Amazing discovery of weapons of mass destruction in Italy:

washingtonpost.com
WW2 bombs found in Italy, thousands evacuated

Reuters
Sunday, May 29, 2005; 3:23 PM



ROME (Reuters) - The discovery of two World War II bombs in southern Italy has forced more than 10,000 people to evacuate their homes, snarled train travel and shut down a vital highway leading to the port city of Naples.

The most dramatic of the two discoveries was in the Italian town of Formia last week, where explosives experts are preparing to detonate on Tuesday a 250-kg (500-pound), 2-meter long device dropped by the British air force more than 60 years ago.

Local authorities believe the device's malfunctioning time-release mechanism was accidentally triggered upon its discovery near the train station, Formia's spokeswoman said.

They ordered more than 10,000 of the city's 36,000 residents to stay away while the army builds a special casing around the bomb to limit fallout, she added.

A second bomb was discovered by road construction workers adding another lane to a busy highway outside the city of Naples, forcing the mayor to temporarily shut down a section of the motorway over the weekend and causing delays.

Cooking not your bag? How about gardening?

We'll start off by testing our gardening knowledge with a few quizzes.

Fernlea Flowers Gardening Quiz

Vegetable Gardening Quiz

Organic Gardening Quiz

Container Gardening Quiz

Australian Holiday Garden Quiz

Canadian Spring Gardening Quiz

Plant Power Quiz

Nature Poetry & Quotes Quiz

How to be a problem solving gardener

What's Your Bulb IQ?

The Bug Barometer

What Type of Garden Should You Grow?

Is cooking more then just a necessary task for you? Test your knowledge of cooking with these quizzes:



BBC Science of Cooking quiz

Anne's Joy of Cooking Quiz

Healthy cooking quiz: How sharp are your skills?

Low Fat Cooking Quiz

I did pretty well on them. How'd you do?

Now I know why I'm having such a difficult time finding a job. I haven't falsified the facts on my resume. I need to go to work for the Army and learn how to be rewarded for lying like these folks.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8632467

Awards for analysts behind Iraq finding- report
Sat May 28, 2005 01:23 AM ET


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. Army analysts whose work was cited as part of a key intelligence failure on Iraq have received job performance awards for the past three years, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.

The civilian analysts work at the Army's National Ground Intelligence Center, an agency criticized by President Bush's commission investigating U.S. intelligence.

Ahead of the U.S. attack on Iraq, the analysts concluded it was unlikely that aluminum tubes sought by Baghdad were for use in Iraq's rocket arsenal. The Bush administration used that finding as evidence that Saddam Hussein was rebuilding Iraq's nuclear weapons program, the paper said.

The intelligence commission said the analysts failed to seek or get information from the Energy Department and elsewhere indicating the tubes were the kind used as rocket-motor cases by the Iraqi military.

A Pentagon spokesman said the awards to the analysts were to recognize their overall contributions on the job.

But some unnamed current and formal officials said granting such awards shows how the administration has not held people accountable for mistakes on prewar intelligence, the paper wrote.

Mmmm, mmm mmm! I just invented the oddest pork stir fry I've ever had. It's the end of the month and my produce and pantry items are dwindling down while I try to make them stretch until the first week of next month when there should be a lot of good after-holiday sales to restock with. This makes for some inventive cooking so I sliced up a gigantic onion, 5 cloves of garlic and fried them in some butter and olive oil. Then added a half-pound of pork loin strips, some herbs de Provence and stirred until the pork was browned. I added some frozen green beans and shredded 4 lemons on the shoestring potato blade of my mandolin and added that to the concoction with about half a cup of orange juice and a teaspoon of mustard. The mixture simmered until the sauce reduced enough to coat the bits.

Mmmmm mmmm mmmm! I had to write that one down so I could do it again. I think it would be good as a sauce over some noodles too.

The burns on my arm are starting to heal a bit. If I'm careful, I can type and use the mouse as long as I have on a thick gauze bandage to protect the tender spots.

And now for a lighter note. Don't know how they managed this screw up (well, yes I do but I promised not to point) and put me on their campaign donor's list (well, not me, but Mr. Lynn Worrell). If I had the extra funds I'd be quite tempted to accept the invitation I received in the mail just for the thrill of providing a huge amount of moon light for the honored guest.



Excerpts from the invitation from Bill Frist are humorous.

This year The President's Dinner not only celebrates President Bush's second term, it's also a testimonial dinner for you, Mr. Worrell, and a handful of other Republican men and women who played vital public, and in many cases, critical behind-the-scenes roles in President Bush's campaign.

(It must of been one of those critical behind-the-scene moon shots that got me the invitation. :::stare:::)

That's right, on June 14th -- Flag Day -- the Republican Party will publicly recognize the lifetime commitment you've made to help make our Republican agenda for America a reality.

(There they go again, usurping yet another national holiday to aid in their divisive partisan agenda. I guess us evil democrats will again have to resort to burning the flag rather then waving it to show our patriotism.)

The 2005 President's Dinner is also about passing the President's agenda over the coming year and building lasting Republican majorities in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.

President Bush has outlined an aggressive agenda to continue to move America in the right direction including strengthening Social Security, continuing the War on Terrorism, and improving education.

But, as usual, the Democrats here in Washington, D.C. are doing everything in their power to defeat the President's agenda -- despite the President's overwhelming victory in the 2004 election and solid Republican gains in both houses of Congress.

Since Howard Dean became the Democrat Party Chairman, Democrats have raised millions of dollars.

(LOL! Dean has nothing to do with it. Sadly, Bush Administration is the best campaign funding tool the democrats have!)

The Washington Post reports that Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are organizing liberal Democrats in Washington, D.C. and across the country for "... a year of confrontation and resistance..." And they're vowing to "... block Bush's major initiatives and thereby deny him the mandate he has claimed from his re-election victory last November."

So the President and all of us in the Republican Party must work together to overcome these Democrat obstructionists.

The 2005 President's Dinner is our opportunity to honor President Bush for his courageous leadership and recognize the historic and heavy mantle he has shouldered during a difficult time in our nation's history.

(Poor guy. He's really made quite a sacrifice, cutting short his many vacations in hopes of getting to finally sign a Bill that gets rammed past those evil liberal obstructionists.)

Mr. Worrell, will you accept the honor you so richly deserve and the accolades and public appreciation of your Republican Party?

(Richly is the correct word! Even though Frist states he's already reserved a seat for me, it will cost a minimum of $2,500 for me to sit down for those deserved honors and accolades.)

I did something stupid a couple of days ago. I was sauteing pork strips for a stew and accidentally bumped the pan handle, spilling hot oil all over my right wrist and forearm. It blistered quite a bit and the blisters are now broken and rather painful.

I've done everything a doctor would do. I applied cold water and ice cubes as soon as it happened so that lessened the burn quite a bit. If you've known me awhile you'll remember I used to get a lot of bad burns while working as a chef in the food service industry. I've a lot of experience treating them. The problem with this one is the location rather then the severity. Makes using the mouse and typing hard to do. I'm keeping it wrapped in gauze and using an antibacterial ointment to prevent infection and keep the skin moist. I'm okay, just need to let my arm heal up a bit so it isn't so tender. More battle scars to add to a life time of cooking scars I have on my arms.

Made these fantastic Lemon Squares this morning while thinking about my grand-Aunt Luella. Her most favorite gift to receive was a box of extremely tangy and tart lemon drops, not the sickly sweet kind but ones that tasted like fresh lemons. I used to give packages of them to her whenever I could.

Anyway, here's the recipe. I altered it a bit. I couldn't let all that lemon goodness go to waste after squeezing the juice from 5 large lemons so I scraped off all the zest and added it to the flour mixture in the food processor to give the crust a really strong lemon flavor too. Aunt Luella would have loved these!

Lemon Squares
This recipe comes from Martha Stewart's "Everyday Food" magazine.
Yield: 9 servings

Ingredients:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt



Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the center. Coat a 9-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.
To make the crust: In a food processor, pulse the first four ingredients, flour through salt, a few times. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press the mixture into the bottom and 3/4-inch up the sides of the prepared pan. Refrigerate 15 minutes, then bake until the crust is lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and lower heat to 325 degrees. Let the crust cool slightly in the pan while you make the filling.

To make the filling: In a bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer until thick. Beat in granulated sugar, lemon juice, flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour over the warm crust and bake until set, about 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature. If desired, sift an additional tablespoon or so of confectioners' sugar on top. Cut into squares and serve.

Continuing on with my concerns for the state of journalism and the free press in the United States these days, the current cannibalistic attack on PBS by its parent company, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, is alarming.

Be sure to give a through read to the transcript of Bill Moyers' speech at freepress.com's National Conference for Media Reform.

Here's another source that describes what is going on at CPB:

http://www.tvtechnology.com/dailynews/one.php?id=2938



To join Free Press’ campaign to put the public back into PBS, please add your name to their petition calling for the resignation of Kenneth Tomlinson and the creation of a series of town meetings across the country on the future of public broadcasting.

And speaking of Pete Stark, anyone remember his speech on the floor way back in October of 2002 in opposition to the Iraq invasion? Seems both he and Molly Ivins have the same guru when it comes to predicting the Bush Administration.

Oct. 10, 2002

"Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this resolution (authorizing military force against Iraq). I am deeply troubled that lives may be lost without a meaningful attempt to bring Iraq into compliance with U.N. resolutions through careful and cautious diplomacy.

"The bottom line is I don't trust this president and his advisors.

"Make no mistake, we are voting on a resolution that grants total authority to the president, who wants to invade a sovereign nation without any specific act of provocation. This would authorize the United States to act as the aggressor for the first time in our history. It sets a precedent for our nation -- or any nation -- to exercise brute force anywhere in the world without regard to international law or international consensus.

"Congress must not walk in lockstep behind a president who has been so callous to proceed without reservation, as if war was of no real consequence.

"You know, three years ago in December, Molly Ivins, an observer of Texas politics, wrote: 'For an upper-class white boy, Bush comes on way too hard. At a guess, to make up for being an upper-class white boy.'

"'Somebody,' she said, 'should be worrying about how all this could affect his handling of future encounters with some Saddam Hussein.' How prophetic, Ms. Ivins.

"Let us not forget that our president -- our commander in chief -- has no experience with, or knowledge of, war. In fact, he admits that he was at best ambivalent about the Vietnam War. He skirted his own military service and then failed to serve out his time in the National Guard. And, he reported years later that at the height of that conflict in 1968 he didn't notice 'any heavy stuff going on.'"

"So we have a president who thinks foreign territory is the opponent's dugout and Kashmir is a sweater.

"What is most unconscionable is that there is not a shred of evidence to justify the certain loss of life. Do the generalized threats and half-truths of this administration give any one of us in Congress the confidence to tell a mother or father or family that the loss of their child or loved one was in the name of a just cause?

"Is the president's need for revenge for the threat once posed to his father enough to justify the death of any American?

"I submit the answer to these questions is no.

"Aside from the wisdom of going to war as Bush wants, I am troubled by who pays for his capricious adventure into world domination. The administration admits to a cost of around $200 billion!

"Now, wealthy individuals won't pay. They've got big tax cuts already. Corporations won't pay. They'll cook the books and move overseas and then send their contributions to the Republicans. Rich kids won't pay. Their daddies will get them deferments as Big George did for George W.

"Well then, who will pay?

"School kids will pay. There'll be no money to keep them from being left behind -- way behind. Seniors will pay. They'll pay big time as the Republicans privatize Social Security and rob the Trust Fund to pay for the capricious war. Medicare will be curtailed and drugs will be more unaffordable. And there won't be any money for a drug benefit because Bush will spend it all on the war.

"Working folks will pay through loss of job security and bargaining rights. Our grandchildren will pay through the degradation of our air and water quality. And the entire nation will pay as Bush continues to destroy civil rights, women's rights and religious freedom in a rush to phony patriotism and to courting the messianic Pharisees of the religious right.

"The questions before the members of this House and to all Americans are immense, but there are clear answers. America is not currently confronted by a genuine, proven, imminent threat from Iraq. The call for war is wrong.

"And what greatly saddens me at this point in our history is my fear that this entire spectacle has not been planned for the well-being of the world, but for the short-term political interest of our president.

"Now, I am also greatly disturbed that many Democratic leaders have also put political calculation ahead of the president's accountability to truth and reason by supporting this resolution. But, I conclude that the only answer is to vote no on the resolution before us."

This hasn't hit the mainstream media yet so you'll have to read it from the horse's mouth and not wait for someone to tell you how to react to it.


http://www.house.gov/stark/news/109th/pressreleases/05-17_iraq.htm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Contact: Drew Nannis (202) 225-5065


STARK SPEAKS OUT AGAINST THE ADMINISTRATION'S LATEST HYPOCRISY
Mr. Speaker,

The pot is calling the kettle black. The Administration is chastising Newsweek magazine for a story containing a fact that turned out to be false. This is the same Administration that lied to the Congress, the United Nations and the American people by fabricating reasons to send us to war. The same Administration responsible for the death of over 1,500 American servicemen and women and countless Iraqi civilians; the same Administration which shields its highest officials from responsibility for prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

Under those circumstances, how can the Bush Administration, with a straight face, denounce a journalist for not checking all the facts before going public with a story?

Of course, Newsweek should have checked the facts more diligently before publishing their article. They made a big mistake. But, Mr. Speaker, we must keep this incident in perspective. Newsweek did make a mistake, but they had the dignity and honor to own up to it.

Unfortunately, I doubt the Bush Administration is capable of displaying such honesty. Instead, the Bush Administration focuses on public relations tactics to divert attention from their own incompetence and fabrications rather than focusing their energies on creating a plan to get our troops out of Iraq.

The hypocrisy of this Administration is astonishing and this most recent episode is, unfortunately, merely one example of many. Just yesterday Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said in reference to the Newsweek article, ?People lost their lives. People are dead. People need to be very careful about what they say, just as they need to be very careful about what they do." I couldn?t agree more. People should be very careful about what they say and do; President Bush and his Cabinet, most of all.

Mr. Speaker, accountability and power cannot be separated. If the President accepts the duties and responsibilities of his office he must do exactly what he is asking Newsweek to do: he needs to tell Americans the truth about his own indiscretions in this tragic war.

-30-

Pete Stark is one heck of a congressman. I remember my mom campaigning to get him elected to congress while I was in high school in the early 70's. We had a gathering at our house in Pleasant Hill and Pete came to speak to the folks. I was impressed with him then and he's only gotten better as time has passed. Want to know more about Pete Stark? Here's the bio from his official website:

This is a defining moment in American journalism. Will the corporate press wimp out and fold under pressure of the Taliban Republicans or will they finally remove the kidd gloves and start earning the privileged rights granted to them in our constitution?

This is a good article in the May issue of Fortune Magazine that describes what I am seeing in the job market. The unfortunate thing is they and all the other career sites and publications focus mainly on the middle and upper executive or professional. They ignore the fact that clerical and other frontline workers are having the same problem and have different needs when it comes to advice on coping with or overcoming the job hunting blues.

50 And Fired: Are You At Risk?


And this article in the same issue explains why I am having trouble even finding temp work. I haven't applied with more then a dozen temp agencies, only 4 or them. Guess I need to get out the Yellow Pages and work my way down the list.

Want a 'Real Job'? Temp While You're Looking

Thanks to a check from Linda and Stu, I don't have to make a choice between replenishing groceries or hiring a resume writing service this month. I've decided to have professionals work on my resume and see if that makes a difference. Am going to give it another couple of months and then I'll be forced to make plans to move out of California and see if I can get a job somewhere else. Mom has offered to have me move in with her, but I don't think I can physically handle the high altitude of Alburqueque. I was on the brink of cutting short my visit with her last year due to the breathing problems I was having. I'd sure like to know where the statistics are coming from that show the job outlook in the US as improving and expanding. I don't think they are. I think a lot of people have just given up and are getting by on the one salary of their spouse if they were lucky enough to have the luxury of a working spouse.

It's been a wild and whacky couple of days here in the Sacramento Valley. Yesterday we had a couple of earthquakes and today we had 14 severe weather warnings issued in our area during a 6 hour period Monday afternoon including 3 tornado warnings. I'm happy to say that the rest of the week is supposed to be calmer and we're supposed to finally start having spring weather next week with temps in the high 80s.

I sat in my bedroom and watched a lot of it as it rolled by from the west. One minute it would be bright sunshine and a few minutes later ominous dark clouds would start building up with a keen sense of doom as they approached. In the distance low rumblings would hammer out their warning and then suddenly the darkness would light up like daylight as lightning streaked the air above followed by an immediate clap of thunder. More then a few times I could feel the ozone in the air right after a very close lightning strike. Large pea sized hail trampled the plants on my balcony as the downpour of rain overwhelmed the drains. Suddenly the rain would stop and the storm cell rolled on through. We'd have the sun for a few minutes and then the cycle would repeat itself over and over for the next several hours.

I was afraid to turn on or even touch anything electric. During one wave, the lightning was so close I went around and unplugged all my appliances and electronics just to be safe. The most ironic thing about today was the television stations as they broadcasted their weather alerts during the middle of the storms. They'd issue the usual safety suggestions of getting indoors and seeking low level shelter in the center of the building in the tornado warning areas. They'd also advise unplugging all electronic equipment to protect them and end with a suggestion that people go to their website for complete details of the weather alert. Now tell me....in the middle of a severe lightning storm, who is going to turn on their computer to check out weather alert information on a website, especially after being told to unplug it? That's just asking for a fried PC at the very least.


These pictures are from the Folsom area after the final hail storm of the day. No, that isn't snow. It's hail.


Powerful Storm System Brings Funnel Clouds, Hail and Heavy Rain
A series of intense thunderstorms swept through Northern California Monday afternoon, dumping heavy rain and hail, flooding streets, and prompting tornado warnings.

In the Sierra Nevada snow fell as low at 4,500 feet. Alpine Meadows received nearly two feet of snow.

Interstate 80 was closed for a time early Monday morning. Chains were required intermittently on 1-80, US-50 and SR-88 throughout the day.



Storm Brings Funnel Clouds, Tornado Warnings


SACRAMENTO -- A severe spring thunderstorm that brought rain, hail, snow and funnel clouds to Northern California is also responsible for the issuance of several tornado warnings.

The severe thunderstorms produced heavy downpours and dime-size hail.

Hold on tight folks. Corporate America is now trying to tighten control of our news sources on the internet after their successful campaign to filter other forms of media.

Who decides what "quality" is and how do you obtain a patent on that judgment?

Who breaks the grip that media conglomerates have in controlling the news?

The Blog is going to become an even more important source of independent news.

Is there anyone left to investigate the news or will they all just report the news purchased from conglomerates?

If the patent is granted to Google, I'd like to see one stipulation added as a requirement for the patent. I'd like to see Google and Yahoo types have to add a code to their news headlines denoting the media ownership of that news source. That way, it would be blatantly obvious if all the news is coming from one source.

Google trying to patent news ranking by quality

Web search leader Google Inc. has applied for U.S. and international patents on technology to rank stories on its news site based on the quality of the news source, according to patent applications obtained by Reuters on Thursday...

Google's (GOOG - news) search engine now automatically scours some 4,500 news sources and highlights stories, typically by popularity and timeliness, although Google does not disclose full details of its ranking system.

Google News site gathers article from disparate news outlets such as ABC News, Voice of America, the Christian Science Monitor, the World Peace Herald, Xinhua, Reuters, Bloomberg and the Los Angeles Times.

As Web logs and other commentary sites proliferate, postings from some have received prominent play within search result pages and on online news-gathering sites. Sometimes, such postings have carried biased or inaccurate claims.

The technology Google is attempting to patent may help the company choose the most reliable information sources, although some Web commentators have said it will create a bias toward mainstream news sources.

Topix.net is an online news service that gathers stories from thousands of sources around the Web as well as from such places as college newspapers. In March, newspaper publishers Gannett Co. (NYSE:GCI - news), Knight Ridder Inc. (NYSE:KRI - news) and the Tribune Co. (NYSE:TRB - news) each bought 25 percent stakes in Topix, while company founders retained the last one-quarter stake.

Online news has become an increasingly competitive market as newspaper circulation declines and mainstream news organizations look for ways to hold on to readers, many of whom favor sites that gather stories from many sources over those run by a single news outlet.

Yahoo Inc. (YHOO - news) recently gave a visual make-over and technological boost to its online news site, which is the most-visited in the United States. Yahoo gathers news from disparate sources via direct feeds and a Web crawler. But unlike Google News, Yahoo News employs human editors and carries advertising.

Info on the big three owners of the online news service Topix.net from The Newspaper Guild. That's one heck of a grip on news.

Gannett Co., Inc.

Gannett is the USA’s largest newspaper group based on circulation. The company’s 99 US daily newspapers have a combined daily paid circulation of 6.6 million. The company owns more than 200 non-daily publications in the US. Gannett also operates 22 US television stations. Most of its TV stations and newspapers sponsor news sites on the web. Gannett does business in 45 US states, and the District of Columbia.

Gannett is also a first-tier global player with publications in Guam, England, Germany and Hong Kong. The company’s recent acquisitions of England’s Newsquest and Newscom, are its largest overseas transactions to date and brings close to 300 British publications including 15 dailies to the company. Gannett is now one of England’s largest regional newspaper publishers. The Newsquest group goes into 8 million homes, about one third of British households. Newsquest publishes in 12 geographic clusters, Newscom in three. Both companies had well-established regional internet products.

Gannett recently purchased 21 Thomson newspapers for $1.6 billion in the US in Wisconsin, Ohio, Louisiana, Utah and Maryland. At a cost of $2.6 billion Central Newspapers has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Gannett. The company also completed a swap of two TV stations, one in Austin, Texas, for a Sacramento, California station. Late last year, Gannett sold its cable systems to Cox Communications for $2.7 billion.

Gannett’s buying spree has been funded by increased revenue from advertising. Second quarter advertising revenues overall were up 5 percent compared to the same quarter last year. National ads were up 9%, and classified revenue increased four percent in comparison to last year. Through its ownership of USA Today, Gannett enjoys a higher income from national advertising than the typical newspaper company. Gannett’s national ad revenues are estimated to be 30 percent for USA Today, versus 15 percent for newspapers in the industry as a whole.


Tribune Co.

If the Tribune Company and Times Mirror merger had been the only merger this year it would still have had a dramatic impact on the newspaper industry. Through its $8 billion purchase of Times Mirror, the Tribune Company’s combined newspaper circulation has become the third largest in the United States. Through its broadcast, publishing and interactive operations, the company will reach 80 percent of US households daily. As a result of the merger, Tribune is the only US media corporation with television and newspaper combinations in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The new Tribune Company owns leading local web sites in 23 markets. Tribune’s interactive sites generated over four million unique visitors in April—more than Knight Ridder’s Real Cities, more than City Search and more than Cox Interactive Media.

Tribune Ventures is an industry leader in partnerships with new-media and technology companies—one of the largest organized efforts in the industry; bringing both monetary payoffs for their investments, and access to emerging companies likely to alter the landscape for its core businesses. The company is determined to develop mass media assets. They believe that mass media are more valuable, and will be more valuable in a fragmented media environment, because today’s advertisers need to reach consumers in major markets. As John Morton says: “New businesses need mass media to create awareness, build brands and drive traffic. And existing businesses need mass media to protect their franchise.” Online is one-to-one, and newspapers and broadcast can be targeted demographically and geographically. The combination of online, newspapers and local broadcast media provides the company with an ability to deliver unbeatable value to the advertiser.
Knight Ridder

Knight Ridder Inc. (KRI) owns 31 daily, 22 non-daily newspapers and 45 associated web sites, employing 22,000 people.

Although Knight Ridder is identified with its print publications, the company is optimistic that its distribution deal with Yahoo will bring in larger numbers of non-newspaper consumers. KRI’s Real Cities Network will become the default provider of local news for Yahoo’s Web site. Yahoo, in turn will promote Knight Ridder’s sports, restaurant reviews, advertising and other content. And, though it is not as involved in broadcast as other newspaper chains, KRI has heavily involved in lobbying against FCC regulations limiting cross-media ownership.

New PC Virus Outbreak

Time to ensure that your firewall, anti-virus and Windows software are current with up-to-date versions and updates.

"One in every 22 emails sent across the internet is currently infected by the Sober-N worm -- making this one of the biggest virus outbreaks of the year," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "All internet users must secure their systems with up-to-date anti-virus software and ensure that they never open unsolicited email attachments. No-one should be fooled into thinking that email viruses are a thing of the past."

Sophos reports that the worm fooled users into opening its dangerous email attachment by using a variety of tricks -- including using a number of different subject lines and message texts, and sending itself in either German or English language depending on what it suspected was the natural language of the recipient.

"In particular, this worm appears to have caused problems by posing as an offer of free tickets for the soccer World Cup tournament in Germany next year," continued Cluley. "Many people found the prospect of free tickets to the prestigious sporting event just too hard to resist."