Ecommerce talks

Ecommerce talks

"Probably most of the people who use VOIP never heard of Pulver, just as the other week I met a company who believed it was reinventing the World Wide Web and had never heard of Tim Berners-Lee.

I first ran across Pulver in 1995, when he was working on the first version of Free World Dial-Up. It was the first service designed to let people talk over the Internet to people they already knew instead of strangers who happened to have signed up on the same server.

At the time, no one had broadband, and my phone bills including Internet, local calls (which were billed by the minute in the UK then), and long distance were running upwards of $3,500 a year, and calls from the UK to the US could cost as much as $1 a minute.

(For comparison, I now spend about $1800 a year, soon to reduce by another $400, and calls to the US cost about 5 *cents* a minute.)

The experimental service involved a MASH unit-like system of patching calls from one modem to another to transfer them from the Internet connection to the ordinary telephone network that Pulver thought up because of his background in ham radio. "

73 fer nw,
Bob N5IET

(old calls KE5CTY - WB5ZQU - WY5L)
10X# 37210, FP#-1141, SMIRK#-5177
http://www.qsl.net/ke5cty/
Code may be taking a back seat for now,
but the pioneering spirit that put the code
there in the first place is out front of it all.

Tu-va Or Not Tu-va? - Forbes.com

Tu-va Or Not Tu-va? - Forbes.com

"My introduction to Tuva was not dissimilar to Feynman's, though it wasn't stamps or a lack of vowels that intrigued me. On Oct. 29, 1978, I conversed with a Tuvan ham radio operator named Sany (call sign: UA0YAE). Afterward, I went to my own atlas to locate the country, but couldn't. I did find Kyzyl, but it seemed to be in Siberia, not Tuva.

Upon further research, I found that in 1944 Tuva (once known as Tannu Tuva) was annexed by the U.S.S.R. and removed from many world maps. But rumor has it there is still language in Tuva's constitution that claims independence and, for whatever reason, Russia lets the language remain. I also found that Tuva is famous for throat singing, the strange art of harmonizing two different notes at the same time in one's throat. "

73 fer nw,
Bob N5IET

(old calls KE5CTY - WB5ZQU - WY5L)
10X# 37210, FP#-1141, SMIRK#-5177
http://www.qsl.net/ke5cty/
Code may be taking a back seat for now,
but the pioneering spirit that put the code
there in the first place is out front of it all.

Hams to the rescue, again

Hams to the rescue, again

"Hams to the rescue, again

For fifth year, amateur radio operators will help traffic police, paramedics monitor crowds during visarjan.

Express News Service

Mumbai, September 16: ON Saturday, as thousands of devotees throng Girgaum Chowpatty for the final Ganesh visarjan, a team of 30 hams (amateur radio operators) will be hard at work, ensuring that Mumbai safely bids farewell to the Elephant God.
This is the fifth consecutive year that members of the Mumbai Amateur Radio Society (MARS) will work in conjunction with the Traffic Police during visarjan.


They will be stationed at strategic locations across South Mumbai, including Opera House, C P Tank, Prarthana Samaj and, of course, Chowpatty from 12 noon on Saturday till Sunday morning, when Lalbagcha Raja, traditionally the last idol to be immersed, takes the plunge.
Besides helping in the regulation of traffic, the amateur radio operators will also coordinate with the lifeguards, first-aid camps and paramedics. "

Letter: Plan for disaster

Letter: Plan for disaster

"I am sure most of you have watched what happened to New Orleans and the surrounding region, when Hurricane Katrina struck that area.

Even though it was well known in advance that it was coming, they were not prepared. Now they are playing the blame game and pointing the finger at everyone else, when they should be pointing the finger at themselves.

Hurricane Katrina knocked out nearly all of the high-end emergency communications gear, 9-1-1 centers, cell-phone towers and phone lines in its path of destruction with 99.9 percent of normal communications in the affected region nonexistent.

The amateur radio operators were ready to fill the information vacuum.

The Red Cross issued a request for about 500 amateur radio operators, known as �hams,� to handle communications for more than 200 shelters in the affected region. The U.S. Coast Guard is looking for hams to help with its relief efforts. The hams have transmitted more than 20,000 messages from the affected area.

Sunset Empire Amateur Radio Club, a local club, continues to be ready to provide emergency communications in the event of a disaster in our local region.

Several have been handling communications messages from the hurricane-affected region.

DON WEBB
Astoria
WB7SKX, Secretary, Sunset Empire

Amateur Radio Club "

Times Community Newspapers - Editorial/Opinion - 09/15/2005 - Another Voice:Prepare now so disasters don't catch you off-guard

Times Community Newspapers - Editorial/Opinion - 09/15/2005 - Another Voice:Prepare now so disasters don't catch you off-guard

"Another Voice:Prepare now so disasters don't catch you off-guard
By Louis G. Dominguez, Gainesville
09/15/2005

Waiting for the federal, state, or local government to save you from disaster may well cost you your life.

Disasters can occur at any moment and they can happen anywhere. Even when such an occurrence is unlikely and there is no reason to expect that your daily routine will be interrupted with some unexpected calamity, the risk is always there.

There are countless possibilities for a disaster, like a tornado, tropical storm, hurricane, flood, earthquake, volcanic eruption or severe snow storm.

One also has to consider the possibility of a man-made disaster. Man-made disasters usually happen without any warning, when least expected, so such events also have the tendency to inflict shock in the victims.

Blackouts, nuclear and other types of explosions, chemical spills, food and or water contamination, uncontrollable fires, derailments and plane crashes in populated areas, riots and insurrections, terrorists attacks and a variety of other man-made events are a real possibility.

So, what to do? As we have seen, a lack of planning and preparation has resulted in a heavy death toll and destruction after Hurricane Katrina."

Las Vegas SUN: Nevada lawmakers fear state lacks plan for Katrina-type disaster

Las Vegas SUN: Nevada lawmakers fear state lacks plan for Katrina-type disaster

"September 15, 2005
Nevada lawmakers fear state lacks plan for Katrina-type disaster

ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Nevada lawmakers said Thursday they're worried that the state lacks an adequate evacuation plan in case of a major natural disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina.
Both southern and northern Nevada are dependent on pipelines that bring vehicle fuel from California and those lines could be broken by a big earthquake, Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, said during a meeting of the lawmakers' Interim Finance Committee.

Coffin also said terrorists could contaminate water in Lake Mead in the south or Lake Tahoe in the north. The two lakes are critical water sources. "

mi-reporter.com - Preparation is key - Hurricane Katrina in the South serves as a reminder

mi-reporter.com - Preparation is key - Hurricane Katrina in the South serves as a reminder

"Preparation is key - Hurricane Katrina in the South serves as a reminder
2005-09-15
by Ruth Longoria
Mercer Island Reporter

Although its damage was relegated to a few Southern states, Hurricane Katrina's Aug. 29 catastrophic attack served as a wake-up call for many Americans who wonder if they are prepared for a natural or terrorist-induced disaster. That concern may have been amplified this morning (Wednesday, Sept. 14) as the Emergency Alert System set off an earthquake drill on radio and television stations statewide in connection with National Preparedness Month.

Along with the 2002 designation of Sept. 11 as the official Patriot Day -- in honor of the thousands who lost their lives Sept. 11, 2001, during the terrorists attacks on the New York City World Trade Center -- comes the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's September 2005 proclamation of National Preparedness Month.

``Hurricane Katrina is a reminder of how important it is to be prepared,'' said Dee Totten, emergency manager for the City of Mercer Island. "

Belleville News-Democrat | 09/13/2005 | Fairview dealer lends radio operators an assist

Belleville News-Democrat | 09/13/2005 | Fairview dealer lends radio operators an assist

"Posted on Tue, Sep. 13, 2005

Fairview dealer lends radio operators an assist
BY SCOTT WUERZ
News-Democrat

Communications equipment made in Fairview Heights is helping to reunite families torn apart by Hurricane Katrina.
Bob Heil, owner of Heil Sound at 5800 N. Illinois St., donated 35 ham radio headsets to amateur radio operators who are sending messages in and out of hurricane-ravaged areas that have no other communications.
'People from all over the country have gone to Louisiana and Mississippi with their radios,' Heil said. 'This equipment gives them the ability to have their hands free to transcribe messages while they talk so they can do their job.'
The call for the headsets, called the Traveler, came from the American Radio Relay League, which Heil described as an organization that helps to promote and organize amateur radio operation. One headset costs $90, so the total donation amounted to about $3,150."

Ham radio operators tune in hurricane help | csmonitor.com

Ham radio operators tune in hurricane help | csmonitor.com

"Ham radio operators tune in hurricane help

By Barbara W. Carlson | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

NEWINGTON, CONN. Richard Webb, an amateur radio operator, was asleep on his air mattress at University Hospital in New Orleans during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina when he was awakened at 5 a.m. by a hospital administrator.

As Mr. Webb tells it, 'He told me we had a lady who was in labor, who had swum five blocks in that dirty, nasty water to the hospital because she saw lights there - people with flashlights moving around.' Medical personnel said the baby needed to be delivered by caesarean section.

But the hospital had limited power, no running water, no way to sterilize instruments, no way to perform such surgery. 'We figured we had two hours to get her medevacked out of there' before the lives of mother and child would be in danger. 'So I got on the radio and was talking to a fellow who was with the Coast Guard auxiliary in Cleveland, Ohio. I was working with him to arrange a medevac.'"

ARRLWeb: ARRL Spells Out "Ham Aid" Reimbursement Procedures

ARRLWeb: ARRL Spells Out "Ham Aid" Reimbursement Procedures

"ARRL Spells Out 'Ham Aid' Reimbursement Procedures

NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 13, 2005--The ARRL has established a set of 'Ham Aid' reimbursement procedures so radio amateurs volunteering to provide emergency communication in the field during the Hurricane Katrina disaster can recover some out-of-pocket expenses.

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) has provided a $100,000 grant supplement to ARRL to help fund Ham Aid, a new League program to support Amateur Radio volunteers deployed in the field in disaster-stricken areas. Ham Aid also has benefited from some individual contributions.

ARRL Chief Development Officer Mary Hobart, K1MMH, says the Ham Aid reimbursement program for the Katrina disaster will be limited. "

Portsmouth Herald Rachel Forrest Wine Me Dine Me: An homage to New Orleans cuisine

Portsmouth Herald Rachel Forrest Wine Me Dine Me: An homage to New Orleans cuisine

"Restaurants, chefs and food companies all over the nation are rallying along with hundreds of thousands of others to help victims of the Hurricane Katrina devastation.

In Washington, D.C., 40 chefs will hold a Share Our Strength event on Oct. 17, Coke has donated $5 million, Nations Restaurant News has a blog on its www.nrn.com Web site to keep people updated and help them help others, and on Oct. 5, restaurants across the country will band together in a Dine for America Day, a national fundraising effort to support the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and help those affected by Hurricane Katrina and their families. Go to www.dineforamerica.org for information on that.

The James Beard Foundation is also helping displaced restaurant employees find jobs in other parts of the country. "

StarNewsOnline.com: The Voice of Southeastern North Carolina

StarNewsOnline.com: The Voice of Southeastern North Carolina

"Ophelia picks up momentum
Some flooding, outages reported

UPDATED 9:30 AM - As of 8 a.m., the center of Ophelia was about 60 miles south of Wilmington and had gained some strength, according to the National Hurricane Center. Maximum winds were about 80 mph and the storm is moving north-northeast at about 6 mph. A gradual turn toward the northeast and a slightly faster forward speed is expected by tonight.

By Gareth McGrath
Staff Writer

Ophelia regained forward momentum this morning, bringing strong winds and heavy rains to parts of Southeastern North Carolina that had already been lashed by the storm for days.

After spending several hours stalled roughly 110 miles south of Wilmington, the Category 1 hurricane restarted its slow, seemingly torturous path toward the coast around 3 a.m.

By 6 a.m. the storm was nearly 70 miles south of Fort Fisher, moving north-northeast at about 5 mph.

Warren Lee, head of New Hanover Emergency Management, said Ophelia should bring hurricane-force winds to the county’s coastline around 9 a.m. as it passes by the region offshore.

The strong winds should then stay in the New Hanover and Pender region through about 6 p.m. tonight.

73 fer nw,
Bob N5IET

(old calls KE5CTY - WB5ZQU - WY5L)
10X# 37210, FP#-1141, SMIRK#-5177
http://www.qsl.net/ke5cty/
Code may be taking a back seat for now,
but the pioneering spirit that put the code
there in the first place is out front of it all.