What is it with Twitter?

Having studiously avoided Twitter up to this point, concerned with becoming weary of technological and information overload, I'm taking a second look at the potential and pitfalls of Twitter. Although an early adopter on a lot of things, the fundamental question of "why?" must be answered first for me to adopt anything, early or late.

In this video Jon Rettinger of Jon4lakers Technology discusses why he was skeptical at first and why he is now a Twitter user.

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Dopey People Using Computers Make Dumb Passwords

...you didn't expect otherwise did you?

from What's My Pass?

The Top 500 Worst Passwords of All Time

November 30th, 2008 by admin in News, Password Info

From the moment people started using passwords, it didn’t take long to realize how many people picked the very same passwords over and over. Even the way people misspell words is consistent. In fact, people are so predictable that most hackers make use of lists of common passwords just like these. To give you some insight into how predictable humans are, the following is a list of the 500 most common passwords. If you see your password on this list, please change it immediately. Keep in mind that every password listed here has been used by at least hundreds if not thousands of other people.

There are some interesting passwords on this list that show how people try to be clever, but even human cleverness is predictable. For example, look at these passwords that I found interesting:

ncc1701 The ship number for the Starship Enterprise
thx1138 The name of George Lucas’s first movie, a 1971 remake of an earlier student project
qazwsx Follows a simple pattern when typed on a typical keyboard
666666 Six sixes
7777777 Seven sevens
ou812 The title of a 1988 Van Halen album
8675309 The number mentioned in the 1982 Tommy Tutone song. The song supposedly caused an epidemic of people dialing 867- 5309 and asking for “Jenny”

“…Approximately one out of every nine people uses at least one password on the list shown in Table 9.1! And one out of every 50 people uses one of the top 20 worst passwords..”

Lists the top 500 worst passwords of all time, not considering character case. Don’t blame me for the offensive words; you were the ones who picked these, not me.

NO	Top 1-100	Top 101–200	Top 201–300	Top 301–400	Top 401–500
1	123456	porsche	firebird	prince	rosebud
2	password	guitar	butter	beach	jaguar
3	12345678	chelsea	united	amateur	great
4	1234	black	turtle	7777777	cool
5	pussy	diamond	steelers	muffin	cooper
6	12345	nascar	tiffany	redsox	1313
7	dragon	jackson	zxcvbn	star	scorpio
8	qwerty	cameron	tomcat	testing	mountain
9	696969	654321	golf	shannon	madison
10	mustang	computer	bond007	murphy	987654
11	letmein	amanda	bear	frank	brazil
12	baseball	wizard	tiger	hannah	lauren
13	master	xxxxxxxx	doctor	dave	japan
14	michael	money	gateway	eagle1	naked
15	football	phoenix	gators	11111	squirt
16	shadow	mickey	angel	mother	stars
17	monkey	bailey	junior	nathan	apple
18	abc123	knight	thx1138	raiders	alexis
19	pass	iceman	porno	steve	aaaa
20	fuckme	tigers	badboy	forever	bonnie
21	6969	purple	debbie	angela	peaches
22	jordan	andrea	spider	viper	jasmine
23	harley	horny	melissa	ou812	kevin
24	ranger	dakota	booger	jake	matt
25	iwantu	aaaaaa	1212	lovers	qwertyui
26	jennifer	player	flyers	suckit	danielle
27	hunter	sunshine	fish	gregory	beaver
28	fuck	morgan	porn	buddy	4321
29	2000	starwars	matrix	whatever	4128
30	test	boomer	teens	young	runner
31	batman	cowboys	scooby	nicholas	swimming
32	trustno1	edward	jason	lucky	dolphin
33	thomas	charles	walter	helpme	gordon
34	tigger	girls	cumshot	jackie	casper
35	robert	booboo	boston	monica	stupid
36	access	coffee	braves	midnight	shit
37	love	xxxxxx	yankee	college	saturn
38	buster	bulldog	lover	baby	gemini
39	1234567	ncc1701	barney	cunt	apples
40	soccer	rabbit	victor	brian	august
41	hockey	peanut	tucker	mark	3333
42	killer	john	princess	startrek	canada
43	george	johnny	mercedes	sierra	blazer
44	sexy	gandalf	5150	leather	cumming
45	andrew	spanky	doggie	232323	hunting
46	charlie	winter	zzzzzz	4444	kitty
47	superman	brandy	gunner	beavis	rainbow
48	asshole	compaq	horney	bigcock	112233
49	fuckyou	carlos	bubba	happy	arthur
50	dallas	tennis	2112	sophie	cream
51	jessica	james	fred	ladies	calvin
52	panties	mike	johnson	naughty	shaved
53	pepper	brandon	xxxxx	giants	surfer
54	1111	fender	tits	booty	samson
55	austin	anthony	member	blonde	kelly
56	william	blowme	boobs	fucked	paul
57	daniel	ferrari	donald	golden	mine
58	golfer	cookie	bigdaddy	0	king
59	summer	chicken	bronco	fire	racing
60	heather	maverick	penis	sandra	5555
61	hammer	chicago	voyager	pookie	eagle
62	yankees	joseph	rangers	packers	hentai
63	joshua	diablo	birdie	einstein	newyork
64	maggie	sexsex	trouble	dolphins	little
65	biteme	hardcore	white	0	redwings
66	enter	666666	topgun	chevy	smith
67	ashley	willie	bigtits	winston	sticky
68	thunder	welcome	bitches	warrior	cocacola
69	cowboy	chris	green	sammy	animal
70	silver	panther	super	slut	broncos
71	richard	yamaha	qazwsx	8675309	private
72	fucker	justin	magic	zxcvbnm	skippy
73	orange	banana	lakers	nipples	marvin
74	merlin	driver	rachel	power	blondes
75	michelle	marine	slayer	victoria	enjoy
76	corvette	angels	scott	asdfgh	girl
77	bigdog	fishing	2222	vagina	apollo
78	cheese	david	asdf	toyota	parker
79	matthew	maddog	video	travis	qwert
80	121212	hooters	london	hotdog	time
81	patrick	wilson	7777	paris	sydney
82	martin	butthead	marlboro	rock	women
83	freedom	dennis	srinivas	xxxx	voodoo
84	ginger	fucking	internet	extreme	magnum
85	blowjob	captain	action	redskins	juice
86	nicole	bigdick	carter	erotic	abgrtyu
87	sparky	chester	jasper	dirty	777777
88	yellow	smokey	monster	ford	dreams
89	camaro	xavier	teresa	freddy	maxwell
90	secret	steven	jeremy	arsenal	music
91	dick	viking	11111111	access14	rush2112
92	falcon	snoopy	bill	wolf	russia
93	taylor	blue	crystal	nipple	scorpion
94	111111	eagles	peter	iloveyou	rebecca
95	131313	winner	pussies	alex	tester
96	123123	samantha	cock	florida	mistress
97	bitch	house	beer	eric	phantom
98	hello	miller	rocket	legend	billy
99	scooter	flower	theman	movie	6666
100	please	jack	oliver	success	albert

Source: Perfect Passwords, Mark Burnett 2005

If you thought 2008 was bumpy...

Benson of The Arizona Republic

The Machine that Changed the World

The out-of-print and unavailable history of computing video from 1991. The key to solving the "software problem" was found in the existing technology of the telephone state of "off" and "on."


The Machine that Changed the World: Giant Brains



The Machine that Changed the World: Inventing the Future



The Machine that Changed the World: The Paperback Computer



The Machine that Changed the World: The Thinking Machine



The Machine that Changed the World: The World at Your Fingertips



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The Machine That Changed the World which was produced by WGBH Television in Boston MA, in cooperation with the British Broadcasting Corp., with support from ACM, NSF and UNISYS. http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/TMTCTW.html was broadcast on PBS in 1991.

are you sure about that?...

"As governor I am required to make this appointment." ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, of Illinois, naming a successor to Barack Obama in the Senate. QUOTATION OF THE DAY

New York Times online December 31, 2008

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When I started out on computers in the 70s it was not a conscious choice but a lot of my friends were "geeks" and my work also required me to learn the basics so I did. They were unfriendly machines to me, to be used like a car or the telephone, for a specific utilitarian purpose. Computers were simply a means to an end that I had to master to achieve what I wanted, I wasn't a natural at it.

Some of those friends spurned the way the internet became a multimedia network while I embraced it. At this stage I'm beginning to reflect on that attitude with some regret. Once in the deep waters of technology though you no longer simply wade out of them.

An end of year reprint from the Wall Street Journal online that has a lot of implications in the area of telecommunications as well as the internet and online social networking.

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• ADVERTISING
• DECEMBER 31, 2008

Obama's Digital Campaign Allies Seek to Cash In

By EMILY STEEL

Tech-savvy tactics helped give Barack Obama's presidential campaign an edge. Now, several of the ad-technology companies that powered the campaign's digital push are touting their role in its success, hoping to gain an edge over their own competitors.

No sooner did the polls close than companies such as New York communications agency SS+K, mobile-marketing firms Distributive Networks and Quattro Wireless and online-ad firm Pontiflex began highlighting their role in the campaign to solicit new business. Now, big-name marketers including retailer Gap and insurer Allstate are seeking out these firms, hoping the Obama effect will rub off.

By using mobile-phone advertising, the Obama campaign rounded up volunteers and encouraged voters to go to the polls. It built a list of mobile-phone numbers, developed profiles of potential voters and sent them targeted messages.

Getty Images

Barack Obama

President-elect Obama's decision to announce his running mate by text message was a watershed moment for a technology that has had trouble catching on as an advertising medium. The text-message announcement was the single largest mobile-marketing event to date, with more than 2.9 million text messages sent, according to estimates from Nielsen Mobile.

"Unlike most other technologies that already have been proven, this was text-messaging's coming-out party," says Kevin Bertram, CEO of Distributive Networks, the Washington firm that sent the texts.

The day after the vote, Distributive published a seven-page case study called "TXT WE CAN," detailing what marketers could learn from the Obama campaign. The case study highlights how early in the election the campaign secured the short code 62262, which spells Obama on a telephone keypad. The campaign then built its mobile base by including the short code in a Super Bowl commercial, as well as other ads, so that people could sign up for messages from the campaign.

Mr. Bertram says that, in addition to sparking recent conversations with brand marketers and ad agencies, his firm's campaign work has opened doors overseas, securing business with Vodafone in Ireland and India following the campaign.

Quattro Wireless, Waltham, Mass., put together an Obama ad campaign targeting youth in 10 battleground states. Its ads appeared both on mobile Web sites and as text messages. That work led to a broader relationship with Mobext, a mobile marketing network of French ad giant Havas.

Mobext started working with Quattro in August and has increased its purchases from the ad network since, buying space on behalf of McDonald's franchisees and for Amtrak. "I know the Obama folks have done their due diligence," says Phuc Truong, Mobext's managing director.

Of course, the Obama campaign itself mimicked some strategies that sophisticated digital marketers use to attract consumers in areas such as search advertising. But it also succeeded in using social networking and mobile communications as low-cost tools to build a brand.

The campaign was "a great model for marketers to really think about how to use emerging digital tools effectively," says Joan Walker, Allstate's interim chief marketing officer and senior vice president of corporate relations.

Earlier this year, Allstate created a separate business unit to build an online social network about financial services. Now, the insurer is studying how to tap into social media and other technologies to promote its public-policy agenda in areas like teen-driver safety. Allstate said it has talked with SS+K about helping it expand its social-networking efforts.

The campaign also worked with New York-based Pontiflex for an online push in swing states. Pontiflex generated lists of voters who expressed interest in Obama through ads on dozens of Web sites, and the campaign paid for each lead. As a result of its work with the campaign, Pontiflex was able to sign Web-entertainment network Pangea Media and expanded its work with Unicef, the United Nations children's fund.

Firms that worked for the McCain campaign are promoting their roles as well. To help it create a social-networking site during the final stretch of the campaign, the McCain organization turned to New York-based KickApps. KickApps is promoting that role on its Web site and in business pitches, and says its work for the campaign features prominently in conversations with new clients.

Write to Emily Steel at emily.steel@wsj.com

Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

www.djreprints.com

Words That Cause People Who Are Cool With The Vision Thing Cringe: "We’re from the Federal government…we’re here to help"

...unless you're the military protecting my homeland, no thanks, I don't need your kind of government help. You've done enough in my life with the regulated monopoly Bell System, Affirmative Action Consent Decree, Divestiture, Telecommunications Act of 1996...

This holiday week here's another reprint, this time from The Telecommunications History Group by Herb Hackenburg, "We're from the federal government...we're here to help." He makes relevant points about bailouts and the banking industry on the precipice of nationalization.

I foresee the banking industry as some new form of regulated behemoth much like the Bell System was only morphed into a form for this era and that industry. Regardless of how the situation develops the end will be the same, giant organizations that will eventually somehow have to be weaned off taxpayer subsidies because the burden is too much. Likely it will not be pretty either, much like the Divestiture of the Bell System, fraught with problems that eventually bring it all down.

(Does anyone really believe that the current incarnation of AT&T is remotely anything like the original one in spite of reacquiring some of their former companies?)

The government created, aided and abetted the regulated utility monopoly, whether or not that was a good or bad idea became irrelevant decades after the monopolies were established. At the time the regulated monopoly and Universal Service Fund seemed to make sense to some people in order to build out the communications system. It sufficed for it's era but inevitably it became stagnant and needed reform. It's a classic example of why "sunset laws" are effective and necessary, to avoid self-perpetuating entities not realistically dealing with current situations.

The bottom line still is the government created the regulated Bell System and Independent telephone system, good, right, wrong, bad or indifferent and was irresponsible in the manner divestiture and deregulation occurred. In this case, when the government had for decades regulated a private sector industry integral to the economy as a matter of policy, the government should not have walked away as fast as they did without a sensible (not Washington DC or US Court) orderly business unwinding.

It was actions like this, in several major industries in the same era, that very possibly is one of the major early triggers of the current Economic Crisis.

The phone companies were more than just the wires that connect to make people talk, it was also a lot of paychecks to people across all wage scales and in communities across the entire land. The company was vital in multiple ways to the macro-economy.

While there is no doubt that the decades of government intervention need to be reconfigured or unwound in the telephone, airline, trucking and other industries because it was no longer relevant and impeding progress...

was it smart to bust the whole thing in oddball parts with such ineptitude?

Whenever the government steps in to help, that help is institutionalized forever and cannot be untangled once the conduit for the bureaucratic lines has been laid. No matter the originating circumstances and cause and nature of a crisis that may have caused a reaction of government intervention, before it is undertaken we must take into consideration how that intervention will be undone. We learned from a rapid unwinding of the Bell System and subsequently, the telcom and tech crash and the current Telcom Nuclear Winter, what government intervention and subsequent extrication, that nether side was really prepared for, can do destructively. Sunsetting of regulations and policies, after scheduled periodic review and action in a timely manner, is crucial to stop the regulations and policies attendant bureaucracies from snowballing into self-perpetuating money-wasters.

Hindsight on utility monopolies and government help is 20/20 but the lesson is there to be learned for all, so it is not repeated. If you were a pessimist and a betting person, regardless of the obvious lessons, you should bet that we're going to repeat these mistakes. Actually, we have already started.

We should not go down the road of government help no matter how afraid we are of current conditions without checks and balances. We've recently made two giant moves in the wrong direction by effectively nationalizing major banks and creatively bailing out the auto industry. The consequences will be, at the minimum, problematic to the macro-economy in the future.

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an aside about preserving telephone history:

We are possibly in danger of losing a lot of our industry history, by collection or a lack of ability and resources to preserve it, since a great deal of it is maintained by retiree-volunteers and the economic crisis has affected all similar organizations. These retiree-volunteers are growing older and fund-raising as well as existing funds are tighter. There is a real possibility these retirees may also be losing retirement benefits and will be less able to afford to contribute more than just their time.
In my mind I see the current caretakers doing excellent jobs in their work but a large gap exists in the use of new technology, the internet, for both research and preservation records. The challenge is in transitioning not only the articles of history but the sense of what the industry was about besides just the wires that connected for people to talk. Video online is one tool to consider in preserving the sense of the industry.Young people and boomers must get more involved to continue the work.

Please support preserving and maintaining historical items, records and archives in something that interests you. The Telecommunications History Group, Inc. is one such organization for those of us interested in the traditional telephone system.

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We’re from the federal government…we’re here to help

By Herb Hackenburg
The Telecommunications History Group, Inc.
from the Winter 2008 print newsletter "Dial-Log"
Winter 2008, Vol. 12, No. 4

2008 will probably be remembered as the year of financial disasters and large government bailouts. The United States government began to buy into the nation’s largest banks. The banks’ cost for government help was additional government oversight of how they conduct business. Not quite bank nationalization…yet.

Ninety years ago, the world was at war. The United States entered the conflict and the government took control of the nation’s telephone industry.

Woodrow Wilson was the President of the United States. Wilson’s Postmaster General was Albert Sidney Burleson, described by most people as a populist, by some as a socialist. In 1913, Burleson advocated that the Nation’s telegraph and telephone service should be “postalized.” Burleson suggested that if that idea was good enough for most of Europe, it should be good enough for the United States.


Albert Sidney Burleson

Burleson had never really sold his idea to the United States’ telephone or telegraph industry, the government, or the voters. The emergency powers brought about by the United States' entry into World War I allowed Burleson make a government operated telephone system a reality.

The marriage between the Bell System, the Independent Telephone Association, and the U. S. Postal Department was not made in heaven--it was made by edict. A press release at 1:01 am on August 1, 1918, was the “wedding announcement.”

The release said:

“Pursuant to the proclamation of the President of the United States I have assumed possession, control and supervision of the telegraph and telephone systems of the United States. This proclamation has already been published and the officers, operators and employees of the various telegraph and telephone companies are acquainted with its terms."

The next paragraph says that the telephone and telegraph companies should operate exactly as they had been, under the same leadership and financing they had in place. There are seven rather important words in this paragraph — “…unless otherwise ordered by the Postmaster General.”

“I earnestly request the loyal cooperation of all officers, operators and employees, and the public in order that the service rendered shall be not only maintained at a high standard but improved wherever possible. It is the purpose to coordinate and unify these services so that they may be operated as a national system with due regard to the interests of the public and the owners of the properties.

“No changes will be made until after the most careful consideration of all the facts. When deemed desirable to make changes announcement will be made.”

Authorization for issuing the edict came from a joint resolution from Congress designed to give the president the authority to assume control of all of the nation’s telegraph and telephone companies. In the Congressional hearings on the matter Theodore Vail, the head of the Nation’s largest telephone company, was not invited to give testimony. In fact, he was not even allowed to attend the hearings.

After the fact, Vail was invited to meet with Burleson. Privately, both men had expressed a dislike and distrust of each other. They had never met face to face. During the meeting, Vail expressed his main concern--that customer service should not be degraded under “postalization.” Burleson, in turn, asked Vail to take a major role in making mutually satisfactory financial arrangements between the phone companies and the government. By the end of the meeting both Burleson and Vail felt the other guy wasn’t so bad after all. However, it’s interesting that a search of Bell System employee publications at this time show that phone company stories concerning this government takeover at no time mention Burleson by name. He is always referred to as the Postmaster General.

While the “postalized” telephone service only lasted about a year, for the average customer it was a service and financial disaster. One of the first things Burleson did was to institute fees for installing a telephone. Vail had been trying to establish an installation fee system, but the state utility commissions would not allow it. Now federal edict instantly trumped all the state regulators, according to the United States Supreme Court. Later, the post office raised both long distance and local service rates by 20 percent.

Service was degraded because much of the newly manufactured phone equipment was being sent overseas for the Army’s use. In addition, there was a shortage of employees to maintain domestic telephone service; the Army Signal Corps had nearly 18,000 Bell System men in its ranks and nearly as many from the nation’s independent telephone companies.

And when customers would complain to the telephone company, many were told politely, “There isn’t anything we can do about it, we’re owned by the government.”

The war ended about a month after the “postalization,” but “postalization” lived on. The voters became restless.

Congress was deluged with letters demanding the end of government controlled telephone service. A new joint resolution was adopted, unique in that Congress admitted that the whole “postalization” idea was wrong and apologized to the voters for adopting it in the first place.

Meanwhile, rather quietly, AT&T enjoyed its most profitable year to date.

And those installation fees are still around.

It will be interesting to see how government ownership affects the banking industry over the next few months.

The iPhone 3G and iPhone clones

The iPhone 3G and iPhone clones

By Phil Goldstein

The news: AT&T Mobility launched the Apple's iPhone 3G July 11, ushering in a new era of high-speed data capable smartphones. Apple's second-generation iPhone, which featured the same sleek look and innovative touchscreen user interface of the first-gen iPhone, now offered consumers the ability to surf the Web using AT&T's HSPA network and that sparked a flurry of iPhone clones.

T-Mobile USA jumped into the ring post-iPhone 3G, with the launch of the G1, the first phone based on Google's Android platform, which boasted a touchscreen and a QWERTY keyboard. Then came the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, formerly known as the Tube. Verizon Wireless followed up shortly thereafter with the Motorola Krave ZN4--billed as both a touchscreen phone and a flip phone.

Then, the deluge came: the Samsung Epix (AT&T); the HTC Touch Pro, a soup-ed up version of the HTC Touch Diamond (Sprint Nextel); the $800 Sony Ericsson Xperia X1; the Samsung Saga (Verizon) and Samsung Eternity (AT&T); Research In Motion's BlackBerry Storm--the first touchscreen BlackBerry (Verizon); the Samsung Omnia (Verizon); and the Nokia N97.

Why it was significant: It is easy to pronounce this or that as a paradigm shift, but the launch of the iPhone 3G truly was one. The genius lay behind its marketing, with each 30-second ad almost like an infomercial for how to use the multiple features and applications of the iPhone 3G, and then, at the end, reminding customers that it was a phone, too. Apple marketed the iPhone 3G as a mobile computer and digital media player first, and a phone second. And other handset makers felt they had to follow suit, launching a bevy of sleek phones with touchscreen UI's. While each pretender to the throne was looking to be an iPhone-Killer, so far the iPhone 3G remains at the top, simply by virtue that no other handset has achieved the same kind of brand recognition that the iPhone 3G has.

Now I have questions on this...

but have just started to really delve into it. Originally being a skeptic on the topic doesn't mean an open mind can't later learn more information and develop a more enlightened view.

This article started me thinking about this last summer and a random event this past week has reopened it for further inquiry. more about that, tbc...

Health

Well

Experts Revive Debate Over Cellphones and Cancer

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Published: June 3, 2008

What do brain surgeons know about cellphone safety that the rest of us don’t?

Last week, three prominent neurosurgeons told the CNN interviewer Larry King that they did not hold cellphones next to their ears. “I think the safe practice,” said Dr. Keith Black, a surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, “is to use an earpiece so you keep the microwave antenna away from your brain.”

Dr. Vini Khurana, an associate professor of neurosurgery at the Australian National University who is an outspoken critic of cellphones, said: “I use it on the speaker-phone mode. I do not hold it to my ear.” And CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon at Emory University Hospital, said that like Dr. Black he used an earpiece.

Along with Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s recent diagnosis of a glioma, a type of tumor that critics have long associated with cellphone use, the doctors’ remarks have helped reignite a long-simmering debate about cellphones and cancer.

That supposed link has been largely dismissed by many experts, including the American Cancer Society. The theory that cellphones cause brain tumors “defies credulity,” said Dr. Eugene Flamm, chairman of neurosurgery at Montefiore Medical Center.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, three large epidemiology studies since 2000 have shown no harmful effects. CTIA — the Wireless Association, the leading industry trade group, said in a statement, “The overwhelming majority of studies that have been published in scientific journals around the globe show that wireless phones do not pose a health risk.”

The F.D.A. notes, however, that the average period of phone use in the studies it cites was about three years, so the research doesn’t answer questions about long-term exposures. Critics say many studies are flawed for that reason, and also because they do not distinguish between casual and heavy use.

Cellphones emit non-ionizing radiation, waves of energy that are too weak to break chemical bonds or to set off the DNA damage known to cause cancer. There is no known biological mechanism to explain how non-ionizing radiation might lead to cancer.

But researchers who have raised concerns say that just because science can’t explain the mechanism doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist. Concerns have focused on the heat generated by cellphones and the fact that the radio frequencies are absorbed mostly by the head and neck. In recent studies that suggest a risk, the tumors tend to occur on the same side of the head where the patient typically holds the phone.

Like most research on the subject, the studies are observational, showing only an association between cellphone use and cancer, not a causal relationship. The most important of these studies is called Interphone, a vast research effort in 13 countries, including Canada, Israel and several in Europe.

Some of the research suggests a link between cellphone use and three types of tumors: glioma; cancer of the parotid, a salivary gland near the ear; and acoustic neuroma, a tumor that essentially occurs where the ear meets the brain. All these cancers are rare, so even if cellphone use does increase risk, the risk is still very low.

Last year, The American Journal of Epidemiology published data from Israel finding a 58 percent higher risk of parotid gland tumors among heavy cellphone users. Also last year, a Swedish analysis of 16 studies in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine showed a doubling of risk for acoustic neuroma and glioma after 10 years of heavy cellphone use.

“What we’re seeing is suggestions in epidemiological studies that have looked at people using phones for 10 or more years,” says Louis Slesin, editor of Microwave News, an industry publication that tracks the research. “There are some very disconcerting findings that suggest a problem, although it’s much too early to reach a conclusive view.”

Some doctors say the real concern is not older cellphone users, who began using phones as adults, but children who are beginning to use phones today and face a lifetime of exposure.

“More and more kids are using cellphones,” said Dr. Paul J. Rosch, clinical professor of medicine and psychiatry at New York Medical College. “They may be much more affected. Their brains are growing rapidly, and their skulls are thinner.”

For people who are concerned about any possible risk, a simple solution is to use a headset. Of course, that option isn’t always convenient, and some critics have raised worries about wireless devices like the Bluetooth that essentially place a transmitter in the ear.

The fear is that even if the individual risk of using a cellphone is low, with three billion users worldwide, even a minuscule risk would translate into a major public health concern.

“We cannot say with any certainty that cellphones are either safe or not safe,” Dr. Black said on CNN. “My concern is that with the widespread use of cellphones, the worst scenario would be that we get the definitive study 10 years from now, and we find out there is a correlation.”

well@nytimes.com

Quote of the Day (a twofer!)

Sign of the Times?



two quotes...

From The New York Times online:

"I made a coffee one night but forgot to drink it. The next morning I saw a layer of oil floating on it."
Mano Misra, a professor of engineering at University of Nevada-Reno, on his "ah-ha" moment that led to the discovery that used coffee grounds can be turned into diesel fuel.

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"We’ve made too many promises and asked for too few sacrifices. We’re going to have to change our culture as we know it."

GOV. DAVID A. PATERSON, of New York, calling for reduced pension benefits because of budget problems.

Qwest: Baby Bell Black Sheep

As a former long time Mountain Bell-USWC-Qwest employee who aaaaaalmost made it to a full pension or buyout but didn't (Joe Nacchio just decided to cut the cord when our turn came around)...

there is still value in Qwest, even if they don't always recognize it, leaving the conclusion that they still have life after debt if they manage it correctly.

The following is a Doug Mohny's FierceTelecom article of December 15, 2008 on Qwest. Then also BloggingStocks blog on Qwest by Steven Halpern, where Doug Mohny derived his information.

The Qwest story: to be continued...



"Qwest Speculation: Turnaround or takeover"

December 15, 2008 — 5:35pm ET | By Doug Mohney

Investors have been focusing on Qwest's shortcomings, but at least one Wall Streeter is looking hungry like the bull at the stock.

Turnaround specialist George Putnam says the company is looking good because of its large base of landline - yes, landline - customers. Each landline customer is an opportunity to sell new or expanded services, including data, video and wireless. While Qwest continues to build out its broadband network, it has partnered with Verizon Wireless to sell cell phone service and DIRECTV for video.

Meanwhile, Qwest has been expanding its business services unit revenues, and Putnam expects revenues to uptick on the consumer side as it continues to add more products.

Cash flow remains "very strong" and, after cutting its debt by nearly a third since 2001, Qwest is now providing dividends and buying back shares. Expenses have been cut by $2.5 billion over the past five years, and the company is trimming another 1,200 jobs this year.

Putnam says that Qwest looks especially tasty for an acquisition by either AT&T or Verizon, or even a foreign telecom firm looking for an American beachhead [Hmm, there's a lot of Persian Gulf money sloshing around these days]. At about six times 2008's expected earnings and four times cash flow, the company looks "very cheap."

Regardless, he expected to see earnings and cash flow to increase and multiples to rebound, translating into a "significantly higher" stock price.

For more:
- Speculation on Qwest's fate is blogged.

Related articles
Qwest CFO reassures investors
Qwest Q3 profit drops, job cuts ahead

Qwest (Q) for profits: Turnaround or takeover?

Posted Dec 15th 2008 10:42AM by Steven Halpern
Filed under: Newsletters, Qwest Communications Intl (Q), Stocks to Buy, Technology

"Investors have been focusing on the shortcomings at Qwest Communications International (NYSE: Q), and to be sure, it has plenty," observes turnaround specialist George Putnam.

In his The Turnaround Letter, he adds, "But the company also has very valuable assets and strong cash flow. In addition, we believe the stock would command a good premium in a takeover." Here's his bullish review.

"Following its IPO in 1995, Qwest expanded via acquisitions and partnerships, and participated in the telecom bubble of the late 1990's.

"Unlike many of the other high-flying telecoms of that era, however, Qwest realized that in addition to a story you needed customers. In 2000, it went out and acquired US West, which gave Qwest the revenue base to survive the bursting of the telecom bubble

"Although the company survived, the shareholders have had a rocky ride during the current decade. The stock peaked around 60 in 2000, dropped to just above 1 in 2002, rebounded to 10 in 2007 and then declined to its present level.

"Management's challenge is too maximize the value of its assets. One of Qwest's greatest assets, and biggest challenges, is its huge traditional landline telephone business. The landline business is in a slow but steady decline as customers move to wireless or Internet telephony.

"But each landline customer also represents the opportunity to sell new or expanded services, including data, video and wireless. Qwest has partnered with Verizon Wireless to provide cellphone service, and DIRECTV to provide video, and it is building out its own broadband data capability.

"The company is showing good growth in broadband and video customers. Wireless customers have declined recently as Qwest changed partners from Sprint to Verizon, but they should begin to rebound as the new relationship becomes better established.

"Qwest has been successful in expanding the revenues of its business services unit, and as it adds products on the consumer side, it should be able to improve revenues there as well.

"In the meantime, the company is cutting costs to boost the bottom line. Over the past five years, management reduced expenses by $2.5 billion. So far in 2008, Qwest has eliminated 2,300 jobs (6.4% of its workforce), and it just announced plans for another 1,200 job cuts.

"Cash flow remains very strong. After using the cash inflows to cut debt by nearly one-third since 2001, the company has begun returning cash to shareholders – about $1 billion over the first nine months of 2008 – in the form of dividends and share buybacks.

"As the stock price has declined, the dividend yield has risen to a very generous 12%. While dividends are never guaranteed, management appears committed to maintaining the high payout. The company also has plans to buy back another $200 million of its stock.

"We believe that Qwest will reward shareholders by growing revenues and profits on its own. But it is also a very attractive acquisition candidate.

"It would fit well with either of the other two, much larger, remaining former Baby Bells, AT&T or Verizon. Or it would provide a good beach-head for a foreign telecom company that wanted to expand into the U.S. market.

"At about six times this year's expected earnings and four times cash flow (measured by EBITDA), Qwest looks very cheap.

"We would expect earnings and cash flow to increase and multiples to rebound as investors become less skittish – leading to a significantly higher stock price. Alternatively, we believe the stock would command a good premium in a takeover."

Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a daily look at the latest market commentary and favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.