co-author of the bill. In this case he could be considered the ?Assembly Representative from ATT? who has received ample support both from the industry and from labor.

*MapLight?s Money & Politics

The American Legislative Exchange Commission (ALEC) and Deregulation
One important discovery in the investigation of deregulation across the United States is the deep collaboration between ALEC and ATT. ALEC is the largest membership association of state legislators in the United States, with over 98% of its revenue coming from corporations and corporate foundations. In the 2010 congressional elections, ALEC boasted 3 of 4 new Senators were ALEC alumni, and 27 of 42 newly elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 2010 ATT gave $3.7 million to federal candidate Political Action Committees; of that, $1,612,582 to Democrats and $2,035,949 to Republicans. The ties between ALEC and ATT go beyond campaign donations. ATT is on the corporate Private Enterprise Board and Pete Hernandez, California Executive Director of Legislative Affairs for ATT is the Private Sector Chair.

Model telecommunications bills have been an important part of ALEC operations in several states including efforts to block utilities from placing optical fiber to a ?hands-off approach? to telecom regulation. Legislation to block VoIP regulation was first launched as far back as 2008. Could it be the California legislators leading this effort are trying to curry favor with ALEC in anticipation of future runs for federal office?

What is the Labor Movement?s position?
The powerful California Labor Federation is unable to take a position due to an archaic protocol triggered when a Local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers chose to side with the industry. This was communicated in a letter from high power California lobbyist Scott Wetch to Alex Padilla which mimics the misleading claims found in the text of the Bill, including, ?California is a global leader in internet technologies because it has not attempted to place unnecessary and duplicative restrictions on the internet.? It concludes with, ?It is an investment in infrastructure deployment that is creating jobs for our members.?

A staff member in the IBEW Washington D.C. Political Legislative Department responded to an email inquiry regarding this letter and stated in part:
?We supported the bill for several important reasons:
1) The chair and sponsor of the bill asked us to
2) AT&T who was extremely helpful to us on past legislation (and an Employer of IBEW members) asked for our help on it
3) Frontier communications (employer of 1245 in California) asked us to
Having said that it wasn't priority for IBEW we only wrote a letter of support. We never did lobby or do and sort of mobilization effort.?
As a result of this ?favor? to the industry, any intervention on this bill would be considered meddling in a dispute between two affiliates of the Labor Fed, which under those circumstances, must remain neutral. (*Note: 1245 identifies the Local of IBEW; the number of members is unknown.)

Can SB 1161 be stopped?
Wherever deregulation of telecommunications has raised its ugly head, it was soon followed by greater concentration of communication and information network ownership, reduced competition, higher prices and fewer choices for consumers. Labor, particularly the men and women of the Communications Workers of America have suffered the biggest hit in jobs and working conditions.

Where there is oversight by the PUC, Quality Service Measurements pressure the Telcos to perform repairs and restore service within reasonable time frames and mitigate customer abuse. Where there is no oversight, there are no standards for consumer protection, and Telcos can allow outages to last to the point where customers might abandon landlines for wireless. The wireless divisions compete with the wireline side, eventually causing a loss of customers and reductions in the workforce.

Even with those Service Quality Measurements, ATT and Verizon performed miserably. Nonetheless, millions of California households still desire wireline phone service, especially with the glitches in wireless service due to insufficient capacity, or spectrum, and choke points caused by the data-consuming ?apps? boasted by the IT firms.

Several years of regulatory analysis and data from various states where the regulatory framework has been attacked and weakened show a steady, building momentum that will be difficult to stop. But it can be defeated, as was the case in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and several other states. The astonishing phenomenon is that this bill is being lauded as a major piece of bi-partisan cooperation as indicated by the votes at various stages:
? 4/25/12 - Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications: 12-0
? 5/29/12 - Senate Appropriations: 7-0
? 5/30/12 - Senate Floor: 30-6
? 6/18/12 - Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee: 13-1
? To be voted out of the full Assembly by July 1

Conclusion: Stop SB 1161 Deregulation of Telecommunications
Communications Workers of America and the communities served by the multi-billion dollar telecommunications industry in California will be the biggest losers in this fight. Despite this, CWA has only begun to mobilize its membership of over 60,000 in California. This is due in part to the intense contract bargaining which is currently taking place with ATT which has become an existential struggle. CWA District 9 members have been working without a contract for over two months. However, deregulation of telecommunications did not begin overnight; it has been on the march, state by state, for over a dozen years. Informed observers admit that inertia and the lack of pro-active analysis and organizing against deregulation have allowed the Telcos and their minions to gain precious ground.

One positive development has been a coalition that has formed between CWA, the Utility Reform Network, AARP, Division of Ratepayer Advocates and over fifty community and consumer groups. It was this type of coalition that beat back deregulation in other states. However, much energy has been lost trying to tweak the language of a bill that in its essence has no redeeming qualities.

You would think that California would be the last bastion to fall to deregulation. But being the biggest state in the union with over 34 million residents, over one-tenth of the population of the U.S., it is also the biggest prize. As such, no price was too high, no lie too big, and no betrayal too great. The Democratic leadership in the legislature, due to ignorance of the technology or other agendas and trade-offs, have turned their backs on labor and California consumers.

Concerned residents of California should contact their State Assembly Representative and urge them to vote against SB 1161. However, based on its history and ?bipartisan? support, it would appear that the only hope may be a veto by Governor Jerry Brown which can only come as a result of intense pressure from a wide coalition of consumer groups with hobbled support from labor. Would he be willing to do so in the face of huge Republican and Democratic votes? On the other hand, can California afford to gamble with our information infrastructure and economic future?

(For information sources used in this document contact comworkerdvocate [at] gmail.com)

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