| Google vs. Evil
We didn't want to do anything rash," Brin says. "The situation over there is more complex than I had imagined." Four days later, Chinese authorities restored access to the site. How did that happen? For starters, the Chinese government was deluged with outcries from the nation's 46 million Internet users when access to Google was cut off. "Internet users in China are an apolitical crowd," says Xiao Qiang, executive director of New York-based Human Rights In China. "They tend to be people who are doing well, and they don't usually voice strong views. But this stepped into their digital freedom." The quick workaround: Chinese authorities tweaked the national firewall, making the new Google China different from the site that was turned off. Today, Chinese who use Google to search on terms like "falun gong" or "human rights in china" receive a standard-looking results page.
International Brain Awareness Week 2008
In the early 1900s, Sigmund Freud, Alois Alzheimer and Harvey Cushing were building their careers in neuroscience. Freud published his groundbreaking work The Interpretation of Dreams, Alzheimer identified Alzheimer’s disease, and Cushing was establishing neurosurgery as a specialty. A century later, the Society for Neuroscience has more then 38,000 members and a Google search on neuroscience brings up more than nine million hits. Neuroscience has become one of the leading fields of scientific endeavor and almost daily scientific papers are published detailing new findings about the brain and its functions. .
No bikes on 183-A
I wrote a column on Monday about a guy, Chuck Thomas, who commutes to work on the Texas 45 North tollway. On his bicycle. I said he could do so because the Texas Transportation Commission has not voted to make biking illegal on its three toll roads in the Austin area. The board of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, however, did vote about a year ago to make biking illegal on its single toll road, 183-A. That road, if you don't know, connects at its southern end to Texas 45 North and then goes for 4.5 miles north to RM 1431. There are signs on its entrances indicating no bikes are allowed. One caveat: The mobility authority built another 7.1 miles of two-lane frontage roads from RM 1431 to north of Leander, where the lanes merge with the old U.S.
Dowtown rooftop burglars caught
During a search of the car, officers found a stolen camera from Richards Music Store as well as an I-Pod accessory that is only carried locally by that store. Police also discovered bolt cutters, gloves and a pry bar.After interviewing the suspects, Safford officers searched a residence on Sixth Avenue and located several stolen items hidden in the attic. Some of the items recovered included 10 guitars, cameras, I-Pods and computer equipment.Sgt. Knight said due to the suspects’ modus operandi (the way they burglarized the businesses) and statements from Maltby during interrogation, they have been implicated in multiple burglaries in Safford and other surrounding areas.Officers are linking the suspects to a possible total of seven burglaries that have occurred within the past week. Reader Comments .
Business Highlights
Oil prices rose following the news, and that unwelcome inflationary trend only added to Wall Street's uneasiness. In a bright spot, the Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index advanced to 88.6 in December from a revised 87.8 in November. It was the first increase since July and Wall Street had expected a slight drop. Thursday's drop was perhaps exaggerated by the fact that many traders were on vacation, making volume light and price swings more severe. Still, given the political uncertainty overseas, many investors were likely selling because they were uneasy about holding long positions going into a holiday weekend. ------ WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. factories saw orders for costly manufactured goods rise only marginally in November -- falling short of expectations for a much bigger gain and underscoring the strains on the economy from housing and credit problems.
The ‘Awakening’ of Muqtada al-Sadr: What is Iran’s Role?
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Trust fund set up for slain man’s family
So far a total of $10,000 has been collected; $5,000 from Progenics Cord Blood Cryobank, $4,000 from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce (East Toronto) and $1,000 from the Toronto Alliance Church. “We are very fortunate to be able to establish a bank account through Scotiabank. We believe that this is a community that supports each other," said Dale Chung, president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce (East Toronto) with the help of Trinity-Spadina MP Olivia Chow, who translated his comments.Chow, the wife of Toronto-Danforth MP and NDP leader Jack Layton, encouraged people to remember that Mao was a father like any other who just wanted the best for his family.“Mr. Mao worked day in and day out to stack fruit in the cold for his children. I believe that his hope is really to support his family," she said, pointing to the generosity of Torontonians towards the Zhang family following the murder of their nine-year-old daughter Cecilia.“I urge people to donate and support the two young people in front of me." Chow added that politicians are looking at banning handguns, creating youth employment programs and putting more cops on the street but that “in the meantime, let's work to make sure Mr.
REI's Pittsburgh Store Receives United States Green Building Council's ...
(CSRwire) Less water, less electricity, minimal construction waste and an urban location on the reclaimed grounds once home to a steel mill all helped REI's new Pittsburgh store reduce its environmental impact. Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), a national retail cooperative providing quality outdoor gear and clothing, announced today that several green construction achievements for the store have earned a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) Silver® rating from the United States Green Building Council. The 26,500 square-foot, two-story store in Southside Works, at 412 S. 27th Street, is the second REI store to receive LEED certification. In 2004, REI earned LEED-CI Gold for its Portland, Ore., store - the first retail store in the nation to receive that designation.
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