Net Neutrality Wins a Big One

Link to 8/1 savetheinternet.com post "Historic Victory for Net Neutrality".

Excerpt:

Comcast tried to stop it. Telecom-funded politicians tried to discourage it. Big Media tried to de-legitimize it. But nothing could stop the people-powered movement to hold Comcast accountable for illegally blocking Internet content. Today, the FCC issued a punishment that has Network Neutrality opponents cringing and the rest of us popping champagne.

In a landmark decision, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein approved a bipartisan “enforcement order” that would require Comcast to stop blocking and publicly disclose its methods for manipulating Internet traffic.

L. E. Phillips Remodeling Project Scaled Back

Link to 8/1 Eau Claire Leader Telegram article, "Scaled down library plan approved".

Excerpt:
The smaller version of the project has an estimated cost of $1.57 million [original price tag: $3.9 million], with three-quarters of the money going toward upgrades to the youth services area. Most of the new plan's construction would be apparent to customers as they enter the front door.

Currently, the checkout desk and circulation area are directly in front of the main doors, which often creates congestion at the library entrance. The new plan calls for moving circulation and checkout to the left of the front door with added shelving for items on hold.

The youth services area would then expand into the space currently occupied by circulation.

Deciphering History

Link to July 31 New York Times article, "Discovering How Greeks Computed in 100 B.C."

Excerpt:
The Antikythera Mechanism, sometimes called the first analog computer, was recovered more than a century ago in the wreckage of a ship that sank off the tiny island of Antikythera, north of Crete. Earlier research showed that the device was probably built between 140 and 100 B.C.

Only now, applying high-resolution imaging systems and three-dimensional X-ray tomography, have experts been able to decipher inscriptions and reconstruct functions of the bronze gears on the mechanism. The latest research has revealed details of dials on the instrument’s back side, including the names of all 12 months of an ancient calendar.